Research Article | Open Access
Vu Trieu Minh, Fakhruldin Bin Mohd Hashim, "Robust Model Predictive Control Schemes for Tracking Setpoints", Journal of Control Science and Engineering, vol. 2010, Article ID 649461, 9 pages, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1155/2010/649461
Robust Model Predictive Control Schemes for Tracking Setpoints
This paper briefly reviews the development of nontracking robust model predictive control (RMPC) schemes for uncertain systems using linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) subject to input saturated and softened state constraints. Then we develop two new tracking setpoint RMPC schemes with common Lyapunov function and with zero terminal equality subject to input saturated and softened state constraints. The novel tracking setpoint RMPC schemes are able to stabilize uncertain systems once the output setpoints lead to the violation of the state constraints. The state violation can be regulated by changing the value of the weighting factor. A brief comparative simulation study of the two tracking setpoint RMPC schemes is done via simple examples to demonstrate the ability of the softened state constraint schemes. Finally, some features of future research from this study are discussed.
Model predictive control (MPC) refers to a class of algorithms that compute a sequence of manipulated variable adjustments in order to optimize the future behavior of a plant. MPC works out the optimal open-loop-manipulated input trajectory that minimizes the difference between the predicted plant behavior and the desired plant behavior. It differs from other control theories in that the optimal control problem is solved on-line for the current state of the plant, rather than determined off-line as a feedback policy. MPC has been widely applied in the petrochemical and related industries because of its ability to handle input and output constraints in the optimal control problem. However MPC is not designed to explicitly handle plant-model uncertainty and such system might perform very poorly when implemented on a physical system which is not exactly described by the model .
Robust model predictive control (RMPC) is a class of predictive control schemes that counts for the modeling error in the controller design. Instead of forecasting the system behavior by using one process model as in MPC, RMPC forecasts the system behavior for all possible models in the uncertainty set. The optimal actions are determined through the min-max optimization, which minimizes the deviation of the forecasted behavior from the desired behavior for the model with the largest deviation.
Modeling the uncertainty has been studied by a number of researchers. The two common types of uncertainties are parametric uncertainty and bounded disturbance regions. Magni et al.  and Rami and Zhou  proposed using multiplicative input and state uncertainties. Parametric uncertainties are modeled as either bounded uncertainty regions or a polytopic set.
Researchers have proved robust stability for MPC by using the closed loop stability criteria, that is, terminal cost and terminal stability constraints. The simplest way to enforce stability with a finite prediction horizon is to add a so-called zero-terminal equality at the end of the prediction horizon in Keerthi and Gilbert . One disadvantage of a zero terminal equality is that the system must be brought into the origin in a finite time. This leads, in general, to infeasibility for the short control horizon length; that is, the horizon length may not be long enough to satisfy the constraints from all states.
Mayne and Michalska  developed a concept of terminal region with the dual mode approach. The terminal region concept can be viewed as a relaxation of the zero terminal equality. Several other schemes have been proposed by Rawlings , Morari and Lee , Allgower et al. , and Chen and Allgower , that try to overcome the use of zero terminal equality. Most of them use the terminal region constraint and/or terminal penalty with an assumption that there exists a neighborhood of the origin for which the linear feedback control law is asymptotically stabilizing. This neighborhood serves as the terminal region for the finite horizon controller. Minh and Afzulpurkar  developed a MPC scheme without a terminal region using the softened state constraints.
The regulator determines the optimal manipulated input trajectory based on the system behavior predictions of the models. Scokaert and Mayne  proposed a min-max control law that steered the state into an invariant region in which the state feedback law guaranteed convergence to the origin for all states. The main disadvantage of min-max control theories is the computational complexity. These optimization problems are expensive to solve on-line.
Recent developments in the theory and application of the optimization involving linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) to MPC have resulted in a new class of methodologies for MPC because it is now possible to recast much of existing robust control theory in the framework of LMIs and because optimization problems can now be solved and implemented on-line (Henrion et al.  and Primbs ).
Kothare et al.  proposed using an LMI-based optimizer to find robustly stabilizing state feedback gains that minimizes the worst performance objective for a given model uncertainty description. Casavola et al.  developed the concept to uncertain systems with input-saturated constraints.
The processes might have both input and state constraints; so a difficulty will arise due to the inability to satisfy the state constraints. Since the RMPC regulator is designed for online implementation, any infeasible solution of the optimization problems cannot be tolerated. To guarantee the system stability once the state space violates the constraints, Minh and Afzulpurkar  have developed an RMPC algorithm for input-saturated and softened state constraints using penalty terms added into the objective function. These terms keep the state violation at low values until a constrained solution is returned. The state violation can be regulated by changing the value of the weighting factor.
The RMPC algorithm in Minh and Afzulpurkar  was restricted to the finite horizon regulator with a zero target or nontracking setpoint. In this paper, we extend the RMPC algorithm in  for tracking setpoint RMPC algorithm. The new RMPC algorithm allows the system to track a reference output trajectory different from the origin.
Our paper is organized as follows. Section 2 gives a description of the uncertain system used by the authors. Section 3 summarizes the nontracking RMPC scheme for input-saturated and softened state constrains. Section 4 develops a tracking setpoint RMPC scheme using a common Lyapunov function. Section 5 develops a tracking setpoint RMPC scheme using a zero terminal equality. And finally, in Section 6, conclusions and some features of future research are discussed.
2. Description of Uncertain System
For modeling uncertain system, instead of relying on the parameterization of the process, our uncertain system is described by the following discrete state-space model similar to the multiple models described by Kothare et al. : in which are the time-varying state-space model matrices; describes the relationship between the output and the state without any uncertainty; , and are the state, input and output vectors, respectively. When model uncertainty is present, the exact plant model is unknown, the model uncertainty belongs to a polytopic set , where refers to a convex hull or , where and .
In RMPC, the regulator determines the optimal manipulated input trajectory based on the system behavior predictions of the models. We use a scheme similar to the method introduced by Scokaert and Mayne  that produces a tree trajectory for all possible time-varying combinations of the models. Figure 1 illustrates all possible state trajectories of all models with over the prediction horizon length . and denote the possible predicted state and input vectors h at time , for .
The total number of nodes depends on the total number of possible state trajectories of all models L and the prediction horizon length:
The total number of branches is dependent on the number of models L and the prediction horizon length : .
The objective of the control problem is to find the control actions that, once implemented, cause all branches in the tree trajectory to converge to a robust control invariant set in which a state feedback law guarantees convergence to the origin for all states.
3. Summary of Nontracking RMPC Scheme for Input-Saturated and Softened State Constraints
In the infinite horizon RMPC, Kothare et al.  proposed an RMPC scheme using LMIs that minimizes a robust performance objective function in quadratic form at each sampling time k: where , where and are symmetric weighting matrices; is referred to as the infinite horizon RMPC. The minimization is performed with a constant feedback control law .
This is a min-max problem. The maximization over the set and corresponding to choosing that time varying model would lead to the largest or “worst-case” value of among all models in . Suppose that there exists a Lyapunov function with and with . For the objective function to be finite, and, hence, , the system will be stable if the Lyapunov function is decreasing, that is, . Thus, for all , or an upper bound of . Substituting and with , then we have . Set and ( and scalar ); the above equation can be transformed as Equation (4) is equal to an LMI (using Schur complement) of For the unconstrained infinite horizon RMPC, we can find a state feedback gain in the control law for all model uncertainties and for , which guarantees decreasing robust performance since we have found out a common Lyapunov matrix for all models in (5).
Then, the infinite horizon RMPC scheme for the hard input-saturated and output-saturated constraints can be set up as follows (6)–(10): subject to with denoting the iith entry of the unit matrix for input constraints, and/or with denoting the iith entry of the unit matrix for output constraints.
At each time instant and based on the current state , this algorithm generates a feasible state feedback . We then immediately calculate the control input . There is no free moving horizon prediction; thus, this algorithm can be considered as an RMPC scheme with a prediction horizon length . The stability of the uncertain systems in (1) is guaranteed if we can always find a common Lyapunov matrix for all models in (8).
When both hard input and output/state constraints are imposed, difficulty will arise from the inability of the optimizer to satisfy the state/output constraints due to the constraints on the input. Based on the above infinite horizon RMPC scheme, Casavola et al.  formulated a finite horizon RMPC scheme for the input-saturated constraints. Then, Minh and Afzulpurkar  developed a finite horizon RMPC scheme for the input-saturated and the softened state constraints. The idea to develop an RMPC scheme with the softened state constraints comes from the reality that RMPC regulator is designed for an online implementation; any infeasible solution of the optimization problem cannot be tolerated. Input constraints are based on the physical limits and can be considered as hard constraints. If the state constraints are not strictly imposed and can be violated somewhat during the evolution of the system, they can be considered as the softened constraints. The finite horizon RMPC control sequence with free control moves is presented as follows: where is a feasible and robustly stabilizing state-feedback and is free control moves selected on-line by the MPC solver corresponding to initial free control moves as referred to in [17, 18]. For simplicity, from the following sections, the authors assume that the prediction horizon length is set equal to the control horizon length, that is, . The stability of the system is enforced after N free moves with the constraint of input for . It is assumed that the state feedback gain and a common Lyapunov matrix and variable are existed and jointly satisfied the LMIs of infinite horizon RMPC scheme at . Then , and free moves of input for are selected by minimizing the following objective function: where and are symmetric weighting matrices; is referred to as the finite horizon RMPC subject to the constraints that for all and where denotes the vertices and is the ellipsoidal set . The set denotes the convex hull of all i-step ahead state predictions from at time k through application of the input sequence . The robustness of MPC can increase if we can relax some state constraints to softened constraints with penalty terms added into the objective function (12); these terms keep the state violation at low values until a constrained solution is returned: subject to where is the weighting factor for the softened state constraints (, usually a small value) and represents the state penalty terms added to the RMPC objective function. depends on the current state , application of the input sequence and the weighting factor . When the state constraints are satisfied, the RMPC algorithm in (14) will set all softened state penalty terms .
In the next parts, we will develop novel tracking setpoint RMPC schemes using LMIs subject to input-saturated and softened state constraints.
4. Tracking Setpoint RMPC Scheme with Common Lyapunov Function
In reality, the system output is usually required to track a reference trajectory. In some operations the desired values might change overtime. Suppose that the system output is required to track a target vector (called the setpoint) and the desired equilibrium state and input are constant points and , different from the origin. For the uncertain system in (1), we assume that are constant unknown matrices and and are feasible; that is, they satisfy the imposed constraints and , and . The objective function for the infinite horizon RMPC with the tracking setpoint is as follows: where and are symmetric weighting matrices. We can define a shifted state , a shifted input , and a new weighting matrix to reduce the problem in (15) to standard form: The infinite horizon RMPC for tracking setpoint in (16) becomes similar to the nontracking infinite horizon RMPC in (3). Then, the finite horizon RMPC control sequence for tracking setpoint with N free control moves is developed for the shifted state and input: And the objective function of the finite horizon RMPC for tracking setpoint is as follows: where is referred to as the tracking setpoint RMPC subject to the shifted input and state constraints that and , for all .
The saturated input and state constraints for the new shifted input and state are as follows: In the tracking setpoint RMPC scheme, the saturated input and state constraints should be imposed in shifted forms as in (19) and (20). A finite tracking setpoint RMPC scheme with a common Lyapunov function to select subject to the shifted input and softened state constraints is developed as follows.
Given = , find ,,, = + where are the penalty terms for the softened state constraints in all possible nodes added to the objective function, subject to(0.i)(0.ii) subject to the shifted state constraints in (20), and is the weighting factor for the softened state constraints.(0.iii)(0.iii) for , subject to the shifted input constraints in (19).
Step 1. For any , given , and , find where and are all possible nodes and branches, subject to(i)(ii)(iii) subject to the shifted state constraints in (20), and is the weighting factor for the softened state constraints,(iv), for , subject to the shifted input constraints in (19).Step 2. Feed the plant by the input .Step 3. For any , given , and , find again an update common Lyapunov matrix and a feasible state feedback gain by finding , subject to(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)Step 4. , , and go to Step 1.
We illustrate this tracking setpoint RMPC scheme with the following example.
Example 1. We consider the following set of uncertain models with model 1: and model 2: and the system output: .
A simulation is conducted with the system output to track a reference setpoint at . The real model has , and the weighting matrices are set and . The shifted input and state are calculated as and . Now it is assumed to impose a hard constraint on the input and a softened constraint on the state . Then, the new shifted input and state constraints for this tracking setpoint RMPC are and .
Figure 2 shows the input and the output of the tracking setpoint RMPC performance with receding horizons and and a weighting factor for the softened state constraint . The hard constraint on input or , near the equilibrium position of input causes oscillations on the output. Results similar to those by Minh and Afzulpurkar  are obtained; a significant reduction in conservativeness is achieved by simply letting one free move be added as the input commands are closer to the constraint boundary Therefore, the RMPC output with a longer receding horizon approaches its setpoint faster than that with a shorter receding horizon .
Figure 3 compares the output speeds to approach the setpoint reference with different weighting values . Due to the decreasing of the weighting values , the values of the state penalty terms will increase and keep the state violations at lower values. Then, the RMPC with smaller value of approaches the setpoint reference faster than the RMPC with greater value of . Softened state penalty terms help RMPC to find a solution when the state values are violated constraints, and when the state constraints are satisfied, the RMPC will set all state penalty terms to zero.
Figure 4 shows the results of controlling the state violation by changing the value of . For the values , 1/10, and 1/100, we obtained the maximum values of , 2.6874, and 2.3752, respectively. By decreasing the weighting values , we could significantly reduce the state constraint violations . However, when we further decrease the values of , as shown by this example with , we cannot further reduce the state constraint violations since we have reached a control “limit”. If we set a very small weighting value , the maximum value of is still unchanged at 2.3675.
5. Setpoint Tracking RMPC Scheme with Zero Terminal Equality
A similar result in  can be applied for the above tracking setpoint RMPC scheme with a common Lyapunov matrix to find a robust stabilizing state feedback for the uncertain systems. However we still have other methods to ensure the stability within a finite prediction horizon. It is to use a terminal region constraint at the end of the prediction horizon.
We consider the objective function of the RMPC in (18); the simplest possibility to enforce the stability with a finite prediction horizon is to add a so-called zero-terminal equality at the end of the prediction horizon, that is, to add a zero constraint for the terminal prediction state: or or . The state-feedback gain used to define the input sequence after the first N free moves is also set to zero, . The objective function in (18) can be rewritten as
Equation (34) is equivalent to the following LMI (using the Schur complement): To prove the stability of the system, we denote and , the Lyapunov function and . Then, Since the Lyapunov function is decreasing, the system with a zero terminal equality becomes always stable.
Another tracking setpoint RMPC scheme to select subject to a zero terminal equality is developed as follows.
Step 1. For , given , find where are all possible nodes of the uncertain system, subject to(i)(ii)(iii) subject to the shifted state constraints in (20), and is the weighting factor for the softened state constraints,(iv), , subject to the shifted input constraints in (19).
Step 2. Feed the plant by the input
Step 3. , , and go to Step 1.
The zero terminal equality poses difficulty to the optimization algorithm. Choosing the horizon length N may be challenging because, if N is not chosen to be long enough, RMPC scheme may not have a feasible solution. For the long prediction length N and for the large system, the online min-max optimization RMPC becomes more computational expensive. Another shortfall of the zero terminal equality constraint is that the solution to the minimization problem often takes unusual or unnatural paths in order to satisfy the constraint.
Example 2. We consider the same uncertain models in the example 1 and simulate the zero terminal equality RMPC scheme with a weighting factor for the softened state constraints . The shortest horizon length for the closed-loop stability of this RMPC with the initial state is . The RMPC computation becomes more expensive since the total number of branches is or we have to calculate the zero terminal equality for 64 nodes of the terminal prediction states .
Figure 5 compares the performance of the RMPC with a zero terminal equality and RMPC with a common Lyapunov function. We can see that the input of RMPC scheme with a zero terminal equality follows some unusual path in order to satisfy the terminal equality constraint, rather than yields a solution similar to the RMPC with a common Lyapunov function. Therefore, the output of RMPC with a zero terminal equality oscillates longer than that of RMPC with a common Lyapunov function. Or RMPC with a common Lyapunov function has a better performance than RMPC with zero terminal equality.
We have presented two tracking setpoint RMPC schemes with a common Lyapunov function and with a zero terminal equality subject to the saturated input and softened state constraints. It is assumed that all states of the MPC models are directly measured and that there are no disturbances. As the main advantage, soften state constraints scheme proves its ability to guarantee stability once the output setpoint leads to the violation of the state constraints.
For the same prediction horizon length, softened state constraints RMPC becomes less conservative than RMPC with only hard input constraints. Another advantage of the softened state RMPC schemes is its ability to regulate the state violation by changing the weighting factor. RMPC scheme with longer prediction horizon approaches its setpoint faster than that with shorter prediction horizon. And with the same prediction horizon length, RMPC with a common Lyapunov function approaches its setpoint faster than RMPC with a zero terminal equality.
However additional analysis is required to conclude the effectiveness of the novel schemes regarding to achievable performance and the corresponding CPU elapsed time because of the additional penalty terms added to the objective function. For long prediction lengths or/and in large systems, the online RMPC optimization becomes more computationally extensive. Results presented in this research must be viewed as an initial step towards a more comprehensive study on the theoretical properties of the softened state constraint schemes and their application.
The authors would like to thank the comments provided by the anonymous reviewers and editor, which help the authors improve this paper significantly. The authors have taken into consideration all comments of the reviewers in the final version of the paper. This work was supported by Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP).
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Copyright © 2010 Vu Trieu Minh and Fakhruldin Bin Mohd Hashim. 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.


