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Staging A House Not Just For Older Homes
I've spent 10 years traveling the country for my A&E show "Sell This House," helping people stage their homes to get them sold. Almost all of these homes have been filled to the brim with possessions and saddled with dated finishes. Much of my job on the show revolves around decluttering and de-emphasizing undesirable features, all while trying to inject a little bit of style.
But staging isn't just effective for problem houses; it can have just as much impact on a home that's already beautiful. I recently had the opportunity to work with Austin architect Sean Guess of Faye and Walker Architecture. His latest project, Court Houses, comprises two interlocking houses built on a single city lot. The homes feature striking modern lines, private courtyards, beautiful interior finishes and generously proportioned spaces. The homes' numerous large windows are placed strategically to bring in generous amounts of ambient light, and the amply sized walls are perfect for an art collector. When Sean's project was nearing completion, he contacted me to help stage one of the homes.
Why would someone go to the trouble of hiring a professional stager to add furniture to a new house? One of the oldest rules of staging is that empty homes - even beautiful ones - don't appeal to buyers as strongly as furnished properties. Staging can be used to define the purpose of rooms; I added a writing desk to a bedroom's nook to create a child's homework area. Buyers have trouble estimating the size of empty rooms; I used a large couch and oversized coffee table in the living room to show off its ample size. The placement of furnishings and artwork calls attention to unique features; for example, a drape emphasized the view out of a window and an antique chair and painting at the top of the stairway brought attention to the attractive stair design.
One of the biggest reasons for staging is making an emotional appeal to the target audience, hinting at the lifestyle the house can provide. Sean and I discussed the type of people likely to be interested in Court Houses, and I tailored my furniture and art selections accordingly. Rather than simply filling the home with modern decor, I wanted to show buyers that a modern home can work in harmony with comfortable rustic and vintage pieces. I emphasized a sense of humor - hanging a 5-foot-long mounted tarpon in the dining room, for instance - to show that modern architecture can be playful as well as serious.
The staging has worked. Initial feedback from buyers and agents has been tremendously positive. Visitors are paying attention to the unique features of Sean's design that I wanted to emphasize, and they can easily see themselves in this home.
Many of the money-saving tips I used in the staging of this home you can use in your house.
I scoured online listings and thrift stores for cheap furniture. I bought two used queen beds for a total of about $100. Found at a thrift store, the living room couch had ugly fabric but great lines - perfect for covering with a dropcloth slipcover.
To dress up the simple beds, I built rustic box surrounds out of pine boards, providing the look of a pricey platform bed for $20 in lumber and wood screws. I stood a sheet of plywood on end to create an attention-getting headboard in the master bedroom. The guest bed received a plywood headboard as well, this time wrapped in a gray flannel sheet to add texture. Both beds were finished with crisp linens and handsome plaid blankets.
I kept the artwork playful and nontraditional. I found a set of vintage paper BB gun targets to place above the guest bedroom desk. Instead of framing the targets, I simply thumb-tacked them in a grid, saving hundreds of dollars. I needed something compelling for a living room wall but didn't have room in the budget to purchase large artwork, so I took photos of old toy cars and printed them out on an inkjet printer.
Fresh flowers must be replaced frequently. Instead, I used cuttings from the yard and dried greenery. The home is situated on a lot surrounded by bamboo, which Sean had incorporated into the exterior by crafting shading screens out of bamboo poles harvested during construction. I continued the look inside by adding large bamboo cuttings in the master bathroom. Dried fountain grass from my yard became a centerpiece in the dining room.
Vintage furniture was used throughout the house, but I modified some of the pieces. I found an inexpensive wood table with great lines, but the finish was a bit too dark. I brightened it up with a coat of glossy white paint, leaving the bottom half of the table's legs unpainted to add interest. After painting, I rubbed off some of the paint with sand paper to expose the wood and hint at natural wear and tear.
Court Houses are at 802 Cardinal Lane, Austin, 78724, and currently offered at $450,000 by listing broker Brian Linder of The Value of Architecture. Each house is approximately 2,000 square feet, with three bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms. For more photos of the staging, click here.


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- The stock market’s business district is where small stocks and value stocks tend to reside. Because of their risk characteristics (i.e. higher risk), those companies offer higher expected returns than their large stock and growth stock counterparts. But, they tend to be riskier than the average stock.
- Since risk and return are related, you want to make sure your portfolio has an appropriate level of exposure to the business district.
- The research is clear: stocks in the business district are smaller and cheaper relative to their accounting measures than the average stock is. That’s why stocks in the heart of the business district are called “small value” stocks.
Years ago, I had the good fortune to spend time fly fishing with one of the sport’s greats, Joe Humphreys. Already a legend in the late 1980s when I arranged to take some lessons from him, Joe was generous with his time and took me all over central Pennsylvania to teach me a wide range of fly fishing tactics. I remember that we concentrated on nymph fishing. Nymphing is when the fisherman presents his fly under the surface of the water—at just the right depth–and at a speed that does not arouse the fish’s suspicion. It requires concentration and special skill to be at the right place at the right time.
When nymph fishing, one of your biggest concerns is making sure your fly is actually “making it down to the fish.” Little lead split shot that’s crimped to your line will help the fly descend to the correct depth– the stream’s “business district” as Joe called it.
The business district is the depth at which the trout suspended themselves in the water as they wait for the current to bring them food. With Joe’s guidance, my fishing steadily improved. Now, every time I nymph fish, I ask myself if my flies are truly making it into “the business district.” As regular readers of this blog already know, the stock market, like a trout stream has a business district. And, that’s where you want to be.
The stock market’s business district is small stocks and value stocks tend to reside. Because of their risk characteristics (i.e. higher risk), those companies offer higher expected returns than their large stock and growth stock counterparts. Risk and return are related. As a result, you want to make sure your portfolio has an appropriate level of exposure to the business district because that exposure is a very significant factor in the long term expected return of your portfolio.
So where is the business district?
The business district in the stock markets is where you’ll find companies with the highest cost of capital. Since a companies’ cost of capital and the investor’s expected return are equal, companies in this sector offer the highest expected return. It is just a matter of economics. The research is clear: stocks in the business district are characterized as being smaller and cheaper relative to their accounting measures than the average stock in the market. That’s why stocks in the heart of the business district are called small value stocks (see chart below).
The chart below, highlights the returns of stocks in the business district in yellow. As you can see, stocks in the business district have offered much higher returns than the rest of the market over the long term.
However, as you can see in the next chart, these high performing stocks have been riskier for investors. Risk is this case is measured by the annual standard deviation of returns which simply measures the degree to which returns vary year by year. The larger the number the more variable the return.
But, for patient investors, the extra risk associated with owning stocks in the business district has been very rewarding. The last chart illustrates the growth of a dollar invested in each area over the period of July 1926 thru September 2014.
This is a great example of the power of compounding. But before you call your advisor and ask him or her to increase your portfolio’s exposure to small value stocks, I must offer a word of caution. The data here covers a very long period of time. Over shorter time periods, stocks in the business district can (and have) underperformed. Sometimes by a very large margin. But if you have a time horizon of 10 years or so, you may want to consider tilting your portfolio toward stocks in the business district. For more on this topic, please see our video or contact me at email@example.com.

domain: finance


Independent voices from the TWT Communities
With two Republican contenders for the 2012 Senate race in Texas dropping out recently to run instead for a House seat, conventional wisdom has the GOP contest shaping up as a two-man showdown between the "establishment" candidate, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, and the tea party insurgent, former Solicitor General Ted Cruz.
Cruz spokesman John Drogin said Mr. Cruz, who has been racking up endorsements from the likes of Club for Growth, FreedomWorks and Utah Sen. Mike Lee, is focused on his campaign — not competitors.
But the Cruz campaign has momentum, he said, and the right message on state's rights and fiscal responsibility.


