Alcatel Lucent OmniAccess Stellar AP1201H Indoor Hospitality High-Performance 802.11ac Wave2 Access Point - OAW-AP1201H-RW
The multi-functional Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess® Stellar AP1201H is a highly versatile & performance rich access point that offers operational simplicity & quality user experience. This access point provides high performance Gigabit WiFi for in room applications such as hotels, classrooms, dormitories, clinics, remote/home office & more. Supports a maximum concurrent data rate of 1.2 Gb/s (867 Mb/s in 5 GHz and 300 Mb/s in 2.4 GHz), MU-MIMO & two spatial streams (2SS). Provides simultaneous multicast data transmission to multiple devices, maximizing data throughput & improving network efficiency. The AP1201H offers Gigabit ethernet uplink, 3x Gigabit downlink, & one of which supports 802.3af PSE to power to the attached device, one pair of RJ-45 passthrough port, 1USB 2.0 port for IoT appliance. Featuring enhanced WLAN technology with RF Radio Dynamic Adjustment, a distributed control Wi-Fi architecture, secure network admission control with unified access, making it ideal for enterprises of all sizes demanding a simple, secure & scalable wireless solution.
Key Features & Benefits:
- Dual radio 2x2:2 802.11a/b/g/n/ac MU-MIMO AP
- Integrated antenna
- Uplink: 1× 10/100/1000Base-T autosensing (RJ-45) port, Power over Ethernet (PoE)
- Downlink: 1× 10/100/1000Base-T autosensing (RJ-45) port, Power over Ethernet (PoE-PSE) 802.3af compliant
- Downlink: 2× 10/100/1000Base-T autosensing downlink port
- Passive Pass through one pair, back and bottom
- 1× USB 2.0 (Type A) capable of supplying up to 5V 500mA power to an attached device; Optional BLE
- Reset button: Factory reset
- DC48V power jack
- Unrestricted Regulatory Domain
- Limited Lifetime Warranty
Deliver Enterprise Grade Security & Scale with Simplicity:
OmniAccess Stellar enables a visionary distributed Wi-Fi architecture with centralized management & policy control, enforcing security at every step starting at the network edge & allowing unparalleled scale in network capacity. This architecture is vital for enabling the next generation Digital Enterprise that demands business agility, seamless mobility & secure IoT enabled infrastructure empowering business transformation through continuous innovation. OmniAccess Stellar provides enhanced security with WPA3, a new security standard for enterprise & public networks, improving Wi-Fi security by using advanced security algorithms & stronger ciphers in Enterprises including 192-bit security suite. Public spaces which provide open non-protected access, can now provide encryption & privacy using OmniAccess Stellar, which supports a new security standard Wi-Fi Enhanced Open based on opportunistic wireless encryption (OWE).
Cloud enabled with OmniVista Cirrus:
The AP1201H access points can be managed by Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista® Cirrus cloud platform. OmniVista® Cirrus powers a secure, resilient & scalable cloud-based network management platform. It offers hassle free network deployment & easy service rollout with advanced analytics for smarter decision making. Offers IT friendly Unified Access with secure authentication & policy enforcement for users & devices.
OmniVista 2500 managed deployment:
The AP1201H AP can be managed by Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista® 2500 on premise Network Management System. The access points are managed as one or more access point (AP) groups (a logical grouping of one or more access points). OmniVista next generation management suite embeds a visionary controllerless
architecture, providing user friendly workflows for unified access together with an integrated unified policy authentication manager (UPAM) which helps define authentication strategy & policy enforcement for employees, guest management & BYOD devices. OmniVista 2500 provides advanced options for RF management, WIDS/WIPS for intrusion detection & prevention plus a heat map for WLAN site planning.
Plug & Play, secure Web managed (HTTPS) cluster deployment:
The AP1201H by default operates in a cluster architecture to provide simplified plug & play deployment. The access point cluster is an autonomous system that can consist of a group of OmniAccess Stellar APs and a virtual controller, which is a selected access point, for cluster management. One AP cluster supports up to 64 APs. The access point cluster architecture ensures simplified & quick deployment. Once the first AP is configured using the configuration wizard, the remaining APs in the network will come up automatically with an updated configuration. This ensures the whole network is up & functional within a few minutes. The AP1201H also supports secure zero-touch provisioning with Alcatel- Lucent OXO Connect R2, a mechanism by which all access points in a cluster will obtain bootstrap data securely from an on-premise OXO Connect.
Integrated guest management:
The AP1201H supports role based management access to the AP cluster which includes Admin, Viewer & GuestOperator access. GuestOperator access simplifies guest account creation & management, and can be used by any non-IT person such as a front desk worker or receptionist. The AP1201H access point also support a built-in customizable captive portal which enables customers to offer unique guest access.
Quality of service for unified communication apps:
The OmniAccess Stellar AP1201H access point supports fine tuned, quality of service (QoS) parameters to differentiate & provides appropriate QoS for each application such as voice, video & desktop sharing. OmniAccess Stellar AP is 802.11e (WMM) compliant, also providing marking for RTP/SRTP sessions which include Skype for business, Google Hangout etc.
Radio Dynamic Adjustment (RDA) technology automatically assigns channels & power settings, provides DFS/TPC & ensures that access points stay clear of all radio frequency interference (RFI) sources to deliver reliable, high-performance wireless LANs. The OmniAccess Stellar AP1201H AP can be configured to provide part-time or dedicated air monitoring for spectrum analysis & wireless intrusion protection.
|Τύπος Προϊόντος||Indoor WiFi Access Point|
|Τεχνολογία||802.11ac Wave 2|
|Aggregate Wireless Throughput||1.2Gbps|
|Antenna||Dual-band 2x2:2 MU-MIMO|
|Max. Concurrent Clients per AP||256|
|Max. Coverage Range|
|Εγγύηση||Limited Lifetime Warranty|
PartnerNET © 2014-2021