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I would be nearly an adult before I realized that my mother's journey through mental illness was a harrowing one. Those early years while I toddled behind my grandmother captivated by the magic of earthworms and butterflies and leaves, my mother was in a mental institution enduring a battery of treatments for her paranoid schizophrenia. In the the 60s this included shock therapy which left huge gouges in her long-term memory. She still can't remember important milestones in her early years. Now, more than fifty years of psychotropic drugs have left her body ravaged with kidney failure, hypertension and dexterity issues all exacerbated by the drugs that has kept her sane.
Though I always felt abandoned by her as a child, I still think of my mother as a regal vision in her black high heels, form fitting dresses, her hair pulled elegantly back from her face and her lips dark red when she would return to the farm to visit me for holidays. She would kiss me on the lips and hug me so tightly that sometimes I feared her. She always looked like she was about to cry when she saw me. I always knew she loved me and I knew it was a mighty love. My grandmother would watch her as though she was afraid that something awful might happen.
|One of the few earlier photos of us together. Surprised that she is not dressed up.|
In my other life, the one I imagined for us back then, she held my hand everywhere we went, she took me for swim lessons (I never learned to swim.), taught me to play the piano like her, and told me of the days after she was released from the hospital and moved to Louisville to become a beautician. I imagined myself at her feet, my head in her lap, the awe of her washing over me.
The reality was that even though I knew she had given birth to me I spent most of my youth thinking of my mother as a sister of sorts. My grandmother was the one I counted on. She was sturdy as a rock and could solve any problem, answer any question. My mother was beautiful and strange and fragile. There was always a look in her eye that I couldn't quite identify. She told me she loved me all the time. I came to think that she loved me too much. At some point I decided that it was her love for me that had driven her crazy.
When I was in my late teens, my mother lived in Lexington and I had moved from my grandparents farm to nearby Richmond where I attended college. I drove thirty minutes to her little apartment that always reeked of cigarettes and the smell of fried meat to visit. Her apartment was on the second floor and had an bright orange door that stood out from the lime green doors of the other apartments. She wore an Afro sometimes back then and worked in a hotel. She always invited me to look through her jewelry box for a trinket to take back to school with me. I always felt as though she was still trying to coax some greater love from me than I had to give. I would take something small from the yellow velvet jewelry box to make her happy. A pin, a cheap piece of costume jewelry, earrings that I kept but never wore.
These visits were awkward and often we would sit in her living room or at her kitchen table just staring at each other then at the wall or floor. Sometimes she would fix me something to eat but didn't know any of my eating habits the way a mother would. Once she had made salmon croquettes. She was embarrassed when I said "Oh, I'm allergic to fish." By this time, her illness was controlled with the medication but still I felt as though we were both learning the ways of strangers. But during those college years my mother and I grew close. My mother was the first person I called when I became pregnant instead of my grandmother. My mother saw my son shortly after he was born and came to stay with me in Richmond a few days after he was born. I drove to Lexington often to see her and when I graduated from college I moved to Lexington. In the years that followed she and I and my children would travel back to the farm to see my grandparents as a fully-realized family.
My mother and I have been close for more than thirty years now. Sometimes when she talks of my childhood she tries to reassure me "Your grandmother wouldn't let me have you," she says "because..." And I feel it again that smothering mother love that she has for me rising up in her, a powerful kind of love that she never got to act out. And it is in these moments that I try not to overreact, try not cry, try not recreate myself a girlhood with her as some other mother. I allow her to love me with as thick a love as she can stand and I just love her back.