text:
Subsequent to Slysoft closing its doors after nearly 13 years, RedFox has taken its place to become the new custodian of AnyDVD, which allows users to break the copy protection on disc-based media.
This Week in Rocket Launches #116
China to send people to space and SpaceX to resupply ISS
Windows 11 Beta Channel adds WPA3 support to Phone Link hotspot
windows 11 insider preview
Windows 11 Release Preview adds more live caption languages
windows 11 insider preview promo

domain: news


text:
DETROIT — Auto technicians working at car dealerships aren't particularly satisfied with their jobs.
According to a recent Carlisle & Co. survey of automotive technicians, just 27% of respondents said they were satisfied with their jobs. For comparison, about 45% of service managers and 47% of service advisers expressed satisfaction in Carlisle's most recent surveys.
In addition, slightly more than one-third of techs said they expect to leave their brand in the next year or two. An overwhelming number would not recommend the job to a friend.
Other survey highlights:
- Not getting paid or getting paid insufficiently for diagnostic work, which technicians said represents about 25% of their total working hours.
- Dealers not stocking enough specialty tools and poor tool-inventory management. Less than a quarter of respondents report their dealerships conduct frequent inventories to replace missing tools.
- Not getting paid for multi-point inspections, which techs said they spend a fair amount of time conducting, unless those inspections turn into incremental customer pay business.
During the pandemic, more than half of survey respondents experienced reduced hours, while a quarter reported being furloughed or temporarily laid off.
Only about four of 10 technicians are satisfied with some key features of their dealership's coronavirus protocol, such as providing safety equipment and enacting safety measures among employees. Fifteen percent of respondents said their dealership did not provide essential safety items, such as masks and hand sanitizer.
Hope on the horizon
About a third of the respondents are looking forward to working on electric vehicles. That's noteworthy given the overall unhappiness among technicians. But only 14% say they've received a "significant" amount of training on EVs.


text:
Ayurveda Remedies for Digestive Disorders
Digestive disorders need natural solutions; your body acclimatises to chemicals over time making it effective to treat digestive disorders. Instead of increasing your dosage try the ayurvedic treatment for your digestive disorders. Treat gas, indigestion, acidity, constipation and stomach ulcers with ayurveda.
*Images courtesy: © Thinkstock photos/ Getty Images
The human body is truly amazing. Check out these 10 incredible facts about your body.
If you’re a vegetarian, watch out for these foods that seem to be vegetarian but may...
Drinking enough water is easier said than done, because even though you know that you...

