This report was written for distribution at the seminar 'Immediate Challenges for Securities Firms in Response to New Regulations in 2024,' held by INF Consulting.
Since the approval of the Bitcoin ETF, traditional financial institutions have shown increased interest in blockchain technology.
JP Morgan has always been interested in blockchain technology and its adoption since 2015. Recently, in collaboration with asset management firm Apollo, they introduced a blockchain-based portfolio management system as part of the Monetary Authority of Singapore's Project Guardian.
The use of various blockchains and middleware infrastructure in portfolio management has enabled 1) highly efficient transaction settlement and portfolio rebalancing, 2) easy inclusion of alternative investment assets that are difficult to incorporate into model portfolios, and 3) solving the fragmentation issue where tokenized funds exist across multiple blockchain networks.
Given the nature of the financial industry, using private blockchains seems inevitable, and the growth of the private blockchain ecosystem is expected.
As time progresses, global financial institutions show a continuously growing interest in blockchain technology. This interest is expected to accelerate further following the long-awaited approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF on January 10. It's important to note that not only is the interest in Bitcoin itself increasing, but also the interest in adopting blockchain systems by financial institutions.
Even before the approval of the Bitcoin ETF, numerous financial institutions had been utilizing blockchain technology. One prominent example is tokenization. Asset management companies have opened doors for more individual investors to participate in private markets easily by tokenizing liquid assets and funds on the blockchain, thereby reducing inefficiencies in fund management. Here are some instances of tokenization by financial institutions:
Franklin Templeton: Launch of Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX) on the Polygon blockchain (Apr. 26, 2023)
Hamilton Lane: Launch of three funds (1, 2, 3) on the Polygon blockchain through Securitize and plans to tokenize another fund in 2024 on Nomura Laser Digital's Libre network in partnership with Brevan Horward
Besides tokenizing funds, global financial institutions have also tested and used blockchain in various other ways:
BNY Mellon: Settled securities lending transactions on the R3 Corda network with Goldman Sachs (Jul. 20, 2022)
DTCC: Developed a blockchain (R3 Corda) based settlement platform named Project Ion Platform (Aug. 22, 2022)
Citi: Built an FX trading application on a private Avalanche blockchain (Nov. 15, 2023)
UBS: Conducted cross-border repo transactions via a public blockchain with SBI and DBS (Nov. 15, 2023)
Source: Singapore MAS
One of the main reasons for the recent increase in blockchain technology pilot implementations by financial institutions is the Monetary Authority of Singapore's Project Guardian. This initiative is a collaboration between government policy-makers and the financial industry to explore the possibilities of asset tokenization and decentralized finance through blockchain. Policy-making participants in Project Guardian include the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA), with financial institutions such as Citi, HSBC, UBS, and Apollo taking part. Many of the blockchain adoption cases mentioned earlier were conducted as part of Project Guardian.
A notable Proof of Concept (PoC) from Project Guardian in 2023 involved JP Morgan's blockchain subsidiary Onyx and asset management firm Apollo. This PoC went beyond simply tokenizing funds or testing trade settlements on the blockchain. Instead, it showcased a system capable of efficiently managing portfolios that included funds tokenized on various private blockchains.
As one of the world's largest comprehensive financial companies, JP Morgan has shown early interest in blockchain technology, developing a corporate blockchain based on Ethereum named Quorum in 2015, when blockchain and cryptocurrencies were relatively new concepts. Quorum is now operated by Consensys after being acquired by them.
2.1.2 JPM Coin System
In 2016, JP Morgan began operating the JPM Coin System based on Quorum (currently, JPM Coin is based on Onyx Digital Assets developed by JP Morgan's blockchain subsidiary Onyx). JPM Coin is a blockchain-based stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, offering JP Morgan clients fast payments and settlements. When clients wish to use JPM Coin, they send funds to JP Morgan, who then issues an equivalent amount of JPM Coin. The clients can then use JPM Coin for fast payment and settlement processes.
Unlike public stablecoins, JPM Coin is traded only within private blockchain networks among JP Morgan clients, and the US dollars backing JPM Coin are strictly managed through JP Morgan's reserves. The JPM Coin System, which started as a simple settlement tool, expanded its services in November 2023 by adding 'programmable payments' functionality, allowing clients to set rules for funding accounts or parameters for payments to be executed based on margin calls or contract requirements. Siemens Group is a prominent company using the JPM Coin System, which, as of October 2023, handles transactions amounting to about $1B daily, indicating its significant network scale.
Onyx, a blockchain subsidiary of JP Morgan, was established in 2020 with the goal of 'transforming the future of banking.' It offers blockchain platform services supporting wholesale payments. Onyx provides four main services:
Liink: A network that allows participants to securely and privately share information. So far, it has facilitated about 100 million transactions in over 20 countries by approximately 100 participating institutions. Participants can collaborate based on shared data and utilize various services like Confirm, CheckMatch, and Route Logic.
Coin Systems: This service uses blockchain for rapid payments and settlements, particularly addressing issues in cross-border transfers and liquidity management. For more details, refer to '2.1.2 JPM Coin System.'
Onyx Digital Assets: A blockchain for asset tokenization. Institutions can tokenize a variety of assets through Onyx Digital Assets and trade them, benefitting from blockchain features like automation, liquidity, and atomic settlements. JP Morgan reported that by the end of 2023, approximately $900 billion worth of tokenized US bonds were settled via the Onyx Digital Assets platform.
Blockchain Launch: A service within Onyx where the blockchain team provides blockchain technology support to clients.
JP Morgan, having consistently explored how to innovate finance through blockchain technology, released a report in 2023 with global asset management firm Apollo as part of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Project Guardian. The report, titled 'The Future of Wealth Management: Ultra-efficient portfolios of traditional and alternative investments powered by tokenization,' presents an important PoC case. While there have been many attempts to apply blockchain in traditional finance, most have focused on asset tokenization. JP Morgan and Apollo took a step further by applying blockchain technology to portfolio management, including tokenized assets, thus proposing a new paradigm in the asset management industry.
The goal of JP Morgan and Apollo's portfolio management system PoC is to enable portfolio managers to easily create, distribute, and automatically manage model portfolios, regardless of the type of assets involved. The PoC addresses the following questions:
How can the execution and settlement of transactions be made efficient and scalable?
How can alternative investment assets, which are more difficult to handle and less liquid than stocks or bonds, be incorporated into model portfolios?
In a situation with numerous blockchain networks created using different technology protocols, how can this fragmentation issue be resolved with interoperability solutions?
Can the complexity of blockchain technology be abstracted to make it user-friendly for portfolio managers?
2.2.1 PoC Overview
The overview of the PoC for portfolio management using blockchain technology is illustrated in the figure above. Three types of blockchains were utilized: the Onyx Digital Assets network and two others to explore various operational environments. These include Avalanche Subnet (EVM-based) and the Provenance Blockchain (WASM-based).
Different funds were tokenized on these three blockchains. On the Provenance Blockchain, Apollo's funds were tokenized via the OASIS PRO Tokenization service. On the Onyx Digital Assets network, funds from JP Morgan, Apollo, and WisdomTree were tokenized through Onyx. Lastly, on the Avalanche Subnet, WisdomTree's funds were also tokenized through Onyx.
The purpose of this PoC experiment was to demonstrate how a portfolio manager can efficiently manage a portfolio incorporating alternative investment assets (alts) across multiple networks (Onyx Digital Assets, Avalanche Subnet, Provenance Blockchain) using blockchain and smart contracts. This setup aimed to enable easy inclusion of alts, efficient management through automated processes using smart contracts, and near-instant settlement.
2.2.2 Protocol Overview
For readers unfamiliar with the blockchain ecosystem, this section briefly covers the protocols used in the PoC by JP Morgan and Apollo. Readers familiar with the following tech stacks can skip this section.
Onyx Digital Assets: This is a private blockchain operated by JP Morgan’s blockchain subsidiary, Onyx, specifically for asset tokenization. For more details, refer to ‘2.1.3 Onyx’. In this PoC, Onyx Digital Assets served as the main blockchain for portfolio managers to interact with, and funds from JP Morgan Private Bank, Apollo, and WisdomTree were tokenized on it.
Avalanche Subnet: This is a separate network from the Avalanche mainnet, involving some of its validators as participants. Unlike the general-purpose Avalanche mainnet, which supports a variety of applications, the Avalanche Subnet allows for the creation of blockchains tailored to specific applications. Examples of the Avalanche Subnet include the DFK Subnet for the P2E game Defi Kingdom and UPTN Subnet for SK Planet's loyalty program (OK Cashbag). The Avalanche Subnet used in this test is a private network, as opposed to public networks. Notably, Avalanche also provides a private Subnet service for financial institutions, known as the Avalanche Evergreen Subnet. In this PoC, WisdomTree's fund was tokenized on a private instance of Avalanche Subnet.
Provenance Blockchain: This blockchain, based on the Cosmos SDK, is designed specifically for the financial services industry. Institutions can use Provenance Blockchain to tokenize assets.
OASIS PRO: OASIS PRO is an infrastructure company for the digital securities market, offering services like ‘OASIS PRO Markets’ - a marketplace for issuing and investing in digital securities, ‘OASIS PRO Tokenization’ for tokenizing real-world assets (RWA), ‘OASIS PRO Transfer Agent’ for easy cap table management, and ‘OASIS PRO Connect’ - an API service bridging Web2 and Web3 infrastructures. In this PoC, OASIS PRO was used to tokenize Apollo’s funds on the Provenance Blockchain.
Axelar: Axelar is a cross-chain messaging protocol that facilitates interactions between blockchains based on EVM like Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Base, and those based on Cosmos SDK like Cosmos, Osmosis, Sei, Celestia. Validators verify its cross-chain messages within the Axelar network. In this PoC, Axelar handled cross-chain messaging between the EVM-based Onyx Digital Assets and the WASM-based Provenance Blockchain.
LayerZero: LayerZero is another cross-chain messaging protocol that assists interactions between EVM-based networks. It relies on decentralized verifier networks for validation. In this PoC, LayerZero was responsible for cross-chain messaging between the EVM-based Onyx Digital Assets and the Avalanche Subnet.
Biconomy: Biconomy offers a toolkit for account abstraction in EVM-based networks. Account abstraction is a technology that allows users to interact with dApps in a more user-friendly way. Typically, to use blockchain networks, users must possess native tokens to pay transaction fees, which can hinder user experience. In this PoC, Biconomy provided a feature where portfolio managers could interact with the Avalanche Subnet without needing to hold native tokens in advance, as Biconomy covered the transaction fees on their behalf.
In the PoC test proposed by JP Morgan and Apollo, we examine how portfolio managers can trade fund tokens scattered across various private blockchains and manage their portfolios. This includes the entire process from investor capital infusion to portfolio rebalancing, looking at both front-end and back-end operations.
2.3.1 Model Portfolio Creation by Portfolio Manager
Source: Onyx, Apollo
Portfolio managers create model portfolios through the front-end interface called Crescendo App. A model portfolio is a model comprising the types of assets, their proportions, and risk levels proposed by the portfolio manager to investors. An example shown here is the creation of a model portfolio named Balanced ESG, where the types and proportions of fund tokens on each blockchain can be set.
On the back end, information about the model portfolio is registered in the 'Model Registry Smart Contract.' This process involves registering details like the name of the model portfolio, types and proportions of tokens on the Onyx Digital Assets network's on-chain smart contract. The Model Registry Smart Contract is crucial as it is continuously referred to during portfolio rebalancing.
