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Julie Andrews is one of the most recognized figures in the world of entertainment, best known for her performances in The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, and The Princess Diaries. Julie has been a celebrated children's book author for over thirty years, and her works include Mandy, The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, and the Little Bo series. Her memoir, Home, was #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.
Jason Arnopp is a British author and scriptwriter. His background is in journalism: he has worked on titles such as Heat, Q, The Word, Kerrang!, SFX and Doctor Who Magazine. He has written comedy for Radio 4 and official tie-in fiction for Doctor Who and Friday the 13th, but The Last Days of Jack Sparks was the first novel which was entirely Jason's own fault.
Jabari Asim is the author of several adult and children's books, including Preaching to the Chickens which was named one of the NYT Best Illustrated Books of 2016 and Fifty Cents and a Dream-an NAACP Image Award Nominee, CCBC Choice, School Library Journal Editor's Choice, and Kirkus Best Book. He is an associate professor at Emerson College in Boston and executive editor of The Crisis, the magazine of the NAACP. He recently was honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship. He lives in Newton, Massachusetts.
Yukito Ayatsuji is a well-known mystery writer in Japan whose works include Another, Freaks, and Homunculus. In his works he strives to recapture the tone and tropes of classic detective fiction.
JONATHAN AYCLIFFE was born in Belfast in 1949. He studied English, Persian, Arabic and Islamic studies at the universities of Dublin, Edinburgh and Cambridge, and lectured at the universities of Fez in Morocco and Newcastle upon Tyne. The author of several ghost stories, he lives in the north of England with his wife. He also writes as Daniel Easterman, under which name he has penned several bestselling thrillers.
Clive Barker was born in Liverpool in 1952. He now writes, directs and produces films in Los Angeles.
Chris Barton lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and two young sons, who inspired Shark VS. Train while bantering with Daddy. Tom Lichtenheld is the illustrator of What Are You So Grumpy About?, What's with This Room? and the New York Times bestseller Duck! Rabbit! He is a creative director at an advertising firm.
Robert Jackson Bennett
Robert Bennett lives in Austin, Texas.
Samantha Berger has written numerous picture books including Crankenstein, A Crankenstein Valentine, Witch Spa, Snoozefest, and Martha Doesn't Say Sorry, which won a Parent's Choice Award Honor. When she isn't writing, she's doing voice-overs, traveling the world, and helping rescue dogs. Samantha splits her time between New York City and California, and she invites you to visit her online at samanthaberger.com.
Sam Bowring is a stand-up comedian, television writer, game designer and author. His books include the critically acclaimed Broken Well Trilogy and the Strange Threads Duology. He also writes for children, with titles such as THE LITTLE BAD WOLF and SAM THE CAT. He lives in Sydney, and he likes croissants a lot. Too much, perhaps. For comedy clips and more info about Sam, visit www.sambowring.com.
Marc Brown is the creator of the bestselling Arthur Adventure book series and creative producer of the number-one children's PBS television series, Arthur. He has also created a second book series featuring D.W., Arthur's little sister, as well as numerous other books for children.
Peter Brown is the author and illustrator of many bestselling children's books, including Children Make Terrible Pets and The Curious Garden. He is the recipient of a Caldecott Honor for Creepy Carrots!, two E.B. White Read Aloud Awards, a New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book award, and a Children's Choice Award for Illustrator of the Year.
Seth Casteel is an award-winning photographer and the author of the bestseller Underwater Dogs, Underwater Puppies, and Underwater Babies. His photographs of babies and animals have been featured in international media. He lives in California.
Sadoru Chiba is the artist behind the manga series School-Live!
Richard Dalby is a literary biographer and researcher. He has edited books including The Sorceress in Stained Glass, The Best Ghost Stories of H Russell Wakefield; Dracula's Blood; Ghosts and Scholars and well as the previous three volumes of Virago ghost stories.
Helen Dardik is a professional illustrator and a surface pattern designer based in Ottowa, Ontario. Born by the Black Sea, she lived in Siberia for a time and then moved to Israel, where she studied art and design. She later got a graphic design degree and found work as a designer and illustrator in Canada.
Seth Grahame-Smith is an LA-based writer/producer whose credits include CBS's innovative online comedy series Clark and Michael starring Michael Cera. His new book, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, is currently a huge bestseller. Prior to PPZ, Seth authored five non-fiction humour books, with topics ranging from pornography, to horror movies, to George W. Bush. He's also a regular contributor to The Huffington Post.
Zachary Graves is a writer who specialises in the occult. He grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA where he developed an early interest in voodoo, and later, as a student of cultural history, made several research trips to Haiti to further his interest. He has travelled widely, particularly in Africa and the Far East, where he lived for some time. He currently resides in New Orleans.
Jill Howarth began her career as a senior designer and art director at Hasbro Toys then transitioned into full-time illustration. Her previous illustrated children's books are Jingle Bells and The ABCs of Christmas. She lives in Westborough, MA.
Shaun Hutson is a bestselling author of horror fiction and has written novels under eight different pseudonyms. He has also contributed stories to `Kerrang' and `Raw' and used to host Sky TV's `Monsters of Rock' programme.


3rd Row Seat 4-Wheel Disc Brakes A/C ABS Adaptive Cruise Control Adjustable Steering Wheel Aluminum Wheels AM/FM Stereo Auto-Dimming Rearview Mirror Automatic Headlights Auxiliary Audio Input Back-Up Camera Blind Spot Monitor Bluetooth Connection Brake Assist Bucket Seats CD Player Child Safety Locks Climate Control Cooled Front Seat(s) Cross-Traffic Alert Daytime Running Lights Driver Adjustable Lumbar Driver Air Bag Driver Illuminated Vanity Mirror Driver Vanity Mirror Engine Immobilizer Entertainment System Floor Mats Fog Lamps Fourth Passenger Door Front Head Air Bag Front Side Air Bag Front Wheel Drive Generic Sun/Moonroof Hands-Free Liftgate Hard Disk Drive Media Storage HD Radio Heated Front Seat(s) Heated Mirrors Heated Steering Wheel Integrated Turn Signal Mirrors Intermittent Wipers Keyless Entry Keyless Start Knee Air Bag Lane Departure Warning Lane Keeping Assist Leather Seats
Leather Steering Wheel Mirror Memory MP3 Player Multi-Zone A/C Navigation System Passenger Air Bag Sensor Passenger Illuminated Visor Mirror Passenger Vanity Mirror Pass-Through Rear Seat Power Door Locks Power Driver Seat Power Folding Mirrors Power Fourth Passenger Door Power Liftgate Power Mirror(s) Power Passenger Seat Power Steering Power Third Passenger Door Power Windows Privacy Glass Rain Sensing Wipers Rear A/C Rear Bench Seat Rear Defrost Rear Head Air Bag Rear Parking Aid Rear Seat Audio Controls Rear Spoiler Remote Engine Start Remote Trunk Release Satellite Radio Seat Memory Security System Smart Device Integration Stability Control Steering Wheel Audio Controls Sun/Moonroof Telematics Temporary Spare Tire Third Passenger Door Tire Pressure Monitor Tires - Front Performance Tires - Rear Performance Traction Control Trip Computer Universal Garage Door Opener Variable Speed Intermittent Wipers WiFi Hotspot Woodgrain Interior Trim
Please call or email for more details. Airdrie Honda is customer driven and is proudly serving Airdrie, Calgary, Red Deer, Edmonton, Lethbridge, Carstairs, Sundre, Cochrane, Balzac, Drumheller, Okotoks and High River. Pictures are for general reference. This vehicle may not be exactly as indicated in pictures based on specific options and features. Please inquire for more information or clarification.


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According to the government, Ecuador's poverty and extreme poverty in 2020 reached 40% of its population, which represents around 7 million people, and the groups more vulnerable are women and rural families. The agroecological network problems are 1. Unjust price competition with agroindustry and small farmers who use synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. 2. Climate change impacts, wildfires, deforestation, extreme rains, droughts, winds periods. 3. Unjust market and high transportation costs.
This project provides technical assistance to learn agroecology in courses, workshops, seminars, field practices based on the use of innovative and participatory methods. It also contributes to improving the organization and communication processes, promoting internal and external knowledge interchange activities. The project also will provide material, tools, equipment to enhance farmer's infrastructure, productivity, nature conservation actions, and as well as to establish a virtual store.
Currently, in the Mushuk Tukuy network participate 80 % of women and 20% of Man and benefit a group of 100 individuals, which belong to two Villages and three communities. This project has the potential to duplicate, the number of Mushuk Tukuy members. The network organization aims, in the potential to build an e-commerce system, as the base to promote the agroecological production benefits for rural farmers, consumers, contributing to plant native vegetation and reducing wildfires.