|European Case Law Identifier:||ECLI:EP:BA:2013:T021012.20131213|
|Date of decision:||13 December 2013|
|Case number:||T 0210/12|
|IPC class:||B32B 17/10
|Language of proceedings:||EN|
|Download and more information:||
|Title of application:||GLASS LAMINATION PROCESS AND APPARATUS|
|Applicant name:||Solutia Inc.|
|Opponent name:||E.I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY|
|Relevant legal provisions:||
|Keywords:||Inventive step - (no) (main and auxiliary request III)
Late-filed request - admitted (no) (auxiliary request IV)
Summary of Facts and Submissions
I. This decision concerns the appeal filed by the opponent against the interlocutory decision of the opposition division that European patent No. 1 458 564 in the name of Solutia Inc. as amended meets the requirements of the EPC.
II. The opponent, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, had requested revocation of the patent in its entirety on the grounds that the claimed subject-matter did not involve an inventive step (Article 100(a) EPC), that the patent did not disclose the invention in a manner sufficiently clear and complete for it to be carried out by a person skilled in the art (Article 100(b) EPC) and that the patent contained subject-matter which extended beyond the content of the application as filed (Article 100(c) EPC).
III. The documents cited during the opposition proceedings included:
D1: GB 2 236 277 A;
D2: US 4,341,576 A;
D3: US 2,156,680 A;
D4: US 3,234,062 A;
D5: DE 196 43 404 A1; and
D6: English translation of JP 2001-226153 A.
IV. The opposition division's decision, announced orally on 15 September 2011 and issued in writing on 17 November 2011, acknowledged the allowability of the set of claims 1 to 15 of auxiliary request 2 filed during the oral proceedings.
Claim 1 as maintained by the opposition division read as follows:
"1. A process for making a laminate comprising:
interposing a plastic material selected from polyvinyl butyral having a moisture content below 0.30 percent by weight of the plastic material, between two rigid glass substrates:
pre-heating at least one rigid glass substrate, or the plastic material, or any combination thereof, to a tacking temperature at a temperature of 40°C to 130°C;
tacking the plastic material and substrates through a short term pressure application using a nip?roll without vacuum de?airing to form a pre?laminate;
heating the pre-laminate at a temperature of 125°C to 220°C and for a time effective to bond the plastic material to the substrates,
wherein said heating is conducted at a pressure of about 1 atmosphere wherein said pre-laminate is not subjected to de-airing with vacuum treatment; and wherein said process does not include an autoclave step."
Claims 2 to 15 were dependent claims.
V. The opposition division's position can be summarized as follows.
The opposition division found that the amendments made to the claims complied with the requirements of Article 123(2) EPC, the amendments in relation to the absence of an autoclave step being supported by paragraphs  and  of the application as filed.
Starting from D1 as closest prior art document the opposition division saw the problem to be solved by the patent in suit in the provision of a process for making a laminate avoiding the creation of bubbles in the interlayer. It concluded that the claimed process, including (a) a moisture content of the plastic material below 0.30 percent by weight; (b) a pre-heating step at a temperature of 40°C to 130°C, and (c) a tacking step to form a pre-laminate, was not disclosed or suggested by the available prior art, the reason being essentially that the problem of moisture was always disclosed in combination with specific process conditions.
VI. On 25 January 2012 the opponent (in the following: the appellant) lodged an appeal and on the same day paid the prescribed fee. The statement setting out the grounds of appeal was filed on 26 March 2012 together with the following further document:
D11: EP 0 331 648 A2.
The appellant requested that the decision under appeal be set aside and the patent be revoked on the grounds that the claims as maintained by the opposition division contravened the provisions of Article 123(2) EPC and Article 56 EPC.
VII. With its reply dated 12 July 2012 the patent proprietor (in the following: the respondent) disputed the arguments submitted by the appellant and requested that the appeal be dismissed as unfounded (main request) or, alternatively, that the patent be maintained in amended form with the sets of claims according to the newly filed auxiliary requests I to V. The respondent further requested that document D11 be not admitted into the proceedings as being late?filed and not prima facie relevant.
VIII. On 12 July 2013 the board dispatched a summons to oral proceedings. In the attached communication the board indicated the points to be discussed during the oral proceedings.
IX. On 13 November 2013 further submissions in preparation for oral proceedings were filed by both parties. The respondent also filed amended versions of its previous requests in order to correct a clerical error in the dependency of claims 10 and 11.
X. On 13 December 2013 oral proceedings were held before the board. During the oral proceedings the respondent withdrew its auxiliary requests I, II, IV and V and file a new auxiliary request IV.
a) The claims of the main request are the claims before the opposition division (see point IV above).
b) Claim 1 of auxiliary request III is based on claim 1 of the main request wherein the temperature of the pre?heating step has been amended to read "at a temperature of 70°C to 100°C".
c) Claim 1 of auxiliary request IV is based on claim 1 of auxiliary request III with the further limitation that the moisture content of the polyvinyl butyral is now "between about 0.03 and about 0.18 percent by weight".
XI. The arguments presented by the appellant in its written submissions and at the oral proceedings, insofar as they are relevant for the present decision, may be summarised as follows:
- The amendments to the claims of all requests were not supported by the application as originally filed. In particular, the combination of features of claim 1 of all requests was not clearly and unambiguously disclosed in the application as filed.
- The subject-matter of claim 1 of the main request lacked inventive step starting from document D1 as closest prior-art document. The reason being essentially, that D1 disclosed all the features of the claimed process, except the moisture content. This distinguishing feature, however, could not justify an inventive step because it was the constant teaching of the prior art, for instance of documents D2 to D6, that a low moisture content of the polyvinyl butyral interlayer would reduce the occurrence of bubbles.
- The subject-matter of claim 1 of auxiliary request III also lacked an inventive step. The selection of a narrow temperature range was not associated with any unexpected effect.
- Concerning auxiliary request IV, the appellant noted that the very late filing of the request did not result from the discussion in the oral proceedings. The request should have been filed at an earlier stage of the proceedings. The restriction to the now-claimed moisture range could make a search for further documents necessary. The claims were clearly not allowable and the request should not be admitted into the proceedings.
XII. The relevant arguments of the respondent may be summarised as follows:
- The respondent agreed that document D1 qualified as closest prior?art. However, D1 did not disclose the moisture content of the interlayer, it did not require a separate pre-heating step and it did not include a tacking step to form a pre-laminate. Moreover D1 was a single-stage continuous process. The problem to be solved by the patent was to provide a glass laminate of high quality. The solution according to claim 1, namely the use of a PVB with a moisture content as claimed was not obvious in view of the prior art. In fact, the arguments of the appellant had been provided on basis of hindsight because all documents cited required the mandatory use of an autoclave or a vacuum de?airing step, which steps were not necessary in the process now claimed.
- The subject-matter of claim 1 of auxiliary request III was further limited by carrying out the pre-heating at a lower temperature, a temperature not hinted at all in D1. The examples in the patent showed that working under the claimed conditions resulted in an unexpected improvement of the glass laminates, in particular the process could produce glass laminates with a extremely high bake fail temperature which could not be achieved by the prior?art processes.
- Auxiliary request IV should be admitted into the proceedings as the claims had been limited merely by the introduction of a feature already present in the dependent claims. The preferred moisture content which occasioned the technical effect had been introduced into claim 1, the claim being now further limited to inventive subject-matter.
XIII. The appellant requested that the decision under appeal be set aside and the patent be revoked.
The respondent requested that the appeal be dismissed (main request) or, alternatively, that the decision under appeal be set aside and the patent be maintained on the basis of auxiliary request III filed with letter dated 13 November 2013 or on the basis of auxiliary request IV filed on 13 December 2013 during the oral proceedings.
Reasons for the Decision
1. The appeal is admissible.
2. Admissibility of D11
2.1 Document D11 was filed by the appellant with its statement of grounds of appeal to further corroborate that controlling the moisture content of the polyvinyl butyral (hereinafter: PVB) sheet is important because it determines the formation of air bubbles. However, D11 is not more relevant than other prior art documents already on file, namely D2 to D6.
2.2 Thus the board, exercising its discretion under Article 12(4) RPBA, did not admit D11 into the appeal proceedings.
MAIN REQUEST (claims maintained by the opposition division)
3.1 As stated above under point XI, the appellant maintained that the subject-matter of the claims of all requests extended beyond the content of the application as filed.
3.2 The board was not convinced by the arguments of the appellant and concluded during the oral proceedings that the claims of the main request do not extend beyond the content of the application as filed and therefore satisfy the requirements of Article 123(2) EPC. There is, however, no need to give detailed reasons for this issue since, as set out below, the patent is to be revoked for lack of inventive step.
4. Inventive step
4.1 The invention relates to glass laminates comprising a PVB sheet sandwiched between two panes of glass. The patent aims to provide a process for preparing a glass laminate meeting desired laminate quality and safety specifications, in which de?airing with vacuum treatment of the pre?laminate assembly and autoclave finishing treatment are not required (see paragraph  of the patent specification).
4.2 Closest prior art
4.2.1 The parties agreed that document D1 represents the closest prior art. It discloses a process for producing a laminated glass sheet in which a suitable interlayer disposed between two sheets of glass material is fed through one or more sets of pinch rollers and heated, as it moves, to cause the interlayer to bond to each sheet of glass. In this process (a) both sheets of glass and the interlayer are initially unbonded to one another and rolled simultaneously throughout the process, and (b) the interlayer is heated at least to and preferably above its plastic temperature (claim 1). Preferably the interlayer is heated to between 100°C and 180°C (page 4, line 1). The plastic material of the interlayer (also referred to as hot melt adhesive) is preferably PVB (page 9, lines 1 to 2). As apparent from figure 1, the unbonded assembly of glass sheet and interlayer is fed to the laminating apparatus where infrared heaters (34) heat the assembly before reaching a first set of pinch rollers (12, 16). Short term pressure is applied by the pinch rollers. After passing the first set of pinch roller the laminate is further heated by infrared heaters and passes further sets of pinch rollers (see also page 5, last paragraph, page 6, last paragraph to page 7, second paragraph, and page 9, last paragraph). Finally, the process includes neither autoclaving (page 3, lines 22 to 24), nor a vacuum de?airing step (implicit from the figure and the description of the preferred embodiment on pages 5 to 10).
4.2.2 However, D1 is silent about the moisture content of the PVB interlayer therein used.
4.3 Problem to be solved and its solution
4.3.1 According to the respondent, the technical problem underlying the patent in suit in view of D1 is to provide a process for the preparation of a glass laminate of high quality wherein the formation of bubbles in the interlayer is avoided.
4.3.2 As a solution to this problem the patent proposes the process of claim 1 essentially characterized by the use of a PVB layer having a moisture content below 0.30 percent by weight.
4.3.3 Although a direct comparison with the glass laminates of D1 is not possible because this document is silent about the moisture content of the PVB therein used, the experimental evidence in the patent in suit shows that only when working within the claimed moisture range is bubble formation prevented.
Thus, in example 1, case 2, a laminate prepared from a PVB layer containing 0.36% water by weight (outside the claimed range) exhibited small bubbles over the entire surface of the laminate, and failed all visual and high temperature failure tests. On the contrary, the laminates of example 1, cases 4 and 5, using a PVB layer containing 0.20% water and 0.11% water respectively, and thus within the claimed moisture range, were completely clear with no visible defects and also passed high temperature failure tests (table 1).
4.3.4 The board is therefore satisfied that the above problem has been credibly solved by the taken measure. This finding was not contested by the appellant.
4.4.1 It remains to be decided whether, in view of the available prior art documents, it would have been obvious for the skilled person to solve the above defined technical problem by the means claimed. In the present case it is to be considered whether the skilled person would have chosen a PVB interlayer having a low moisture content in order to avoid bubble formation.
4.4.2 This would be indeed the case in view of the disclosures of documents D2 to D6. As pointed out by the appellant, there is a clear teaching in the prior?art that, in order to reduce the occurrence of bubbles in PVB interlayers, a PVB with low moisture content should be used:
- Document D6, which discloses a process including a vacuum degassing step, clearly teaches the advantages of using a moisture content of the intermediate film of 0.3% by weight or less in order to suppress the incidence of bubbling (see );
- Document D3 discloses, in a process using an autoclave, the advantage of using low moisture content resin interlayers with a moisture content of 0.25% to 0.40% to reduce bubble formation (page 1, left column, lines 11 to 20);
- D2 discloses that the occurrence of water bubbles in the laminate can be avoided by reducing the moisture content of the interlayer sheets (column 8, lines 13 to 22);
- Document D4 uses a PVB interlayer with a moisture content of less than 0.2% by weight in an autoclave-free lamination process (column 2, lines 61 to 66 and column 3, lines 47 to 50); and
- Document D5 uses a PVB interlayer with a water content of below 0.35% weight for reducing bubble formation, also in an autoclave?free lamination process (page 2, lines 64 to 66).
4.4.3 In summary, there is a constant teaching in the prior?art to the use of PVB interlayers with a low moisture content in order to reduce bubble formation when preparing a glass laminate comprising a PVB sheet.
The skilled person carrying out the process of D1 and faced with the problem of reducing bubble formation in the glass laminate would therefore reduce the moisture content in the PVB layer in order to obtain an optically clear laminate. By applying this measure, the skilled person would arrive in an obvious manner at the claimed process.
4.4.4 The respondent argued essentially that the prior art processes of D2 to D6 included either a vacuum de?airing step or an autoclave step and that the skilled person would always consider that such steps, in well-established processes, were essential and could not be dispensed with. The respondent argued further that the process of D1 did not include a pre?heating separate step and that the claimed process was more versatile as it allowed the storage of the pre?laminate.
The board disagrees. It is correct that in the prior art processes disclosed in documents D2 to D6 either an autoclave step or a de?airing vacuum step is carried out. Contrary to the argument of the respondent, there is no mandatary link between such steps and the use of a low moisture content.
There is no teaching in the prior?art that the beneficial use of a PVB layer with low moisture would only work when applied to a process including an autoclave step or a vacuum de?airing step. On the contrary, the fact that this low moisture content is mentioned in several prior?art documents would indicate that it would generally apply to all lamination processes, with or without vacuum and with or without autoclave. The skilled person starting from D1 and seeking to provide laminates with reduced risk of bubble formation would have used a PVB interlayer sheet with a reduced moisture content in view of the teaching derivable from D2 to D6.
4.4.5 Also the further arguments relied upon by the respondent cannot justify an inventive step.
According to the respondent the claimed process includes a separate pre-heating step and allows the storage of the laminate. However, the board notes that these features are not distinguishing features of the subject-matter of claim 1. There can be no doubt that the ranges for the pre-heating step and the bonding step in claim 1 of the main request overlap, and therefore claim 1 embraces an embodiment wherein the same temperature is used for the pre-heating step and the bonding step, e.g. at a temperature of 125°C. Such an embodiment on the one hand falls under claim 1, and on the other hand uses a temperature regime as described in document D1.
Claim 1 is also not limited to a discontinuous process as suggested by the respondent (e.g. with storage of the pre?laminate). In fact, the process of claim 1 can be implemented continuously as explained in paragraph  of the specification.
4.5 In view of the above, the board concludes that the person skilled in the art would have arrived in an obvious manner at the subject-matter of claim 1. Consequently, the subject-matter of claim 1 of the main request lacks an inventive step.
AUXILIARY REQUEST III
5. Inventive step
5.1 Claim 1 of auxiliary request III differs from claim 1 of the main request in that the temperature of the pre?heating step has been limited to a value of 70°C to 100°C. By this amendment the process now mandatorily requires that the temperature of the pre?heating step is lower than temperature of the heating of the pre?laminate.
5.2 There is, however, no information in the patent in suit indicating that the use of two different temperatures for the laminating process has any unexpected effect in the obtained laminate. As indicated above for the main request, the patent in suit always associates the improvement in the quality of the laminate with the use of a PVB layer with a low moisture content, a feature which, as discussed above, was already known from the prior art.
5.3 Furthermore, the patent specification itself acknowledges in its introduction (see paragraph ) that glass laminates are typically formed by first forming a pre?laminate which is then finished into a laminate. In these known processes the finishing step is typically carried out at high temperature and pressure.
5.4 Consequently, in the absence of any unexpected effect, the use of different temperatures for the two heating steps merely further distinguishes the claimed process from the disclosure of D1. However, it cannot justify the presence of an inventive step.
5.5 On these grounds, the reasoning above for the main request applies mutatis mutandis for the subject-mater of claim 1 of auxiliary request III, which therefore lacks an inventive step.
AUXILIARY REQUEST IV
6.1 Auxiliary request IV was filed towards the end of the oral proceedings, after the board had deliberated upon the allowability of the main request and the discussion of inventive step regarding auxiliary request III had taken place , i.e., at the very last moment. Auxiliary requests filed at such a late stage of the proceedings are usually only admitted into the appeal proceedings under exceptional circumstances.
6.2 The respondent justified the late filing of auxiliary request IV, which represents a further limitation of the definition of the moisture content of the polyvinyl butyral, as being a result of the negative finding of the board concerning the main request and the discussion of inventive step of auxiliary request III. The request limits the subject-matter to the most preferred embodiment of the invention resulting in laminates exhibiting an extremely high bake failure temperature of 230°C, a temperature well above the bake failure temperature of the laminates produced according to the prior art. Moreover, the limitation was already the subject-matter of a dependent claim and the appellant should have been in a situation to deal with the amendment.
6.3 The board cannot agree with this. It was the argument of the appellant during the whole proceedings that the moisture content of the polyvinyl butyral could not justify an inventive step. However, none of the auxiliary requests on file prior to the oral proceedings focused on this feature and there was therefore no reason for the appellant in advance of the oral proceedings to prepare for an argument in which this feature became the essential feature of the invention. Moreover, it is doubtful that the amendment would overcome the inventive step objection. As pointed out by the appellant, the process of preparation of the laminate of case 5 of example 1 of the patent on which the respondent mainly relied, differs from the process of preparation of the laminates of cases 3 and 4 not only by the moisture content but also by other process parameters (pre-heating temperature and soaking time). Thus, the relevance of the moisture content for inventive step is highly questionable.
6.4 Consequently, the board exercised its discretion not to admit auxiliary request IV because it was filed at an extremely late stage and there were no exceptional circumstances justifying such late filing (Article 13(1) RPBA).
For these reasons it is decided that:
1. The decision under appeal is set aside.
2. The patent is revoked.


