Xiaomi hasn’t given up on plans to announce the new Mi 6 Plus variant, as the model was recently certified in China and could arrive in the next two months, according to an industry analyst. The Plus version will have 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, just like on the higher-end model of the Mi 6. The Mi 6 Plus will also be offered in variants with 64GB or 128GB of internal storage.
The smartphone is expected to feature a larger display compared to the Mi 6, but the design of the Plus variant will be the same as on the standard smartphone that was announced yesterday. The Mi 6 Plus is rumored to come with a 5.7-inch Full HD or QHD screen, and run Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 64-bit octa-core CPU, together with Adreno 540 graphics processing unit.
Specs very similar to the Mi 6
The Mi 6 Plus could feature a dual-camera setup on the back with two Sony IMX362 12MP cameras and an 8MP front shooter. Android Nougat with MIUI 8 OS on top will most certainly run on the new smartphone, while battery capacity could reach 4,500mAh.
The fingerprint scanner will most likely be featured on the front of the smartphone, while the device will come with two capacitive buttons, just like on the Mi 6.
The Mi 6 Plus could also lack a 3.5mm headphone jack, like the Mi 6, while the price of the upcoming variant will surely be higher than the $435 price tag for the higher-end Mi 6 variant with 128GB of internal storage, 6GB of RAM, and ceramic back panel.


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Adolescent dialectical behavior therapy (DBT-A) is a type of evidence-based therapy designed to treat teens who have difficulty regulating their emotions and behaviors.
Through our DBT-A program, adolescents who have complex anxiety or mood disorders learn to manage the following:
suicidal thoughts and behaviors
intense conflict with peers, adults, and other family member
Our mental health experts help adolescents and their families change potentially life-threatening behaviors and improve emotion regulation through three types of intervention.
Teen works with their therapist once or twice per week, typically for 60 minutes per session, to identify factors contributing to difficulties regulating emotions. They learn skills to maintain safety and reduce the severity of anxiety and mood symptoms. The therapist also teaches effective coping and problem-solving skills to help the teen stay motivated to work toward their long-term goals.
Teens participating in the program have direct access to phone coaching, a 24-hour service to help them regulate their emotions and apply skills in real time.
Multi-Family Skills Group
Multiple teens and their caregivers learn five modules of skills together: mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and walking the middle path, a module specifically dedicated to improving family relationships and communication. Teens attend the group with their caregivers/parents for at least 24 weeks. Each session lasts two hours.

domain: medical


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Pandora MY Pineapple MICRO Dangle Charm
This charm is ONLY compatible with the Pandora ME Collection, this charm will NOT go on a Pandora Moments bracelet.
A little bit naughty, a little bit nice and all you, the My Pineapple Dangle Charm means exactly what you want it to. Designed in collaboration with Millie Bobby Brown, The Pandora Me charm sparkles with royal green, limelight yellow and blazing yellow crystals. The reverse side features beaded details in sterling silver. Inspired by the ocean, summer and self-discovery, it’s the perfect way to say everything without saying a word and decide what the symbol means to you.
- Pandora Collections
- Pandora Me
- PANDORA Release Date
- 2020 - Pre Autumn ME Release
- Sterling Silver

domain: artistic


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This is the home ski area for residents of the Eugene-Springfield area. Directly at Willamette Pass, this ski area provides several runs of varying complexity. Costs for a daypass are $35 for adults. The hill is a good place to learn on with over 200 acres of runs. There are also many possibilities for cross-country skiing here on tracks and off-track into the nearby Waldo Lake Wilderness Area.
For summer fun, just beyond the ski area to the east are the beautiful waters of Odell Lake waiting to be enjoyed with grand views to Diamond Peak to the southwest.
Equipment: Ski or snowboard equipment for winter. A nice sailboat or sea kayak for summer.
Climbing Mt Yoran is usually done via the gully on the southeast side of the peak. From the little camping area on the northwest end of Divide Lake you just go up the scree slope, aiming at the trees just to the right of the gully. Then comes the gully itself which takes you to an easy ridge by which you can gain the summit. The rock is a little loose, so some might want to wear a helmet. Some guidebooks have rated this climb as a class 4, but it seems much more like a class 3. As usual, more care is needed in the downclimbing, especially if climbing in a party - don't drop rocks on your mates below. The view from the top is grand and the climb takes a couple of hours from Divide Lake below.
Equipment: Good boots, plenty of water and maybe a helmet depending upon how many rocks people in your party like to kick loose.

domain: travel


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The Cat Who Looked at the Sky: A Memoir by Thea Welsh
In the tradition of Paul Gallico's the Silent Miaow comes an irresistible true story of three cats, two households, and surrendering to the great truths of life...
When writer Thea Welsh and her partner agree to share the raising of two new kittens with their constantly travelling friends Ron and Robin, the idea seems eminently sensible and straightforward. That's before the cats arrive. And before a beguiling stray arrives to complete the household's feline menage a trois.
Thea expertly captures the personality of each of her charges as they develop from kittenhood to adult life, and their intense relationships with one another and their human companions. (Naturally the shared ownership idea becomes more complicated in practice.)
Full of cat facts (including the results of a landmark study of cat behaviour that revealed that cats in fact do very little), cat drama and wry asides, this is an engaging, witty and affectionate portrait which will appeal to cat lovers everywhere.
Paperback | 274 pages
139 x 207 x 20mm | 252g
24 Apr 2003
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd
Pymble, NSW, Australia
A book that has been read but is in good condition. Very minimal damage to the cover, including minor scuff marks, but no holes or tears. A previous owner has written their name in blue pen on the first page. All other pages are undamaged, with very minimal creasing but no tearing. No pencil underlining of text, no highlighting of text, no writing in margins. No missing pages. An old and aged but very clean and solid copy.

domain: library


The inertial error model utilized by the integration filter has a linearity assumption built into it. So long as the inertial errors are sufficiently small, the assumption holds. As a result in actual practice, the Kalman filter corrections must be fed back periodically to keep the errors small.
To illustrate this, a loosely-coupled integration was performed utilizing a long (i.e., 45 minute) trajectory. With no feedback, the vertical solution eventually diverges:
The divergence problem can be solved by feeding back the error estimates once the filter has converged:


Regulation enforcement authorities in South Carolina have reportedly made an arrest in connection to the capturing of embattled South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh.
Murdaugh instructed authorities he was shot on Sept. 4 whereas stopped on the facet of the street in Varnville to restore a slashed tire.
Investigators have provided little data on the mysterious capturing. The arrest in connection to the case was revealed by sources to WCBD.
It’s the most recent growth in a sequence of weird and horrific occasions for Murdaugh, whose downfall has been extremely publicized since his spouse and 22-year-old son have been shot useless in June close to a kennel exterior the household’s looking lodge close to Islandton.
Two days after he was reportedly shot, Murdaugh resigned from his profitable household regulation agency and subsequently entered rehab for substance abuse.
Murdaugh can be the topic of a state investigation into allegations he stole cash from Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick.
The Murdaughs are certainly one of South Carolina’s most distinguished authorized households, with three generations having served consecutively as solicitor for the 14th Circuit.


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It's almost Turkey Day! Let's kick off the holidays with an evening of spinning. Maybe we can even catch a glimpse of the tree before the crowds take over. Bring your current projects and join us.
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Sorry, Everyone. I'm sick and on the train home already. Hopefully I'll be less germy next week.
0 · November 25, 2013
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text: New Yokk. Nov. 22. - A large crowd of hungry cloakmakurs, their wives and children, crowdect the strikers' relief headquarters to secure provisions which were distributod aniong those possessing tickets showing their eligibility to receive th food. The placo was so densely packei! and the crowd was so etamorous aiui vu;lcnt that foremost applicants were pushod md jostled hy thoso behind them uutil tho counter over which the provisions weiv distributed gave way. Men, women, and children were mixed indiscriinlnately witii lircad, potatoes, sugar, sausages, and other odibles. Tlio womeii scrcametl and the meu shouted, but order was flually restored and the work of distributing weut on quietly. At a meeting of strikeri over which Joseph Barondess presided lt wai a:inounced that na new developments h;ul occurred in tho strike. Tho manuf.votnrors aro, howevcr, ïnuch perturbed uv the fact that soiuo of their number i ;- ceding to the demanda of the strikers [t is cluimed that the manufacturera a.u bound by special agreement to maintaiu faitli with ('ach otlier in the strike, and that delinquents aro liablo tö legal prosucution.

domain: history


About Damien Ashenhurst 1663 Articles
Managing Editor of DIRT ACTION magazine. Damo doesn't like cheese or ISIS. Can often be found riding in mud because it's closest to the natural environment of a squid.
Suzuki MXGP rider Ben Townley will line up for the opening round despite an early injury scare. […]
Watch Jeff Alessi Laser Controversy Argument Washougal […]


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E3 2019 is finally over, and it's time to look back on the RPGs that dominated the show, as well as look ahead [download link here]!
Kat and Nadia and I already did our reax to the Final Fantasy 7 Remake and more in the last show. In this episode we're joined by Caty, who actually got to play many of these games. She shared her thoughts after going hands-on with Final Fantasy 7, talks Cyberpunk 2077, and more.
Plus, I rant a little more about Pokemon. I've calmed down quite a bit since last week, but I've still got some things to get off my chest.
Want to join in the conversation? Leave a comment below! We may read it on the show!
Where to find us (Subscribe, rate, and review!)
E3 2019 is over at last, and Caty is ready with her report from the field. She joins Nadia and Kat to talk about her impressions after playing Final Fantasy 7 Remake; share her thoughts on the Year of Keanu, and discuss all the rest of the RPGs at E3. Plus, Kat vents over the news that the latest Pokemon generation won't feature the entire Pokedex.
Music from Axe of the Blood God is courtesy of Lena Raine, composer of Celeste. I also use music from the RPG Music Pack over at rpgmaker.net. Check it out!

