Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is an audio coding standard for lossy digital audio compression. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at the same bit rate. The confusingly named AAC+ (HE-AAC) does so only at low bit rates and less so at high ones.
AAC has been standardized by ISO and IEC, as part of the MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 specifications. Part of AAC, HE-AAC ("AAC+"), is part of MPEG-4 Audio and also adopted into digital radio standards DAB+ and Digital Radio Mondiale, as well as mobile television standards DVB-H and ATSC-M/H.
AAC supports inclusion of 48 full-bandwidth (up to 96 kHz) audio channels in one stream plus 16 low frequency effects (LFE, limited to 120 Hz) channels, up to 16 "coupling" or dialog channels, and up to 16 data streams. The quality for stereo is satisfactory to modest requirements at 96 kbit/s in joint stereo mode; however, hi-fi transparency demands data rates of at least 128 kbit/s (VBR). Tests of MPEG-4 audio have shown that AAC meets the requirements referred to as "transparent" for the ITU at 128 kbit/s for stereo, and 320 kbit/s for 5.1 audio.
AAC is the default or standard audio format for YouTube, iPhone, iPod, iPad, Nintendo DSi, Nintendo 3DS, iTunes, DivX Plus Web Player, PlayStation 3 and various Nokia Series 40 phones. It is supported on PlayStation Vita, Wii (with the Photo Channel 1.1 update installed), Sony Walkman MP3 series and later, Android and BlackBerry. AAC is also supported by manufacturers of in-dash car audio systems.
|Advanced Audio Coding|
|Filename extension||MPEG/3GPP container
|Internet media type|
|Developed by||Bell Labs, Fraunhofer Institute, Dolby Labs, Sony and Nokia|
|Type of format||Audio compression format, Lossy compression|
|Contained by||MPEG-4 Part 14, 3GP and 3G2, ISO base media file format and Audio Data Interchange Format (ADIF)|
AAC was developed with the cooperation and contributions of companies including AT&T Bell Laboratories, Fraunhofer IIS, Dolby Laboratories, Sony Corporation and Nokia. It was officially declared an international standard by the Moving Picture Experts Group in April 1997. It is specified both as Part 7 of the MPEG-2 standard, and Subpart 4 in Part 3 of the MPEG-4 standard.
In 1997, AAC was first introduced as MPEG-2 Part 7, formally known as ISO/IEC 13818-7:1997. This part of MPEG-2 was a new part, since MPEG-2 already included MPEG-2 Part 3, formally known as ISO/IEC 13818-3: MPEG-2 BC (Backwards Compatible). Therefore, MPEG-2 Part 7 is also known as MPEG-2 NBC (Non-Backward Compatible), because it is not compatible with the MPEG-1 audio formats (MP1, MP2 and MP3).
MPEG-2 Part 7 defined three profiles: Low-Complexity profile (AAC-LC / LC-AAC), Main profile (AAC Main) and Scalable Sampling Rate profile (AAC-SSR). AAC-LC profile consists of a base format very much like AT&T's Perceptual Audio Coding (PAC) coding format, with the addition of temporal noise shaping (TNS), the Dolby Kaiser Window (described below), a nonuniform quantizer, and a reworking of the bitstream format to handle up to 16 stereo channels, 16 mono channels, 16 low-frequency effect (LFE) channels and 16 commentary channels in one bitstream. The Main profile adds a set of recursive predictors that are calculated on each tap of the filterbank. The SSR uses a 4-band PQMF filterbank, with four shorter filterbanks following, in order to allow for scalable sampling rates.
In 1999, MPEG-2 Part 7 was updated and included in the MPEG-4 family of standards and became known as MPEG-4 Part 3, MPEG-4 Audio or ISO/IEC 14496-3:1999. This update included several improvements. One of these improvements was the addition of Audio Object Types which are used to allow interoperability with a diverse range of other audio formats such as TwinVQ, CELP, HVXC, Text-To-Speech Interface and MPEG-4 Structured Audio. Another notable addition in this version of the AAC standard is Perceptual Noise Substitution (PNS). In that regard, the AAC profiles (AAC-LC, AAC Main and AAC-SSR profiles) are combined with perceptual noise substitution and are defined in the MPEG-4 audio standard as Audio Object Types. MPEG-4 Audio Object Types are combined in four MPEG-4 Audio profiles: Main (which includes most of the MPEG-4 Audio Object Types), Scalable (AAC LC, AAC LTP, CELP, HVXC, TwinVQ, Wavetable Synthesis, TTSI), Speech (CELP, HVXC, TTSI) and Low Rate Synthesis (Wavetable Synthesis, TTSI).
The MPEG-4 Audio Version 2 (ISO/IEC 14496-3:1999/Amd 1:2000) defined new audio object types: the low delay AAC (AAC-LD) object type, bit-sliced arithmetic coding (BSAC) object type, parametric audio coding using harmonic and individual line plus noise and error resilient (ER) versions of object types. It also defined four new audio profiles: High Quality Audio Profile, Low Delay Audio Profile, Natural Audio Profile and Mobile Audio Internetworking Profile.
The HE-AAC Profile (AAC LC with SBR) and AAC Profile (AAC LC) were first standardized in ISO/IEC 14496-3:2001/Amd 1:2003. The HE-AAC v2 Profile (AAC LC with SBR and Parametric Stereo) was first specified in ISO/IEC 14496-3:2005/Amd 2:2006. The Parametric Stereo audio object type used in HE-AAC v2 was first defined in ISO/IEC 14496-3:2001/Amd 2:2004.
The current version of the AAC standard is defined in ISO/IEC 14496-3:2009.
The MPEG-4 Part 3 standard also contains other ways of compressing sound. These include lossless compression formats, synthetic audio and low bit-rate compression formats generally used for speech.
Blind tests in the late 1990s showed that AAC demonstrated greater sound quality and transparency than MP3 for files coded at the same bit rate.
Overall, the AAC format allows developers more flexibility to design codecs than MP3 does, and corrects many of the design choices made in the original MPEG-1 audio specification. This increased flexibility often leads to more concurrent encoding strategies and, as a result, to more efficient compression. However, in terms of whether AAC is better than MP3, the advantages of AAC are not entirely decisive, and the MP3 specification, although antiquated, has proven surprisingly robust in spite of considerable flaws. AAC and HE-AAC are better than MP3 at low bit rates (typically less than 128 kilobits per second.) This is especially true at very low bit rates where the superior stereo coding, pure MDCT, and better transform window sizes leave MP3 unable to compete.
While the MP3 format has near-universal hardware and software support, primarily because MP3 was the format of choice during the crucial first few years of widespread music file-sharing/distribution over the internet, AAC is a strong contender due to some unwavering industry support.
AAC is a wideband audio coding algorithm that exploits two primary coding strategies to dramatically reduce the amount of data needed to represent high-quality digital audio:
The actual encoding process consists of the following steps:
The MPEG-4 audio standard does not define a single or small set of highly efficient compression schemes but rather a complex toolbox to perform a wide range of operations from low bit rate speech coding to high-quality audio coding and music synthesis.
AAC encoders can switch dynamically between a single MDCT block of length 1024 points or 8 blocks of 128 points (or between 960 points and 120 points, respectively).
AAC takes a modular approach to encoding. Depending on the complexity of the bitstream to be encoded, the desired performance and the acceptable output, implementers may create profiles to define which of a specific set of tools they want to use for a particular application.
The MPEG-4 Part 3 standard (MPEG-4 Audio) defined various new compression tools (a.k.a. Audio Object Types) and their usage in brand new profiles. AAC is not used in some of the MPEG-4 Audio profiles. The MPEG-2 Part 7 AAC LC profile, AAC Main profile and AAC SSR profile are combined with Perceptual Noise Substitution and defined in the MPEG-4 Audio standard as Audio Object Types (under the name AAC LC, AAC Main and AAC SSR). These are combined with other Object Types in MPEG-4 Audio profiles. Here is a list of some audio profiles defined in the MPEG-4 standard:
One of many improvements in MPEG-4 Audio is an Object Type called Long Term Prediction (LTP), which is an improvement of the Main profile using a forward predictor with lower computational complexity.
Applying error protection enables error correction up to a certain extent. Error correcting codes are usually applied equally to the whole payload. However, since different parts of an AAC payload show different sensitivity to transmission errors, this would not be a very efficient approach.
The AAC payload can be subdivided into parts with different error sensitivities.
Error Resilience (ER) techniques can be used to make the coding scheme itself more robust against errors.
For AAC, three custom-tailored methods were developed and defined in MPEG-4 Audio
The audio coding standards MPEG-4 Low Delay, Enhanced Low Delay and Enhanced Low Delay v2 (AAC-LD, AAC-ELD, AAC-ELDv2) as defined in ISO/IEC 14496-3:2009 and ISO/IEC 14496-3:2009/Amd 3 are designed to combine the advantages of perceptual audio coding with the low delay necessary for two-way communication. They are closely derived from the MPEG-2 Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) format. AAC-ELD is recommended by GSMA as super-wideband voice codec in the IMS Profile for High Definition Video Conference (HDVC) Service.
No licenses or payments are required for a user to stream or distribute content in AAC format. This reason alone might have made AAC a more attractive format to distribute content than its predecessor MP3, particularly for streaming content (such as Internet radio) depending on the use case.
However, a patent license is required for all manufacturers or developers of AAC codecs. For this reason, free and open source software implementations such as FFmpeg and FAAC may be distributed in source form only, in order to avoid patent infringement. (See below under Products that support AAC, Software.)
Some extensions have been added to the first AAC standard (defined in MPEG-2 Part 7 in 1997):
In addition to the MP4, 3GP and other container formats based on ISO base media file format for file storage, AAC audio data was first packaged in a file for the MPEG-2 standard using Audio Data Interchange Format (ADIF), consisting of a single header followed by the raw AAC audio data blocks. However, if the data is to be streamed within an MPEG-2 transport stream, a self-synchronizing format called an Audio Data Transport Stream (ADTS) is used, consisting of a series of frames, each frame having a header followed by the AAC audio data. This file and streaming-based format are defined in MPEG-2 Part 7, but are only considered informative by MPEG-4, so an MPEG-4 decoder does not need to support either format. These containers, as well as a raw AAC stream, may bear the .aac file extension. MPEG-4 Part 3 also defines its own self-synchronizing format called a Low Overhead Audio Stream (LOAS) that encapsulates not only AAC, but any MPEG-4 audio compression scheme such as TwinVQ and ALS. This format is what was defined for use in DVB transport streams when encoders use either SBR or parametric stereo AAC extensions. However, it is restricted to only a single non-multiplexed AAC stream. This format is also referred to as a Low Overhead Audio Transport Multiplex (LATM), which is just an interleaved multiple stream version of a LOAS.
In December 2003, Japan started broadcasting terrestrial DTV ISDB-T standard that implements MPEG-2 video and MPEG-2 AAC audio. In April 2006 Japan started broadcasting the ISDB-T mobile sub-program, called 1seg, that was the first implementation of video H.264/AVC with audio HE-AAC in Terrestrial HDTV broadcasting service on the planet.
In December 2007, Brazil started broadcasting terrestrial DTV standard called International ISDB-Tb that implements video coding H.264/AVC with audio AAC-LC on main program (single or multi) and video H.264/AVC with audio HE-AACv2 in the 1seg mobile sub-program.
The ETSI, the standards governing body for the DVB suite, supports AAC, HE-AAC and HE-AAC v2 audio coding in DVB applications since at least 2004. DVB broadcasts which use the H.264 compression for video normally use HE-AAC for audio.