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Featuring a 925 sterling silver pendant of a pointe shoe hung on an adjustable Venetian link chain, the exquisite Pointe Shoe Necklace by Mikelart instantly elevates any outfit while subtly letting everyone know that yes, you are a ballerina!
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text:
(Is the Clinton campaign’s tactic of overtly playing the race card starting to backfire?)
The latest survey conducted by the LA Times of 2,507 respondents nationwide shows 47.7% of voters support Republican nominee versus only 41% who support the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with Trump’s poll performance improving by an unprecedented 7.1% over the past 6 days.
The concerns about the former First Lady’s health quickly turned to questions about her honesty and transparency after her campaign provided inconsistent statements regarding her condition including saying she was dehydrated, then claiming pneumonia, and finally Bill Clinton described it as the flu and said she collapses “frequently.” Perhaps the most surprising finding in the polling, and perhaps a reason to be suspicious about the result, is where Donald Trump made up most of the ground during his huge polling surge. On September 10, Trump was polling at only 3.1% among African-American voters, but as of this weekend he has the support of 20% of the black electorate suggesting a major sea change in how the community views him.
[read more here]
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This article aims to map existing prevalence research on abuse and neglect of older people and to provide a critical overview of existing methodologies, which have been adopted to survey the prevalence rates of abuse against elders. This article is part of the prevalence study of Abuse and Violence against Older Women (AVOW) study, which was conducted in five European countries (Austria, Belgium, Finland, Lithuania, and Portugal). The article provides an overview of the state of the art of prevalence data, survey designs and methods, instruments and results in Europe. Therefore, this draws on an extensive literature search and qualitative content analysis, which was conducted as an early part of the AVOW study. Results indicate that some EU countries have a rich history of prevalence research, whereas other countries have just begun to tackle this aspect of research on of elder abuse. One of the lacunae concerns reliable numbers on the prevalence rates of elder abuse. Research about where, when and how often elder abuse occurs, is inadequate and inconsistent. Data in some cases are based on professionals' reports rather than on information from older people themselves. Surveying elders about such a sensitive topic, however, implies the need for an adequate research instrument (questionnaire) and research design, and an adapted data collection method. In conclusion, substantial attention is paid to outlining possible guidelines for future research.
|Number of pages||15|
|Journal||European Journal of Ageing|
|Publication status||Published - 2011|
- elder abuse
- older people


