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Arquimedes de Siracusa —Arkhimédes  en grec— (Siracusa, Sicília, 287 aC - 212 aC) va ser un matemàtic, astrònom, filòsof, físic i enginyer grec. Encara que es coneixen pocs detalls de la seva vida, és considerat un dels científics més importants de l'antiguitat clàssica. Entre els seus avenços en física, es troben els seus fonaments en hidroestàtica, estàtica i l'explicació del principi de la palanca. És reconegut per haver dissenyat innovadores màquines, incloent-hi armes de setge i el cargol d'Arquimedes, que porta el seu nom. Experiments moderns han provat afirmacions que Arquimedes va dissenyar màquines capaces de treure vaixells enemics de l'aigua i calar foc utilitzant una sèrie de miralls.

Generalment, es considera Arquimedes un dels més grans matemàtics de la història, i el més gran de l'antiguitat.  Usà el mètode d'esgotament per a calcular l'àrea sota l'arc d'una paràbola amb la sumatòria d'una sèrie infinita, i va donar una aproximació extremadament precisa del nombre pi. També va definir l'espiral, fórmules per als volums de les superfícies de revolució i un enginyós sistema per a expressar nombres molt llargs.

Arquimedes va morir durant el setge de Siracusa (214-212 aC), quan va ser assassinat per un soldat romà, malgrat les ordres que no havia de ser malmès. Ciceró descriu haver visitat la tomba d'Arquimedes, que tenia a sobre una esfera inscrita dins d'un cilindre. Arquimedes va provar que l'esfera té dos terços de volum i superfície del cilindre (incloent-hi les seves bases), la qual cosa va considerar el més gran dels seus descobriments matemàtics.

A diferència dels seus invents, els escrits matemàtics d'Arquimedes no van ser massa coneguts en l'antiguitat. Els matemàtics d'Alexandria els van llegir i els van citar, però la primera compilació comprensible va ser feta per Isidor de Milet (c. 530 dC), mentre que cròniques de les obres d'Arquimedes escrites per Eutoci en el  les van obrir per primera vegada a un públic més ampli. Les relativament poques còpies de treballs escrits d'Arquimedes que van sobreviure en l'edat mitjana van ser una important font d'idees durant el Renaixement, mentre que el descobriment el 1906 de treballs desconeguts d'Arquimedes en el palimpsest d'Arquimedes ha ajudat a comprendre com va obtenir resultats matemàtics.

Biografia
Arquimedes va néixer cap al 287 aC al port marítim de Siracusa (Sicília, Itàlia), que en aquell temps era una colònia de la Magna Grècia. La data de naixement es basa en una afirmació de l'historiador romà d'Orient John Tzetzes, que afirmà que Arquimedes va viure 75 anys. En El comptador de sorra -el títol en grec és Psammites-, Arquimedes esmenta el nom del seu pare, Phidias, un astrònom sobre el qual res no se sap. Plutarc va escriure en la seva obra Vides paral·leles que Arquimedes estava emparentat amb el rei Hieró II de Siracusa, encara que Ciceró deia que Arquimedes va néixer en una família pobra. Un amic d'Arquimedes, Heràclides, va escriure una biografia sobre ell. No obstant això, aquest llibre no es conserva, i s'han perdut detalls precisos de la seva vida. Es desconeix, per exemple, si alguna vegada es va casar o va tenir fills. És possible que, durant la seva joventut, Arquimedes estudiés a Alexandria, a Egipte, on Conó de Samos i Eratòstenes de Cirene eren contemporanis seus. Es referia a Conó de Samos com el seu amic i dos dels seus treballs, el Mètode dels teoremes mecànics i el Problema del bestiar, tenen introduccions dirigides a Eratòstenes.

Arquimedes va morir cap al 212 aC, durant la Segona Guerra púnica, quan les forces romanes del general Marc Claudi Marcel capturaren la ciutat de Siracusa després d'un setge de dos anys de durada. D'acord amb el popular relat de Plutarc, Arquimedes estava contemplant un diagrama matemàtic quan la ciutat va ser presa. Un soldat romà li va ordenar anar a trobar-se amb el general, però Arquimedes en va fer cas omís, dient que havia d'acabar abans amb el problema. Plutarc brinda un relat menys conegut de la mort d'Arquimedes, el qual suggereix que podria haver estat mort intentant rendir-se davant d'un soldat romà. D'acord amb aquesta història, Arquimedes portava instruments matemàtics, i va ser assassinat perquè el soldat va pensar que eren objectes valuosos. El general Marcel es va mostrar furiós davant la mort d'Arquimedes, a causa del fet que el considerava un valuós avantatge científic i havia ordenat prèviament que no fos ferit.

Les darreres paraules atribuïdes a Arquimedes van ser: "no molestis els meus cercles", en referència als cercles en el dibuix matemàtic que suposadament estava estudiant quan el va interrompre el soldat romà. La frase és sovint esmentada en llatí com a "Noli turbare cercles meos", però no hi ha proves que Arquimedes pronunciés aquestes paraules i no apareixen en els relats de Plutarc.

La tomba d'Arquimedes tenia una escultura que il·lustrava el seu descobriment matemàtic favorit, que consistia en una esfera i un cilindre de la mateixa alçada i diàmetre. Arquimedes havia provat que el volum i l'àrea de l'esfera són dos terços dels del cilindre, incloent-hi les seves bases. L'any 75 aC, l'orador romà Ciceró estava servint com a questor a Sicília. Aquest havia sentit històries sobre la tomba d'Arquimedes, però cap dels locals va ser capaç de dir on es trobava. Eventualment, va trobar la tomba prop de la porta d'Agrigent a Siracusa, en una condició descurada i poblada d'arbustos. Ciceró va netejar la tomba, i així va ser capaç de veure la talla i llegir alguns dels versos que hi havien escrit.

Les diferents versions de la vida d'Arquimedes van ser escrites molt de temps després de la seva mort pels historiadors de l'antiga Roma. El relat del setge a Siracusa escrit per Polibi en la seva Historia universal es remunta al voltant d'uns setanta anys després de la mort d'Arquimedes, i va ser utilitzat com a font d'informació per Plutarc i Titus Livi. Aquest aclareix punts sobre Arquimedes com a persona, i s'enfoca en les màquines de guerra que deia haver construït per defensar la ciutat.

Obres, descobriments i invents
Encara que, probablement, la seva contribució científica més coneguda sigui el principi de la hidroestàtica que porta el seu nom, no van ser menys notables les seues disquisicions sobre la quadratura del cercle, que és el que ve a ser el descobriment de la relació aproximada entre la circumferència i el diàmetre, relació que es designa avui en dia amb la lletra grega π (pi) (vegeu història del nombre pi).

Arquimedes va demostrar que el costat de l'hexàgon regular inscrit en un cercle és igual al radi de tal cercle; així com que el costat del quadrat circumscrit en un cercle és igual al diàmetre de tal cercle. De la primera proposició, va deduir que el perímetre de l'hexàgon inscrit era 3 vegades el diàmetre de la circumferència, mentre que de la segona va deduir que el perímetre del quadrat circumscrit era 4 vegades el diàmetre de la circumferència.

Va afirmar, a més, que tota línia tancada envoltada per una altra és de menor longitud que aquesta, per la qual cosa la circumferència havia de ser major que tres diàmetres, però menor que quatre. Per mitjà de successives inscripcions i circumscripcions de polígons regulars va arribar a determinar el valor aproximat de π entre:

Amb els rudimentaris mitjans de què disposava el savi grec, l'error absolut que va cometre en el càlcul de π va resultar ser inferior a una mil·lèsima (0,0040%).

És Arquimedes, això no obstant, més conegut per enunciar el principi que porta el seu nom.

Principi d'Arquimedes: tot cos submergit en un fluid experimenta una empenta vertical i cap amunt igual al pes de fluid desallotjat.

Conta la història que Hieron, l'esmentat monarca de Siracusa, va lliurar a un argenter de la ciutat certes quantitats d'or i argent per a l'elaboració d'una corona. Finalitzat el treball, Hieron, desconfiat de l'honradesa de l'artífex i encara reconeixent la qualitat artística de l'obra, va sol·licitar a Arquimedes que, conservant la corona en la seva integritat, determinara la llei dels metalls amb el propòsit de comprovar si l'artífex l'havia rebaixat, guardant-se per a si part d'allò que li havia donat, impulsat per l'avarícia, la mateixa, amb seguretat, que al mateix Hieron impel·lia a realitzar semblant comprovació.

Preocupat Arquimedes pel problema, a què no trobava solució, un bon dia en submergir-se en el bany va advertir, com tantes vegades amb anterioritat, que a causa de la resistència que l'aigua oposa, el cos sembla pesar menys, fins al punt que en alguna ocasió fins és sostingut a surar sense submergir-se. Pensant en això, va arribar a la conclusió que en submergir el seu cos en la banyera, ocupava un lloc que forçosament deixava de ser ocupat per l'aigua, i va endevinar que el que menys pesava ell era precisament el que pesava l'aigua que havia desallotjat.

Donant per resolt el problema que tant l'havia preocupat, va ser tal la seva excitació que, nu com estava, va botar de la banyera, i es va llançar pels carrers de Siracusa al crit dEureka! Eureka! (Ho he trobat! Ho he trobat!). Va procedir llavors Arquimedes a pesar la corona en l'aire i en a l'aigua comprovant que, en efecte, la seva densitat no corresponia a la que haguera resultat d'emprar l'artífex tot l'or i l'argent donats i determinant, en conseqüència, que aquest havia estafat el rei.

