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andycarr06
COMIC CREATOR INTERVIEW with Sztehlo: Independent creators vs the virus
We are deep into lockdown now and we all have an idea of how this is affecting local business both in and out of the comic industry. We know that shops are still "open" as much as they can be, ensuring that we all get any books. What about the creators though? Now I'm sure most of the creators that work on the big books are doing ok for now, despite officially being told #pencilsdown , but what about smaller creators, ones who publish themselves. How has this affected their lives and their content?
I was lucky enough to sit down and chat (over the phone) with creator Sztehlo about his experience with creating comics and the situation we are currently living through.
Self-portrait by Sztehlo
So here is some background into who Sztehlo is: born as Andrew Sztehlo, he dropped his first name when writing. Growing up and having difficulty reading, he says that "comics became the gateway into reading." Fond memories of going to the library and taking out The Long Halloween and swooning over Tim Sale's artwork (anyone who has read The Long Halloween can see the influences of the noir style on Sztehlo's designs). The dark gothic art style really appealed to him from a young age. Being someone who lived abroad, he had limited access to comics. So he talks about when he returned, he used to bring a suitcase to Close Encounters (a local comic shop), and fill it up with recommendations, spending the pocket money he'd saved up.
Looking into his influences, other than Sale, he discusses people like Becky Cloonan (who has the recognition of being the first woman to ever write a Punisher series), Daniel Clowes (Ghost World, 1997), and Mike Mignola (Hellboy), saying that these people opened up a whole other world, showing what comics can do. These people got him interested in comics after a hiatus from the industry.
With people having free time, we talk about how he's spending his time. He explains that school has "opened up" to some extent, so he's able to do his admin job. Working as a librarian he can help guide young people with recommendations, just like what happened to him. He talks about how they are an inspiration to him, with their resilience and passion. It becomes clear at this point that he cares about the generation. A mentor, exactly what a good teacher can do.
With this free time he is also working on his first graphic novel. Spending Monday – Friday daytime on his day job (through lockdown), then afternoons with comics as he's got lots of projects on the go. With this free time he goes on to say he's become more introspective: "Thinking about our relationship with the world and the people that we know and love, which is good for an artist as it's the bread and butter of our trade...which brings truth and authenticity to my artwork." He has also been keeping a journal on Instagram, cataloging what we are all seeing in the world as well as what he's experiencing.
We talk about how this situation has affected his comics, and he says that he started writing a script, probably the funniest thing he's written, generally light-hearted. Before this, he describes his artwork being based around darkness and trauma: "The world we live in has darkened in a drastic way; we are being forced to question ourself and our lives...and I need relief from that." I believe this is a sentiment that we all share; we all need a break from the now-bleak normal lives we live. So he wrote this as a way to cope.
It's obvious that just because someone draws or writes comics, doesn't mean they aren't struggling. Big name writers and artist maybe comfortable, but for others, this lockdown doesn't mean everything stops. They are still pushing to create.
One last question I had, is one that I think can cause a debate: Digital or Physical? "Physical...always, I love beautiful books...my Hellboy library editions…these are books that I cherish...the emotional connection I have to them is enriched by the fact that I have them in my hand." This answer is one I totally agree with. As a collector I love to have something to hold, to show for the money I've spent. However, having said that, I am now also able to enjoy comics through the digital medium. Marvel and DC have put out digital books for free to keep us entertained during the lockdown. So too has Sztehlo. His book We Are Here As On A Darkling Plain has been released free of charge (link below). It's a collection of classic poems that he has illustrated.
The book is fantastic, and you can see all the influences from Clowes to Sale. There is also his first Tales From The Border book on his site, which is a collection of short stories.
So during this time when we are all locked down, there are people still hard at work within the comic industry. I would recommend checking out his books, and if people are struggling to find unique gift ideas, he is also accepting commission pieces. All links to contact him are below.
Instagram - https://instagram.com/ajsztehlo?igshid=f333zo210gup
Free comic - https://gumroad.com/sztehlo
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/andrew.sztehlo
Website - https://talesfromtheborder.com
Twitter - https://twitter.com/ajsztehlo
Martin Luther King Jr is featured on the 1957 Retro Cover Of The Week.
Blade Runner 2029 #2 is on FIRE with an ALL NEW enemy
COMICS RETROSPECTIVE: Once again, I'm proven right. In Invincible Volume 19: The War At Home!