Thanks Big. When I initially stripped it I noticed the protruding firing pin right away.
I just stripped it again and tried to push on the firing pin from the front but it wouldn't move. Put it back together and dry fired it a few times. The firing pin was back inside the slide. I stripped it and pushed the firing pin back and forth from the back and it is indeed free.
Problem solved? Seems to be, but I'll take it out and test it.
While the function of the pistol seems fine at this point, I've yet to fire it. I'll give Ruger CS a holler tomorrow and see what they say. I'll definitely shoot the thing before I contemplate sending it back. I'm a gun counter guy at a 'well known' firearms sales location. I see this kind of stuff every day.
Thanks for the comments, great forum!
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Published: Jan 01, 2005
Beware the aging boomer come to tell you about a neglected masterpiece from the 1960s, an album so great it stands with the best of the Beatles. Pity his failing eyesight, his muddied hearing, his growing gut and receding hair. Giftwrap Viagra for him. Pat him on his flabby arm. And move on.
The thing is, there is such an album, and it is that good, and people who have the history of rock music in their heads put it in the pantheon of greatness. I will make the case for it here. But you can easily test my praise for yourself. Click on the ‘buy’ link. Sample the songs. If you are not excited — if you don’t feel you’ve just had the audio equivalent of a double shot at Starbucks — consign me to the Old Hippies Home and never trust me (on the ’60s, anyway) again.
The group is Love. They made a few albums, and then, in 1968, they made ‘Forever Changes.’ Arthur Lee — the leader of Love — thought it was his swan song; he expected his imminent death.
‘Forever Changes’ was huge in the band’s native Los Angeles, big on a few campuses, ignored everywhere else. And not because of the songs: they are smartly written and expertly played. But they are also ‘produced’ — there are strings here, and horns. In a summer when police were beating kids at the Democratic Convention in Chicago and we were dropping more bombs on Vietnam than we did in World War II and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. were getting killed, the last thing Young America wanted was Smart and Complex.
Time clarifies. Dust settles. Now no one cares who did what back when. Without expectations, maybe you can actually hear this CD for what it is. [To buy 'Forever Changes' from Amazon, click here. For the MP3 download, click here.]
What you’ll hear is a blend of rock and psychedelia. There’s the punch of rock lyrics — ‘The news today will be the movies for tomorrow’ —- and the longing of high-altitude, late-night musing:
Yeah, I heard a funny thing
Somebody said to me
You know that I could be in love with almost everyone
I think that people are
The greatest fun
And I will be alone again tonight my dear
You are just a thought that someone
Somewhere somehow feels you should be here
And it’s so for real
To touch, to smell, to feel, to know where you are here
And the streets are paved with gold
And if someone asks you, you can call my name
For all the romanticism, there’s plenty of paranoia. Lee recites, over martial drums:
They’re locking them up today
they’re throwing away the key
I wonder who it will be tomorrow
— you or me?
But in this song cycle about confusion and thwarted romance and the deep ache for wholeness, there’s a surprisingly upbeat conclusion:
This is the time and life that I am living
And I’ll face each day with a smile
For the time that I’ve been given is such a little while
And the things that I must do consist of more than style
At the end, Arthur Lee invokes the idea contained in the title:
Everything I’ve seen needs rearranging
And for anyone who thinks it’s strange
Then you should be the first to want to make this change
And for everyone who thinks that life is just a game
Do you like the part you’re playing?
Love didn’t. The group broke up. Arthur Lee spent more than a decade in jail for a gun violation. And now here is ‘Forever Changes,’ re-mixed, even better, fresh as a spring morning in Los Angeles almost 40 years ago. Oh, dear. That long ago?


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In the spotlight 1
From agrarian reform to people’s rights to territories: a brief history of people’s struggles for natural resources
The struggle for land has been a pillar of the food sovereignty movement since its emergence in the 1990s. At that time, peasant and landless organizations in different regions of the world were mobilizing against extreme land concentration and large farms (sometimes called latifundios), which had often been inherited from colonial times [In many countries, organizing against land concentration and demanding land redistribution has been part of social struggles for most of the second half of the 20th century. For instance, many revolutionary movements in Asia, including after decolonization, had land at their center.]. In 1999, La Via Campesina launched a Global Campaign for Agrarian Reform (GCAR) to push for human rights-based land distribution policies, and to oppose approaches that promoted markets as the best way of allocating land to the most “efficient” users and profitable uses. Rural movements’ demands for comprehensive agrarian reform also gained traction internationally, culminating in the final declaration of the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD) in 2006.
Towards the end of the 2000s, two important developments changed the framing of land struggles. Firstly, the food sovereignty movement gathered for the World Forum for Food Sovereignty in Sélingué (Mali). Different constituencies of small-scale food producers, such as indigenous peoples, pastoralists and artisanal fishers participated in this landmark meeting. These organizations had different histories and concerns than some of the peasant organizations and did not necessarily center their demands on agrarian reform. The notion of “territories” emerged out of the debate as a more holistic framing, capturing the close and multi-faceted relationship that different communities and people have with their natural environment, including farmland, water, fisheries, rangelands and forests. Secondly, the food price and financial crises that started in 2008 triggered a new wave of land grabbing, which also targeted regions that had not seen high levels of land concentration until then (e.g. West Africa). The new land rush sparked fierce resistance of communities and small-scale food producers’ organizations in defense of their territories, including their collective and customary tenure systems. In 2011, organizations from around the world gathered again in Sélingué for an International Peasant Conference to Stop Land Grabbing. This marked an important moment for the building of a global movement against land grabbing, which built on demands for agrarian reform but also recognized more strongly the demands of movements and constituencies who were not comfortable with agrarian reform language. In 2016, social movements and their allies came together for an International Conference on Agrarian Reform in Marabá, Brazil, where they endorsed the concept of Popular Agrarian Reform, which was initially developed by La Via Campesina Brazil and which embeds demands for land distribution within broader policies to transform economies and society, specifically including urban working people.
The global land grab put land back prominently on the international agenda. Among others, it gave further impetus to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)’s initiative to develop an international reference document on the governance of natural resources. The small-scale food producers’ organizations gathered in the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC) led the participation of civil society in the negotiations that took place in the Committee on World Food Security (CFS). The Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Land, Fisheries and Forests (Tenure Guidelines) were adopted in 2012. Building on the ICARRD, they clarify states’ obligations to respect, protect and guarantee all legitimate tenure rights – whether they are legally recognized or not –, prioritizing the most marginalized groups. They contain provisions for the protection of customary tenure systems as well as for restitution and redistribution [The IPC’s Land and Territory Working Group has developed a People’s Manual to help grassroots organizations to use this international instrument.]. The Tenure Guidelines were complemented in 2014 by the Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries, which also emphasize the collective character of many communities’ rights.
These international guidelines have provided an opportunity for social organizations to advance their struggles at local, national and regional levels. They have achieved important advances in several countries and have further pushed for an explicit international recognition of the human right to land for rural people. This was finally achieved with the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas in 2018 [See in particular articles 5 and 17], which complements the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the International Labour Organization’s Convention no. 169. However, the Tenure Guidelines were also taken up by actors who consider land and related natural resources primarily as a globalized economic and financial asset. In such a framing, “secure land rights” or “security of tenure” means providing exclusive property rights, usually in the form of individual land titles. The International Land Coalition (ILC) is one of the most emblematic manifestations of an approach, which considers land-related “investment” projects as necessary, while acknowledging that negative impacts on local people need to be mitigated. It is under such a framing that land has been included into the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In the spotlight 2
Land and territories today: new challenges and broader struggles
At the same time as land and natural resources have been put back on the global agenda as key issues, the dispossession of communities and people has reached new heights. Today, social movements’ struggles for territories need to respond to a new context that is marked by a number of developments:
• Financialization: The financial crisis that started in 2008/09 has made evident the enormous power of finance capitalism and the dispossession and destruction of livelihoods that it causes for communities around the world. Land deals and all kinds of “investment” projects (large-scale agriculture, infrastructure etc.) are managed through opaque investment webs, tax havens and offshore centres. New financial instruments such as derivatives allow for new ways of wealth extraction and speculation by corporate and financial actors [More information here]. While financialization has come along with new levels of concentration of control over people’s territories in the hands of a few powerful actors – for instance, the Singapore-based agribusiness company Olam owns and manages more than 3 million hectares of land and forests around the world – it also challenges traditional claims for agrarian reform, namely the call for distribution of non-utilized land. This is because the value of land as a financial asset is decoupled from its use and land that is not under production is used in other ways to generate financial returns. This also applies to forests and oceans, which have been transformed into assets for different climate change mitigation schemes under the so-called “green” and “blue” economies.
Financialization entails that the effective control over land and other natural resources is increasingly in the hands of financial actors that are not necessarily visible for affected communities and people. These include pension funds, investment funds, banks, insurance companies and asset management companies such as BlackRock, the world’s biggest finance firm. Struggles for land and territories therefore need to address also financial justice issues such as stopping tax evasion, closing tax havens and ending illicit financial flows.
• Digitalization: Digital technologies play a key role in transforming land, fisheries and forests into globalized assets and are therefore a key element of financialization. Digitalization is promoted by governments, international institutions and the corporate sector as a new “silver bullet” that is supposed to make natural resource governance more efficient and to ensure tenure security for communities. While the food sovereignty movement and small-scale food producers’ organizations still need to discuss further to what extent digital technologies can be used in an emancipatory way, it is clear that the corporate-driven digitalization agenda is perpetuating structural inequalities and power imbalances [For more information, please see the Nyéléni Newsletter No. 37 on “The Digitalization of the Food System.].
• Rise of authoritarianism and crisis of democracy: Social movements’ and indigenous peoples’ struggles are increasingly squeezed between authoritarian, racist and chauvinistic regimes that seek to capture land demands for their own purposes on the one side, and new levels of corporate capture of governance spaces on the other. These developments have led to an alarming level of erosion of human rights and democracy at national and international levels. Consequently, the fundamentals for framing land demands and campaigning have changed. At international level, the rise of corporate power, the inability of UN institutions to provide useful/credible advice in the face of crises, and the rise of right wing authoritarianism has led to a deep crisis of the multilateral system of the UN, which has profound implications for the implementation of the significant achievements mentioned above [One example is the Food Systems Summit that is planned for 2021 and whose corporate-driven process has been denounced by more than five hundred organizations from around the world].
• Convergence of agrarian and ecological struggles: The profound ecological crisis the world is facing today and which manifest most strongly in human-made global warming as well as in the dramatic loss of biological diversity, has major implications for food sovereignty. Agrarian movements and struggles for land and territories need to integrate these issues in a comprehensive way. One manifestation of the relevance of ecological issues is the fact that relevant discussions regarding land have moved away from the “traditional” land governance spaces and are increasingly happening in other fora, such as those related to climate change, biodiversity, land degradation and soils etc. [This has happened at the same time when the FAO has largely given up its leadership on land issues and has no clear strategy for the implementation of the Tenure Guidelines in line with the UNDROP. This has opened the door for other actors to take over the leading role, such as the World Bank and multi-stakeholder platforms such as the ILC.] Even though small-scale food producers’ organizations have partially succeeded in bringing the Tenure Guidelines, the SSF Guidelines and UNDROP into some of the relevant discussions, the framing of land issues remains very narrow. Some of the civil society groups that have been active in the climate and biodiversity spaces, for instance, focus on specific and limited demands such as safeguards to protect indigenous peoples’ rights or formalization of communities’ land rights. Small-scale food producers’ organizations struggling for food sovereignty are not well represented (yet) in these fora, which are dominated by specialized NGOs and their “expert” knowledge. The small-scale food producers’ organizations of the IPC are currently struggling for a broader recognition of rural people’s role as stewards of ecosystems and that this requires effective control over their territories.
• Focus on the production model: Currently, the most intense debates on food are about the necessary transformation of food systems and agroecology. In the light of a deep legitimacy crisis of the agribusiness model, which is all too obviously unsustainable, social movements and CSOs have made important achievements, especially in the CFS [The CFS is currently engaged in two important policy processes in this regard: 1) the negotiations on Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition; and 2) the development on policy recommendations on
Agroecological and other Innovative Approaches.] and FAO [Following two international and a series of regional FAO symposia/conferences, the FAO Council (the executive organ of the FAO) formally adopted Ten Elements of Agroecology in December 2019]. Land and territories are central to these debates, but they are rarely prominently discussed in this context. In addition, despite the legitimacy crisis of agribusiness, there is little real change so far. Agribusiness has put forward Climate Smart Agriculture and the use of new (biological and digital) technologies as false solutions that are supposed to maintain its power. The COVID pandemic and the limitations it has entailed for social movements and indigenous peoples’ organizations in terms of their capacity to mobilize has been used by agribusiness to further expand its power in many countries [Among the most blatant examples is the admission of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Ecuador and Bolivia, and the ever-increasing deforestation in Brazil.] and in the internationally dominant discourse.
• COVID-19 pandemic and responses: Although the crisis caused by the pandemic and governments’ responses to it has laid bare the profound inequalities of our societies and the profound crisis of the industrial food system, debates and response measures have focused to a great extent to health aspects. Despite broad recognition of the fact that extractive activities, including agribusiness, are responsible for the destruction of ecosystems and that this leads to the emergence of new pathogens, the international and national responses have focused on saving big corporations and maintaining global value chains. While some peasant organizations have made the link to land concentration, calling for redistributive reforms as part of the response to the crisis, to the economic recession and to the escalation of inequalities that it is likely to entail [See, for instance MST’s Emergency Plan for People’s Agrarian Reform]; there has been no comprehensive proposal yet by the food sovereignty movement on how to incorporate land and territories into the post-pandemic order.
At this time of major disruptions and shifts, it is important to revive and (at least partially) refocus the struggles for land and territories in the new context. This will require building on the “old” strategies while finding new pathways that are adapted to the current circumstances. Over the last years, broader convergences of struggles for food sovereignty, women’s rights as well as environmental, social and financial justice have started to emerge, which connect movements and demands in new ways, and could lead to new strategies of building power to achieve systemic change. In several countries, the COVID “emergency” has boosted solidarity and local organizing, combining direct relief and support actions with political demands geared towards transformative change.
The current moment provides an important opportunity for a deep, collective and action-oriented reflection because it has exposed more clearly than ever the immense injustices and inequalities of the current food and economic systems. It is also a moment of reconfiguration of power relations that will determine to what extent social movements and people’s mobilization will be able to advance the political agenda of food sovereignty.