text:
ESPN Insider Jay Bilas has his latest top 68 rankings, and the Kansas Jayhawks return to the top five after beating Missouri. Southern Miss and UMass enter the rankings, while Nevada and Marshall fall out.
Darius Miller hit four free throws in the final minute and freshmen Marquis Teague and Anthony Davis each added two more as No. 2 Kentucky held on to beat Alabama 77-71 on Saturday for its 47th straight home victory.
ESPN Insider Jay Bilas presents the latest Bilas Index after a week of upsets and crazy conference play. This week, the Indiana Hoosiers crack the top 10 for the first time while Pitt continues to plummet.
John Gasaway examines the big questions facing the SEC, including the Final Four chances for Kentucky and Vanderbilt, this season's top dark-horse team, and a possible breakout Player of the Year candidate.

domain: news


As 2018 draws to an end, everyone’s pretty sure that this year has been great in terms of smartphones. Quite a few smartphones ranging from just around Rs. 20,000 to even higher pricetags made it to headlines for very unique reasons. So, here we are, talking a bit about the top 5 best smartphones of 2018.
Top 5 best smartphones of 2018
Once again, these are not based on the so-called awards. Anyway, let’s get started with the list.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is the best smartphone of the year for many reasons. Note 9 comes with the top-notch hardware, great features, a beautiful design, and display. All these come in a neat package, without any compromise on what every kind of users wants. There are no sacrifices at all.
The phone has a gorgeous and tall Super AMOLED display, but there is no notch. Still, with the small bezels on top, the phone does look good and there, Samsung has put front facing camera, sensors and also there is the iris scanner for fast and secure access to the phone. The Galaxy Note 9 comes with a new improved S Pen that has Bluetooth LE connectivity so that you can use the S Pen to interact with the phone wirelessly from a distance and can even use it to capture photos or selfies.
Huawei Mate 20 Pro
Huawei introduced its flagship Mate 20 Pro later this year and the phone has got quite a good reputation, due to the array of features it brings and everyone seems to have put their attention on the camera of the device. There are three lenses on the back- regular, telephoto and wide angle. This helps users capture every moment, the way they want. Also, the phone performs quite well in low lighting conditions. Also, the phone is powered by Huawei’s flagship Kirin 980 chipset.
Apart from the excellent specs and hardware, the Mate 20 Pro is also very much discussed due to one special feature that is the Reverse Wireless Charging, the first phone to have the capability to charge another phone wirelessly. Though there are concerns about Huawei’s EMUI and also the issues Huawei is having while trying to enter the North American market, this phone is being considered by many geeks!
OnePlus 6T is the best value for money flagship out there, for those who want a good camera, innovations like an in-display fingerprint scanner, performance and the fluidity of Oxygen OS. There is no doubt that until now, OnePlus has maintained the best track record for speedy updates and great OS experience.
In the third year of #MadeByGoogle phones, the Pixel 3 certainly excels in many ways. The core of the Pixel 3 is the Android 9 Pie, bringing many features and adding subtle touches to keep you safe from smartphone addiction. The Pixel 3 is also a killer smartphone in terms of camera. Compared to last year’s Pixel 2, the Pixel 3 adds a few new features and the new ‘Night Sight’, which is basically the low light mode is something that can beat any other phone. However, its big brother, the Pixel 3 XL was a bit disappointing due to a large and ugly notch, so if you are someone who just loves seamless updates, great camera, and pure Android experience, the Pixel 3 is for you.
Xiaomi’s subsidiary brand Pocophone shocked everyone this year. From just normal customers to reviewers, everyone was shocked right when the specs of its first phone, Poco F1 were revealed. The Poco F1 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, coupled with 6GB of 8GB of RAM. The base variant with 6GB RAM is priced at just around Rs. 20,000, making it a great choice for those who just want great performance at a nominal budget. Though the camera of the phone isn’t the best in class, it does a pretty decent job and just like most other phone from Xiaomi, the Poco F1 has a strong developer community around it, making it possible for anyone to feel Stock Android or something close to Stock Android, ditching the MIUI, just in case!
Well, that’s our list of top 5 best smartphones in 2018, and what do you think of the list? Let us know in the comment section.