domain: hobby


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Updated: Nov 1, 2021
It’s become common advice to advise women to avoid using exclamation points in professional emails: Delete them to be taken more seriously in the workplace. But does removing them—to appear less feminine, to be taken seriously—further emphasize the falsehood that femininity inherently stands in our way?
The pressure to micromanage femininity doesn’t start or end with punctuation. And it can leave us physically, emotionally, and spiritually drained, according to holistic healer Rachel Rossitto (above). Rossitto believes that while masculine and feminine energies are both sacred, many of us struggle to find balance between the two in a world biased toward masculine qualities and pursuits. That’s why Rossitto works with women, many of them leaders in business and in their communities, looking to heal and recultivate what she calls the sacred feminine. It’s deeply spiritual work that challenges how we think about pleasure, joy, and success—and questions whether power must always look like masculinity.
A Q&A with Rachel Rossitto
What are sacred feminine and masculine energies? How do they exist in nature?
Humans have long and deep relationships with femininity and masculinity, but those qualities don’t start or end with us. They exist together in us and in all things.
The sacred feminine energy is nurturing, soft, grounded with strong boundaries, and trusting of her intuition. The sacred masculine energy is present, logical, and focused with a deep desire to protect and build. When these two energies work together within us, they create a sweet union that allows us to embrace all that makes us human and holy.
Why is the sacred feminine so important to connect to?
For women, embracing the sacred feminine is about fully realizing her divine essence, standing in all her power, and creating a more harmonious world. This doesn’t mean we are operating only from our feminine energy. It’s about understanding our full range of power as both feminine and masculine beings and cultivating that energy when needed.
In so many of my clients, I see masculine energy in overdrive: Many women feel pressure to be and talk and act masculine in order to succeed in their careers and in the world. I work to help those women recognize and embrace their innate feminine energy. They may be CEOs in a world that rewards masculine qualities, but that doesn’t mean they can’t embrace and find power in their feminine ones. A woman who sources her creativity and energy from taking exquisite care of herself is more powerful than one who pushes so hard that she exhausts herself and is no longer experiencing joy and pleasure.
Of course, men can and should connect with their inner feminine, and women can and should connect with their inner masculine. These sacred energies are beyond gender, though. Everyone—all genders—can find balance with both.
Where do you start?
Cultivate a morning ritual to engage with your intuition, whatever that means to you. Keep it simple and allow it to unfold naturally over time. A key element is the ability to be receptive. Take a moment in the morning to ground and connect with yourself, to enter into a receptive state where you get to listen to your heart and all the wisdom of nature around you. You get in front of your day, actively engaged with what’s aligned with your highest self and highest vision.
I find that by starting your day from that place, you cut a lot of the crap out. You can do less running around like a chicken with its head cut off and instead move through the world more deliberately, more intentionally, and more resourced from within.
How can we design a morning practice to cultivate feminine energy?
There are truly a million paths to the same outcome. Here are some pieces that have worked for me.
Cultivate a sacred space. Find a place in your home where you can set a meditation pillow and create a little altar, even if that’s just a candle, a crystal, or a flower. Something super simple. I’m constantly on the road, so I have a little travel alter kit that I bring with me that immediately grounds me into a space.
Experiment with practices and techniques. Journaling is powerful. Just do a big brain dump. Get all of your ideas and fears and crazy thoughts out of your mind and onto paper. Let yourself feel emptied out.
I sit with a cup of tea for twenty minutes. Tea is an incredible ally for awakening the spirit, grounding the body, and coming home to yourself. Drinking some tea helps soften us and opens us up to the day.
Meditation and breathwork can be life-changing. If you’re just starting out, start small. It could be five or ten minutes a day. If you’re like, “I’m going to meditate for thirty minutes every single day for three months,” you’ll likely go a couple of days and then fall off. You’ll be like, “That was stupid. I don’t like meditation. Breathwork doesn’t work.” You’ll lose momentum and end up pooh-poohing it. And then you’ve lost a treasure.

domain: psychology


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As we sit in yet another national lockdown, not all destinations are as to blame as others.
While busy, urban metropolises like London, Birmingham and Manchester all serve as Covid 19 hotspots, in many quieter locations such as Brighton there is much less of a risk to go around.
Now currently Brighton itself does sit above the national average in terms of the number of cases per 100,000 people. However, outside of the current new wave that struck in the south there has never been any constant concern that placed restrictions any higher than Tier 2.
It is true that Coronavirus has only gone from strength to strength in terms of potency, yet unlike those busy areas where there are people around every corner, coastal life is often seen as much more relaxed, with less need for the kind of activity that would promote transmission.
There is also a much greater economic risk to these kinds of areas than any others across the country.
While being more central provides the opportunity for more commercial development, tourism is the primary income for many of the towns and cities that exist on the seabed.
Millions of pounds are lost every day due to the revenue, with vast areas often lauded for their expansive landscape now being condemned as prime locations for the increased spread despite their obvious potential for social distancing procedures to be effectively implemented.
Not to mention, the thousands of people who left London to escape to these coasts in the hope of a freer and happier life now find themselves living under the same cloud they had sought to remove.
To treat all areas as equal, does in fact therefore appear to be its own biased inequality that may not allow for such national landmarks to be saved once trade is allowed to visit again.
Even more hard done by are the residents of smaller towns, those like North Norfolk and those within Sussex. When your cases are equal to less than a fifth of the national average, then there are hard questions to answer about how suitable mass containment is when safety does no longer seem to be a factor in the reasons why.
It is important to remember though, that this is a time of immense crisis. Decisions may be unfair, but mass adoption may be preventing the untimely outbreak in wider areas that is simply not visible in the current circumstances.
Deaths are their highest since the pandemic began, so maybe it is better to be safe than sorry

domain: geography


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No one likes to get sick, so today we want to explore the top 8 foods that are proven to help boost your immune system so you can be prepared for whatever the rest of this year’s cold and flu season has in store! Food is powerful medicine and eating is something that we all do everyday. So it only makes sense that what we eat informs how we feel, how we respond to stress, and how we combat all the pesky bugs and viruses that seem to run rampant this time of year.
People often ask us if we could only do one thing for our health everyday what would it be. Now this is a toughie, and we might have a tie for first place, but topping the charts is our favorite morning beverage of choice – hot water with lemon. The recipe is simple. We start with a 32 oz. mason jar of warm filtered water and then squeeze in the juice of ½ lemon.

domain: food


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Sunday, 3 February 2013
The Charterhouse Martyrs, Two
Posted by Supertradmum
It is ironic that after falling into the hands of the prominent Protestant North family, the Charterhouse grounds was purchased by the Duke of Norfolk, who was executed in the attempt to get Mary, Queen of Scots crowned Queen of England. When he died, the land and buildings passed to his grandson, St. Philip Howard, who never lived there.
So many saints surround the history of these buildings. It always amazes me at the audacity of Protestants who built houses out of the ruins of monasteries. This happened all over England, including at the Charterhouse.
Passing from hand to hand and from Catholic back to Protestant, the houses became a charity in 1611 and a school. John Wesley was a student there from 1714-1720. Part of the area was damaged in World War II, which, of course, only added to the odd history of the Carthusian foundation, stemming from a burial ground used during the Black Death and holding, perhaps, up to 60,000 dead.
That saints and sinners walked the old, restored, and newer halls seems like a strange procession of persons either going against the tide of pressures threatening their religious freedom, or those who benefited from these harsh and cruel changes.
The present Master is charming and gave me a tour last summer. His sensitivity to the Catholic history is admirable. The charity houses up to 40 "brothers", who are poor old men. They live in the shadows of some of the greatest men to have walked this earth, the Carthusian martyrs, Thomas More, and Philip Howard.
That we all need formation in these hard times is why I highlighted the Charterhouse today.
Labels: saints and martyrs


Drom & Inch 0-23
DROM & Inch were crowned Premier League winners following a battling display at Templemore last Friday.
With Tipperary two days away from an All-Ireland semi-final, you have to question the wisdom of playing senior matches so close to county games.
Both sides were missing players, and while not to take away from a great display by Drom, it was obvious from a long way out that Sarsfields were missing their county players more.
There were two big differences between the sides – and both of them were on the Drom side, with an on fire Johnny Ryan sending over 12 points from all corners of the pitch, and Enda Walshe in the backline, who had a fantastic game shutting out any threat from Sars.
Indeed, the Thurles side was never allowed to get a clean strike on the sliothar, so well were they marshaled by the Drom defence, who prevented certain scores with a great display of blocking. But Thurles didn’t help themselves either by over-playing th e ball in an attempt to get into goal scoring positions. On countless occasions, they ran into a wall of green as they tried to make the breakthrough. See this weeks Tipperary Star for full report.