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Copyright © 2014 Alper Agca et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Purpose. To evaluate and compare corneal backscatter from anterior stroma between small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) and femtosecond laser-assisted LASIK (femto-LASIK). Methods. A cohort of 60 eyes of 30 patients was randomized to receive SMILE in one eye and femto-LASIK in the fellow eye. In vivo confocal microscopy was performed at 1 week and 1, 3, and 6 months after surgery. The main outcome measurements were maximum backscattered intensity and the depth from which it was measured, the backscattered light intensity 30 μm below Bowman's membrane at the flap interface and 150 μm below the superficial epithelium, and the number of refractive particles at the flap interface. Results. The mean backscattered light intensity (LI) at all measured depths and the maximum backscattered LI were higher in the SMILE group than the femto-LASIK group at all postoperative visits. LI differences at 1 week and 1- and 3-month visits were statistically significant (,05). LI differences at 6 months were not statistically significant. There was no difference in the number of refractive particles at the flap interface between the groups at any visit. Conclusions. SMILE results in increased backscattered LI in the anterior stroma when compared with femto-LASIK were evaluated.
SMILE is a new method for the refractive correction of myopia and myopic astigmatism. In this procedure, an intrastromal lenticule is created between two photodisruption planes and mechanically removed via a 3-4 mm arcuate side cut [1, 2].
The efficacy and safety of SMILE are comparable to those of LASIK. However, the visual recovery after lenticule extraction in SMILE is slower than after LASIK [3, 4]. As the procedure is relatively new, the corneal wound healing response is not well documented, and the reason for delayed recovery is not clear.
A transiently enhanced visibility of the interface in some lenticule extraction eyes during the first postoperative week has been reported, and it is speculated that this type of interface scatter after cutting of the intrastromal lenticule is to blame for the slightly reduced visual acuity in the early postoperative period when compared with LASIK [1, 3, 5]. However, an objective grading of haze in the SMILE group or a comparison of interface haze with the LASIK group has not been performed.
In vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) can be used to measure endothelial cell density to analyze corneal and intracorneal thicknesses and to assess cellular morphology and histopathologic changes. Another important feature of IVCM is the ability to objectively quantify corneal backscatter, which is used to define stromal reaction, keratocyte activation, and objective haze grading in refractive and lamellar corneal surgery [6–10].
In this study we used corneal backscatter analysis, backscattered light intensity (LI) depth graphics (Z-scan), and subjective evaluation of IVCM images to detect differences between fellow eyes that underwent either SMILE or femto-LASIK.
This prospective study was approved by the ethics committee of the Beyoglu Eye Research and Training Hospital and adheres to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. All patients provided informed consent. The study enrolled patients older than 18 years old with myopia or myopic astigmatism with a spherical equivalent refraction of <10 D, mesopic (4 lux), pupil size ≤6.5 mm, and calculated residual stromal bed thickness of >300 μm. Other inclusion criteria were best corrected visual acuity of at least 20/25 in both eyes, no ocular disease other than the refractive error, a normal topographic pattern and regular retinoscopic reflex, corneal pachymetry of >500 μm at the thinnest point, and stable refraction for at least 2 years.
All patients underwent the standard preoperative refractive surgery procedures of the clinic. All visual acuity measurements were completed using an illuminated ETDRS chart (Optec 3500 Vision Tester, Stereo Optical Co., USA). Objective cycloplegic refraction was performed with an autorefractometer (KR-1 Auto Kerato-Refractometer, Topcon, Japan) and retinoscopy in all patients. Corneal topography, dynamic infrared pupillography, ocular wavefront analysis, and corneal wavefront analysis were performed with a Sirius corneal topography and abberometry system (Costruzioni Strumenti Oftalmici, Italy). Horizontal corneal diameter was measured with an IOLMaster 500 (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Germany). Intraocular pressure was measured with a Goldmann applanation tonometer. All patients underwent a detailed anterior and posterior segment examination using a slit lamp. Optical coherence tomography was performed at the 1-month followup to evaluate flap and cap thicknesses.
One eye of each patient was assigned to the SMILE group and the fellow eye to the femto-LASIK group using a random number table. The random numbers were placed in sealed envelopes that were shuffled and then sequentially numbered. The surgeon opened the next available envelope before the surgery. If the random number in the envelope was odd, then the right eye was allocated to the SMILE group, and if the number was even, the left eye was allocated to the SMILE group.
The same surgeon (A. Demriok) performed all eye surgeries in the study. For each patient, surgery was performed on both eyes on the same day. The eye in the SMILE group was treated first. The flap of the fellow eye was created before transporting the patient to the excimer laser.
A VisuMax (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Germany) femtosecond laser platform was used for all eye surgeries. The same parameters were used in all cases. The spot distance was 3 μm for lamellar cuts and 2 μm for side cuts. The spot energy was set to 140 nJ. The minimum lenticule side cut thickness was set to 15 μm. The lenticule side cut angle was 120°, and the optical zone was 6.5 mm. The optical zone diameter was equal to the lenticule diameter in patients with purely spherical refractive error. However, if the patient had astigmatism, the software added a transition zone to convert the oval lenticule into a circle. As a result, the lenticule diameter was 6.5-6.6 mm depending on the presence or absence of astigmatism. The cap diameter was 7.5 mm with a 50° superior side cut and a side cut angle of 90°. A small-sized (Size S) patient interface was used in all patients. When the lenticule and side cut had been created, the surgeon positioned the eye under the operating microscope of the laser platform using the joystick. Under the operating microscope, a blunt spatula was inserted into the anterior lamellar photodisruption plane to perform dissection of any remaining attachments. The same maneuver was performed in the posterior lamellar photodisruption plane. After the lenticule was completely dissected from the overlying and underlying stroma, it was extracted through the side cut with forceps. An antibiotic drop was applied at the end of the operation.
After one drop of topical anesthetic was applied to both eyes and sterile draping was placed, an eyelid speculum was inserted. Flaps were created by a VisuMax femtosecond laser platform (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Germany). Spot energy was set to 140 nJ. Spot distance was 3 μm for the lamellar flap cut and 2 μm for the flap side cut. The flap side cut was 90°, and the flap diameter was set to 8.5 mm in all patients. A medium-sized (Size M) patient interface was used in all patients. After the flap was created, the patient was transported to a Schwind Amaris 750S (SCHWIND eye-tech solutions, Germany) excimer laser platform. The flap was lifted with a blunt spatula (Katena, USA), and excimer laser photoablation was performed. The residual stromal bed was washed with balanced salt solution, and the flap was repositioned. An antibiotic drop was applied at the end of the operation.
Confocal microscopy (Confoscan 4, Nidek, Italy) was performed at week 1 and months 1, 3, and 6. The same experienced technician (A. Agca), who had no involvement in the operative procedures, performed all the examinations. The device was equipped with a standard ×40 water-immersion front lens and a Z-ring. One drop of Viscotears (Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland) was applied as an immersion substance between the ×40 objective lens and the Z-ring before each examination.
A sterile small wire-lid speculum was inserted into the patient's eye after topical anesthesia to improve examination quality. The technician asked the patient to look at the internal fixation light and manually centered on the endothelium before activating the microscope's autoalignment. The device was used in full-thickness mode. The images were immediately reviewed by the technician and the first author. The procedure was repeated if there were any concerns about the quality or centration of the images or the stability of centration and quality throughout the image acquisition period. The backscattered LI measurements were standardized by using Amco Clear turbidity standard (GFS Chemicals Inc., USA) and presented in scatter units as previously described . Turbidity is measured in nephelometric turbidity units (NTU). The relation between turbidity and image intensity can be used to express image intensity in SUs, provided that 1 SU is equal to the image intensity measured in a 1-NTU suspension [10–12]. AMCO clear is a commercially available calibration standard for measuring turbidity. In our study, we examined AC-4000 (AMCO Clear in a maximum concentration equivalent to 4000 NTU) through a transparent rectangular 10 mm sample cell (LPZ045; Hach Lange, Tiel, The Netherlands) and then, after gradual dilution, AC-2000, AC-1000, and AC-500. Hillenaar et al. showed that the relation between image intensity and turbidity depends on the imaging depth and that a linear relationship with turbidity only exists at a depth image intensity of 200 μm . Thus, the image intensities at a depth of 200 μm were plotted against the turbidity values, and the linear function defining the relation between them was used as the standardization function. This calculation was performed only once (at the beginning of the study) to define a standardization function that could be used to convert the ConfoScan 4 raw image intensity data to SU. To ensure standardization of backscatter measurements over a long time period, a polymethylmethacrylate slab (PMMA, Opal 040 Perspex GS; Lucite International Ltd., UK) was used every week [11, 12].
During pre- and postoperative visits, backscattered LI was measured at the flap/cap interface, at the flap/cap-stromal bed interface, and at the stromal bed. In postoperative visits, the peak backscattered LI in the anterior stroma and its corresponding corneal depth were also recorded. The border of the anterior stroma was determined as described by Hillenaar et al. . In addition, the reflective particles at the flap/cap interface were counted manually.
A backscattered LI value was recorded 30 μm below Bowman's membrane as this location approximately represents the middle portion of the flap or cap stroma in a 120 μm flap or cap.
The interface was identified by the presence of refractive particles. The image with the clearest view of the refractive particles was selected to represent the flap/cap-stromal bed interface. The intended flap and cap thicknesses were 120 μm in all eyes. Accordingly, if it was difficult to choose between two images, the one that was nearest to 120 μm from the last focused corneal epithelium image was chosen.
Corneal stroma 150 μm below the superficial epithelium was chosen to represent the stromal bed, just below the stromal interface.
The distributions of variables were determined with Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests. The mean, standard deviation, and frequency were used in the statistical analysis. The preoperative data were compared using Student's t-test (Table 1). The preoperative and postoperative data were analyzed using two-way repeated measure ANOVA with post hoc multiple comparisons. IBM SPSS 20.0 (IBM Corporation, USA) software was used to analyze the data.
Sixty eyes of 30 patients were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was years. Fourteen patients (47%) were male and 16 patients (53%) were female. There were no statistically significant differences in preoperative characteristics of the eyes in the SMILE and femto-LASIK groups (Table 1, t-test, ). The mean flap/cap thicknesses at month 1 visit were μm in the femto-LASIK group and μm () in the SMILE group. The mean thicknesses of the removed tissue (the maximum thickness of the extracted lenticule in the SMILE group and the maximum ablation depth in the femto-LASIK group) were μm and μm in the SMILE and femto-LASIK groups, respectively (). No peri- or postoperative complications occurred.
The maximum value of the backscattered LI increased in both groups postoperatively (Table 2). The increase was higher in the SMILE group, and the difference between the groups was statistically significant at week 1 (), month 1 (), and month 3 visits (). The difference in the amount of increase was not significant at month 6 visit ().
Table 2: Maximum backscattered light intensity in anterior stroma.
Table 3 shows the depth of the maximum backscattered LI throughout the follow-up period. At the postoperative week 1 and month 1 visits, there was no statistically significant difference between the SMILE and femto-LASIK groups in terms of the maximum backscattered LI depths. However, at months 3 and 6 visits, the corneal depth at the maximum backscattered LI was more anterior in the SMILE group (month 3, ; month 6, ) than in the femto-LASIK group.
Table 3: Maximum backscattered light intensity depth.
Table 4 shows the backscattered LI 30 μm below Bowman's membrane (cap and flap tissues in the SMILE and femto-LASIK groups, resp.). LI in the flap or cap stroma increased postoperatively in both groups; however, the increase was higher in the SMILE group, and the difference was statistically significant at week 1 (), month 1 (), and month 3 () visits. Although the mean value was still higher in the SMILE group at the 6-month visit, the difference was not statistically significant ().
Table 4: Backscattered light intensity 30 m below Bowman's membrane.
A similar pattern was observed for the backscattered LI values at the intended flap (Table 5). There were postoperative increases in backscattered LI values in both groups. The increase was higher in the SMILE group and the difference was statistically significant at week 1 (), month 1 (), and month 3 visits () but not at month 6 visit ().
Table 5: Backscattered light intensity 120 m below the epithelium.
Table 6 shows backscattered LI values at the corneal stroma below the interface level (150 μm). Backscattered LI at this depth increased in both groups postoperatively and the increase was higher in the SMILE group. However, the difference was only statistically significant at week 1 () and month 1 visits ().
Table 6: Backscattered light intensity 150 m below the epithelium.
Subjective evaluation of backscattered LI versus depth graphics (Z-scan) revealed increased corneal backscatter in a wider area in SMILE eyes. A network of activated keratocytes and increased reflectivity from the extracellular matrix was easily identified in SMILE eyes, and in some patients, this area occupied the anterior one-third of the corneal stroma in the first postoperative week (Figure 1(b)). In contrast, increased backscatter in fellow eyes that underwent femto-LASIK was limited to close proximity of the flap interface (Figure 1(d)).
Figure 1: Fellow eyes of the same patient 1 week after surgery. (a) Activated keratocytes (at 150 μm depth) organized as a network after SMILE surgery. (b) Anterior stroma of the same eye shows dramatically increased corneal backscatter (circle). (c) Keratocytes (at 150 μm depth) in the fellow eye that underwent femto-LASIK surgery. (d) After femto-LASIK surgery, there is a limited increase in corneal backscatter compared with SMILE (circle).
Table 7 shows the number of reflective particles. The difference was not statistically significant at any postoperative visit.
Table 7: Number of reflective particles.
When reporting on corneal backscatter, image intensity in gray levels should be adjusted to absolute scatter units [11, 12]. McLaren et al.  reported mean values for the mean image intensity in each five percentiles of depth. Hillenaar et al.  developed an algorithm that semiautomatically calculates the mean corneal backscatter of the whole stroma as well as the mean backscatter in the anterior, middle, and posterior third of the stroma. Although we standardized our measurements according to Hillenaar et al., we were not interested in the mean values for thicker corneal sections obtained by averaging values from different depths; instead, we were interested in detecting even a localized small difference between the groups that may not have affected the mean backscattered LI in thicker corneal sections. Thus, we measured backscattered LI in three specific locations around the flap/cap interface where we most expected to find a difference; in addition, we measured the maximum LI in the anterior stroma and its location. There have been no previous studies comparing IVCM in SMILE and femto-LASIK eyes, and we were uncertain which postoperative period we should concentrate on in order to detect any possible differences. As a result, we performed IVCM as early as 1 week after the surgery and performed it quite frequently (four times in 6 months). Only 0.14% of the corneal surface is imaged in IVCM, and a tracking system is not present in confocal microscopy devices . As a result, positional repeatability is low. However, centralization of the scan on the corneal apex can be verified by obtaining a uniform image of the corneal endothelium. In our opinion, corneal haze in this group of patients could be monitored with sufficient repeatability only if the central cornea was imaged in all cases. Accordingly, we took maximum care to acquire perfectly centralized measurements in every scan. Further positional repeatability is practically impossible with current confocal microscopy technology.
In some studies on lenticule extraction, the very slight clinical haze at the interface is not even mentioned [4, 14]. The status of the interface may not have been recorded by some authors because it may not have been considered to be related to visual symptoms; others may have not reported it, as the design of their studies lacked an objective instrument to detect and measure the interface haze. In the few studies where it was reported, there is no detailed information or measurement of interface haze after lenticule extraction and there is no comparison of it with a LASIK interface. Vestergaard et al. compared 40 femtosecond lenticule extraction (FLEX) eyes with 41 femtosecond laser eyes . The data on the femtosecond laser eyes were retrospectively collected. They reported that slit-lamp examination showed a transiently enhanced visibility of the interface in some FLEX eyes during the first postoperative week; however, they provided no further data (e.g., number of eyes with enhanced visibility, duration of haze). They stated that the delayed recovery may have been related to increased transient haze. Blum et al.  and Sekundo et al.  also reported a transient haze in some FLEX eyes; however, they did not give a measure of it, nor did they compare it with femto-LASIK.
In this study typical differences were observed in the objective corneal backscatter analysis of corneas between SMILE and femto-LASIK eyes. Eyes that underwent SMILE and femto-LASIK both showed increased postoperative backscattered LI; however, maximum backscattered LI and backscattered LI from three different depths in the anterior stroma were higher in SMILE eyes. In fact, the difference in the early postoperative period was so dramatic that, even without measuring the actual intensity levels or performing a statistical analysis, we could easily identify that there was an obvious difference between the eyes (Figures 1(a) and 1(c)). Subjective evaluation of confocal microscopy images revealed that increased reflectivity in the SMILE eyes was due to the extracellular matrix and activated keratocytes (Figure 1(a)). The difference was not likely to be due to individual immunological differences because SMILE and femto-LASIK were compared on fellow eyes operated on in the same day. In addition, the amount of preoperative refractive error, the thickness of the tissue removed from the stroma, and the depth from which the removal (ablation or extraction depending on the surgical method) took place were similar between the groups, and the patients were given the same postoperative drug regimen. Thus, the groups were perfectly matched, and the only difference was the surgical procedure. We found that the difference between the groups in terms of backscattered LI was the highest at week 1 and reduced gradually thereafter. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups at 6 months postoperatively. Interestingly, the location of the peak backscattered LI was more anterior in the SMILE group at 3 and 6 months postoperatively (Table 3). At month 6 visit, the location of the peak backscattered LI was at, or slightly above, the interface in the SMILE group ( μm) and at the level of, or slightly below, the interface ( μm) in the femto-LASIK group.
The only confocal microscopy study comparing lenticule extraction and femto-LASIK was carried out in a limited number of rabbit eyes by Riau et al. . They performed a semiquantitative analysis of the reflectivity level of the flap interface by measuring the mean gray value of the reflective particles using ImageJ software (National Institutes of Health, USA). The reflectivity level was not standardized in their study. As a result, although it is possible to make a comparison between the two groups in that particular study, the values cannot be compared with any other study group examined with a different confocal microscope. Contrary to our findings, they reported that the relative reflectivity of the flap interface was significantly higher in femto-LASIK eyes. They concluded that refractive lenticule extraction may result in less inflammation and less extracellular matrix deposition compared to LASIK, especially at high refractive correction. Their study included 36 eyes evenly divided between the FLEX and femto-LASIK groups. However, an overall comparison of the two groups was not performed. Instead, each group was divided into three subgroups, with six eyes in each subgroup (subgroups with −3.00, −6.00, and −9.00 D corrections). Each subgroup of the FLEX eyes was compared with its corresponding femto-LASIK subgroup (the difference between the surgical procedures was statistically significant in two of the three subgroups). As a result, the statistics and study conclusions were based on the means of six eyes for each subgroup; results on such a small number of eyes may be misleading. In addition, rabbit eyes may not be comparable to human eyes.
LASIK leads to a variably thick, hypocellular, primitive stromal interface scar . By using confocal microscopy, the interface wound can be identified in 100% of cases because the scar always contains numerous brightly reflective interface particles. These reflective particles were found to consist primarily of organic cellular constituents in histologic studies . Riau et al. reported more intense and abundant reflective particles in those corneas that underwent femto-LASIK compared with those that underwent FLEX. However, the number of these reflective particles did not differ between groups in the present study.
The more superficial lamellar cut made in the SMILE surgery is similar to the flap cut that is created in femto-LASIK. Thus, the difference between the surgical procedures is the result of the addition of a second lamellar cut at a deeper level or the increased number of surgical steps required for blunt separation of the lenticule floor and roof in the SMILE group. In femto-LASIK, only one lamellar cut is performed with a femtosecond laser to create the flap, and the incidence of deep lamellar keratitis was found to be consistently higher after femto-LASIK when compared with LASIK using a mechanical keratome [18–21]. Thus, the application of a femtosecond laser on the corneal stroma may have unique immune consequences. In SMILE, two lamellar cuts are performed, and when the lenticule is extracted, these two surfaces come face to face at the cap-stromal bed interface, where our measurements were recorded. In addition, the total energy applied to the corneal stroma in SMILE is higher than that applied to the stroma in femto-LASIK performed with the same platform. The surgical maneuvers used in the SMILE procedure are far more challenging than those used in FLEX and femto-LASIK procedures, so varying inflammatory responses could equally as well be related to the surgical maneuvers as to the effects of the laser treatment . A study comparing FLEX and SMILE procedures would help to reveal whether increased surgical maneuvers increase postoperative corneal backscatter. Vestergaard et al. reported that refractive predictability and corneal aberrations following FLEX seemed better than or equal to those following femto-LASIK at 3 months, whereas visual recovery after FLEX was slower . R. Shah and S. Shah also reported that although the efficacy and safety of refractive lenticule extraction (FLEX and SMILE) are comparable to those of LASIK, visual recovery is slower, and changing the scanning trajectory of the femtosecond laser had a positive effect on visual outcome . Another possible factor that delays visual recovery may be the different patterns of stromal response to lenticule extraction and femto-LASIK. In fact, it should not be surprising to find different patterns of stromal response to lenticule extraction and femto-LASIK because they are different surgical procedures.
In conclusion, we report for the first time that SMILE eyes have increased corneal backscatter for at least 3 months after surgery at the level where the lenticule is extracted compared with femto-LASIK eyes. This increased corneal backscatter in the early postoperative period does not necessarily result in decreased vision, increased incidence of complications, or increased inflammation, but it obviously reflects a different healing response after SMILE. Whether this difference has any positive or negative clinical consequences is unknown at this time. However it is speculated that suboptimal cutting of the stromal fibers by the femtosecond laser may be the reason for this type of interface scatter, which results in slightly reduced visual acuity in the early postoperative period [3, 5]. If this is correct, incorporating IVCM evaluation of the interface into future studies on laser energy, spot size, and spacing settings may help to further optimize these factors and minimize a delay in recovery.
The paper has not been presented in a meeting; the authors did not receive any financial support from any public or private sources; the authors have no financial or proprietary interest in any product, method, or material described herein.