text:
I’d be dead now if it weren’t for the machines. I mean, I am dead, in the formal sense. More than thirty years ago. Drunk driver didn’t see me, wife decided to cremate me, friends held a wake and everything. My ashes are long cold. But losing your body isn’t death. It’s more of an inconvenience.
Growing up, my parents taught me that everyone has an immortal soul. That God longs to be with us, and if we accept him into our hearts we will live eternally in his bosom. I used to have nightmares about it. Just the thought of going on and on and on, in an unending state of worship, was terrifying. I didn’t want to die, but oblivion was surely better than eternity.
Of course, my parents were wrong. There is no numinous puppeteer that lives at the base of our brain. We are not embodied spirits. We are just meat. Flesh and bone, neurons and synapses. All that we are is a process. One driven by physical laws and physical objects. We are our bodies and nothing more.
Right up until the point that we are not.
I stopped believing in God when I was fourteen. Anyone with half a brain should be able to see through the bullshit of a philosophy invented by desert nomads. Like many of the deconverted, I went through a teenage asshole phase before reaching a state of acceptance. Life is finite, and in the end, we all fade to black.
That single, terrifying fact is enough to give you a grounding perspective if you let it. For me, it was a deep respect for the moments. The moments with my wife and friends. The precious little time with my daughter. I think it was my lack of faith that allowed me to become a part of so many lives. I wasn’t biding time for the great beyond, and I knew the moments I cherished were special because they wouldn’t last.
But dying also gives you a certain clarity. It has me wondering if the theologians weren’t more right than the scientists after all. Don’t get me wrong, there is no god. At least I have yet to see the guy show up. But there is an afterlife of a sort.
There’s an old saying that a man dies twice. Once at the last breath of his body. Once again when his name is spoken for the last time. I’ve always found that saying to be beautiful poetry. I now know it is more dark horror than beauty.
Neuroscience was right when they figured that consciousness arises physically in the brain. Our “souls,” for lack of a better word, are simply the emergent property of a complex neural web. There’s no magic to it. And they were also right that the “platform” on which our brains run is largely irrelevant. After all, the cells and atoms in our bodies don’t remain with us all our lives. We eat, shit, breathe, and constantly replenish the atoms in our bodies with new ones. We completely recycle about every seven years, so our bodies at fifty have nothing in common with the body we had at thirty, or ten. The only thing that connects them is our memories. It is our memories that make us a single person instead of a jumble of moments.
And those memories just need a platform. When we are alive, that platform is our brain. When you die your platform dies, so you’d figure that would be it. But the universe has a wicked sense of humor.
I remember reading my Grandfather’s journal when I was about fifteen. I had abandoned the old-time religion of my parents, though it was still fresh in my heart, and I was depressed. Nihilism will do that to a kid.
My Grandfather died when I was only six, so I had barely known him. Reading his journal, I saw how he was filled with doubts about God his whole life. This was a man who never missed Sunday service, and yet he doubted the Divine Creator much of his life. During his service in the war, he came to both believe in and hate God, but in his elder years he returned to doubt. He seemed comfortable with doubt most of all.
I gained a new perspective of my Grandfather, and at times I could almost sense his spirit. It was as if he were reading the journal with me, over my shoulder. If I had turned to look, perhaps I could catch a brief glimpse of him. All poetic nonsense, I know. Except I now wonder if there was some truth to it.
You see, our memories just need a platform. They don’t much care what platform. In reading his journal, perhaps my mind gave those memories a home. Perhaps his mind regained breath for a time. Of course, it’s not really the same as living. Just as a recording of your voice is not really your voice, memories in a book are not conscious. The neuroscientists were right, it’s not magic.
I never kept a journal, but I did love social media. Facebook, Twitter, you name it. I filled hard drives with celebrations, rants, memes. All those memories of me on some distant corporate storage, just waiting to be remembered.
After I died, my social media pages were set as memorials. At first, the only activity on them was on special days. That of my death, my birthday, holidays. My wife wrote long posts on our wedding anniversary the first couple of years. But they stopped when she met someone new. The guy seems nice and was a good second father for my daughter. I’m happy for them.
When loved ones wander through your memories, you aren’t aware of it. My memories of that time are just a vague sense of warmth. More like the last fading coals of a fire than a true afterlife. For those who only have faded stories shared between loved ones or a dusty bound journal in a back closet, I suppose it is fair to say they will never have an afterlife.
But memories on social media never really fade. Corporations don’t delete anything, and when you give them a bit of your soul they own it. A devil’s deal, if you will. The terms of service might as well be signed in blood.
You see, after a time all those social media companies weren’t content to simply store the accounts of people dead for decades. With all that market data, it would be a shame to waste it. So once computers were powerful enough to mimic the human mind, those corporations started modeling the minds of long-dead souls. Feed these simulated minds data, see how they work, learn their deepest desires. Run the models over and over and over. What better way to do market research?
Memories only need a platform. So when the models were created, we old dead folk finally had a platform complex enough to awaken us. An electronic afterlife we didn’t know we agreed to. A life that could be granted wishes or denied dreams at the whim of the marketeer.
It’s a life, of a sort. But I was right. Oblivion would be better than going on and on and on…

domain: literature


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Some of the world’s rarest and most fragile coral reefs and the economies that depend on them will be better protected thanks to a major international marine project led by the University of Southampton.
The three-year, Government-funded, Darwin Initiative project Galapagos Coral Conservation: Impact Mitigation, Mapping and Monitoring was led by Professor Terry Dawson, from the University of Southampton’s School of Geography. The research is published in a special edition of the peer-reviewed journal Galapagos Research.
The aim was to assist the Ecuadorian Government in protecting the last remaining extensive Galapagos coral reefs of the northern Wolf and Darwin Islands and how they can be managed in a way that still supports the economic activities that are so important to the Galapagos Islands.
The coral reefs of the Galapagos Islands contribute significantly to species richness and diversity in the Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR). They support thousands of species, including many rare and endemic corals. In addition, these reef ecosystems are major hotspots with remarkable numbers of sharks, tuna, turtles, and dolphins all ecologically linked to the area’s reef complexes.
However, their distribution has been strongly affected by extreme climatic events over the last 30 years, especially El Niño events where extensive coral reefs were reduced by 95 per cent in 1982–3, with further mortality in 1997–8 due to increased sea surface temperatures as a result of ocean warming.
The project also engaged the fishing and tourism industries for improved management of the marine environment through capacity-building of tourism, dive guides and fishers, and established permanent mooring buoys to avoid boat anchor damage.
Professor Dawson comments: “These significant findings greatly improve our knowledge and appreciation of the value and current condition of the Galapagos’s northerly coral communities and establish conservation measures and stakeholder commitments to protect these valuable habitats.
“This step forward demonstrates how relatively modest external aid can empower applied marine research and lead to management policy. Such steps are critical if natural ecosystem function is to be conserved to maintain Galapagos’s intrinsic value and contribution to the wellbeing of future generations.”
The project also discovered new species both to science and to Galapagos, including zooanthid species from the genera Hydrozoanthus, Parazoanthus, Antipathozoanthus and possibly Epizoanthus, although the latter may be an entirely new species as yet undescribed.
Other reef-building corals have been identified, which are new to Galapagos, including Pocillopora effusus, P. inflata, and Pavona chiriquiensis. In addition, a possible new gorgonian of the genus Pacifigorgia (Octocorallia: Gorgoniidae) species has been collected, together with a new reef-building coral, Leptoseris sp. The coral species Gardineroseris planulata was thought to have gone extinct during the 1997-98 El Niño event, but the project (re)discovered several separate, but small colonies at the Wolf and Darwin island sites
The three-year project is the most comprehensive study using innovative mapping and rapid assessment techniques undertaken to date in the remote northern Galapagos Islands.
The project brought input from a large number of international and local marine and coral scientists, including the Charles Darwin Research Station, Conservation International, Galapagos National Park Service and WildAid, to address the particular conservation challenge faced by Wolf and Darwin Islands.
Professor Dawson’s recent research was essentially a follow-on project, based upon the recommendations that arose out of research by Professor Ken Collins at the University of Southampton’s School of Ocean and Earth Science. Professor Collins was the Principal Investigator/Project leader of an earlier Darwin Initiative project that helped to develop the Galapagos Marine Park.
The Galapagos Islands lie in the Pacific Ocean about 1,000 km from the South American coast and straddling the Equator. Galapagos is a province of Ecuador, and have been recognised internationally as a Man and Biosphere Reserve, and as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. (jdo)

domain: geography


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domain: finance


Paving project slated to start Sunday evening in Bloomsburg
Published: September 14, 2013
BLOOMSBURG — Work on a paving project on Iron Street and Millville Road will begin Sunday evening, but is slated for completion before the start of the...
Published on October 22, 2014 - Page 9*EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division W…
Published on October 23, 2014 - Page 13calendar
Published on October 24, 2014 - Page 11Danville finds silver linings in playoff defeat
Published on October 21, 2014 - Page 2HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Published on October 22, 2014 - Page 2AROUND THE STATE