In April 2003, Apple brought mainstream attention to AAC by announcing that its iTunes and iPod products would support songs in MPEG-4 AAC format (via a firmware update for older iPods). Customers could download music in a closed-source Digital Rights Management (DRM)-restricted form of AAC (see FairPlay) via the iTunes Store or create files without DRM from their own CDs using iTunes. In later years, Apple began offering music videos and movies, which also use AAC for audio encoding.
On May 29, 2007, Apple began selling songs and music videos free of DRM from participating record labels. These files mostly adhere to the AAC standard and are playable on many non-Apple products but they do include custom iTunes information such as album artwork and a purchase receipt, so as to identify the customer in case the file is leaked out onto peer-to-peer networks. It is possible, however, to remove these custom tags to restore interoperability with players that conform strictly to the AAC specification. As of January 6, 2009, nearly all music on the USA regioned iTunes Store became DRM-free, with the remainder becoming DRM-free by the end of March 2009.
iTunes supports a "Variable Bit Rate" (VBR) encoding option which encodes AAC tracks in an "Average Bit Rate" (ABR) scheme. As of September 2009, Apple has added support for HE-AAC (which is fully part of the MP4 standard) only for radio streams, not file playback, and iTunes still lacks support for true VBR encoding. The underlying QuickTime API does offer a true VBR encoding profile however.
For a number of years, many mobile phones from manufacturers such as Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, BenQ-Siemens and Philips have supported AAC playback. The first such phone was the Nokia 5510 released in 2002 which also plays MP3s. However, this phone was a commercial failure and such phones with integrated music players did not gain mainstream popularity until 2005 when the trend of having AAC as well as MP3 support continued. Most new smartphones and music-themed phones support playback of these formats.
Almost all current computer media players include built-in decoders for AAC, or can utilize a library to decode it. On Microsoft Windows, DirectShow can be used this way with the corresponding filters to enable AAC playback in any DirectShow based player. Mac OS X supports AAC via the QuickTime libraries.
The following is a non-comprehensive list of other software player applications:
Some of these players (e.g., foobar2000, Winamp, and VLC) also support the decoding of ADTS (Audio Data Transport Stream) using the SHOUTcast protocol. Plug-ins for Winamp and foobar2000 enable the creation of such streams.
In May 2006, Nero AG released an AAC encoding tool free of charge, Nero Digital Audio (the AAC codec portion has become Nero AAC Codec), which is capable of encoding LC-AAC, HE-AAC and HE-AAC v2 streams. The tool is a Command Line Interface tool only. A separate utility is also included to decode to PCM WAV.
FAAC and FAAD2 stand for Freeware Advanced Audio Coder and Decoder 2 respectively. FAAC supports audio object types LC, Main and LTP. FAAD2 supports audio object types LC, Main, LTP, SBR and PS. Although FAAD2 is free software, FAAC is not free software.
The native AAC encoder created in FFmpeg's libavcodec, and forked with Libav, was considered experimental and poor. A significant amount of work was done for the 3.0 release of FFmpeg (February 2016) to make its version usable and competitive with the rest of the AAC encoders. Libav has not merged this work and continues to use the older version of the AAC encoder. These encoders are LGPL-licensed open-source and can be built for any platform that the FFmpeg or Libav frameworks can be built.
Both FFmpeg and Libav can use the Fraunhofer FDK AAC library via libfdk-aac, and while the FFmpeg native encoder has become stable and good enough for common use, FDK is still considered the highest quality encoder available for use with FFmpeg. Libav also recommends using FDK AAC if it is available.
Which encoder provides the best quality? ... the likely answer is: libfdk_aac
The MPEG-4 Low Delay Audio Coder (a.k.a. AAC Low Delay, or AAC-LD) is audio compression standard designed to combine the advantages of perceptual audio coding with the low delay necessary for two-way communication. It is closely derived from the MPEG-2 Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) standard. It was published in MPEG-4 Audio Version 2 (ISO/IEC 14496-3:1999/Amd 1:2000) and in its later revisions.ADIF
ADIF or Adif may refer to:
Audio Data Interchange Format (ADIF), a file format to exchange Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) data; see Advanced Audio Coding § Container formats
Adif (Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias), the state company responsible for railway infrastructure (track and stations) in Spain
Administración de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias Sociedad del Estado (ADIF), the state company responsible for railway infrastructure in ArgentinaCoding Technologies
Coding Technologies AB was a Swedish technology company that pioneered the use of spectral band replication in Advanced Audio Coding. Its MPEG-2 AAC-derived codec, called aacPlus, was published in 2001 and submitted to the MPEG for standardization. The codec would become the MPEG-4 High-Efficiency AAC (HE-AAC) profile in 2003. XM Satellite Radio used aacPlus for its streams. aacPlus with Parametric stereo, called enhanced aacPlus, would become MPEG-4 HE-AACv2. Coding Technologies was acquired by Dolby Laboratories in 2007 for $250 million in cash.The company was founded in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1997 by Lars Liljeryd. A German subsidiary was formed in 2000 as Coding Technologies GmbH with support from the research organization Fraunhofer IIS. The company also had offices in the United States and China.
Lars Liljeryd, Kristofer Kjörling, and Martin Dietz received the IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award in 2013 for their work at Coding Technologies, developing and marketing SBR-based audio coding.Digital television
Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals, including the sound channel, using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier television technology, analog television, in which the video and audio are carried by analog signals. It is an innovative advance that represents the first significant evolution in television technology since color television in the 1950s. Digital TV transmits in a new image format called high definition television (HDTV), with greater resolution than analog TV, in a wide screen aspect ratio similar to recent movies in contrast to the narrower screen of analog TV. It makes more economical use of scarce radio spectrum space; it can transmit multiple channels, up to 7, in the same bandwidth occupied by a single channel of analog television, and provides many new features that analog television cannot. A transition from analog to digital broadcasting began around 2006. Different digital television broadcasting standards have been adopted in different parts of the world; below are the more widely used standards:
Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) uses coded orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation and supports hierarchical transmission. This standard has been adopted in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, total about 60 countries.
Advanced Television System Committee (ATSC) uses eight-level vestigial sideband (8VSB) for terrestrial broadcasting. This standard has been adopted by 6 countries: United States, Canada, Mexico, South Korea, Dominican Republic and Honduras.
Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting (ISDB) is a system designed to provide good reception to fixed receivers and also portable or mobile receivers. It utilizes OFDM and two-dimensional interleaving. It supports hierarchical transmission of up to three layers and uses MPEG-2 video and Advanced Audio Coding. This standard has been adopted in Japan and the Philippines. ISDB-T International is an adaptation of this standard using H.264/MPEG-4 AVC that been adopted in most of South America and is also being embraced by Portuguese-speaking African countries.
Digital Terrestrial Multimedia Broadcasting (DTMB) adopts time-domain synchronous (TDS) OFDM technology with a pseudo-random signal frame to serve as the guard interval (GI) of the OFDM block and the training symbol. The DTMB standard has been adopted in the People's Republic of China, including Hong Kong and Macau.
Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) is a digital radio transmission technology developed in South Korea as part of the national IT project for sending multimedia such as TV, radio and datacasting to mobile devices such as mobile phones, laptops and GPS navigation systems.FAAC
FAAC or Freeware Advanced Audio Coder is a software project which includes the AAC encoder FAAC and decoder FAAD2. It supports MPEG-2 AAC as well as MPEG-4 AAC. It supports several MPEG-4 Audio object types (LC, Main, LTP for encoding and SBR, PS, ER, LD for decoding), file formats (ADTS AAC, raw AAC, MP4), multichannel and gapless encoding/decoding and MP4 metadata tags. The encoder and decoder is compatible with standard-compliant audio applications using one or more of these object types and facilities. It also supports Digital Radio Mondiale.FAAC and FAAD2, being distributed in C source code form, can be compiled on various platforms and are distributed free of charge. FAAD2 is free software. FAAC contains some code which is published as Free Software, but as a whole it is only distributed under a proprietary license.
FAAC was originally written by Menno Bakker.Fraunhofer FDK AAC
Fraunhofer FDK AAC (Full title Fraunhofer FDK AAC Codec Library for Android) is an open-source software library for encoding and decoding Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) format audio, developed by Fraunhofer IIS, and included as part of Android. It supports several Audio Object Types including MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AAC LC, HE-AAC (AAC LC + SBR), HE-AACv2 (LC + SBR + PS) as well AAC-LD (low delay) and AAC-ELD (enhanced low delay) for real-time communication. The encoding library supports sample rates up to 96 kHz and up to eight channels (7.1 surround).The Android-targeted implementation of the Fraunhofer AAC encoder uses fixed-point math and is optimized for low-delay encoding on embedded devices/mobile phones. The library is currently limited to 16-bit PCM input. Other versions of the Fraunhofer encoder, like the one included in Winamp, are optimized for encoding music on desktop-class processors. Those versions of the encoder, however, are not open source and require a commercial license. The license included by Fraunhofer in the FDK library source code allows redistribution in source or binary forms, but does not license patented technologies described by the code. The license states that the library may only be distributed as authorized by patent licenses. Due to this restriction, along with a limitation on charging for the library, Debian considers it non-free. It was classified as free by Fedora after a review by the legal department at Red Hat. The FSF also considers it to be free, though discourages its use due to the explicit lack of a patent grant.The FDK AAC encoder employs a more aggressive default low-pass filter than is used in other codecs. Higher frequencies are removed so that more bits are available to better describe sounds of lower frequencies, improving the overall quality for most combinations of recordings and listeners. In some, not completely rare, combinations the missing high frequencies are noticeable. The library allows overriding the low-pass filter setting, and in the highest VBR mode effectively applies no filter at all.A cross-platform source distribution is maintained by Martin Storsjö as part of the opencore-amr project under the name fdk-aac. The code compiles into a shared library, libfdk-aac. The media frameworks FFmpeg and Libav support audio encoding through libfdk-aac.High-Efficiency Advanced Audio Coding
Not to be confused with MPEG-4 SLS, which is branded HD-AAC.