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Know Your Enemy: A New Podcast about the Right
A leftist's guide to the conservative movement, one episode at a time, with co-hosts Matthew Sitman and Sam Adler-Bell.
Editors ▪ August 15, 2019
Dissent is proud to partner with Know Your Enemy, a new podcast about the American right. Know Your Enemy explores the key figures, arguments, texts, and ideas of conservatism from the left, with an eye toward learning from our opponents. Co-hosts Matthew Sitman (an editor at Commonweal and Dissent contributor) and Sam Adler-Bell (a writer for The Intercept, The Outline, Commonweal, and elsewhere) dive into the swamp of right-wing thought so you don't have to, taking conservative ideas seriously but not uncritically. Sitman, a former conservative, offers insight about how conservatives see themselves, while Adler-Bell, practically a red-diaper baby, is attuned to the left's own pathologies and hang-ups.
Some episodes are historical, looking back to William F. Buckley Jr. and the founding of National Review or the rise of Ronald Reagan. Others are more contemporary, looking at the debates roiling on the right as conservatives struggle to adapt to the Trump era. Future episodes will feature interviews with writers, historians, activists, and others with particular expertise on (or experience with) the movements, ideas, and figures of conservative's past and present. Know Your Enemy is a mix of historical inquiry, commentary on the contemporary scene, and conversations with experts.
Stay tuned for plans for live tapings of the podcast in the months ahead, along with transcriptions of some upcoming interviews at Dissent. You can support Know Your Enemy now by contributing to their Patreon; for $5 a month you'll get access to exclusive bonus episodes, and at $10 a month you'll get a free digital subscription to Dissent. You can subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Check out the latest episode, where the co-hosts speak with Patrick Blanchfield about the ideologies underlying America's gun problem, below.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Anaïs was born and raised in France. After she graduated from The Regional Dance Conservatory in La Rochelle, she joined the Ballet Junior Geneva in September 2010. She worked with different choreographers including Stijn Celis, Barak Marshall, Guilherme Botelho, Nina Vallon, Ken Ossola, and performed pieces from Thierry Malandain, Patrice Delcroix and Alexander Ekman. In 2013, she joined Ballet Preljocaj in France. She performed internationally with the Company until June 2016. At the same time, she joined Alias Company in Switzerland, as a freelancer. Anaïs started to work with Norrdans in August 2016.