No s'esgota, això no obstant, amb aquesta anècdota, el talent d'Arquimedes que, a més, es va anticipar al descobriment del càlcul integral amb els seus estudis sobre les àrees i volums de figures sòlides corbades i d'àrees de figures planes; va realitzar un exhaustiu estudi de l'espiral uniforme, coneguda com a espiral d'Arquimedes; va determinar el resultat de la sèrie geomètrica de raó 1/4, el més antic del qual es té notícia; va demostrar que el volum d'una esfera és dos terços del volum del cilindre que la circumscriu, descobriment que segons conta Plutarc va sol·licitar als seus amics que fora el seu epitafi; va crear un sistema numèric posicional per escriure nombres molt grans; va inventar una màquina per a l'elevació d'aigua, el cargol d'Arquimedes, així com la balança que porta el seu nom; va enunciar la llei de la palanca, que li va portar a proferir la cèlebre frase Doneu-me un punt de suport i mouré el món; va inventar la corriola composta, basada en el principi de la palanca, emprant-la per a moure un gran vaixell per a sorpresa de l'escèptic Hieron; etc.

La corona daurada

L'anècdota més coneguda sobre Arquimedes explica com va inventar un mètode per determinar el volum d'un objecte amb una forma irregular. D'acord amb Vitruvi, una nova corona amb forma de corona triomfal havia estat fabricada amb metall pintat del color d'or per Hieró II (rei de Siracusa) el qual li va demanar a Arquimedes determinar si la corona estava feta només d'or o si li havia agregat plata un orfebre deshonest. Arquimedes havia de resoldre el problema sense malmetre la corona, de manera que no la podia fondre i convertir-la en un cos regular per calcular-ne la densitat.

Mentre prenia un bany, va notar que el nivell d'aigua pujava a la tina quan entrava, i així es va adonar que aquest efecte podria ser utilitzat per a determinar el volum de la corona. A causa del fet que l'aigua no es pot comprimir (), la corona, en ser submergida, desplaçaria una quantitat d'aigua igual al seu volum. En dividir el pes de la corona pel volum d'aigua desplaçada es podria obtenir la densitat de la corona. La densitat de la corona seria menor si altres metalls menys densos li haguessin estat afegits. Llavors, Arquimedes va sortir corrent nu pels carrers, tan emocionat pel seu descobriment que no va recordar vestir-se, cridant "Eureka!" (en grec antic: "εὕρηκα!," que significa 'Ho he trobat!').

La història de la corona daurada no apareix en els treballs coneguts d'Arquimedes. A més, s'ha dubtat que el mètode que descriu sigui factible, a causa del nivell d'exactitud prohibitiu que s'hauria requerit per mesurar el volum d'aigua desplaçada.

En comptes d'això, Arquimedes podria haver buscat una solució a la que aplicava el principi de la hidroestàtica conegut com el principi d'Arquimedes, descrit en el seu tractat Sobre els cossos flotants. Aquest principi planteja que tot cos submergit en un fluid experimenta una empenta vertical i cap amunt igual al pes de fluid que desallotja. Utilitzant aquest principi, hauria estat possible comparar la densitat de la corona daurada amb la d'or pur en usar una balança. Situant en un costat de la balança la corona a investigar i en l'altre una mostra d'or pur del mateix pes, es procediria a submergir la balança en l'aigua; si la corona tingués menys densitat que l'or, desplaçaria més aigua a causa del seu major volum i experimentaria una major empenta que la mostra d'or. Aquesta diferència de flotabilitat decantaria la balança com correspon. Galileu creia que aquest mètode era "el mateix que va usar Arquimedes, a causa del fet que, a més de ser molt exacte, depèn encara de demostracions retrobades pel mateix Arquimedes."

Cargol d'Arquimedes

Una gran part del treball d'Arquimedes en enginyeria sorgí per satisfer les necessitats de la seva ciutat natal, Siracusa. L'escriptor grec Ateneu de Naucratis descrivia com Hieró II li va encarregar a Arquimedes dissenyar un enorme vaixell, el Siracusia, el qual seria utilitzat per a viatges luxosos, carregar subministraments i com a vaixell de guerra. Es diu que el Siracusia va ser el vaixell més gran de l'antiguitat clàssica. Segons Ateneu, era capaç de carregar 600 persones i incloïa jardins decoratius, un gimnàs i un temple dedicat a la dea Afrodita entre les seves instal·lacions. A causa del fet que un vaixell d'aquesta envergadura deixaria passar grans quantitats d'aigua a través del casc, el cargol d'Arquimedes va ser inventat per tal d'extreure l'aigua de la sentina. La màquina d'Arquimedes era un mecanisme amb una fulla amb forma de cargol dins d'un cilindre. Es feia girar a mà, i podia ser utilitzat per a transferir aigua des de masses d'aigües baixes a canals d'irrigació. El cargol d'Arquimedes encara avui es fa servir per a bombar líquids i sòlids semifluids, com carbó i cereals. El cargol d'Arquimedes, tal com el va descriure Marc Vitruvi en els temps de Roma, pot haver estat una millora del cargol de bombament que va ser utilitzat per irrigar els jardins penjants de Babilònia.

L'urpa d'Arquimedes
L'urpa d'Arquimedes és una altra arma que, suposadament, va ser dissenyada per defensar la ciutat de Siracusa. També coneguda com l'agitador de vaixells, l'urpa consistia en un braç semblant a una grua d'on estava suspès un enorme ganxo de metall. Quan l'urpa era deixada anar sobre un vaixell enemic, el braç es mouria en forma ascendent, aixecant el vaixell fora de l'aigua i possiblement fent-lo enfonsar. S'ha realitzat experiments moderns per provar la viabilitat de l'urpa, i en un documental de l'any 2005 titulat Superweapons of the Ancient World (Superarmes del món antic) es va construir una versió de l'urpa i es va concloure que era un dispositiu factible.

El raig de calor d'Arquimedes, mite o realitat?

L'historiador del segle II Lucià de Samòsata va escriure que, durant el setge de Siracusa (213-211 aC), Arquimedes repel·lí un atac dut a terme per soldats romans amb un mirall ustori. L'artefacte era utilitzat per a enfocar la llum solar en els vaixells que s'acostaven, la qual cosa causava que s'incendiessin. La credibilitat d'aquesta afirmació ha estat objecte de debat des del Renaixement. René Descartes va rebutjar això com a fals, mentre que investigadors moderns han intentat recrear l'efecte considerant les capacitats tècniques de què disposava Arquimedes. S'ha suggerit que una gran quantitat d'escuts ben polits de bronze o coure podrien haver estat utilitzats com a miralls, per així enfocar la llum solar en un vaixell. Això podria haver utilitzat el principi del reflector parabòlic, en una manera semblant a un forn solar.

Una prova del raig de calor d'Arquimedes va ser duta a terme pel científic grec Ioannis Sakkara el 1973. L'experiment va tenir lloc a la base naval de Skaramangas, als afores d'Atenes. En aquesta ocasió es va utilitzar 70 miralls, cada u cobert amb una coberta de coure i amb al voltant d'1,5 metres de grandària. Els miralls estaven dirigits a una maqueta de fusta contraxapada d'un vaixell de guerra romà a una distància d'uns 50 m. Quan els miralls van ser enfocats amb precisió, el vaixell va cremar en flames en qüestió d'uns pocs segons. La maqueta tenia una coberta de pintura de betum, la qual cosa pot haver ajudat a la combustió.

L'octubre de 2005, un grup d'estudiants de l'Institut Tecnològic de Massachusetts va dur a terme un experiment amb 127 miralls quadrats de 30 centímetres de costat enfocats en una maqueta de fusta d'un vaixell a una distància de 30 metres. Brollaren flames en una part del vaixell, però únicament després que el cel es va aclarir i que el vaixell romangués immòbil al voltant de deu minuts. Es va concloure que l'arma era un mecanisme viable sota aquestes condicions. El grup de l'institut va repetir l'experiment per al xou televisiu MythBusters ('caçadors de mites'), utilitzant un vaixell de pesca de fusta com a blanc, a San Francisco. Novament va haver-hi carbonització, a més d'una petita quantitat de flames. Per a calar foc, la fusta necessita assolir el seu punt d'inflamabilitat, el qual ronda els 300 °C.

Quan els caçadors de mites emeteren l'experiment dut a terme a San Francisco el gener de 2006, l'afirmació va ser categoritzada com a mentida, a causa de la durada del temps i el clima necessaris per a la combustió. També van assenyalar que, a causa del fet que Siracusa mira al mar cap a l'est, la flota romana hauria d'haver atacat durant el matí per a una òptima reflexió de la llum pels miralls. A més, armes convencionals com fletxes en flames o catapultes haguessin estat una forma molt més fàcil de calar foc a un vaixell a curtes distàncies.

Altres descobriments i invencions
Si bé Arquimedes no va inventar la palanca, sí que va escriure la primera explicació rigorosa del principi que entra en joc en accionar-la. Segons Pappus d'Alexandria, a causa del seu treball sobre palanques comentà: «Doneu-me un punt de suport i mouré el món» (en grec: δῶς μοι πᾶ στῶ καὶ τὰν γᾶν κινάσω). Plutarc descriu com Arquimedes va dissenyar el sistema del polispast, permetent als mariners utilitzar el principi de palanca per a aixecar objectes que, d'una altra manera, haguessin estat massa pesants per a poder moure'ls.