domain: medical


|Publication number||US5934969 A|
|Application number||US 08/946,203|
|Publication date||Aug 10, 1999|
|Filing date||Oct 7, 1997|
|Priority date||Oct 7, 1997|
|Publication number||08946203, 946203, US 5934969 A, US 5934969A, US-A-5934969, US5934969 A, US5934969A|
|Inventors||Steven F. Rehkemper, Jeffrey G. Rehkemper|
|Original Assignee||Rehkemper Id, Inc.|
|Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Patent Citations (6), Referenced by (12), Classifications (11), Legal Events (11)|
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet|
The present invention relates to a new and improved method and apparatus for a toy product and in particular to a new and improved method and apparatus for making three-dimensional, dissectable models of animals and imaginary creatures.
The study and dissection of formerly living creatures is a well known and highly regarded part of scientific investigation. Similarly, on the hobby level, children have long been exposed to models of both real and fictional creatures. Heretofore kits have been provided which allow a child to construct, from a plurality of parts, accurate reproductions of vertebrates and invertebrates, both present and past, real and imaginary. There also exist model kits which permit investigation and assembly/disassembly of the internal systems of an animal. Typically, the "organs" are arranged in an empty cavity within a rigid "skin", the user being permitted to install and remove the organs. Often the organs are visible through a clear material in which they are mounted.
While the prior art has thus provided a plurality of realistic models for both play and study purposes, they often have limited continuous play value. In particular, an assembled model, once constructed, often loses its play appeal. Models having internal organs, while somewhat extending the play life by allowing the repetitive insertion and removal of the internal organs, can decrease in appeal due to the repetitive unvarying nature of the installation and removal process. Further, the organs are fully visible, and thus offer little in the way of challenge for successful removal.
Accordingly, it is a purpose of the present invention to provide a model kit and construction methodology which has increased play value and interest.
A further purpose of the present invention is to provide a model apparatus and methodology which allows the user to replicate or create the internal structure of a creature, either real or imaginary, and enclose them within additional simulated "viscera" within a "skin".
A further purpose of the present invention is to allow a user of such a model to "dissect" the assembled creature for location and study of internal "organs".
Still a further purpose of the present invention is to provide such a model in which realistic bodily fluids may be encountered during the dissection process.
Still a further purpose of the present invention is to provide such a model in which the internal organ elements may be reused, and a new "skin" recast, to extend the interest and play value of the model assembly.
In accordance with the foregoing and other objects and purposes, a model kit produced in accordance with the present invention comprises a kit of components for creating a model replica of a particular creature, either real, such as a frog, or imaginary, such as a "space monster". The kit includes a plurality of structures replicating internal organs of the creature. These may include skeletal elements, as well as soft tissue organs or systems. One or more of the soft tissue organs may be in the form of a sac or bladder into which a liquid may be loaded to simulate blood or other bodily fluids. A mold representing the external surface or appearance of the creature is provided into which the internal organs are placed. The mold is then filled with a casting substance, which both takes the form of the mold and surrounds and encases the internal organs.
Upon curing, the model is removed. Paints and/or other pigments may be provided to allow the model's "skin" to be colored or otherwise decorated or further sculptured as desired.
The kit may further include a "dissection" tray, upon which the completed animal may be placed. A set of dissection tools are provided, allowing the child to "dissect" the animal, locating and identifying the internal organs as the encapsulating material is explored. Perforation of an internal organ, either accidental or intentional, will result in the exudation of the liquid placed therein, both providing an increased level of realism to the dissection as well as an additional level of interest. Upon full dissection, the internal organs may be reused in connection with the molding of a subsequent creature for dissection.
The method of the present invention comprises the assembly of the internal organs of the creature within a mold, the casting of a material about the internal organs to form a generally life-like or realistic sculpture of the creature, and removal of the model from the mold. The model is then dissected, exposing the internal organs. The fully exposed organs may then be reassembled for reuse in a subsequently-cast model.
A fuller understanding of the present invention may be achieved upon review of the following detailed, but nonetheless illustrative embodiments of the present invention, when reviewed in connection with the annexed drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a representation of a mold utilized in connection with the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a representation of a portion of a "skeleton" which may be assembled as part of the internal organs of a creature;
FIG. 3 is a representation of a soft tissue "organ" in association with an apparatus for filling the organ with an appropriate "bodily fluid";
FIG. 4 is a depiction of the mold in the closed configuration, with internal organs arrayed therein, for accepting the casting material; and
FIG. 5 is a representation of the completed "creature" removed from the mold and placed on a dissection tray for dissection.
In accordance with the figures, the present invention may be in the form of a kit of components for the creation of a chosen creature model and its subsequent "dissection". The kit may include mold 10, which provides a three-dimensional outline corresponding to the outer appearance or "skin" of the creature to be constructed. As depicted, the creature is a frog. However, a variety of creatures, both real and imaginary, may be provided, including, at true or reduced scale, both vertebrates or invertebrates, such as insects, reptiles, birds and dinosaurs, as well as fictional creatures of a variety of appearances. Such imaginary forms may be chosen to replicate "known" creatures, such as characters of television or motion picture productions, such as "Godzilla" or the like, or may constitute truly fanciful and unique creatures. The mold is preferably of a two-part format, such as depicted in the Figure, allowing initial access to the interior of the mold for assembly of the internal organs therein, and may be formed of a transparent material, such as plastic, to allow observation of the internal organs arrayed therein and to monitor the casting process as the mold is filled. At least one-half of the mold is preferably of sufficient depth to allow the internal organs to be arrayed therein and to provide some degree of surrounding support therefor.
The internal structure of the creature to be replicated is developed by the assembly of a plurality of individual organ structures. As shown, they may include "bones"12 which themselves may be assembled from component parts and then connected together by the use of suitable connectors, such as complementary hooks and eyelets 14, 16, into a skeleton 18. The skeleton 18 may be either complete or partial. As depicted in the Figures, the skeleton 18 may include, for example, a partial rib cage area 20, having an interior space or volume in which one or more soft tissue organs may be located.
As depicted in FIG. 3, one or more of such soft tissue organs may be supplied. As contemplated herein, such a soft tissue organ may be a representation of a single organ, such as a heart or lung, or a combination of organs, either associated as a partial or complete system, such as the digestive system, or unrelated but physically connected into a unitary element, such as, for example, the combination of a heart, lungs, and liver. The organs may also be imaginary in "function" and/or appearance. Typically, their construction is of a soft, plastic or rubber-like material, chosen as known in the art, to generally simulate the tactile qualities of an organ. In a preferred embodiment, and as depicted, one or more of the organs may be in the form of a flexible sac or bladder 22.
As part of the kit a syringe or dropper-like device 24 is provided, having a tapered injector portion 26 which may be inserted through the organ wall to load a liquid 28 therein. The bladder may be formed of a rubber-like substance, known in the art, which self-seals when the ejector is removed, maintaining the liquid inside. Alternatively, the bladder may be provided with a sealable fill port, or a valve mechanism to accommodate the ejector. The kit may further include a "recipe" and the necessary components to formulate the injected liquid. The components may include, for example, appropriate non-toxic dyes or colorants which, when mixed with water, produces a liquid having a desired appearance. Thickening agents and/or fragrances may also be included.
After assembly of the "skeleton" and preparation of the soft tissue organs as desired, they are arranged within the mold in a desired pattern. Typically, at least in the case of actual creatures, the arrangement can at least generally replicate the actual internal structure of the creature. An accompanying text may be provided to assist the child in placing the organs in the proper location and to provide background information concerning the creature, its anatomy, and other data. The mold is then closed and positioned to receive molding compound, as depicted in FIG. 4.
The kit further comprises an appropriate molding compound, either in conjunction with a hardening agent, or in a formulation which is to be combined with water and which commences a setting reaction. A preferred class of molding compounds are non-toxic alginates. As known in the art preferred alginates, as exemplified by the dental casting compound sold under the INSTAMOLD trademark by Activa Products, Inc., of Marshall, Tex., pass through an intermediate, gel-like phase during the curing process. It is the gel-like phase which is utilized by the present invention to allow the molded creature to have a "life-like" composition and which permits the "dissection" of the creature. The molding material 30, when prepared, is poured into the mold through an appropriate fill port 32 in the mold, which is coupled by a sprue 34 to the interior mold volume to be filled. The mold is filled with the casting material, the internal organs being surrounded and embedded thereby. With the mold filled, the material is permitted to set. The molding material is preferably opaque to prevent identification of the location of the organs through the compound.
With the molding compound properly cured, the mold is opened and the cast "creature" removed. The kit may include a variety of materials to color or otherwise treat the surface of the creature, and may include paints and brushes, as well as sculpture tools, to allow mold marks to be removed from the creature and to otherwise modify the surface texture and configuration as may be desired.
The kit also encompasses the inclusion of a "dissection" tray 36, as depicted in FIG. 5, upon which the creature 38 may be placed. With the use of suitable instruments, including scalpel 40, tweezers, and probe-like instruments for cutting removing the molding material, the user dissects the creature, excising the overlying set casting compound to expose the internal organs. Because one or more of the internal organs may be of the bladder-type, the user must exert care during the dissection, lest he or she puncture an organ, releasing the enclosed bodily fluid.
The dissection process may be continued until the entirety of the internal organs are exposed and released from the surrounding matrix. The internal organs, such as the soft tissue organ 22, may be removed from the creature for further study, the skeleton, for example, being further disassembled into its constituent bones. Preferably, the internal organs are each constructed of a material to which the molding material does not permanently and rigidly bond, thus facilitating the removal of the casting material from the organs, both to facilitate dissection and to allow possible reuse.
As set forth herein, the model kit of the present invention provides an increased level of realism and interest over conventional biology-oriented model kits, while allowing for extended play and re-use of components. Those skilled in the art will recognize that modification and adaptions to the invention are possible without departing from the intended scope of the invention.
|Cited Patent||Filing date||Publication date||Applicant||Title|
|US3722108 *||Apr 12, 1972||Mar 27, 1973||Weatherby Nasco Inc||Injection training aid|
|US4518367 *||Oct 19, 1983||May 21, 1985||Marvin Glass & Associates||Figure including means for extruding plastic substance|
|US4708836 *||Mar 20, 1986||Nov 24, 1987||Commissariat A L'energie Atomique||Process for producing an artificial cranium and a prosthetic head|
|US4738647 *||Dec 31, 1986||Apr 19, 1988||Mattel, Inc.||Activity toy for forming and dissolving a figure toy|
|US5620326 *||Jun 9, 1995||Apr 15, 1997||Simulab Corporation||Anatomical simulator for videoendoscopic surgical training|
|US5722836 *||May 21, 1996||Mar 3, 1998||Simulab Corporation||Reflected-image videoendoscopic surgical trainer and method of training|
|Citing Patent||Filing date||Publication date||Applicant||Title|
|US6254396 *||Sep 28, 1999||Jul 3, 2001||Delta Education, Inc.||Teaching device for science experiments|
|US6589096||Nov 7, 2001||Jul 8, 2003||Hasbro, Inc.||Apparatus and method for creating and destroying a solid exterior/liquid interior toy|
|US7651333||Apr 12, 2006||Jan 26, 2010||Tamarkin Dawn A||Tactile cell model|
|US8460005||Feb 10, 2011||Jun 11, 2013||Audrey-Sioux Pompey||Kit for building a model of a cell|
|US8465337 *||Jun 18, 2008||Jun 18, 2013||Anthony R. Eisenhut||Radiation curable arts and crafts toy|
|US8864548||Mar 15, 2012||Oct 21, 2014||Mattel, Inc.||Toy with viscous skeleton|
|US20070015437 *||Jul 14, 2005||Jan 18, 2007||Dominic Laurienzo||Toy vehicle overlaid with a removable material suitable for removing the layer of removable material with a toy material remover|
|US20070155517 *||Jan 5, 2006||Jul 5, 2007||Portia Perry||Artificial blood puddle|
|US20070243511 *||Apr 12, 2006||Oct 18, 2007||Tamarkin Dawn A||Tactile cell model|
|US20080318489 *||Jun 18, 2008||Dec 25, 2008||Eisenhut Anthony R||Radiation curable arts and crafts toy|
|EP3135359A1 *||Aug 22, 2016||Mar 1, 2017||Sega Toys Co., Ltd.||Accessory preparation toy|
|WO2005071639A1 *||Jan 7, 2005||Aug 4, 2005||Board Of Regents, The University Of Texas System||Models imitating internal organs and the real anatomy|
|U.S. Classification||446/385, 434/295, 446/368, 446/373, 434/276|
|International Classification||A63H33/00, G09B23/36|
|Cooperative Classification||G09B23/36, A63H33/001|
|European Classification||A63H33/00B, G09B23/36|
|Oct 7, 1997||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: REHKEMPER ID, INC., ILLINOIS
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:REHKEMPER, STEVEN F.;REHKEMPER, JEFFREY G.;REEL/FRAME:008765/0200
Effective date: 19970930
|Oct 4, 2002||FPAY||Fee payment|
Year of fee payment: 4
|Aug 30, 2005||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: GMAC COMMERCIAL FINANCE LLC, NEW YORK
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:NATURAL SCIENCE INDUSTRIES, LTD.;REEL/FRAME:016914/0584
Effective date: 20050805
Owner name: GMAC COMMERCIAL FINANCE LLC, AS AGENT, NEW YORK
Free format text: SECURITY AGREEMENT;ASSIGNOR:NSI INTERNATIONAL, INC.;REEL/FRAME:016914/0592
Effective date: 20050815
Owner name: NSI INTERNATIONAL, INC., NEW YORK
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:GMAC COMMERCIAL FINANCE LLC;REEL/FRAME:016914/0629
Effective date: 20050815
|Nov 13, 2006||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: HSBC BUSINESS CREDIT (USA) INC., NEW YORK
Free format text: SECURITY AGREEMENT;ASSIGNOR:NSI INTERNATIONAL, INC.;REEL/FRAME:018505/0672
Effective date: 20061016
Owner name: NSI INTERNATIONAL, INC., NEW YORK
Free format text: NOTICE OF GRANT OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS;ASSIGNOR:GMAC COMMERCIAL FINANCE LLC, AS AGENT;REEL/FRAME:018505/0684
Effective date: 20061016
|Nov 27, 2006||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: NSI INTERNATIONAL, INC., NEW YORK
Free format text: CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE NATURE OF CONVEYANCE, WHICH WAS INCORRECTLY LISTED AS A "NOTICE OF GRANT OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS" PREVIOUSLY RECORDED ON REEL 018505 FRAME 0684;ASSIGNOR:GMAC COMMERCIAL FINANCE LLC, AS AGENT;REEL/FRAME:018545/0953
Effective date: 20061016
|Feb 28, 2007||REMI||Maintenance fee reminder mailed|
|Jul 25, 2007||SULP||Surcharge for late payment|
Year of fee payment: 7
|Jul 25, 2007||FPAY||Fee payment|
Year of fee payment: 8
|Mar 14, 2011||REMI||Maintenance fee reminder mailed|
|Aug 2, 2011||FPAY||Fee payment|
Year of fee payment: 12
|Aug 2, 2011||SULP||Surcharge for late payment|
Year of fee payment: 11