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Allergies are often tossed into a big box of “all allergies are the same”. I have learnt from studies that often different items are clustered together to avoid needing to learn and detail with the details. I know people that have very specific allergies — i.e. to birch but not grass or other tree pollens. Most MDs will toss such people in the seasonal allergic rhinitis bucket; treating them proforma.
This appears borne out by some studies:
- ” A delayed correlation between the birch pollen concentration and the symptom scores was seen up to two days after the pollen measurement. For grass pollen this effect lasted up to three days after the pollen measurement.”
- “the most effective treatments for allergic rhinitis were in order as follows: sublingual immunotherapy_dust mite, subcutaneous immunotherapy_dust mite, sublingual immunotherapy_ grass mix plus pollen extract, placebo, and pharmacotherapy. ”  – note that placebo was more effective that traditional medicine!
The goal of this exercise is see if there are any new options or approaches for addressing this issue.
Environment May Be a Factor
Some of my university professors refused to believe that allergic rhinitis existed. They were born and raised in a part of the middle east and never encountered people with it before moving to North America. This saying from the prophet recorded by Salamah b. al-Akwa, implies that allergies may have been unknown in that part of the world:
“When a man sneezed beside the prophet (May peace be upon him), he said to him : Allah have mercy on you, but when he sneezed again, he said : The man has a cold in the head.“
This seen in the following charts: (A) Unspecified rhinitis; (B) allergic rhinitis; (C) non‐allergic rhinitis.
- “A family history of allergic rhinitis, asthma, or atopic dermatitis increases a patient’s risk of being diagnosed with allergic rhinitis. People in the United States are commonly sensitized to grass, dust mites, and ragweed allergens.”
- “Asthmatic patients from Madrid(urban) have a worse clinical evolution than those from Ciudad Real (rural)because of higher levels of urban pollution,” Clinical impact and immunological alterations in asthmatic patients allergic to grass pollen subjected to high urban pollution in Madrid
- “Subjects with persistent rhinitis and asthma had higher levels of total IgE at baseline and after 10 years, and exhaled nitric oxide and eosinophil cationic protein at baseline compared with those that remained healthy. ”
Things here gets a little complex…
B cells are key players in the mechanisms underlying allergic sensitization, allergic reactions, and tolerance to allergens. Allergen-specific immune responses are initiated when peptide:MHCII complexes on dendritic cells are recognized by antigen-specific receptors on T cells followed by interactions between costimulatory molecules on the surfaces of B and T cells. In the presence of IL-4, such T-B cell interactions result in clonal expansion and isotype class-switching to IgE in B cells, which will further differentiate into either memory B cells or PCs. Allergic reactions are then triggered upon cross-linking of IgE-FcɛRI complexes on basophils and mast cells, leading to cell degranulation and the release of pro-inflammatory mediators.Mechanisms underlying effective allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT) involve the induction of Tregs and the secretion of blocking IgG4 antibodies, which together mediate the onset and maintenance of immune tolerance towards non-hazardous environmental antigens.B Cell Functions in the Development of Type I Allergy and Induction of Immune Tolerance
- Oralair, a biologic, has grown in use in Europe (approved in 2008 from 8% to 29% by 2012 ) and is approved in the USA (2013) Link to FDA documents. It is prescription with a base cost of $5 or more per tablet — hence, antihistamines are more likely to be recommended in the US due to cost, not effectivity.
- Similar items are also available, (2800 BAU grass SLIT-T) [Relative to placebo, grass AIT treatment improved total combined scores by 20% 2011], Grazax [The active group demonstrated a 31% reduction in median rhinoconjunctivitis symptom ], MK-7243. There are not cures, rather reduces severity for a percentage of people.
“The only treatment available to treat grass allergy is immunotherapy treatment. This is when you are exposed to small but increasing doses of allergens over a long period of time to help stop your allergic reaction. It takes a long time to work and needs to be prescribed by an allergy specialist.” Australian Department of Health
Treatment via Microbiome
For grass allergy we have the following available retail with studies which boils down to 2 probiotic species worth considering.
|Lactobacillus casei Shirota
|Oral delivery of Lactobacillus casei Shirota modifies allergen-induced immune responses in allergic rhinitis. [“ Volunteers treated with LcS showed a significant reduction in levels of antigen-induced IL-5, IL-6 and IFN-gamma production compared with volunteers supplemented with placebo. Meanwhile, levels of specific IgG increased and IgE decreased in the probiotic group.”]
|Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG
|Effect of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and vitamin D supplementation on the immunologic effectiveness of grass-specific sublingual immunotherapy in children with allergy. [“Reduction in the symptom-medication score and improvement in lung function as well as a significant increase in the percentage of ….in all the groups were observed compared with control group”]
|Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1
|RepHresh™ Pro-B™ Probiotic
|Development and pilot evaluation of a novel probiotic mixture for the management of seasonal allergic rhinitis. [“provided few clinical benefits.”]
|Mutaflor (Escherichia coli strain Nissle 1917)
|Mutaflor (Canada, Australia, Findland, Germany)
|Tolerability and clinical outcome of coseasonal treatment with Escherichia coli strain Nissle 1917 in grass pollen-allergic subjects. [“not sufficient to achieve clinical efficacy in grass pollen”]
Non-Strain probiotic candidates:
- Bifidobacterium longum , lowers IgE (see below)
- Lacticaseibacillus paracasei  ” 2 billion CFU/day for 3 months ameliorated sneezing”
And this delightful title “Role of Probiotics in Patients with Allergic Rhinitis: A Systematic Review of Systematic Reviews”  found no hard evidence for any specific probiotics.
Bottom Line for Probiotics: It seems that they need to be taken well in advance of allergy season with sufficiently large dosages.
I took the list of 1135 bacteria that produces nitric oxide and then looked at the 40 bacteria reported on National Library of Medicine Citations for Allergic Rhinitis (Hay Fever). I was disappointed not to find many matches. What I found were matches for:
- Bacteroides (NCBI:816 )
- Clostridium (NCBI:1485 )
- Acidaminococcus intestini (NCBI:187327 )
Next, I went to samples that are annotated with Official Diagnosis: Allergic Rhinitis (Hay Fever) – about 200 samples, and then cross apply them to the above 1135 bacteria. There are no strong statistical significance found.
a.k.a. Lactobacillus fermentum
How to do this experiment
- Go to your samples
- Look at Microbiome Tree
- Search for the items above
- Hand pick (if you have any matches)
This exploration failed to produce any significant finding or insights. 🙁
Exploring Immunoglobulin (IgE etc)
As a starting point, Immediate Hypersensitivity Reactions  is of special interest for those who have reactions within 24 hours. “Antibodies including IgE, IgM, and IgG mediate them… Allergic rhinitis is another atopic disease where histamine and leukotrienes are responsible for rhinorrhea, sneezing, and nasal obstruction. ” Typically only IgE is involved. IgE increase in response to grass pollen exposure and are responsible for the allergic symptoms.
- “Patients with pollen allergy but not control donors have a population of circulating allergen-specific B cells with the phenotype and functional properties of adaptive memory B-cell responses. These cells could provide precursors for allergen-specific IgE production upon allergen re-exposure.”  – which implies repeat exposure may increase severity.
- Omalizumab: reduced significant clinical exacerbation within 24 weeks
FYI On Other Allergies
Mast Cells Issues can be moderated by some Bifidobacterium bacteria (Click for studies).
Symptom relief via antihistamines or DAO for a subset for immediate response, or months of preparation for allergy season by probiotics and biologics.
DAO levels were lower in AR patients compared with the controls. The DAO level did not significantly correlate with the severity of AR according to the Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) score, though it was lower in patients with persistent or moderate to severe symptoms. The total IgE, eosinophil percentage, and SNOT-22 score all had an inverse relationship with DAO.Predictive Value of the Serum Diamine Oxidase Level in the Diagnosis of Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis ”
Avoidance of Grass Pollen
This is really what the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America strongly advocates.
Above memory B-cell responses were cited in research which I translate that repeated exposure will make it worse, hence one approach is aggressive avoidance.
- Wearing a N95 or better mask when outside from the start of pollen season onwards. In some cases a full face mask may be better. When you arrive home, do a complete change of clothes as soon as possible (ideally outside) and take a shower.
- Aggressively reduce pollen in your living place (i.e. pollen leaking into the house via windows and open doors)
This household’s solution for grass allergy has been HEPA air filters oversized for the room size. For example, this $90 unit is rated for 183 sq ft. We would use it for 90 sq ft only — the size of a small bathroom (8′ x 10′). A 10x more expensive unit (Austin HEALTHMATE PLUS ) is rated for 1500 sq ft, so we will use it to cover only 750 sq feet. This means that a 2,000 sq ft house would need at least three operating. Note that this intentional oversizing is to reduce the time to remove grass pollen that comes in.
Time to Reduce Pollen from opening a door
The Austin does 400 cubic feet per minute and we can assume that for one complete room exchange that the pollen level will drop by 50%. It will not remove all in one room exchange. You remove 400 cf in a minute and shoves the clean air back into the room — diluting the air that is there. A little calculus finds that after one cycle, we are down 50% only.
Sample Calculation: 750 sq ft x 8 ft ceiling = 6000 cu feet … thus 15 minutes for one exchange with a 400 cfm unit (i.e. the Austin). If we go with manufacture specifications of 1500 sq feet, than 30 minutes to remove half of the pollen.
PPM, or pollen per cubic meter.
Consider a High Grass level at 340. After one room exchange, it would be 170 (still high), after two room exchanges it would be at 85 (still high), after three exchanges down to 43 – moderate, and at 4 exchanges we are at 20 — into the low range at last. In short, after opening a door for a short while, it may take 2 hours for the pollen level to get reduced to acceptable levels.
Conclusion: Keep the doors open for the least amount of time possible. Consider adding automatic door closers to all doors. Windows should not be open and they should be tight seals. A furnace that brings air in from the outside as part of normal operation should have HEPA filters installed on the intake.
We went one step further, we added to our house an air pump that takes air thru a HEPA filter and creates a positive air pressure in the house. This is one way to address leaky doors and windows — instead of pollen leaking in, the positive pressure pushes it away. We originally installed it to address wild fire smoke (works nicely), but this pollen season it has made a noticeable difference.