També se li ha acreditat a Arquimedes haver augmentat el poder i la precisió de la catapulta, així com haver inventat l'hodòmetre durant la Primera Guerra púnica. L'hodòmetre va ser descrit com un carro amb un mecanisme d'engranatge que tirava una bola en un contenidor després de cada milla recorreguda.

Ciceró (106 aC-43 aC) esmenta breument Arquimedes en el seu diàleg De re publica, el qual descriu una conversa fictícia l'any 129 aC. Es diu que, després de la captura de Siracusa, cap al 212 aC, el general Marc Claudi Marcel va portar de tornada a Roma dos mecanismes que es feien servir com a eines per a estudis astronòmics, que mostrava els moviments del Sol, la Lluna i cinc planetes. Ciceró esmenta mecanismes semblants dissenyats per Tales de Milet i Èudox de Cnidos. El diàleg diu que Marcel va guardar un dels mecanismes com el seu botí personal de Siracusa i va donar l'altre al temple de la Virtut a Roma. D'acord amb Ciceró, Gai Sulpici Gal va fer una demostració del mecanisme de Marcel, i el va descriure de la manera següent:

Aquesta descripció correspon a la d'un planetari. Pappus d'Alexandria va dir que Arquimedes havia escrit un manuscrit, actualment perdut, sobre la construcció d'aquests mecanismes, el qual es titulava Sobre fer esferes. Investigacions modernes en aquesta àrea l'han comparat amb el mecanisme d'Anticitera, un altre invent de l'antiguitat clàssica, probablement dissenyat amb el mateix propòsit. Construir mecanismes d'aquest tipus hauria d'haver requerit un sofisticat coneixement d'engranatges diferencials. Se solia pensar que això anava més enllà de l'abast de la tecnologia disponible en aquells temps, però el descobriment del mecanisme d'Antiquitera el 1902 ha confirmat que aquesta classe d'artefactes eren coneguts pels antics grecs.

Escrits

Va ser autor de nombroses obres de variada temàtica, en què destaca el rigor de les seues demostracions geomètriques, raó per la qual és considerat el més notable científic i matemàtic de l'antiguitat. Encara que molts dels seus escrits es van perdre en la destrucció de la Biblioteca d'Alexandria, han arribat fins als nostres dies per les traduccions llatines i àrabs. Ací se n'indiquen algunes:

 L'Arenari
 Mètode
 La mesura del cercle
 De l'esfera i el cilindre
 De la quadratura
 La quadratura de la paràbola
 Dels esferoides i els conoides
 De les línies espirals
 Determinació dels centres de gravetat en les línies i en els plans (De l'equilibri dels plans)
 De l'equilibri dels cossos en els fluids (Dels cossos flotants)
 Només es conserva una versió en llatí.
 Problema dels bous
 Catròptica (desapareguda)
 De la construcció d'esferes (desapareguda)

Referències

Bibliografia
 Diccionario enciclopédico hispano-americano, Montaner y Simón Editores (1887).

Enllaços externs

 Biografia d'Arquimedes en el Centre d'Aprenentatge Cientificomatemàtic.
 Arquimedes  - Universitat de Drexel. (en anglès)
 Archimedes Palimpsest  (en anglès).
 Rayos X para Arquímedes (30 de juliol de 2006).
 A fragment of Archimedes' Orrery (en anglès i italià).
 Text en grec clàssic.
 The works of Archimedes de T. H. Heath edició de 1897, traducció a l'anglès i en notació moderna de l'obra completa. (PDF)


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Home » Discussions » Diagnosis » Study suggests brain scans can identify autism in young babies
Study suggests brain scans can identify autism in young babies
1 reply (Jump to last post)
February 16, 2017 - 3:53pm
The Guardian features an article about a research study which suggests that brain scans of babies aged between 6 and 12 months can identify children who then go on to be diagnosed as autistic.
The research examined brain scans of babies who had an older brother or sister diagnosed as autistic. It found that certain features were associated with scans from babies who were later diagnosed as autistic as young children. The researchers hope that the finding will result in earlier diagnosis and interventions for young children.
What are your thoughts on using a tool such as part of the diagnostic process? Do you think it could be useful in identifying children who may be not otherwise get a diagnosis until later?
Edited on February 23, 2017 - 9:07am
AutismAdvocate
September 21, 2017 - 5:04pm
I think there is a lot the NHS could be doing to ensure early diagnosis of autism. I don't think it will happen for monetary reasons however.
It should automatically happen that the child of an autistic parent is given testing whether that be genetic, brain scan, blood test etc. Likewise when there is a sibling with autism.
Currently there is not even a system to 'red flag' children for watching when they present very early with issues such as speech difficulty that turn out to be due to ASD which is diagnosed very late.
Considering there is no early intervention for children who don't present with obvious issues (e.g. speech difficulty), you have to question what the outcome of such tests would be anyway. The tragedy of so-called "high-functioning" individuals receiving no support has to be addressed. Mainstreaming such children is often a disaster, no wonder there are high rates of suicide.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


We are looking for a native level/fluent French and/or Spanish AR/Credit Collections Team Leader to join the EMEA financial shared service centre for an international manufacturer with $6 billion annual revenue.
Reporting to the Credit Manager, you'll be responsible for the supervision of the French and Spanish credit collections teams, operating with a hands on approach to the role through proactive collection of overdue debt, reducing the DSO and managing credit limits.
This is a lovely opportunity for those from a collections or credit risk background, with some management/supervision/team lead experience, looking to join a long-sighted business that will allow you to diversify in the future.
Basic-intermediate Excel is required; SAP is desirable, but non-essential.
Management/Supervisory/Team Lead experience is a must.
People relocating within the UK or from mainland Europe are more than welcomed and there is accommodation available locally, but should note that a car will likely be necessary on a longer-term basis - those with a driving licence are therefore preferable!


It's the New Year and Berthon Spain are already working at full steam. Over the next five months we are hauling a different boat out every week as well as running countless projects. I couldn't be happier with the team we have right now and I'm delighted that we are taking on another two staff members in the coming weeks.
Addy Daly has recently joined us from Palmawatch and has taken over the guardiennage. She is building an incredible department which is running like clockwork. The ever faithful and extremely talented Nick McMullen remains at the helm of the engineering department, which consistently delivers project after project to an impeccable standard and timescale.
We are just coming to the end of an engine and generator installation on an Oyster 55 and next week we will be moving on to our two Gunfleet 58's, which are always a pleasure to work on. Both these boats have centreboards that need to be dropped out and all of the running gear must be checked.
Gunfleet 58 AMITIE has had headlining and sidelinings replaced, including a lot of woodwork.
Sistership LATOBE is also receiving the works with the installation of a new hydraulic gangway, modification of metal work, servicing of the engine & generator, anti-fouling and lots of polishing and anode replacements.
Following on from this, we will move onto a Princess 60 with all the normal out of water service work, a Princess 56 with a long list of repairs and improvements and then an Oyster 655 with a large list of winter works, including hatch replacement and wood repairs.
I'm also thrilled that we have recently welcomed Dixon 73 LA LUNA, from King Marine.
This boat has without a doubt the coolest rig of any boat we have looked after. Following her quick pit stop refit and the conclusion of some winter works, she will be a stunning boat ready for the summer and very much for sale through Berthon's brokerage team.
On this boat we will be replacing a lot of the old hydraulic lines, fixing a small amount of damage on the push-pit, giving the teak a good clean, polishing all of the topsides, fixing some broken window blinds, making some repairs to the teak and repairing some of the electrical system.
We also have a large project on MIDNIGHT SUMMER DREAM, a Sunseeker 60 Manhattan. The owner wants to charter the boat this year and we therefore have to convert the aft storage area into a fully functioning crew cabin, complete with two beds, a heads and a shower. We must also incorporate the large amount of equipment already in there, such as the washer/dryer, water maker and water softener.
We are delighted that SY AGLAIA is now safely in Berthon Spain's hands.
We all love this boat – she's built like a tank but is still as elegant as a Swan! We have some varnish work to carry out on AGLAIA and a little paintwork, following which she will look as good as she did when she emerged from her extensive Berthon refit in 2016.
I haven't yet had the pleasure of taking this boat out sailing but I'm looking forward to that prospect later in the year. For a self-confessed boat geek like me, this is the crème de la crème. I spent countless hours over my Christmas break getting to know her and marvelling at the superb finish inside and out! AGLAIA will soon be absolutely ready to start mile munching again with every conceivable system on board, all kept to our usual standard of perfection. AGLAIA is for sale through Berthon.