text:
New drivers of resilience: urbanisation, cyber risk and supply chain visibility
For today’s global enterprise, remaining resilient is an increasingly challenging endeavor. Supply chains and business networks often span the globe, and savvy organizations must ensure they understand the relative risks of countries in which they do—or plan to do—business. The FM Global Resilience Index was created to help executives understand the business resilience of the countries in which they operate so they can gain powerful insights for strategic decision-making.
Newly updated and improved for 2017, the index is the only annual ranking of 130 countries and territories according to their enterprise resilience to disruptive events. Rankings are calculated based on an equally weighted composite of 12 core drivers that affect the enterprise resilience of countries significantly and directly.
What is new in the 2017 index?
A good index should evolve as better data and analytics become available. A significant enhancement to the index this year is the inclusion of three new drivers of enterprise resilience: urbanization rate, inherent cyber risk and supply chain visibility. Another enhancement is the use of local code information to refine the index’s risk quality drivers to be more representative of each country’s natural hazard and fire risk quality. Country rankings also have been retro-calculated, using the new and revised data, to make the results available for the past five years.
FM Global makes the Resilience Index – and a suite of other resources to help executives make informed business decisions – available free to the public on fmglobal.com (under Research & Resources => Tools and Resources). Featuring a new and easy-to-use interface, the index can be accessed anytime.
In June, FM Global will release a personalized client-centric version of the index providing an account-level summary of the enterprise resilience of their properties throughout the world. This strategic overview will be available to FM Global policyholders by simply logging in to FM Global’s client portal – known as MyRisk®.
How the FM Global Resilience Index works
The index is powered by data from leading global resources, including the United Nations, the World Bank, the World Economic Forum and the International Monetary Fund. These sources combine with FM Global’s proprietary data – generated by the company’s 1,800 property risk engineers who inspect more than 100,000 locations annually around the world – to make the index robust and reliable.
“The idea really is that this is aimed at the c-suite and it’s to help executives understand the relative resilience of countries to business disruption.”
Ronnie Gibson, STAFF VICE PRESIDENT MANAGER OF BRAND EXPERIENCE AT FM GLOBAL IN BUSINESS INSURANCE
The 2017 FM Global Resilience Index aggregates 12 drivers of resilience into three factors (categories)—economic, risk quality and supply chain.
Understanding countries within this context has never been easier, nor has quick access to the data been more manageable. Use it to gain new, strategic insights for your business needs – potential expansion and investment or to assess enterprise resilience.
This article originally appeared in Reason magazine Issue 1, 2017, which you can read here.

domain: geography


text:
We’ve heard of it in movies and thought what it might really be like. But the possibility of its existence has always been blurry and questionable. The secret organisations run by Government of USA have always been a cause of curiosity – and now we know of one. Just as they mentioned in the movie The Sum Of All Fears, Mount Weather actually exists.
What is Mount Weather?
The Mount Weather Emergency Operations Centre is a major reallocation site for the highest level civilian and military officials in case of a national emergency. It is a 564-acre, high-security federal government facility along the Loudoun-Clarke County border in Virginia.
Used as the centre of operations for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and r un by the run by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security it plays a key role in U.S. continuity of government plans.
What makes it SO cool?
Built during the Cold War as a relocation site, the facility consists of two parts: the above-ground FEMA complex and the 600,000-square-foot underground facility. And that’s not it. Just as in the movies, Mount Weather actually has its own security system. It has its own leaders, its own police and fire departments and even its own laws.
This underground bunker includes a hospital, crematorium, dining and recreation areas, sleeping quarters, reservoirs of drinking and cooling water, an emergency power plant, and a radio and television studio which is part of the Emergency Braodcasting System. The facility is meant to accommodate about 2000 people, but only the President, the Cabinet, and Supreme Court are provided private sleeping quarters.
When was Mount Weather last used?
According to official records, Mount Weather was briefly activated by federal agents on April 7 2015 after a major electric power interruption hit the Washington D.C. region . It was also used during the 9/11 attacks, when the entire Congressional leadership was transported there by helicopter.
When was it built?
The back-up centre was built during the cold war, completed in 1958. Jacob Rosenthal, a former top aide to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy said that he along with a few colleagues were sent to Mount Weather during the Cuban Missile Crisis. “This was the master relocation site for government, inside the bowel of the mountain,” he added.
How was the secret revealed?
Mount Weather’s existence remained a secret to all but top federal officials till the TWA 514 flight crashed in 1974 in close proximity to the site. But even then federal officials guarded the areas, not allowing any pictures of the site. The cameramen were not even allowed near the smoking debris of the crash that claimed 90 lives.
What people have to say
Though right in the middle of the country, even residents of Virginia hardly know the reality inside Mount Weather. Residents and community leaders nearby said Mt. Weather is a large employer but a widespread mystery to the people and even to some of the facility’s own employees.
Mount Weather influences in pop-culture
It is obvious that such a mysteriously working operations centre in the USA has stirred curiosity among many. A number of movies have mentioned the existence of Mount Weather, or have fictionally used the idea. The remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still and Memorial Day are two such examples. The final episode of The X Files and the second season of The Earth has mentions of the site.
Mount Weather is also mentioned in novels like Behold A Pale Horse, Seven Days In May and The Sum Of All Fears. The popular video game Call Of Duty also features Mount Weather.


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Domino AKA Dom is a very shy timid soul, but once he gets to know you he turns into the biggest snuggle bug who will shower you with unconditional love.... read more
Winnie is a beautiful girl who would best suite a family with no small children or other fur kids. as she wants to be the center of attention, she arrived... read more
***BONDED PAIR*** ***INDOOR ONLY KITTIES*** Quigley & Quentessa were born 01.05.17. Their Mumma cat, Quenby, found a safe place near a house to have her babies and luckily the homeowners'... read more
***INDOOR ONLY KITTY *** Theo was born 03.05.17. He was only about eleven weeks old when he was found lost and frightened and was taken to Ulysses. Theo is still... read more
***INDOOR ONLY KITTY*** Quenby was born 01.04.16. She is a stunning classic black tabby who was a stray. She found her way to a safe place on a property to... read more
***INDOOR ONLY KITTIES *** ***BONDED PAIR*** Inca & Xanadu aren't siblings, but they are very much a bonded pair. Inca was born 11.02.15 and Xanadu 10.07.16. Poor Xanadu had a... read more
Hi my name is Tosca, I was surrendered to the shelter along with my siblings and I am now looking for my new forever home I hope it can be... read more
Hi my name is Tora, I was surrendered to the shelter along with my siblings and I am now looking for my new forever home I hope it can be... read more
Pound Paws is a registered charity. It uses modern social media tools to make potential pet owners more aware of, and help re-home, animals in pounds.
It is our mission to encourage the public to adopt instead of shop, and discourage backyard breeders that contribute to the oversupply of dogs and cats in Australia.
Pound Paws © 2016. All Rights Reserved.

domain: pet


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- Living room furniture with ethnic sculptures
- Pink on gray
- Beige upholstery in different shades
- Hi tech equipment for modern apartments-10 innovative "Home Gadgets"
- Plan a Trip to Australia – 10 ideas for entertainment in Sydney
- A swimming pool in the heart of the villa
- 17 ideas for using river stones as interior decoration
- Garden Lights – Ideas cheap and effective
- Living room
- Feel-bathroom furnished in a rustic style Ergo Galassia
Bouquet in a glass vase
The subtle bouquet in a glass vase provides a feeling really easy, which is supported by the suspension lamp with shade cloth and lace.

domain: artistic


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Saturday, September 7, 2013
Greg Jacobs jazz night at PizzaExpress JLT
Multi-instrumentalist and singer Greg Jacobs was signed on by PizzaExpress UAE in Dubai's JLT community this season, so I invited a couple of friends to check out his Saturday night gig there. He was jamming with three other musicians, playing the piano during much of the first set, and the saxophone during much of the second.
While he was great with the sax, Jacobs was also a pretty good singer, and performed a pleasant and entertaining mix of classic jazz songs and modern hits. There were also a few good solos by him and the other musicians, who did well working together onstage.