text:
'Single puncture' mini-percutaneous nephrolithotomy under assisted local anesthesia
AuthorAravantinos, E.; Moutzouris, G.; Kalogeras, N.; Zygoulakis, N.; Stamatiou, G.; Melekos, M.; Chantzi, E.
Objective: To evaluate the possibility of performing minipercutaneous nephrolithotomy (mini-PCNL) under assisted local anesthesia in a selected group of patients. Patients and Methods: Twenty-one patients with unilateral renal obstruction requiring mini-PCNL were enrolled in the study. Prior to surgery, all patients received: a) paracetamol 1.2 g intravenous (i.v.); b) parecoxib (COX2 inhibitor) 40 mg i.v., and c) infiltration of the surgical field with local anesthetic (20 ml of 1% lidocaine). Prior to the dilatation, all patients received midazolam 2 mg i.v. and fentanyl 100 mg i.v. Percutaneous renal tract access was created with ultrasound guidance. All patients were informed of the possibility of experiencing short periods of discomfort or pain, and all patients completed a postoperative visual analogue pain scale questionnaire. Results: All 21 patients completed the study, and the procedure was well-tolerated. Only three patients complained of mild pain and received additional fentanyl. Intraoperative problems and postoperative complications were mainly attributed to the mini-PCNL procedure itself rather than to the analgesic regimen administered. No complications related to the modality of anesthesia were encountered. The mean visual analogue pain scale score at the end of the procedure was 2.9 ± 0.9. Patients were directly transferred back to the ward immediately after the operation. Conclusions: Our study indicates that mini-PCNL can be performed safely and effectively under assisted local anesthesia in a selected group of patients. Copyright © 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel.