High-Efficiency Advanced Audio Coding (HE-AAC) is an audio coding format for lossy data compression of digital audio defined as an MPEG-4 Audio profile in ISO/IEC 14496-3. It is an extension of Low Complexity AAC (AAC LC) optimized for low-bitrate applications such as streaming audio. HE-AAC version 1 profile (HE-AAC v1) uses spectral band replication (SBR) to enhance the compression efficiency in the frequency domain. HE-AAC version 2 profile (HE-AAC v2) couples SBR with Parametric Stereo (PS) to enhance the compression efficiency of stereo signals. It is a standardized and improved version of the AACplus codec.
HE-AAC is used in digital radio standards like DAB+ and Digital Radio Mondiale.MP3 blog
An MP3 blog is a type of blog in which the creator makes music files, normally in the MP3 format, available for download. They are also known as musicblogs, audioblogs or soundblogs (the latter two can also mean podcasts). MP3 blogs have become increasingly popular since 2003. The music posted ranges from hard-to-find rarities that have not been issued in many years to more contemporary offerings, and selections are often restricted to a particular musical genre or theme. Some musicblogs offer music in Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) or Ogg formats.MP3 player
An MP3 player or Digital Audio Player is an electronic device that can play digital audio files. It is a type of Portable Media Player. The term 'MP3 player' is a misnomer, as most players play more than the MP3 file format.
Since the MP3 format is widely used, almost all players can play that format. In addition, there are many other digital audio formats. Some formats are proprietary, such as Windows Media Audio (WMA), and Advanced Audio Coding (AAC). Some of these formats also may incorporate digital rights management (DRM), such as WMA DRM, which are often part of paid download sites. Other formats are patent-free or otherwise open, such as MP3, Vorbis, FLAC, and Speex (the latter three part of the Ogg open multimedia project).MPEG-2
MPEG-2 (a.k.a. H.222/H.262 as defined by the ITU) is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods, which permit storage and transmission of movies using currently available storage media and transmission bandwidth. While MPEG-2 is not as efficient as newer standards such as H.264/AVC and H.265/HEVC, backwards compatibility with existing hardware and software means it is still widely used, for example in over-the-air digital television broadcasting and in the DVD-Video standard.MPEG-2 Part 3
Part 3 of the MPEG-2 standard (formally known as ISO/IEC 13818-3, also known as MPEG-2 Audio or MPEG-2 BC) defines audio coding:
MPEG Multichannel - It enhances MPEG-1's audio by allowing the coding of audio programs with more than two channels, up to 5.1 multichannel. This method is backwards-compatible (also known as MPEG-2 BC), allowing MPEG-1 audio decoders to decode the two main stereo components of the presentation.
MPEG-2 Part 3 also defined additional bit rates and sample rates for MPEG-1 Audio Layer I, MPEG-1 Audio Layer II and MPEG-1 Audio Layer III (a.k.a. MP3).The MPEG-2 Part 3 should not be confused with MPEG-2 Part 7: AAC a.k.a. MPEG-2 NBC (Non-Backward Compatible) - the MPEG-2 Advanced Audio Coding with support for multichannel encoding (up to 48 channels).MPEG-4 Part 3
MPEG-4 Part 3 or MPEG-4 Audio (formally ISO/IEC 14496-3) is the third part of the ISO/IEC MPEG-4 international standard developed by Moving Picture Experts Group. It specifies audio coding methods. The first version of ISO/IEC 14496-3 was published in 1999.The MPEG-4 Part 3 consists of a variety of audio coding technologies – from lossy speech coding (HVXC, CELP), general audio coding (AAC, TwinVQ, BSAC), lossless audio compression (MPEG-4 SLS, Audio Lossless Coding, MPEG-4 DST), a Text-To-Speech Interface (TTSI), Structured Audio (using SAOL, SASL, MIDI) and many additional audio synthesis and coding techniques.MPEG-4 Audio does not target a single application such as real-time telephony or high-quality audio compression. It applies to every application which requires the use of advanced sound compression, synthesis, manipulation, or playback.
MPEG-4 Audio is a new type of audio standard that integrates numerous different types of audio coding: natural sound and synthetic sound, low bitrate delivery and high-quality delivery, speech and music, complex soundtracks and simple ones, traditional content and interactive content.Marina Bosi
Marina Bosi is a Consulting Professor at Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). Originally a flutist and flute teacher, she is known for her work on digital audio coding formats.MediaCoder
MediaCoder is a proprietary transcoding program for Microsoft Windows, developed by Stanley Huang since 2005.Mora (music store)
mora (モーラ, mōra) is an online music and video store for the Japanese market. It is integrated into the Japanese version of Sony's SonicStage software and is now the official store for their Walkman devices. Up until October 1, 2012, music purchased from mora was exclusively in Sony's proprietary ATRAC3 format with OpenMG DRM. A partner store called
mora win (モーラ ウィン, mōra win) was also in operation, using Windows Media Audio codec and Windows Media DRM encryption, and integrated into the Japanese version of Microsoft's Windows Media Player 11 as the "recommended store" in Japan.On October 1, 2012, mora underwent a rehaul into a DRM free store, selling songs and music videos in Advanced Audio Coding formats. The mora win service was also eliminated in the restructuring, with the DRM free store being integrated into the Media Go service in Windows 8. One year later on October 17, 2013, mora began offering songs and albums as 24bit/96kHz FLAC files.mora is operated by Label Gate Co., Ltd., a joint venture of 17 Japanese record companies including Sony Music Entertainment Japan, Avex Group, and Universal Music Japan.Nero AAC Codec
Nero AAC Codec is a set of software tools for encoding and decoding Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) format audio, and editing MPEG-4 metadata. It was developed and distributed by Nero AG, and is available at no cost for Windows and Linux for non-commercial use. The codec was originally part of Nero Digital, but was later released as a stand-alone package.
Nero's AAC encoder has been very competitive when tested against other encoders in scientific listening tests, for a time, second only to Apple's AAC encoder.In 2006, Chip Magazine (Germany) found that AAC files encoded with the Nero AAC encoder would consume as little as half of the space on a portable music player when compared to MP3 files of similar audio quality.Parametric Stereo
Parametric Stereo (PS) is lossy audio compression algorithm and a feature and an Audio Object Type (AOT) defined and used in MPEG-4 Part 3 (MPEG-4 Audio) to further enhance efficiency in low bandwidth stereo media. Advanced Audio Coding Low Complexity (AAC LC) combined with Spectral Band Replication (SBR) and Parametric Stereo (PS) was defined as HE-AAC v2. An HE-AAC v1 decoder will only give mono sound when decoding an HE-AAC v2 bitstream. Parametric Stereo performs sparse coding in the spatial domain, somewhat similar to what SBR does in the frequency domain.SHOUTcast
SHOUTcast DNAS is cross-platform proprietary software for streaming media over the Internet. The software, developed by Nullsoft, is available free of charge. It allows digital audio content, primarily in MP3 or High-Efficiency Advanced Audio Coding format, to be broadcast to and from media player software, enabling the creation of Internet radio "stations".
The most common use of SHOUTcast is for creating or listening to Internet audio broadcasts; however, video streams exist as well. Some traditional radio stations use SHOUTcast to extend their presence onto the Web.
SHOUTcast Radio is a related website which provides a directory of SHOUTcast stations.Samsung A767 Propel
The Samsung SGH-A767, more commonly known as the Samsung Propel, is a mobile phone by Samsung Telecommunications. It features a full QWERTY keyboard that slides out from under the phone. It comes in white, blue, red, and green, and is one of AT&T's most popular cell phones. It was designed as a quick texting phone along with the Pantech Matrix, the Pantech Slate, and the UT Starcom Quickfire.
The Samsung SGH-A767's QWERTY keyboard makes texting and any other task that requires using letters, numbers, and symbols, much easier and faster to complete. However, the size of the keyboard can be a drawback for people with large hands because the keys are flush mounted and close to each other. Another downside is the screen resolution, which only has 65,000 colors. Along with the standard features of most phones, the Samsung SGH-A767 has GPS capability, with both audible and visual aide which is Java based. It is, however, a separately licensed product, requiring both downloading the program and paying extra for data services.Music and other multimedia capabilities are included with the Samsung SGH-A767. The microSD slot allows you to transfer music and pictures from a computer to your phone, while adding extra memory. The AT&T Music feature allows you to download and play music and ringtones. Recorded audio and playlists can also be played. Supported audio file extensions are AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, WMA (Windows Media Audio), 3GP, MPEG, MP4, and M4A.
See Compression methods for techniques and Compression software for codecs
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Mr. Fellner is an associate attorney with Nagle & Zaller, P.C. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a B.A. in History and Spanish in 2002. After working as an Americorps volunteer teacher in an impoverished area of San Diego, he earned a his Juris Doctor from the University of San Diego School of Law in 2005.
While he was in law school, Mr. Fellner was a member of the Law Review, and worked as a legal assistant for Professor Shaun P. Martin. He was also an active member of the Legal Clinic, assisting low-income individuals with legal issues, worked on the staff of the law school magazine The Advocate, and worked as a student assistant in the Legal Research Center. During law school, Mr. Fellner also clerked for the litigation law firm of Winet, Patrick and Weaver.
Mr. Fellner has been admitted to practice law in Maryland since 2006, and he has zealously represented clients in civil and criminal disputes in courts throughout the state. His experience ranges across many fields of law, including personal injury, insurance litigation, community association law, criminal felony and misdemeanor defense, bankruptcy, immigration, family law, and more. In addition, Mr. Fellner is admitted to practice law in Washington, DC, where he has litigated civil and criminal matters since 2007.
Mr. Fellner represents clients in the areas of community association law, construction law, civil litigation, criminal/DUI defense, real estate, zoning/land use, corporate law, contracts, commercial law, creditors' rights/collections, immigration, and more.
Contact Mr. Fellner today at (443) 259-9750 or email@example.com for a free, no obligation consultation.
Languages spoken: Spanish, English
Contingent (30-40%), Free consultation (60 minutes)
Cash, Check, Credit card
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|Award name||Grantor||Date granted|
|Law Review||University of San Diego School of Law||N/A|
|Honorable Mention - Mock Trial Competition||University of San Diego School of Law||N/A|
|Attorney||Nagle & Zaller, P.C.||2012 - Present|
|Attorney||Regan Associates, Chartered||2010 - 2011|
|Legal||CACI, Inc.||2009 - 2010|
|Attorney||Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker, LLP||2008 - 2008|
|Attorney||Lord & Whip||2007 - 2007|
|Attorney||Council, Baradel, Kosmerl, and Nolan||2006 - 2007|
|Association name||Position name||Duration|
|Howard County Chamber of Commerce||N/A||N/A|
|Bar Association of Baltimore City||N/A||N/A|
|Maryland State Bar Association||N/A||N/A|
|Community Associations Institute||N/A||N/A|
|Semus v. Gateway Condominium, Inc.||Trial - Judgement for Defendant|
|State of Maryland v. Jaime Guzman||Trial - not guilty verdict|
|State of Maryland v. Kirby Alston||Probation Before Judgment|
|See all legal cases|
|University of Notre Dame||History, Spanish||BA - Bachelor of Arts||N/A|
|University of San Diego School of Law||Law||JD - Juris Doctor||N/A|