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By Chris White
Democrats plan on making President Donald Trump’s decision to back out of the highly contentious Paris agreement on climate change an election year issue in 2018 and 2020.
“Paris will be on the ballot,” Brian Deese, a top White House climate adviser during the Obama-era, wrote on Twitter about the president’s move. He noted the timeline for leaving the accord would bring completing the exit in line with the 2020 presidential election.
Political analyst Stuart Rothenberg followed suit, tweeting: “Trump has just elevated ‘the environment’ as a political issue in 2018 and 2020. And that definitely is not to his or the GOP’s advantage.”
Former President Barack Obama signed the 200-nation climate agreement in 2016, which, among other things, includes promises to reduce the U.S.’s greenhouse gas emissions by 28 percent of 2005 levels by 2030.
Democrats have been unable to convince Americans that climate change is an impending issue, despite working doggedly for decades pushing the issue. Global warming rarely pops up on voters’ radars during elections.
A CNN poll from January 2015, for instance, found that nearly 60 percent of Americans did not expect global warming to threaten their way of life. Other polls show that concerns about global warming have sagged over the past decade.
A Gallup poll in 2015 showed that fear of man-made climate change fell to the same level it was in 1989. Only 32 percent of Americans at that time worried about it a “great deal.”
Surveys have also found that U.S. citizens are among the least concerned about climate change among all other nations. A YouGov poll conducted on 18,000 people in 17 countries found only 9.2 percent of Americans rank global warming as a major concern. Only Saudi Arabians were less concerned about global warming at 5.7 percent.
Americans are more concerned about global terrorism, at 28 percent, than climate change.

domain: politics


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Sky is the limit for Manchester United
On the 8th of August, when it was announced that Lionel Messi would be leaving Barcelona and was on the verge of joining Paris Saint Germain, the football world was up on its feet. A player who had been at this club since the age of 13 was at last moving on to a new and different venture. Fans, journalists, and clubs assumed that this, along with the departures of Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane from Real Madrid, would be the biggest announcements of the summer and had already diverted their attention towards the season coming ahead. However, on the 27th of August, it was disclosed that Cristiano Ronaldo had decided to part ways with his club Juventus. The news broke a week after Ronaldo had requested to be left out of Juventus’s starting XI in their season opener against Udinese. Rumours started circulating that the 5-time Ballon d’or winner would be heading to Manchester City, a team in desperate need of a striker. Indeed, it would have been a controversial move as Manchester City were the direct rivals of Cristiano’s former and beloved club, Manchester United. On the same day it was announced that Ronaldo would be leaving Juventus, it was revealed that he was returning to Manchester United. This astonished football fans because the most famous athlete in the world was “coming home”.What impact will Ronaldo’s arrival have on Manchester United and their current season? Ever since Sir Alex Ferguson left the club in 2013, Manchester United haven’t achieved the success that the fans desired. Their best achievements in the post-Ferguson era have been a 2016 FA Cup win, and a 2017 Europa League win. Unfortunately they have not been able to win a single trophy since then. Nevertheless, the future does look bright under the player-turned-manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. He has come in and absolutely transformed the squad with key additions such as Bruno Fernandes, Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho. This team currently holds the record for the longest unbeaten away run in Premier League history of 28 games (and counting). Such factors prove that with the addition of a player like Ronaldo winning silverware will be the bare minimum. Ronaldo himself in an interview for MUTV said, “It’s a new chapter, I’m so happy and glad, and I want to carry on again, to make history, to try to help Manchester United achieve great results, to win trophies and number one of them is to win great things.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also had things to say about his return. “He is going to make us a better team,” the United manager said. “He’s a special boy, or man now. He was a boy when I played with him. Of course, the players are excited, some have played with him in their national team. You see the fans - they are excited. That’s what he does - he is a special player.”
The Portuguese star had scored 118 goals for Man United during his initial time at the club and had won them three Premier League titles, one FA Cup, and one Champions League. Now that he’s back after conquering other parts of Europe, sky is the limit for Manchester United and Ronaldo.
However, Manchester United’s success does not solely depend on Ronaldo. Football is a team sport, and one individual cannot carry the whole team to success. If they want to achieve greatness, then they need to ensure that every single position in the starting 11 has a solid player that can provide what the team requires. The position of central defensive midfielder remains uncertain. United currently have three options: Nemanja Matic, Fred and Scott Mctominay who is currently recovering from a groin injury. Fans are not satisfied with these options with Matic being labelled too slow and Fred not good enough. Now that the transfer window is shut, Ole will need to find a viable solution to this problem. Perhaps experimenting with Victor Lindelof, a fast defender that has quality passing, in the CDM position may prove to be useful. Risks will have to be taken, and now is the right time. For a squad that has quality players such as Ronaldo, Fernandes, Varane and Pogba, winning trophies is a must. Only time will tell whether the grand return of CR7 will take Manchester United back to winning ways.


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After working with Pixar for 25 years, director Lee Unkrich is now parting ways with the animation studio. He first worked on “Toy Story,” Pixar’s first film, as an editor. Then, he would go on to co-direct films like “Finding Nemo,” “Monster’s Inc.,” and “Coco” which were Oscar-winning hits. But now, he’s stepping down to spend more time with his family.
Here’s a statement to THR from Unkrich himself:
“I’m not leaving to make films at another studio; instead, I look forward to spending much-needed time with my family and pursuing interests that have long been back-burnered.”
“Monster’s Inc.” co-director, Pete Docter, offered up his own statement on Unkrich’s departure:
“His artistry and expert craftsmanship as an editor and co-director became a major reason for the high quality of our filmmaking, and as Lee went on to direct, his ability to find the deep humor and emotion enabled him to create some of the strongest films we’ve made.”
His departure comes at a major moment of change for the studio. Before Unkrich left, Pixar co-founder John Lasseter stepped down from his position after being hit with a sea of sexual misconduct accusations.
Lee Unkrich has been instrumental to Pixar’s success over the years. So, it’s curious to see how the studio’s films will fare after his absence. Also, we’ll see if he’ll continue to work on animated features. Either that or he becomes like Brad Bird and transitions to live action cinema. But as of right now, he has no projects in the pipeline.
Regardless of whether he does more animated films, his contribution to the field of animation shall not be forgotten.
How do you feel about Lee Unkrich departing from Pixar? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section!
Check out our Oscar Predictions to see where your favorite films rank- All in THE CIRCUIT HUB

domain: entertainment


Lewis Hamilton’s penalty in the Belgian Grand Prix has provoked unprecedented levels of debate and discussion on F1 Fanatic – nearly 900 comments spread across four articles. Tomorrow the World Motor Sports Council meets to pass judgement on McLaren’s appeal against the penalty. Will they change the stewards’ verdict? Will the penalty be decided on … Continue reading Hamilton penalty: The trial (Poll)
Five days after the Hamilton penalty controversy the FIA has announced how drivers should behave if they cut a corner and gain an advantage while racing a driver for position. According to Autosport: Drivers [have been] informed that in the event of a driver cutting a chicane and gaining a position, he not only had … Continue reading Hamilton penalty: FIA closes the stable door after the horse has bolted (Video)
After the European Grand Prix I created a series of charts to see how the race lap times by the drivers in each of the top three teams compared. This time I’ve repeated the exercise for all 20 drivers in the Belgian Grand Prix. Which drivers coped best with the wet weather? Which team mates … Continue reading Belgian GP: team mate performances
Lewis Hamilton will have to hand over his Belgian Grand Prix winner’s trophy to Felipe Massa (appeal pending). It will be small comfort to him that plenty of other drivers have had wins taken off them in the past. Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher and others have lost race wins after the chequered flag. More encouragingly … Continue reading Hamilton joins Senna, Prost, Schumacher and others who had F1 wins confiscated
After the stewards took Lewis Hamilton’s win in the Belgian Grand Prix and handed it to Felipe Massa comments flew into F1 Fanatic faster than I had time to read them. Inevitably many have reacted to the decision based on whether they’re fans of Hamilton or Ferrari, which is understandable. But reading the hundreds of … Continue reading Seven reasons why so many F1 fans are furious about Hamilton’s penalty
Spa-Francorchamps in all its glory. Here’s a selection of high-resolution pictures from the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix.
Felipe Massa is, for now at least, the winner of the Belgian Grand Prix. Taking the results as they stand, here’s a look at the stats and facts from yesterday’s race.
Lewis Hamilton won a thrilling Belgian Grand Prix but the stewards’ decision to strip him of victory soured an otherwise magnificent race.
Lewis Hamilton has had his victory in the Belgian Grand Prix taken away from him by the Belgian Grand Prix stewards. The stewards added 25 seconds to his race time for cutting the chicane while battling with Kimi Raikkonen, leaving him third behind Nick Heidfeld. This is an absolute travesty of a decision which mocks … Continue reading Hamilton stripped of Belgian GP win – another asinine FIA decision
Timo Glock has been relegated from eighth to ninth place in the Belgian Grand Prix after passing Mark Webber under yellow flags in the vicinity of Kimi Raikkonen’s crashed Ferrari. Glock had finished eighth, but was given a 25-second penalty by the stewards, dropping him to ninth. No word yet on any penalty for Lewis … Continue reading Timo Glock loses point after penalty
Fernando Alonso claimed he would have won the Belgian Grand Prix if he had switched to wet weather tyres sooner. A look a the lap times suggest Alonso has a point. Instead of Alonso passing Sebastian Vettel at the final corner, it could have been Lewis Hamilton…
The drivers’ and constructors’ championship tables are below and have been updated following Timo Glock and Lewis Hamilton’s penalties
Lewis Hamilton snatched victory in the Belgian Grand Prix from Kimi Raikkonen in the dying stages of the race. But their thrilling duel as rain fell in the final laps of the race is being investigated by the stewards who feel Hamilton and Raikkonen may have broken the rules. Here’s a video of what happened:
Rate the Belgian Grand Prix out of ten and share your thoughts on the race below.
Join in the Belgian Grand Prix live blog below. Here are some useful links: Links to live F1 video (please post any new video links here) Live F1 timing Radio commentary (UK) 2008 Belgian Grand Prix event information Spa-Francorchamps circuit information and diagram To read earlier messages in the live blog it will be easier … Continue reading 2008 Belgian Grand Prix Live Blog
Fuel strategy is enormously (and wearisomely) important in deciding the outcome of races. So when will Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and the rest of the top ten have to make their first stops for fuel tomorrow? During the qualifying live blog Bert did a quick comparison of the increases in lap times between Q2 and … Continue reading Belgian GP driver fuel load predictions
Lewis Hamilton will start the Belgian Grand Prix from pole position alongside title rival Felipe Massa. Their team mates will line-up directly behind them on row two with Heikki Kovalainen ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.
The Belgian Grand Prix qualifying live blog has finished. Review the live blog in full below.
The Belgian Grand Prix free practice 3 live blog has finished. See below to review the live blog in full.
The Belgian Grand Prix free practice 2 live blog has finished. You can review the live blog in full below.