domain: agronomy


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Pardee Homes’ Corterra features three modern two-story floor plans with up to five bedrooms and up to approximately 3,309 square feet. Prices start approximately from the high $400,000s at the neighborhood, in a well-established area of Henderson off of Horizon Ridge Parkway, just east of South Valle Verde Drive.
Toll Brothers, the nation’s leading builder of luxury homes, kicks off its National Sales Event on Saturday, April 6, in participating communities in Las Vegas and Henderson. The event runs through April 28.
Clean, modern designs are definitely at the top of the list, and Las Vegas home builder American West Homes is, once again, at the forefront of this evolution.
The Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies will host its annual homebuyer seminar on April 12 at noon. The event will feature a panel of local housing experts who will cover the ins-and-outs of the homebuying process. The institute also publishes a monthly housing market update, which provides easy-to-understand information to everyday consumers. The February report can be found at unlv.edu .
If first-time homebuyers seem confused these days, it would be hard to blame them. After all, just a few weeks ago, we saw two seemingly conflicting national reports about whether or not Southern Nevada is a good place for first-time homebuyers.
Call any one of the big online lenders, and you’re going to find yourself listening to a minimum of 30 to 60 seconds of recorded messages instructing you to dial 1 for this; dial 2 for that; and dial 3 for something else — and on and on it goes. Even once you dial one of their prompted numbers, you’ll be greeted with several more dialing options to undergo before you get close to speaking with a human being.
In just three days on Tuesday, Southern Nevadans will descend upon Las Vegas Ballpark, Southern Nevada’s newest professional sports venue at the Las Vegas Aviators’ 2019 season opener.
Reflection Bay Golf Club at Lake Las Vegas hosted its first international golf academy this year with an intensive seven-week program for a group of students from South Korea.

domain: news


After 20 years in the PC Window world, I'm going back to Apple.
I'll be buying an iMac 21,5-inch (the most recent - late 2012 - edition); not the 27" which seems to me to large for text, internet and even photo post processing.. and to costly for me.
I will order the computer with the Fusion Drive option (+ 250 $) coming with a 1 TB 5400 drive and a 128 GB SSD drive, and the basic 8 GB of RAM.
My questions : which chip should I choose for photo editing, using heavy software such as Photoshop or Lightroom : is the basic 2.7GHz Quad-core Intel Core i5 (with Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz) ADEQUATE for such a task, or do I need ABSOLUTELY the 2.9GHz Quad-core Intel Core i5 (with Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz) option (+ 200 $) ?
And, as far as RAM is concerned, is 8 GB enough, or do I really need the 16 GB option (+ 200 $) ?
Let there be light !


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Fiscal deficits arise whenever a government spends more money than it brings in during the fiscal year. This imbalance, sometimes called the current accounts deficit or the budget deficit, is common among contemporary governments all over the world. Since 1970, the U.S. government has had higher expenditures than revenues for all but four years. The four largest budget deficits in American history occurred between 2009 and 2012, each year showing a deficit of more than $1 trillion.
Fiscal Deficit Impact on Economy
Economists and policy analysts disagree about the impact of fiscal deficits on the economy. Some, such as Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, suggest that the government does not spend enough money and that the sluggish recovery from the Great Recession of 2007-09 was attributable to the reluctance of Congress to run larger deficits to boost aggregate demand. Others argue that budget deficits crowd out private borrowing, manipulate capital structures and interest rates, decrease net exports, and lead to either higher taxes, higher inflation or both.
Fiscal Deficit Impact on the Shorter-Term Economy
Even though the long-term macroeconomic impact of fiscal deficits is subject to debate, there is far less debate about certain immediate, short-term consequences. However, these consequences depend on the nature of the deficit.
If the deficit arises because the government has engaged in extra spending projects—for example, infrastructure spending or grants to businesses—then those sectors chose to receive the money receive a short-term boost in operations and profitability. If the deficit arises because receipts to the government have fallen, either through tax cuts or a decline in business activity, then no such stimulus takes place. Whether stimulus spending is desirable is also a subject of debate, but there can be no doubt that certain sectors benefit from it in the short run.
Financing a Deficit
All deficits need to be financed. This is initially done through the sale of government securities, such as Treasury bonds (T-bonds). Individuals, businesses, and other governments purchase Treasury bonds and lend money to the government with the promise of future payment. The clear, initial impact of government borrowing is that it reduces the pool of available funds to be lent to or invested in other businesses. This is necessarily true: an individual who lends $5,000 to the government cannot use that same $5,000 to purchase the stocks or bonds of a private company. Thus, all deficits have the effect of reducing the potential capital stock in the economy. This would differ if the Federal Reserve monetized the debt entirely; the danger would be inflation rather than capital reduction.
Additionally, the sale of government securities used to finance the deficit has a direct impact on interest rates. Government bonds are considered to be extremely safe investments, so the interest rate paid on loans to the government represent risk-free investments against which nearly all other financial instruments must compete. If the government bonds are paying 2% interest, other types of financial assets must pay a high enough rate to entice buyers away from government bonds. This function is used by the Federal Reserve when it engages in open market operations to adjust interest rates within the confines of monetary policy.
Federal Limits on Fiscal Deficits
Even though deficits seem to grow with abandon and the total debt liabilities on the federal ledger have risen to astronomical proportions, there are practical, legal, theoretical and political limitations on just how far into the red the government's balance sheet can run, even if those limits aren't nearly as low as many would like.
As a practical matter, the U.S. government cannot fund its deficits without attracting borrowers. Backed only by the full faith and credit of the federal government, U.S. bonds and Treasury bills (T-bills) are purchased by individuals, businesses and other governments on the market, all of whom are agreeing to lend money to the government. The Federal Reserve also purchases bonds as part of its monetary policy procedures. Should the government ever run out of willing borrowers, there is a genuine sense that deficits would be limited and default would become a possibility.
Total government debt has real and negative long-term consequences. If interest payments on the debt ever become untenable through normal tax-and-borrow revenue streams, the government faces three options. They can cut spending and sell assets to make payments, they can print money to cover the shortfall, or the country can default on loan obligations. The second of these options, an overly aggressive expansion of the money supply, could lead to high levels of inflation, effectively (though inexactly) capping the use of this strategy.
Fiscal Deficits: A Historical Perspective
There is any number of economists, policy analysts, bureaucrats, politicians, and commentators who support the concept of government running fiscal deficits, albeit to varying degrees and under varying circumstances. Deficit spending is also one of the most important tools of Keynesian macroeconomics, named for British economist John Maynard Keynes, who believed that spending drove economic activity and the government could stimulate a slumping economy by running large deficits.
The first true American deficit plan was conceived and executed in 1789 by Alexander Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton saw deficits as a means of asserting government influence similar to how war bonds helped Great Britain out-finance France during their 18th-century conflicts. This practice continued, and throughout history, governments have elected to borrow funds to finance their wars when raising taxes would have been insufficient or impractical.
Upside of Deficits
Politicians and policymakers rely on fiscal deficits to expand popular policies, such as welfare programs and public works, without having to raise taxes or cut spending elsewhere in the budget. In this way, fiscal deficits also encourage rent-seeking and politically motivated appropriations. Many businesses implicitly support fiscal deficits if it means receiving public benefits.
Not all see large-scale government debt is negative. Some pundits have even gone so far as to declare that fiscal deficits are wholly irrelevant since the money is "owed to ourselves." This is a dubious claim even at face value because foreign creditors often purchase government debt instruments, and it ignores many of the macroeconomic arguments against deficit spending.
Government-run deficits have wide theoretical support among certain economic schools and near-unanimous support among elected officials. Both conservative and liberal administrations tend to run heavy deficits in the name of tax cuts, stimulus spending, welfare, public good, infrastructure, war financing, and environmental protection. Ultimately, voters think fiscal deficits are a good idea, whether or not that belief is made explicit, based on their propensity to ask for expensive government services and low taxes simultaneously.
Downside of Deficits
On the other hand, government budget deficits have been attacked by numerous economic thinkers throughout time for their role in crowding out private borrowing, distorting interest rates, propping up non-competitive firms and expanding the influence of nonmarket actors. Nevertheless, fiscal deficits have remained popular among government economists ever since Keynes legitimized them in the 1930s.
So-called expansionary fiscal policy not only forms the basis of Keynesian anti-recession techniques but also provides an economic justification for what elected representatives are naturally inclined to do: spend money with reduced short-term consequences.
Keynes originally called for deficits to be run during recessions and for budget shortfalls to be corrected once the economy recovered. This rarely occurs, since raising taxes and cutting government programs is rarely popular even in times of plenty. The tendency has been for governments to run deficits year-after-year, resulting in massive public debt.
The Bottom Line
Deficits are seen in a largely negative light. While macroeconomic proposals under the Keynesian school argue that deficits are sometimes necessary to stimulate aggregate demand after a monetary policy has proven ineffective, other economists argue that deficits crowd out private borrowing and distort the marketplace.
Still, others suggest that borrowing money today necessitates higher taxes in the future, which unfairly punishes future generations of taxpayers to service the needs of (or purchase the votes of) current beneficiaries. If it becomes politically unprofitable to run higher deficits, there is a sense that the democratic process might enforce a limit on current account deficits.