domain: sociology


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This TED Talk given by James Howard Kunstler is fascinating because it goes a long way to explain the problems with suburbia outside of the direct issue of energy efficiency:
The problem of impoverished public spaces has several sources, many self-reinforcing. If people drive everywhere, they don’t spend a lot of time in between-building public spaces, so there’s no incentive to improve those spaces, and thus no incentive not to drive everywhere. If culture values private space over public space, the resulting public spaces reinforce those values. If people have hard jobs and long commutes, they might not want to linger anywhere on their journey back to their family, so even the indoor public spaces put convenience and speed over the friendliness of the space itself. And after a long drive home to the kids (who have no access to any sort of public space on their own), one might prefer playing in the back yard to driving out to the park (if there is one). On the architectural side, building one nice building won’t rehabilitate an otherwise unpleasant space, so why bother. And based on the idea that the right thing to do in public places certainly isn’t “hang out”, architectural fashions have risen disproportionately promoting elements that are intimidating, disorienting, or disconcerting.
A digression on that last point: It seems almost like America’s wholesale rejection of urban design fundamentals gave American architects a form of Stockholm Syndrome. These are the people tasked with building good spaces, which is often impossible and requires knowledge that has been largely discarded. That leads them to make horrible design decisions even in places where good public spaces could be created and the resources are available. Kunstler uses Boston’s City Hall plaza as an example, and I can see why:
Wikipedia’s discussion of the critical response highlights that architects rated the building far more highly than the general public. Seriously, did the architects actually think, “It would be great if Boston’s City Hall looked like an imposing concrete inverted UFO filled with bureaucrats, surrounded by a vast brick buffer zone where people have no reason to habitually linger, that’s what the face of local democracy and civic engagement in Boston should look like”? Presumably not. It’s just that it seems like a cool idea, any sort of cube-dwellers can be installed in any sort of building, the wide-open space makes for some dramatic light and shadow and consequently some pretty interesting photos if you crop them right.


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With Tropical Storm Isaias making landfall last night, according to the National Weather Center, causing storm surge and flash flooding in the Carolinas, the disturbance is now moving north. Now is a good time to review how your insurance policies cover (or don’t cover) water damage caused by inclement weather.
Hurricanes are defined by their strong winds – with a sustained speed of 74 mph or more, to be precise – which makes it easy to confuse the wind with their most potentially destructive aspect. Yet as points out the National Hurricane Center, it is in fact storm surges and large waves from hurricanes that “pose the greatest threat to life and property along the coast”. And coastal communities are not the only ones vulnerable. “Storm surges can travel several kilometers inland,” says the NHC, as happened with devastating consequences during hurricanes Katrina (in 2005) and Sandy (in 2012).
Isaias was upgraded to a hurricane last night due to high wind speeds, but has now been restored to tropical storm status. Still, the National Weather Center predicts heavy rain as Isaias moves up the coast, including “potentially deadly urban flooding in DC, Baltimore and elsewhere.”
Here is a brief overview of the coverage for water damage that is included with typical home and other property insurance policies.
Homeowners policies do not cover flood and storm surge damage
The golden rule with home insurance is that if water enters your home directly from above, the policy should cover the necessary repairs. If, however, the water hits the ground first, it is technically considered a flood. And covering your home against flooding requires a separate insurance policy.
A storm surge is not technically a flood, but its consequences are still not covered. According to the International Risk Management Institute, court cases have considered a storm surge to be “little more than a synonym for ‘tidal wave’ or ‘wind-driven flooding’, both of which are excluded in most cases. [insurance].”
Your home insurance will, however, protect you against damage caused by the rain and wind of a hurricane. Be aware, however, that a different (and higher) hurricane deductible will apply in a number of states, especially when it comes to wind effects. This list of states includes North Carolina and South Carolina, on whose coasts Isaias is expected to make landfall. Carolinians should contact their insurance company to confirm coverage, including when these higher deductibles are triggered.
Full coverage protects your cars
If your vehicles are damaged by a hurricane, particularly following a flood or a storm surge, you are covered if you have what is called comprehensive coverage in your car insurance policy. This is the optional module that protects your car against threats such as theft, falling tree branches and flooding.
Fortunately, about 80% of car owners have “comprehensive” insurance, according to Mark Friedlander, director of corporate communications at the Insurance Information Institute. But if you happen to have dropped coverage for cost reasons, consider adding it back. You might even be able to make it in time for cover if Isaias hits your community, either shortly or as it moves north up the coast later in the week.
Flood insurance takes time to get
Covering your property against flooding, whether from a hurricane or other weather conditions, requires a separate policy. And these can’t be bought if a hurricane is only days or even weeks away from hitting your area.
The primary source of coverage, the federal flood insurance program, requires that you apply at least 30 days before the date cover. Private insurers offering flood insurance could write new policies more quickly, said Friedlander, a spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute. But you shouldn’t expect to get a private flood policy in less than about 5 days, he adds.
More money :