2.3.2 USD Deposits from Investors
Source: Onyx, Apollo
Investors interested in investing in the portfolio can explore various portfolios through the Crescendo App and select one for investment.
Source: Onyx, Apollo
To invest in a chosen portfolio, the investor simply enters the desired amount, and USD is transferred to the blockchain to complete the investment.
Looking at the back end, investors initially deposit USD into the Deposit Token Smart Contract before investing in a specific portfolio, essentially funding their account. Upon completing the investment in a chosen portfolio, USD moves from the Deposit Token Smart Contract to the Investor Portfolio Smart Contract. This is not a commonly managed smart contract but an individual one created for each investor, linked to the Model Registry Smart Contract of the selected model portfolio. For instance, if investors A and B invest in the Balanced ESG portfolio, their Investor Portfolio Smart Contracts are separately created and managed while both linked to the Balanced ESG Model Registry Smart Contract.
2.3.3 Automated Portfolio Rebalancing
When an investor chooses a specific model portfolio and deposits USD, initially, the Investor Portfolio Smart Contract contains only cash. To align the investor's assets with the model portfolio at the initial investment stage, a process of purchasing the appropriate fund tokens is necessary. The Rebalancing Module of the portfolio manager calculates the difference between the current investor's portfolio and the model portfolio, determining the quantity of fund tokens to be bought. In this PoC, off-chain data was used in a centralized manner for the necessary asset price calculation. However, in the future, a decentralized oracle protocol like Chainlink could be applied to obtain asset prices more reliably.
Once the amount of fund tokens to be bought in each blockchain network is decided, the fund token purchase process for portfolio rebalancing automatically occurs via smart contracts. The Orchestrator Smart Contract on Onyx Digital Assets receives orders from the portfolio manager, and relays buy/sell orders to each network. Orders for fund tokens on Provenance Blockchain and Avalanche Subnet are intermediated by cross-chain messaging protocols Axelar and LayerZero, respectively.
When the fund managers receive an order, they confirm that the investor's cash has been frozen for settlement. Upon verification, they tokenize an amount of the fund equivalent to the frozen cash. Notably, within the Avalanche Subnet, the Account Abstraction technology by Biconomy is utilized. This technology enhances the user experience (UX) by enabling fund managers to create transactions on the Avalanche Subnet without needing to possess the native tokens used for transaction fees.
Once all fund tokens are issued, a confirmation message of settlement reaches from the fund managers, through the Orchestrator Smart Contract, to the Investor Portfolio Smart Contract. The Investor Portfolio Smart Contract, initially holding only cash, now stores information about fund tokens across various networks, completing portfolio rebalancing. The frozen cash tokens for settlement are then transferred from the Investor Portfolio Smart Contract to the wallets of the fund managers.
This rebalancing process is used not only for the initial capital investment by the investor but also for subsequent investments and monthly rebalancing due to asset class price fluctuations. Traditionally, in the financial industry, rebalancing a portfolio containing various asset classes like stocks, bonds, and alternative investments involves significant operational costs. However, this PoC demonstrated enhanced efficiency by handling complex rebalancing processes in one go through the use of blockchain, smart contracts, and cross-chain messaging protocols.
Let's revisit the initial purpose of the PoC conducted by JP Morgan and Apollo and review the answers to the four key questions they aimed to address.
3.1.1 How can the execution and settlement of transactions be made efficient and scalable?
Blockchain and other distributed data systems are not exempt from the trilemma of decentralization, scalability, and security. Public blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum, focusing on decentralization and security, often lack scalability, resulting in a low number of transactions per second. However, in this PoC, the use of centralized private blockchains overcame scalability issues.
The focus was instead on other blockchain advantages. Blockchains allow various parties to handle multiple assets in an automated workflow within a single ledger. Representing and recording asset ownership through smart contracts integrates portfolio management and operations in traditional industries into one automated process. This increased the efficiency of transaction execution and settlement between multiple parties.
Typically, an asset management firm with 100,000 clients would require 3,000 operational steps for monthly portfolio rebalancing. This PoC replaced it with just a few clicks. Additionally, the immediate settlement of transactions on blockchains minimized cash drag - the opportunity cost of uninvested cash. Considering that portfolio managers typically hold 3% of cash expecting 8% returns, resulting in 24bps of cash drag, and with the Q4’2023 discretionary portfolio fee being 1.09%, clients could potentially reduce costs by about 20%.
3.1.2 How to include alts in model portfolios, given their complexity and lower liquidity compared to stocks or bonds?
Investments in assets like private equity, private credit, real estate, and infrastructure, though less liquid, are attractive for portfolio diversification and risk management. However, in traditional finance, these assets were inaccessible to individuals outside institutions and difficult to include in model portfolios due to the diversity of assets and processes. In this PoC, tokenization platforms allowed easy inclusion and management of alternative investments in model portfolios. Smart contracts automated many tasks, significantly reducing the operational burden of handling alternative investments. Including these assets can improve portfolio returns or reduce volatility. According to Onyx, portfolio managers and asset management companies are expected to tap into a new revenue opportunity worth around $400 billion annually.
3.1.3 Interoperability Solutions for Fragmented Blockchain Networks
In a landscape where numerous blockchain networks coexist, each built with different technical protocols, a significant fragmentation issue arises. While there have been many instances of tokenizing real-world assets (RWAs) such as funds using blockchain, the process wasn't standardized on a specific blockchain. Instead, it occurred across various blockchains, each with its own protocol. This fragmentation is often seen as a major drawback of private blockchains. In this PoC, the use of cross-chain messaging protocols like Axelar and LayerZero was explored to address this fragmentation issue. This allowed for the consolidation of funds dispersed across multiple networks into a single portfolio management system.
3.1.4 Simplifying Blockchain Technology for Portfolio Managers
Blockchain, while a useful technology, can be complex and technically challenging for end-users. The PoC introduced Crescendo, a front-end solution that simplifies the investment process for investors. It enables them to easily invest in portfolios, while portfolio managers can conveniently track performance and rebalance assets.
From 2015 to 2018, as the blockchain market gained widespread recognition, many businesses and institutions experimented with it. These entities often preferred private blockchains over public ones due to legal risks associated with the regulatory gray areas of public blockchains. Furthermore, public blockchains' focus on decentralization sometimes came at the expense of scalability, making them less user-friendly. During this time, private blockchains like Hyperledger and R3 gained attention.
However, the blockchain market deteriorated rapidly, and the lack of adequate infrastructure meant that businesses and institutions did not feel a pressing need to adopt blockchain technology. Even more, the rise of scalable public blockchains like Solana, Avalanche, and Polygon from 2019 and 2020 led to a decline in interest in private blockchains.
Despite this, the blockchain ecosystem showed resilience and growth even after significant crises like the Terra and FTX incidents. The availability of sufficient middleware infrastructure has reignited corporate and institutional interest in blockchain. Unlike in the past, businesses now have a wider range of private blockchain options, including services offered by Polygon, Avalanche, and Onyx for tailored private blockchain solutions.
Some critics argue that private blockchains, lacking decentralization, do not represent the true essence of blockchain technology. However, this view is outdated. The PoC of Onyx and Apollo have demonstrated that blockchain offers numerous benefits beyond decentralization. As long as issues like privacy and scalability are not fully resolved in public blockchains, their adoption by enterprises and institutions remains challenging. This PoC serves as a valuable example for numerous businesses and institutions considering blockchain adoption, potentially leading to an expansion of the private blockchain ecosystem.
While blockchain, a system pursuing decentralization, is conventionally viewed as antithetical to the traditional finance industry, there has been a paradoxical increase in its adoption by numerous financial institutions recently. This trend, as seen in the cases of Onyx and Apollo, is partly because blockchain systems offer several advantages to traditional finance beyond decentralization, such as international transfer, quick settlements, and automated processes through smart contracts. So, what should institutions consider when adopting blockchain technology in the future?
Given the importance of regulatory compliance, such as KYC/AML, in the finance industry, institutions are likely to prefer private blockchains over public ones for the foreseeable future. Recently, there has been a rise in foundations and companies providing technical support for private blockchain infrastructure. Since private blockchains tend to create isolated ecosystems, institutions must choose their blockchain solutions carefully, considering the potential for network effects in the future.
However, as history has shown, blockchain is an industry where technology is still rapidly evolving. The balance of the industry has continually shifted over time and is likely to continue changing in the near future. Many technologies initially diverge in their development stages but eventually converge, and blockchain is expected to follow this pattern. Therefore, as demonstrated by Onyx and Apollo, the importance of middleware supporting seamless cross-chain messaging between isolated ecosystems will greatly increase, becoming essential for institutions looking to adopt blockchain.
A concern, however, is the intense competition that is expected to emerge within the private blockchain ecosystem. While this PoC has somewhat addressed this through the use of appropriate cross-chain messaging protocols, Onyx Digital Assets played a central role among the three blockchains used. Just as intense competition existed within the public blockchain ecosystem pursuing decentralization (e.g., Solana, Polygon, Avalanche, Near) and the Ethereum ecosystem seeking to expand Ethereum (e.g., Optimism, Arbitrum, Polygon, zkSync), the private blockchain ecosystem, inherently centralizing, will not be exempt from this fierce competition.
With developments like the listing of Bitcoin spot ETFs and the cryptocurrency market gaining recognition from traditional finance, a new era for the blockchain industry has begun. Previously, decentralization was touted as the blockchain industry's primary value, but now the industry is increasingly finding its product-market fit (PMF) characteristics beyond decentralization. Although blockchain technology is still used experimentally in the finance industry, the PoC by JP Morgan and Apollo has shown significant potential, and it is hopeful that more cases will emerge that accelerate innovation in the finance industry through blockchain.
Thanks to Kate for designing the graphics for this article.
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This article explores the potential of Web3 native data pipelines by projecting existing data pipelines commonly used in existing IT market into Web3 context. It discusses the benefits of such pipelines, the challenges that need to be solved to achieve these benefits, and the implications the pipelines can have for the industry.
As rollups are increasingly becoming a universal system for deploying new blockchains, solutions for building and operating them are also gaining attention. This includes the rollup framework that provides the foundation for the rollup system, the shared sequencer protocol for sequencer decentralization, and RaaS, which offers rollup deployment and operation as a service. Each solution has its own unique structure and relative strengths and weaknesses. We aim to explore what benefits and risks rollups can obtain through each solution, and what the future rollup ecosystem they will form might look like
Omnichain thesis is gaining popularity and Zetachain’s unique architecture is making this vision possible.