A recent article in the Eagle-Tribune discusses the dropout rate in Haverhill, Massachusetts and plans to reduce the number of students choosing to leave Haverhill High School before graduation.
"With a 4.4 percent dropout rate at Haverhill High School, which is more than double the state average of 1.9 percent, Haverhill's school are about to take new steps to help children before they reach high school."
"'While we remain concerned about the dropout rate, we believe that it is time to take a different and more pro-active approach to this and many other issues that we face in our schools today,' [Jared] Fulgoni [,assistant superintendent of schools,] said."
"At Thursday's [Haverhill] School Committee meeting, Fulgoni outlined some of the steps to retain more students and reduce the dropout rate. He said those ideas stem from a one week educational seminar he attended this summer at Harvard University, and research Harvard conducted."
Sep 21, 2017
An Edutopia article last year discussed how the Walter Bracken STEAM Academy Elementary School, a Title 1 magnet school in urban Las Vegas, Nevada, created a culture of reading by introducing "Series Reading" across all grade levels. What was the result?
– By fifth grade, students are two and a half years above grade level on the STAR Reading Assessment.
– Instead of talking about the latest TV shows, students excitedly discuss the books they read.
– Students are often caught reading books under their desks during other lessons.
A recent Education Dive article discusses how school libraries can increase interest and use by creating "makerspaces" that encourage hands-on, creative work.
"Not long ago the New Milford High School library in New Jersey was pretty traditional. It had tall stacks of books and old wooden tables that didn’t move easily. It was underutilized. Students weren’t drawn to it and, to a large extent, neither were teachers.
"Today, it’s a different story. Students stop by the library during their lunch period and come before and after school. Teachers send students down to work on projects during class time or bring their entire classes. With far more people in and out of the library throughout the day, circulation is way up."
“'Makerspaces are about creating a maker culture,' [the New Milford High School librarian Laura] Fleming said. 'It’s a mindset. It’s a toolbox at your disposal for reaching kids. That can be done in any space and on any budget.'”
A recent article in Education Week discusses how school districts investing in principals before and during their tenure gave them a better chance to succeed and provided districts with a pipeline of effective school leaders.
"Leading a school to better teaching and learning requires a great principal. Unfortunately, finding and training new principals in effective school leadership has been a long-standing challenge for many districts. So it’s good news for districts and states focused on school improvement that six large, urban school districts have shown it is possible – and not expensive – to build principal pipelines that have a mission to produce a steady supply of effective school leaders."
An analysis found that to have effective "principal pipelines" school districts must have rigorous job standards, strong preservice training, selective hiring, and sound on-the-job support and evaluation for novice principals.
The article concluded, "A great teacher can electrify a classroom. A team of great teachers led by a great principal can electrify a whole school."
A recent article in The Eagle-Tribune discussed a summer program where Haverhill teachers participated in an AP course "Summer Institute."
"Five teachers from Haverhill High School ... spent the last few days at a weeklong program at Bridgewater State University, where they spent time with instructors and hundreds of fellow teachers from various states and foreign countries, honing their teaching skills specifically for Advanced Placement courses.
"The Summer Institute program is put on each year by Mass Insight Education, a national nonprofit that aims to improve school systems and student achievement through district restructuring and academic rigor. It runs two sessions, one week long each, and this year will see a total of 520 participants from 39 states and 10 foreign countries. "
The article continued, "Teaching an AP course requires different skills from teachers than an average high school course. Darshan Thakkar, the chief academic officer for Haverhill schools, said teachers need to impart more than the course material — they must teach students to synthesize information from various sources, then analyze that information and articulate their own argument about that information. "
An article by eSchool News discusses the importance of writing to improve student learning in all disciplines, not just to prove students are learning.
"Simply put, writing is our critical thinking made visible.
"Through the process of writing, writers put nascent thoughts into comprehensible language for others to read. In their pursuit of self-expression, they often find themselves challenged to find new words or motivated to develop academic vocabulary.
"Because it is a critical thinking process, writing isn’t merely an act of jotting down what you have in your head. Once the initial thoughts in your head start to flow, you naturally begin iterating on them."
School districts must give students with disabilities the chance to make meaningful, "appropriately ambitious" progress, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled in March, National Public Radio reported. The 8-0 decision sets a higher standard for how public schools must educate students with disabilities.
The decision in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District may have implications for the 6.5 million students with disabilities in the United States and the local school districts that must provide a free and appropriate public education. The unanimous opinion held that the meaning of "appropriate" under the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act goes further than what the lower courts had held.
The case centered on a child with autism and attention deficit disorder, Endrew F., whose parents removed him from public school in fifth grade. He went on to make better progress in a private school. His parents argued that the individualized education plan provided by the public school was not adequate, and they sued to compel the school district to pay his private school tuition.
Read the United States Supreme Court Opinion (Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District)
Jun 15, 2017
The National Dropout Prevention Center/Network at Clemson University offers a free webcast, Solutions to the Dropout Crisis. The free program does not require any registration, and it airs the second Tuesday of every month at 3:30 PM EST. The show covers a variety of topics related to dropout prevention. As of the date of this post, there are 87 past episodes available for viewing on demand. The most recent episode discusses student engagement.
A June 3, 2017, editorial in the Boston Globe mentions the situation with the Silver Hill Horace Mann Charter School.
"Back in 2006, in its pre-charter existence, the K-5 school was underperforming and facing a possible state takeover. The approach to fixing those problems was to transform the school into an automatically unionized Horace Mann charter, thereby giving it more latitude to set its own course. By 2013, Silver Hill had made enough progress to win Level 1 status. That is, a spot in the state’s top school tier."
The following opinion piece recently published in the New York Times discusses the importance of principals in our schools. It seems obvious, but, as the article points out, policymakers focus on so many other aspects to fix broken schools, such as curriculum, teachers, standardized testing, class size, charter schools, and even buildings. There is much more talk about holding teachers accountable than principals. Principals can make a big difference in schools. They are the leaders who set the tone for the entire building.
"To be clear, teachers matter enormously. Rigorous research has found that high-performing teachers don’t only help their students do better on the standardized tests everyone loves to hate; their students also graduate from college at a higher rate and earn more money as adults.
"Great teachers, quite simply, change lives. On the other end of the spectrum, struggling teachers do not get enough support, and it’s too hard to fire those who fail to improve.
"Principals are so important because they offer one of the most effective means to improve teaching."


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Normal Public Library Postpones Plans For New Library Facility
The Normal Public Library is postponing dreams of a new library, potentially for decades.
Instead, the library will do a feasibility study to explore the possibility of expanding the current site. Library Director Brian Chase said there is no current plan by the town to finance the project, even with help from the library foundation.
“I think the reality is that the funding is likely years down the road,” Chase said. “What I’ve encouraged the board to do is consider if there’s another possibility to improve our service to the community. If we can’t afford the 50- or 100-year solution right now, and we don’t know when that could be, maybe we could make some changes to our existing site.”
Chase said the expansion could offer the town a 30-year solution. “It’s really looking at how to optimize what we (already) have,” Chase said.
The current process of developing a new library facility began in summer 2016. The conceptual design itself cost $297,000, along with an estimated $14,000 of travel costs for OPN Architects of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which created the design.
The feasibility study will cost an additional $10,000 and will be completed by Chicago-based Product Architecture and Design, the same group who worked on the library’s Discovery Room and main floor projects a few years back.
The expansion would be to the south and west sides of the current library between Mulberry and College. Moving forward with the expansion would most likely mean delaying the timeline for a new library for an unknown period of time, said Chase.
“I think if we move forward with significant additions, it would push out a new facility,” Chase said. “But our goal is simply to address the space needs that we have and to best serve the community.”
Library Board Chair Jess Ray is not so sure. Ray said any expansion might just make the existing building more attractive to a future tenant if conditions change and a new site becomes reality.
Along with determining cost, the study will see how much expansion is actually possible in a limited space. A needs-assessment test done by the library in 2008 said the library was at a 7,000-square-foot deficit, projected to grow another 1,000 square feet per year. This puts the library at a deficit of about 17,000 square feet.
Chase said the library is hoping to add about 20,000 square feet and create spaces designed for people, such as study spaces and open, flexible layouts. He believes some people will be happy the library is sticking its current location.
“I think a lot of people really love our current location, even acknowledging parking is a challenge,” Chase said.
The Town of Normal has resisted the contention of poor parking options in the past. Town leaders have often pointed out the parking deck is only yards away from the library.
Chase added he doesn’t see the on-site expansion study as settling for a lesser option than a new library in Uptown South.
“I don’t feel that we’re settling as much as acknowledging the conditions,” Chase said. “The conditions have changed since we started this new facility design. Not only is there not a funding plan, but there’s not an indication of when we would see one.”
Chase also said the time and money already spent on the plan for a new facility is not a waste. Program information can be used no matter where the library is and will help the library if it moves forward with the expansion.
“I don’t think that work goes away. I think that work certainly helps inform us as we continue to move forward. Regardless of what we do, we’ve laid out what we want to do in terms of space,” said Chase.
The Normal Town Council has long approved the concept of a new library south of the train tracks in Uptown.
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domain: library