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Nepal not only offers an abundant choice when it comes to trekking, but the options for other things to do is almost limitless. You can easily fill your spare days in Nepal seeking adventure by means different adventure activities.Read More..
If you are into adventure sports of various kinds, Nepal is the perfect destination for you. You can have plenty of choices when it comes to adventure activities like trekking, hiking, mountain biking, rafting etc. The more you indulge yourself in these activities, the more will you crave for other similar ones. You can have a first hand experience by trying out the myriad of adventure sports, which are otherwise difficult to find in a single country. Or you can just unwind and relax by immersing yourself in peaceful yoga or meditation or taking boat rides in beautiful lakes.
Yuuki Treks manages and organizes all kinds of adventure sport activities for its valued customers. We organize your adventure trips in a way so as to gain the utmost thrill of your lifetime. We provide all kinds of trips and can customize it based on your budget, duration, group size and other such factors.Hide..

domain: travel


The SaberLink Analysis Interface to MATLAB lets you use the power of
MATLAB 5.0 from within the SaberDesigner environment. SaberLink adds a MATLAB command line and transcript window to SaberDesigner. Waveforms, stimulus, and simulation results are transparently exchanged between MATLAB and SaberDesigner. Application Areas: Aerospace; Automotive; Communications; Control system design/analysis; Electronics; Optics; System identification; Thermodynamics; Vibration analysis/control.


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Now that is one expensive shirt.
See, the problem is that Griffin has a sponsorship deal with Adidas, but the NFL has a league-wide deal with Nike.
When Griffin arrived at the news conference wearing an Adidas T-shirt, that was a big no-no in the eyes of the league. So he was fined.
Of course, considering Griffin signed a four-year, $21-million deal with the Redskins before the season started, $10,000 is probably not that big of a deal to him.


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Saturday, July 16, 2011
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Ordering number : F13659 (Consignment Sale)
Set of Tosogu : Fuchi Kashira, Kurigata, Kojiri
Mei (Signature) : Ensyu Jyu Sadahiko
Syowa Mizunoeinu Syougatsu(1982)
Fuchi Length : 4.19 cm x 2.36 cm x 1.07 cm
(1.64 incehs x 0.92 inches x 0.42 inches)
Kashira Length : 3.35 cm x 1.84 cm x 0.98 cm
(1.31 incehs x 0.72 inches x 0.38 inches)
Kurigata Length : 3.70 cm x 1.63 cm x 1.35 cm
(1.45 incehs x 0.64 inches x 0.53 inches)
Kojiri Length : 4.00 cm x 2.05 cm x 1.45 cm
(1.57 incehs x 0.80 inches x 0.57 inches)
Jidai(era) : Syowa 57th year(1982)
Special feature:He is well known sword fitting craftman.
He was born syowa 8th year 2 Gatasu(1933).
He Making things luxurious warm is good.
On the iron plate, the arabesque is inlaid with gold color.
We recommend this very nice condition of Higo syle tosogu.
AOI estimation paper
In Kiri box.
Price: 140,000JPY- (including shipping and 100% insurance fee)

domain: hobby


Falling Slowly (Oct 5th, 15)
We did a huge mix of songs for this particular show, as we haven’t wanted to define what we do any more than, the love of being creative, making music, laughing, and bringing joy to audiences… A, “welcome to our playground,” type show if you will.
Deirdre Moncy & Tom Kiesche singing “Falling Slowly” from the musical ONCE, with Roger Aldi on drums.
Watch, listen, share, rave, like, follow, tweet, post… Don’t miss the next show, whatever, and wherever it may be.
Oct 5th, 2015, Hyperion Lyric Theatre, Los Angeles
– Quiche Out


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LaVida has introduced a large range of faux plants and planters that help bring life to the indoors.
The new range from AGHA Melbourne Gift Fair exhibitor LaVida focuses on a love of colour and texture.
Don’t have a green thumb? Don’t worry. Guaranteed to liven up your interiors, these beauties will last a lifetime and look great whilst being completely maintenance and fuss free.
Add some ‘oomph’ and create a stunning eye-catching display that is sure to entice even the ‘just looking’ crowd. Everyone will want to take these envious pieces home with them.
Use this colour and texture on the dining table and mix ‘n’ match serving ware and coconut bowls to create a fun and cheerful tabletop display. Add layers and levels using LaVida’s large collection of table runners and placemats.
LaVida was established in 2000 and has grown in leaps and bounds over the years to become one of the major wholesalers in Australia and New Zealand.
With a large number of items on its website there is a huge variety of products and styles to choose from to complement any retailer or interior decorator.
LaVida has a specialised in-house team of designers and buyers that are dedicated to creating unique and interesting items and ensuring that its high level of quality is maintained.
The company sources items from all around the world and are constantly on the lookout for new inspiration and ideas to keep its ranges fresh and up to date.
See the latest products from LaVida Trading, Stand 528, at AGHA Melbourne Gift Fair, 3-7 August 2019. To register or for more information, click here.


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Inmarsat has been awarded a $19 million contract from the European Space Agency to build a satellite data link for the continent’s air traffic control infrastructure.
ESA’s Iris Precursor project seeks to improve controller-pilot communications and help industry cut airborne delays by using Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband service, Inmarsat said Wednesday.
“Our aim, and the purpose of this partnership, is to continue to provide airlines across the globe with improved safety services, aircraft routing, and environmental and cost efficiency benefits,” said Rupert Pearce, CEO of Inmarsat.
The company will upgrade its SwiftBroadband aviation communications system with the goal of providing a satellite overlay for very high-frequency networks.
Inmarsat will lead a team of 16 companies in the Iris Precursor system development.
The firm’s SwiftBroadband Safety platform is being tested for oceanic flight operations under the Single European Skies ATM Research program.