domain: law


text:
The Jefferson Airplane, like many of their west coast contemporaries, was a superb live band. They would make the experience as important as the music. The group would constantly experiment and change their sound in concert. As such they could range from not very good to creative and spectacular. Luckily, Bless Its Pointed Little Head finds the Airplane at close to their best and that is very good indeed.
I have heard a number of Jefferson Airplane concerts and have always found that they are a lot heavier and rocking when playing live and that is the case with this album. The triumvirate of drummer Spencer Dryden, bassist Jack Casady, and guitarist Jorma Kaukonen stand out as they lead a frenetic attack throughout the concert.
Despite all of the above, cracks were beginning to appear in the group’s solidarity. I have always thought it difficult to have two lead vocalists who did little else and here one can discern the competition between Grace Slick and Marty Balin. While they would push each other to some great performances, the tension between the two would continue to build. Slick would engage in relationships with Spencer Dryden and Paul Kantner and would gradually assume the dominant position.
“3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds” and “Somebody To Love” is all out rock ‘n’ roll and as they are presented back to back, are close to eight minutes of pulsating bliss. The first is a far different interpretation than the song which appears on Surrealistic Pillow and “Somebody To Love” is a prime example of the Slick/Balin vocal interaction.
The Donovan song, “Fat Angel,” on the surface may seem like an odd choice for the Jefferson Airplane. However it turned out to be a live classic as they transform this quasi folk song into a rock ‘n’ roll tour de force. There is ample room for Kaukonen and Casady to experiment within the structure of the song.
“Rock Me Baby” is a blues outing for the Airplane. Kaukonen is as technically adept as just about any guitarist of the era and here he and Casady combine to give a glimpse of their future as it was a musical direction they would explore as Hot Tuna.
The Fred Neil tune, “The Other Side Of This Life,” was a concert staple for the group and finds Paul Kantner taking the lead. “Plastic Fantastic Lover” is Marty Balin at his vocal best.
The only song that loses my attention is the eleven minute “Bear Melt.” All the group members except Balin take writing credit and the song has an unfinished feel. While it has some positive points, it just goes on a little too long. It was not a great concert finisher.
Overall, Bless Its Pointed Little Head is a powerful document of the Jefferson Airplane in concert. It presents them at the height of their powers and as one of the best live practitioners of late sixties American rock ‘n’ roll.

domain: artistic


text:
Eve is back in the workforce!!! The rapper has just landed a TV gig on FOX TV’s Glee.
According to perezhilton.com, the producers of the most anticipated series of the fall orginally wanted Whitney Houston, to fill the role of a ” no-nonsense girls’ choir director from a rival school.” Houston turned it down and Eve stepped in.
We hope this show lasts longer than her last TV role.
Check out our gallery of Eve below:

domain: entertainment


text:
Early nutrition can have far-reaching effects on behavior: emerging research has revealed the existence of sensitive periods during postnatal development in which the developing brain has heightened sensitivity to environmental influences, including flavors of foods. While children's innate taste likes and dislikes create obstacles to healthy eating, research in humans and other animals has revealed that early experience can affect these likes and dislikes. The challenge is to determine whether there are optimum times when experience promotes greater liking of the flavors of healthy foods. Our previous experiments have shown that, as with other mammals, what a nursing mother eats during the first months of lactation can influence her child's food preferences. We propose to conduct a detailed randomized within- and between-subject study of women and their infants during a 16-month window, varying the timing and duration of exposure to three vegetable flavors (carrot, beet, and cabbage) to determine effects on the acceptance of these flavors by children, their mothers'own liking of these foods, and the likelihood that mothers will feed these foods to their children after weaning. Based on solid, previous research in humans and other animals, the over-arching goals of the proposed research are to specify the timing (Specific Aim 1) and consequences (Specific Aim 2) of the sensitive period for flavor learning in infants via flavor variety in mother's milk, and to determine the effects of reproductive state (Specific Aim 3) and genetic variation (Specific Aim 4) on vegetable liking in newly parturient mothers and their children. The hypotheses behind this research, examining highly pervasive and under-investigated behavioral phenomena surrounding how to introduce vegetables to children's diets, focus on early life, unlike many other studies that attempt to modify food habits in older children, and focus on the maternal-infant dyad because mothers'food consumption and feeding choices during the sensitive period may have far-reaching consequences for children's food exposures and choices later in life. Knowledge regarding the most efficacious time mothers should eat foods to develop preferences can lead to intervention strategies for both infants and their mothers, and consequently their families. Furthermore, knowledge about the timing of a sensitive period for learning about flavors in breast milk will shed light on long-term effects of not being exposed to these flavors early in life. The knowledge gleaned from this basic behavioral work could be translated to effective behavioral interventions to promote vegetable acceptance that are effective and implemented widely.
Early experience modifies children's innate taste likes and dislikes, and promotes healthy eating behaviors. We propose a randomized trial to specify the timing and effects of the sensitive period for flavor learning in infants via flavor variety in mother's milk, and the effects of genetic variation and the mother's reproductive state on vegetable liking. This knowledge may lead to strategies for healthy eating interventions for infants, mothers, and families.
|Forestell, Catherine A; Mennella, Julie A (2017) The Relationship between Infant Facial Expressions and Food Acceptance. Curr Nutr Rep 6:141-147|
|Ventura, Alison K; Mennella, Julie A (2017) An Experimental Approach to Study Individual Differences in Infants' Intake and Satiation Behaviors during Bottle-Feeding. Child Obes 13:44-52|
|Spector, Alan C; le Roux, Carel W; Munger, Steven D et al. (2017) Proceedings of the 2015 ASPEN Research Workshop-Taste Signaling. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr 41:113-124|
|Mennella, Julie A; Trabulsi, Jillian C; Papas, Mia A (2016) Effects of cow milk versus extensive protein hydrolysate formulas on infant cognitive development. Amino Acids 48:697-705|
|Mennella, Julie A; Reiter, Ashley R; Daniels, Loran M (2016) Vegetable and Fruit Acceptance during Infancy: Impact of Ontogeny, Genetics, and Early Experiences. Adv Nutr 7:211S-219S|
|Mennella, Julie A; Bobowski, Nuala K; Reed, Danielle R (2016) The development of sweet taste: From biology to hedonics. Rev Endocr Metab Disord 17:171-8|
|Wahlqvist, Mark L; Krawetz, Stephen A; Rizzo, Nico S et al. (2015) Early-life influences on obesity: from preconception to adolescence. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1347:1-28|
|Ventura, A K; Inamdar, L B; Mennella, J A (2015) Consistency in infants' behavioural signalling of satiation during bottle-feeding. Pediatr Obes 10:180-7|
|Mennella, Julie A (2014) Ontogeny of taste preferences: basic biology and implications for health. Am J Clin Nutr 99:704S-11S|
|Mennella, Julie A; Finkbeiner, Susana; Lipchock, Sarah V et al. (2014) Preferences for salty and sweet tastes are elevated and related to each other during childhood. PLoS One 9:e92201|
Showing the most recent 10 out of 51 publications