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Your service was perfect! Everything I ordered was there, arrived on time, I received plenty of notification. What a wonderful experience and it completely helped my vacation, I had no stress of having to pack and bring snacks or anything in my luggage or have to run to the grocery store when arriving to my vacation. I will absolutely use this service again and I highly recommend it to anyone with or without kids!
Great idea to save time and money while visiting Disney.
excellent service and accurate orders promptly delivered to your door step

domain: travel


FROM Dave Mallino
The Keystone XL Pipeline Divides the Democrats After more than five years of passionate debate. last week the Obama Administration announced another delay in the Keystone XL Pipeline , designed to bring oil from Canadian tar sands across the border and on to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Republicans call it "shameful" to put off increasing oil supplies from a friendly neighbor. But Democrats are sharply divided, caught between oil interests, organized labor and environmentalists, who praise the delay in the interests of climate change and potential health affects. What's the role of this year's midterm elections and control of the Senate? What do cowboys and Indians have to do with it?
In Janesville, WI, Middle America meets the new American dream Janesville, Wisconsin is the hometown of Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. But he couldn't prevent the closing of the General Motors factory after 100 years. We hear what's happened to what once was a model of American middle-class unity.
100 days of executive action: Accomplishment or posturing? President Trump's first 100 days have featured a flood of high-profile executive orders. Which ones do what he says they do, and which ones don't? How are Trump voters feeling now?
"Tough on crime" rhetoric sees a revival at Sessions' DOJ The pendulum swings between treatment-focused approaches to drug abuse and tough law enforcement. Now, after years of Obama-era "reforms," President Trump’s Attorney General, Jeff Sessions wants local police freed from federal restrictions to fight another "war on drugs."


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This was an experimental piece for me in that I was adjusting to the weird light in my new north lit studio, as well as playing with a theme straight from my imagination. The girl in the painting is tired, yet buoyed to keep walking by something that the viewer can only imagine. She is walking towards the light- it could be sunrise and the dawn of a new day, or even sunset where mistakes of the day can be laid to rest with the promise of a better tomorrow. The shadows are long and the colors are muted yet vibrant in areas touched by the warm light.
The scene is reminiscent of both The Prodigal Son and The Wizard of Oz. In the first story, the prodigal makes his/her way back home after discovering that money and pleasure are fruitless, and a path to eventual destruction. In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy discovers that all her notions of magical faraway places, filled with adventure and excitement, can also be fraught with danger and sorrow. In the end, Dorothy realizes that there is "no place like home".
So I invite the viewer to make up his own story about this young woman, and enjoy your journey into her mind!
Contact me at firstname.lastname@example.org, if you have any interest in this painting.


text: The aim of this study was to analyze the correlation between dynamic changes in the nasopharyngeal viral load of patients infected with the new coronavirus causing pneumonia and lymphocyte count disease severity. Cases newly diagnosed with COVID-19 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University from January 2020 to February 2020 were analyzed retrospectively. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to determine severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) from throat swab sample ΔCT values; lymphocyte and lymphocyte subset counts, coagulation system factor levels, myocardial injury indexes, and laboratory biochemical indicators were compared between the mild group and the severe group. The correlation between the relative load of nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 RNA and severe disease symptoms was analyzed. Of the 76 patients, 49 were male and 27 were female. The lymphocyte, CD4+ T lymphocyte, and CD8+ T lymphocyte counts all differed significantly between the two groups (p < 0.001), as did differences in interleukin (IL)-2R, IL-6, and IL-8 levels (p = 0.022, 0.026, and 0.012, respectively). Moreover, there were significant differences in prothrombin time, D-dimer, and fibrinogen levels between the mild group and the severe group (p = 0.029, 0.006, and <0.001, respectively), and in lactate dehydrogenase and troponin (p < 0.001 and p = 0.007, respectively). SARS-CoV-2 RNA load and lymphocyte count, CD4+ T lymphocyte count, and CD8+ T lymphocyte count were linearly negatively correlated (p < 0.001). SARS-CoV-2 RNA load was positively correlated with IL-2R, prothrombin time, lactate dehydrogenase, and hypersensitive troponin T (p = 0.002, p = 0.009, and p < 0.001, respectively). In addition, the time that it took for the nucleic acid test to turn negative was significantly shorter for patients in the mild group than for those in the severe group (Z = -6.713, p < 0.001). In conclusion, relative SARS-CoV-2 RNA load in the nasopharynx is closely related to COVID-19 severity. If the relative RNA load was higher, the lymphocyte count was lower, organ damage was greater, and the time it took for the nucleic acid test to turn negative was longer.


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- The high charges are making the learners to miss out on the basic component of attaining literacy and numeracy under the Universal Primary Education UPE
- According to the 2017, Twaweza East Africa’s Sauti za wananchi report, 12 per cent of Ugandan parents said besides distance to school, a number of schools are also charging excessive school contributions, which become difficult for them to meet
By Ronald Orachwun
Nebbi- Education authorities have issued strict guidelines to head teachers of government aided primary schools in the district against commercializing and charging exorbitant school dues.
The move to arrest or closing of the schools is aimed at curbing cases of school drop outs, orchestrated by the tendency of schools taking advantage of unsuspecting parents and learners.
Innocent Openjtho, the Nebbi district education officer says the district has received information that a number of teachers are concentrating more on remedial classes while ignoring the normal classes set by government because of the money involved in the additional classes.
“It’s alarming that some government schools concentrate more on remedial classes because of the extra money pupils pay. How about the pupils who do not have money for the extra classes? I think now UPE is losing meaning, some teachers even wait for remedial classes only”, he told journalists in his office.
Openjtho says the district is currently carrying out impromptu school visits, adding that schools which will fall prey to their investigations will have their responsible teachers reprimanded, including revoking their licenses.
“We are going to close schools and arrest teachers who do not adhere to this directive. UPE came such that the very vulnerable children should access basic education. We don’t want our children to be deprived of education just because they cannot buy brooms or afford remedial classes.”
Estimates from the Nebbi district Inspectorate of schools shows that about 120,000 primary school age going children dropped out of school in 2018 due to financial related issues.
West Nile Press Online investigations on Friday indicated that two P5 pupils of Jukia primary school were left stranded next to the Nebbi Catholic diocese Bishop’s house still under construction after their parents did not pay examination fees.
“I am going home. I was chased from school because I don’t have examination fees,” one of the pupils only identified as Bithum said.
Ocungi Pastore, a concerned resident of Yaokecha village Nebbi district said: “I once met my neighbor’s child idle at home during class hours. On interrogation, I discovered that he missed class because his teacher failed to understand that he had no money for a file where to keep his stationery at school.”
Peter Otoma, the deputy headteacher of Akanga primary school in Atego Sub County Nebbi district dismissed the allegation that schools are commercialising education.
“Schools cannot meet the daily expenses supposed to be incurred by the parents, for instance books knowing that even government does not cater for such things. We want parents to work closely with schools if they value the education of their children,” he said.


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No, This Viral Video of Man Beating His Son is Not From India
The message along with the video is asking every Indian to share it so that the man beating his child is arrested.
A video has been going viral on social media that shows a man hanging a child upside down from a window and thrashing him mercilessly. The video is being circulated on social media websites with the message that encourage people to forward it to all the Indians and also across the world so that the man gets arrested.
The text message that accompanies that video says, "Contribute your bit in spreading this video in every corner of India and the world. I have done my bit. And you cannot even think how big a job you are doing. Very soon this bastard should be arrested."
TRUE OR FALSE?
Though the incident is true, the man and the child in the video are not Indians. The incident took place on 25 December 2018, in Santa Rosa of Laguna province in Philippines. According to MSN, the father filmed the video and he also admitted that he was drunk when he was beating the 4-year-old child.
After filming the gruesome act, he sent the video to his sister who approached the police and asked for their help in rescuing the boy.
He was arrested on 27 December. The boy is currently in the care of Department of Social Welfare and Development. The mother has said that as long as she gets the child back, she has not intentions of filing a complaint.
The video was earlier debunked by Social Media Hoax Slayer.
Subscribe To Our Daily Newsletter And Get News Delivered Straight To Your Inbox.