The I/O pins used for some PIC32MK peripherals are set by the user application code. The pin assignments for these peripherals are not predetermined by Microchip. The process of assigning I/O pins to peripherals on the PIC32 is called Peripheral Pin Select (PPS).
When an application does not use all the peripherals on a device, PPS allows you to select a smaller pin-count package thus saving board space and potentially reducing cost. The ability of PPS to place peripheral functions on select pins can also be useful in optimizing board layout.
Re-programmable pins are designated on the datasheet with the prefix 'RP' such as RPA1. By design, re-programmable pins are also designated as digital I/O pins assigned to a PORT with a similar name. For example, RPA7 can be used a digital I/O RA7, RPG6 as RG6 and etc.
There is a special function register (SFR) for each PPS capable peripheral function. There is also an SFR for each re-programmable pin.
To assign the output of a peripheral to an RP pin, write the code associated with the peripheral function into the RP pin's SFR.
Before a PPS pin can be used, ANSELx and TRISx must be programmed to ensure that the pin is digital and the data direction matches the PPS assignment.
The name of a peripheral function SFR is the name of the peripheral function followed by the letter 'R'. For example, INT uses INTR and Timer 5's input clock (T5CLK) uses T5CLKR. "TABLE 13-1" in the PIC32MK data sheet contains the full list of register names.
"TABLE 13-1" of the datasheet.
Use care when studying "TABLE13-1" as there are some overlapping of code usage. The number five (0101b) when written to T3CKR designates RPA8 as the input. When five is written to INT4R, RPC7 is designated as the input.
Read the Data Sheet for the part you are using!
The names of registers associated with PPS begin the with the pin's RP name and end with the letter 'R' (RPA3's SFR is RPA3R, RPG3's is RPG3R, etc..). The full list of registers can be found in "TABLE 13-2" of the PIC32MK data sheet.
"TABLE 13-2" also contains the codes associated with the peripheral functions assigned as outputs. As with the input values care should be taken when using "TABLE 13-2". The codes for the peripheral functions change depending upon which pin they are being assigned.
Setting a UART's TX pin.
The following code establishes an analog capable RP pin (RPB9) as TX2OUT. Please note the value 2 on line 5 was read from "TABLE 13-2" of the PIC32MK datasheet.
The following code initializes the inputs for QEI module 2. Analog capable RPE14 is set as QEB2, digital-only RPC9 is set as QEA2. The value written on lines 2 and 6 (5 and 8 respectively) were obtained from "TABLE 13-1".


The AZ FAB dewatering screen can produce products with average moisture content of only 12 to 14% depending on particle size and tonnage, with some plants delivering material with rates as low as 7%. The AZ FAB 5 foot screen is capable of up to 150 tons per hour, using 44 X 150 mesh. We also have a 7 foot screen that is rated at 300 tons per hour.
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text:
Report: Everton midfielder Ross Barkley on Arsenal radar
May 8, 2017 Admin Arsenal, England, Everton, Premier League 0
Arsenal are reportedly interested in signing Ross Barkley from Everton in a deal worth up to £35 million, according to the Daily Mail.
The England international has failed to make an impact over manager Ronald Koeman this season, He is also being left out on the bench for Saturday's defeat to Swansea City.
It is suggested that the 23-year-old will be the subject of an offer from the north Londoners this summer, although Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur are also interested in him, should the midfielder fail to sign a new deal at Goodison Park.
Barkley, who came from the academy product, is said to be considering over a fresh start away from the Merseyside.
Manchester City and Chelsea both have also been linked with him in the past, but neither club is willing to match asking price for a player with one 12-months left on his contract.
Ross Barkley


text:
Qastal al-Burj ( qasṭal al-burj) is a Syrian village located in Al-Ziyarah Nahiyah in Al-Suqaylabiyah District, Hama. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), the village had a population of 36 in the 2004 census.

References

Populated places in al-Suqaylabiyah District

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Inverse problems appear in several fields, including medical imaging, image processing, mathematical finance, astronomy, geophysics, nondestructive material testing and sub-surface prospecting. Typical inverse problems arise from asking simple questions "backwards". For instance, the simple question might be "If we know precisely the structure of the inner organs of a patient, what kind of X-ray images would we get from her?" The same question backwards is "Given a set of X-ray images of a patient, what is the three-dimensional structure of her inner organs?" This is the inverse problem of Computerized Tomography, or CT imaging.
The Finnish Inverse Problems Society (Suomen inversioseura ry) was founded in December 1997 and officially registered in June 1998. The mission of the society is to promote research activities within the field of inverse problems in Finland and maintain and improve the connections between the various research groups working in this area. The society is interdisciplinary in nature, bringing together the expertise in mathematical, physical and engineering sciences. What is more, the society seeks to build bridges between the academia and industry.
The activities of the society include the arrangement of yearly national Inverse Problems Days, a tradition that dates back to 1995 when this small scale conference was first arranged. In this workshop, the researchers and graduate students from participating research groups present their recent or ongoing work.
The Finnish Inverse Problems Society works in close collaboration with the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Inverse Modelling and Imaging.


text:
TRG Art- Tatiana Rubec Giametti
Tatiana Rubec Giametti
Born in Germany of Russian heritage, Tatiana R. Giametti graduated with Bachelor of Science in Art Education from New York University. She also studied at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts and the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center.
Travel is a passion for me as well as my art. I suppose that living in a landlocked state such as Colorado, I seek out water as inspiration in travel and as a counterbalance in my paintings. I like the fact that 360 to 320 million years ago, Colorado was under a broad ocean. I think we are all inspired by water, especially the ocean; being near it, playing in it, swimming in it. For me, painting water; the patterns, light and color is exciting, and the memories of being submerged while diving puts me in a meditative state. It's a feeling of calm, satisfaction in the moment and exhilaration. Just as physically immersing oneself in water can feel, painting can also when one gets in the "flow". If I can bring attention to our love of ocean and of how our "civilization" is putting our oceans at risk, that is a major bonus.
ART METHOD
My work might be described as "transitional". I like to approach the painting abstractly, but suggestive of nature. I start out with one of my underwater diving photos for a general idea, but then see where the painting spontaneously takes me. I expect my work to be viewed from a distance , so the patterns can be seen as a whole and the eyes complete the picture. I work in oil pastels on paper and also paintings in mixed media with acrylics, oil sticks and collage on canvas.
SELECTED SHOWINGS
SPACE GALLERY, Soul Struck , National Juried Exhibition by Denver Art Museum director Christoph Heinrich, 2015, Denver, CO
WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS ARTS CENTER, "A Few of Our Favorite Things"
WCI Arts Center's members' & friends' private collections, 2013, Macomb, IL
MADE in FORT POINT @ 12gallery, Rewind, The Former Fort Point Artists Show, 2010, Boston, MA
ARTISTS ON SANTA FE GALLERY, showcased artist "Water Oil Corvid Clay" 2010, Denver CO
CORE NEW ART SPACE, "Dance of Life" 2006, Denver, CO
COLORADO ART EXPO 2003, Denver, CO
COLORADO ARTS FESTIVAL 2003, Denver, CO Denver Pavilions
ARTOPIA 2003, Denver, CO
CELEBRATE COLORADO ARTISTS 2001, Denver, CO
BLOSSOM ART BOUTIQUE & GALLERY 2000-01, Denver, CO
CELEBRATE COLORADO ARTISTS '99, Denver, CO Denver Performing Arts Complex
STELLA'S GALLERY CAFE 1998, Denver, CO
LOPOUKHINE FINE ARTS "1997-2009", Cambridge, MA
EVERGREEN ART FAIR 1986, Evergreen, CO Recipient First Prize Mixed Media
DECORATORS CLEARING HOUSE 1983-6, Newton , MA
KINGSTON ART GALLERY 1984, Boston, MA
BROMFIELD ART GALLERY 1984, Boston, MA Recipient Third Prize, HEAT National Competition
GENERAL ELECTRIC CORPORATE GALLERY .'84, Fairfield, CT
BOSTON CITY HALL GALLERY 1981, Boston, MA
Representation LFA ART Management, Cambridge, MA
PRIVATE AND CORPORATE COLLECTIONS including
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Collection, Boston, MA
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
Maui Westin Hotel and Spa, Maui, HI
J.P.M.A, Inc., Lakewood, CO
Anthony's Key Resort, Roatan, Honduras


text:
Lincoln Center Names Fashion Week Director
The new host of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week as of September 2010 has zeroed in on an executive to oversee the fashion activity from its end.
By Marc Karimzadeh on November 3, 2009
Lincoln Center, which will host Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week starting in September, has named Stephanie Winston Wolkoff as director, fashion week. Winston Wolkoff, who previously was Vogue's director of special events, will start Jan. 1.
This story first appeared in the November 4, 2009 issue of WWD. Subscribe Today.
Beginning with the spring 2011 collections, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week will relocate from Bryant Park to Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center. Winston Wolkoff will coordinate between Lincoln Center and the fashion industry, including designers, retailers, the Council of Fashion Designers of America and IMG Fashion, which organizes Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. She also will help maximize existing opportunities for the performing arts institution, as well as identify and establish new ones, including fashion-related projects with the 12 resident organizations.
Winston Wolkoff left Vogue in June. Prior to Vogue, she held several positions at Sotheby's.
She said the convergence of art, culture and fashion "in the epicenter of the city" appealed to her when taking the new job. "My background, my sensibility, work ethic and everything that I learned, really, at Vogue will lend itself to making this a successful joint venture for everyone," she said.
Asked about other fashion events planned for Lincoln Center, Winston Wolkoff said, "There are going to be a lot of different things going on. There will be many surprises."
Winston Wolkoff will report to Reynold Levy, president of Lincoln Center. "We see Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week coming to Lincoln Center as an opportunity to welcome the design community. For Lincoln Center, this partnership is a natural one that we want to fully embrace, and because our campus of 16 acres has so many different places in addition to the tents for fashion shows, we want to make sure those spaces…are as welcoming and as inviting as we possibly can for the design community," Levy said. — Marc Karimzadeh