domain: psychology


Amazon Glacier is a cloud service dedicated for storing archived data which is not likely to be retrieved often. In other words, it is designed for infrequently accessed data. Glacier has high latency of data retrieval but offers low pricing and high safety for stored archives. In this article we are going to explain Glacier’s data uploading nuances.
AWS offers nearly fifty different types of EC2 instances. It also provides a number of different categories of images, each tailored for different use cases.
Choice is a good thing, and having so many EC2 instance options and categories is a benefit to users. But with so many possibilities, deciding which EC2 instance is the best fit for your needs can be a challenge.
If you’re struggling to decide which EC2 instance to use, this article is for you. It outlines the major EC2 instance types and categories and makes recommendations about which instances are the best fit for certain types of situations.
We won’t discuss every individual instance type. That would be unfeasible, because Amazon currently offers forty-nine distinct EC2 instances. But we’ll cover the most important ones, and discuss the differences between the major categories of EC2 instances.
Amazon has just introduced an addition the the list of its AWS Glacier regions — Singapore. From now on users can use Amazon Glacier in Asia Pacific (Singapore) to reliably and durably store their data at a fraction of the price of regular S3. Here at CloudBerry Lab we naturally stay on top of things and today are updating our products with the support for the new Glacier region. Continue reading →
Amazon EC2 instances can be backed up in more than one way. The approach you take to EC2 backups should reflect your needs: Whether you require an automated backup solution, how quickly you need to be able to restore an instance during an emergency and how much data you can store and transfer.
This article identifies the different methods for backing up EC2 instances and discusses the pros and cons of each approach.Continue reading →
Perhaps one of the most important things in dealing with data — for both organizations and individuals — is to design sensible backup strategies to ensure that all critical data is securely stored and accessible in the event of a disaster. On the one hand, certain corporate files are absolutely crucial for the continuation of business, but on the other hand backing up applications, movies, music, and certain system files is unnecessary, as that information is easily recoverable from official sources, not to mention the spiraling out of control cloud storage fees. In this article, we set out to clarify exactly what types of data should be subject to backup, and what files should either be omitted or delegated to the image-based backup. Continue reading →
Microsoft Azure Cloud offers several types of scalable, high-availability storage: for tables, queues, files, blobs and Azure virtual machine disks. But what does it all really mean?
Even for an IT-specialist, it is not that easy to determine the best solution for the corporate requirements and environment. In this article, we will provide a definition for each of the Microsoft Azure storage types and give examples.Continue reading →
Amazon S3, Amazon EFS and Amazon EBS are three different storage types, designed by Amazon Web Services. Amazon S3 is an object storage and is suitable for storing user files and backups in massive numbers. Amazon EFS was designed to provide scalable storage for the users of Amazon EC2 cloud computing service. Amazon EBS was also created to enhance the functionality of Amazon EC2 - it is similar to your computer's drive but in virtualized environment. All these services are great, but only if you use them in accordance with their purpose.
In this article, we will define the difference of Amazon S3, Amazon EFS and Amazon EBS storage options. Continue reading →
A disaster could hardly be planned, but disaster recovery planning is a must. The core of successful disaster recovery is, of course, backup.
Nowadays, cloud storage providers are widely used for storing backups. However, the biggest cloud storage providers have created various services to perform recovery in the cloud. Today we will discuss the need for disaster recovery in the cloud and its peculiarities.Continue reading →
IT organizations today need to be savvy when it comes to spending budget. The shift of moving from on-premises storage to cloud-based storage is just one example of how organizations have delivered the same level of service, but at a reduced cost. That’s just good money management – always trying to get more bang for your buck. Providers of services like cloud backup are aware that businesses think this way – particularly when it comes to cloud storage.
Tiered storage offerings today are designed to align with business needs – from the most critical of data to the “let’s just keep in in case we need it someday”, and everything in between. These offerings have appeared to meet the specific need for cloud-based storage, but at a cost that lines up with value perceived of the data being stored.
Amazon Web Services provide several storage options for different types of data: S3 for “HOT” and Glacier for “COLD” data. In this article, you can find the last updates of Amazon Glacier’s pricing and retrieval options.Continue reading →


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The muzzle grasp is an interesting behavior you may have seen at dog parks or on documentaries about wolves. While this behavior may scare or frighten many dog owners who believe it signals unconditional and uninhibited aggression. It doesn’t. The muzzle grasp is yet one of those fascinating behaviors, or rather, a method of communication, which developed and evolved in the wild as a way to let one animal know the behavior they are doing is not approved.
The function of this behavior is to confirm a relationship rather than to settle a dispute. The more self-confident dog will muzzle grasp a more insecure one and thus assert its social position. The more insecure individual does not resist the muzzle grasp. On the contrary, it is often the more insecure that invites its opponent to muzzle-grasp it. Even though we sometimes see this behavior at the end of a dispute, wolves and dogs only use it toward individuals they know well (teammates) almost as a way of saying, “You’re still a cub (pup).” The dispute itself does not tend to be serious, just a low-key challenge, usually over access to a particular resource. Youngsters, cubs, and pups sometimes solicit adults to muzzle-grasp them. This behavior appears to be reassuring for them, a means of saying, “I’m still your cub (pup).”
When used as a means of settling a dispute, a muzzle grasp looks more violent and usually ends with the muzzle-grasped individual showing what we ethologists call passive submissive behavior, i.e. laying on its back.
The muzzle grasp behavior emerges early on. Canine mothers muzzle grasp their puppies (sometimes accompanied by a growl) to deter them from suckling during weaning. At first, her behavior frightens them and they may whimper excessively, even if the mother has not harmed them in any way. Later on, when grasped by the muzzle, the puppy immediately lies down with its belly up. Previously, it was assumed that the mother needed to pin the puppy to the ground, but this is not the case as most puppies lie down voluntarily. Cubs and pups also muzzle grasp one another during play, typically between six and nine weeks of age. A muzzle grasp does not involve biting, just grasping. This behavior helps develop a relationship of trust between both parties: “We don’t hurt one another.”
Puppy Nipping. Even though your new Goldendoodle puppy does not mean to hurt, their teeth are sharp and the love to play. This is where the muzzle gasp comes in handy for stopping things like biting or nipping. When your new puppy begins to explore his or hers own boundaries they will often explore with their teeth. While they do not intend to do any harm, their teeth are razor sharp at this young age and can really hurt, especially young kids. So follow these steps when helping your new puppy learn what is allowed in your home (den).
The puppy will nip, bite, or chew on something they are not allowed
Immediately during the action wrap your hand around the snout
Squeeze gently but firmly enough to elicit a whimper
Once your puppy whimpers, immediately let go
Present your hand or object back to the puppy
Your puppy should lick your hand or turn away
If your puppy bites or nips again, repeat
It should not take more than a couple of these grasps to get them to understand
Domestic dogs sometimes approach their owners puffing to them gently with their noses. By grasping them gently around the muzzle, we reaffirm our acceptance of them. We show self-control and that they can trust us. After being muzzle grasped for a while, the dog will usually show a nose lick, maybe yawn and then walk calmly away. It’s like the dog saying, “I’m still your puppy” and the owner saying, “I know and I’ll take good care of you.” Yawn back and all is good.
Speaking dog language helps promote an understanding between our dogs and us. It may make us look silly at times, but who cares? I don’t, do you?

domain: pet


text:
Rare Historical Staffordshire black and white glazed earthenware plate with transfer print scene depicting the Episcopal Theological Seminary, Lexington, Kentucky. Plate titled below the scene. 9" dia. Circa mid-1830s. Provenance: the Estate of Lynn Scholl Renau, Louisville, Kentucky. Note: "This plate depicts a view of the Thomas January house on Second Street in Lexington, Kentucky where the seminary was located from 1834 until 1838. Due to the short tenure of the seminary, production of this plate was limited and likely was never widely marketed". (Research courtesy Clifton Anderson Antiques). Provenance: Estate of Lynn Scholl Renau, Louisville, Kentucky. CONDITION: Minor glaze wear to rim and overall general wear.
Lot 249: 2 Blue & White Historical Staffordshire Plates, 1 KY Scene Previous Item Lot 251: 2 Transferware Pitchers Next Item