Lately we’ve covered a lot of wearable technology, from pretty smart to kind of stupid. Dutch designer Boore Akkersdijk takes issue with the term—he insists that it’s really “carry-able technology,” not wearable technology. He’s referring to all the clip-on devices we have, like Google Glass and smart trainers. So he decided to make what he deems a truly wearable piece of technology. The BB Suit, which looks a little bit like the Dude’s bathrobe, allows the wearer not just to connect to Wi-Fi but to be Wi-Fi.
The Bagger 288, also known as the Excavator 288, is the largest land vehicle in the world. Somehow, I hadn’t heard of it until now—probably because it’s hanging out in Germany, where it was built by Krupp AG, one of the biggest steel and arms manufacturers in the world through World War II when it then switched to making industrial machinery. The Bagger was completed in 1978, and surpassed NASA’s Crawler-Transporter as the most massive terrestrial vehicle known to man, weighing in at 13,500 tons. Here’s the real thing, which inspired a music video that will leave you scratching your heads, it also features a bunch of animals head banging to its sheer awesomeness.
Remember the London skyscraper that got so hot in the sun that it started melting cars? Clearly that was a major design flaw, but suffice it to say that these tall buildings take in a lot of sunlight and can heat up fast. New York architecture firm REX has come up with an ingenious way to solve this problem, while also designing a skyscraper that makes a statement. Their secret? Umbrellas.
I teach, think, and write a lot about the technology of the future, and the implications of that technology. I often worry that people accept the evils of technology without thinking carefully enough about it — i.e., spying, other privacy invasions, and hacking — and that Aldous Huxley’s fear that we’ll be “caught by surprise by our advancing technology” will indeed come to fruition. But recent Pew research indicates that Americans might be a little more skeptical about futuristic technology than I thought.
Just as we’ve experienced great technological leaps in the past few decades, we’ll continue to advance technologically at breakneck, if not exponential, speed. The Pew Research Center wanted to see how Americans feel about what’s coming down the pike, and what technologies they predict will actually come to fruition in the next 50 years. Their research shows that 59% of respondents believe the coming technology will impact society in a positive way. I’m not sure if that number indicates optimism or naivete, or perhaps a little bit of both. Thirty percent of respondents think the coming technological changes will make life worse. Are they pessimists or Luddites? Maybe a bit of both.
You may be familiar with the concept of railguns. They play a big part in a number of popular video games, but as far as real world applications, views have been rather limited. Until now. This video shows the latest incarnation of the much-hyped weapon just blowing the holy hell out of all sorts of stuff, and it is pretty awesome, and potentially the future of military weapons technology.
On a conceptual level, railguns sound pretty simple. Powered by electricity, they launch a projectile a at speeds exceeding mach 7, which, believe it or not, is not an easy thing to accomplish. A new article in Foreign Policy details the development. Because of the various hurdles, many in the military industrial complex have doubted that the weapons will ever become practical and widespread, but that view seems to be changing.
A team of scientists from Norwich, UK’s John Innes Centre published research in PLOS Biology that describes how phytoplasmas, parasitic bacteria that wreak havoc on the likes of sugarcane and coconut, take over plants and make them do all sorts of things they otherwise wouldn’t. Flowers become shoots, petals change color, and the plant sends up the telltale “witches’ broom” shoots. As the parasite takes hold, the host becomes incapable of reproducing. Insects descend on these new shoots, transmitting the bacteria to make new zombies. They don’t even have to bite anything. The report points out that for all intents and purposes, the plant is dead, living on bacterial life support.


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Seasonal Fine-Root Carbohydrate and Growth Relations of Plantation Loblolly Pine After Thinning and FertilizationAuthor(s): Eric A. Kuehler; Mary Anne Sword; C. Dan Andries
Source: Paper presented at the Tenth Biennial Southern Silvicultural Research Conference, Shreveport, LA, February 16-18, 1999.
Publication Series: Miscellaneous Publication
PDF: Download Publication (161 KB)
DescriptionIn 1989, two levels each of stand density and fertilization were established in an 8-year-old loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantation. In March 1995, treatments were reapplied, and root elongation and carbohydrate concentrations were monitored for 2 years. Our objective was to evaluate relationships between seasonal root growth and carbohydrate concentration in response to thinning and fertilization. Peak root elongation occurred between May and July. Root elongation was greater in response to thinning throughout 1995 and, although not always significant, was consistently greater in thinned plots in 1996. Root growth was reduced in the fertilized plots throughout 1996. Positive effects of thinning on fine-root starch concentrations were observed. Starch levels were consistently lower in response to fertilization for most of 1995 but were greater in fertilized plots during winter 1996. Glucose levels tended to be greater in response to thinning both years and less in response to fertilization in 1995. We conclude that fine-root carbohydrate concentration and net root elongation are characterized by distinct seasonal patterns, and that the magnitude of seasonal root elongation and carbohydrate concentrations is influenced by silvicultural treatments.
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CitationKuehler, Eric A.; Sword, Mary Anne; Andries, C. Dan. 1999. Seasonal Fine-Root Carbohydrate and Growth Relations of Plantation Loblolly Pine After Thinning and Fertilization. Paper presented at the Tenth Biennial Southern Silvicultural Research Conference, Shreveport, LA, February 16-18, 1999.
- Seasonal Lateral Root Growth of Juvenile Loblolly Pine After Thinning and Fertilization on Gulf Coastal Plain Site
- Seasonal development of loblolly pine lateral roots in response to stand density and fertilization
- Mineral Nutrition, Resin Flow and Phloem Phystochemistry in Loblolly Pine
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A Gentle Giant, Ltd. Star Wars™ May 4th Exclusive! To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi™, Gentle Giant, Ltd. is returning to the forest moon of Endor™ to capture Han Solo™ in one of his most distinctive outfits! Looking for a bit of camouflage, the infamous smuggler throws on his weather-worn trench coat and brandishes his trusty blaster and trademarked smirk in a scene straight from the Battle of Endor™! Our all-new May 4th exclusive1:6 scale Mini Bust measures approximately 6 inches and is limited to only 1,000 pieces.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens™ - Finn Mini Bust


Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
The only superlative the capacity crowd could find to describe Saturday night’s performance of Mozart’s Requiem by the College Chorus and Orchestra was “powerful.” Yet, in that single descriptor were wrapped up profound respect and awe at vocal and instrumental efforts involved in a showing of one of Mozart’s most famous works. The 82 member chorus and a selection of the orchestra, both directed by John Alston, put forth a moving and stunning rendition of the piece penned primarily by Mozart on his death bed.
The concert began with a performance of Orlando di Lassus’s Missa pro Defunctis by the College Chamber Choir. This group, singing without accompaniment, prepared the audience for the musical experience to come with a moving rendition of a different requiem by Lassus. Though Lassus’ interpretation of the requiem mass was slightly different, the Chamber Choir performance afforded the audience a chance to adjust to listening to sung Latin and to admire the vocal power of some of the group’s most dedicated singers.
After a short break to bring the orchestra onstage, director John Alston–a master of the crowd and emotionally invested to the pieces he conducted last night to an incredible degree–took a few moments to address the audience to explain the story behind the commissioning of the piece. Obviously aware that all a large portion of the audience knew about Mozart was gleaned from the movie “Amadeus,” Alston used the orchestra as an audio aide to give the audience a deeper appreciation and understanding of the composer’s talent and the story behind the piece’s completion by SÃƒÂ¼ssmayr.
Following an announcement encouraging the audience to follow the words of the requiem in Latin and English in the provided program, Alston set the chorus and orchestra off on a musical tour de force. The piece was divided into 14 sections, some of which featured section soloists Tamara Ryan (soprano), Chelain Goodman (alto), Ben Mitchell (tenor), and Scott Long (bass). While the entire orchestra and chorus performed beautifully, Ryan and Long’s exposed parts were particularly well-sung and moving. The trombone section did yeoman’s work throughout the night, with a particular highlight coming in the form of a solo from the trombone of engineering professor Carr Everbach.
All told, the two performing groups mixed wonderfully to perform Mozart’s Requiem as it deserves to be performed–in a manner that left a capacity crowd describing the concert as nothing less than an absolutely powerful experience.


Uzbekistan to set up production of large trucks, buses at SamAvto
Uzbekistan plans to set up production of large trucks and buses at SamAvto, the Samarkand Automobile Plant, a source at Uzavtoprom told Interfax. The Uzbek government passed a resolution outlining measures to expand the products SamAvto produces, he said. Uzavtoprom held talks with Japanese auto makers Itochu Corp and Isuzu Motors Ltd to examine the possibility for setting up production of large trucks and buses at SamAvto, he said.
Uzavtoprom reached an agreement with Itochu Corp and the Chinese state company that imports and exports automobiles for delivery of sample vehicles, including Isuzu trucks and Golden Dragon city and tour buses. The government has told Uzavtoprom to examine the technical and performance specifications of the vehicles and draw up a program to set up production at SamAvto. The resolution did not specify any deadline. SamAvto on January 22 of this year began producing buses using Isuzu chasses.


The Archdiocese of Agaña will be doing a Universal Prayer at Masses to include prayers for Archbishop Emeritus Michael Byrnes and selection of a new archbishop.
Many on Guam and abroad have been praying for former Archbishop Michael Byrnes of Agana, who resigned as Archbishop of Agaña.
Following an extended leave to aid health issues in July 2022, Byrnes made the decision to resign from his role and appointed Vicar General Father Romeo Convocar as the Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Agana.
And now, beginning May 7, the Archdiocese will include regular prayer intentions for Archbishop Emeritus Michael Byrnes at Masses celebrated on the island along with prayers for a new, holy shepherd to be chosen for Guam.
In March, Pope Francis appointed Father Romy to lead the Archdiocese as Apostolic
Administrator until a permanent archbishop is selected.
Francis said he had accepted the resignation of Archbishop Byrnes while Father Romy appointed Father Mike Crisostomo, the Delegate of the Apostolic Administrator, back on April 3.
Crisostomo, the now Delegate of the Apostolic Administrator, also wrote a letter to all pastors and parochial administrators this week.