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Posted on May 24 2017
- The Yurok tribe reservation sits in California’s coastal woods near the Oregon border, and as the salmon migration numbers diminished, poverty and hopelessness took a firm hold. Joe Mozingo writes about how in saving their river, the Klamath, they have also come to save themselves. Via The Los Angeles Times.
- In the new book, The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, Dan Egan examines how climate change and invasive species have forever altered the Great Lakes. Robert Moor writes a review of the new book in this article in The New York Times.
- A report recently released from California Trout and the University of California Davis “states that nearly 75 percent of the state’s 31 salmon, steelhead and trout species are likely to become extinct within the next century if current trends continue.” Via The Times-Standard News.

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Dataset of air ion measurements Tahkuse_1993_1994
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The dataset makes available measurements of the mobility distributions of charged molecular clusters and fine aerosol particles in unpolluted atmospheric air at a rural area. The charged molecules and clusters up to 1.6 nm in diameter are called small air ions, the charged aerosol particles of size 1.6–7.4 nm are called intermediate air ions, and the charged aerosol particles of size 7.4–70 nm are called large air ions. The dataset includes results of simultaneous measurements of positive and negative air ions in Tahkuse Air Monitoring Station from 11.09.1993 to 23.10.1994. The station is located in the Sepa farmhouse in Tahkuse village about 27 km northeast of the city of Pärnu, Estonia. Geographical coordinates are 58º31'28"N, 24º55'32"E, 24 m a.s.l. The farmhouse is surrounded with flat open landscape with some tree groups, grassland and agricultural land. The air ion mobility spectrometers are installed in a thermostat container in the attic of the building. The air intake is at a height of 5 m above ground. The air ion measurements are accompanied with basic meteorological data: wind speed, wind direction, air temperature, relative humidity, and concentration of air pollution gas NO2. The detailed description of the landscape, station, and instruments is presented in the thesis by Hõrrak, U. (2001) Air ion mobility spectrum at a rural area. Dissertationes Geophysicales Universitatis Tartuensis, vol. 15, 157 pp., Tartu Univ. Press, Tartu, Estonia. https://dspace.ut.ee/handle/10062/50218. Full set of measurements is saved into a single file Tahkuse_1993_1994_data.xls as a tab-separated ANSI text. It should be downloaded from the present website and operated in the personal computer of the scientist. The data can be immediately opened and analyzed using MS Excel as well as by means of different computer programs, which are able to process the ANSI text. The file consists of a table with 59 columns and 9793 rows. The columns correspond to variables and rows to measurement hours. The first row is the header and it is composed of short names of the variables. Other 9792 rows contain numbers, which present the one-hour average values of the variables. The rows are written without omissions for 24 hours per day even when the measurements were stopped or failed and the values of variables are unknown. The missing values are marked with the code –99. The data file is accompanied with the description file Tahkuse_data_1993_1994.pdf.


A rush of bid wins in the past two months has seen the Perth Convention Bureau (PCB) secure 10 conferences that are expected to deliver an estimated 10,960 delegates and a $26.42 million delegate spending bonanza for the State.
By far the biggest boost to the Bureau’s annual sales results has come with the successful bid to host the Annual General Meeting of the national Ulysses Motorcycle Club in the regional centre of Albany in 2010.
The AGM is expected to attract 4,600 recreational motorcyclists who will spend around $14 million during their visit to WA. This is the biggest event ever secured by the Bureau in its 36 year history.
In another big win, an estimated 3,000 delegates are expected to attend the Lions National Conference in 2012 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Lions Western Australia, injecting nearly $6 million into the economy.
A spin off from World Youth Day in Sydney in July will see Perth stage a Liturgy and Leadership Meeting for an estimated 1,500 delegates prior to the global gathering which is to be attended by the Pope. This is expected to generate a $3.27 million delegate spend.
Another significant win is the annual scientific meeting of the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand which is expected to attract 700 delegates to Perth in 2010 and inject more than $1.65 million into the economy.
Among the other bid successes, the Bureau has secured the national Annual General Meeting and rally of the Mercedes-Benz Car Club, also scheduled for 2010. The 200 delegates will spend an estimated $250,000.
Also secured for 2010 is the prestigious five-day bi-ennial conference of the International Harbour Masters Association. This event is expected to attract 150 delegates and deliver a delegate spend of nearly $340,000.
Secured for next year is the Australian Fodder Industry Association National Conference, drawing 300 delegates and generating $483,061 in direct delegate expenditure.
The three other wins are national conference scheduled for later this year – the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (250 delegates, $232,829 delegate spend) in June; the International Quality and Productivity Centre (90, $180,093) in July; and the Federation of Police and Citizens Youth Clubs (170, $199,066) in November.
PCB Managing Director Ross MacCulloch said the flurry of bid wins had provided a welcome boost to the annual sales results. “I’m confident that we will achieve our sales target of $61 million worth of conference and incentive business secured,” he said.
“I’m sure this news will also be welcomed by our industry partners.”
Perth’s International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) rating has skyrocketed over the past year. In 2006, Perth was ranked 74th in the world as an association meeting destination and recent results have seen our position rise significantly to number 56.