domain: history


The 2018 Photo Contest, Bell 407GXi, Black Hawk mods, Slave Lake Helicopters, Classic Rotors museum and more!
It’s been an eventful 12 months at Erickson Inc. — the famed manufacturer of the S-64 Aircrane, operator of the largest S-64 fleet in the world, and vastly experienced maintenance, repair, and overhaul provider. In April 2017, the Portland, Oregon-based company drew a line under the most traumatic period in its almost 50-year history, as it formally exited a Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. Within a week, it then lost its president and CEO. Yet today, restructured and with a new CEO at the helm, the future looks a lot brighter for the company — and its enormous variety of customers around the world.
When Vertical last visited Erickson Inc. in October 2014, it was a very different company. At the time, it appeared to be riding high on a wave of growth, following its acquisitions of Evergreen Helicopters and Air Amazonia in 2013. These moves essentially transformed Erickson overnight, taking it from about 700 employees and a fleet of 20 Aircranes, to 1,150 staff and a mixed fleet of 86 rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft, and moving it into new markets, such as disaster relief and military logistics, as well as onshore and offshore oil-and-gas.
However, the acquisitions also saddled the company with a huge debt burden — and this became a major problem as the industry entered a period of unprecedented operational headwinds. The Evergreen purchase also drew close scrutiny from regulatory agencies — and the company’s shareholders. It ultimately became the subject of a shareholders’ class-action lawsuit, alleging a breach of fiduciary duty, which was settled in June 2016 with an $18.5 million payment from Erickson and the private equity company that controlled it.
The reverberations of the expansion continued, and on Nov. 8, 2016, citing “numerous business challenges” impacting its operating results and asset values, Erickson Inc. filed for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. At the helm during this transitional period for the company was Jeff Roberts, who took over as president and CEO after Udo Rieder retired in March 2015.
While the company’s leadership scrambled to restructure the company and confirm its plan of reorganization with the bankruptcy court, business on Erickson’s various front lines continued as normally as possible.
Within six months of beginning the process, and under new ownership comprised of a diverse shareholder group, Erickson exited bankruptcy. Roberts then resigned as president and CEO, leaving Andrew Mills, the company’s president of commercial aviation, as its interim president and CEO. On Aug. 31, 2017, the appointment of government services veteran Doug Kitani as CEO allowed it to firmly establish a course for a more positive future.
Kitani, who started his career as a U.S. Army helicopter pilot flying the Bell UH-1, OH-58, and Sikorsky UH-60, arrived at Erickson from IAP Worldwide Services — where he led the company from a similar position.
“It was a distressed company and out of court restructuring, and we turned it around successfully and had a great several-year run,” he said.
So committed was Kitani to continuing the path of growth with IAP, he turned Erickson down when first approached for the position in early 2017. However, one of his mentors convinced him to have a conversation with the company and the new owners to learn more about the opportunity. It turned out to be the perfect fit.
“I’m an aviator, so that was a big part of me getting involved in this,” he said. “And I think we have an opportunity at Erickson to build a diversified aerospace and defense company. It has some great crown jewels inside the portfolio and great people, great assets. I’m looking forward to doing what we can organically to get us growing.”
Three key segments
Today, Erickson has about 750 employees, and three clear business segments: commercial aviation services (firefighting, powerline and construction); defense and national security (providing aviation support to government services/military); and manufacturing and maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO).
“What excites me about the company is this notion that we are incredibly vertically integrated; perhaps the most vertically integrated aerospace company that I’ve seen, in terms of our legacy of manufacturing and maintaining the S-64, and how that plays out in terms of how we operate the airframe globally in a variety of mission sets and austere environments that are very demanding,” said Kitani. “That’s also [the case] with our defense and national security business which, likewise, we’re typically operating legacy airframes — whether it’s [AS332] Pumas or Beechcraft [1900s], or even the Bell 214s — and doing it in pretty challenging environments for our customers.”
While Erickson’s commercial work (and firefighting in particular) is a key part of its business, Kitani has high hopes for development in its other two business segments.
“What we’ve been endeavoring to do is move into military markets, and I believe this company has a significant right to play in those markets — particularly on the rotary-wing side, but potentially other airframes and platforms, as well,” said Kitani. “As the global threat environment changes, we’re seeing interest from customers within DoD [U.S. Department of Defense] that require air-ops support. It could be anywhere around the world, and we happen to have the kinds of airframes and capabilities that they like, so we’re pursuing that.”
But it’s the company’s MRO capabilities that he believes offer the largest potential for growth. With its experience in providing OEM-level support to legacy airframes such as the S-64 Aircrane and the Bell 214, he said it has developed the experience and expertise to come up with creative solutions to unique engineering problems.
One such example is the company’s work on the H-53E Maintenance Program. Initially established to support the reconstitution of two MH-53Es for the U.S. Navy, the workload on this project subsequently expanded to an MRO services product line.
“We view the MRO segment as being one that, in terms of value added, engineering and specialty MRO — and almost non-standard MRO — that’s the area we think we can really grow,” said Kitani.
There are 20 S-64s (E and F models) in the Erickson fleet, along with Bell 214s and Airbus AS330/AS332s. On the fixed-wing side, it has Beechcraft 1900Ds and CASA 212s.
The iconic Aircrane is at the core of Erickson’s identity, and its continued success. With the E model’s ability to lift 20,000 pounds (9,000 kilograms) and the F model able to carry 25,000 pounds (11,340 kilograms), the aircraft offers unique capabilities in both firefighting and aerial construction.
Almost a third of the Aircrane fleet is occupied year-round on long-term firefighting contracts, cycling between the Northern and Southern Hemisphere fire seasons in Greece and Turkey, and Australia. Other major ongoing contracts include logging operations in Canada, and power transmission line construction in Scotland, India, and Canada.
Indeed, Kitani highlighted transmission line work as an area of great opportunity for the company.
“That’s an interesting growth market; it’s still relatively small in terms of its contribution to our revenue, but it’s very fast-growing and we expect the growth to accelerate for us,” he said.
The Bell 214s are currently exclusively used on DoD contracts, and, together with the AS330s/AS332s, provide transport and logistical support for the military and government agencies. Three such contracts see the Pumas flying vertical replenishment (VERTREP) operations for the U.S. Navy in the Pacific and Middle East.
“Our ships give them fuel supplies, food, and water,” said Chris Callahan, Erickson’s VERTREP program manager and Airbus fleet manager. “We resupply any of the coalition forces, so we could be resupplying the U.S. to the Japanese, to the Koreans, to Australia, New Zealand — whenever there’s joint operations or exercises, we’re always in the mix.”
The vast majority of the pilots and engineers assigned to these contracts are ex-military. “We do have a few that have never been in the military — they come from the [part] 133 world, where they’re used to logging and doing construction work,” said Callahan.
He said the Puma is well suited to VERTREP operations, with the ability to carry up to 7,700 pounds (3,500 kilograms) on the hook.
“It’s a great performer — it’s a really good lifting machine, it’s a very nimble machine,” said Callahan. “We have seating for eight plus one in the jump seat, which works out just fine. It gives us plenty of room for additional cargo in the aircraft, so that we can carry passengers plus other baggage internally.”
Erick Nodland, Erickson’s director of operations, said there was a clear opportunity for the company to develop its defense and national security work.
“It’s a new fiscal year for the military, we have a CEO that has a huge background in defense and the defense service industry, and we have a new [U.S.] president,” he said. “The military is shifting their focus and we’re just finding that we’re part of that. We’re part of that directly in some ways, and we’re part of that indirectly in bidding.”
Erickson purchased the type certificate for the S-64 from Sikorsky in 1992, and has produced 35 of the type since then. During Vertical’s recent visit to the company’s manufacturing and MRO facilities in Central Point, Oregon, it was busily working on the sixth S-64E to be built for the Korea Forest Service (KFS), which is set to be delivered later this year. In February, the KFS announced an order for two more S-64Es, which will eventually bring its Aircrane fleet to eight aircraft. The new aircraft will be delivered with firefighting tanks, sea snorkels, foam cannons, glass cockpits, composite main rotor blades, and will be fully night vision compatible.
Kitani said the success of the KFS program is a great example to show to other agencies and operators.
“The Korean order really helps to legitimize this notion of buying and owning, and buying and operating the Aircrane,” he said. “Since the Napa [Valley] fires and the horrific fire season in California, there’s been a lot more interest from customers about potentially building and buying new Aircranes from us for aerial firefighting.”
The S-64s Erickson produces are converted from CH-54 Tarhe airframes, which are stripped down and built up in three parts: the cockpit, central fuselage, and tail boom. The latter is built from scratch.
The lead time for a new Aircrane is 18 to 24 months, but Kitani said Erickson is looking to speed this up, and offer other options for those looking to operate an aircraft in the near future.
“We’ve got a couple of customers who we’re in active dialogue with where . . . they’re very focused on how they can get the capacity sooner rather than later,” he said. “So we’ve talked to them about other permutations like potentially selling one of our Aircranes that’s in our existing fleet and then building a new one — and we could either keep the new one as part of our fleet, or even potentially swap it out with the one they’d been operating.”
In addition to building new airframes, Erickson also supports the global fleet of S-64s, making the likes of Siller Brothers and Helicopter Transport Services (HTS) both customers and competitors. From the latter, Erickson recently received an order for two of its in-house 2,650-gallon (10,000-liter) firefighting tanks, which were being painted in HTS colors at the time of Vertical’s visit in November.
Erickson also serves as a third party manufacturer for the OEMs, producing parts for aircraft including the Bell V-22 and 525 Relentless.
One of the most exciting developments for Erickson’s manufacturing unit is the upcoming certification of composite main rotor blades for the S-64, slated for the second quarter of 2018. After initially looking to outsource the program, Erickson, in collaboration with Aircrane operator HTS, has spent seven years taking the blades from the drawing board to the edge of certification.
The existing metal rotor blades for the E and F model Aircrane are specific to those types, but the new composite blades will be essentially identical — the difference between them is in the the cuff that attaches to the rotorhead and the counterweights at the tip. Still, the blades need to be certified separately on each type. Erickson completed high altitude performance testing over the winter for the F model’s blades in Cusco, Peru, while the E model’s high altitude testing will likely be done in Leadville, Colorado, this summer. Once both are certified, the blades can go to market.
Until the performance testing is complete, the full benefits of the new blades will not be disclosed, but anecdotal reports from pilots indicate a greatly improved torque value and fuel efficiency, and a huge reduction in vibration within the aircraft — which would likely have knock-on benefit to other components, as well as reducing pilot fatigue. According to Amanda Hammerschmith, composite main rotor blade program manager, the composite blades have shown incredible durability during testing.
While physically very similar in size and weight to the metal blades, the composite blades are easy to spot, with a striking swept tip and bright white finish. The tips of the blades are painted matte black after early testing found the shiny white paint resulted in a glare in the cockpit.
An MRO focus
While there are certainly promising signs in its manufacturing department, it’s on the MRO side of the house that the company has seen the most dramatic growth. In February 2015, it signed an agreement with Bell that saw Erickson assume product support responsibility for the Bell 214 B and ST models, including spare parts supply, technical assistance, maintenance training, and MRO services.
“With that, we inherited [support for] around 10 to 12 operators,” said Justin Saxbury, global customer service manager at Erickson. “We were uniquely positioned to not only offer our manufacturing capabilities, but also our engineering and overhaul expertise.”
The company’s engineers quickly worked to develop new repairs that would allow parts previously determined to be unsalvageable to return to service.
“It’s been a challenge, but the guys have embraced it and enjoyed it,” said Kevin Haataja, component repair and overhaul manager. “The manuals were difficult to follow — a total 180 from what you’ve learned with the Sikorsky product — so we’ve had to really gather the data and use our engineering to figure things out.”
With the realization that there was going to be continued support for the type, operators who had previously been looking to sell the aircraft began putting them back into service.
“It’s a really wide footprint for such a small community, but we’ve done our best to support each and every one of them,” said Saxbury.
Similarly, Erickson has been working hard to develop new repairs and support capabilities for operators of the 4,800-shaft-horsepower JFTD12 engine (which powers the S-64), having bought the type certificate for it from Pratt & Whitney in 2013.
“We’ve started exploring doing rotating parts, discs, so we’re starting that machining process,” said Haataja. “It’s nice to be in control of your own destiny and we have enough rotational inventory for now. As years go by, we’ll need to keep expanding that.”
During the bankruptcy process, the MRO unit faced a considerable challenge to maintain its relationships with vendors within a very different paradigm — facing new pricing, new terms, and new lead times for parts.
“It really is a testament to the entire team,” said Saxbury. “It was a challenge for the MRO as well as the sales team to maintain relationships and to make sure we were meeting our commitments with our customers — because obviously, we were looking past when you emerge from the bankruptcy, those relationships are imperative to you to continue to grow and have success.”
Despite these challenges, the MRO unit grew its revenue by 15 percent, and is anticipating 30 to 40 percent growth in 2019.
Thanks to this success, the overall company managed to not only sustain its business, but grow during the bankruptcy process.
“We didn’t lose any customers, and the fact that we were able to continue growing the business through that is a testimony to the strength and value proposition of the platform, as well as the strength of the team,” said Kitani. “We have been working hard to maintain a good rapport with our key partners and vendors. It’s been improving every week and month since I’ve been here — but we still have a lot of work to do.”
Looking ahead, Erickson has been busy building its leadership team under Kitani, with several key appointments in the last few months. With the right people in the right positions, and a line drawn under the previous era, Kitani is clear that the future is bright for one of the helicopter industry’s most iconic names.
“This is about leadership and having the right culture, values and vision,” said Kitani. “I’m excited by this team that is now largely in place. There are so many great people at Erickson, and I think with their capabilities, anything is possible.”