As the sound of the pistol goes off and rings through the air, the runners take off, elbowing past one another trying to get an early lead. Cross Country is a five mile trek across a rocky terrain, full of hills, in 90-degree weather trying to finish with the best time, though the most difficult part isn't actually the run.
Mental endurance is a big part of any sport, it makes the difference between first and second place. Having a positive mentality is especially necessary with Cross Country, as you only have yourself to motivate you. Veronica Seder, senior, knows that some of the best runners have a hard time running. Even the strongest, fastest, and focused runners have a tough time because they don't have enough perseverance to keep motivated throughout the race.
"Cross Country is a difficult sport because it's less about your physical strength, and more about your endurance. You can train, and train, and weightlift all you want and be the strongest person ever, but if you don't have the mental endurance, then it's going to make it even more difficult," Seder said.
It is a sport that cares more about your mind and the thoughts running through it, rather than your body. It becomes a marathon race for your concentration. Alex Dichert, junior, knows cross country doesn't just push you to your max physically, but also mentally.
"Cross Country pushes you to your limits, to see how good of an athlete you are mentally, to see how far you can go, how fast, if you can keep up with the workouts. It really shows what you're made of," Dichert said.
Though both Track and Cross Country require a fast run and level of persistence at the highest tier while also keeping a form that would help you have the fastest time, there are also many differences in the sports, in terms of distance, imagery, and overall feelings associated with each one, making it a strenuous and tiresome transition to make. Morgan Boone, sophomore, made the conversion from running through trees in heat to running around a track eight times in that same grueling heat. Running in itself is very hard, but doing it with the same course is more difficult.
"I'm a distance runner, so although Cross Country is hard, track is even harder because the longest run that they have is the two mile. So it's more about how fast you are instead of how long you can run; both are hard, but track is hardest just because it's the same, nothing different," Boone said.
While Cross Country is exhausting for some long-distance runners, Track is as well. Having to run around the same circle countless times, seeing the same people and things, all while listening to coaches and parents yell to move faster can become mundane and overwhelming. This, making it even more important for Seder and other runners to keep focus on the task at hand and persist through the distractions and routine sights.
"Track is difficult for me because you are just running on a track the whole time. I do the two mile, just going around and 'round and 'round eight times makes it really hard for me because I like a change in scenery and enjoy running through different terrains. It helps keep my mind of off things, but as you're just going around and 'round and 'round and you're seeing the same things over and over again makes it really hard to keep that focus and not lose steam and get tired," Seder said.
But the routine and unvarying course for the two mile run for track isn't the only difficult thing about it. Having coaches seeing every move you make also puts a pessimistic view of track into the Cross Country runners' heads. The challenge lies in sideline coaching for Dichert.
"Track is even more difficult because the coaches can see your form. And they see everything you do. So having them yell at you to run a certain way makes it very difficult," Dichert said.
The five mile race across an unpaved path through trees and kicked up dirt in the Texas heat and humidity might seem like an unthinkable thought for the most people, but for a Cross Country athlete, its only the beginning.


text:
Beyond hell and back : how America's Special Operations Forces became the world's greatest fighting unit, Dwight Jon Zimmerman and John D. Gresham
The Resource Beyond hell and back : how America's Special Operations Forces became the world's greatest fighting unit, Dwight Jon Zimmerman and John D. Gresham
The item Beyond hell and back : how America's Special Operations Forces became the world's greatest fighting unit, Dwight Jon Zimmerman and John D. Gresham represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Des Moines Public Library.
Zimmerman, Dwight Jon
Gresham, John
New York, St. Martin's Press, 2007
Beyond hell and back : how America's Special Operations Forces became the world's greatest fighting unit
Beyond hell and back
how America's Special Operations Forces became the world's greatest fighting unit
Dwight Jon Zimmerman and John D. Gresham
Special forces (Military science) -- United States -- History
U.S. Special Operations Command -- History
United States -- Armed Forces | Commando troops | History
356/.160973
.Z55 2007
Special forces (Military science)
U.S. Special Operations Command

 Data from Beyond hell and back : how America's Special Operations Forces became the world's greatest fighting unit, Dwight Jon Zimmerman and John D. Gresham - Des Moines Public Library

Data Citation of the Item Beyond hell and back : how America's Special Operations Forces became the world's greatest fighting unit, Dwight Jon Zimmerman and John D. Gresham


text:
class TitleItem < SpeciesSchemaModel
  has_many :item_pages
  belongs_to :publication_title
end
# == Schema Info
# Schema version: 20081020144900
#
# Table name: title_items
#
#  id                   :integer(4)      not null, primary key
#  marc_item_id         :string(50)      not null
#  publication_title_id :integer(4)      not null
#  bar_code             :string(50)      not null
#  call_number          :string(100)     not null
#  url                  :string(255)     not null
#  volume_info          :string(100)     not null

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The Bvlgari Resort Dubai is proud to join the "Give a Ghaf - Heritage Forest" project together with a large number of associates from Marriott International Hotels in the UAE.
The Bvlgari Resort Dubai participates to the project taking action in vast desert cleaning and tree planting activities within the 500-hectare Al Wadi Nature Reserve, aiming at raising awareness on sustainability and environmental consciousness.
The unique initiative, at its II edition, was born as part of the World Planting Day and the International Day of Forests from the passion and commitment of several organizations to make the UAE greener and more sustainable. An indigenous species, named the UAE National Tree, the Ghaf is a drought – tolerant, evergreen tree that is, possibly, the sturdiest plant of the harsh desert environment.


text:
Afghans get bigger role in NATO raids
KABUL, Afghanistan - NATO will carry out nighttime kill-and-capture raids against suspected insurgents with increased participation from Afghan special forces, the alliance said Monday, after repeated protests by President Hamid Karzai.
by By Slobodan Lekic, Associated Press, Inquirer
The raids have become a flash point for anger over foreign meddling in Afghanistan and whether detention operations will be run by the Afghans or Americans. Karzai has demanded that foreign troops stop entering homes, saying that Afghan citizens cannot feel secure if they think armed soldiers might burst into their houses in the middle of the night.
Karzai's office said that during a National Security Council meeting late Sunday, Karzai emphasized the need to prevent civilian casualties, saying the casualties and the night raids on homes "have created serious problems."
Last month, he convened a traditional national assembly known as a Loya Jirga that stopped short of demanding a complete end to night raids. Instead, it asked that they be led and controlled by Afghan security forces.
NATO spokesman Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson said that Afghan special forces now take part in nearly all night raids, and their participation is constantly increasing. The raids remain the safest form of operation to take out insurgent leaders, he said, since they account for less than 1 percent of civilian casualties and in 85 percent of cases no shots are fired.
"Karzai has asked foreign troops to [refrain] from entering Afghan homes and this is exactly where . . . 'Afghanization' comes in," Jacobson said, referring to the gradual transfer of responsibility for security to the Afghan army and police. They are due to assume full control in 2014, when foreign forces are set to end their combat role.
"Speeding up Afghanization is in everybody's interest, [but] we need time to train the special forces," he said.
Adm. William McRaven, who leads the U.S. Special Operations Command, said last week that about 2,800 raids were carried out against insurgent targets in the last year.
Some analysts have questioned the military and political value of the operations, saying that when guerrilla commanders are killed, they are usually replaced by younger and more aggressive fighters less disposed to making any compromise with the government.
The issue also has held up the signing of a security agreement that could keep thousands of U.S. troops here for years beyond the 2014 deadline for most international forces to leave.
By Slobodan Lekic, Associated Press, Inquirer


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text:
Q: translate Date in to 1990-03-20 to 19900320 and check the enter with textbox value less-than xml attr value this is my xml format :-
<products>
  <product_id value="nokia">
    <tab_id value="3550">
      <individual_born_from value="1990-03-20"/>
    </tab_id>
  <products_id>
  <product_id value="samsung">
    <tab_id value="3650">
      <individual_born_from value="1990-03-20"/>
    </tab_id>
  <products_id>
</products>

my code:-
<html>
<head>
    <script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.8.3/jquery.min.js"></script>
    <script>
        var xml;
        $.get(
        "xml_converted.xml",
        null,
        function (data) {
            xml = data;
        },
        "xml"
    );
        function get_list() {
        var elName = $('#select').val();
            var xPath = '//product_id["' + elName + '" ' +
            ' < translate(tab_id/individual_born_from/@value,"-","")]/@value';
            var iterator = xml.evaluate(xPath, xml.documentElement, null,
                XPathResult.UNORDERED_NODE_ITERATOR_TYPE, null);
            var thisNode = iterator.iterateNext();
            var str = '';
            while (thisNode) {
                if (str) {
                    str += ', ';
                }
                str += thisNode.textContent;
                thisNode = iterator.iterateNext();
            }
            $("#result").text(str);
        }
    </script>
</head>
<body>
    <input type="text" id="select">
    <input type="button" name="button" value="Search" onclick="get_list()">
    <div id="result">
    </div>
</body>
</html>

this is my xpath:-
var xPath = '//product_id["' + elName + '" ' +
            ' < translate(tab_id/individual_born_from/@value,"-","")]/@value';

here i want to output something like:-
if user enter date in textbox
if textbox value less-than xml individual_born_from="1990-03-20"
then display output :- 1,2
b'coz of 1 is first <product_id> attr value and 2 is second level <prodcut_id>attr value both date are grater-than entered by user in textbox...
if possible with php code using xpath then also help me i add tag PHP
thanks

A: The XPath expression
//individual_born_from/(number(translate(@value,'-',''))

is valid in XPath 2.0 but not in XPath 1.0, which constrains what can appear after "/" to a simple step.