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UPDATED: Wife fired first shots in deadly domestic shooting in Helena
By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer
HELENA – The Helena Police Department has released new details that left a 45-year-old woman dead after she and her husband were involved in a deadly domestic altercation the morning of Thursday, Aug. 22.
At approximately 11 a.m. on Aug. 22, Helena Police responded to the domestic incident in the 8400 block of Shoreside Lane in Helena.
Upon arrival, officers located 45-year-old Beverly Holston Harris deceased from gunshot wounds. A male, later determined to be the victim’s 45-year-old husband Naylan Lamar Harris, was taken into custody at the home and detained.
After further investigation, it was revealed that the couple has had a history of domestic incidents and the day before the shooting, Beverly Harris had been arrested and posted bond. She was released after a hearing before a magistrate as required by law.
Naylan Harris was notified of her release as required by law. According to Helena Police, Beverly Harris allegedly went back to the couple’s home after arming herself with a handgun. Upon her arrival at the home she discharged the handgun several times outside of the home and then entered the home carrying the handgun.
Inside the home there was an altercation between she and Naylan Harris with both parties being armed with handguns. As a result of this altercation, Beverly Harris was fatally shot.
At this time, Naylan Harris has not be formally charged with a crime but Helena Police said the incident is still under active investigation and criminal charges may be filed after the conclusion of a grand jury investigation.
CHELSEA – Chelsea plans to tackle several road projects in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 as part of Rebuild Alabama.... read more


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i am new to the world of art quilting but have been a creative stitcher for many years. I take my inspiration from our many outback travels and share exhibitions with a fellow textile artist.
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The vampire facial is great for targeting a number of skin conditions such as acne scars, sun damage, and other skin pigmentation issues.
Choose the experts in skin treatments in Leicester
When you are looking for the perfect facial treatment, you want to choose a clinic that understands how to treat different types of skin. This is where the experts at The One Clinic can help. We understand how to tailor our treatments so you see great results and skin that glows.
Our doctors have extensive training in a number of skin treatments, so you can rest assured that you are in the hands of professionals. Your wellbeing is important to us, that is why we always provide clear and honest advice about what treatments are right for you and how they work. This leaves you to make the decision that you feel most comfortable with.
How to find our Leicester skin clinic
You can find our clinic in the centre of Leicester. We are easily accessible by car and public transport. We are only a five-minute walk from Leicester train station.
36 DeMontfort Street
Tel: 0116 216 2715
Leicester is set in the heart of England in the East Midlands. It is a vibrant city that is full of life and has lots to do. It is also surrounded by lots of natural beauty including the Leicestershire countryside and local market towns.
Leicester is one of the oldest cities in England. Its history dates back to more than 2000 years ago when Romans came across an Iron Age settlement in Leicester in the first or second century. You can still find evidence of this today, with the most famous landmark being the Jewry Wall.

domain: medical


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If you are considering getting dental implants, you may be wondering if bone grafting is necessary. The answer is that it depends on the patient. Some patients may need extensive bone grafting. However, others may not need to have any bone grafting at all. Read on to find out when bone grafting may be necessary.The…
Do You Need a Socket Preservation Graft After Tooth Extraction?
If you are about to undergo a tooth extraction, the oral surgeon may suggest a procedure known as socket preservation grafting. When a tooth is lost or extracted, the hole (tooth socket) that once held the tooth roots to the bone remains. This article discusses the reasons that preserving the socket is important.
The need for socket preservation grafting
The following are reasons that a patient might need socket preservation grafting after a tooth extraction.
Prevent dry socket
A dry socket is a painful condition that often occurs as a side effect of tooth extraction and an unhealed tooth socket. The condition occurs when a well-formed blood clot loosens or dislodges in the socket, exposing the sensitive nerve underneath. Without treatment, the socket may get infected, causing damages to the jawbone, tissues, and nearby teeth. Socket preservation grafting is done to avert this situation and reduce the risk of pain or infection following a tooth extraction.
Socket preservation grafting can also help maintain the structure and health of the jawbone. The procedure involves putting bone graft material into the empty socket. Covering the hole averts bone resorption despite the loss of stimulation from the natural tooth root. This can also stop other teeth from moving out of their positions and causing dental misalignment because the rate of bone deterioration slows down significantly.
Set the groundwork for future dental restorations
Socket preservation grafting can increase the chances of successful tooth replacement with options like bridges or dental implants. It can also be beneficial for those who opt for dentures. To get implants, there has to be a minimum amount of jawbone to keep them stable and functional. Without adequate bone, gum recession and bone loss will eventually lead to implant failure. Socket preservation grafting ensures that patients have an adequate healthy bone to support an implant restoration.
Dental bridges help maintain a good bone level after a tooth extraction. Otherwise, bone loss can create an abnormally large gap between the opposing tooth and the recessed gums. The bridge will have to fill that gap, which means it will be longer or taller. Although the bridge will still be natural-looking, the extra material will likely increase the cost of the prosthetic device. Therefore, socket preservation can improve the aesthetic of the dental bridge.
Dentures do not usually require socket preservation grafting. But the level of jawbone volume affects the fit and stability of the denture. The oral surgeon can place socket preservation grafts in specific locations along the jaw during tooth extraction before placing dentures. This allows the gums to heal correctly and ensures that the jaw is strong enough for denture retention.
Tooth extraction and socket preservation grafts are simple procedures performed by the oral surgeon. If you have additional questions about the treatment or want to get a tooth replacement option like dental implants, contact the dental office to book an appointment. The dentist will be happy to address your concerns and make the best recommendations.
Check out what others are saying about our dental services on Yelp: Oral Surgery in Lee's Summit, MO.
Bone grafting is a minor surgical treatment done under local anesthetic to replace depleted bone tissue. The grafting material may be inserted into a tooth socket just after a tooth is removed or at a location where a tooth has been absent for an extended period. Over the next few months, your body will produce…
Your dentist or oral surgeon may recommend socket preservation grafting after tooth extraction as a way to prevent teeth shifting, bone loss, and other concerns that may affect your oral health function and appearance. This review provides insights into who makes an ideal candidate for socket preservation grafting and why you should consider it after…
Although wisdom tooth extraction is a common procedure, many young patients and their parents have concerns about it. This article answers some frequently asked questions about wisdom tooth removal.The following are some typical wisdom tooth removal questions and answers. Reviewing this information with teenaged patients may be helpful.Wisdom teeth are the third and final pair…


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Due to widespread polyembryony, Citrus rootstocks are usually propagated by open-pollinated seed germination, although micropropagation offers many advantages. Encapsulation technology has recently attracted the interest of researchers in the field of plant propagation because it combines the advantages of zygotic or gamic seeds with those of micropropagation. In this study, we examined the encapsulation of Carrizo citrange uninodal microcuttings (3-4 mm long) and evaluated the influence of the calcium alginate coating, a short time storage at cold temperature, and different sowing substrates on the viability and regrowth of the explants. A secondary aim was to develop an efficient protocol to induce root formation in the microcuttings. The results showed that encapsulation did not negatively affect the viability, providing a satisfactory regrowth, and storage potential for 30 days at low temperature. No differences in viability and regrowth were detected between the two different sowing substrates tested (agar-solidified medium and paper filter). To optimize the production of microcuttings required to perform the encapsulation experiments, in a preliminary experiment we assessed different factors affecting the in vitro shoot regeneration from epicotyl segments (obtained from seeds of Carrizo citrange germinated in vitro), including the influence of in vitro organogenesis, explant orientation, cut surface contact with the medium, treatments with different growth regulators, and distance of the organogenic explants from the cotyledonary node. The highest organogenic response was obtained from segments horizontally cultured (particularly from the basal portion), from segments with the cut surface in contact with the medium and from explants cultured on medium supplemented with 6-benzyladenine. No significant difference in regeneration efficiency was found in response to the distance of the epicotyl portions from the cotyledonary node. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
|Appare nelle tipologie:||1.1 Articolo su rivista|