Dr David Jollie leads Anglo American's market intelligence on the platinum group metals sector as well as their Western hemisphere sales of the same commodities. He has over twenty years' experience in the precious metals sector, having started work as a designer of catalytic converters for diesel cars before working on market analysis and market development, including in fuel cells. He spent five years editing Johnson Matthey's reviews of the platinum group metal sector before joining Mitsui Precious Metals as their Head of Research and then moving into the mining sector with Anglo American. He has a degree in chemistry from the University of Oxford and a doctorate in inorganic chemistry from the University of Nottingham, also in the UK. He has a particular interest in clean transport, hydrogen and fuel cells.


text:
Draft:Charles Kamhoua
Charles A. Kamhoua is a researcher at the Network Security Branch of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) in Adelphi, MD, where he is responsible for conducting and directing basic research in the area of game theory applied to cyber security. Prior to joining the Army Research Laboratory, he was a researcher at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Rome, New York. He has been at the forefront of several new technologies, co-editing three books at Wiley-IEEE Press entitled "Assured Cloud Computing", "Blockchain for Distributed System Security" and "Modeling and Design of Secure Internet of Things". [1] [2]
^ Roy H. Campbell, Charles A. Kamhoua, and Kevin A. Kwiat. 2018. Assured Cloud Computing (1st ed.). Wiley-IEEE Computer Society Press, ISBN 978-1119428633
^ Charles Kamhoua, Alexander Kott, Laurent Njilla, Sachin Shetty, "Modeling and Design of Secure Internet of Things", John Wiley &Sons, 1 edition, 2020, ISBN 978-1-119-59336-2
^ Sachin Shetty, Charles Kamhoua, Laurent Njilla, "Blockchain for Distributed Systems Security", Wiley-IEEE Computer Scoeity, 1 edition, 2019, ISBN 978-1-119-51960-7
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Draft:Charles_Kamhoua&oldid=906373530"


Saylorville Yacht Club - Banquet Registration is closed.
Space is limited and reservations must be paid before October 16.
The club treasury is covering half of the dinner cost- you pay just $25 per person. Reservations must be made and paid by October 16.
The meeting will commence after dinner. Officers will give a short report, race trophies will be awarded and the members will nominate and vote for 2018 Officers.
The hotel has a small block of rooms available for us at a rate of $129 until October 4. To make room reservations, please call the hotel directly at 515-465-3511 and mention the yacht club.
The Hotel Pattee is located at 1112 Willis Avenue in Perry.


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I simply want to say I'm new to blogging and site-building and honestly loved your web page. Most likely I'm likely to bookmark your website . You absolutely come with fabulous article content. Thank you for revealing your website.


Surcare is truely the home of the world's best true random orbit sanders. I had an opportunity to travel to Australia with my son for an off road challenge in Australia's outback. While there I met with Jim and his team at the plant in Alexandria and I was quite inpressed. The US is the last to catch on to the advantages of these sanders. Surcare sanders are present in most all other countries. The SMF 200 is the largest of the two and is recommended for timber, veneers, solid surface and cork flooring. The smaller V4 Surcare sander is a favorite of solid surface fabricators because it's random orbit (6mm) is a good match to other smaller sanders like Fein, Festool and Porter Cable. You can sand the large area with the V4 and the smaller areas sanded with others Surcare sanders will match.
Newsworthy Pty Ltd T/A Surcare Australia is a privately run company established in September 1999. Located in Victoria, Surcare Australia is an emerging, progressive business that manufactures and assembles its own power tools for example the Surcare Sanders that are trademarked under the brand.
Newsworthy has successfully designed, manufactured, produced, marketed and patented the revolutionary Surcare Series of machines, large hand held surface finishing machines (Surcare Sanders) suitable for a number of applications including solid surface (plastic/acrylic), cultured marble, timber and metals.
Watch the video and read the testimonials and you'll be convinced Surcare Sanders purchase is the right move for your shop.


text:
San Miguel ist die Hauptstadt des gleichnamigen Departamento San Miguel in der Provinz Corrientes im Nordosten Argentiniens. In der Klassifizierung der Gemeinden in der Provinz Corrientes zählt der Ort zur 2. Kategorie.

Geschichte
San Miguel wurde gegen Ende der Jahre 1810 von exilierten Guaranís aus den Jesuitenreduktionen Corpus, Candelaria und San Carlos gegründet, die vor den Bandeirantes aus Brasilien geflohen waren. Kurz nach seiner Gründung ließ sich hier der berühmte französische Naturforscher Alcide d'Orbigny nieder, der als Erster die Esteros del Iberá erforschte.

Weblinks
IFAM-Bevölkerungsdaten (spanisch)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Majorca Budget Holiday: 10 Nights incl. Shannon Flights only €265pp!
Need to soak up a good bit of sun but worried your budget won't stretch far enough? Then this Majorca budget holiday will be just the thing for you!
After looking around on Expedia, I managed to spot a particularly cheap package holiday to Majorca, where you can chill out all you want for a whole 10 days – all for under €300pp! Not too shabby if you ask me!
The package comes with your return flights from Shannon to Palma de Mallorca, plus your 10 nights at the San Francisco apartments. The accommodation offers basic but comfy rooms right in the centre of Cala d'Or, so you'll have plenty of shops, bars and restaurants at your doorstep. You've also got some incredible beaches just a stone's throw away from you as well!
All's that's left for you to do is just put your feet up! All along the nearby coastlines you'll find beautiful bays – or calas – sheltering lovely sandy beaches and turquoise waters, perfect for a relaxing afternoon. Whatever you do, be sure to take the time to head over to the nearby Mondragó National Park – the S'Amarador and Cala Mondragó beaches are absolutely stunning, and Caló d'en Perdiu is great if you want to go for a proper dip in the sea!


text:
\section{\label{intro}Introduction}

The occurrence of earthquakes is an outcome of complex nonlinear
threshold dynamics in the brittle part of the Earth's crust. This
dynamics is a combined effect of different temporal and spatial
processes taking place in a highly heterogeneous media over a wide
range of temporal and spatial scales \cite{Rundle:2003a}. Despite
this complexity, one can consider earthquakes as a point process in
space and time, by neglecting the spatial scale of earthquake
rupture zones and the temporal scale of the duration of each
earthquake \cite{Vere-Jones:1970a,Ogata:1999a,Daley:2002a}. Then one
can study the statistical properties of this process and test models
that may explain the observed seismic activity.

In this letter, we analyze one of the important aspects of the
seismic activity, i.e. the statistics of inter-occurrences or
waiting times of successive earthquakes in an aftershock sequence.
To summarize our results, we have found that these statistics are
consistent with a NHP process driven by a power-law decay rate by
mapping the occurrence of aftershocks in a multi-dimensional space
into a marked point process on the one-dimensional time-line. The
nature of this distribution is closely related to the temporal
correlations between earthquakes and can be used in hazard
assessments of the occurrence of aftershocks. We have also derived
an exact formula describing the distribution of waiting times
between events in a NHP process over a finite time period $T$ and
confirmed it by numerical simulations.

Earthquakes form a hierarchical structure in space and time and can
also be thought of as a branching process where each event can
trigger a sequence of secondary events and so forth. According to
this structure, in some cases it is possible to discriminate between
foreshocks, main shocks, and aftershocks, although, this
classification is not well defined and can be ambiguous. However, it
is observed that moderate and strong earthquakes initiate sequences
of secondary events which decay in time. These sequences are called
aftershocks and their spatial and temporal distributions provide
valuable information about the earthquake generating process
\cite{Kisslinger:1996a}.

Earthquakes follow several empirical scaling laws. Most prominent of
them is Gutenberg-Richter relation \cite{Gutenberg:1954a} which
states that the cumulative number of events greater than magnitude
$m$, $N(\ge m)$, follows an exponential distribution $N(\ge
m)\propto 10^{-b\,m}$, where $b$ is a universal exponent near unity.
This distribution becomes a power-law when the magnitude is replaced
with the seismic moment, as the magnitude scales as a logarithm of
the seismic moment. Another empirical power-law scaling relation
describes the temporal decay of aftershock sequences in terms of the
frequency of occurrence of events per unit time, this is called the
modified Omori's law \cite{Utsu:1995a}. The spatial distribution of
faults on which earthquakes occur also satisfy (multi-)fractal
statistics \cite{Robertson:1995a,Davidsen:2004a}. These laws are
manifestations of the self-similar nature of earthquake processes.

Based on studies of properties of California seismicity, an attempt
to introduce a unified scaling law for the temporal distribution of
earthquakes was proposed \cite{Bak:2002a}. The distribution of
inter-occurrence times between successive earthquakes was obtained
by using as scaling parameter both a grid size over which the region
was subdivided, and a lower magnitude cutoff. Two distinct scaling
regimes were found.  For short times, aftershocks dominate the
scaling properties of the distribution, decaying according to the
modified Omori's law. For long times, an exponential scaling regime
was found that can be associated with the occurrence of main shocks.
To take into account the spatial heterogeneity of seismic activity,
it has been argued that the second regime is not an exponential but
another power-law \cite{Corral:2003a}. An analysis of the change in
behavior between these two regimes based on a nonstationary Poisson
sequence of events was carried out in \cite{Lindman:2005a}. The
further analysis of aftershock sequences in California and Iceland
revealed the existence of another scaling regime for small values of
inter-occurrence times \cite{Davidsen:2004a}.

An alternative approach to describe a unified scaling of earthquake
recurrence times was suggested in
\cite{Corral:2004a,Corral:2004b,Corral:2005a}, where the
distributions computed for different spatial areas and magnitude
ranges were rescaled with the rate of seismic activity for each area
considered. It was argued that the seismic rate fully controls the
observed scaling, and that the shape of the distribution can be
approximated by the generalized gamma function, indicating the
existence of correlations in the recurrence times beyond the
duration of aftershock sequences. This approach agrees with
observations that main shocks show a nonrandom behavior with some
effects of long-range memory \cite{Mega:2003a}.