domain: finance


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Diagnosis of urogenital schistosomiasis by microscopy and serological tests may be elusive in travelers due to low egg load and the absence of seroconversion upon arrival. There is need for a more sensitive diagnostic test. Therefore, we developed a real-time PCR targeting the Schistosoma haematobium-specific Dra1 sequence.
The PCR was evaluated on urine (n = 111), stool (n = 84) and serum samples (n = 135), and one biopsy from travelers and migrants with confirmed or suspected schistosomiasis. PCR revealed a positive result in 7/7 urine samples, 11/11 stool samples and 1/1 biopsy containing S. haematobium eggs as demonstrated by microscopy and in 22/23 serum samples from patients with a parasitological confirmed S. haematobium infection. S. haematobium DNA was additionally detected by PCR in 7 urine, 3 stool and 5 serum samples of patients suspected of having schistosomiasis without egg excretion in urine and feces. None of these suspected patients demonstrated other parasitic infections except one with Blastocystis hominis and Entamoeba cyst in a fecal sample. The PCR was negative in all stool samples containing S. mansoni eggs (n = 21) and in all serum samples of patients with a microscopically confirmed S. mansoni (n = 22), Ascaris lumbricoides (n = 1), Ancylostomidae (n = 1), Strongyloides stercoralis (n = 1) or Trichuris trichuria infection (n = 1). The PCR demonstrated a high specificity, reproducibility and analytical sensitivity (0.5 eggs per gram of feces).
Schistosomiasis is a disease caused by parasitic worms of the genus Schistosoma. About 200 million people are affected worldwide. Also travelers are at risk as even a brief contact with infested freshwater can cause infection. S. mansoni and S. haematobium are the two main species that are identified in travelers and migrants. The eggs of these parasites are respectively excreted in feces and urine, and the diagnosis relies mostly on microscopy. In travelers, infections are easily missed due to low worm load or because egg excretion is not yet started upon arrival. Consequently, there is need for sensitive diagnostic tools that can be used in the early stage of infection. A previously published study reported the ability to detect S. mansoni DNA in serum by real-time PCR. To enable the diagnosis of urogenital schistosomiasis, we developed a PCR to detect S. haematobium DNA in serum. We demonstrated that the latter PCR is more sensitive than microscopy when applied on feces and urine, and, when performed on serum, particularly useful to confirm diagnosis during acute urogenital schistosomiasis. We comment on the plausible origin of parasite DNA in relation to the different life cycle stages present in the blood circulation.
Citation: Cnops L, Soentjens P, Clerinx J, Van Esbroeck M (2013) A Schistosoma haematobium-Specific Real-Time PCR for Diagnosis of Urogenital Schistosomiasis in Serum Samples of International Travelers and Migrants. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 7(8): e2413. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002413
Editor: Patrick J. Lammie, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States of America
Received: December 21, 2012; Accepted: July 27, 2013; Published: August 29, 2013
Copyright: © 2013 Cnops et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: The ITM receives funding from the Ministry of Health for its tasks as reference laboratory for the diagnosis and treatment of infectious and tropical diseases. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Urogenital schistosomiasis due to Schistosoma haematobium is a serious underestimated public health problem. It is endemic in 53 countries of the African continent and of the Middle East , . Adult worms live in the capillary plexus of the bladder and other parts of the urino-genital system and eggs are excreted in the urine and occasionally found in feces.
Diagnosis of S. haematobium infections is traditionally done by microscopy but is often unreliable due to the circadian and day-to-day variations in egg excretion, and to low parasite load, especially in the traveler. Antibody-based assays are useful to confirm infection, but do not distinguish active infection from past exposure, and false-negative results occur, mainly in S. haematobium infections. Antibody tests are usually negative during acute symptomatic schistosomiasis. Assays that detect circulating antigens seem very promising in the early phase of infection but still lack sensitivity in the diagnosis of light infections , , , .
Recently, we developed a genus-specific real-time PCR (further called ‘genusPCR’) that sensitively detect all human infectious Schistosoma species in feces and urine . The genusPCR was not able to detect schistosome DNA in serum although molecular analysis of serum is of interest in acute schistosomiasis before detectable levels of eggs are excreted –. In 2009, Wichmann and colleagues  described a real-time PCR, targeting a highly repeated 121-bp sequence of S. mansoni (named Sm1-7) to detect cell-free schistosome DNA in serum. This was proven successful in acute and chronic S. mansoni infection, but not so much in S. haematobium infection. To fill that gap, we developed a real-time PCR specific for the diagnosis of S. haematobium in serum samples. The real-time PCR targets Dra1, a S. haematobium-specific 121-bp repeat sequence originally described by Hamburger et al. and present in hundreds to thousands of copies and representing at least 15% of its genome . We first tested this PCR (further called ‘draPCR’) on urine and feces samples to evaluate its species-specificity and its performance in comparison with microscopy, and then on serum samples to determine its potential as diagnostic tool for acute phase schistosomiasis.
The diagnostic procedures described in this manuscript are part of the standard diagnostic work-up of patients suspected of schistosomiasis. All samples were routine diagnostic samples from patients presenting at the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM, Antwerp, Belgium) policlinic and were stored after completion of the routine tests. The ITM has the policy that sample left-overs of patients presenting at the ITM policlinic can be used for research unless the patients explicitly state their objection. The Institutional Review Board of ITM approved the institutional policy of this presumed consent as long as patients' identity is not disclosed to third parties. All data have been analysed anonymously.
PCR analysis was retrospectively performed between January and October 2012 on samples that were stored at <−18°C between 2006 and 2012. In total, 330 clinical samples from 187 patients were analysed of which 110 urine, 84 stool, 126 serum, 9 blood samples, and one biopsy sample. The samples were from 145 travelers and 42 migrants that presented at the outpatient clinic of the ITM, Antwerp, Belgium. The patients travelled to Africa (92.5%), Asia (5.4%), the Middle East (1.6%) and South-America (0.5%). The median time interval between return and sample collection was 82 days (varying from 1 day to 1851 days).
Based on laboratory findings, the stool, urine and/or serum samples were selected from patients with confirmed (n = 47) or suspected (n = 140) intestinal or urogenital schistosomiasis. Confirmed cases were defined as patients with eggs of S. mansoni or S. haematobium as determined by microscopy. Individuals with a confirmed infection were treated with praziquantel after diagnosis. Serum of confirmed cases was collected before or at the time of egg detection, or after treatment. Suspected cases were patients who presented after a stay in an endemic region with clinical symptoms and/or with an increase in eosinophils (>0.45×109/L), a positive serology (IHA titer ≥1/160 or positive ELISA), the presence of Charcot-leyden crystals in feces or hematuria (>7 RBC/µL) or who travelled together with a confirmed case.
As previously described , , DNA was extracted with the QIAamp DNA stool mini kit (Qiagen Benelux, Venlo, The Netherlands) from 1 gram of feces that was dissolved into 5 mL ASL buffer (Qiagen). An 200 µl urine sediment was processed for DNA extraction with the QIAamp DNA mini kit (Qiagen) after centrifugation of 10 mL of urine and three wash/centrifugation steps. For DNA extraction of serum with the QIAamp DNA MIDI kit (Qiagen) or by phenol/chloroform, 1 to 2 mL of serum was used .
Positive control DNA of S. mansoni and S. haematobium were kindly provided by Dr. T. Huyse (ITM/KUL, Belgium). Positive control DNA of S. intercalatum and S. guineensis were kindly provided by Dr. F. Allan from SCAN at the Natural History Museum (London, UK) . DNA was extracted from one adult worm and used in a 1/100 dilution (∼0.1 ng/µL). Positive control DNA of S. mekongi was obtained from a stool sample of a patient seen at ITM, containing 50 eggs per gram (EPG). Positive control DNA of S. japonicum derived from cercariae spotted on FTA filter paper kindly provided by Dr. J.P. Webster (London, UK).
Primer and probe design
The highly repetitive Dra1 sequence of S. haematobium (Accession number DQ157698.1) was selected as target and primers were identical to those described  (Sh-FW 5-gatctcacctatcagacgaaac-3′; Sh-RV 5′-tcacaacgatacgaccaac-3′). An additional fluorescent labeled hydrolysis probe was developed (Sh-probe 5′-tgttggtggaagtgcctgtttcgcaa-3′) for real-time monitoring of the PCR signal and was labeled with a 5′-FAM reporter, an internal ZEN quencher and a IowaBlack Fluorescent Quencher at the 3′-end (IDT, Leuven, Belgium). The amplicon size was 96 base pairs.
The draPCR was performed with a 25 µL reaction mix containing 5 µL DNA, 1× Perfecta qPCR Supermix (Quanta Biosciences), 500 nM of Sh-FW and Sh-RV primer, 250 nM of Sh-probe and 0.1 mg/mL bovine serum albumin. The program consisted of an initial step of 2 min at 95°C followed by 50 cycles of 15 s at 95°C and 60 s at 60°C.
The reaction was run on the SmartCycler II (Cepheid Benelux, Belgium). DNA detection was expressed by Cycle threshold (Ct)-values. In every run, the non-template control was negative (Ct = 0) and the S. haematobium control was positive.
The primer and probe design was verified with Integrated DNA Technology (IDT) Oligo Analyzer software (v3.1) (http://eu.idtdna.com/analyzer/Applications/OligoAnalyzer/). Primer and probe specificity was checked in silico by BLAST analysis (http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi) and by 2% agarose gel electrophoresis at 100 V for 35 minutes.
The analytical specificity of the PCR was tested on a panel of clinical control samples containing 23 different intestinal or blood parasites. The panel included stool samples (n = 14) from patients infected with protozoa (Giardia lamblia, Entamoeba dispar, E. histolytica, Blastocystis hominis, Enterocytozoon bieneusi, Encephalitozoon spp), nematodes (Ascaris lumbricoides, Strongyloides stercoralis, Trichostrongylus spp., Trichuris trichiura, or Ancylostomidae), trematodes (Clonorchis spp., Fasciola hepatica) or a cestode (Taenia saginata) and blood samples (n = 9) from patients infected with Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae, Leishmania donovani, Loa loa, Onchocerca volvulus, Dirofilaria repens or Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense.
The detection limit was determined on a 10-fold dilution series of a stool sample containing 580 EPG of S. haematobium. It was diluted in a negative stool sample which was dissolved in ASL buffer (Qiagen). DNA was extracted from each dilution and the highest dilution with a positive signal indicated the detection limit.
The variation in Ct-values was determined in a serum sample that was processed 8 times within the same run (repeatability) or 5 reactions that were run at different days (reproducibility). The coefficient of variation (CV, expressed as %) of the Ct-values was calculated.
Microscopy was performed on a single urine and/or fecal sample per patient at the time of presentation and in some cases, on a single follow-up sample one month after treatment. Diagnosis of schistosomiasis was confirmed when S. haematobium or S. mansoni eggs were detected in urine and/or feces.
Microscopic examination of urine samples was performed on the sediment of at least 20 mL end-stream urine and of stool samples following a concentration method on 3 grams of feces that had been homogenized in 42 mL of 10% formaldehyde-saline solution . The infection intensity in stool was expressed by the number of EPG. The limit of detection was 10 EPG.
A combination of an in-house enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using S. mansoni antigen (mixture of egg and adult worm extract) and an indirect hemagglutination inhibition assay (IHA), using a S. mansoni adult worm extract (ELI.H.A. Schistosoma, EliTech MICROBIO, France) with a cut-off at 1/160, were used to detect anti-schistosome antibodies.
Primer and probe design
IDT Oligo analysis approved no self- or heterodimerization between the primers and the probe. BLAST analysis with probe and primers indicated 100% query coverage and maximum identity with S. haematobium. No species other than Schistosoma were in silico recognised by the primers and probe. Gel electrophoresis obtained a single band of expected length for the amplicon of S. haematobium and no signal for the non-template control.
To determine the species-specificity, schistosome species of the three complexes were tested with the draPCR, the Sm1-7PCR and the genusPCR. The DNA controls of human species of the S. haematobium complex revealed a strong signal with the draPCR (Ct-values ranging from 15.21 to 16.65) and the cattle species S. bovis revealed a signal of medium intensity (Ct 29.68). DNA controls of other Schistosoma species gave no (S. japonicum, S. mekongi) or a very weak signal (S. mansoni, Ct 41.93) (Table 1). In comparison, the genusPCR easily recognized all species of the three complexes while the Sm1-7PCR detected a strong signal for S. mansoni and S. bovis, a medium to weak signal for the human species of the S. haematobium complex and no signal for species of the S. japonicum complex (Table 1).
Of interest is the difference in Ct-values measured for S. haematobium (Ct 15.21) and S. mansoni (Ct 41.93) by the draPCR. Since the amount of amplicon doubles every PCR cycle (i.e. increase by one log2), the difference of 26 Ct's is equivalent to a more than 67 million times lower sensitivity to detect S. mansoni in comparison to S. haematobium. The same counts for the detection of the S. bovis species in comparison to the other S. haematobium complex species by the draPCR with a difference of 14 Ct's that accounts for a 16,000 times lower sensitivity (Table 1).