domain: agronomy


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Lets Save the last WILD Rivers of Europe
Wild, free-flowing rivers are a beauty of nature that can be rarely found in Europe nowadays. But the Balkans in south-east Europe still have some of the most beautiful rivers on earth, where unique biodiversity exists. Now these rivers are under threat by a “Hydropower Tsunami” of dams already under construction or planned. Even though many of the rivers are protected, almost 3000 dams are supposed to be built in these unique ecosystems destroying them for sure.
Map of all dams that are being planned!
Many of the dams are planned by foreign investors. How the permits could be obtained despite the protection status, is clouded in secrecy. The construction of all these dams could mean the extinction of almost 70 fish species, that occur nowhere else. That is why we want to stop this “Hydropower Tsunami”. We are raising €3000 to support local groups of activists.
One of the wild rivers threatened by the construction of new dams is the Vjosa in Albania. It is the largest free-flowing river in Europe and home to many endemic species. See what makes the Vjosa so unique and how dams would destroy this river:
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Harry Potter has been described as the biggest and best hero since James Bond. How does that make you feel?
Wow! It makes me feel very privileged to be playing him. It's very exciting because Harry's got such an interesting life.
What advice have your parents given you to handle fame?
My mum and dad have just told me to enjoy it. There are a lot worse things [that could] happen than just being recognized.
What was the most memorable part of film-making, and the most nerve-wracking?
I'm not just saying this, but one of the best parts was working with Chris [Columbus], because he's a total inspiration. He really enjoys what he does, and it's a real honour working with him. The most nerve-wracking thing was the first day, because before that it had just been me, Rupert [Grint], Emma [Watson], and Chris, rehearsing in Chris's office. I got the call sheet for the first day, I looked under the cast and it said "Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint". So I thought, Fine, I'm used to that. Then I turned over the page and it said: "Extras, 150." At that moment, I got quite scared.
How will you feel if you're still playing Harry when you're 17 or 18?
I'm just going to take it one book at a time. Harry advances so much in each [school] year, he comes more out of his shell. If I'm thinking about playing Harry in the fourth book or the third or whatever, I could end up bringing his character from one of them and put it in the second, and it just wouldn't look right.Visit our Harry Potter special feature.

domain: entertainment


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What is a distribution?
A distribution is profit earned by a managed fund and paid to investors. Throughout the financial year, a managed fund will earn income in the form of dividends and interest. It may also make profits on investments sold. Under current tax law, the fund must pay all of this income and realised capital gains to investors as a 'distribution'.
Distribution periods and end of year
Ever wondered how distributions affect unit prices or why there may be end of financial year delays to unit prices and transactions? To learn more about the impact of distributions on unit prices, please read our Distributions – your questions answered flyer.

domain: finance


Access key module
manlio_perillo at libero.it
Tue Jan 1 20:07:39 MSK 2008
Cliff Wells ha scritto:
> On Mon, 2007-12-31 at 17:33 +0100, Manlio Perillo wrote:
>> The documentation should be edited using an RCS (I *hate* to edit
>> documents using browsers), but comments should be easy to add.
> Not an RCS, but at least gets you out of the browser:
I have it installed, but it does not solve the problem at the origin ;-).
More information about the nginx


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Phenteramin Diet Pills Review – What You Can Expect
Phenteramin If you have ever struggled with a diet, or even if you’re about to start to try to lose weight for the first time, then the first step that you are going to want to take is to learn more about Phenteramin. This new patent-pending formula is the single solution that dieters need in order to overcome their weight loss struggles without the need for harsh prescription medications.
What has always been needed is a single over the counter weight loss aid that would combine the power of Phentermine – the most commonly prescribed weight loss drug – with a safe form of ephedra as well as a substance that would provide amazing thyroid regulation so that weight loss could be effectively and safely enhanced. This is precisely what Lazarus Labs – world renowned nonprescription alternative pioneer for many of the top prescription drugs – has now managed to accomplish.
The formulation for Phenteramin is patent pending and is by far the most powerful, potent, and effective product for weight loss that is legally available today without requiring a doctor’s prescription.
Phenteramin represents the very latest in groundbreaking pharmacology products from Lazarus Labs. It has been developed to safely and effectively replicate the dieting results that would otherwise require three different weight loss products to achieve. Now, they are all available in this one brand new but already highly celebrated tablet. It is now possible to take advantage of the benefits of a pharmaceutical grade dieting aid, without having to obtain a prescription from a doctor.
Results You Can Expect When You Buy Phenteramin
The following are all benefits that have been enjoyed by customers who have decided to buy Phenteramin:
lSuppression of the appetite. We all know that one of the most common reasons that a diet will fail is that we get hungry and lose our willpower, so we snack or eat a larger meal than we should. With an effective appetite suppressant, there will be no need to cheat on a diet because you simply won’t feel hungry. A smaller amount of food will be needed to bring you to that “full” feeling, and you’ll remain satisfied by your smaller meals for a much longer period of time so that you won’t have to resort to snacking.
Elimination of excess water retention. There are many reasons that your body will retain fluids. The most common is dehydration, but there are other factors that come into play, as well. One of the best ways to prevent this from happening is to drink a lot of water and make sure that your body is adequately hydrated. However, as an added benefit, the mild diuretic in Phenteramin will also help to flush out excess fluid that has already accumulated in your tissues. That means that you’ll already start to see the difference in your body, even when you are only at the very beginning of your fat loss because you’ll have shed all of the excess water, too.
Amplification of the metabolism. The faster your metabolism runs, the more effectively you will burn calories and the less likely it will be that they will be converted into stored fat.
Stimulation of thermogenesis. Though one of the best ways for you to burn calories and stop them from being turned into fat is to exercise, you can help to make those efforts even more effective with the thermogenesis effect from Phenteramin. This means that your body will not only use energy from calories to meet your demands while you’re exercising, but it will also use it to generate heat in your cells, which will burn even more of those calories away.
Regulation of blood glucose levels. Your blood glucose levels refer to the amount of a form of sugar that is available in your blood that can be used as energy for various things, such as the basic functioning of your body or any activity you happen to be doing. When your blood sugar levels are steady and even, you can maintain a positive attitude, you’ll burn fat more effectively, and you’ll avoid cravings for sweets.
Conversion of your body into a continual fat burning machine. As long as you buy Phenteramin and take it according to the directions, along with a nutritious diet and a daily exercise program, you’ll be making sure that every minute of every day will be used by your body to burn away calories and fat to make sure that you lose weight safely, effectively, and faster than you ever thought was possible.
How is Phenteramin Produced?
As you decide whether or not Phenteramin is right for you, one of the things that you should take the time to consider is the way that it is made. After all, the development and ingredients that makeup diet pills can make a significant difference in its safety and efficacy.
Lazarus Labs is the creator of Phenteramin. It is well known as an industry leader for the development of non-prescription alternatives to some of the leading prescription drugs. This manufacturer uses only top quality ingredients, combined with cutting-edge technology and laboratories that follow only the highest standards.
The patent-pending proprietary Phenteramin formulation is comprised of the best quality advanced pharmacological compounds. This revolutionary diet aid has married together the benefits of two leading non-prescription weight loss pills with those of Phentermine, the leading prescription dieting drug. This allows dieters to enjoy all of those advantages, without the drawbacks of having to receive a doctor’s permission to buy it, the harsh side effects, or the risk of addiction and withdrawal symptoms.
Essentially, Phenteramin allows you to obtain the benefits of taking those other products without having to suffer the disadvantages that often make weight loss even more uncomfortable than it would have been without any assistance at all.
The more you learn about how Phenteramin is made, the better you’ll know that you can rest assured that you are using a top quality product. It combines thyroid regulating ingredients with a newly discovered, safe alternative to ephedra that enhances weight loss safely and effectively.
Phenteramin is Backed by Clinically Tested Ingredients
There are so many different diet pills on the market today that it can be difficult to choose the right one from among the wide variety of choices. One of the most important factors that should play a role in helping to determine which option is right for you should be clinical testing.
This is a form of scientific research that uses animals and then human subjects to make certain that the ingredient will not only be effective so that it can live up to the promises that are made about it, but it also ensures its safety.
Phenteramin is a non-prescription weight loss pill that is made up of ingredients that have been clinically tested. This fact sets this product apart from the hundreds of others on the market that has only hype and unsupported claims to offer people who are trying to shed those extra pounds.
The Phenteramin formulation was developed by Lazarus Labs. It is a high quality, patent pending formula comprised of 214 mg of: 1.3.7-trimethyxanthine, 3,6-diiodo-L-thyronine, 1,3 dimethylpentylamine, N-methylphenylethanolamine, 5-Hydroxytryptophan, Methylsynephrine, and 2-alpha-Hydroxyursolic acid.
The clinical studies on the ingredients have helped to demonstrate how this diet pill is easily the most potent, powerful, and effective over the counter weight maintenance tablet currently available.
Loved By Our Customers
Phenteramin Can Help You Lose Weight Quickly and Safely
Almost everyone who has ever been on a diet knows what a struggle it can be, so Lazarus Labs has created Phenteramin in order to help to overcome the main challenges that dieters face. This new patent-pending proprietary formula is among the most talked about and powerful developments on today’s market. When combined with healthy eating and exercising habits, this is the single tool that a person needs to start losing fat both quickly and safely.
Speed and safety are, after all, among the main concerns of individuals buying diet pills, after all. Aside from finding a product that actually works, it is vital that it helps them to drop those excess pounds fast and without any dangers to themselves. Lazarus Labs knows this. It has been a pioneer in the development of a broad range of over the counter alternatives to the top prescription pills. For weight loss, Phenteramin has been its solution.
It works through incredible thyroid regulation as well as a safe new alternative to ephedra, which allows the dieter to take Phenteramin to enhance their weight loss efforts without health concerns. This formulation can easily be considered to be the most potent, powerful, and effective that can be found on the legal market without needing to obtain a prescription from a doctor.