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The Fire Truck is a symbol for help and represents the nobility of the firemen who dedicate their lives for others. The Iota Delta Chapter is committed to upholding those values and one way of demonstrating that is the annual Fire Truck Pull. This philanthropy event supports Special Olympics Indiana, an organization that is near and dear to the brothers of Iota Delta and Theta Omicron.
The Iota Delta Chapter worked with brothers from Theta Omicron at Indiana State University to host the event on March 28th at the Clabber Girl Parking lot in downtown Terre Haute. Organizations from the community, Rose-Hulman, and ISU supported his event with generous donations as well as team to participate in the Fire Truck Pull competition!
Teams of roughly 10 people tried to pull a fire truck, graciously donated by the Terre Haute Fire Department, as fast as they possibly can for 100 feet. Roughly 500 people attended the event and many teams competed to win this year’s Fire Truck Pull. This year’s winner was Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity of Rose-Hulman, with a time of 15 seconds! For those not competing in the pull, there were many games to enjoy such as Cornhole, Trash Can Pong, and other miniature games. The Terre Haute Police Department even came to do a demonstration of their K-9 unit.
Both PIKE chapters would like to thank their respective schools and the communities for helping them continue to support Special Olympics Indiana. This year, Pi Kappa Alpha raised $5350 and hopes to do outdo themselves next year.
This year’s all-male winner was Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity from Rose-Hulman! They truly pulled for a cause.
This year’s all-female winner was Delta Gamma from ISU! Job well done, ladies!


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Warp Zoned Is Hiring!
APPLY HERE NOW
Bruce Campbell joins CoD Advanced Warfare as world's grooviest pilot in Exo Zombies Ep2
The cartridge-based console is coming back with Shovel Knight and Retro City Rampage
Activision confirms Skylanders 5, Call of Duty 2015, "unannounced initiatives" during quarterly presentation
Shigeru Miyamoto confirms that Pikmin 4 is in development
See space battles, Lightsaber combat, pod racing in new Disney Infinity: Star Wars videos
Capcom will release a remake of Resident Evil 0 in early 2016
Lords of the Fallen will get a Game of the Year Edition on June 26
What is Advent? 2K Games is teasing a sinister utopia on new alternate reality website
Street Fighter V will be playable for first time at CEO 2015 in June
Mortal Kombat X’s Tanya will be available to download in June
Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition: Over four million served
The Minecraft train just keeps rolling. Over the weekend, 4J Studios announced that over four million copies of the Xbox 360 Edition have been sold since its release in May:
Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition has passed 4 million sales!Incredible number, thanks to you all!
— 4J Studios (@4JStudios) September 30, 2012
Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition players can expect more good news from the developer very soon as work on the “Adventure Update” is almost complete.
It's Dangerous To Go Alone! Read This.
More From Warp Zoned
Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition Adventure Update is “still weeks away”
Yawn… Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition is up to seven million copies sold
Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition sails past 6 million copies sold


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If you have been captivated by the beautiful spots in Berlin; then, you should also see it’s fashion. Berlin fashion will truly enthrall you. As a proof, you may take a closer glimpse to Berlin fashion week. This will let you see the unique ideas of designers in this place.
The Spring 2009 Runway Shows
Runway shows is one of the best shows to catch when you are here in Berlin, especially if you are a chic. In this event you will witness how ingenious are the ideas of Berliner designers as they exhibit their crafts through high-end garment production. Surely, you will be amazed as you see how they deliver a complete, head-to-toe, full package look that comes with awesome styling, make-up artistry, stunning shoes, accessory coordination, as well as hair.
You will be more amazed once you see the highlight of the event—the scene when models start to display the flash of different designer’s collection. Mark this; your amazement is for sure because even fashion editors, buyers, and journalists are constantly being captivated by the chain displays of beautiful garment creations. The fact that every designer who joins in this five minutes long runway show takes almost six months to prepare is enough to guarantee you that this is an event that should never be missed here in Berlin.
The Burning Berlin Fashion
So, what can you expect to see in almost five minutes long runway show? Well, you can expect to see a diverse stage to stare upon potential exquisite trend just like what was shown in Spring 2009. If you miss this event you can still catch it the next time you come back.
If you are truly a chic, you should never dare miss the show for the styles you will see here will give you an idea how you will carry yourself in particular season. Apart from that, you can also freely imitate the design that will attract your eyes. And if you are creative enough you can also do your own style from the fashion idea that you will witness on the said occasion.
The Terrific Model Who Walked With Irresistible Glamour in Runway Shows
Slavna Martinovic is a terrific model who ramps on the stage with overpowering beauty. Last time in Spring 2009, she showed up in runway with bold and mysterious look. You should see this lady in any of Berlin fashion show if you would like to know how to project your fashion and beauty with real charm.


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We are not just a bakery, we are not just bakers. In fact, we are just like you, a bunch of food lovers fascinated with sweet indulgence, who dreamt of creating an appetizing fairy land of divine delicacies that relishes the utmost desires.
Beginning with finest flour mixed with our passion, sprinkling some sugar and butter, blending it with our deepest emotions to create a perfect batter. Kindling it in the oven with our warmth and finally crafting the intricate creations in the form of some lip-smacking cakes, which are out of this world! The only additives you’ll find in our products are an extra pinch of love, care and devotion!
We add our magical touch to our recipe, to bring out the flavor and oomph into everything. With fresh ingredients and some traditional methods, we craft some one-of-a-kind cakes baked-fresh-from-the-oven to excel your taste buds.
And then, to fill up each celebratory moment with euphoria and excitement, we put in our heart and soul in delivering the luscious cake at just the right time because we understand! We understand the emotions attached to the occasion and so, we always make an effort to add to your happy moments.
We are here to redefine the all-time classics to create some heavenly and unforgettable experiences. And with all this and more, we wish to fill the empty spaces in every conversation with a smile.

domain: food


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Photo: Francesco PanunzioDaria Kasatkina (RUS)
MILAN, ITALY: After a week of compelling clay-court tennis at the Tennis Club Milano Alberto
Bonacossa, the 54th Trofeo Bonfiglio is set to new champions crowned on what promises to be a busy final day at the Grade A event.
Germany’s Alexander Zverev will be bidding to become the youngest ever champion of the historic ITF Junior tournament when he takes on third seeded Serbian and last year’s Orange Bowl champion Laslo Djere in the boys’ singles final. Zverev, who only turned 16 last month, put in another in a line of impressive performances this week when he overcame Guillermo Nunez of Chile 76(3) 63.
For his part, Djere looked increasingly composed against the talented young Frenchman Maxime Hamou, who had accounted for a number of higher ranked opponents in earlier rounds. Djere’s 76(4) 61 win secured his place in what will be his second Grade A final in six
months following his run to the Orange Bowl title - also on clay - last December, where he beat Elias Ymer of Sweden in the final. Djere was also runner-up at the Eddie Herr International that month and has a strong track record of performing well at the more prestigious stops on the ITF Junior Circuit.
One of Djere’s wins at the Eddie Herr International was over Zverev but the German has got a win over the Serbian after beating him at the Allianz Kundler German Juniors Supported by Optimal Systems in July 2012. Both of their previous matches have come on clay.
In the girls’ singles final, second seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland will take on Russia’s Darya Kasatkina in a bid for what would be a second Grade A title for the Swiss after she won the Abierto Juvenil Mexicano claycourt event in December. Bencic progressed to the final in Milan after her semi-final opponent Elizaveta Kulichova was defaulted for punctuality. Under ITF Junior Circuit rules, players must be ready to play within fifteen minutes of their match being called.
Kasatkina needed three sets in her semi-final, coming from behind to battle past Great Britain’s Katy Dunne, 46 62 62. She and Bencic have met only once on the ITF Junior Circuit and that came earlier this month, also in Italy, at the 35th Torneo International Citta di Santa Croce Grade 1 clay-court event. Bencic won that match 75 57 62 and went on the take the title there.
Fiona Ferro and Margot Yerolymos of France earned themselves the girls’ doubles title on Saturday when they overcame the Japanese/Chinese pairing of Kyoka Okamura and Xiaodi You 62 46 10-6 in a match tiebreaker. Johannes Haerteis and Hannes Wagner of Germany will take on Zverev and his Russian partner Andrey Rublev in the last match of what promises to be a fascinating Sunday in Milan.