domain: literature


text:
Decision-Making Modeling in Service SystemsView this Special Issue
Sourcing for Quality: Cooperating with a Single Supplier or Developing Two Competing Suppliers?
Supplier efforts regarding product quality are an important issue in outsourcing and play a critical role in a manufacturer’s choice of sourcing strategy. Consider a manufacturer that wants to outsource the manufacturing of two substitute products to external suppliers. This paper studies the strategic interactions under two sourcing strategies: single and dual sourcing. A four-stage noncooperative game model is established to describe each member’s decisions. We further propose four decision scenarios: single sourcing with and without manufacturer quality investment sharing and dual sourcing when suppliers cooperate or do not cooperate on quality decisions. By the backward induction approach, we obtain analytical equilibrium solutions for each decision scenario. By comparing each pair of equilibrium profiles, we find that an appropriate proportion of quality investment sharing by the manufacturer can enable a cooperating strategy with a single supplier to be the dominant strategy. When the manufacturer does not want to share or does not want to share a relatively large portion of its supplier’s quality investment, it will always prefer to develop two competing suppliers when the cost of dual sourcing is sufficiently low. However, dual sourcing can be extremely risky for the manufacturer because the suppliers could provide a relatively low product quality level by cooperating on the quality decision to extract the manufacturer’s profit.
Due to many benefits, such as reduced costs, decreased investments, increased productivity, and increased core competency, outsourcing has become a pervasive supply chain feature and has contributed significantly to the growth of the global economy [1–3]. A recent report estimated that, globally, organisations will outsource US $507 billion worth of business and information technology (IT) services in 2014 alone . However, some argue that outsourcing has also created a new set of risks and challenges for organisations, as it has become an increasingly common business practice. Reduced control of supplier quality, a well-known downside of outsourcing, will drive poor product (service) quality, thus representing a risk to the buyer. For example, a 2012 Global Outsourcing and Insourcing Survey found that 48% of companies had previously terminated an outsourcing contract, primarily due to service quality concerns . Therefore, how to encourage supplier quality improvement plays an important role in strategic outsourcing. The objective of this paper is to link the sourcing strategy with the supplier quality effort when the buyer wishes to outsource the manufacturing of multiple products to external suppliers.
With increasing overemphasis on cost reduction, lead time compression, and capacity expansion by the buyer, outsourcing enables suppliers to have no incentives on quality improvement, particularly when the quality cannot be regulated by a contract [6, 7]. As a result, firms typically enforce supply quality control by resorting to quality inspection policies. A more rigorous quality standard would be beneficial to the buyer for enhancing quality in the end market. However, such a standard could negatively affect the supplier and disrupt the supply chain due to the pressure of a standard implementation. For example, one factory of the giant contract manufacturer, Hon Hai Limited (also known as Foxconn Technology Group), in mainland China underwent a large-scale strike triggered by instructions to strengthen quality inspections for the iPhone 5; these instructions were given by Hon Hai’s customer, Apple Inc. . Hence, enabling the supplier to participate in quality improvement could be critical to the buyer.
The majority of opinions regarding the handling of supplier quality incentives could be divided into two main streams. The first stream advocates that the buyer cooperate directly with its supplier, such as by providing technology assistance through sending technical engineers to the supplier site and offering quality management education and training to the supplier’s employees . For example, Boeing personnel are embedded into supplier factories at the global scale to monitor quality, work with suppliers on process improvements, and ensure adherence to Boeing standards and schedules . These policies could be categorised as investments in supplier quality improvement or payment for supplier quality efforts, that is, cooperative quality investment .
There is another avenue for the buyer to pursue regarding supplier quality improvement—developing multiple competing suppliers. Because competition could be used as a mechanism for the buyer to elicit quality from suppliers, in practice, many giant manufacturers take pleasure in introducing competition among suppliers to mitigate the supplier quality risk in outsourcing . For example, Apple Inc. continually seeks alternative suppliers and prefers to choose whoever has the best quality and best production rate . Toyota invested in its auto seat supplier, Trim Masters, to introduce competition for its other supplier, Johnson Controls ( and reference therein).
Although vertical quality cooperation and horizontal quality competition are commonly used as supplier quality improvement mechanisms, which strategy will be more suitable for quality aspects and/or manufacturer profit remains unclear. Specifically, most of the extant literature established a quality enhancement mechanism for single product sourcing [1, 7, 10, 11, 13–15]. In many industries, however, manufacturers outsource the provisioning of a series of substitute products to external suppliers. For example, Apple provides iPads and iPad minis with different prices and features to the panel computer market. Nearly all of these iPads and iPad minis are assembled by the contract manufacturers Foxconn and Pegatron, respectively .
Product quality has a positive effect on market demand [10, 17, 18]. When a manufacturer outsources two substitute products and each product is manufactured by a special supplier, then the suppliers could have more incentives to improve product quality for competing for a larger demand share. Thus, each supplier’s product decision could be different from the case of single sourcing. This paper aims to investigate the effects of the sourcing strategies on suppliers’ quality decisions.
Consider a manufacturer that wants to outsource the manufacturing of two substitute products to external suppliers. This paper studies the strategic interactions for two sourcing strategies: single and dual sourcing. In addition, we propose four decision scenarios: single sourcing with and without manufacturer quality investment sharing and dual sourcing when suppliers cooperate or do not cooperate on quality decisions. This paper addresses the following research questions using a four-stage noncooperative model.
(i) Which strategy works better for improving supplier quality? If the manufacturer is willing to share a sufficiently large portion of quality investment for both products, cooperating with a single supplier can be a dominant strategy for the quality level; otherwise, the strategy of developing two competing suppliers can provide the highest product quality.
(ii) Which strategy works better for manufacturer profit? If the sourcing cost is sufficiently low, the manufacturer prefers to use the strategy of developing two competing suppliers. Otherwise, if the portion of the quality investment defrayed by the manufacturer is sufficiently small, cooperating with a single supplier benefits the manufacturer by increasing profit. Moreover, when the manufacturer’s share is sufficiently large, using a single supplier without investing in its quality is better for the manufacturer.
(iii) Which strategy works better for product quality and manufacturer profit? An appropriate proportion of quality investment sharing by the manufacturer can enable dominance of the cooperating with a single supplier strategy; when the manufacturer does not want to share or does not want to share a relatively large portion of its quality investment funds, it will prefer to develop two competing suppliers when the cost of dual sourcing is sufficiently low.
In addition, dual sourcing can be extremely risky for the manufacturer because the suppliers could establish a relatively low product quality level by cooperating on the quality decision and extract the manufacturer profit.
The remainder of this paper is organised as follows: Section 2 briefly reviews the related literature, and Section 3 details our model’s general framework. In Sections 4 and 5, we investigate four decision models of the quality choice: single sourcing with and without a manufacturer quality investment sharing and dual sourcing when the suppliers cooperate or do not cooperate on quality decisions. Section 6 studies which strategy is more effective for product quality and/or manufacturer profit. Concluding remarks and future directions are presented in Section 7. All proofs are deferred to the Appendix in Supplementary Material available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/3040343 for clarity of exposition.
2. Literature Review
There are three streams of literature related to our paper: strategic quality choice in a vertical channel, mechanisms of product (service) quality improvement, and sourcing strategies considering product quality.
Quality, as an important competitive feature in the majority of industries, has received considerable attention. Pioneering studies focused on the strategic quality decision that maximised social value or a monopoly firm’s profit [19, 20]. Thereafter, Banker et al.  and Chambers et al. , among others, began to analyse the equilibrium quality level in a competitive environment. These studies provided fundamental insights into the issue of the effort tied to firm’s quality choice. However, they did not investigate the strategic interaction among the players in a supply chain channel environment. We refer to Chen et al.  for a comprehensive survey on this topic.
As a seminal work of strategic quality choice in a vertical channel, Reyniers and Tapiero  highlighted the importance of strategic and contractual issues in supply chain quality management. Tsay and Agrawal  investigated a distribution system in which a manufacturer supplies a common product to two independent retailers, who in turn use both service and retail price to directly compete for end customers. The authors derived the closed-loop equilibrium solution of retailers’ price and service and then characterised the structure of wholesale pricing mechanisms to coordinate the system. Xiao and Yang  extended this model to two competing supply chains and considered the effect of uncertain demand and the risk attitude of the players. Xu  investigated a joint pricing and product quality decision in a manufacturer-retailer channel, in which the manufacturer sells a product through the retailer. Other related literature on this topic includes Balasubramanian and Bhardwaj , Lu et al. , Xie et al. , and Xie et al. . In these studies, the information related to quality level is assumed to be symmetric among supply chain members. A number of researchers recognised that asymmetric quality-related information, such as quality level and quality cost, could be vital to quality choice for supply chain players and developed many contractual agreements for mitigating the impact of asymmetric quality information [6, 29]. However, these studies did not investigate the effects of vertical quality cooperation or horizontal quality competition on product quality.
The second stream related to our paper is that of quality improvement mechanisms and associated contract issues. Benjaafar et al.  developed two approaches (supplier allocation and supplier selection) to allocate fixed demand to elicit service quality from the suppliers. They concluded that a buyer could indeed orchestrate competition among potential suppliers to promote service quality. Jin and Ryan  extended the model into the framework of supplier’s price and service competition; however, the authors only considered supplier allocation. Chen and Deng  introduced a certification mechanism to improve supplier quality considering asymmetric quality information. They showed that a deterministic certification may lead to underinvestment in quality improvement technology for efficient suppliers, whereas a noisy certification may alleviate this underinvestment problem. Yan  studied contract efficiency for a decentralised supply chain in the presence of quality improvements. Using a numerical experiment, the author also showed that a quality effort-sharing contract could be effective for improving product quality. Other examples include Ching et al.  and Elahi . Although these studies address the competition and cooperation mechanism for improving supplier quality, they did not demonstrate which strategy would be more effective. Zhu et al.  considered cases in which both a buyer and a supplier invest in quality improvement. They showed that the buyer’s involvement in quality investments can have a significant impact; in addition, they investigated the effect of supplier competition on quality improvement. However, they did not provide an answer for the question of which strategy is better for quality improvement when focused on quality investment decisions as well as its effects on the buyer’s order quantity and the supplier’s production lot size.
The third stream related to our paper is that of supplier competition under the framework of outsourcing mode. This literature focused either on price competition ([1, 35, 36], etc.) or on product competition . None of them consider the case of suppliers’ competitions both on price and on product quality. Jiang  considered a setting in which a manufacturer sequentially sources two components and uses reverse auction to select a supplier with the lowest bidding price for each component. However, the author did not investigate the effects of sourcing strategies on suppliers’ decisions and the product quality decisions are not considered. Nagarajan and Bassok  examine a decentralised supply chain in which a single assembler buys complementary components from suppliers and assembles the final product in anticipation of demand. The authors employed the Nash bargain technique to investigate the effects of suppliers’ cooperative coalition on the manufacturer’s performance. The paper also neglects the impacts of different sourcing strategies.
Recently, many scholars investigated firm product quality-related sourcing decisions. Hsieh and Kuo  modelled a service provision game between two vendors under symmetric and asymmetric cost structures with the objective of winning the larger share of the buyer’s fixed reward. Lee and Li  studied three different strategies that a buyer could use to manage supplier quality: cooperation, incentivisation, and inspection. Xiao et al.  employed Hotelling’s model to characterise the strategic outsourcing decisions of two competing manufacturers whose key components have quality improvement opportunities. Jin et al.  integrated supplier qualification into the manufacturer’s sourcing decision and developed a dual-sourcing process model. Yim  derived a closed-form characterisation of the optimal quota allocation for the latent defect-undependable product-external failure in single and multiple sourcing. These articles mainly integrated product quality into sourcing decisions; they also analyse the optimal (equilibrium) decision when a buyer wishes to outsource a single product but does not consider multiproduct sourcing.
Our paper differs from the above studies in that (1) we consider a manufacturer that outsources two substitute products and develop a game model to describe strategic interactions among supply chain players; (2) we integrate quality choice into sourcing decisions; and (3) we compare single and dual sourcing in terms of quality level and profits. Moreover, we also investigate the effects of vertical cooperation and horizontal competition on product quality and profits.
3. Model Development
We consider a sourcing system in which a monopolistic manufacturer seeks to outsource the provisioning of two substitute products to external suppliers. In purchasing a high-quality product, the manufacturer can choose a strategy among three alternatives. We label these strategies separately as the traditional strategy (T-strategy), cooperation strategy (C-strategy), and competition strategy (D-strategy). With the T-strategy, the manufacturer sources two products from a single supplier; however, with the cooperating strategy, the manufacturer partially shares the single supplier’s quality investment expenses for improving quality. With the D-strategy, the manufacturer purchases substitute products from two individual suppliers. The first two strategies are single-sourcing strategies, whereas the third strategy is a dual-sourcing strategy. In addition, we consider that suppliers can cooperate or not cooperate on quality decisions when the manufacturer uses a dual-sourcing strategy, as discussed in Section 5. This paper will model the strategic interactions of supply chain players for each decision scenario. For a better understanding of these models, we first summarise the basic notations of this paper in the Notations section.
For the Notations section, , , and are decision variables. Other related parameters are exogenous, which means that they are known to all supply chain members.
3.1. Demand Structure
In this paper, we characterise each product’s demand by employing the Bertrand-style model, which has precedent in previous studies, such as Ingene and Parry , Liu et al. , and Zhang et al. . We propose the demand function of product in the following equation:
The demand function shown in the above equation captures both product substitutability and the impact of quality effort. Equation (1) indicates that the manufacturer has an incentive to improve product quality because it could obtain more customer demand through investing in quality enhancement. However, improving product quality is not without cost. Hence, given the manufacturer’s sourcing strategy, each supplier should trade off the cost and benefits of quality improvement and then optimally select the quality effort level. To facilitate our analyses, we further assume that product ’s quality investment cost function is with , that is, improving the quality level has an increasing incremental cost at high levels, which yields a diminishing return on the quality expenditure. This relationship is commonly observed in the extant literature [10, 18, 22, 26, 32].
3.2. Sequence of Events
We model the strategic interactions of vertical members in the outsourced supply chain as a four-stage noncooperative game, as shown in Figure 1.
Given the sourcing strategy, Figure 1 illustrates a standard supplier-Stackelberg game process, that is, the supplier first sets the quality level and wholesale price for each product, and the manufacturer responds and establishes each product’s sales price after observing the supplier’s choice. If the dual-sourcing mode is selected at stage 1, there are two independent suppliers that simultaneously set the product quality and wholesale price. This decision structure is commonly used in the literature of channel prices and quality decisions [28, 42, 44, 45].