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I marvel at some people. I wonder where they get the courage to face the things they do. I have often wondered whether I would have that fortitude to face real challenge. I am usually so frighten of things. Could I face death the way some people have done? I faced some small failures in my life but I have never lost everything. I have never been starving. I have never been homeless or poor.
It does make one wonder........It is said that God never sends one more than they can handle. All we must do is just trust in Him. I wonder.........?

domain: literature


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Awst Press is an independent literary publisher in Austin, TX featuring impressive work from diverse voices.
Presented by Brooklyn Book Festival, Inc. and Brooklyn Book Festival Literary Council
We are planning for a hybrid Festival in 2021. And it’s going to be great! Sign up for our newsletter to stay in the loop!


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Robinhood gives you the tools you need to put your money in motion. You can buy or sell AIRC and other ETFs, options, and stocks.
Apartment Income REIT Corp. operates as a real estate investment trust, which owns and operates apartment communities. It provides a way to invest in multi-family real estate through a simplified business model and diversified portfolio of stabilized apartment communities.
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For the most part, Instagram is filled with pictures of brunch and fourth of July selfies, but every once and a while, you can find something amazing…especially if you follow Tech N9ne.
Instagram is one of the best ways to keep up to date with the number one independent rapper in the world, but it’s also the place to go if you want to hear some unreleased music.
Recently–perhaps due to going back through his old stuff to get ideas for Planet?–Tech shared snippets of two unreleased verses; one from a Busta Rhymes and Ty Dolla $ign collaboration, and the other, a three year old verse for Kay Slay.
Who knows, when, or even if, these verses will see the light of day–as Wrekonzie taught us, songs can stay in the vault for years–but we’re glad Tech decided to share them!
UPDATE: The second preview, the Kay Slay song, is titled “Jealousy,”is slated to appear on Kay Slay’s upcoming album The Big Brother and will also feature The Game and Busta Rhymes!


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Shared by cindylouwho2 in the Jewellery
Product Description:A dainty sea glass necklace with genuine beach combed glass direct from Hawaii, in pastel blues & mint green. I made the pendant with 2 different shades of aqua glass, sandwiched around the green piece. Sterling silver daisy beads finish each end. The entire pendant, including the sterling wire, is under 1 inch (2.2 cm) long.

domain: design


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Coach Trips South Wales
Look no further than Phil Anslow & Sons Coaches for top-quality coach services and coach trips in South Wales. We take pride in offering efficient, timely and professional services to customers in and around South Wales. With our qualified and experienced drivers, you can rely on us to take you to and from your desired destination, for an affordable price. We have been established for over 30 years and specialise in coach hire, coach tours, coach day trips and bus services. Moreover, as an independent family business, we offer a friendly and personal approach, giving you the best possible coach experience.
Get in touch today on 01495 775599 for free quotations on our services in South Wales. Whether you are in Pontypool or a nearby area including Monmouthshire, Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen or Newport, make us your first call.
Reliable Coach Hire
Here at Phil Anslow & Sons Coaches, we maintain an excellent reputation and deliver a top-quality service. We only hire drivers with significant knowledge of UK routes and destinations. Moreover, all of our team are CPC trained and DBS checked, to ensure safe journeys.
Our expert and experienced drivers and coach team combined with our affordable costs make for unparalleled service. While the price of our services depends on several factors including the journey duration and number of passengers, we always aim to offer competitive prices. Get in touch with us today for further information.
What our customers are saying
So grateful for Phil Anslow… X4 stagecoach has let me down time and time again making me late for work… Phil Anslow gets me there on time! Definitely recommend this service!Bryony Lewis6/05/2019
Brill service Just say booked a coach with Phil Anslow, must say what a professional company from start to finish, all went great driver was fantastic 👍Anthea wills6/17/2021
I was on the 6 to ty canol at 1.30pm the driver was amazing so polite, happy & helpful he didn’t rush anyone on or off the bus especially because I have a 5 week old in her Pram I will use them more often in futureSophie Louise Phelps1/30/2019
I would like to say a massive thank you for the holiday to torquay… Me my mum and daughter had a fab time… Stuart the driver was a lovely and friendly driver who made sure everyone was ok and checking to see if we need anything… The toorak hotel was a fab place to stay too… We definitely will be going on your trips again and highly recommend. Thanks again.Laura Louise Langley8/28/2016
Last Saturday was our second trip with this company. We had a great day. Driver was very pleasant and helpful, please pass on our appreciation to him. (4th December Worcester Markets). The coach was clean and an excellent standard. Also they are very punctual and organised. Thank you �Jill Davies12/07/2017
Another great trip to Bath Christmas Market 4 December, pick up on time going there and coming back, loads of stalls would highly recommend. Bryn then driver was good fun and very polite and helpful. Can’t wait to book another one next year. Thank you!Zoe Longdon12/04/2017
Can’t believe there’s actually negative reviews on here, compared to the much bigger company, Stagecoach, I think Phil Anslow is much more professional and much cheaper to travel on, and also the drivers will do anything to help passengers.They simply go that step further to keep passengers happy unlike Stagecoach who honestly don’t give a s*!t about passengers.John 19789/07/2019
Great local service So great to have a local business picking up where stagecoach have failed the public. Keeping people connected and providing excellent customer service.J4316ROsusanb2/12/2020
I have used Anslow Coaches for the last 4 years to take Abergavenny Bowlers to Torquay in November on a bowls tour. We are about 40 in number and never a complaint. Coach is always on time, always clean, great driving staff, Sue in the office is brilliant to deal with. Already booked for November 2017.Maurice Padfield12/14/2016
Day Trip Bath Xmas Market Went to Bath with Phil Anslow Coaches, was very impressed with the service and the staff. Driver was very helpful, Coaches was spotless and clean. Cannot recommend highly enoughUmran Malik12/06/2019
Brilliant trips and very reasonably priced! Drivers are always welcoming, informative and ensure you have a great trip! Well done �Joanne Dean7/22/2018
Their days out are one of the highlights of my year. Phil Anslow’s local bus services – in particular the X1 are first class, but even better are their days out. Early in the year the programme of dates and destinations comes out, and with pen poised I go through it to select possible venues to book. I have never been disappointed, the value for money is incredible,and with a little planning it’s amazing how much you can cram into the time available.Stella H2/18/2020
Myself and my son very much enjoyed our trip to Weymouth. Lovely clean and comfortable coach. USB ports in back of seats for charging your phone or tablet. Our driver Eddie was a lovely, friendly man. It was our first time travelling with this company but won’t be the last. Thank you very much 😀 xSarah Gregory8/11/2016
Fab drivers All your drivers as so helpful and super friendlyCeri Telfer12/26/2019
Excellent service Excellent service from start to finish. Driver superb and patient with a bus full of teens. Highly recommed.mnaoa5/20/2018
Great trip to Gloucester yesterday – the bus arrived on time and was even decorated for Christmas! Nick was a very professional, friendly driver who got us there and back safely and even gave us a little toot ‘goodbye’ as we got off the bus! Excellent value for money and wouldn’t hesitate to book another trip with you!Emma Robbie11/22/2015
WOW,1st TRIP WITH YOU GUYS,ABSOLUTELY LOVED PAIGNTON,THE DRIVER BRYN WAS AMAZING,WILL BE SEEING YOU AGAIN SOONRachel Parry4/17/2017
Cribbs Causeway Day trip Had a fantastic day out with Phil Anslow & Sons to Cribbs Causeway, our driver Eddie great, nothing to much trouble, we look forward to our next trip Bath Christmas market. Mary & JohnMary L11/17/2015
- Christine Norris10/15/2015
Travelling in style to London this weekend on the new bus. Managed to straighten my hair as there was plug sockets n charge my phone in the usb charging slots. Great driver , really pleasant and helpful xx thanksKirstina Feiken8/14/2016
Had a lovely day out today to Gloucester for the Xmas market. We had a hiccup with the first coach but that got sorted and we was away to our trip. Terry was a lovely driver nice and friendly. Got home safe and sound on this November night 🙂Amy Jones11/19/2016
Had a great trip with my 4 year old son to Thomas land drayton manor park. Stuart our driver was friendly and got us there and back again safe and sound xVictoria Harris4/17/2017
Went on my first trip with this company yesterday and it was brilliant! I highly recommend this company to anyone….. They were on time, I didn’t feel like I was being rushed and the drivers were all fab…cant wait to book again �Ceris Williams8/05/2018
Friendly helpful drivers Drivers on service 30 always friendly.very helpful to disabled and people with push chairs.Buses a little careworn but always clean.davidmansell2/22/2017
I would like to thank Phil anslow coaches for a fabulous day out last Saturday to Peppa pig world especially the driver Bryn was very friendly and helpful would recommend this company the trips are brilliantHelen Webb Was Batty7/24/2018
mr stephen knight i use the 24Xto newport/cwmbranand i use the a3to abergavenny and to cwmbran they are relayable bus company and friendly bus driver and alway on time.stephenknight11/22/2019
My daughter left her phone on the bus on Saturday along with her debit card and Id. Contacted the office at 9.00am and by half eleven we had the phone back. Mr Anslow brought it to Bulwark to save us a journey to head office. Very grateful to him as I’m sure not every bus company would be that obliging. Many thanks.Teresa Peebles3/02/2020
Great buses Take this bus a lot getting home from work great drivers pleasant journey need this bus service as I live in forgesideKaren H9/04/2016
What wonderful drivers you have today in Pontnewydd village your driver could clearly see my toddler getting impatient waiting to cross (after a huge melt down about holding my hand) stopped on a busy and dangerous crossing to allow us to cross safely at our own pace. Top driver thank you very much xPhillips Toniann4/13/2018
What a lovely change to get a bus and be greeted with a smile, absolutely lovely service. No rush in the driver waited for everyone to be seated before pulling off, unlike other diver leaving you to be jolted into the seat. Was kind and even saw him offer a woman with a cough a bottle of water. Took his time and was actually aware he had customer in the back unlike other busses I’ve been on. This was today on the 63 from usk to Pontypool around 1:30, what a lovely change, keep It up!�Felix Collins11/15/2016
I just want to say Thank you. I am so humbled to know that yesterday at 12:20 my 85 year old gran was waiting in Blaenavon high street, for the forgeside bus and she was just telling me that a young driver came off the bus down the street to help my gran carry her bags and help her on the bus.
She told me that never in the whole time she has lived in Blaenavon that a young lad has never gone out of there way for her, like this guy did.
She wanted me to post this so hopefully that young lad can know how greatfull she is.
So thank you. ������Kellie-Anne Redman4/15/2018
We went to bath yesterday for the christmas market. We had a fab day. Our coach driver bryn was lovely and couldnt do enough for us. Would definately go again. See u next year!Kelly Bourne11/28/2016