No cross-reaction was seen with the draPCR in the 23 control samples with intestinal and blood parasites other than Schistosoma.
The analytical sensitivity demonstrated a detection limit of 0.5 EPG.
Repeatability and reproducibility testing revealed a CV of 1.03% and 1.04% respectively.
PCR analysis on urine samples and biopsy
A panel of 110 urine samples and one bladder wall biopsy was analysed with the draPCR. A positive PCR signal was obtained in 14 urine samples (Ct-values ranging from 16.77 to 32.40) of which seven were positive for S. haematobium ova by microscopy (Table 2). The other seven urine samples (Ct-values ranging from 30.74 to 46.63) were from patients treated for schistosomiasis two weeks or one month before (n = 2) or from patients without previous treatment but with anti-schistosome antibodies (n = 3) or with S. haematobium eggs in feces (n = 1) or in a urine sample obtained three days earlier (n = 1). The latter urine sample also contained Trichomonas vaginalis. The 96 urine samples that were negative for S. haematobium or any other parasite by microscopy, were also negative by PCR (Table 2).
The biopsy containing S. haematobium eggs was positive by PCR with a Ct-value of 17.08.
PCR analysis on stool samples
The draPCR was evaluated on a panel of stool samples in which eggs of S. haematobium (n = 11), of S. mansoni (n = 21) or no schistosome eggs (n = 52) were microscopically detected. All samples with eggs of S. haematobium were positive (Ct-values ranging from 20.35 to 37.87) and all samples with eggs of S. mansoni were negative (Table 3). In addition, the draPCR revealed a positive signal in three samples without eggs (Ct-values varied from 36.78 to 45.33), two of which were follow-up samples of confirmed patients one month after treatment and one from a clinically suspected patient with eosinophilia.
PCR analysis on serum
There is no reference method for schistosome DNA detection in serum. We therefore used the level of evidence of infection (confirmed S. haematobium (n = 12) or S. mansoni infection (n = 20) or suspected cases (n = 64)) as a reference (Table 4). Of all suspected cases, 8/64 were migrants and 56/64 travelers of whom serum was collected within 12 weeks upon return in 39 travelers and after more than 12 weeks (varying from 91 to 336 days) in 17 travelers.
In total, 135 serum and blood samples were analysed from 96 patients of whom 64 patients with a single serum sample and 32 patients with one or more follow-up samples. No discordant results were obtained in different samples from the same patient.
The draPCR was positive in 27 samples from 13 patients of which 11 patients (22 samples) with a microscopic confirmed S. haematobium infection and two patients (5 samples) with a clinical suspicion based on the presence of eosinophilia (0.88 and 2.13 10*9/L) and anti-schistosome antibodies (IHA 1/160 and 1/640) (Table 4). Of all 22 PCR positive samples of individuals with a confirmed S. haematobium infection, all serum samples collected at the same date of the parasitological confirmation (n = 11), were positive. All follow-up serum samples obtained 14 to 96 days after treatment (n = 10 from 8 patients), were also positive by PCR but demonstrated higher Ct-values. In two of the 8 patients, both serological tests remained negative 1 month and 2 months after treatment.
PCR was additionally positive on one serum collected about 5 weeks after exposure (n = 1) while at that moment the urine and feces were microscopically negative and no antibodies could be detected. Detection of ova 42 days later, confirmed the S. haematobium infection.
In one serum sample from a patient for which a single S. haematobium egg was detected in urine 514 days after treatment, no PCR signal was observed but the analysis was performed on an insufficient volume of serum (1 mL instead of 2 mL). All other serum samples with a negative PCR signal were from patients with a confirmed S. mansoni infection (20 patients, 22 samples) or from clinically suspected patients without schistosome eggs in urine and feces (62 patients, 85 samples) (Table 4). Four of these suspected patients had microscopically confirmed infections with Ascaris lumbricoides (n = 1), Ancylostomidae (n = 1), Strongyloides stercoralis (n = 1) or Trichuris trichuria (n = 1) and nine had been treated 6 months to 3 year prior to serum collection. The 85 PCR negative samples showed schistosomal antibodies by ELISA (n = 4), IHA (n = 10) or both (n = 15) and/or belonged to patients suspected because of recent freshwater exposure or eosinophilia.
Urogenital schistosomiasis remains an important public health problem affecting approximately 112 million people, about half of the worldwide schistosome infections . Schistosomiasis imported by travelers, expatriates and migrants is often caused by S. haematobium, with a frequency in the same range to that of S. mansoni , –.
The presently developed PCR was designed to be used as a highly sensitive diagnostic tool for urogenital schistosomiasis in travelers returning from endemic regions. We opted for a real-time PCR format which has a short turn-over time and is preferred over conventional PCR methods due to its lower risk of contamination and higher sensitivity , . The latter is of particular interest in travelers as they have often low parasite loads in the acute phase , rendering confirmation by microscopy erratic. The draPCR was able to detect all microscopy-confirmed S. haematobium infections in urine, bladder wall biopsy and feces and demonstrated no cross-reaction in clinical samples with microscopy-confirmed S. mansoni and other intestinal or blood parasites. Moreover, the draPCR detected ten extra S. haematobium-positive samples (7 urine and 3 stool samples) from 8 non-egg excretor patients that were highly suspected for urogenital schistosomiasis based on recent freshwater exposure, a strong antibody response (IHA≥1/1280) and/or the presence of eosinophilia. This confirms previous findings that PCR is highly sensitive in urogenital schistosomiasis diagnosis –. The draPCR can be of value on urine and stool samples of suspected patients when no eggs can be demonstrated by microscopy, especially as sampling is not invasive. Alternatively, the genus-specific PCR  could be used on urine and feces enabling the detection of schistosome DNA, regardless the causal species.
Besides the excellent performance of the draPCR on urine and stool samples, the most striking result of this study is the specific detection of S. haematobium in serum. All but one of the serum samples from patients with a confirmed S. haematobium infection, and none of the serum samples from patients with a confirmed S. mansoni infection, were positive with the draPCR. Schistosomal DNA could additionally be detected in the serum of one patient about 5 weeks after freshwater exposure and 42 days before confirmation of the S. haematobium infection by microscopy. This clearly demonstrates the diagnostic potential of the draPCR to detect S. haematobium in serum during the acute phase of the infection.
One serum sample of a patient with a confirmed S. haematobium infection was negative, which could be explained by previous treatment or the rather low volume (1 mL) of serum analysed. Due to the retrospective design of this study, PCR could not always be performed on an adequate volume of serum. We consider 2 mL as the optimal volume required for analysis.
Two extra S. haematobium infections were detected by the draPCR in serum samples of suspected patients. False-positivity by PCR seems very unlikely as both patients had recent exposure to freshwater in Mali, developed typical severe symptoms related to Katayama syndrome with hypereosinophilia and had a positive serological response five to eight weeks post-exposure. Moreover, S. haematobium DNA was also detected in the follow-up serum samples while urine and feces remained negative after treatment. The decreasing PCR signal in follow-up samples demonstrates the PCR's potential to semi-quantitatively monitor treatment. Extra studies are required to confirm this. Further research could additionally compare the persistence of detectable levels of parasite DNA in serum with levels of circulating antigen that are more related to the actual worm burden and rapidly decrease after treatment . Also, more scientific data is needed to assure when parasite DNA is cleared from the blood stream after treatment in order to determine the discriminating power of PCR between active or past present infections with the same Schistosoma species. PCR positivity was seen until at least 3 months after treatment in the present study, and up to more than one year after treatment in patients with S. mansoni infections .
A drawback of this study is that we had no genital samples available to test with the draPCR. S. haematobium parasites can cause genital schistosomiasis ,  but in travelers, only few cases were reported , . Only one bladder wall biopsy was tested, and although this does not allow drawing conclusions, it is worth to mention that examination of tissue samples by PCR might be helpful to diagnose schistosomiasis in non-egg excretor individuals. Another drawback is that due to the retrospective sample collection, early acute phase samples were not frequently available because antibody or egg detection followed weeks later. A prospective study is needed with selection of patients during the (early) acute phase in order to compare the performance of different tools for urogenital schistosomiasis diagnosis .
The PCR targets Dra1, a sequence specific for S. haematobium  and previously successfully used in a conventional PCR on cercaria and infested snails  and on urine . Similar to the Sm1-7 121-bp tandem repeat sequence that comprises 11% of the S. mansoni genome , ,  and to the multicopy retrotransposon gene representing 14% of the S. japonicum genome , Dra1 also has a highly repetitive nature and represents 15% of the S. haematobium genome . The presence of multiple copies of this target sequence enables the highly sensitive detection of S. haematobium DNA in serum and probably explains why the single copy 28S gene used in the genusPCR  was not successful to detect schistosome DNA in this matrix.
The findings of this study demonstrate that the draPCR for detection of S. haematobium infections in serum is complementary to the Sm1-7PCR that is most sensitive to detect S. mansoni infections –. Furthermore, we demonstrated the species-specificity of both PCRs in control DNA of adult worm extracts. Apart from the strong signal for the human species of the S. haematobium complex group, we also observed a very weak signal for S. mansoni with the draPCR and a weak signal for S. haematobium with the Sm1-7PCR. This can be explained by the fact that the highly repetitive sequences of S. haematobium or S. mansoni respectively, are most likely present in at least a single copy in the genome of other Schistosoma species  and are only detectable when a huge amount of parasite DNA is present as in the case of the adult worm extracts. Since we did not detect a signal with the draPCR in all 43 clinical samples of patients with confirmed S. mansoni infections (egg load varying between 10 and 120 EPG), we conclude that the draPCR and Sm1-7PCR are suitable for analysis of serum of patients suspected for urogenital and intestinal schistosomiasis, respectively.
What do we detect by the draPCR in serum, urine and feces?
In analogy with prenatal diagnostics and oncology , , Wichmann et al  used the term ‘cell-free parasite DNA’ (CFPD) to comprise the DNA that was detected in serum. Indeed, due to the high parasite turnover, diverse stadia of the parasite might be present in the blood circulation and are detectable depending on the phase of the infection. Once penetrated through the human skin, schistosomules travel with the venous circulation to the lungs within 7 to 10 days and thereafter to the liver region for maturation . In the acute phase of urogenital infections, the draPCR probably detects DNA of degrading schistosomules or juvenile worms that did not survive or mate. Schistosomes are complex multicellular eukaryotes, and the schistosome DNA in serum might also originate from rapid turn-over of the tegument during maturation of the worm . In addition, after the upstream migration of mature worms to the venous plexus of the bladder and deposition of eggs, DNA of eggs that circulate into the systemic circulation due to retrograde venous flow could be detected. In chronic infections, DNA from desintegrated eggs, or from killed worms after treatment could also be a target for PCR in serum.
In urine samples, the PCR primarily detects DNA from S. haematobium eggs. It is not unlikely that also transrenal nucleic acids of breakdown products of the parasite are detectable in the urine as demonstrated before for S. mansoni ,  and other parasitic infections , . In feces, DNA of S. haematobium eggs can be found due to the atypical location of the worm in the colon or rectal wall, or due to contamination of the stools with urine in case of a high-intensity infection , .
So far, no S. haematobium-specific PCR has been described before to be used in human serum of recently infected travelers. Our findings suggest that the draPCR in serum is suitable for diagnosis of urogenital schistosomiasis in a non-endemic setting and might be of value in diagnosing travelers during the acute phase of infection (4 to 6 weeks after exposure to infested water) before eggs excretion and seroconversion, and in light infections. Serology tests turn positive only about 6 to 12 weeks after exposure . In addition, weak positive serological reactions are difficult to interpret and false-negative tests occur, especially with S. haematobium , , . Further prospective evaluation of the draPCR on serum samples is needed, to demonstrate its diagnostic role during the early acute phase of the infection.
We would like to thank Kathy Demeulemeester, Elke Gintelenberg and Nina Jansoone for their excellent technical support. We are grateful to Dr. F. Allan, Dr. T. Huyse and Dr. J.P. Webster for providing the control samples.
Conceived and designed the experiments: LC JC. Performed the experiments: LC. Analyzed the data: LC. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: LC PS JC MVE. Wrote the paper: LC PS JC MVE.
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domain: medical