A: Please try this:
var xPath = '//product_id["' + elName + '" ' +
            ' < translate(tab_id/individual_born_from/@value,"-","")]/@value';

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Bridgegate: Baroni says Wildstein tricked him
Paul Berger
@pdberger
A former ally of Gov. Chris Christie took the stand in his own defense Monday at the trial of two former Christie associates accused of the politically motivated closure of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge.
Wearing a dark suit and dark green tie, Bill Baroni, 44, told jurors in federal court in Newark that he had been duped by David Wildstein, his subordinate at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
THE LATEST: Bill Baroni expected to take the stand
EARLIER: Prosecution wraps up its case
In earlier testimony, Wildstein told jurors that he, along with Baroni and the governor's former deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, had conspired to close the lanes in September 2013.
Wildstein, the government's star witness in the case, said the three had intended to punish the mayor of Fort Lee for refusing to endorse the governor's re-election that year. The resulting gridlock over five weekday mornings severely delayed commuters, school buses and first responders.
Wildstein, who pleaded guilty to the conspiracy last year, is cooperating with prosecutors in the hope of a more lenient sentence. He faces up to 15 years in jail.
Taking the stand is unusual for defendants and is widely considered a risky move.
Baroni, who has listened to four weeks of testimony, directed his attention to the jury throughout most of his answers.
Speaking slowly and calmly, he said that he had not been privy to the bridge scheme. Instead, he said, he was tricked by Wildstein, the man who Christie placed at the agency to carry out the governor's will.
Baroni said that the lane closures had been Wildstein's idea and that he had believed Wildstein's assertions that they were needed for a study to improve traffic flow over the upper level of the world's busiest bridge.
During the closures, the Port Authority took two of three lanes normally dedicated to motorists coming from Fort Lee and gave them to traffic flowing to the bridge via I-95 from other parts of the state.
Wildstein had portrayed Baroni as one of his closest friends. But Baroni denied that on Monday.
He said that Christie had told him to hire Wildstein in early 2010 within a few months of his own appointment at the Port Authority, a multibillion-dollar agency overseen by the governors of New York and New Jersey that owns and operates most of the region's major airports, seaports, tunnels and bridges.
EDITORIAL: More Bridgegate trouble for Christie
Wildstein's role was to oversee hiring and firing at the agency as well as to ensure the completion of projects that were important to Christie, Baroni said.
"It became clear he was implementing specific issues and interests that the governor wanted addressed," Baroni said, adding that he had not had the authority to fire him.
During the week of the lane closures, Baroni ignored repeated calls and messages from the mayor of Fort Lee, Mark Sokolich, begging for relief from the gridlock, which he said was an urgent matter of public safety.
Baroni said that he had wanted to respond to the mayor, but that Wildstein had told him not to call, fearing that Baroni would "wimp out" and restore the lanes, ruining the traffic study.
"David said to me, 'Let me handle it,'" Baroni said. "I listened to him. I have regretted it ever since."
Baroni also contradicted a claim by Wildstein that Christie, Wildstein and Baroni had laughed about the traffic problems when they attended a 9/11 memorial ceremony at the World Trade Center site that was held at the time of the lane reductions.
The three discussed the closures, Baroni said, but only in relation to what Wildstein described as a traffic study.
"Was there any mention of political retribution?" asked Jennifer Mara, Baroni's defense attorney.
"No," Baroni replied.
"Was there any mention of punishment?"
"Was there any mention of political endorsements?"
Showing a photo of the three men laughing on Sept. 11, Mara asked, "Are you laughing about the Fort Lee lanes?"
"Absolutely not," Baroni replied.
CHRISTIE: Judge signs summons against Christie over GWB
EARLIER: Port Authority cops say Baroni tried to embroil them
MORE: Ex-aide sought to sabotage Kelly
The lane reductions were reversed on the fifth morning, Friday, Sept., 13, by Port Authority executive director Pat Foye, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's top executive appointee at the agency.
Foye testified in the first week of the trial that Baroni had come to his office twice that day, asking him to restore the lane reductions because they were important to the Christie administration.
Baroni explained that at that time, Christie's "best friend" and top board appointee at the agency, Chairman David Samson, was furious that Foye had reversed a "New Jersey" decision. Baroni said Samson had yelled at him to reinstate the lane closures and to "punch Pat Foye in the face."
Baroni said he had gone to Foye to ask that the reductions be reimposed only as a means of trying calm the situation.
Baroni also disputed the testimony of two top Port Authority police officers who told the jurors last week that Baroni had asked them to lie on his behalf.
The leaders of the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association, Paul Nunziato and Mike DeFillipis, said that in November 2013, shortly before Baroni appeared before a legislative panel investigating the lane closures, Baroni had called them into his office to say that he was going to tell legislators that the agency's police department had requested the lane closures.
Nunziato and DeFillipis said they had told Baroni that they held no such conversations with agency officials and to leave them out of it.
Baroni recalled a similar conversation. But after the officers left the meeting, he said, he went to see Wildstein.
Baroni said Wildstein had told him: "They know they told me there were safety issues. You should go down there, testify, and tell the truth that that's what happened."
Baroni added, "And I believed David Wildstein."
Baroni's measured performance Monday stood in stark contrast to his combative appearance before the committee in 2013, when he came under sustained interrogation from a panel of angry and deeply skeptical lawmakers.
He maintained that calm during the final hour of the day when prosecutor Lee Cortes began his cross-examination.
Cortes depicted Baroni as someone who had made a great effort to build relationships with local elected officials and to keep communities informed about potentially disruptive Port Authority construction work in their area.
As Cortes ramped up the pressure, aggressively asking Baroni a series of rapid-fire questions, Kelly's lawyer leaned in to talk to his client, who is expected to take the stand in the coming days.
Cortes emphasized how extraordinary it was for Baroni to ignore calls for help from a mayor. Baroni maintained his position that he had failed to respond to Sokolich only because he had believed Wildstein.
Baroni began his four hours of testimony around 10 a.m., telling jurors that he is an orphan, who was abandoned by an Irish mother in Jacksonville, Florida, and raised by a New Jersey couple in Hamilton. He went on to describe his busy role as Christie's top executive appointee at the agency, overseeing a budget of $7 billion.
Baroni and Kelly face nine counts of conspiracy, misusing agency property, wire fraud and violating the civil rights of Fort Lee residents to travel freely.
Baroni's testimony continues Tuesday.
Email: berger@northjersey.com


text:
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 * Class BaseContentHeaderButton
 * @author Olajide Oye <jide@cottacush.com>
 * @package app\widgets
 */
class BaseContentHeaderButton extends CottaCushBaseWidget
{
    public mixed $button;
    public string $buttonClass = '';

    /**
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     */
    protected function setButton()
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            $this->buildButton($this->button);
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text:
Kraken.io Blog
Getting Mozjpeg faster on x86 and ARM
Optimizing ZIPs of Images through the Web Interface
Images Are Slowing The Web. Let's Fix It.
New API features and higher maximum allowed file size
Autumn 2015 Updates
Redirecting to https://blog.kraken.io/images-are-slowing-down-the-web-heres-the-fix/?ref=webdesignernews.com on Images Are Slowing The Web. Let's Fix It.
Johng968 on New API features and higher maximum allowed file size
Chris Harold on New API features and higher maximum allowed file size
Mari on Service Improvements – September 2014
Bhawani Rajpurohit on Optimizing Images on Alexa's Top 100 Global Sites
Web Performance
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August, 2013 2
Announcement: Pricing update!
Today we are excited to introduce you to our new pricing! We have decided to halve our prices for a limited time of 60 days. These price changes are effective immediately, and subject to further review before the end of that period. Ideally, we would like to keep them as low as possible, as we continue to add value to our service in [...]
Welcome to the new Kraken Image Optimizer
First of all, we would like to say a big "Thank You!" for using Kraken API since we launched in May 2012. Our goal has been to bring you the best online image optimizer in existence, and you helped us figure out how to go about achieving that. There reached a point where we knew we needed to deliver an entirely new platform, [...]


The overall theme of our group is to use our expertise in coordination chemistry, materials science, photochemistry, and electrochemistry to address two frontier challenges: energy and health.
(1) Inexpensive solid-state materials for renewable energy catalysis and organic transformation.
(2) Molecular catalysts for water splitting and carbon dioxide reduction.
(3) Photoactivable complexes and materials for luminescence sensing and phototherapy.