domain: travel


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Marathon runner and fundraiser Derek Haines has completed his latest challenge for charity on June 13 — climbing three mountains in Bolivia.
Mr. Haines, along with Vico Testori and Barry Yetton, set out for Bolivia in May to climb Condoriri, Huayna Potosi and Illimani as part of “The Mountains and Marathons Challenge,” to raise money for the Have a Heart Foundation. The foundation finances lifesaving heart surgeries at Health City for underprivileged children.
With two of the mountains crossed off their list, they were waiting out bad weather to try to tackle Mount Illimani, but Mr. Haines explained that with conditions this season, combined with a lack of snow and increased hard ice coverage, they were advised that Illimani would be “dangerous and foolhardy” to tackle.
Instead, the trio set their sights on the 19,855-foot high volcano, Mount Acotango, on the Chilean border.
“This proved a blessing in disguise as we had the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful scenery and geology as we drove south to the Sajama National Park,” Mr. Haines said by email.
They set off before dawn June 13, when the temperature was at 14 degrees Fahrenheit and “threatening frostbite,” he said.
At 18,700 feet, after battling windy conditions and treacherous terrain, Mr. Yetton, who was experiencing respiratory problems, on advice from the lead guide decided to descend.
Mr. Haines and Mr. Testori continued the climb, traversing around a rock band and attaching crampons for the glacier climb to the summit.
There, as on their other climbs, they unfurled the Cayman flag, almost giving them, in their own words, “a taste of paragliding into Chile.”
With the three climbs completed, they treated themselves to some celebratory beer and a soak in the volcanic thermal springs.
On their final day in La Paz, Mr. Haines addressed the Rotary Club of La Paz to tell them about the Have a Heart Foundation and to talk with a fellow Rotarian and heart surgeon from the local children’s hospital.
The mountain challenge follows Mr. Haines’s 2014 challenge, in which he ran six marathons in a year to raise more than $1 million for Cayman HospiceCare.
The first leg of the latest challenge was the 50K Off the Beaten Track in Cayman, which Mr. Haines ran in February. Also as part of the “Marathons and Mountains” challenge, Chris Bailey and Shane Delaney will take part in Ironman races in Wisconsin and Barcelona in July and October.
In November and December, Mr. Haines will run marathons in Cuba and Grand Cayman.
For more information about the fundraising campaign for the Have a Heart Foundation, visit www.MM4HH.com.

domain: geography


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Grape-Nuts Pudding with Cinnamon Whipped Cream & a Nintendo Sweepstakes
A New England Classic, this warm, custardy dessert is made with Grape-Nuts Cereal, and sure to be a hit with your family.
Servings: 6 ramekins
- 1 cup Grape Nuts Cereal soaked in warm water in the measuring cup.
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 4 cups whole milk
- 2 tablespoons melted butter *reserve a tiny bit for buttering the ramekins
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp of each: cinnamon & nutmeg
- 1 pinch salt
Cinnamon Whipped Cream
- 8 ounces heavy cream
- 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Butter 6 medium-sized ramekins with butter
In a large bowl, whisk the scalded milk, eggs, sugar, extract, butter, & spices
Add moistened Grape-Nuts cereal to each ramekin
Pour custard mixture over each ramekin evenly (leave 1/2 inch of space at the top)
Bake for 35 mins in a water bath.
Allow to cool & firm up. You can also refrigerate these.
In a large bowl, with mixer speed on high, blend the ingredients until stiff white peaks appear. Add whipped cream to a piping bag and pipe on each pudding cup.