Before we carry out an analysis of seismic data, we will outline a
derivation of a distribution function for waiting times between
events in a point process characterized by a rate $r(t)$ and
distributed according to NHP statistics over a finite time interval
$T$. The full analysis is going to be reported elsewhere
\cite{Yakovlev:2005a}. The instantaneous probability distribution
function of waiting times $Y$ at time $t$, until the next event in
accordance with the NHP process hypothesis has the following
form~\cite{Daley:2002a}
\begin{equation}\label{nhpm:eq1}
    F(t,\Delta t)=\mathrm{Prob}\{Y < \Delta t\}=1-\mathrm{e}^{-\int_t^{t+\Delta
    t}\,r(u)\,du}\,,
\end{equation}
where $r(t)$ is a rate of occurrence of events at the time $t$. The
probability density function of waiting times over the whole time
period $T$ has the following form
\begin{eqnarray}\label{nhpm:eq2}
    P_T(\Delta t) & = & \frac{1}{N}\,\left[\int\limits_0^{T-\Delta t}\,r(s)\,r(s+\Delta t)\,
    \mathrm{e}^{-\int_s^{s+\Delta t}\,r(u)\,du}\,ds +\right. \nonumber \\
    & & \left.+\,r(\Delta t)\,\mathrm{e}^{-\int_0^{\Delta t}\,r(u)\,du}\right]\,,
\end{eqnarray}
where $N=\int_0^T\,r(u)\,du$ is the total number of events during a
time period $T$. In the simple case of a constant rate
($r=\mathrm{const}$) one recovers the result for the homogeneous
Poisson process, namely, $P_T(\Delta t)= \mathrm{e}^{-r\,\Delta
t}\,\left(r-\frac{r\,\Delta t}{T}+\frac{1}{T}\right)$
\cite{Yakovlev:2005a}.

In order to check the correctness of the derivation of
Eq.~(\ref{nhpm:eq2}) we have performed numerical simulations of the
NHP process with a decaying time dependent rate $r(t)$.
Specifically, we have used a power-law rate defined as
\begin{equation}\label{nhpm:eq3}
    r(t)=\frac{1}{\tau\,\left(1+t/c\right)^p}\,,
\end{equation}
where $\tau$ is a characteristic time that defines the rate at time
$t=0$, $c$ is a second characteristic time that eliminates the
singularity at $t=0$, and $p$ is a power-law exponent. This rate is
commonly used to describe the relaxation of aftershock sequences
after a main shock and is called the modified Omori's
law~\cite{Utsu:1995a}.

\begin{figure}
\includegraphics[scale=0.46,viewport= 0mm 0mm 215mm
120mm,angle=0]{figure1a}%

\includegraphics[scale=0.46,viewport= 0mm 0mm 215mm
120mm,angle=0]{figure1b}%

\caption{\label{fig1} a) Inter-occurrence time distributions for the
NHP process with the decaying rate (\ref{nhpm:eq3}). Symbols are
numerical simulations of the NHP process. Solid lines are numerical
integrations of Eq.~(\ref{nhpm:eq2}). b) The scaling analysis of the
distributions for $\Delta t\ge 150$~s using Eq.~(\ref{nhpm:eq4}).
The solid line is a fit of the generalized gamma function to the
rescaled data.}
\end{figure}

In Fig.~\ref{fig1}a we show plots of numerical simulations of the
NHP process with varying scaling parameters $\tau$, $c$, and $T$
with fixed $p=1.2$. These are indicated as solid symbols. We also
plot the corresponding numerical integrations of
Eq.~(\ref{nhpm:eq2}) for the same values of $\tau$, $c$, and $T$.
The comparison shows that Eq.~(\ref{nhpm:eq2}) correctly describes
the inter-occurrence time distributions between events.

We have also performed a scaling analysis of our simulated
distributions for the values $\Delta t \ge 150$ s. This is shown in
Fig.~\ref{fig1}b. The distributions collapse onto each other with
respect to the following scaling law
\begin{equation}\label{nhpm:eq4}
    P_{\tau,c,T}(\Delta t) = \frac{1}{\tau}\,
    \left(\frac{\Delta t}{\tau}\right)^{-\alpha}\,
    f\left[\frac{\Delta t}{\tau}\,\left(\frac{T}{c}\right)^{-\beta}\right]\,,
\end{equation}
where $\alpha=1.212$ and $\beta=1.194$. The scaling function $f(x)$
can be approximated by the generalized gamma function
$f(x)=A\,x^{\gamma}\,\exp(-x/B)$ with $\gamma=0.056$, $A=0.329$, and
$B=1.122$. The distribution functions have two characteristic
time-scales, i.e. $\tau$ and $\tau (T/c)^\beta$, which define two
roll overs for small and large $\Delta t$'s.

To find scaling relations between the above exponents, one has to
perform an asymptotic analysis of the integral (\ref{nhpm:eq2}) for
large $\Delta t \gg 1$ and $T \gg 1$. This analysis can be done by
using Laplace's method \cite{Olver:1974a} and gives $P(\Delta t)
\sim {\Delta t}^{-(2-1/p)}$ for $T\to\infty$ and $P(\Delta t) \sim
\exp[-\Delta t/\tau(1+T/c)^p]$ for finite $T$, from which we
conclude that $\alpha-\gamma=2-1/p$ and $\beta=p$. The exponent
$2-1/p$ was also reported in \cite{Utsu:1995a}.

To check the proposed hypothesis that aftershocks can be modeled as
a NHP process, the derived distribution (\ref{nhpm:eq2}) has been
compared to several aftershock sequences in California. We have used
the seismic catalog provided by the Southern California Earthquake
Center (SCSN catalog, http://www.data.scec.org). The identification
of aftershock sequences is usually an ambiguous problem which
requires assumptions on the spatial and temporal clustering of
aftershocks \cite{Kisslinger:1996a}. In this work we assume that all
events that have occurred after a main shock within a given time
interval $T$ and a square area $L\times L$ are aftershocks of a
particular main shock. By neglecting the magnitude, spatial size and
duration of each individual event and considering all aftershocks
above a certain threshold $m_c$, we map a multi-dimensional process
into a process on the one-dimensional time-line. This marked process
is characterized by the times of occurrence of individual events
$t_i$ and their magnitudes $m_i$. We define inter-occurrence or
waiting times between successive aftershocks as $\Delta t_i=t_i -
t_{i-1}$, $i=1,2,\ldots$ and study their statistical distribution
over a finite time interval $T$.

In this work, we use the decay rate of aftershocks, introduced in
\cite{Shcherbakov:2004a,Shcherbakov:2005a}, which is a
generalization of the modified Omori's law (\ref{nhpm:eq3}), where
the characteristic time $c(m)=\tau\,(p-1)\,10^{b\,(m^\star-m)}$ is a
function of the lower cutoff magnitude of an aftershock sequence
$m$, $m^\star$ is the maximum value of an aftershock in a sequence
with finite number of events, and $p>1$. We also assume that
aftershock sequences satisfy the Gutenberg-Richter cumulative
distribution $N(\ge m) = 10^{b\,(m^\star - m)}$. This defines a
truncated distribution where the expected number of events with
magnitudes greater than $m^\star$ is equal to one and the exponent
$b$ is generally near unity \cite{Shcherbakov:2004b}.

\begin{figure}
\includegraphics[scale=0.46,viewport= 0mm 0mm 215mm
120mm,angle=0]{figure2a}%

\includegraphics[scale=0.46,viewport= 0mm 0mm 215mm
120mm,angle=0]{figure2b}%

\includegraphics[scale=0.46,viewport= 0mm 0mm 215mm
120mm,angle=0]{figure2c}%
\caption{\label{fig2}Inter-occurrence time distributions for the
three California aftershock sequences for different magnitude
cutoffs $m_c=1.5, 2.0, 2.5, \dots, 4.0$. Square areas considered are
$1.25^\circ\times 1.25^\circ$ for (a) the Landers sequence and
$1.0^\circ\times 1.0^\circ$ for (b) the Northridge and (c) Hector
Mine sequences each centered on the epicenters of the main shocks.
In all cases a time interval of $T=1$ year following the main shock
has been used. The solid lines have been computed using
Eq.~(\ref{nhpm:eq2}).}
\end{figure}

In Fig.~\ref{fig2} we have computed the distribution functions of
inter-occurrence times between successive aftershocks from the
observed data of three California aftershock sequences. These are
indicated as solid symbols in Fig.~\ref{fig2}. For each of these
sequences we have used square boxes of size $L\times
L=1.25^\circ\times 1.25^\circ$ for the Landers earthquake
($m_{ms}=7.3$; Jun 28, 1992) and $1.0^\circ\times 1.0^\circ$ for the
Northridge ($m_{ms}=6.7$; Jan 17, 1994) and Hector Mine
($m_{ms}=7.1$; Oct 16, 1999) earthquakes centered on the epicenter
of the main shocks and a time interval of $T=1$ year. All the
earthquakes that occurred in the spatio-temporal boxes were treated
as aftershocks. The analysis of the data shows that the
distributions are not too sensitive to changes in the linear size
$L$ of the box, the results are almost the same for $L$ ranging from
$0.25^\circ$ to $1.75^\circ$ within statistical errors. This means
that the distributions are dominated by the activity of the events
generated by the main shocks and the background seismicity doesn't
contribute significantly to the scaling.