In an outsourcing mode, one can expect that the OEM always has full power on the choice of the product quality, whereas we consider that the CM is in charge of setting the quality for the manufactured products. We suggest this assumption given the fact that contract manufacturers (CMs) have grown rapidly in many industries and often achieved some degree of power over OEMs . For example, Kaya and Ozer  noted that several CMs in the pharmaceuticals industry have been undertaking research and development, creating a $30 billion drug-development and manufacturing market. These facts provide some rational explanations for the assumption that the CM optimally chooses the product quality, which has also been studied in the literature [6, 11, 30].
4. Single-Sourcing Strategy
We first investigate the case in which the manufacturer selects the single-sourcing strategy at stage 1, that is, the C- and T-strategies will be analysed in this section. The C-strategy implies that the manufacturer proportionally shares the supplier quality investment under the single-sourcing configuration. We assume that the manufacturer’s share of quality investment of product is , where . The case of means that all quality investment expenses are defrayed by the supplier, that is, the T-strategy. Hence, the equilibrium outcomes of the T-strategy can be derived by setting in the equilibrium of the C-strategy.
According to (1) and the quality investment function, we derive the supply chain member’s profit function of the single-sourcing case asFrom (3), this paper assumes that the unit production cost of each product is zero, which is commonly used in the related literature [25, 47]. Relaxing this assumption will not change our main results or the models’ managerial insights.
Proposition 1. For the C-strategy case, if , the equilibrium quality level of product is
In (4), the superscript denotes the optimal value for the C-strategy case. We present all proofs in the Appendix. Substituting the equilibrium product quality level into the other decision variables and the payoffs, we derive all equilibrium outcomes of this strategy, as shown in Table 1. Moreover, the equilibrium outcomes of the T-strategy can be derived by setting the proportion coefficient to zero and substituting it into the second column of Table 1. The conditions that guarantee the equilibrium can be derived by the same approach, that is, substituting into the condition .
The outcomes shown in Table 1 are not sufficiently simple to establish the effects of key parameters. Fortunately, we can investigate the effect of each parameter by imposing simplifying conditions on the remaining parameters, as is the extant literature [22, 26]. Corollaries 2 and 3 summarise the impacts of the market base, unit quality investment, and coefficient of the proportion of the quality investment share on the equilibrium outcomes under the single-sourcing setting.
Corollary 2. For the C-strategy case, the comparison results of the equilibrium outcomes with regard to the asymmetric parameters are shown in Table 2.
Corollary 3. For the C-strategy case, the effects of market base, unit quality investment, and coefficient of the proportion of the quality investment share on the equilibrium outcomes are shown in Table 3.
5. Dual-Sourcing Strategy
Supplier competition could be used as a mechanism for eliciting quality improvement in a decentralised supply chain [11, 14, 48]. A manufacturer may enable product quality improvements by choosing the dual-sourcing strategy to outsource the provisioning of two substitute products to two external suppliers, that is, the D-strategy is selected at stage 1 of the four-stage noncooperative game process (see Figure 1). The endogenous demand function of (1) means that each product’s demand is not solely dependent on price but is also relative to product quality; this creates challenges for verifying the dual-sourcing strategy’s quality improvement advantage and causes our studies to differ from the extant literature, such as Benjaafar et al. , Jin and Ryan , and Elahi . Those authors considered customer demand as fixed and not affected by product price and quality.
In practice, different suppliers are often employed to manufacture substitute products in business practices. For example, in mainland China, most iPads are assembled at Foxconn’s factory, whereas the more inexpensive iPad mini product orders are allocated to Pegatron, Inc. . To investigate whether the dual-sourcing strategy benefits quality improvement, we consider two types of decision structures for the quality decision stage: centralised and decentralised quality decisions. For centralised decisions, two suppliers jointly decide their product’s quality level; however, for decentralised decisions, they simultaneously choose the quality level to maximise their own profits. For expositional simplicity, we label the former as the DC-strategy and the latter as the DD-strategy.
5.1. Centralised Quality Decision
This case considers the situation in which two suppliers cooperatively select each product’s quality level after they observe the upstream firm’s dual-sourcing strategy. The decision structure implies that and are jointly set to maximise . We first characterise each supply chain entity’s payoff function as follows:By using the backward induction approach, we derive the following.
Proposition 4. For the DC-strategy case, if then the equilibrium quality level of product is
5.2. Decentralised Quality Decision
In this case, two suppliers noncooperatively set the product quality level at the second stage, that is, is set to maximise . The following proposition is obtained from the payoff functions in (5).
Proposition 5. For the DD-strategy case, ifthen the equilibrium quality level of product is
5.3. Effects of the Key Parameters
To examine the effects of the various parameters, such as market base and unit quality investment, we first compare the equilibrium outcomes with the asymmetric setting on the related parameters. We derive the following corollary based on the analytical solutions in Table 4.
Corollary 6. For the DC- and DD-strategy cases, the comparison results of the equilibrium outcomes with regard to the asymmetric parameters are as shown in Table 5.
Corollary 7. For the DC- and DD-strategy cases, the effects of the market base and unit quality investment on the equilibrium outcomes are shown in Table 6.
6. Which Sourcing Strategy Is More Effective for the Manufacturer?
We now begin the analysis of the choice of strategy in the first stage, that is, which sourcing strategy will be selected by the manufacturer. There are two quality decision channel structures for the dual sourcing. Therefore, we must compare each pair of equilibrium outcomes for the above four decision cases. To facilitate our analysis, we assume that two substitute products are identical in the market base, unit quality investment, and manufacturer’s investment sharing and then define , , and . This assumption could allow this paper to focus on the comparison results of the sourcing strategy choice. In the interim, this assumption will facilitate our computation. Furthermore, we perform the comparison based on two performance aspects: product quality level and manufacturer’s profit.
6.1. A Manufacturer Who Pursues Quality Level
This case primarily investigates which strategy is more effective in terms of quality improvement. To answer this question, we must compare each equilibrium quality level, which was established in the aforementioned discussion. Formally, Proposition 8 provides the preferable sourcing strategy with respect to quality level.
Proposition 8. Assume that , , and ; there exists a unique threshold value for the manufacturer’s sharing of its supplier’s quality investment such that when , (the equality is satisfied if and only if ) and when , (the equality is satisfied if and only if ). The threshold value is defined as
The above proposition implies that if the manufacturer is willing to share a sufficiently large quality investment, it will prefer to cooperate with a single supplier. However, if the manufacturer’s quality investment share is smaller than the threshold value , it will prefer to develop two competing suppliers. We illustrate this result in Figure 2. Based on the parameters in this illustration, if , , whereas if , then is observed. Moreover, the difference increases with increases in the manufacturer’s investment share when .
The second insight observed in Proposition 8 is that the traditional strategy is dominated by the quality cooperation strategy. An interesting observation found in the above proposition is that the DC-strategy is dominated by the other three cases. Thus, the manufacturer should consider supplier quality collusion when it decides to outsource substitute products to two external suppliers. The manufacturer may obtain products with poorer quality levels if the two suppliers cooperate on quality decisions.
6.2. A Manufacturer Who Pursues Profit
We now consider which strategy can best service the manufacturer’s profit pursuit. By analysing the difference between each pair of the manufacturer’s equilibrium payoffs, the following proposition summarises the results of which strategy is more effective for increasing profit. For a better understanding of the effect of strategy choice on the profit, we assume that the fixed cost of single sourcing is zero (i.e., ), but the dual-sourcing strategy’s cost is (i.e., ). Relaxing this assumption cannot change our primary results and managerial insights but does increase the computational complexity. Furthermore, the fixed cost cannot exceed the manufacturer’s reservation profit (i.e., ), which is defined in (11). Without this constraint, the manufacturer cannot derive a positive profit in the dual-sourcing case. Consider
Proposition 9. Assume that , , and ; when and , the DD-strategy is the dominant strategy; however, when and , the C-strategy is the dominant strategy. When and , the DD-strategy is the dominant strategy; however, when and , the T-strategy is the dominant strategy. The threshold values , and are defined as
The above proposition illustrates that when the fixed cost of dual sourcing is sufficiently low, the manufacturer will prefer to develop two competing suppliers regardless of the investment share. However, when the dual-sourcing cost is sufficiently high, the manufacturer will prefer to cooperate with the single supplier when sharing a sufficiently small portion of the quality investment. In contrast, the manufacturer will prefer to use the traditional strategy when the quality investment share is sufficiently high. Figure 3 illustrates these results through a numerical example.
In addition, the profit-pursuing manufacturer will never choose the dual-sourcing strategy when both suppliers cooperatively set product quality. In conjunction with Proposition 8, the DC-strategy cannot be a dominant strategy in both aspects of quality level and profit. Therefore, the manufacturer should prevent supplier quality collusion when it decides to use the dual-sourcing strategy. However, the suppliers have incentives for quality cooperation because they can extract more profits by producing a low-quality product (the relation can be derived by computing the difference of and ). Therefore, in this situation, it is important to design an efficient contract to encourage improvements in supplier quality. A quality contest among suppliers could be used to enable quality improvement among suppliers; this is also established in the fixed demand model [11, 30]. However, with the quality-dependent demand model, contesting for demand may not be applicable because the equilibrium solution cannot be derived or, at a minimum, cannot prove the existence and uniqueness; thus, the effect of this mechanism on quality level will be unclear. The manufacturer can design a quality contest among suppliers to strive for a fixed quality investment subsidy. However, this problem is not the main focus of this study; thus, we would encourage researchers to devote additional attention to this issue in the future.
Propositions 8 and 9 summarise the results of which strategy is more effective for product quality and manufacturer profit, respectively. We now consider whether there is a sourcing strategy that benefits quality level in addition to manufacturer’s profit. First, the T- and DC-strategies are excluded because the former is strictly dominated by the C-strategy in the aspect of quality and the latter is the worst case of the four strategies in both aspects. Therefore, we consider the C- and DD-strategy cases. The following observation provides useful materials for answering this question.
Observation 1. Assume that , , and ; then, we obtain the following conclusions: (i) when the unit quality investment is neither sufficiently large nor sufficiently small, that is, , the C-strategy could be beneficial to both supplier quality improvement and manufacturer’s profit enhancement if and only if and ; and (ii) when the fixed cost of dual sourcing is sufficiently small, that is, , the DD-strategy could be beneficial to both supplier quality improvement and manufacturer profit enhancement if and only if .
The Appendix provides theoretical support for this observation. Parameters and can also be found in the Appendix. The following insights can be obtained from the above observation:(i)Quality cost information plays an important role in implementing the strategy of cooperating with a single supplier. Because the supplier has incentives to hide the private quality cost information , the manufacturer should design a mechanism to reveal the type of supplier, with regard to quality cost, when the manufacturer wants to employ the C-strategy to improve quality and profits. Moreover, ensuring that the quality investment share is in the appropriate range is also important to successfully implement the C-strategy. In the interim, a relatively high sourcing cost for dual sourcing could ensure that the manufacturer has an incentive to implement C-strategy.(ii)When the manufacturer does not want to share or does not want to share a large portion of the supplier quality investment, developing two competing suppliers could be the optimal strategy for improving quality level and profit if the sourcing cost is sufficiently low. Moreover, if the supplier demands a large share of the quality investment, the manufacturer will switch to developing two competing suppliers. In this scenario, preventing collusion on the two suppliers’ quality becomes a critical issue for the manufacturer. Otherwise, the manufacturer could migrate into the worst case if the two suppliers cooperatively set the product quality level.
In this paper, we examine the equilibrium quality levels of two substitute products in four decision scenarios belonging to two sourcing strategies: single sourcing and dual sourcing. There are two different decision scenarios for the single-sourcing strategy: the supplier optimally sets each product’s quality level with and without the manufacturer’s investment sharing. Two decision scenarios also exist for the dual-sourcing strategy: two suppliers cooperatively or noncooperatively set product quality levels. This study employs a four-stage noncooperative game process to model the strategic interactions among supply chain players. Given each decision scenario, we derive the closed-loop equilibrium outcomes of each game model and propose the conditions that guarantee that the Nash equilibrium of each game uniquely exists. Moreover, this paper examines the effects of key parameters, such as the market base, quality cost margin, and investment share, on players’ decisions and the equilibrium payoffs.
Finally, we compare the equilibrium quality levels and manufacturer’s profits of each decision scenario. The question of which strategy is more effective for product quality or manufacturer’s profit is resolved. By combining these results, we further demonstrate that cooperating with a single supplier and developing two competing suppliers could be the dominant strategy in terms of both quality level and profit. The conditions for guaranteeing the optimal strategy are also established. These results will help to effectively implement the sourcing strategy in practice. This paper also provides valuable insights into the quality management strategy that leads to quality improvement and the selection of a supply chain channel structure for supply chain outsourcing.
There are several directions for future research. First, we derive the effects of the key parameters on the equilibrium outcomes by assuming partially or completely symmetrical parameters settings. A similar assumption could be found in the comparison results between each pair of decision scenarios. One possible extension is to compute these results with complete asymmetrical parameters. Second, we prove that suppliers’ quality cooperation in the dual-sourcing strategy is dominated by the other three strategies. Hence, integrating well-known mechanisms, such as a quality contest into the vertical channel to break through suppliers’ quality collusion, could be worth investigating. Finally, we assume that the quality investment margin of each product is common knowledge in this study. However, quality effort costs can be private information. Moreover, the manufacturer’s strategy choice could be dependent on quality investment unit. Thus, it is interesting but challenging to discuss sourcing strategy when suppliers keep quality cost information private.
|; , and :||Index to denote each product|
|:||Gross demand of product|
|:||Market base of product|
|():||Coefficient of capturing product substitutability|
|():||Coefficient of capturing the impact of quality level on market base|
|:||Product ’s sales price|
|:||Product ’s quality level|
|:||Product ’s wholesale price|
|:||Unit quality investment for the th product|
|:||Fixed configuration cost of single-sourcing mode|
|:||Fixed configuration cost of dual-sourcing mode|
|:||Supplier’s profit in single-sourcing mode|
|:||Supplier ’s profit in dual-sourcing mode.|
The author declares no competing interests.
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 71401082) and Research Fund for Humanities and Social Sciences of Chinese Ministry of Education (no. 14YJC630009).
Supplementary Material presents all mathematical proofs and some complicated mathematical expressions.
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P. Elmer-Dewitt, What's really going on at Apple's iPhone 5 factory in Zhengzhou, China. Fortune, 2012, http://fortune.com/2012/10/07/whats-really-going-on-at-apples-iphone-5-factory-in-zhengzhou-china/.
Boeing, “World Class Supplier Quality,” 2014, http://787updates.newairplane.com/787-Suppliers/World-Class-Supplier-Quality.View at: Google Scholar
Knowledge@Wharton, The Foxconn-Sharp Alliance: Which Company Will Gain the Most?2012, http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/the-foxconn-sharp-alliance-which-company-will-gain-the-most/.
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C. A. Ingene and M. E. Parry, Mathematical Models of Distribution Channels, Kluwer Academic, Boston, Mass, USA, 2004.