by Robert G. Gard
The Bush Administration has announced its intention to build a national missile defense complex in Europe to supplement current deployments of the system’s components, including interceptor sites based in Alaska and California. This decision is premature, misguided, wasteful of billions of dollars, and damaging to U.S. relationships with our European allies and Russia.
The plan for the new European complex is to transfer a narrow-beam X-band midcourse tracking radar from the Pacific Test Range to the Czech Republic and to deploy up to 10 silo-based long-range interceptor missiles in Poland. The program also calls for forward-basing an acquisition radar – designed to provide detection, initial tracking, and cueing information – to a location not yet designated.
The national missile defense system, now called the Ground-Based Midcourse Missile Defense System (GMD), is being developed to protect the United States against a limited attack from warheads launched on long-range ballistic missiles by so-called rogue states. The intent is to destroy incoming weapons during their flight in space, called the “midcourse” phase of their trajectory.
Yet GMD is still in its developmental phase, by no means ready for deployment. It has not demonstrated the capability under realistic conditions to destroy a target in space, and operational testing of the system is not yet even scheduled. Knowledgeable defense scientists believe the system will never be able to defeat countermeasures that any nation capable of fielding complex intercontinental ballistic missiles will be able to employ with ease.
In focusing initially on defense against a potential threat from North Korea, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) perceived that there would be gaps in the coverage of missiles launched from Iran that could be filled by a European deployment.
Recently, however, the Agency concluded that without deploying elements of GMD in Europe, other system components could protect the entire U.S. against an Iranian attack by 2011, well before that country will be able to field an intercontinental missile capability.
So now MDA cites the indivisibility of U.S. and European security interests as a justification for deploying a missile defense complex in Europe. Yet the administration negotiated directly with the Czech and Polish governments without broader consultation, thereby triggering considerable consternation throughout the European continent and disrupting the NATO alliance. As the NATO Secretary General stated critically, “NATO is the right place to have this discussion on missile defense.”
Also, the fact that the planned deployment will not cover a large portion of southeast Europe is potentially divisive. MDA claims on the one hand that that there currently are no defenses in the European theater capable of engaging long- or intermediate-range ballistic missiles launched from Iran. On the other hand, it argues that tactical systems designed to intercept short- and medium-range missile threats can substitute for the lack of coverage of southeast Europe by the proposed GMD deployment.
MDA also claims that deploying GMD in Europe will promote regional stability. But the announcement of the deployment and the reaction to it has in fact created considerable instability. Russian President Vladimir Putin has angrily denounced the deployment. He perceives it as yet another U.S. and NATO military encroachment into former Warsaw Pact countries close to Russia’s western border, despite earlier assurances by the U.S. that NATO would not move east if a unified Germany could join NATO. Putin also suspects that further development of the European GMD complex could threaten Russian security in the future.
Carrying out Putin’s earlier threat, Russia formally suspended participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty on July 14, and a Kremlin political consultant stated that the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty could be next. These actions deeply concern our European allies.
Putin also has suggested that the GMD interceptors should be emplaced in Turkey or Iraq, and he has offered the use of a Russian early warning radar in Azerbaijan to substitute for the proposed deployment of the tracking radar in the Czech Republic, which he correctly views as potentially intrusive. At best, the Russian radar could perform the function of a forward-based acquisition radar, but it does not have the capabilities of the more advanced tracking radar planned for deployment in the Czech Republic.
There are other serious problems with a GMD missile defense in Europe that should be considered:
- The interceptor missiles planned for installation in Poland involve difficult and less-tested technology than those presently deployed in Alaska and California. Although initial flight tests are not scheduled until 2010, the deployment of up to 10 operational missiles is programmed to be completed by 2013. This overly optimistic scenario suggests that MDA once again will be deploying a missile still in the early stages of development.
- The complex in Europe will have only 20 minutes to detect, track, and intercept a missile launched from Iran. This would present a highly difficult challenge to a system that has met stringent test standards and is manned by a well-trained crew on quick-reaction alert. But essential operational testing to prove the effectiveness of the system is not yet even projected for the European complex.
- The European deployment is currently estimated to cost a little more than $4 billion. If past is prologue, this will increase substantially.
Whatever marginal benefit may be perceived to accrue from deploying a European component of GMD is clearly outweighed by its costs, both financial and political. Since Iran will not be able to develop long-range missiles until well into the next decade, as intelligence agencies estimate, there is ample time for continued development of the GMD system to determine if it somehow can be made to work.
It also would be imprudent to rush to deployment of the system without thorough consultation with, and the agreement of, our NATO allies and Russia.
Since the launch of a ballistic missile can be traced to its source, it seems highly doubtful that Iran would choose to attack the U.S or Europe in this fashion, thereby inviting a devastating retaliatory strike. Even in the unlikely event that the GMD system and its European component eventually prove workable, the opportunity cost of its deployment should be considered in comparison to expending the funds to counter more likely threats to U.S. and European security.
The bottom line is a no-brainer: the third GMD missile defense complex, programmed for deployment in Europe, should be put on ice.
Lieutenant General Robert G. Gard, Jr. (USA, ret.), former assistant to two secretaries of defense and former president of National Defense University, is a Senior Military Fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington, D.C.


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The Ohio State University (OSU), a public university in Columbus, Ohio, has paid $875,689 to resolve civil allegations that it failed to disclose an OSU professorâ€™s affiliations with and support from a foreign government in connection with federal research funding.
This settlement relates to Army, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and National Science Foundation (NSF) grants and research support agreements that provided funding to OSU from November 2012 to August 2020. In the funding application process, the Army, NASA the NSF require disclosures of, among other things, foreign government support received by any principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on the grant or agreement. The settlement resolves allegations that an OSU professor failed to disclose funding that he was receiving from a foreign government in connection with: (1) employment at a foreign public university; (2) participation in a foreign talent plan, a program established by the foreign government to recruit individuals with knowledge or access to foreign technology intellectual property; and (3) a grant from the foreign governmentâ€™s natural science foundation. As part of its settlement, OSU has agreed to cooperate with the United States governmentâ€™s investigation of others involved in the alleged violations of law.
â€œUniversities, institutions and researchers are required to make certain disclosures when applying for federal grants so that the government can assess whether to fund their research and development,â€ said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Departmentâ€™s Civil Division. â€œThe department will hold accountable applicants who undermine the integrity of the grant process by knowingly failing to submit complete and truthful applications.â€
â€œThis settlement demonstrates NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG)â€™s commitment to identifying and holding accountable those who conceal affiliations with foreign entities to obtain research funding,â€ said Assistant Inspector General Robert Steinau of Investigations for NASA-OIG. â€œI am proud of the exceptional teamwork of our law enforcement partners, the Civil Divisionâ€™s Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section, and the U.S. Attorneyâ€™s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, that resulted in securing this settlement and ensuring aggressive oversight of taxpayer funds awarded for academic research.â€
The settlement was the result of a coordinated effort between the Civil Divisionâ€™s Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorneyâ€™s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, with assistance from the FBI, Army, NASA-OIG and NSF.


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29th Annual Soapbox “Race of Fun”
**Saturday, September 7, 2024**
The Village of East Alton started this event as a contribution to the area celebration of the new Clark Bridge. Mayor Carlton and the Board of Trustees have been dedicated to continuing with making this event possible. This unique event is designed for fun only and is always held the Saturday after Labor Day for area youth to race in a soapbox car down Berkshire Hill. In case of rain, the races will be possibly delayed that day or rescheduled for the following day (Sunday) with a start time of 3 hours later.
Soapbox cars are provided for the participants. Participants must be 7 years of age by race date and meet requirements for the Stock Car Division: 4ft to 4ft 9in and must weigh between 55-90 pounds. Participants must be able to pass a safety check (which will take place the morning of the race), fit comfortably in the car, operate the brakes, and handle the steering of the car.
Saturday, September 7, 2024 – 10AM-3PM
*Rain Date: Sunday, September 8, 2024 – 1PM-6PM (3 hours later)
Village of East Alton Residents – Entry Fee: $2.00
Non-Resident or Unincorporated Residents – Entry Fee: $4.00
$1 late fee for registrations received after Wednesday, August 30th
Soapbox Car Sponsors Needed
Do you want to be a Soapbox Car sponsor? This event is not possible without our dedicated car sponsors. These sponsors purchase and maintain their soapbox car and have it decorated with their business advertisements. Each sponsor pays an entry fee of $85 (paid each year) for the year’s annual race to cover additional event insurance. This event currently has 24 car sponsors and is searching for more potential sponsors. If you have any questions please call the Keasler Recreation Complex at (618) 259-7411.
Do you make crafts? Do you want to sell your products? If so, the Soap Box festival is a great opportunity for you to share your creations and make a few dollars in the process. Many vendors use this opportunity to share their talents, pass out information about their business, products, clubs or organizations, host a fundraiser or just be a helping hand during this event. If you are interested in having a booth or have any questions please call the Keasler Recreation Complex at (618) 259-7411.
The Soap Box Festival is good fun for the whole family, but it requires a lot of volunteer help for the race set up, test run and safety check helpers, starting line helpers, finish line, and clean-up. If you are interested in volunteering your time, please call the Keasler Recreation Complex at (618) 259-7411. Your help and/or your organization’s help is greatly appreciated.

domain: hobby


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“In her inspiring New York Times bestselling memoir, It Was Me All Along, Andie Mitchell chronicled her struggles with obesity, losing weight, and finding balance. Now, in her debut cookbook, she gives readers the dishes that helped her reach her goals and maintain her new size.”
Many of the recipes however are quite original and I can’t wait to test a few out! Like the Brown Sugar & Chili-Rubbed Salmon with Avocado Crema pictured below. (Fingers crossed this one convinces my husband to like salmon!)
Or how about Baked Banana Bread Doughnuts? (Maple-Cinnamon Cream Cheese Glaze optional.) Or Chocolate Raspberry Breakfast Pudding to start your day?
Along with the recipes she shares, Andie also shares stories. She tells stories about how she gained the weight, “a-ha!” moments she had losing the weight, and lessons she learned along the way. Obviously, to lose the weight in the first place she had to make changes to the way she had been eating. Just as obviously, she had to keep those changes in place and make them her new normal. Andie describes this cookbook as, “structured the way I eat and live my life.” The vast majority of the recipes are healthy and wholesome with good-for-your waist line calorie counts, (she includes nutritional information with every recipe), but there also dessert recipes with real sugar and butter. No fake or low calorie “desserts” in this book - just the “sometime” foods that are meant to be indulged in… sometimes. It’s all about balance.

domain: food


Start to finish: chase, crash, capture of triple homicide suspect
Volunteers help release tiny sea turtles that survived Tropical Storm Lee are released on a beach in Alabama.
[Breaking news update at 3:57 a.m. ET Sunday ]
Two people who traveled on the missing Malaysian Airlines flight under the passports of an Italian and an Austrian citizen appear to have bought their tickets together, according to China's official e-ti...