In this analysis of an aftershock sequence as a point process we
treat all earthquakes as having the same magnitude and as a result
we lose a significant fraction of information related to the physics
of the process. To recover some information from the magnitude
domain of each sequence we have used a lower magnitude cutoff $m_c$
as a scaling parameter and study sequences with different $m_c$'s.
These are depicted by different colors in the plots
(Fig.~\ref{fig2}). The distributions with lower magnitude cutoffs
have a shorter power-law scaling regime and start to roll over more
quickly. This can be explained by the presence of more events in the
sequences with lower magnitude cutoffs and as a result the
shortening of the mean time intervals between events. Another
scaling parameter which affects the roll over is the time interval
$T$. An increase in $T$ leads to the occurrence of longer intervals
$\Delta t$ between events.

\begin{figure}
\includegraphics[scale=0.46,viewport= 0mm 0mm 215mm
120mm,angle=0]{figure3}%

\caption{\label{fig3} The scaling analysis of the inter-occurrence
time distributions of the three aftershocks sequences according to
(\ref{nhpm:eq4}). The red, green, and blue symbols correspond to the
Landers ($p=1.22$, $\tau=107.25$ s), Northridge ($p=1.17$,
$\tau=53.14$ s), and Hector Mine ($p=1.22$, $\tau=83.71$ s)
sequences. In each sequence the varying parameters $c$ and $T=180$,
$360$, and $720$ days have been used. The best collapse have been
found for $\alpha=1.25$ and $\beta=1.22$.}
\end{figure}

To compare the observed scaling with the simulations of a NHP
process we also plot in Fig.~\ref{fig2}, as solid curves, the
distributions computed assuming that aftershock sequences follow NHP
statistics with the rate given by Eq.~(\ref{nhpm:eq3}) and the
parameters $\tau$, $c$, and $p$ estimated from the observed three
California aftershock sequences \cite{Shcherbakov:2004a}. The plots
show that the modeled distributions are in excellent agreement with
the observations.

We have also performed a scaling analysis of the inter-occurrence
time distributions of these aftershock sequences. This is shown in
Fig~\ref{fig3}. The characteristic time $c$ and the time interval
$T$ have been chosen as scaling parameters. These sequences are
characterized by slightly different initial rates $\tau$ and
exponents $p$. The results show a reasonably good scaling with
respect to $c$ and $T$ which supports our hypothesis that aftershock
sequences can be described as a NHP process.

In summary, the studies of inter-occurrence of aftershocks presented
in this work suggest that aftershock sequences can be modeled to a
good approximation as a point process governed by NHP statistics,
where the rate of activity decays as a power-law
(Eq.~\ref{nhpm:eq3}). This decaying rate introduces a self-similar
regime into the observed scaling followed by an exponential roll
over. An analysis of a nonstationary earthquake sequence was also
performed in \cite{Corral:2005a}. It was suggested the existence of
a secondary clustering structure within the main sequence and
deviation from NHP behavior. The knowledge of the type of
distribution that governs the occurrence of aftershocks is important
in any hazard assessment programs. The derived distribution
(Eq.~\ref{nhpm:eq2}) has much broader applicability and can be used
for studies of many time dependent processes which follow NHP
statistics.

Fruitful discussions with A. Corral and A. Soshnikov are
acknowledged. The comments of the anonymous reviewer helped to
enhance the analysis. This work has been supported by NSF grant ATM
0327558 (DLT, RS) and US DOE grant DE-FG02-04ER15568 (RS, GY, JBR).

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
<?php

namespace TestWeb\PruebasBundle\Form;

use TestWeb\PruebasBundle\Form\DataTransformer\NombreToEspecialidadTransformer;

use Symfony\Component\Form\AbstractType;
use Symfony\Component\Form\FormBuilderInterface;
use Symfony\Component\OptionsResolver\OptionsResolverInterface;

class DoctorType extends AbstractType
{
    public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options)
    {
    	$entityManager = $options['em'];
    	$transformer = new NombreToEspecialidadTransformer($entityManager);

    	$builder
            ->add('apellido')
            ->add('nombre')
            ->add('dni')
            ->add('fechaNacimiento')
            ->add($builder->create('especialidad', 'text')->addModelTransformer($transformer))
            //->add('especialidad','text',array('attr'=>array('title'=>'Ingrese una nueva especialidad o elija entre las disponibles')))

        ;
    }

    public function setDefaultOptions(OptionsResolverInterface $resolver)
    {
        $resolver->setDefaults(array('data_class' => 'TestWeb\PruebasBundle\Entity\Doctor' ));

        $resolver->setRequired(array('em',));

        $resolver->setAllowedTypes(array('em' => 'Doctrine\Common\Persistence\ObjectManager',  ));
    }

    public function getName()
    {
        return 'testweb_pruebasbundle_doctortype';
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Our focus is on You, Your Smile and Your Comfort.
Conveniently located in West Sacramento, our goal is to exceed all of your expectations all of the time. We welcome new patients and we strive to develop a long-lasting, trusting relationship with you by taking the time to listen and get to know you.


text:
Goodwill collaboration delivers supply chain training for 400 San Antonio workers
Edwin Lopez / Supply Chain Dive
Riia O'Donnell @RiiaOD
Katie Clarey @kclarey21
First published on
Education Design Lab has launched its UpSkill SA initiative, which aims to upskill San Antonio's front-line workers. In its 18-month pilot phase, the program will provide skills training to more than 400 Goodwill San Antonio workers in fields such as logistics and supply chain management.
Designed according to a learner-centric model, the program pairs employer-focused curriculum from Palo Alto College with support services from the school and Goodwill San Antonio. Counselors, coaches and case workers will help learners focus on skills enhancement as they assist with some of the traditional barriers to learning: child care, transportation and technology access.
"UpSkill SA! reflects the power — and necessity — of cross-sector collaboration to build accessible pathways into the most in-demand fields," Palo Alto College President Robert Garza said in a news release. "By connecting Goodwill workers with marketable skills in high-growth jobs, we can help ensure every person in our community has the ability to gain the education needed for a stable career."
As Americans continue to shift their shopping online, careers in warehousing, supply chain and logistics are booming. The transportation and warehousing sector lured more than 731,000 hires from other industries from 2011 to 2015.
Some companies are cultivating resources from within; Walmart employees can pay $1 per day to gain access to online programs through the University of Florida, Brandman University and Bellevue University, and the first degrees available to participants are in business and supply chain management.
Goodwill's move to join in on the UpSkill SA initiative and partner with various organizations to promote learning reveals the effects of the e-tailing boom and reflects a broader trend among employers investing in employee training opportunities.
Goodwill's evident focus on cross-sector partnerships echoes other employers' approaches to the skills crisis. Many — including Discover, Taco Bell, Lowe's, Disney and Walmart — have partnered with Guild Education, an employee education benefit provider, to offer workers the opportunity to learn outside of work.
Fifth Third Bank provides another example in its partnership with the NAACP that provides community members with "tools, resources and information regarding career literacy that will empower individuals to find employment and to enhance their employment skills," according to a news release.
Follow Riia O'Donnell on Twitter
Follow Katie Clarey on Twitter
Filed Under: Operations
Gen Z has a thing for BOPIS


text:
Government control zone around TwinLakes theme park after bird flu detected
Some of the birds are to be culled
The control zone (Image: Defra)
The Government has imposed a control zone around a Leicestershire theme park after a strain of bird flu was identified.
The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) says the virus has been identified among poultry and captive birds at a site in Melton Mowbray.
It has not confirmed the premises where the outbreak was detected, but its own map of the exclusion zone has the Twinlakes Park at its dead centre.
DEFRA said it was the H5N8 strain of bird flu that had been found.
More than 440 new confirmed coronavirus cases recorded across Leicestershire today
Police cars rammed by crooks in transit van - this is the vehicle officers want to trace
A three kilometre and and ten kilometre Temporary Control Zone has been put in place around Twin Lakes, which is currently shut during lockdown.
The measures put in place restrict animal movements and visits within the zone.
Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss said: "Avian influenza has been confirmed in a small number of poultry and captive birds at a site near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire.
"All of the birds at risk of having been infected will now be humanely culled and we have put a temporary control zone in place around the premises to prevent the spread of the disease.
"Following a number of confirmed cases in the UK there is currently an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone in place across the country to ensure that we can eradicate the disease as quickly as possible.
"Bird keepers should remain alert for any signs of disease, report suspected disease immediately and ensure they are maintaining strong biosecurity measures on their premises."
The whole premises is under restriction and poultry and mammals are not allowed to be moved from the site.
LeicestershireLive has contacted Twin Lakes for comment.
Gary Connors, Head of Regulatory Services for Leicestershire County Council, said: "We are working closely with DEFRA and to help reduce the spread of the disease, our Trading Standards officers will be visiting properties within the control zone in order to identify anyone who has birds."
An NHS spokesman said: "No humans have been infected with H5N1, H7N9, H5N6 or H5N8 bird flu in the UK – this includes the type of H5N6 virus recently found in humans in China. Plans are in place to manage any suspected cases."
"H5N8 bird flu has been found in some wild birds and poultry in the UK. H5N6 has also been found in some wild birds in the UK but is a different strain to that seen in China."
Twinlakes


Zoo With Roy: Awwww Shucky Ducky, It's a Swag-O-Meter Update!!!
I'm not saying we should have an "Awwww Shucky Ducky" J-Roll shirt, but I do think it's a possibility we should keep an eye on.
Can we change his nickname to Jimmy Swags? I like that one much better.