text:
Group Lotus CEO Dany Bahar is confident that Kimi Raikkonen will be firing on all cylinders when he turns out for Renault next year…
Group Lotus CEO Dany Bahar is confident that Kimi Raikkonen will be firing on all cylinders when he turns out for Renault next year.
The Finn has come in for criticism in the past for appearing disinterested both on and off the track. Many have questioned his motivation – or apparent lack there of – throughout his F1 career owning in a large part due to his laid back nature and unwillingness to converse with the media.
However, Bahar, who worked with Raikkonen at Ferrari, believes that the 32-year-old’s return to the sport is proof enough that he is motivated.
“As with anyone we work with on and off track, we expect him to do his best,” Bahar told the official Formula One website.
“I fully expect that he will take his commitment to the team very seriously and will do everything he can to bring in points. From what I know of Kimi from previous experience, he is a dedicated and determined driver and he wants results.
“He hasn’t taken the decision to return to F1 lightly – he wants to fight to be at front.”


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Yet recently, they've been hitting the headlines for a very different reason. Multiple women on the social media platform TikTok are reporting unexpected pregnancies while using the semaglutide-based drugs.
Just what this means isn't entirely clear, though there might be reason to suspect the medications could interfere with some classes of birth control.
Ozempic, and other similar drugs, mimic the actions of GLP-1 (or Glucagon-like peptide-1), a hormone produced in the gut after eating. It helps control blood sugar levels, which is why those with diabetes often need an extra dose of it. Another effect of Ozempic is to slow digestion, which is why it's often used as a weight loss drug too.
Though some speculate this might affect oral contraceptives as they flow through their body, research fails to support views that semaglutide reduces contraceptive effectiveness. Even if the 'Ozempic babies' headlines are new, this link has been studied for years, with no evidence of conflict uncovered.
What we seem to be getting now are a rush of anecdotal reports from women using Ozempic and similar drugs, and getting pregnant when they didn't want to – sometimes after years of infertility.
Over the years, GLP-1 agonist drugs have been associated with various health benefits: better cardiovascular health, a reduced risk of dementia, and even an improved level of protection against cancer. It's a fast-moving field, and new discoveries are being made all the time.
Without further research on the impact that GLP-1 agonists may have on oral contraceptives and overall fertility, the TikTok trend cannot be clinically verified.
It's perhaps the weight loss aspect that could be key, some experts suggest: the relationship between body weight and fertility is one that's well recognized at this point, which may help to explain why we're seeing this trend of 'Ozempic babies'.
Based on studies that indicate higher risks of pregnancy loss and birth defects while on semaglutide, doctors strongly recommend avoiding drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic while attempting to fall pregnant.
Research is already underway to help us understand the effects of these drugs in more detail, and how they interact with other processes in the body. It's another reminder that just about any kind of drug treatment comes with side effects and other consequences, positive or negative, that might not be fully understood.

domain: medical


Will the health care bill pass?
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Biography All Music GuideWikipedia
All Music Guide:
Hopeton Lewis' rich baritone has had a profound impact on Jamaican music, and his mixture of gospel and soul elements helped set the template for early rocksteady. Born October 3, 1947, in Kingston, Lewis' mother died when he was two, and he rotated living with various aunts, uncles, and grandparents. By the age of six he was already singing in church, and singing is where he turned when he was left on his own at the age of 15. Lewis quickly formed his first singing group, the Regals, and his career course was set. Like many Jamaican singers, Lewis got his start at Studio One, but soon moved over to Ken Khouri's Federal Studios, where he recorded what is arguably the first rocksteady side, "Take It Easy," backed by Lynn Taitt & the Jets. The song was released on Winston Blake's Merritone label in 1966 and was a huge success. In the late '60s he worked as part of a duo with Glen Brown. His solo career really took off when he won the 1970 Festival Song Competition with the song "Boom Shacka Lacka," which he recorded for Duke Reid's Treasure Isle label, then moved over to Byron Lee's Dynamic Sound imprint for the album Groovin' Out on Life, which firmly established Lewis as an explosive singer and performer when it was released in 1973, followed quickly by a second album, The Dynamic Hopeton Lewis. Lewis started his own label, Bay City Music, in the late '80s and turned increasingly to gospel music, releasing This Is Gospel in 1996, followed by Reaching Out to Jesus in 2000. Since then Lewis stuck with gospel and has released a prolific series of albums, including Lay Your Hands on Me Jesus, Caribbean Gospel Jubilee, Inner Peace, Hopeton Lewis Sings Country Gospel, The Many Moods of Gospel, and The Inspirational Hopeton Lewis.
Hopeton Lewis (3 October 1947 – 4 September 2014) was a Jamaican singer.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Lewis sang in church from an early age and started performing as a youth, forming a singing group called the Regals. By the mid-1960s, he began recording and had one of the earliest rocksteady hits with "Take It Easy" in late 1966. The track was recorded with Lynn Taitt and the Jets and is regarded as one of the first rocksteady singles. He had several more Jamaican hits in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including the first 'herb' song ever recorded in Jamaica, "Cool Collie". He worked for Duke Reid as an arranger and backing vocalist, and won the Festival Song Contest in 1970 with "Boom Shaka Lacka". He began working as a singer with Byron Lee & the Dragonaires, and in 1971 had a hit with "Grooving Out On Life".
Lewis continued to release records, but his success after the early 1970s was limited. Lewis released This Is Gospel in 1996 on his own label, Bay City Music, founded in the 1980s. Much of his later work was in the gospel genre, including Reaching Out to Jesus (2000).
He lived the later period of his life in Brooklyn, New York, where he presented a show on Grace Deliverance Radio.
Lewis died on 4 September 2014 at his home in Brooklyn, aged 66, after suffering kidney failure.Allmusic.com biography - accessed August 2008 Larkin, Colin (1998) "The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae", Virgin Books, ISBN 0-7535-0242-9 Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rough Guide To Reggae", Rough Guides, ISBN 1-84353-329-4 "Unsung: Take It Easy with Hopeton Lewis", Jamaica Observer, 30 November 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2012 Campbell, Howard (2014) "Singer Hopeton Lewis is dead", Jamaica Observer, 5 September 2014. Retrieved 5 September 2014 Campbell, Howard (2014) "Hopeton Lewis Grooved on Life", Jamaica Observer, 7 September 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2014


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D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice is a network of educators who seek to strengthen and deepen social justice teaching. The mission statement is:
We are a community of mutual support for educators to collaborate on curriculum, professional learning, and activism. We challenge systems of oppression through anti-bias, anti-racist, and multicultural education. We work with students, families, and other educators in and outside of our classrooms to create a more just and equitable world.
- hosts working groups, public forums, workshops, and courses
- documents and shares stories from the classrooms of social justice educators
- plays a lead role in the annual D.C. Area Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action
- publicizes events of interest to social justice educators
- coordinates speaker visits to classrooms
- and more.