Toyota will introduce the "Auris Cross" at next year's Geneva Motor Show in March. This model will represent an evolution of the 2014 C-HR concept. It will be a proper crossover instead of a jacked up hatchback.
This model will be a Qashqai-rivaling model that will ride on the Toyota New Global Architecture. It also is expected to have a new interior with more soft touch plastics and an overall improved fit and finish.
I am wondering if it is this vehicle that could end up being the new Scion crossover that we have suspected will be coming out.
Toyota "Auris Cross" reportedly coming to 2016 Geneva Motor Show


In a world of big things, there are few as striking and as monumental as the Stockton Bight Sand Dunes in the Worimi Conservation Lands in Port Stephens.
From fun adventure to ancient heritage, the Worimi Conservation Lands at Anna Bay and Williamtown offer amazing experiences.
The beautiful sandscape is forever changing. Created thousands of years ago, the largest moving coastal dunes in the Southern Hemisphere are spectacular. The Stockton Bight Sand Dunes, in the Worimi Conservation Lands, cover 4,200 hectares, 1,800 of which are forest, as well as 32kms of the longest moving sand dunes in the southern hemisphere. These truly awe-inspiring dunes reach heights of over 30 metres with slopes of up to 60 degrees to form a majestic landscape are ideal for sand-boarding, an exciting activity all year.
Explore the giant Stockton Bight sand dunes and enjoy four-wheel driving along NSW’s longest beach (with a permit). Beach and dune driving in your own 4WD is popular way to enjoy the area at your own pace. You’ll need to buy a special beach permit before steering your way onto the sandy stretch.
4WD Sand Dune Tours and Sandboarding
The Worimi Conservation Lands (Stockton Bight Sand Dunes) are truly one of nature’s masterpieces. Stretching 32kms these are the largest dunes of their kind in the southern hemisphere.
The ultimate experience for the adventurous... ride from bush to beach across the desert wilderness. Safe but sandsational!
Camel and Horse Riding
Relax and experience the peace and tranquillity of riding horseback through the bush, or a sunset camel adventure over the dunes and along the beach.
4WD Beach Permit Information
All vehicles entering the Worimi Conservation Lands must be registered and display a valid Worimi Conservation Lands vehicle permit.