One detail could be the link that puts all the pieces together.
Few words could adequately describe the appalling nature of the tactics used against these citizens.
I am running for the deposit line at the local bank, and anyone who wants to run with me can.
I'm pleased that maybe his faith has been restored. It's important to take these things seriously because they affect real people in a real way.
[Crist noted that his office has received multiple fraud complaints in which potential buyers said they lost thousands of dollars.] I don't know if we've seen anything of this exact nature before, ... We won't tolerate it.
We're just trying to make sure people don't get ripped off and taken advantage of.
We are taking a two-pronged approach to fight this egregious behavior. Families putting their lives back together should not have to worry about price gouging.
Wow. What can I say about Pinellas? ... I love you. I absolutely love you.
I think in fairness to the representative, I probably ought to look at it before I give you a comment about it.


text:
Move Out Notice is a breezy comedy regarding the differences and miscommunication between parent and child. This film comes from one of Viddsee's latest selections under its recently-launched Singapore Film Channel, which is an online site that curates and distributes video content.
The premise of this local film is quirky, with two women - Wei a 21 year old and her mother - communicating primarily through brightly coloured notes. The opening scene quickly sets the tone as Liow Shi Suen playing the mother in the film, plasters her disapproving notes all over her house in scene-chewing pantomime fashion.
Director Leon Cheo, who recently won Best TV Short Drama for his webseries 'People Like Us', directs this short which builds momentum quickly by playing on the fears of many parents – the inevitable maturation and departure of their child from home to become a fully realized adult. On the flip side it also highlights the difficulties of being your own person in a confined environment living with a parent.
The film is a light, comical and somewhat insightful short of modern Singaporeans' living frustrations though it doesn't have any real answers for the real world and becomes distracted by a convenient subplot of a missing father and slapstick sequences.
Overall however the 13-minute short film is still a quick dose of fun with clear local flavor. So if you are looking for less serious art fare, click on this film over at Viddsee.
Leon Cheo is graduate of Chapman University with a BFA in Creative Producing, and Ngee Ann Polytechnic with a diploma in Film, Sound & Video, Leon Cheo is also an alumni of the Berlinale Talents (2014), Asian Film Academy (2013) and Tokyo Talent Campus (2012). He is currently developing his debut feature film, "For Adults Only."
Catch "Move Out Notice" by Leon Cheo on Viddsee.
For the full list of January 2017's 10 films under STOP10, click here.
Tags: stop10


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text:
Sprint Caters to SMBs, Focuses on Products, Services
By Jamie Bsales | Posted November 09, 2009
Sprint has announced the formation of a new Small Business specialty team within its Business Markets Group to sharpen the company's focus on the small business market. As part of that effort, Sprint plans to dedicate resources, customize products and develop special offers specifically for small business owners. Sprint's announcement coincides with a new study that shows how integral mobile communication technology has become to entrepreneurs.
That study, conducted by Decision Analyst on behalf of Egnyte, an on-demand file-server provider, indicates that accessing business data 24/7 from a mobile phone is the number one factor in a small business's mobile business strategy. Sixty-four percent of respondents reported that they had been in situations on the road where it was critical that they have access to their data stored on a server back at the office.
Of those surveyed, 74 percent stated that accessing and sharing file-server data via their smartphone would lead to better business decisions, and nearly one-quarter of small business owners stated that they use their smartphone more than their computer to conduct business.
Egnyte recently introduced new interfaces that give small business customers secure access to all their business files via their Blackberry or Android-powered smartphones.
Sprint intends for its new initiative to dovetails with such trends, helping IT-challenged business owners select and implement the right products and services for them.
"In our research, it became apparent that there was a segment of business customers that felt we were not specifically addressing their needs in terms of how information is presented and how services are bundled," explained Tom Shaughnessy, managing director of the small business team at Sprint. "So we looked at where we could do better, and not just from a rate-plan perspective."
Shaughnessy pointed to the burgeoning collection of wireless and Internet services Sprint offers — including 3G, wireless broadband, 4G and My-Fi personal hot-spot — as ideal platforms to help small businesses increase productivity and enhance the way the work.
"Our ultimate goal is to take Sprint's portfolio and make it more accessible," he said. "We want to help them uncover ways to use our technology to solve business problems."
For example, the new high-speed 4G (for "fourth generation") wireless data service delivers more speed and greater bandwidth than previous data services. This opens up new opportunities for businesses, such as letting them forgo a wired cable or DSL broadband connection. It also makes it possible to perform tasks that weren't practical with slower wireless platforms, such as the capability for doctors to securely share X-rays or for architects to send blueprints wirelessly.
While Sprint only recently announced the formation of the Small Business specialty team, Shaughnessy noted that several of the initiatives have been public for a while. For example, Sprint has partnered with MSN to deliver the Business on Main Web site — a community-driven site that offers tools, content, forums, social networking and more —specifically geared toward small business entrepreneurs.
Sprint also offers it own small-business sub-site where companies with one to 99 employees can find products and services tailored to them, without wading through the consumer-oriented offerings.
Also earlier this year, Sprint launched the "Ready Now for Business" program at all its retail stores. "We closed the stores and trained all retail associates on the needs of small business customers," said Shaughnessy. "We want customers to be able to walk out of the store not just with a phone, but with their e-mail and other services already set up, so there's no guesswork on their part."
Another initiative currently in the trial stage in some areas is special hours for small business customers. These Sprint stores open at 7 a.m. (instead of the typical 9 a.m.) so those customers don't have to burn valuable business-day time. Sprint is also trying an appointment model in some stores, where business customers can make an appointment with a small-business specialist rather than waiting in line.
Jamie Bsales is an award-winning technology writer and editor with nearly 14 years of experience covering the latest hardware, software and Internet products and services.