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All that drama aside, the room was affordable, safe, and just steps away from Times Square, so we weren’t complaining too much.
With thousands of hotels of all shapes and sizes crowding Manhattan, it can be difficult to find a room that’s clean, comfortable, and cheap. Ours wasn’t a disaster story (I’ve heard much worse), but following these tips can help you avoid the worst hotels the city has to offer. And be sure book the room for less with New York hotel deals.
Read All of The Reviews
If I’d checked TripAdvisor before I booked our room, I’d have known that the lobby was under heavy construction … at least 10 reviews mentioned the commotion. The handy reviews also give you the lowdown on almost every aspect of the hotel – room size, comfort, service, cleanliness, and more. Don’t rule out a hotel because of one bad review (there’s always a few no matter what, some people are just too darn hard to please), but learn to recognize general patterns in reviews to avoid the duds. Consistent comments about surly service, overbooked rooms, and unsafe or unclean conditions are major warning signs.
Choose a Name You Can Trust
When you’re looking for a last-minute NYC hotel or just don’t want to spend hours planning your accommodations, choose a hotel chain you know and trust. The InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) operates more than 50 hotels in NYC for varying budgets, including the InterContinental in Times Square and the Holiday Inn Express near Madison Square Garden. IHG strives to uphold the same high standard of quality at each of its 4,600 hotels, and offers formal processes for complaints and issues that boutique hotels may overlook. Other well-known chains with high standards for quality include Marriott, Radisson, and Hilton.
Location, Location, Location
You might think that the best way to find cheap hotels in the city is to search for accommodations far away from the hustle and bustle of major tourist sites. But that doesn’t always hold true. Sure, a hotel in Newark will be cheaper than one in Manhattan, but a $20 round trip train ticket every day of your stay may offset the price difference. Even taking the subway can set you back a pretty penny: The NY Transit Authority did away with day passes, so every ride costs $2.50 each. It adds up if you stay in Queens or Brooklyn but want to spend the bulk of your time in Midtown. Use travel sites like Expedia and Travelocity and filter your search by neighborhood to find a hotel that fits your travel needs.
Weigh the Costs of Amenities
My mom has a strict policy of only booking hotels that offer free breakfast, and hates staying anywhere that doesn’t have a pool. She’s often willing to pay a premium for those amenities. If you’re the same way, consider making an exception. You won’t be spending much time in your hotel in the city that never sleeps, after all. And who needs mediocre continental breakfasts when you’ve got a bagel store or Dunkin’ Donuts on every corner? The same goes for fitness centers … if you really can’t skip a workout, take a run on the Brooklyn Bridge.
Stay While It’s Cheap
The price of your hotel room may vary greatly depending on what time of the year and even what time of the week you stay. Our hotel in Times Square, for example, was $20 cheaper on Monday night than Tuesday. The reason? Broadway plays don’t have shows on Monday nights, so the area isn’t as crowded. Prices generally increase as you head towards the weekend. But according to Heather Cross, editor of The New York City Travel Guide at About.com, there are some options for affordable hotels on the weekend. “Hotels that are geared towards business travelers sometime offer deals on the weekend,” she says. “Think Midtown and Financial District locations.”
And while NYC is always crowded, seasonal tourism will hike up hotel prices during the summer and around Christmastime. For the best deals, Cross suggests traveling during the “lull after the New Year before spring arrives” and during September, right after the kids go back to school.
For many, a stay in Times Square or even on the island of Manhattan seems like a pipe dream. But my mom and I were surprised with how affordable it was to stay in Midtown Manhattan. You can do it, too — planning an affordable NYC vacation just takes a little planning and ingenuity.

domain: travel


text:
|Color of berry skin||Blanc|
|Also called||White Shani|
|Notable regions||Absheron Peninsula, Azerbaijan|
Agh Shani (Azerbaijani: Ağ şanı) (also known as Agh Shany or White Shani) is a light yellow-skinned white table grape that have also been exported and are grown in various regions of Azerbaijan and in Derbend, Astrakhan and Volgograd, Russia.
Origins and specifics
Ag Shani is among the 50 varieties of grapes that are indigenous to Absheron Peninsula. By degree of sugar content, Shani is superior to all other Absheron varieties, primarily due to soil and climatic conditions on the peninsula.
The variety of Agh Shani is also grown with Qara Shani (Black Shani) in Mardakan and Bilgah. The shape of the grape is conical, its bushes are winged. Seeds of Agh Shani are large and round. Color is light yellow and when fully mature, the color sometimes turns golden yellow. Skin is medium thick and it has tough and thin layer of wax. In Mardakan, the seeds of Agh Shani start to ripen around August 20, in other parts of Absheron in the first decade of September and in Ganja in mid September.
Use of Agh Shani
According to new plans of the Ministry of Agriculture of Azerbaijan, Agh Shani will be one of varieties to be grown extensively in Goygol, Shamakhi, Agsu, Samukh, Qabala, Tovuz, Shamkir, Jalilabad, Kurdamir and Ismayilli raions.
- Famil Sharifov (Winter 2010). Azerbaijani Grapes: Past and Present. IRS (Heritage). pp. 58–63. ISSN 2220-248X.
- "ATLAS: AG (WHITE) SHANI". Retrieved 2011-01-17.
- Tabriz Vafali (2009-09-08). "Ağ şanı, qara şanı. Asəf Əhmədov: "1500 - 1700 hektar sahədə yeni üzüm bağları salınacaq"" [Agh Shani, Qara Shani. Asef Ahmadov: "New 1500-1700 ha vineyards will be created"]. Hefte Ichi. Archived from the original on 2011-10-09. Retrieved 2011-01-17.
- "Povarenok. Dolma, Долма". Retrieved 2011-01-17.
- "ЕДА/СЕКРЕТЫ. Одна на всех" [Meal/Secrets. One for all]. Archived from the original on 2011-09-04. Retrieved 2011-01-17.
- "Голубцы - интернациональное блюдо" [Golubtsy - International dish]. Archived from the original on 30 December 2010. Retrieved 2011-01-17.

domain: agronomy


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ASU postpones part of football stadium renovation
PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona State University is postponing the final phase of reconstruction on its football stadium until after the 2017 season.
The Arizona Republic reports (http://bit.ly/2dNBQpW ) that renovations on the east side of Sun Devil Stadium will be delayed because new fundraising and partnerships allow for previously unplanned enhancements to the project.
Hunt/Sundt Construction still plans to complete work on premium seating, a student-athlete building and a giant video board after the 2016 season.
Officials decided that the new ideas for the stadium's east side couldn't be properly evaluated in time for Phase III of the construction, which begins after the final home game on Nov. 10.
Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com

domain: news


Comets win Oshkosh North Invitational
Waupaca also drops home match
By Greg Seubert
Two days after being swept by Luxemburg-Casco, the Waupaca volleyball team was looking to bounce back in its next North Eastern Conference match.
Oconto Falls, however, had other ideas, as the Panthers took three of four sets from the Comets Sept. 30 at Waupaca High School.
The Panthers opened the match with 25-22 and 25-19 wins. Waupaca forced a fourth game with a 25-23 win in the third set, but Oconto Falls wrapped up the match with a 26-24 win.
Waupaca fell to 3-3 in conference matches and the Panthers improved to 3-3.
The Comets rebounded from the loss Oct. 2 by winning the Oshkosh North Invitational.
Waupaca defeated Oshkosh North, Green Bay East, Green Bay East and Roncalli once and beat Reedsburg twice.
The Comets hosted Denmark Oct. 5 and will travel to Appleton Thursday, Oct. 7, to face Fox Valley Lutheran.


James Franco Will Be Seen Cutting Arm in 'General Hospital'
James Franco is following up his stint on "General Hospital" with a more adventurous role - he's signed up to play a real-life mountaineer who amputated his own arm. The actor has been cast in Danny Boyle's upcoming 127 Hours, based on the true story of climber Aron Ralston who was forced to saw off his limb after a boulder fell onto him while he was climbing in Utah in 2003.
Ralston was trapped in the canyon for five days before he used a blunt knife to free himself and was eventually rescued by helicopter. Boyle is drafting the script with Simon Beaufoy, who wrote the screenplay for his 2008 hit "Slumdog Millionaire". Filming is scheduled to begin in March 2010 in Utah.
Beside landing a role in TV series "General Hospital", James Franco will also be seen making cameo in an episode of "30 Rock", which is going to hit the small screen on January 14. He will appear in an episode called "Klaus and Greta" where he pretends to date Jane Krakowski's Jenna Maroney.
More James Franco News
- Iron Fist Shows His Martial Art Skills in New Photos of Netflix's Series
- Is Rihanna Not Happy With Beyonce Over Grammy Nominations?
- Wendy Williams Calls Nicki Minaj 'Insensive B***h' for Mocking Mentally Ill Woman
- Lady GaGa Pens 'Inspiring' Open Letter About Her Daily Effort to Battle With PTSD
- 'Bones': What Will Happen to the Jeffersonian? David Boreanaz Shares Photo of Destroyed Lab
- See Tom Hiddleston Accidentally Running Into 'Taylor Swift' During Morning Jog in London
- Andy Cohen Would Like to Hook Up With Justin Bieber
- Chanel Iman Stars in Flo Rida's Flashy Video for 'Zillionaire'


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The Dharman Series
novels (science fiction) by John Schettler were written in the early 90s and have been showcased on the web since 1996. The first of this series, Wild Zone, is now available in trade paperback and both novels are in eBook formats for $4.99.
This section of the site will
continue to present material on the series, which has a third novel being prepared for publication.
The briefing section will
present the basic story elements and information on the setting and time frame of the story. The Characters section contains custom illustrations of all the major
characters. The story section will present a brief synopsis of book I, Wild Zone.
I hope you enjoy this preview.

domain: library


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New Delhi, June 15, 2019-
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has, here on Saturday, called for punitive action against those who assault healthcare professionals by stating that “strict action must be taken against any one who assaults them.”
The Union Health Minister has asked law enforcement agencies to ensure that doctors and clinical establishments discharge their duties professionally without any fear of violence.
In a letter to Chief Ministers, Vardhan cited recommendations of an inter-ministerial committee in 2017 that suggested the state governments to enact legislation to protect doctors and healthcare professionals.
He also forwarded them the draft of the Protection of Medical Service Persons and Medical Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage or Loss of Property) Act, 2017, provided by the Indian Medical Association (IMA).
“In case, a state already has a legislation, it should enforce the IPC/Cr.PC provisions with vigour,” the Minister said in the letter.
Expressing concern over recent acts of violence against doctors in different parts of the country, Vardhan said they had led to strike by doctors, gravely affecting the healthcare services.
The Minister said doctors were an important pillar of the society and often worked under stressful and difficult conditions. “Our doctors rank among the best in the world and work for long hours under stressful conditions, grappling with a huge load of patients. It’s the duty of state to ensure their safety and security,” he said. (Agency)