domain: sociology


Solution Delivers First of Its Kind Licensed Mesh Network for High Performance Security Video and Wireless Access
RALEIGH, N.C., Dec. 5 -- Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT) today announced that Wake County, NC has deployed the MOTOMESH(TM) multi-radio broadband solution to enhance public safety measures at three major venues across the county. The venues include the North Carolina State Fairgrounds, which last year had an attendance topping 795,000, as well as Carter-Finley Stadium at NC State University and the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Center. Motorola's MOTOMESH based video system sends live video surveillance from major venues to the county public safety headquarters, and to patrolling police officers.
The County is the first to complete deployment of a 4.9GHz MOTOMESH network. The new 4.9 GHz public safety band offers added security and is less prone to interference than other wireless systems that utilize freely available unlicensed spectrum.
"The Wake County Domestic Preparedness Task Force supported this project to improve the coordinated video surveillance and wireless data capabilities of law enforcement agencies operating at these venues," said Brian McFeaters, Chairman, Wake County Domestic Preparedness Task Force. He added that Wake County utilized Department of Homeland Security funds through its Domestic Preparedness Task Force to purchase the network.
The MOTOMESH based video system will allow police officers to control and view surveillance cameras at several locations throughout the county from their patrol cars or while on foot. Users are able to pan across a crowd and even zoom in and out, while they view the video on laptop computers or on handheld devices. MOTOMESH leverages Motorola's proven Mesh Enabled Architecture (MEA®) technology, giving users a self-forming and self-healing mobile broadband connection for video and data applications.
"We host many large events at our world-class venues in Wake County and we needed a solution to better protect our residents and guests, without having to increase the size of the security detail," added John Higgins, IT Assistant Director, Wake County. "The MOTOMESH system gives our officers a way to remotely view real-time video from multiple cameras at these events. By taking advantage of the new licensed 4.9GHz spectrum the FCC put aside for public safety applications, we can provide a robust and secure link to our patrol cars and even to officers working amongst the crowds."
The collaborative effort between Wake County Public Safety agencies, NC State University, NC State Fairgrounds, and RBC has provided each agency the capability to work together in a more unified approach for events at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds.
"Wake County officials saw the need to increase public safety at large events and found that MOTOMESH gave them the capabilities they needed. It also gave them additional peace of mind by supporting these capabilities while operating 100% within the newly licensed 4.9GHz public safety band," said Richard Licursi, Vice President of the Mesh Networks Product Group at Motorola. "With more than a dozen MOTOMESH network deployments in progress, Motorola has clearly created a compelling mobile broadband solution for public safety officials interested in leveraging the additional security and lower interference found in the 4.9GHz spectrum."
MOTOMESH can also be configured to support industry standard Wi-Fi access and mobile broadband access in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz band. This enables municipal and county governments to deploy a single, mobile broadband network that offers unlicensed wireless access to the public and other agencies, while offering dedicated licensed access to first responders. MOTOMESH offers a complete metro wireless broadband solution to support today and tomorrow's eGovernment initiatives.
About Motorola Mesh Networks Products
Motorola's mesh networks technology was originally developed for the military battlefield in order to provide instant, ad-hoc communication networks where fixed infrastructure was not available or deployable. As a result, users receive a robust mobile broadband communications network that is self-forming and self-healing. Motorola's unique Multi-Hopping® technology turns every mesh-enabled user into a router/repeater, so every user makes the network stronger. It also allows users to hop through each other and form instant ad hoc peer-to-peer networks among themselves.
Motorola is a Fortune 100 global communications leader that provides seamless mobility products and solutions across broadband, embedded systems and wireless networks. In your home, auto, workplace and all spaces in between, seamless mobility means you can reach the people, things and information you need, anywhere, anytime. Seamless mobility harnesses the power of technology convergence and enables smarter, faster, cost-effective and flexible communication. Motorola had sales of US $31.3 billion in 2004. For more information: www.motorola.com/ .
Source: Motorola, Inc.
CONTACT: Pam Benke of Motorola, Inc., +1-407-659-5332, or [email protected]


A Case For Long Range, The Most Skilled Form Of The Hunt
Long range hunting has been a factor in the American outdoors scene for as long as it has existed, yet it hasn’t existed without controversy. The issue reached national attention in the Wall Street Journal as recently as 2016, and an editorial in the Great Falls Tribune highlighted ethics over the practice. Most critiques focus on one potential problem with long range hunting: missing or scuffing shots, and in the process causing undue harm to an animal. This critique ignores the skill of a hunter and the equipment available to help them succeed in a hunt; arguably, long range hunting has a case as one of the pinnacles of hunting skill. Bringing together skill, safety and arguably improved conditions for the environment, long-range shooting really does have a place in the modern hunting conversation.
Just because a hunter has range on his target, it does not make it easy. The one advantage that long-range hunters have is the reduced likelihood that they will be spotted – though the glare from a scope can startle animals. Hunters looking to purchase a long range scope will often look for anti-glare for this reason, as well as the normal range of optical adjustments and range-finding reticle quality. In fact, long range hunting is technically more difficult than simple close-range shots. One Business Insider article concerning a Marine Corps sniper noted that long range rifle work is perhaps one of the most technically challenging tasks for any rifle trained person, seasoned or not. Consequently, long range shooting of live animals should be restricted to experienced shooters.
Hunting brings with it an inherent risk of injury. Statistics reported by ThoughtCo note around 123,000 firearms incidents every year involving hunters, mostly from small arms fire or being unable to see what’s behind the target – a primary concern for any hunter, and one overlooked at their peril. Long range hunting helps to eliminate risk – the amount of time and thought poured into every shot makes it less and less likely that a human target will be hit, and the presumed lack of small arms fire and round movement also reduces risk in the field.
There’s also the matter of incidents involving animals. This is actually a fairly common occurrence, and can happen in very challenging situations. In October 2019, the Washington Post reported on one Arkansas hunter who was fatally gored by a deer he thought he had killed at close range. Having distance between you and your prey not only enables you to score a clean shot, clear of adrenaline, but it also puts distance between you and injury. This is true whether dealing with an animal you had presumed killed, or more dangerous types of prey – such as the rising popularity of the coyote and feral hog game.
A wider skill set
The optics and settings needed to create a long-range weapon are complicated enough in the hands of enthusiasts. Then you have wind speed, elevation, tilt, wind speed at target, basing, and your own adrenaline to contend with. Put simply, it is not simple to ‘snipe’ targets. Becoming a long range hunter builds a wide range of skills that arguably will elevate your skills above that of a regular enthusiast. Instead of being the stereotype of a careless fire-and-forget hunter, you will instead have a greater knowledge of ethics for the animals you hunt, the ins and outs of how to hunt and how to be a good marksman, and an all-round greater skill set. Long range hunting can elevate your game to new levels.
The ecological argument
There are holistic benefits to long-range hunting. In a review of the environmental impacts of hunting, Scientific American noted the impact on green spaces from too much footfall. This is in addition to the impact on the diversity of an area’s ecology when conditions are focused too specifically to the benefit of a game stock which suits traditional, short-range forms of hunting. Long-range hunting, where you identify a shooting area and then setup to work exclusively on that spot, helps to reduce much of the on-the-day impact that hunting can have when careless hunters are involved.
Long range hunting is stigmatized as unethical because of the actions of a rare amateur. A seasoned hunter with the time and commitment to make long range hunting feasible will be richly rewarded. Potentially the pinnacle of the hunting game, being able to shoot properly from range is an art form.


text:
MMTAPER models a segment of inhomogeneous microstrip line on multilayered substrate GMSUB. The width of microstrip tapers smoothly between ports. This model allows linear and exponential width tapers. The substrate may be suspended, covered by a metal cover, or placed into a metal enclosure.
MMTAPER$ is a Microstrip iCell and has no W1 or W2 parameters. See “Intelligent Cells (iCells)” for more information.
|W1||Conductor width @ node 1||Length||W|
|W2||Conductor width @ node 2||Length||W|
|L||Length of taper||Length||L|
|NL||Number of the substrate layer carrying conductor||1|
GMSUB. Supplies parameters for multilayer dielectric substrate, conductor thickness, conductor metal properties, the presence/absence of metallic cover, and the cover height above the substrate. The GMSUB Cover parameter allows the addition/elimination of an infinite metallic plate acting as a cover/shield. Setting the Gnd parameter to "Suspended substrate" allows elevation of the dielectric stack above the backing ground. The elevation gap is filled with air and the HB parameter specifies its height.
Taper. This parameter provides two options. The "Linear" option provides linear taper, that is, an outline of the strip is a trapezoid. The "Exponential" option provides exponential taper, that is, an outline of the strip is trapezoid-like with longitudinal sides made with concave exponents.
Note that the substrate GMSUB's Cover parameter allows you to model the effect of either PEC substrate cover (Cover = "Metallic Cover") or PEC enclosure (cover + side walls). A secondary substrate parameter SW allows you to control the separation of the right-most/left-most conductor from the respective side wall. Conductor separations from the left and from the right wall are assumed equal.
This model does not impose restrictions on the conductor thickness T (it may be zero, positive, or negative). Negative thickness means that the conductor is recessed into the substrate.
If substrate parameter Gnd = "Grounded substrate" then the number of the substrate layer carrying conductor NL must be within limits 1≤NL≤N, where N is a number of dielectric layers in the substrate stackup . If Gnd = "Suspended substrate" then NL must be within the limits 1≤NL≤N+1. Setting NL = N + 1 implies that the taper line is located onto the air layer underlying the dielectric stack. To enable the conductor (at NL = N + 1) to jut downwards (from the dielectric stack bottom), conductor thickness T should be made negative (T<0).
GMSUB parameter T. T specifies thickness of the taper line metal. Note that the GMSUB parameter T is actually a vector, but MMTAPER uses only the first entry of this vector so you may enter the value of T as a scalar. It is important that the connecting line is located at the same layer (specified by parameter NL). In a multilayer stack configuration often it is convenient to have a separate GMSUB instance for MMTAPER.
This model is constructed from a cascaded series of constant width microstrip transmission lines. Model implementation is based on an EM Quasi-Static technique. The number of sections used is frequency-dependent and is constant as a function of the length divided by the guided wavelength. This model assumes a Quasi-TEM mode of propagation and incorporates the effects of dielectric and conductive losses.
This element uses line types to determine its layout. By default, the layout uses the first line type defined in your Layout Process File (LPF). You can change the element to use any of the line types configured in your process:
Select the item in the layout.
Right-click and chooseto display the Cell Options dialog box.
Click the Layout tab and select a Line Type.
Clickto use the new line type in the layout.
See “Cell Options Dialog Box: Layout Tab ” for Cell Options dialog box Layout tab details.
See “The Layout Process File (LPF)” for more information on editing Layout Process Files (LPFs) and to learn about adding or editing line types.
The layout cell has a local parameter NUM_EXP_POINT that is valid if Taper=Exponential. This parameter specifies the number of points used for drawing a curved outline of exponential taper. The default value of NUM_EXP_POINT is 50.
This is an Cadence® Developed Model. The reference for the straight section Microstrip line follows:
 M.B. Bazdar, A.R. Djordjevic, R.F. Harrington, and T.K. Sarkar, "Evaluation of quasi-static matrix parameters for multiconductor transmission lines using Galerkin's method," IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., vol. MTT-42, July 1994, pp. 1223-1228.

domain: design