Tunisia’s new premier Mehdi Jomaa took office on Friday to lead a caretaker government until elections later this year after the ruling Islamist party’s premier resigned in a deal to complete its steps to democracy.
Jomaa, a former industry minister, will head a non-partisan cabinet after compromise between the Islamists and secular opponents to end a crisis three years after Tunisia’s uprising against autocrat Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.
The small North African nation has edged closer to establishing full democracy since 2011 than other “Arab Spring” countries, especially Egypt whose Islamist president faces trial after he was ousted by the military.
“I am not a miracle worker, but I promise I will do my best… we are doing everything possible to overcome hurdles, to reform what we can reform, and bring back stability,” Jomaa told reporters in the presidential palace.
The former premier, Ali Larayedh, an Islamist who spent years in jail under Ben Ali, resigned on Thursday. Jomaa will name his cabinet over the next few days.
The new premier, who ran an aerospace parts business in Paris before he become minister, must tackle economic reforms sought by international lenders to curb the deficit and face a growing threat from Islamist militants tied to al Qaeda.
Police fired tear gas on Friday in the tourist city of Sousse to disperse dozens of ultra-conservative Islamist supporters of group hardline group Ansar al-Sharia, who tried to protest in the streets.
“They gathered after Friday prayers and tried to reach the central Sousse but police fired tear gas and dispersed them,” a security source told Reuters.
One of the hardline Islamist movements to emerge after the 2011 revolt, Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia was declared illegal last year after the government blamed it for killing two opposition politicians.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of State declared the group a foreign terrorist organization tied to al Qaeda’s North Africa affiliate. It was blamed for inciting the storming the U.S. embassy in Tunis a year ago.
COMPROMISE AND CHALLENGES
Since the political agreement reached late last year for a handover to a technocrat administration, Tunisia has edged closer to democracy. The national assembly is voting on the new constitution and a nine-member election commission has been appointed to over a vote later this year.
One of the most secular countries in the Arab world, Tunisia struggled with divisions over the role of Islam and the rise of militants since its uprising. But the assassination of the two opposition leaders last year triggered a crisis.
After months of negotiations, Ennahda agreed to resign once it had guarantees that the political parties would finish writing the new constitution, set a date for elections and appoint an electoral council to oversee the vote.
Political progress aside, many Tunisians are more worried about the high cost of living and some see little economic opportunity after the uprising that inspired revolts against long-standing autocrats in Egypt, Libya and Yemen.
Jomaa’s government will have to tackle economic reforms to cut back its deficit — especially the tough cuts in public subsidies that risk pushing up fuel and food prices and inflaming popular protests.
Police fired tear gas this week to break up protests in several cities over an increase on vehicle taxes, and Larayedh’s government on Thursday suspended the reform.
Lenders such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund want Tunisia to reform public wages and subsidies to curb a deficit the government forecast at 6.8 percent of gross domestic product for last year.
The IMF has forecast the budget deficit for 2013 at 8.8 percent of GDP.
Tunisia said this week it expected it had done enough — in its political transition and economic measures to control the deficit — to ensure payment of a second $500 million tranche of its $1.5 billion IMF loan.
Source : Reuters


text:
Novak Djokovic is sensationally out of the US Open after he inadvertently hit a ball at line judge during his match with Pablo Carreno Busta.
After being broken Carreno Busta to fall 6-5 down, Djokovic reacted in frustration by hitting the ball towards the back of the court.
But the ball hit the linesperson in the throat and she collapsed to the floor.
After a prolonged chat with tournament officials, Djokovic was defaulted.
Speaking on Amazon Prime Tim Henman said: "No doubt it is right decision.
"It happened to me in 1995. We were up two sets in the doubles. I hit a ball-girl in the ear.
Novak Djokovic is out of the US Open
"Djokovic was not aiming for the line judge, but you have to be responsible for your actions.
"There is no other result but to be defaulted."
The Serbian made a quick exit after the incident and snubbed his media obligations.
The world No 1 was expected to have a press conference to discuss what happened but footage showed him leaving the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in a car.
And he will now be fined for not speaking to the media.
In a statement, the US Open said: "In accordance with the Grand Slam rulebook, following his actions of intentionally hitting a ball dangerously or recklessly within the court or hitting a ball with negligent disregard of the consequences, the US Open tournament referee defaulted Novak Djokovic from the 2020 US Open.
"Because he was defaulted, Djokovic will lose all ranking points earned at the US Open and will be fined the prize money won at the tournament in addition to any or all fines levied with respect to the offending incident."
Djokovic's stunning exit means there will be a new men's Grand Slam champion.
Meanwhile, GB Davis Cup captain Leon Smith added: "I was surprised he didn't get a warning for the first one moments earlier. He didn't.
"There has to be consistency, if hitting ball with that much venom and temper call a warning.
"The second one can be dangerous and so it proved to be."
The Grand Slam rulebook states: "Players shall not at nay time physcially abuse any official opponent, spectator or other person within the precincts of the tournament site.
"Violation of the section shall subject a player to a fine up to $20,000 for each violation.
"In addition, if such violation occurs during a match (including the warm-up), the player shall be penalised in accordance with the point penaly schedule hereinafter set forth."
Carreno Busta will now face either Denis Shapovalov or David Goffin in the quarter-finals.

domain: sports


text:
Marvel Comics is looking to make its future a big one. Like really, really big.
In advance of the publisher's "100th Anniversary" initiative - a series of July debuting one-shots set to explore the possible Marvel Universe of the year 2061 -Â the team at Newsarama shared a massive piece of art from painter Alexander Lozano highlighting the future versions of heroes like the Avengers and the X-Men. The piece will be broken up for variant covers of the five solo stories.
"Essentially we're imaging what an issue might be like 47 years of publishing from now. For example, the Spider-Man special is being done as if you pulled that issue out of a back issue bin from the future and it was the end of the story-arc. Each issue deals with that in a somewhat similar fashion. They push you into the deep end of the pool and you have to figure out what's going on," Senior Editor Nick Lowe told CBR earlier this spring. "It's not a dystopia. We're trying to imagine what our real world will be like in 47 years of publishing and hopefully our real world won't be a dystopia by that point. One can't really tell. So it will be 'the world outside of your window,' like Marvel is now, but for 2061."
The titles involved in the event include a "Guardians of the Galaxy" story by Andy Lanning, Ron Marz and Gustavo Duarte, "Spider-Man" by Sean Ryan and In-Hyuk Lee, "X-Men" by Robin Furth and Jason Masters, "Fantastic Four" by Jen Van Meter and Joanna Estep and "Avengers" by James Stokoe.
Stay tuned to CBR for more on Marvel's "100th Anniversary."

domain: entertainment


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If you live in the Twin Cities and feel giddy right now with fresh snow, seasonal treats, and festive activities happening, then it’s time to dash out of the house! According to Exploreminnesota.com, here’s a list you’ll want to check twice of eight outdoor-spirited event ideas near you:
- Winter Lights Celebration at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Enjoy sparkling light displays featuring flowers, nature and winter fun on an accessible and stroller-friendly walk that spans over a half-mile.
- The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train will be rolling Dec 11-16 with a colorful stop in the Twin Cities with Santa.
- Holidazzle is back in downtown Minneapolis through Dec. 18th with new experiences including a Ferris wheel, carousel and giant slide.
- European Christmas Markets. Stroll through a European-style Holiday market with unique gifts and decorations at St. Paul’s Union Depot through Dec. 18.
- Christkindelsmarket in Excelsior. Walk through downtown Excelsior and feel like you’re in a Hallmark movie. Enjoy treats, reindeer, music and more.
- Pop -up Holiday Bars. Oh what fun to eat, drink and be merry when the following pop-up bars transform their spaces to make your spirits bright. Check out Psycho Suzi’s in northeast Minneapolis, The Old Log Theater in Excelsior or Miracle at Lawless Distilling in Minneapolis.
- You-Pick Christmas Tree Farms. Channel your inner Clark Griswold and visit any variety of pine-scented tree farms with sleigh rides, cocoa and campfires. From Lake Elmo and Waconia to St. Croix, be sure to find your favorite farm for the perfect family picture.
- Holiday Shows. Sit back and enjoy these family favorites like A Christmas Carol at the Guthrie, It’s A wonderful Life: A live Radio Play at the St. Paul Hotel, or How the Grinch Stole Christmas at the Children’s Theatre Company.
So much fun to Fa, la, la about – all outdoors in the Twin Cities December 2022. Grab your friends and family and enjoy the festivities!

domain: geography


San Andreas (film)
San Andreas is a 2015 American disaster film directed by Brad Peyton and starring Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, Alexandra Daddario, Ioan Gruffudd, Kylie Minogue and Paul Giamatti. The film tells the story of LAFD helicopter pilot Ray Gaines (Johnson) as he attempts to save his wife, Emma (Gugino) and daughter, Blake (Daddario) from an earthquake that devastates California, caused by its San Andreas fault, while a Caltech scientist (Giamatti) races to warn survivors that more danger is to come.
- [after parachuting with Emma into AT&T Park] It's been a while since I got you to second base.
- Dr. Lawrence Hayes: Now, the Sendai quake in Japan was considered one of the five strongest since 1900. It was so powerful, in fact that it moved the main island of Japan eight feet. This is just one of the 1.3 million earthquakes that occur around the globe each year. The largest ever recorded here in North America: Anchorage, Alaska, 1964. A 9.1. The earth shook for five straight minutes. The energy release was the equivalent of 10 million atom bombs the size of the one dropped on Hiroshima. And that's not the biggest earthquake ever recorded. No, the biggest was four years earlier off the coast of Valdivia in Southern Chile. A 9.5 on the Richter scale, right there. Bam. This quake lasted 11 minutes and spawned a tsunami, 82 feet high, that leveled Hilo, Hawaii, 8,000 miles away. Eight thousand miles away. So, um... It's mass destruction like this that shows just how important the research that we're doing here is, because we need to be able to predict these things. right? To plan and prepare for them. Yes, ma'am?
- Student #1: Professor, do you think something that intense could happen here?
- Hayes: Well, the San Andreas fault runs right up the spine of California. It's the demarcation line between two tectonic plates that are constantly moving. Add to that the fact that it's supposed to happen every 150 years, and we're about 100 years overdue... I'd say it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.
- [after Ray returns to the LAFD base with a damaged helicopter]
- Elgin: Damn, Godzilla, what the hell'd you do to her this time?
- Ray: Played a little tug of war with a car. How soon before you get her fixed?
- Elgin: I'll call Martinez today, get a new one sent over to maintenance.
- Ray: Elgin, you move any faster, you're gonna break that hip.
- Hayes: Come on, I need everybody! [runs with Serena, Alexi and Phoebe]
- Serena: What are we doing?
- Hayes: Getting you on the air. We need to warn people.
- Serena: How? There's no way to upload a signal!
- Hayes: [chuckles] You're at Caltech.
- [they reach the university's media room]
- Hayes: Okay, who wants an "A" in Independent Study? I'm starting a new class: "How to Save Lives by Hacking Media Outlets".
- Student #2: Hell, yeah, man, I'm in.
- Hayes: Sweet, bro. Get your laptop, let's go.
- [last lines]
- Emma: So, what now?
- [Several more rescue helicopters descend on the bay, while an American flag unfolds on the remains of the Golden Gate Bridge]
- Ray: Now we rebuild.