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Inspired by true events, Alyson Richman’s latest release, The Velvet Hours, is a richly detailed, elegant story. A tale of love and survival, the book reads as part mystery, part romance as two women bond over the retelling of the older’s past. Set against the backdrop of the rumblings of war, Richman’s tale is a powerful ode to the friendships between women, to the lifelong grip of deep love, and to the enchantment with art and beauty.
As Paris teeters on the edge of the German occupation, a young French woman closes the door to her late grandmother’s treasure-filled apartment, unsure if she’ll ever return.
An elusive courtesan, Marthe de Florian cultivated a life of art and beauty, casting out all recollections of her impoverished childhood in the dark alleys of Montmartre. With Europe on the brink of war, she shares her story with her granddaughter Solange Beaugiron, using her prized possessions to reveal her innermost secrets. Most striking of all are a beautiful string of pearls and a magnificent portrait of Marthe painted by the Italian artist Giovanni Boldini. As Marthe’s tale unfolds, like velvet itself, stitched with its own shadow and light, it helps to guide Solange on her own path.
Inspired by the true account of an abandoned Parisian apartment, Alyson Richman brings to life Solange, the young woman forced to leave her fabled grandmother’s legacy behind to save all that she loved.

domain: entertainment


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Expertise in propellers leads to improved valve replacement
In a roundabout way, propellers advanced Julie Young’s latest project-a new and improved heart valve replacement.
“The blades of a propeller look very much like the leaflets in a mechanical heart valve,” said Young, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, who studied propellers for her Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Texas at Austin. “The same principles apply on a much smaller scale.”
Young and senior Michael Hsu have designed a new mechanical heart valve that mimics the structure and function of the natural aortal valve. To be made of sturdy pyrolytic carbon and featuring a tri-leaflet design to promote centralized blood flow with minimal disturbance and regurgitation, the valve may eventually help to improve the quality of life for the 225,000 Americans who have heart valve replacement surgery each year.
Current options are less than ideal. Bioprosthetics-a graft from somewhere else in a patient’s body or a valve from a pig’s heart-tend to last less than 15 years, ruling out their use in younger patients. Current mechanical replacements, most of which have two leaflets (flaps that open and close), create a disturbance in the blood flow that tends to promote the growth of clots around the valve and cause regurgitation, or leakage. To prevent life-threatening clots, patients receiving these valves must take blood thinners for life.
Young and Wole Soboyejo, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, are discussing the possibility of coating the new tri-leaflet mechanical valve with a highly biocompatible material to reduce the risk of rejection and clot formation.
Their collaboration extends beyond heart valves to research into the use of high intensity focused ultrasound as a treatment for cancer-a method which has been tested in Europe and China. Young and Soboyejo are specifically interested in using the bubbles and heat generated by a focused ultrasound beam to kill cells in cancerous tumors. This project also builds on Young’s work with propellers, which are often damaged by the bubbles they generate as they pass through the water.

domain: design


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Discussions about research integrity are prompting a reevaluation of research culture, including academic assessment. To understand the opportunities and barriers to improve academic assessment in the Asia-Pacific region, DORA hosted its first webinar in collaboration with the Australasian Open Access Strategy Group (AOASG; now Open Access Australasia) on Thursday, July 2, 2020. Panelists included Michael Barber, Australian Academy of Science; Yukiko Gotoh, The University of Tokyo; Xiaoxuan Li, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Donna McRostie, University of Melbourne; and Justin Zobel, University of Melbourne.
At a comprehensive institution like the University of Melbourne, there are always conversations about performance assessment, says Zobel. The university decided to sign DORA earlier this year after a range of voices came forward suggesting the university reexamine some practices of concern. In response, the university created a working group that ultimately recommended adopting the principles of DORA and the Leiden Manifesto. Zobel was surprised by the level of support the proposal received at the university. It was clear that many faculty and staff wanted peer review and peer assessment uniformly recognized alongside journal-based indicators as measures of success.
The situation in Japan is very different, says Gotoh. In 2016, Japan’s cabinet office under the prime minister recommended institutions consider DORA. Despite this endorsement, no Japanese universities or funders have signed the declaration. While researchers recognize the limitations of journal-based indicators, they are often viewed as more objective, according to Gotoh. Without them, academic assessment can be biased by personal relationships, gender, and academic background. She sees new indicators as essential to move forward with responsible assessment practices.
According to Zobel, signing DORA can send an important signal to the university community. Libraries play an important role in making sure the message is received through outreach and advocacy. This is an ideal situation for librarians to apply their bibliometric expertise and facilitate discussions about responsible assessment indicators, says McRostie. People have different understandings of what it means to be a DORA signatory. Education and outreach are essential next steps.
The university’s signature can also be used as a tool. For example, when addressing academic assessment behaviors that are not compatible with the spirit of the declaration, Zobel points to the signing of DORA as evidence the behavior violates university values. Signing DORA has benefits for recruitment too. Zobel found that researchers recognize the university’s commitment. “They will say that it is great Melbourne is a university that will look at me and not just numbers about me.”
University rankings can directly and indirectly influence research culture and academic assessment. Zobel believes that rankings are working if they follow quality. Melbourne identifies quality through a range of tools, including some metrics. But Zobel emphasizes that metrics should be used as a pointer. They are valuable in helping to know where to look, but should not dictate where you look or what decision you make. Gaming rankings is not going to work for universities in the long term, Zobel believes. The focus should be on the enduring quality of work instead of numbers. To measure this, Zobel points to peer review and listening to a breadth of voices to understand specific contributions. But it is also being sensitive to drivers that make an institute work well and identifying performance measures that encourage teamwork and a positive work environment.
The Chinese Academy Sciences (CAS) is considered as both the country’s highest academic institution for the natural sciences and the highest science and technology (S&T) advisory body, says Li. Similar to the National Academy of Sciences in the United States, the CAS has a board of Academies and, similar to the International Max Planck Research School, it has its own research institutes.
The CAS plays two roles in setting research assessment policy and practices for institutions in China. First, the Academic Divisions of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASAD) launches initiatives in the science and technology community and puts forward suggestions to improve research assessment to the state and departments, says Li. The second role is reforming the institute’s own evaluation system.
Over the past 20 years, the CAS has transitioned from using quantitative indicators in research evaluation to focusing on major research outputs. They have found this switch has had a positive but limited effect on researcher behavior, because researchers are still easily affected by external quantitative evaluations.
The CAS works with other institutions to promote research assessment reform, says Li. For example, the Chinese Science and Technology Evaluation Special Committee, affiliated with the CAS evaluation center, promotes good practice by organizing national seminars on research assessment, where participants learn from each other’s experiences. They also hold science and technology management practice seminars in collaboration with higher education institutions.
The CAS plans to continue serving as a national science and technology think tank by putting forward ideas to improve evaluation, such as discouraging evaluation practices that reward researchers with additional resources based on metrics.
Unlike the dual roles of the CAS, the Australian Academy of Sciences is an honor society, like the Royal Society in the United Kingdom. Because the Academy does not hire and promote researchers, its influence is largely as an exemplar in how they acknowledge the best and brightest in Australia. Barber says the Academy’s fellowship is not as gender diverse as it needs to be. To build a fellowship that is more representative of the Australian population, the Academy has developed a structured and explicit program of unconscious bias training that Sectional Committee members are required to attend. Barber says the academy has received positive signals from committee chairs who feel members are being more reflective.
The University of Melbourne has campus-wide unconscious bias training. Some departments have also found success in separately shortlisting men and women for hiring. While there is no formalized training at the University of Tokyo, Gotoh agrees that acknowledging bias will lead to better assessment.
Barber believes shortlisting is a vital step in a section of fellows or in any faculty hiring process. DORA offers ideas to improve the triage phase of faculty hiring, including instilling standards and structure into the process through standardized narrative CV formats and assessment matrices. Selection committee chairs have the most power in the process. Zobel challenges chairs to ensure assessment processes are open, fair, and consider all the dimensions of a candidate. To do this, departments need to repeatedly test and evaluate assessment practices.
The Australian Academy also wishes to recognize scholars from diverse scientific disciplines, including new and emerging fields. In doing so, Barber says it is important to recognize how different fields view success. The Academy instructs selection committees to use peer review instead of metrics. Barber acknowledges the process is not perfect, but believes it provides a strong steer to selection committees to critically examine key publications and accomplishments. Barber believes that research assessment is a good topic for the Academy to address. Because the Academy is not an academic employer, they occupy more of neutral space.