domain: food


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Local Flower Shop News
Rare beach flower returns if nibbling mice lose cover - Futurity: Research NewsTuesday, February 27, 2018
European beachgrass, initially planted in the early- to mid-1900s to stabilize dunes, spreads rapidly and can re-sprout even from centimeter-long fragments. Coastal communities from Vancouver to Los Angeles have tried to fight the invader for decades by spraying it with herbicide, digging it out by hand, or burying it with heavy construction machinery.The opportunity to frame a dramatic before-and-after comparison came in 2010, when Point Reyes park managers went all-in on a restoration effort of the coastal dune community along the Great Beach. With excavators and bulldozers, they used a “flip and bury” technique: They unearthed 32 hectares of the invasive beachgrass from more than 77 hectares of sand dunes, buried it, and capped it with clean sand.Purple flowers returnWhere once almost 80 percent of the lupine seed pods were consumed before they even ripened, researchers now estimate that mice are getting less than 3 percent of the pods.“What’s really new here is, we’re demonstrating that a large-scale restoration can produce a significant and sustained reduction in seed predation pressure,” Pardini says.The strong link between removal of invasive plants and improvement in reproductive success ultimately means new life for a species that Pardini and her colleagues once worried might become extinct within the park.At Point Reyes, the low, purple lupine flowers are coming back in abundance—the number of plants in the remnant dune area has hovered around 160,000 to 187,000 plants, but several hundred thousand new plants have been recruited to the restored areas.Life on the dunes needs wind-blown sand“A lot of the early successional native plants respond very well to large-scale restoration,” Pardini says.“They are highly adapted to open areas with lots of bare sand, to wind disturbance and salt spray,” she says. “Their seeds are in the seed bank or blow in, and they just start popping up.”External funding for this research came from the National Science Foundation and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.Source: Washington University in St. Louis... http://www.futurity.org/tidestroms-lupine-mice-1678882-2/
High school notebook: Vaughn Flowers stepping in larger role for Rolling Hills Prep boys basketball team - The Daily BreezeTuesday, February 27, 2018
The semifinals for both the L.A. City Section and Southern Section Open Divisions are on Saturday.The L.A. City Section semifinals start at 1 p.m. at Roybal Learning Center (1200 Colton St., Los Angeles) with the two girls games, El Camino Real-Granada Hills Charter and Fairfax-Westchester, at 3 p.m.The boys games start at 5 p.m. with Taft taking on Fairfax, followed by Westchester-Granada Hills Charter.The Southern Section semifinals will take place at California Baptist University. The first girls game is at 2 p.m. (Mater Dei-Windward, followed by Etiwanda-Harvard-Westlake). Bishop Montgomery opens the boys schedule at 6:30 p.m. against Sierra Canyon, followed by Etiwanda-Mater Dei.San Pedro’s Barrios heading to stateSan Pedro sophomore Sydney Barrios finished second at 143 pounds at the L.A. City Section wrestling finals on Saturday to qualify for CIF State Girls Wrestling Championships Friday and Saturday in Visalia.Barrios will join Mira Costa’s trio of Sasha Medvidovic (150), Allysa Nocum (121) and Viviana Ramirez (189) as South Bay wrestlers competing. Wrestling begins Friday at 9 a.m.Mira Costa water polo moving onThe Mira Costa girls water polo team advanced to the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs with Saturday’s 8-4 win over Rosary.The fourth-seeded Mustangs (20-10) will take on top-seeded Harvard-Westlake (23-4) in the semifinals on Wednesday at the William Woollett Aquatics Center (4601 Walnut Ave., Irvine). http://www.dailybreeze.com/2018/02/20/high-school-notebook-vaughn-flowers-stepping-in-larger-role-for-rolling-hills-prep-boys-basketball-team/
Free Flower Friday spreads cheer across Greater Cincinnati - WLWT CincinnatiWednesday, March 14, 2018
Do you roll over and go back to sleep, or do you write down the idea to later bring it to life? Advertisement. Matt Hiatt of Hiatt's Florist and Gifts ... http://www.wlwt.com/article/free-flower-friday-spreads-cheer-across-greater-cincinnati/19378303
Oklahoma City florist fuses flowers and art to redefine floral experience - NewsOK.comWednesday, March 14, 2018
Each order goes through a design and planning process, and on the big day, the production team is on site to bring the vision to life.Williams and master florist George Catechis moved to Oklahoma in 2011 from Las Vegas where they were in the same line of work.Photo courtesy of The Fleuriste.Catechis has been in the flower business since he was a boy.“It’s safe to say he has his doctorate in ‘Over-the-top Floral Design’ and the ‘More is More’ theory,” Williams joked.Williams worked in high-end guest services at Caesars Palace and Bellagio and, in her own words, minored in “creativity” at the prestigious School of Life.The concept that the two brought to Oklahoma has worked.“A year in the life of The Fleuriste is adorned with roughly 500,000 stems of flowers, over 500 client meetings and site visits in as many as 22 cities,” Williams said.Photo courtesy of The Fleuriste.They design wedding flower concepts, corporate events and private parties and create a show-stopping weekly flower service for corporate, hospitality and private residential clients.“Our focus leans mostly toward weddings, events, galas, corporate functions and installations,” Williams said. “We also have flower school once a month at The Fleuriste where we have a blast with our guests teaching them to make their own floral designs.”Photo courtesy of The Fleuriste.The team at The Fleuriste is passionate about their work and believes in the significance of creating stunning bouquets and breathtaking environments with respect for clients’ style and preferences, but also the flowers themselves.“Flowers bring another level of dimension through texture and color to any space. They’re the life of the party,” Williams said.Their designs continue to evolve, but their approach remains consistent. Williams and her team believe flowers are not simply colors and varieties but also an interpretation of personalities and lifestyles, especially of those they represent. Whether designing for individuals, events or corporate environments, the focus remains dedicated to the translation of clients’ personal style and vision.“Being able to translate people’s vision into an experience is wonderful. The creative aspect for sure is rewarding, but the absolute best is people’s reaction when they see what we’ve created,” Williams said.The Fleuriste is located 1020 NW 82nd Street in Oklahoma City. For more information, visit thefleuriste.com. alert('start 3'); Photo courtesy of The Fleuriste. The Fleuriste team designs wedding flower concepts, corporate events and private parties and create a show-stopping weekly flower service for corporate, hospitality and private residential clients. Photo courtesy of The Fleuriste. Photo court... http://newsok.com/article/5583554
Inside a Harvard Square florist, where romance takes shape - The Boston GlobeWednesday, March 14, 2018
Inside a Harvard Square florist, where romance takes shape Globe Correspondent Brattle Square Florist owner Randy Ricker extols flowers, not gushy love notes. By Natasha Mascarenhas 20180213231513-- By Natasha Mascarenhas Globe Correspondent February 13, 2018CAMBRIDGE — Surrounded by thousands of roses and dozens of other bouquets, Randy Ricker doesn’t want to hear your love story.The owner of Brattle Square Florist spent Tuesday preparing for Valentine’s Day, a florist’s version of New Year’s Eve, the Super Bowl, and a royal wedding tied together with a frilly ribbon. But Ricker declared his disdain for lengthy love notes and insisted that “flowers should do the heavy lifting” when declaring one’s devotion.Step inside the Harvard Square shop, though, and you’ll find the work of romance in the making. Advertisement The sweet aromas of hydrangeas, alstroemerias, lilies, and orchids waft up from the basement, where the flowers are cut and arranged. Step over the scrapped leaves...
Frank Kreutzer, florist for 47 years, trades roses for retirement - WCPOWednesday, March 14, 2018
NEWPORT, Ky. - It's the end of the line at Kreutzer & Dorl Florist.After more than 65 years, the family-owned busiess is closing its doors for good.The owner, 73-year-old Frank Kreutzer, says he's trading in roses for retirement. Kreutzer has been working six days a week for the past 47 years."My parents started it in 1953. I grew up in it,” Kreutzer said.He's seen the highs and lows."I have a lady who was a customer for 50 years. Customer for my parents. She did all her daughter's weddings." But times have changed, he said."When you think about it and look around, you don't see many of them any more. There's just not a lot of floral shops here," he noted.Kreutzer said he's no match for big businesses like amazon. And it's a shame. He says local businesses provide an opportunity to know your community. "I think that's what's missing when you get them from a mass marketer - that's just shipping them in a box,” he said. “That's all it is. Flowers shipped in a box. I think the end of an era is coming from that standpoin...
Portland Flower Market coping with flower shortage after semi crash - kgw.comWednesday, March 14, 2018
Saturday.“Normally, our coolers are just at this point overflowing with flowers, you rarely see any space at all like this,” explained Angie Lopez.Lopez is a buyer with Frank Adams Wholesale Florist, one of several wholesalers inside the Portland Flower Market running low on supplies.Lopez got a call Saturday that the semi full of flowers crashed south of Redding, California. One of the truck drivers died.Lopez says her heart goes out to the family during this difficult time, and at the same time she’s hard at work, even working together with others at the Portland Flower Market, piecing together flowers from various parts of the country to make up for the lack of flowers.“Everyone was very understanding, had really kind words for us to get through everything. What can we do? Maybe we take a collection for the driver’s family,” Lopez said. “Then, just keep going. It’s all wheels going at all times. We just have to push forward.”Lopez says while there was a shortage of flowers Monday and Tuesday, she expects it to be business as usual by Wednesday. © 2018 KGW... http://www.kgw.com/article/news/portland-flower-market-coping-with-flower-shortage-after-semi-crash/283-523796760


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Options Glossary: F
A protective strategy in which a written call and a long put are added to a previously owned long stock position, also referred to as a collar. The options may have the same strike price or different strike prices. The expiration months may or may not be the same. For example, if the investor previously purchased XYZ Corporation at $46 and it rose to $62, an investor could establish a collar involving the purchase of a May 60 put and the writing of a May 65 call as a way of protecting some of the unrealized profit in the XYZ Corporation stock position. An investor might also use the reverse (a long call combined with a written put) if he has previously established a short stock position in XYZ Corporation.
Fill-or-kill order (FOK)
A type of option order that requires that the order be executed completely or not at all. A fill-or-kill order is similar to an all-or-none (AON) order. The difference is that if the order cannot be completely executed (i.e., filled in its entirety) as soon as it is announced in the trading crowd, it is killed (cancelled) immediately. Unlike an AON order, an FOK order cannot be used as part of a good-‘til-cancelled order.
FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority)
The largest independent regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States.
A method of predicting stock prices based on the study of earnings, sales, dividends, and so on.
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domain: economics