domain: economics


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Why use Chemblast Powder Coating?
Chemblast's 7m Long Batch Oven & The huge 450m2 Powdercoat Room
Whether it's for an industrial application or to give your domestic project that professional finish, Chemblast can provide you with a cost-effective powder coating solution.
Chemblast also brings aged materials to new with a combined process of garnet blasting and powdercoating
Powder Coating uses very fine dry particles of resin with the pigment color of your choice. The resin powder is applied with a spray gun similar in concept to applying solvent based paint. The difference is this spray gun and it's resin contents are electrostatically charged.
When the resin powder is sprayed onto a part it sticks to the metal because it's grounded, attracting charged resin powder like a magnet. The job is then placed in the oven and baked at 200 deg C for 10 minutes. It is cured by the time it cools down and can be taken away to be used.
Our powder coating division has been in operation for 15 years and we went into it because the lack of a quality being supplied by the only powdercoater in Warrnambool. Because we had the abrasive blasting division, we were often asked if we could remove a failed powder coated job, this proved to be a costly process for the customer and quite often we would charge less that it would cost us to do. This could not keep happening so we bought a second hand set up off Bundaberg Lace Company in North Queensland. After shipping it to our factory and installing it we then had some very costly telephone calls to Jim at Bundy Lace. These calls weren’t just calls, Jim was teaching us how to powder coat by phone. The division has progressively expanded and now occupies 350m2 of our factory.

domain: chemistry


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Any visit to the Jersey Shore would be incomplete without enjoying the fine food and nautical atmosphere of the Lobster House, a Cape May tradition. Overlooking the Cape May Harbor, the Lobster House Restaurant, its Raw Bar and Schooner American all offer a large and varied menu, serving the freshest seafood available from its very own fleet of boats – boats are unloaded seven days a week to insure the freshest possible product. Dine in one of the picturesque dining rooms overlooking the harbor. Indulge in a variety of burgers, sandwiches, salads and, of course, the freshest seafood at the Raw Bar, located on Fisherman’s Wharf. Enjoy cocktails at the intimate and friendly bar, dock side tables or deck of the 146’ Schooner American. Prefer to eat at home? Find the largest selection of seafood available at the Fish Market, or purchase your fresh seafood online and have it shipped anywhere in the U.S. Or, opt for oven-ready seafood at the Take Out Shop, prepared fresh daily!
Cape May Harbor, Cape May
(609) 884-8296, www.thelobsterhouse.com


New workplace laws announced
Workplace laws announced
By Patricia Karvelas
Kevin Rudd has fulfilled his election pledge to scrap Work Choices and establish a new industrial relations order, after a Senate deal with Family First’s Steve Fielding yesterday ended a deadlock that threatened to stall the Government’s workplace agenda.
After a day of tense negotiations, Julia Gillard persuaded Senator Fielding to allow her to keep her promise to define a small business, for purposes of unfair dismissal concessions, as having fewer than 15 workers.
In return, the Deputy Prime Minister and Workplace Relations Minister agreed to impose an 18-month phase-in period, during which a tougher, 15 full-time-equivalent-worker definition will apply.
Under the deal, a small business will be defined by a simple head count of less than 15 workers -which was always Labor’s policy- from January 1, 2011. All workers will regain the right to claim unfair dismissal that existed before the Howard government’s Work Choices laws. But small businesses with fewer than 15 staff will be exempt from claims from new employees for 12 months. The probation period for other employers will be six months.
Ms Gillard hugged Senator Fielding after he agreed to support the legislative centrepiece of the Government’s 2007 election platform.
The new laws will increase union workplace entry rights and provide for a centralised umpire, Fair Work Australia, to set minimum wages, settle industrial disputes and hear unfair dismissal claims.
An emotional Ms Gillard, who was in the Senate chamber with former ACTU secretary Greg Combet when the bill passed, said Work Choices was “finally buried”.
Ms Gillard said the Rudd Government had fulfilled its promise to get rid of the Howard government’s industrial relation laws almost three years after they were introduced.
“Every step of the way we’ve had to fight against Liberal Party opposition. Even today, in the last hour in the Senate, the Liberal Party was twisting and turning and fighting to keep Work Choices,” Ms Gillard said.
“Today, despite their opposition, we have buried Work Choices.”
But Malcolm Turnbull claimed the Coalition had won significant amendments on right of entry and greenfields agreements.
Ms Gillard insisted not one amendment that had passed had been authored by the Coalition.
The Opposition Leader said monthly unemployment figures would be the real test of how many jobs the Government’s new industrial laws destroy.
“The three criteria on which this law will be judged is jobs, jobs, jobs,” Mr Turnbull said.
“Every month there will be a report card, the jobs figures, and it will be from that report card that we and all Australians will know the real impact of this law on jobs.”
Mr Turnbull said the Coalition had helped make the laws “less bad” so they would destroy fewer jobs.
As negotiations dragged into the afternoon with parliament held back to pass the laws, the small business definition became the crucial sticking point between the two independent senators, the Opposition and the Government.
This was because it represented the cut-off at which unfair dismissal laws applied for 12 months for new employees, rather than the six-month probation period for larger workplaces.
Independent senator Nick Xenophon and the Opposition lost a vote to keep the definition at less than 20 employees.
Senator Xenophon voted with the Opposition after Senator Fielding undercut his original deal with the Government.
Senator Xenophon had been pushing for the transition to the 15-worker head count to take three years, but Senator Fielding intervened and struck a deal to make it 18 months.
Because of the way the Government worded the motion in the Senate yesterday, it only needed one of the two senators to get its Fair Work Bill passed, and relied on Senator Fielding.
It also meant the Coalition did not have to vote on the full bill because the Senate was only required to vote on whether or not it would insist on its amendments.
The full bill passed the Senate early yesterday morning but the Government would not accept a Coalition supported amendment to raise an unfair dismissal threshold for small business from fewer than 15 employees to 20.
Senator Xenophon last night told The Weekend Australian a three-year transition period was his bottom line, and he could not accept the deal Senator Fielding had done with the Government.
“Instead of buying small business the time they needed during the financial crisis they’ve ended up with a stop watch,” he said.
Other changes secured by both crossbench senators include that the bill will acknowledge the special circumstance of small and medium size enterprises.
Senator Xenophon, before his talks broke down, also managed to secure a specialist information and assistance unit for small and medium size enterprises to be be established within the Office of the Fair Work Ombudsman.
ACTU president Sharan Burrow said the passage of the Fair Work Bill marked an historic moment in restoring workers’ rights.
“After a decade of attacks on working people by the Liberal and National parties the tide has turned,” Ms Burrow said.
“While the Liberal Party remains hopelessly devoted to Work Choices, the Australian people want workers’ rights restored.”
She said everyone involved in the Your Rights at Work campaign and all those who voted against Work Choices would be relieved to see the laws pass through parliament.
“We can take pride in what we have achieved,” she said.
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Peter Anderson said the pressure of politics had won over the interests of employers and small businesses.
“The rush to get rid of Work Choices has left employers and small business exposed to higher labour costs, extra employment red tape and new tribunal and union powers, with only minor changes by the Senate,” he said.
“Many of these employers and small businesses will feel let down by their government and the Senate, if not today then when these new costs, regulations and unfair dismissal claims start impacting on them and the jobs they offer.”