text:
Hello! I want to make sure I am doing things right, so hopefully this post is ok. I just started a new character named Comfyleaf on Proudmoore with the hopes to join this guild. I saw Evolved’s post in the wowguilds subreddit. I am looking for a new home with friendly people and I hope to connect with all of you. I am returning to the game after a hiatus away, so hopefully y’all are patient with semi newbies! I used to raid a lot and I hope to return to that glory. I have always played DPS but I am interested in learning how to heal one day. I really appreciate the great community of Evolved and I look forward to joining the discord and hopefully in game too!
Hi ComfyGhost —And Wow - I’m so sorry you never heard from us!!! We missed this post!!
You may have already moved on, b/c I know we haven’t met in-game/in-guild. But if you’re still interested, here’s some information to get you started on our Discord and an invite in-game:
Discord link: https://discord.com/invite/XSnHUuV
To setup discord:
- go to the #jedbot-authentication channel
- use this command to align your discord account with your forum name and unlock the server:
- Go to the #jedbot-reaction-roles to set your role to WoW-A (and anything else you might be interested in getting notifications about)
- You can use the in game guild finder. Make sure to just note your forum name from here “ComfyGhost”
- You can use “/who evolved” and ask an online member to point you to an officer for invite
- Ask in discord. In discord after you do the above setup, scroll WAYYYYYY down to the WoW-A area. You can go to WoW-A Chat and @WoW-A Officer to ask for an invite to the guild. We’ll need your in-game name and forum name for invite.
New member info (probably needs some updates, but still good info): WoW-A New Member Guide
Again, I apologize for the lateness of the response. The forums, which a great feature for storing information, sometimes get overlooked - Discord is where most of our action is. Hope to meet you in game, and if not, I hope you found a great WoW home!! !

domain: hobby


Staggering Decline In Deep-Sea Marine Life Expected By 2100 Due To Climate Change, With North Atlantic Hit Hardest
No place on this planet — even the deepest underwater world of flora and fauna, thousands of feet below the ocean — is free from the pervasive impacts of climate change, according to a new study published in Global Change Biology. The study for the first time quantifies the likely extent of marine life loss due to climate change impacts, and found that life in the North Atlantic is particularly at risk.
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The study, led by the National Oceanography Centre, applied the latest suite of climate models to identify the likely future changes in the food supply throughout the ocean world. The researchers were able to calculate the relationship between food supply and biomass of the globe's oceans with the help of a huge global database of marine life. The results, according to the researchers, show that most areas will experience negative change, with many animals and even species dying out.
"We were expecting some negative changes around the world, but the extent of changes, particularly in the North Atlantic, were staggering," Daniel Jones, the study's lead author said in a press release. "Globally we are talking about losses of marine life weighing more than every person on the planet put together." The extent of decline in North Atlantic is projected at nearly 38 percent over the next century, while the global changes will be of the order of over five percent.
To put it in perspective, the projected marine life loss, if weighed out, would weigh more than every person on the planet put together, Jones said.
The changes will be driven first by warmer and rainier weather, which will impact global ocean circulation and increase separation between water masses (known as "stratification"). This in turn will lower the amount of nutrients available to surface level plants and animals. As the surface level organisms die out, it will lead to a likely decline in ecosystem services like fishing (since surface level animals are the ones we eat). But their decline will also end up affected deeper dwelling creatures, since the surface level organisms typically die off and sink to the ocean floor, feeding deeper ecosystems. In addition, the study predicts that animals will get smaller and smaller - smaller organisms are more efficient in energy use, and as energy gets scarce, animals get smaller. This will likely exacerbate the issue of declining food sources.
According to the study, even sea floor communities living four or more kilometers under the surface of the ocean will be affected by projected changes. And although marine life changes are not consistent across the oceans, negative changes are projected for nearly every region. Losses in total biomass are predicted for nearly 80 percent of key ocean habitats including canyons, seamounts, and cold water coral reefs.
The study was part of the Marine Environmental Mapping Programme (MAREMAP), was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), and involved researchers from several institutions including the National Oceanography Centre, Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, France, the university of Tasmania and the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada.
Image above courtesy of Shutterstock.
© 2012 iScience Times All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.


text:
Piano Sonata in D, HobXVI:24
Theme and Variations in D minor
Piano Sonata in B minor, HobXVI:32
Harmonies poétiques et religieuses – III: Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude
Out of Doors
Denis Kozhukhin (piano)
Reviewed by: Colin Anderson
Reviewed: 13 October, 2015
Venue: St John's, Smith Square, London
As part of the Southbank Centre’s International Piano Series – those instalments that would normally grace the being-refurbished Queen Elizabeth Hall are relocated to St John’s – Denis Kozhukhin included a couple of Haydn Sonatas and played them with brilliance, sensitivity and wit. His subtle and dynamic approach was a joy. He darkened the mood for the brusque first movement of Hoboken 32, and then enjoyed the capriciousness of the Minuet and its Trio. Earlier, the Adagio of Hoboken 24 had been made limpid, and both Finales found Kozhukhin with the fleetest of fingers while retaining focussed musicianship.
The Brahms pieces were generously unfolded. The Theme and Variations (which started life as the slow movement of the B-flat String Sextet, Opus 18) found Kozhukhin relishing embellishment and chorale, creating bell-like sounds at the still, quiet centre. In a recital that found the pianist moving swiftly from one movement to another and from one work to another, if without suggesting impatience – and he’s not one to milk applause – Kozhukhin then entered into the turbulent world of the first number of the Seven Fantasies while clapping ensued. This set of ‘Capriccios’ and ‘Intermezzos’ found Kozhukhin’s playing pulsating with passion in the opening ‘Capriccio’, and how special was his raptness in IV, delicacy in V and inwardness in VI – the latter is when music goes beyond words. The final ‘Capriccio’ was of music-serving pyrotechnics.
The Liszt was altogether exceptional – luxuriant and evocative, ideally contemplative, ravishing the senses. Kozhukhin strummed the keys to create wonderfully dulcet sonorities and phrasing that breathed, developing the music to unforced ecstasy and creating a revelation, a divine one. If for these 15 minutes the piano had lost any affinity with percussiveness, it was found with a pounding bass vengeance in ‘With Drums and Pipes’ to open Bartók’s restless Out of Doors suite. Kozhukhin may have needed the score – supplied by an iPad – but he was a master of the five movements’ shapes and shifts, whether jagged and aggressive or during the icy dissonance of ‘The Night’s Music’, folksy references breaking through.
Kozhukhin found a kick in the latter stages of ‘The Chase’, enough to bring the church down, and then two encores extended the evening, first with one of those miraculous Domenico Scarlatti Sonatas – slow, almost sacred here – and then a Sonata by Soler, fast and rumbustious. Irrespective of age (late-20s) and nationality (Russian), Denis Kozhukhin is simply one of the best pianists around.

domain: artistic


text:
Spartan Games is on a real tear this month with new releases and a ton of announcements. To launch it all they completely redesigned their website with a very attractive design that showcases their products well.
First off are the release of the first Dystopian Wars ground forces. Each of the major factions get an Armoured Battle Group plus each unit type is available as separate platoon packs as well. On the naval side new support ships released for each faction such as the Prussian Stolz Class Destroyer. We even got our hands on the big boys with each faction receiving a new Dreadnought class ship. The DNs are truly huge and are about 50% larger than even the impressive battleships. Our favorite of course is the Prussian Blucher class DN. If all of that was not enough Spartan announced the imminent release of the ‘specials’ for each faction including the Prussian Metzger Robot (including both submerged and walking versions), Britannia Vanguard submarine (including both submerged and surface versions), Blazing Sun Ika Class Mechanical Squid (including both submerged and surface versions), and FSA John Henry Class Robot.
But by far the biggest announcement that sent every Dystopian Wars fan into a frenzy was that of the forthcoming Covenant of Antarctica forces. Spartan pulled out all the stops and is releasing a full Naval Battle Group, Drone Fleet Carrier and the Armoured Battle Group all at once. The Antartican design is very sci-fi and fits well with their fluff as the most technologically advanced of all the factions in the game. To top it all off the Naval Battle Group box also ships with a 40-page army guide that includes all of the background, rules and stats for the Covenant of Antarctica forces (also available for separate purchase). And there is even more Antarctican goodness to follow!
Even the boys from the D6 Generation get in on the act and interview Neil Fawcett about Spartan activities and also give a look at how the Dystopian Wars ground forces play goes. Neil makes a surprise announcement that the long awaited Republique of France (RoF) Magenta Class Battleship will be available (in both waterline and flying versions) in limited quantities at Gen Con 2011 and available for all later this year. Craig surprises everyone by revealing that he is now working for Spartan Games as a freelance writer and that he was responsible for all of the great Firestorm Armada fluff on the Spartan site and is now working on more goodies. See Episode 83 and fast forward to 3hr 3min to get right to it.
Spartan has not forgotten Firestorm Armada either. First off we got the new Xelocian ships. The Hantari Cruiser does not have colored ‘power rods’. They are the same clear plastic rods used for the flying stands. The advantage of course is now you can ink them your preferred color.
Then Spartan stopped playing around and decided to simply dump all available resin into one model and previewed the upcoming 9″ Perditor Leviathan model. But I guess the mold overflowed a bit so they decided to release Dreadnoughts for all six fleets as well! They also previewed the Directorate Persecution Class DN.
As mentioned, Craig worked on some FA fluff so we would guess we could expect some more of the same and possibly even a new FA book of some kind — Perhaps the previously hinted at Alliance army book? Maybe Russ and Raef can get some info out of him with Neil safely overseas ensconced in his island fortress!
If all of that was not enough to deplete your wallet then Neil gave some hints that the new FA-era ground combat game, Invasion, may be released in late 2011 or early 2012.