Come Eat at the Stingray Cafe!
Prepay for your child's breakfast or lunch!
Parents, please note that students can purchase lunch for $1.80 and an adult lunch can be purchased for $3.50 (unless your child has qualified for a reduced price lunch - $0.40).
Breakfast can be purchased for $1.25 (unless qualified for reduced price breakfast - $0.30).
Please be aware of the charges that your child accumulates. The maximum amount of lunch charges allowed is $5.00.
Please click here for further Meal Price information.
Please contact our Cafeteria Manager, Cindy Dansereau, with any further questions you may have regarding your child's lunch program at 770.651.4824.
At North Douglas, we are lucky to receive a grant that entitles all of our students to a free breakfast. Please see our special breakfast menu below.
Here is a direct link to the Free & Reduced lunch application online.


CERS believes progressive and equitable conservation of nature should not be achieved at the expense of indigenous peoples. This project, while preserving habitat and protecting the rare Yunnan Snub-nosed Golden Monkey has taken fully into account the traditional culture and economic realities of the Lisu people, balancing the conservation of both nature and culture. Two of the last Lisu log homes and a group of affiliated storage cabins have been saved and restored as a habitat exhibit. CERS also aims to help produce an educational film focusing on the issues facing both the Golden Monkey and the Lisu hill tribe as the villages become a new destination for tourists.


Luca Leggero is a post-media artist, an avant-rock musician, a ductile engineer.
As an artist, he explores the dissolution of the so-called new media in our daily lives, creating websites, prints, sculptures, videos, shows.
As a musician, he is both interested in the song form and free improvisation; he makes soundtracks and collaborates with various bands.
As an engineer, he offers flexibility to the forces.
He is the founder of the multimedia collective MAIS and he is part of the editorial board at the artist books publishing house Atypo.org.


Have your kids been asking for new toys? Well, this is the time to update their kid's toy selections. Unlike the past, the modern toys are more robotic and real in that they can perform real tasks.
With numerous options on the market, it can be intimidating to select the best and trendy toy for your kids. But worry no more; we've rounded up the best kid's toys of 2017 for you.
Well, if you haven't given this Barbie toy a thought, then you need to start considering it seriously. It's the kind of toy that will change not only your kid's experience but also make them responsible with pets. It's design in the form of a puppy that has the ability to potty after eating. It also includes a doggy dish and comes with a broom and scooper for the kid to clean up the mess. The toy also includes a bone and leash to make the kid feel like they have a real toy. It's a great toy for your kids.
It's touted as one of the best trendy toys on the market today. Designed and released by the Spinmasters, these robotic summer toys have been in high demand like no other toys on the market. What's interesting about these chemical creatures is the fact that they can talk and walk and all the kid does is pressing the buttons. They behave like real animals by laying eggs and showing emotions and that's what makes them popular with kids.
Touted as the best building toy, Meccano Meccanoid G15 is the perfect upgrade of a toy for your kid. It's a robotic toy with incredible features that will keep your kids busy and happy for a long time. One of the most interesting parts is assembling the toy. It comes in 600 pieces, and that's quite a task for the kid to assemble it- that alone can keep the kids busy for hours. It's seen as one of the best toys to grow your kids intellectually.
This is another toy that every kid in Australia is crying for. It's designed as a robot; thus the reason is also defined as one of the best robot toys 2017. What you will also like about the toy is the fact that it can keep the entire family entertained. Just like the typical robot, the little guy can be commanded to execute some simple task. It's the kind of toy that will help the kid to learn about coding while playing around with it.


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MarTech » Marketing Operations » Ops, chemistry and creative: Friday's daily brief
Ops, chemistry and creative: Friday's daily brief
Creative automation vendor Celtra partners with Pinterest.
Kim Davis on May 28, 2021 at 10:08 am
MarTech's daily brief features daily insights, news, tips, and essential bits of wisdom for today's digital marketer. If you would like to read this before the rest of the internet does, sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox daily.
Good morning, Marketers, today we introduce two important resources to our MarTech community.
One is MarTech's Email Marketing Periodic Table, which covers every essential process and pitfall in the delivery of emails, so that you can hit every goal in your marketing strategy through this channel.
The other resource is the launch of a new series by marketing ops agency Perkuto. They get deep into key updates from Marketo, Bizible and Workato. Among these is the Workato Automation HQ. "Placing focus on how organizations will manage their automated processes from start to finish is a big play and will set a solid foundation for organizations to scale and become more efficient," Perkuto states.
Couldn't agree more, and this got me thinking about the new Celtra-Pinterest integration a little further down. In order to tap into targeted audiences at scale, digital marketers need the tools for a unified workflow that includes creative automation and testing.
P.S. You won't see a newsletter from us on Monday in honor of Memorial Day.
Chris Wood,
What matters in Marketo, Bizable and Workato's May releases
In the first in this series of MOPs Rundowns, marketing operations agency Perkuto looks at Marketo's May release, unpacking Executable Campaigns as well as some favorite API enhancements.
Next-Generation Experience Updates in Marketo: These two minor updates have a major impact on day-to-day Marketo operations. One of which is a big move for accessibility and the other, the return of a functionality MOPs professionals had desperately missed.
Iconography and badges and larger, more colorful, and with a higher level of accessibility; including tool-tips.
Drag and drop it like it's hot! Marketo users had lost this functionality and were forced to right-click and move assets to a folder but with the drag and drop back, so is your efficient day-to-day operations.
May was also a big month for Workato. With its first annual conference, Automate, it announced two major developments:
Workato's Automation HQ, which will help bridge communication around automations across the organization; and
Workato Accelerators, a fully-packaged solution for a broad set of automation use-cases.
The learnings from Workato's customer base have driven this set of templatized, packaged assets which include pre-built recipes, custom connectors, data models, and more. A continuous stream of new accelerators will be released over the coming months.
The Periodic Table that tackles deliverability and optimization
Email has long been one of the most reliable marketing channels for getting your messaging in front of your customers. Whether it's content in the form of a weekly newsletter, a personalized promotion or an important account update, marketers need to trust that their message will be delivered and that they've optimized those messages to get maximum engagement. That is why MarTech is releasing today an updated Email Marketing Periodic Table that tells you everything you need to know about sending emails that your customers want to receive and that inboxes won't block.
Each element in this table represents a factor that you need to consider to be successful in email. The elements are gathered into categories based on their relationships to one another, and the categories are designated as related to either Optimization or Deliverability. Further down on the table, you'll see Toxins, a category for practices that can poison your email marketing efforts, and Traps, which you'll want to be aware of falling into.
Digital marketing is indeed an art, but it is also a science. We hope this tool serves as an essential reference for your experiments.
Get MarTech's Email Marketing Periodic Table
Celtra partners with Pinterest
Creative automation software company Celtra announced a partnership with visual discovery platform Pinterest allowing brands to distribute Pinterest ads at scale through a direct API integration.
Global commerce company Shopify was the first to preview the integration, which allowed them to test and update creative elements for ads with a streamlined workflow throughout Pinterest's nearly half a billion monthly active users.
Why we care. Pinterest is already a haven for discovery, as users scour the platform for ideas about what to buy, from vacations to foods to home improvements. One of the main reasons for Pinterest's growth is its authentic community of creators, and to message them requires a lot of labor and coordination or a comparable automated solution. Pinners don't want to be served thoughtless ads.
"I'll never understand why clients choose agencies who they will fight tooth and nail with on the work. If you want a vendor, just say that." Aisha Hakim, Associate Creative Director, Preacher
Kim Davis
Kim Davis is the Editorial Director of MarTech. Born in London, but a New Yorker for over two decades, Kim started covering enterprise software ten years ago. His experience encompasses SaaS for the enterprise, digital- ad data-driven urban planning, and applications of SaaS, digital technology, and data in the marketing space. He first wrote about marketing technology as editor of Haymarket's The Hub, a dedicated marketing tech website, which subsequently became a channel on the established direct marketing brand DMN. Kim joined DMN proper in 2016, as a senior editor, becoming Executive Editor, then Editor-in-Chief a position he held until January 2020. Prior to working in tech journalism, Kim was Associate Editor at a New York Times hyper-local news site, The Local: East Village, and has previously worked as an editor of an academic publication, and as a music journalist. He has written hundreds of New York restaurant reviews for a personal blog, and has been an occasional guest contributor to Eater.
Content MarketingEmail MarketingMarketing Operations


Native to East Africa, the crested rat has been found to turn poison bark into a defense mechanism.
Rodent is first animal known to apply lethal toxin to its body.
A porcupine-like rat turns its quills into lethal weapons by coating them with a plant toxin, a new study says. Neighboring African hunters use the same substance to make elephant-grade poison arrows.
No other animals are known to use a truly deadly external poison, researchers say.
Scientists have long suspected that the crested rat might be using poison because of stories of dogs becoming ill or dying after encounters with the rodent, and because it has a distinct black-and-white warning coloration seen in other species.
It was unclear until now, however, where the nocturnal rat got its poison.
Poison isn't the only item in the armory of the roughly foot-and-a-half-long (45-centimeter-long) rat, which lives in burrows in East Africa, the team says.
Very tough skin and a reinforced skull that looks like "it could take a couple of head shots" also suggest the rodent doesn't shrink from a fight, said study co-author Tim O'Brien, a biologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society.
And with leopards, honey badgers, jackals, and wild dogs among its assumed predators, the rat may need all the advantages it can muster.
"For as long as colonials have been in Kenya, there have been tribes that specialize in hunting elephants using this poison, and now we're seeing it being used in rhino poaching," O'Brien said.
Ouabain can cause paralysis and, at high enough doses, heart attacks.
"The dogs that we know of that have attacked the crested rat have suffered everything from temporary paralysis for a couple of weeks to death," said O'Brien, who is also a researcher at the Mpala Research Centre in Kenya, where the experiment was conducted.
Other mammals are known to use toxins that they don't produce themselves. For example, a hedgehog species applies a mild toxin from a toad to its fur, O'Brien said. Likewise, some capuchin monkeys rub an extract from millipedes onto their fur to repel insects.
"But there are no other examples of an animal using [an external substance] that is actually a lethal toxin," he said.
Why Is Rat Immune to Poison?
While the new study solves one crested rat mystery, others remain.
It's unclear, for example, why the rodent itself doesn't suffer from the poison. One idea is that its saliva subtly alters the poison, O'Brien said.
Scientists also don't know how each young crested rat learns about ouabain. Is the chemistry lesson passed from parents to offspring? Does each animal discover the poison on its own?
"No one knows," he said. "We know the general outlines about this animal but none of the details."