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Joined: 09 October 2011
Joined: 10 May 2011
Joined: 18 December 2008
Joined: 23 November 2009
For me the best moment was when they played Ek hazaaron main meri behna song and Manvi's expression!!!aww she looked so cute and sad, i really wanted to hug her
Joined: 18 February 2011
agreee wid d points!
d epi was so gud n maanvi n virat r super cute!
Pretty Nia Sharma got a surprise birthday party from her friends and ... 116
Cinevistaas light hearted drama on Disney Channel to be titled as ... 7


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Featured in “Shameless self-promotion” group
Featured in “Incredible India” group
Featured in “Art at its Best” group
Original painting, oil on canvas, acrylic texture, 70×57cm
Shiva aka Bholenath aka Nataraja is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer of evil or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power, he lives a life of a sage at Mount Kailash. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme God and has five important works: creator, preserver, destroyer, concealer, and revealer (to bless).


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Please think of the trees before you print this page. Vegan.io looks great on mobile devices too!
Viewing this page on an iPad? Rotate the screen to switch to kitchen mode.
Everybody loves a good stir fry! And if you are here, you love the vegan way of life. So, I am pleased (and honored) to bring you the vegan sweet and sour stir fry recipe.
Welcome! I’m really pleased to have you here in our little corner of the internet. We are a happy bunch of people here at vegan.io, but I’m about to get serious. Serious about food that is!
So let’s talk food. It’s a necessity for all of us to consume, digest, and consume again. Food is life. And life is wonderful, isn’t it? In the spirit of wonderful things, I try to keep my recipes easy and straight forward which in turn, makes life even more wonderful. Life, food, easy cooking = perfection. My vegan sweet and sour stir fry is all of these things and more.
Made to impress and satisfy, this dish will keep them coming back for more. Don’t like wasted food or left overs? No worries, you shouldn’t expect any of that.
To make what was once considered a meat eaters paradise, now a vegan’s delight, you will need 16 ingredients and about 30 minutes.
Of all the scrumptious ingredients we use, some stand out among the rest. Firstly, we have brown rice for our complex carbohydrates (slow burning, energy sustained type of carb), soy protein for a great source of protein and fibre, as well as carrot, onion, bell pepper, and pineapple for a host of vitamins and minerals.
And to top all of this off, we through in some soy sauce, ginger, bean sprouts, and saucy ingredients for taste, texture, and perfection.
The vegan sweet and sour stir fry is the perfect meal for lunch and/or dinner because it’s:
You can store any leftover or prepared meals in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 48 hours. Please note that it must be a well sealed container to keep the soy protein from going bad. I would however, personally recommend eat this freshly cooked for the best taste and results.
And that about sums it all up. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much I enjoyed making (and eating) it. Be sure to share your thoughts and photos if you try this recipe. We love seeing your creations!
Liked this recipe? Why not head over and check out our Cashew Nut, Pineapple, Tempeh Fried Rice for more exciting lunch and dinner options.
For the soy protein
For the rice
For the garnish
For the fruit and vegetable
For the sauce
|Amount Per Serving|
|Calories 551||From Fat 65|
|% Daily Value*|
|Total Fat 7g||11%|
|Saturated Fat 1g||5.4%|
|Trans Fat 0g|
|Total Carbohydrate 101g||33.7%|
|Dietry Fiber 12g||48.1%|
|Vitamin A 0µg|
|Vitamin B-12 0µg||0%|
|Vitamin B-6 0.86mg||43%|
|Vitamin C 141.76mg||236.3%|
|Vitamin D 0IU||0%|
|Vitamin E 1.41mg||4.7%|
|Vitamin K1 14.11µg||17.6%|
|Folic Acid 0µg|
|Pantothenic acid 2.36mg||23.6%|
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Calories per gram:
Fat 9 • Carbohydrate 4 • Protein 4
Did you make this recipe? Please take a photo, share it on Instagram and tag it with #veganio. We love to see your photos.


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- Group Type: Private
- Group Creator: leumas8155
- Group Motto: "Mildly Interested, Kind of Fans"
- Group Message: I am not a big hockey fan, but I want try and learn why everyone in this city cares about it so much, so this seemed like fun.
- Group Size: 0
- Group Entries Per User: 1
- Locking Rules: Locked - Entries may leave/join group only before the games begin
Welcome to Hockey Challenge 2014!
You'll need to REGISTER for a new ESPN.com account or SIGN-IN with an existing account to get started in Hockey Challenge. Once signed in, you can compete against other ESPN Fantasy players and will be able to compete for great prizes.
Construct a team of 12 hockey players and earn points for their performance.
Come back 5 minutes a week to update your roster and compete against friends, family, and other fans.
Play TSN Hockey Challenge for your chance to win a 2013 Optima Hybrid or 2014 Forte5 SX Luxury valued at over $58,290 (CAN).

domain: game


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12 Jul What is a Casino Online Bonus
A casino online bonus is a reward for playing at an online casino. It can take the form of money that can be wagered or free online casino Malaysia spins on slot machines. Some bonuses are automatically credited to players’ accounts while others require a promotion code or a visit to the cashier to activate. In either case, it is important to read the terms and conditions of each bonus to understand how they work.
A deposit match bonus is a common type of online casino bonus that offers players a certain percentage of their initial deposit. This is usually the first type of bonus that new players encounter when they sign up with a particular site. Some of these bonuses may have a maximum amount that can be awarded, while others will have wagering requirements that must be met before players can withdraw their winnings.
Some online casinos also offer loyalty bonuses to their existing players. These are a way for online casinos to thank their customers for their continued business and give them a little something extra to keep them coming back. These types of bonuses can be in the form of additional free spins on slot games, additional deposit matches, or even more cashback rewards. These types of bonuses are a great way for players to get the most out of their gaming experience and can be quite lucrative in https://www.jdl996.net/my/en-us/
Many players have questions about how online casino bonuses work and what they can expect when they use them to play at a casino. While the majority of online casinos are honest and transparent with their bonus terms, it is important for players to know how these bonuses work so they can avoid any confusion or stress that may occur if they are unclear about what they are getting into.
One of the most common concerns about online casino bonuses is the fact that they are often accompanied by terms and conditions that must be met before players can cash out their winnings. These terms and conditions include things like wagering requirements, maximum amounts that can be won, and which games are allowed or not. The best online casinos will clearly state these terms on their promotions page, terms and conditions page, or FAQ section.
Another concern that many players have about online casino bonuses is the fact that they expire. While most of them will have an expiry date that is clearly stated in their terms and conditions, there are a few that do not. It is therefore vital that players read the terms and conditions of each bonus to determine whether it is worth the effort of claiming it or not.


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Junmai Station, a new concept spearheaded by the owners of Seminole Heights' Ebisu Sushi Shack, is opening in downtown Tampa.
The restaurant will be off Kennedy Boulevard on the bottom floor retail level of the new Hyatt House-Hyatt Place across from city Hall. Both Junmai and Ebisu are owned by Akemi Simmons and her husband Ron.
In a phone call with Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, Ron said Akemi, who is from Kobe, Japan, wanted to open a more traditional Japanese concept less focused on sushi (although Junmai will have some sushi bowl options). The spot will feature onigiri—aka stuffed rice balls—as its signature dish. Onigiri is a staple food in Japan, and Junmai's versions will lean more western-style stuffings like tuna mayo or Spam, and Ron expects the menu to evolve over time (stock photos of the triangular food above).
Ron told CL that he and Akemi hope to be open Junmai by May 1. The restaurant is currently in the build out phase of opening, and if things go well, hiring would begin in April.
Ebisu has been a staple in the Seminole Heights’ food scene since its opening in August of 2016. The Japanese restaurant won a Best of the Bay Critic’s Pick for Best Veggie SushiRoll the year it opened.
See a list of Tampa Bay’s “Safe & Sound” live music venues here.
Support local journalism in these crazy days. Our small but mighty team is working tirelessly to bring you up to the minute news on how Coronavirus is affecting Tampa and surrounding areas. Please consider making a one time or monthly donation to help support our staff. Every little bit helps.
Follow @cl_tampabay on Twitter and subscribe to our newsletter.


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I keep forgetting there is another aspect to write about: knitting, or in German, stricken. (As in so much yarn, so little time). In Germany, the knitting buzz is not nearly what it is in the states, so the availability and variety of the yarns reflect that. In other words, I am glad I stocked up before I came here. The yarns here are very good quality, but sometimes you want wool to look like wool, and not so tightly strung that it loses its fuzziness. (And the alternatives are acrylic, or fun fur (imagine a blown up muppet), or anything neon). It's like the difference between cotton tight on the end of a Q-tip and a cotton ball. One looks, well, tight, and the other like a small cloud. The difference between the two is how you have treated that fiber.
So imagine when I walked into my LYS (local yarn shop for you non-knitters) and they have some wool-looking sock yarn that is from, of all places, Switzerland. This is time for the poker face, where you have to subtlety claim the sock yarn from Switzerland as yours while not looking like a nut at the same time. If you are a knitter, you know the strategy. It's like when your LYS has gotten a new batch of Koigu in and no other customers in the shop have noticed yet. So get a look at this puppy named "Super Soxx":
Not only does it look and feel like wool, but it is variegated! And it only cost me 6,75 Euros for a giant ball of this well-made loveliness. So I have wasted no time. Did a swatch last night and this stuff is already being made into Grumperina's Jaywalker. I wanted something that would show off the colors but without being too intricate so that the needlework overpowered the yarn. I just finished the cuff and will get to the leg today.
Oh, and that hat that my friend, Katy, sent me extra yarn for because I was the idiot who didn't buy extra in the first place? Here's that hat, called Shedir, from the Breast Cancer Awareness Edition of Knitty. It's so soft and I can't believe I did that hat without messing one thing up. That's a first.