domain: game


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text:
COLUMBUS, Ohio (COLUMBUS Small business To start with)–The lines of consumers outside the house Easton Shoes the earlier few days won’t save the retailer, but they are an affirmation that the household-owned shop produced its mark more than its decades in business enterprise.
House owners Lenny and Marcia Comeras knew the end was coming to that 67-yr-old company, but Covid-19 brought it faster than expected.
“We prepared to do this for a couple much more years,” Lenny Comeras stated. “We required to have a smoother transition.”
The store at 1880 Henderson Road will shut for excellent by October or November. In addition to needing to market via its own inventory, the store nonetheless is getting just one past round of exclusive orders for buyers in the subsequent couple months.
“Covid is considerably from more than,” Marcia Comeras claimed. “We don’t want to hold out this out an additional year. We want to go out on a higher take note.”
Searching at the initial couple times considering that they announced the closing, Easton Shoes is heading to do just that. A dozen consumers waited patiently outdoors the busy store Monday afternoon. Yet another line shaped Tuesday morning prior to opening.
It is a testament to Easton Shoes’ dedicated customer base that gravitated towards the European manufacturers favored by the store. Even if a brand was readily available in other places, Lenny Comeras explained their keep would concentrate on types that ended up harder to come across. They traveled in the course of Europe and South The united states on obtaining expeditions, searching for new item to provide to Central Ohio.
“We acquired from the European collections, not the U.S.,” Marcia Comeras stated. “We required to be distinctive. That’s what set us apart.”
Lenny Comeras’ father Reuben Comeras and business spouse Bill Easton opened Easton Footwear in 1954.
“The name sounded superior than Comeras Shoes,” he joked, while he included that had they known Easton City Center was coming 45 several years later on they could possibly have reconsidered, specified the confusion from having yet another Easton across city has caused in the previous 20 yrs.
The brand started at Graceland in Clintonville and at a single issue had retailers at Kingsdale in Higher Arlington, in Delaware, and at the Fantastic Western and Good Southern searching centers.
Lenny Comeras, a attorney by trade, joined the family company in 1978 and opened a keep in Bexley. Marcia Comeras, his wife, joined 27 many years ago.
The company was consolidated into one huge retail store on Bethel Highway in in 1989. The store moved to its current Henderson Highway area 16 a long time in the past.
“It’s pretty, really sad,” Lenny Comeras mentioned of the selection to near. “It’s in all probability time, but we nevertheless feel young and act youthful.”
Though they’ve traveled a great deal for business enterprise in excess of the a long time, the couple now ideas to vacation for enjoyable, in addition to paying out time with their grandchildren and, for Lenny Comeras, participating in tennis as a lot as feasible.
“We’ll go where at any time our heart requires us,” he stated.
The Comerases did not at first imagine the pandemic would guide to closing the keep. Although the company was shut for pretty much three months very last calendar year with no earnings, they refreshed the keep glance in that downtime and reopened.
Consumers returned, but two other key elements did not: workforce and several suppliers.
Lenny Comeras explained they weren’t capable to lure earlier workers back and have struggled to bring in new staff members, which has been a common challenge for stores and dining places.
Sellers proved to be a higher problem. Some, like Israel-based mostly Beautifeel and Arcopedico, closed or are having hassle shipping and delivery to the U.S. Other individuals shifted efforts to their individual direct-to-buyer operations instead than shops. New Balance quit supplying modest retailers, whilst Birkenstock, a person of Easton Shoes most common sellers, isn’t using new orders until finally following 12 months.
The manufacturers that have remained reliable — SAS, Finn and Hartjes to title a number of — are not plenty of to maintain the enterprise.
But the Comerases are going to make the most of their very last number of weeks.
“We’re continue to heading to market a lot right until we close,” Lenny Comeras explained. “We have a backlog of particular orders which is heading to retain us extremely, pretty chaotic. We have advised our shoppers to appear in and inventory up.”
For extra small business headlines, go to ColumbusBusinessFirst.com.

domain: economics


text:
Amsterdam: Elzevir, 1646.
, 402, pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Anti-Catholicism in Scotland in the Early Modern Period. Bound in full 18th century maroon french morocco, gilt stamped spine, a.e.g, rolled gilt turn-ins, French curl marbled endpapers. Title page laid down and remargined, leaf (a) and last five leaves remargined. Otherwise very good DNB https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/9843. Item #318176
The Latin version of Patrick Forbes's (1564-1635) major work, An Exquisite Commentarie upon the Revelation of Saint John, translated by his son John Forbes of Corse (1593-1648). The work is deeply anti-Catholic and Puritan, insisting that the ritual in Catholic worship was corruption and that the devil had already been unleashed, during the reign of Pope Boniface VIII around 1300.
Here in a very attractive red morocco binding.
Price: $550.00 Free International Delivery

domain: history


Apr. 14, 2015
Although super-resolution light microscopy has broken new ground in our understanding of subcellular structures and the movement of individual molecules within cells, its use to investigate virus particles is in its infancy. However, the field could be about to explode following the publication of work by a Cambridge University team using a trio of fast and ultra-sensitive Andor iXon EMCCD cameras. Led by Professor Clemens Kaminski and Dr Colin Crump, the team has successfully developed a methodology that allows dSTORM super-resolution microscopy to be used as a structural tool for the study of viruses.
moreMar. 04, 2015
The highly innovative iXon Ultra 888 is the world's fastest Megapixel, Back-illuminated EMCCD camera, offering exceptional frame rates and single photon sensitivity across a large field of view. Building on a rich history of first to market innovation, the ‘supercharged' iXon Ultra 888, represents a massive performance boost for the largest available EMCCD sensor, as well as the first USB3 enabled EMCCD camera.
moreMay. 16, 2014
The University of Albuquerque has designed a hyperspectral microscope (HSM) around an Andor iXon 860 high-speed EMCCD detection system to visualize membrane receptor dynamics at the molecular level in living cells.
The HSM provides acquisition rates of 27 fps over a 28 square micrometer field of view with each pixel collecting 128 spectral channels, allowing the determination of stoichiometry and dynamics of small oligomers unmeasurable by any other technique.
moreMar. 31, 2014
Zyla sCMOS has proven a superb camera choice for the biologist and microscopist.
Many simply see the Zyla as an amazing value, superb price/performance 'workhorse' camera with which to replace their existing interline CCD and upgrade the performance of their fluorescence microscope.
moreFeb. 13, 2014
Oxford Instruments, a provider of high-technology tools for industry and research has recently acquired Andor. Andor is a supplier of high performance cameras, microscope systems and software for the physical science and life science industries. Andor will continue to focus on growing their existing core markets and will spearhead Oxford Instruments strategic expansion into the Nano-Bio arena.
moreOct. 22, 2013
Understanding embryo development is still one of the most intriguing questions facing today's biologists. Light-sheet microscopy is rapidly gaining recognition for whole organism imaging, allowing cell growth, differentiation and morphogenesis to be studied in detail. However, compared to confocal microscopy, the amount of data generated by this new technique is approximately three thousand times greater and poses new storage and image post-processing challenges.
moreJul. 12, 2013
Available on the iXon Ultra 897 camera, the Optically Centred Crop Mode offers extremely fast frame rate performance from Region of Interest (ROI), and is ideally matched to the speed and sensitivity needs of live cell super-resolution microscopy.
moreJul. 01, 2013
The Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS), has equipped a twelve-strong array of telescopes at the European Southern Observatory in Chile, with custom-designed, red-sensitive CCD cameras from Andor.
NGTS will extend the limits of detection from giant Jupiter-like planets into the Neptune and super-Earth regime.
moreMay. 17, 2013
The group of Professor Markus Arndt at the University of Vienna, Austria, has shown the diffraction of single, massive molecules at a grating in an unambiguous demonstration of the wave-particle duality of quantum physics.
moreDec. 28, 2012
Andor's Zyla sCMOS camera offers high speed, high sensitivity imaging performance in a remarkably light and compact, TE cooled design. Zyla is ideally suited to many cutting-edge applications that push the boundaries of speed, offering sustained frame rate performance of up to 100 fps, faster with ROIs.