One of the most tragic stories in the entire Bible is the story of Judas. Judas was a disciple of Jesus. He was called by Jesus personally to be one of His followers. The Bible says that Jesus trusted Judas so much that he put him in charge of the money. Jesus and the disciples had money that would come into their ministry that they would disperse to needy people. We know that this is true from the account of a woman named Mary who came to anoint Jesus while he was at his pal Lazarus' house. Jesus was visiting with some people and Mary busted through the door with some perfume that was worth 1 years wages. Judas watched all of this happened and said the following as recorded in John 12:5-6.
It's clear that Judas was a thief and didn't really have an interest in following Jesus. Jesus after hearing Judas speak these words sternly corrected him by saying, " leave Mary alone!" It was after this encounter that Judas got offended and thought to himself….."Who does Jesus think He is calling me out like that?" Judas then went to the high priest to arrange a way for him to betray Jesus.
Fast forward to the night of the last supper. Jesus is sharing one last meal with all 12 of his disciples including Judas. Jesus is in a very somber mood clearly realizing all that He is going to have to go through in the coming days. He tells the disciples that one of them will betray Him. Upon hearing this, the disciples go into freak out mode. They begin questioning each other…."Is it you? Is it you? No way, it's not me…..Is it you?" Jesus told them….."Guys….relax. The person that I dip this bread with….that is the one who will betray me." After hearing that the disciples are like……"Ummmmmm ok?" Then something amazing happens. Jesus calls Judas over to him and dips bread with him. Basically he took some bread and dipped it into some wine. Now this next part baffles me. Jesus just told the disciples whomever I dip bread with…..they are the one. Jesus dips bread with Judas. Check out what the disciples response is.
Hello?!?!?! Didn't Jesus just say the person whom he dips bread with is the one? He dips the bread with Judas and they say……Why did He say that to Judas? He is probably on some secret assignment. Here is the point. Judas had all of the disciples fooled. The never suspected Him in a million years. I bet Judas would have made an incredible poker player. He bluffed his way through Jesus' entire 3 year ministry. The only problem was even though he had the disciples fooled, Jesus saw right through him. Jesus always sees right through us. Some of us may think we are doing ok because everyone around us thinks we are godly. The real question lies in who you are when no one else is around. Jesus knows. And His opinion is the only one that counts.


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Crawford Rejoining The Hybrid Shop as President and COO
Hybrid and electric vehicle training and development provider The Hybrid Shop has announced that industry and hybrid veteran (and Tire Review contributor) Dave Crawford has accepted an invitation to rejoin the company as President and COO.
"Dave Crawford was an integral part of the original franchise program and built strong relationships with the original dealers," says CEO Martin Kruszelnicki. "As the new program started coming together, we knew that we needed someone with Dave's experience to manage the business and franchise efforts. We had formed a solid relationship when I owned my hybrid dealership in Santa Monica, so I reached out to see if there was still interest. I was thrilled when he agreed to rejoin the company."
Prior to rejoining The Hybrid Shop, Crawford was an independent business consultant and trainer specializing in the evaluation of retail tire businesses. He shares that knowledge with dealers as a Contributing Editor with Tire Review magazine. His franchising experience was developed as Vice President of Tire Pros Operations at American Tire Distributors, and as National Marketing Director with American Car Care Centers. In addition to overseeing day-to-day operations and management, Crawford will focus on expanding the THS network of franchise locations servicing hybrid and electric vehicles (HEV/EV).
The primary focus of THS will be developing a franchise network of forward-thinking dealers who are interested in positioning themselves to service hybrid and electric vehicles. "The automotive industry is certainly moving towards fuel economy", said Crawford. "Dealers need to embrace the future and new technology. THS has the tools and support, and I was excited when Martin approached me about rejoining the team. This was an opportunity I had to embrace."
Working with GTK Instruments in Poland, THS has developed a new process for remanufacturing high voltage hybrid batteries that is far more advanced than previous processes. Remanufactured batteries are only a small part of the program. The real value of the program comes from having a trained technical staff that has confidence to diagnose and repair HEV/EV vehicles safely and profitably. The biggest challenge for dealers is the learning curve and letting your market know you specialize in servicing hybrids. THS helps with both by providing dealer and technician training at its training center in Los Angeles, California. The company also provides marketing support to assist with building the awareness that will distinguish the THS dealer and drive new business.
"Servicing hybrids is a great opportunity for dealers to add on to their existing business. This is a program that nobody else in the industry offers", says Crawford. "A franchise with THS is a chance to get in on the ground floor of a market trend that is expected to continue to expand. I see big opportunities for everyone who's involved with The Hybrid Shop. To me, this new role is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help lead the larger industry in the cutting-edge technology in the burgeoning hybrid market. It's exciting to be back."
The Hybrid Shop team has years of extensive knowledge and experience in electric and hybrid vehicles, components, service and repair. The company is committed to investing in research and development of new products, especially replacement high voltage batteries, that reduce costs for vehicle owners, increase profits for franchise partners and provide a more sustainable solution. The mission of the company is to share its specialized electric- and hybrid-vehicle knowledge, plus create jobs and profits with its growing franchise network. The Hybrid Shop franchise partner network is expected to grow to over 400 locations worldwide.
The Hybrid Shop franchise partners serviced and repaired over 30,000 electric and hybrid vehicles in 2017 from all OEM brands. THS is committed to supporting all electric and hybrid vehicle customers with the best service, while growing network of Dealers.
Dave Crawford can be reached at [email protected].
In this article:executive appointments, The Hybrid Shop
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Long overlooked, child care industry may finally get a permanent lifeline from Beacon Hill
Kentucky Derby favorite Omaha Beach is scratched
Omaha Beach under exercise rider Taylor Cambra Wednesday, before he was scratched.
By Beth Harris Associated Press May 01, 2019
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Suddenly, the Kentucky Derby is wide open.
Favorite Omaha Beach was scratched because of a breathing problem Wednesday night, leaving a pair of Hall of Famers on the sideline — trainer Richard Mandella and jockey Mike Smith.
Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia revised the morning line to make Game Winner the 9-2 favorite for the 1¼-mile race Saturday.
Improbable and Roadster were installed as the co-second choices at 5-1, giving five-time Derby-winning trainer Bob Baffert the top three choices in the 20-horse field.
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Mandella said Omaha Beach developed a cough and a subsequent veterinary exam showed the colt has an entrapped epiglottis. It's generally not life- or career-threatening and is typically corrected with minor surgery.
''It's been a devastating thing, but we have to do what's right for the horse,'' said Mandella, who has never won the Derby with six previous starters.
The trainer said Omaha Beach will have surgery in Kentucky in the next few days and will be sidelined for two to three weeks. The ordeal will knock him off the Triple Crown trail.
''It's such a disappointment, but we'll fight again,'' Mandella said. "We won't be out a long time.''
The scratch was another blow to cancer survivor Rick Porter, the colt's 78-year-old owner. He has twice finished second in the Derby, in 2007 with Hard Spun and the following year with filly Eight Belles, who broke her ankles past the finish line and had to be euthanized.
''He's a great sport,'' Mandella said. ''I've got very good support.''
Omaha Beach had been the 4-1 early favorite.
Mandella's dry sense of humor came out when he said, ''My wife has my leg tied down so I can't jump out of the window.''
Smith had chosen to ride Omaha Beach instead of Roadster and now he won't have a chance to win the Derby for the second straight year. He rode Justify to victory last year.
''I'm a little bummed out, but the horse is OK and we're going to be all right,'' Smith told the AP by phone. ''The good news is it wasn't anything that is life-threatening.''
Smith has three mounts on Friday's card at Churchill Downs and five Saturday.
''I'll be rooting for Roadster's connections big-time,'' he said. ''I'll be a glorified cheerleader.''
Omaha Beach galloped Wednesday morning without problem and Mandella said everything was fine. But that changed by late afternoon when the exam showed the cough was more than a minor irritation.
The condition can indicate the start of a virus, a sore throat or a sore in somewhere in the horse's soft palate.
Omaha Beach's scratch moves Bodexpress into the field in the No. 20 post.
Mandella said he would likely return to Southern California before the Derby.
''I didn't lose interest,'' he said, ''but I don't want to be here and watch it.''
It's not the first time the Derby has lost a favorite leading up to the race.
In 2009, I Want Revenge became the first morning-line favorite to scratch the day of the race because of a hot spot on his ankle.
Most Popular in sportsRight Arrow


Today, the same date that ABC's Nashville announced the fourth season would be its last, series star Hayden Panettiere shared with her fans that she would be returning to rehab.
Several months ago, we reported that Panettiere checked herself into a facility following the birth of her daughter, admitting that she was suffering from Postpartum Depression ("PPD"). After being treated for the condition, Panettiere stepped back into the spotlight and resumed her role on the hit television show.
However, Panettiere's journey with PPD is far from over. The twenty-six year-old publicly announced her return to treatment on Twitter, sharing with fans that she was choosing to get healthy, rather than attempting to win the battle on her own.
We commend Panettiere on her candidness and wish her the absolute best as she focuses on getting healthy.