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Here are 5 Boat Safety Reminders to Keep In Mind This Summer
According to the U.S. Coast Guard’s 2017 Recreational Boating Statistics report, in 2017 the Coast Guard counted 4,291 accidents that involved 658 deaths, 2,629 injuries and approximately $46 million dollars of damage to property as a result of recreational boating accidents.
In order to raise awareness about boat safety this boating season, here are a few reminders every boater should keep in mind this boating season to prevent a boating accident:
- Wear a U.S. Coast Guard approved life jacket.
Drowning was the known cause of death for 76% of fatal boating accidents in 2017 and 84.5% of the drowning victims were reportedly not wearing a life jacket.
Take the necessary precautions and make sure you have appropriately-sized life jackets for all guests while boating. Remember, a life jacket that does not fit well will be like having no life jacket on at all. Also, make sure that all life jackets are Coast Guard-approved, in serviceable condition and the appropriate size for the intended user.
- Use an engine kill switch.
The kill switch, or ‘engine safety cut-out switch’ to give it its proper name, is a device used to stop the engine in the event of the operator being thrown out of their seat. Accidents involving victims being struck by a propeller could be prevented if the boat operator was wearing an engine cutoff device or if the boat owner considered purchasing propeller safety devices for their boat.
- Check the weather before you hit the water.
Even though the skies may appear beautiful, always check weather forecasts before heading out to ensure good boating conditions. For example, you’ll want to avoid certain types of weather whenever possible, such as heavy fog or strong winds.
- Follow marine traffic laws and regulations.
Know what’s going on around you at all times, and always travel at safe speeds for the environment. Every boater is responsible for knowing and adhering to Coast Guard boating laws and regulations, and laws specific to the state in which the vessel is registered or operated. This includes carrying at least the minimum safety equipment, registering and numbering your boat properly, and the safe operation of your vessel. Also, be sure to learn distress signals and other boating signals.
- Never boat under the influence
Do not boat under the influence! Boating under the influence, or BUI, is the leading contributing factor in recreational boater deaths. In 2017, alcohol use was the leading known contributing factor in fatal boating accidents, according to the Coast Guard’s 2017 Recreational Boating Statistics report.


|Area of Expertise||Literature, (foreign) politics|
|publishing company||Atlantic Media (United States of America)|
|First edition||November 1, 1857|
|founder||Ralph Waldo Emerson , Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. , James Russell Lowell, and others. a.|
|Frequency of publication||ten times a year|
|Sold edition||425,000 copies|
The Atlantic (officially The Atlantic Monthly until 2007 , but also previously known as (The) Atlantic ) is an American magazine . It originally commented primarily on literary and cultural topics and now contains articles and commentaries on politics and foreign policy, as well as reviews .
Originally a monthly magazine, The Atlantic is now published ten times a year and has approximately 425,000 subscribers.
The Atlantic Monthly in 1857 in Boston as a monthly magazine by a group of writers founded, including Ralph Waldo Emerson , Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. , and James Russell Lowell belonged.
Julia Ward Howe's Battle Hymn of the Republic first appeared in The Atlantic Monthly (February 11, 1862), as did William Parker's The Freedman's Story (February and March 1866). In August 1963, the magazine published the defense of civil disobedience by Martin Luther King, Jr. in his Letter from Birmingham Jail . The magazine was a connecting point between Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson - after reading an article by Higginson in the Atlantic , Dickinson asked him to be her mentor. The Atlantic Monthly has also published much of Mark Twain's work , including a text that was not published until 2001.
The magazine also published various speculative articles that inspired the development of novel technologies. The classic example is Vannevar Bush's essay As We May Think in July 1945, which inspired Ted Nelson and Douglas Engelbart to develop hypertext technology.
The Atlantic has always stood out among literary magazines for its special bond with New England , which distinguishes it from magazines like Harper’s and later The New Yorker , both of which are based in New York City .
Since the third year of its publication, the magazine has been published by Ticknor and Fields , which later became part of Houghton Mifflin . The magazine was bought by then editor Ellery Sedgwick during World War I , but stayed in Boston.
On September 27, 1999, another sale of the magazine was publicly announced, this time by Mort Zuckerman to David Bradley, the owner of Atlantic Media . Bradley visited the offices and vowed there would be no major changes, including a move to Washington DC
The magazine's editors announced in April 2005 that the editorial office would be relocating from its traditional headquarters at 77 North Washington St., Boston, to join the advertising and sales department in Washington, DC; this was justified with the high real estate prices in Boston. In August, Bradley told the New York Observer that the cost savings were only $ 200,000-300,000 and would be used up in severance payments. The reason for the move was therefore to bring the best minds from Bradley's publications together in one place where they could work together. Few of the Boston staff agreed to move, which allowed Bradley to start looking for new members of the editorial team. Also in 2005, The Atlantic announced that it would no longer publish short stories in the regular editions in the future and instead would publish an annual special issue.
After the magazine only appeared eleven times in 2001 (merging the July and August editions) and now only ten times a year, it was renamed from The Atlantic Monthly to The Atlantic at the end of 2007 . In July 2017, Emerson Collective, a Laurene Powell Jobs company , acquired a majority stake in Atlantic Media, the publisher of The Atlantic .
- 1857-1861: James Russell Lowell
- 1861–1871: James Thomas Fields
- 1871-1881: William Dean Howells
- 1881–1890: Thomas Bailey Aldrich
- 1890–1898: Horace Elisha Scudder
- 1898–1899: Walter Hines Page
- 1899-1909: Bliss Perry
- 1909-1938: Ellery Sedgwick
- 1938-1966: Edward A. Weeks
- 1966–1980: Robert Manning
- 1980-1999: William Whitworth
- 1999-2003: Michael Kelly
- 2003-2006: Cullen Murphy
- since 2006: James Bennet
- The Atlantic Online
- The American Idea: The Best of The Atlantic Monthly
- Online archive of Atlantic Monthly (up to December 1901)
- The Atlantic Monthly magazines at Project Gutenberg , filed under Various
- A History of The Atlantic Monthly
- No jobs at risk, Atlantic's new owner says . In: Boston Globe . September 20, 1999
- Atlantic, 148-year institution, leaving city magazine of Twain, James, Howells heads to capital . In: Boston Globe . April 15, 2005
- Atlantic owner scours country for cinder-editor . In: New York Observer . August 29 - September 5, 2005
Alex Kuczynski (May 7, 2001). MediaTalk. This summer, it's The Atlantic Not-Monthly. In: New York Times
Keith J. Kelly (December 14, 2007). So what's the frequency at the atlantic? In: New York Post (both English; accessed October 30, 2008)
- Laurene Powell Jobs takes over "The Atlantic" - SPON. Retrieved July 29, 2017 .