text:
Validity and reliability of MOS short form health survey (SF-36) for use in India
Richa Sinha1, Wim J A van den Heuvel1, Perianayagam Arokiasamy2
1 Department of Community and Occupational Health, Research Institute SHARE, University Medical Centre Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
2 Department of Development Studies, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS),Mumbai, India
Date of Submission 10-Jan-2012
Date of Acceptance 13-Jun-2012
Date of Web Publication 31-Jan-2013
Richa Sinha
Melkzwamsingel 16, 3451HN Vleuten
Background: Health is defined as the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being than just the absence of disease or infirmity. In order to measure health in the community, a reliable and validated instrument is required. Objectives: To adapt and translate the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) for use in India, to study its validity and reliability and to explore its higher order factor structure. Materials and Methods: Face-to-face interviews were conducted in 184 adult subjects by two trained interviewers. Statistical analyses for establishing item-level validity, scale-level validity and reliability and tests of known group comparison were performed. The higher order factor structure was investigated using principal component analysis with varimax rotation. Results: The questionnaire was well understood by the respondents. Item-level validity was established using tests of item internal consistency, equality of item-scale correlations and item-discriminant validity. Tests of scale-level validity and reliability performed well as all the scales met the required internal consistency criteria. Tests of known group comparison discriminated well across groups differing in socio-demographic and clinical variables. The higher order factor structure was found to comprise of two factors, with factor loadings being similar to those observed in other Asian countries. Conclusion: The item-and scale-level statistical analyses supported the validity and reliability of SF-36 for use in India.
Keywords: Health surveys, reliability, questionnaires, quality of life, translations, validity
Sinha R, van den Heuvel WJ, Arokiasamy P. Validity and reliability of MOS short form health survey (SF-36) for use in India. Indian J Community Med 2013;38:22-6
Sinha R, van den Heuvel WJ, Arokiasamy P. Validity and reliability of MOS short form health survey (SF-36) for use in India. Indian J Community Med [serial online] 2013 [cited 2019 Jul 16];38:22-6. Available from: http://www.ijcm.org.in/text.asp?2013/38/1/22/106623
Health is defined as the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being than just the absence of disease or infirmity. [1] Therefore, patient's perspective about his/her state of health is recognized as an important parameter for assessing health outcomes and efficacy of an intervention. Validated and reliable self-reported questionnaires [2],[3] are needed to enable this assessment.
The Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) [4] is a widely used generic health-related quality of life (QoL) instrument consisting of 36 questions and measuring health in eight dimensions: physical functioning (PF), role limitations due to physical health problems (RP), bodily pain (BP), social functioning (SF), general mental health covering psychological distress and well-being (MH), role limitations due to emotional problems (RE), vitality, energy and fatigue (VT) and general health perceptions (GH). SF-36 has been adapted and translated into several languages, [5],[6] and its validity and reliability established in several countries. [7]
SF-36 has been used in India to assess health outcomes in several diseased populations. [8],[9],[10],[11],[12],[13],[14],[15] However, no studies regarding the validity and reliability of SF-36 in the general Indian population have been cited in electronic scientific databases. The primary objectives of this study were to adapt and translate SF-36 for use in India and to study its validity and reliability. Additionally, the study aimed to explore the higher order factor structure of the eight SF-36 scales.
Adaptation and translation
Conceptually equivalent cultural adaptations [5] were made to the questionnaire to make it suitable in the Indian context. In PF01, vigorous activities such as lifting heavy objects was exemplified as lifting a bucket of water to improve the understandability of the question. In PF02, moderate activities such as moving a table, pushing a vacuum cleaner, bowling or playing golf were replaced by brooming, shopping for groceries and cooking, as these activities can be considered to be equivalently moderate.
Climbing several flights of stairs was explained as climbing five to six floors (PF04), and one flight of stairs was expressed as one floor (PF05). One mile was expressed as 1 km (PF07) in accordance with the metric standards in India. A block was represented by a distance of 100 m (PF08 and PF09). Words like pep, dumps and blue in VT01, MH02 and MH04, respectively, were translated appropriately to capture their essence.
The questionnaire items were translated from English into Hindi by a professional experienced in translating health survey questionnaires. The translated version was back-translated into English by an independent person followed by a review to control for possible discrepancies. The final translated version evolved following an iterative process, [6] which included pilot-testing and incorporating appropriate changes.
The study sample was selected from Mumbai, its suburbs and a village in its vicinity following purposive sampling. Face-to-face interviews were conducted by two trained interviewers in residential areas, industrial estates, business centers, offices and market place by selecting the units systematically and interviewing the people present at the time of visit.
The Institutional Review Board of one of the co-authors' institute in India approved the study. Subjects 18 years and above who could communicate in Hindi were included. The study purpose was explained to the subjects and interviews were performed after obtaining written informed consent. Two people did not participate in the study, one because of lack of time and the other due to being psychologically disturbed due to the death of a family member.
The statistical analyses were performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 15. [16]
Tests of item internal consistency, equality of item-scale correlations and item-discriminant validity [17] were carried out to establish item-level validity. Item internal consistency is considered satisfactory if an item correlates 0.40 or more with its hypothesized scale after correction for item-scale overlap. Equality of item-scale correlations is considered satisfied when items have similar item-scale correlations. Item-discriminant validity is supported if the correlation between an item and its hypothesized scale is significantly higher than the correlations between that item and the other scales.
Scale-level validity and reliability were assessed by testing whether the SF-36 scale scores showed substantial variability and if their reliability estimated using the internal consistency method (Cronbach alpha coefficient) was acceptable, namely 0.70 or higher for group comparisons, [18] and whether the internal consistency of each scale was higher than the correlation between that scale and the other scales, which tests if each scale measured a distinct health concept. [17]
Tests of known group comparison were performed to assess the ability of SF-36 to distinguish between groups differing in factors known to affect QoL. Gender, age, residential area and comorbidities were used as grouping variables. Non-parametric tests (Mann-Whitney U or Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA) were performed to test the statistical significance of observed differences between the groups.
Exploratory factor analyses were performed on the eight SF-36 scales using principal component analysis with varimax rotation [19] to examine the existence of higher order factor structure in the Indian general population.
[Table 1] summarizes the socio-demographic and clinical attributes of the study population. The population ranged in age from 18 to 76 years, with a mean age of 37.44 years.
Table 1: Socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of the study population
[Table 2] summarizes the descriptive statistics for the eight SF-36 scales. Within each scale, the correlation between items and their hypothesized scale were of similar magnitude. Item internal consistency and item-discriminant validity criteria were met for most of the scales. The floor effect was found to be less than 10% for all the scales except RP and RE. A ceiling effect of more than 50% was observed for all the scales except GH, VT and MH. For all the scales, the internal consistency (Cronbach alfa) equaled or exceeded 0.70 [Table 3]. The internal consistency of each scale exceeded the correlations between that scale and the other scales.
Table 2: SF-36 scale descriptives, tests of item internal consistency and discriminant validity
Table 3: Interscale correlations and reliability coefficients for the eight SF-36 scales
[Table 4] summarizes the tests for known group comparisons. Females scored lower on all the eight scales, with the differences being statistically significant in PF, RP, VT, MH and GH. With age, the range of scores related to physical health scales (PF, RP, BP and GH) were more than those related to mental health scales (RE, VT, MH and SF). Scales associated with mental health showed significantly different scores in groups classified as per residential area, and only one physical health scale (RP) was found to be significantly different. All the scales were found to be lower in the sub-group having comorbidities, and these differences were significant for all the scales except for RE.
Table 4: Summary of principal component analysis for the eight SF-36 scales
Exploratory factor analysis of the eight SF-36 scales yielded a two-factor solution [Table 5]. PF, RP and BP correlated more with factor 1, whereas SF, RE and MH correlated more with factor 2. VT and GH scales correlated moderately with both the factors. The two principal components explained 63.42% of the total variance, which was within the prescribed range. [20],[21] The obtained two-factor structure was similar to that obtained in other studies (factor 1 as "physical" and factor 2 as "mental" domains of health underlying the SF-36). [22]
Table 5: Mean SF-36 scale scores in relation to socio-demographic and clinical characteristics
The study sample can be considered adequate because a sample of 100 or more has been recommended for reliability and validity [23],[24] studies, and to perform second-order analysis on SF-36 scales. [6],[25] SF-36 translation and validation studies in several languages [26],[27],[28],[29] have been carried out using similar sample sizes. The overrepresentation of males (72%) in the study population is not an issue as the study did not aim at generating normative QoL data.
SF-36 was adapted to make it suitable for use in India. Similar adaptations have also been done while translating SF-36 for use in other countries in order to preserve the conceptual meaning of the original question to make it relevant within each country and language. In Iran, [30] in items regarding activities, bowling and playing golf were changed to light sport activities, mile was changed to kilometer and walking one block or walking several blocks were changed to walking one alley or several alleys to refer to a similar distance. In the United Kingdom, [31] walking one block was changed to walking 100 yards and downhearted and blue was changed to downhearted and low. In Sweden, [31] walking in the forest or gardening was used as an example for moderately strenuous activity instead of bowling or playing golf.
The adapted and translated version was well understood by the respondents as there was a low (1%) missing data at both item and scale levels, and all the response choices were used. The suggested Cronbach alfa values of 0.70 for group-level comparison [7] were met for all the scales, thus, supporting the item homogeneity and internal consistency across scales. Tests of known group comparison discriminated well among the groups, differing in socio-demographic and clinical variables. These findings were similar to those reported in other studies. [30],[32],[33],[34],[35] In Greece, [32] women reported worse health than men. Moreover, age was an important health status factor affecting physical health relatively more than mental health. Also, in Iran, [30] SF-36 discriminated well between sub-groups of people differing in gender and age. The findings demonstrated that women and old people had poorer health as compared with men and younger people.
Exploratory factor analyses were performed as the higher order factor structure of SF-36 has not been established in the general Indian population. [25] The higher order factor structure was found to be similar to that in other countries. [22] The two factors explained 63.42% of the total variance of the SF-36 scale scores and 68-97% of the reliable variance of each scale. SF and MH showed, respectively, lower and higher association with physical domain in congruence with the findings from other Asian countries. [26],[27],[30],[36]
To conclude, the item and scale level analyses supported the validity and reliability of the translated and adapted version of SF-36 for use in India. Studies with larger sample size with representative general Indian population are encouraged to generate normative QoL data.
1. World Health Organization. Handbook of basic documents. 46 th ed. World Health Organization: Geneva.
2. Saw SM, Ng TP. The design and assessment of questionnaires in clinical research. Singapore Med J 2001;42:131-5.
3. Hays RD, Anderson R, Revicki D. Psychometric considerations in evaluating health-related quality of life measures. Qual Life Res 1993;2:441-9.
4. McDowell I. General health status and quality of life. Measuring health: A guide to rating scales and questionnaires. 3 rd ed. Oxford University Press, Inc.: New York, NY; 2006. p. 520-703.
5. Wagner AK, Gandek B, Aaronson NK, Acquadro C, Alonso J, Apolone G, et al. Cross-cultural comparisons of the content of SF-36 translations across 10 countries: Results from the IQOLA project. International Quality of Life Assessment. J Clin Epidemiol 1998;51:925-32.
6. Bullinger M, Alonso J, Apolone G, Leplège A, Sullivan M, Wood-Dauphinee S, et al. Translating health status questionnaires and evaluating their quality: The IQOLA project approach. J Clin Epidemiol 1998;51:913-23.
7. Gandek B, Ware JE Jr, Aaronson NK, Alonso J, Apolone G, Bjorner J, et al. Tests of data quality, scaling assumptions, and reliability of the SF-36 in eleven countries: Results from the IQOLA project. International Quality of Life Assessment. J Clin Epidemiol 1998;51:1149-58.
8. Muniyandi M, Rajeswari R, Balasubramanian R, Nirupa C, Gopi PG, Jaggarajamma K, et al. Evaluation of post-treatment health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among tuberculosis patients. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 2007;11:887-92.
9. Rajeswari R, Muniyandi M, Balasubramanian R, Narayanan PR. Perceptions of tuberculosis patients about their physical, mental and social well-being: A field report from south India. Soc Sci Med 2005;60:1845-53.
10. Wig N, Lekshmi R, Pal H, Ahuja V, Mittal CM, Agarwal SK. The impact of HIV/AIDS on the quality of life: A cross sectional study in north India. Indian J Med Sci 2006;60:3-12.
11. Kohli RM, Sane S, Kumar K, Paranjape RS, Mehendale SM. Assessment of quality of life among HIV-infected persons in Pune, India. Qual Life Res 2005;14:1641-7.
12. Kohli RM, Sane S, Kumar K, Paranjape RS, Mehendale SM. Modification of medical outcome study (MOS) instrument for quality of life assessment and its validation in HIV infected individuals in India. Indian J Med Res 2005;122:297-304.
13. Bedi GS, Gupta N, Handa R, Pal H, Pandey RM. Quality of life in Indian patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Qual Life Res 2005;14:1953-8.
14. Haroon N, Aggarwal A, Lawrence A, Agarwal V, Misra R. Impact of rheumatoid arthritis on quality of life. Mod Rheumatol 2007;17:290-5.
15. Ray J, Das SK, Gangopadhya PK, Roy T. Quality of life in Parkinson's disease-Indian scenario. J Assoc Physicians India 2006;54:17-21.
16. SPSS for Windows, Rel. 15.0.1. SPSS Inc: Chicago, IL; 2006.
17. Ware JE Jr, Gandek B. Methods for testing data quality, scaling assumptions, and reliability: The IQOLA project approach. International Quality of Life Assessment. J Clin Epidemiol 1998;51:945-52.
18. Nunnally JC, Bernstein IR. Psychometric theory. 3 rd ed. McGraw-Hill: New York, NY; 1994.
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[Table 1], [Table 2], [Table 3], [Table 4], [Table 5]
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