GNSS - Global Navigation Satellite System
GNSS is a global term referring to all satellite navigation systems, which include GPS, GLONASS, Beidou and Galileo. Navigation is a process involving three steps:
- Establish the track that needs to be followed (i.e. Flight Plan)
- Establish current position relative to the FP
- Execute all necessary guidance actions to correct any deviation in position
There are different types of navigation system:
- Pilotage. Using visual ground references
- Astronavigation. Using angular measurements taken between a celestial body (the sun, the moon, a star…) and the visible horizon
- Dead reckoning. Involves the use of visual checkpoints (starting point) along with time, speed and heading measures to estimate the distance travelled
- Inertial navigation. An on-board computer processes speed and attitude, together with information provided by motion sensors (accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers) in order to give the current location from a known start point
- Radio navigation. The application of radio frequencies to determine current position. Aids used include: GNSS, VOR, DME and ADF.
Refers to a global system for determining timing, position and velocity using several GNSS sub-systems.
GNSS is based on position calculation on the Earth's surface by measuring the pseudo-distances from a minimum of three known position satellites. A fourth satellite will allow altitude also to be calculated. Satellite navigation receivers reduce errors by using signal combination from multiple satellites as well as different strategies (eg. Kalman filtering techniques) to merge all the noise-affected data in order to provide an estimation of position, time (UTC) and speed.
GNSS SYSTEM ELEMENTS
- Constellation of satellites and on-ground auxiliary system (maintenance)
- Platform’s GNSS receiver
- Augmentation Systems:
- ABAS (Air Based Augmentation Systems)
- SBAS (Satellite Based Augmentation System)
- GBAS (Ground Based Augmentation System)
ABAS Is an avionics solution that processes the GNSS signal in order to check integrity. It is based on 3rd party on-board devices and special estimation algorithms. The most widely used system is RAIM which uses redundant GNSS signals to ensure integrity and fault detection, giving the ability to warn the user about a defect in a particular satellite's signal. More advanced strategies such as FDE are able to exclude such satellites from the solution.
SBAS Is based on GNSS measurements by accurately-located reference stations deployed across a specific area. Detected errors are then transferred to a computing centre and broadcasted using geostationary satellites to complement original GNSS message in the covered area. Systems like EGNOS (Europe), WAAS (USA) and others compensate for certain disadvantages of GNSS in terms of accuracy, integrity, continuity and availability.
GBAS The main difference from SBAS is that the broadcasted signal is sent from ground stations using VHF and UHF bands, being used mainly in airports for traffic control and final approach (LAAS). Systems such as DGPS and RTK are considered a type of Ground Based Augmentation System.
By special request, several GBAS options are also available in order to provide the best possible navigation solution for a particular application.
Cutting-edge autopilots powered by cutting-edge technologies.


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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — A dog found abandoned near a dumpster by Knoxville Police Department animal control officers has died.
After being found, the dog was taken to the Young-Williams Animal Center where she was named Bridget. The shelter said her condition and medical needs were serious when she arrived on March 5. While in the care of the shelter’s veterinary team, Bridget was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer.
The police are still looking for information on how Bridget ended up being abandoned. The East Tennessee Valley Crime Stoppers is offering a reward for tips leading to the arrest of the person responsible.
“We are deeply saddened to report that Bridget has crossed the Rainbow Bridge,” said Janet Testerman, CEO of Young-Williams Animal Center. “We hope you find comfort, as we do, in knowing that while here Bridget knew she was loved and loved. Her tail was wagging often and we gave her all the affection we could in such a short time. time.
“This is a terribly sad situation, and we were devastated to hear that Bridget’s health deteriorated so rapidly after it initially appeared she was responding well to treatment. This is truly heartbreaking news” , said Scott Erland of the Knoxville police.
Shelter staff say they are heartbroken by Bridget’s death. They urge owners to contact them promptly if they need help caring for an animal, as the shelter can help. Young-Williams said if you need help, contact email@example.com or call 865-363-6702.
“We have been overwhelmed with the kind, supportive and loving messages, calls and emails from the community asking how to help,” Testerman said. “Thank you to everyone who reached out. Your support got our team through a tough two weeks, and your shared love for Bridget makes all the difference.
Bridget’s care was provided by the Animal Compassion Fund, which helps buy medical supplies and treatments for pets who aren’t ready for adoption due to a medical condition or health issue. behviour. For those interested in learning more or donating to the fund, visit young-williams.org/compassion-fund.
“The loss of Bridget hit us hard,” Testerman said. “You can spend a lifetime in animal welfare, but you still give each animal a little piece of your heart, and every loss feels like it’s a member of the family.”
The shelter placed a small memorial in Bridget’s honor outside the shelter for the public to pay their respects.
If you have a tip, call 865-215-7165, go online at www.easttnvalleycrimestoppers.org, via the free mobile app, P3 Tips, or on the East Tennessee Valley Crime Stoppers Facebook page. Tipsters can remain anonymous and are eligible to receive a cash reward.
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The neighborhood outside of the JM Mini Market was alive with the normal sights and sounds of a sticky summer evening. Customers trickled into the corner store at 16th and Clearfield Streets while a handful of people lingered under its pink-and-white awning, shooting the breeze about this and that.
In an instant, everything changed. A loud burst of gunfire — the city’s perpetual, unofficial soundtrack — erupted across the street from the shop just before 5:30 p.m. Friday, sending the sidewalk dwellers into a panic. One woman clutched the hands of two children as she turned and darted in the opposite direction, while a man sprinted away from the scene.
A gunman’s bullets found two targets: a 37-year-old man, who was soon pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital, and Jewell Williams Jr., the 40-year-old son of Philadelphia Sheriff Jewell Williams.
Williams Jr. was wounded multiple times, and admitted to Temple in critical condition.
“Sheriff Williams is obviously very upset and concerned for his son, and says this is just the latest tragic example of the gun violence epidemic in our city,” said Dan Gross, a Sheriff’s Office spokesperson.
Jose Torres, 38, has worked at the JM Mini Mart for 18 years. He stood behind the small counter on Saturday, watching footage from the store’s surveillance camera that showed the incident as it unfolded, his neighbors’ calm conversations giving way to horror. (The shooting itself was obstructed by an industrial garbage container.)
“There was a lot of kids outside,” Torres said, shaking his head.
One resident on 16th Street said he heard the gunfire but didn’t witness anything; dried blood was streaked across the pavement near his house.
No arrests have been made in the double shooting, and the name of the man who died has not yet been released. It was one of four shootings that left four people wounded and one dead between late Friday and early Saturday, according to police.
About 10 p.m. Friday, a 60-year-old man was shot in the left ankle on Stella Street near Emerald Street in Kensington, police said. He was listed in stable condition at Episcopal Hospital.
At 10:25 p.m., an 18-year-old male was shot in the pelvis on Baltimore Avenue near 56th Street in Southwest Philadelphia, and admitted to Mercy Catholic Medical Center in stable condition.
Shortly after midnight, police said, a 38-year-old man was shot multiple times while he sat in a car at Hansberry and Marion Streets in Germantown. He was admitted to Temple Hospital in critical condition.
No arrests were made in any of the shootings.


Sophisticated surgeries require the integration of several medical imaging modalities, like MRI and CT, which are three-dimensional. Many efforts are invested in providing the surgeon with this information in an intuitive & easy to use manner. A notable development, made by Visionsense, enables the surgeon to visualize the scene in 3D using a miniature stereoscopic camera. It also provides real-time 3D measurements that allow registration of navigation systems as well as 3D imaging modalities, overlaying these images on the stereoscopic video image in real-time. The real-time MIS 'see through tissue' fusion solutions enable the development of new MIS procedures in various surgical segments, such as spine, abdomen, cardio-thoracic and brain. This paper describes 3D surface reconstruction and registration methods using Visionsense camera, as a step toward fully automated multi-modality 3D registration.
In years past, the picture quality of electronic video systems was limited by the image sensor. In the present, the resolution of miniature image sensors, as in medical endoscopy, is typically superior to the resolution of the optical system. This "excess resolution" is utilized by Visionsense to create stereoscopic vision. Visionsense has developed a single chip stereoscopic camera that multiplexes the horizontal dimension of the image sensor into
two (left and right) images, compensates the blur phenomena, and provides additional depth resolution without sacrificing planar resolution. The camera is based on a dual-pupil imaging objective and an image sensor coated by an array of microlenses (a plenoptic camera). The camera has the advantage of being compact, providing
simultaneous acquisition of left and right images, and offering resolution comparable to a dual chip stereoscopic camera with low to medium resolution imaging lenses. A stereoscopic vision system provides an improved 3-dimensional perspective of intra-operative sites that is crucial for advanced minimally invasive surgery and
contributes to surgeon performance. An additional advantage of single chip stereo sensors is improvement of tolerance to electronic signal noise.


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You may recall that on Oct. 31, 2016, “Pope” Francis traveled to Lund, Sweden, for a joint commemoration of the Protestant Reformation (see our coverage here). Well, it didn’t take long for this milestone event to bear its expected rotten fruit.
In the historic city of Trent, Italy, where in the 16th century the Catholic Church held the glorious Council of Trent to refute the errors of Martin Luther and the Reformation, the Italian Conference of Novus Ordo Bishops recently joined up with Protestants to celebrate 500 years of the Lutheran heresy as part of a three-day conference on the Reformation that took place November 16-18, 2016 (see official program brochure here).
Admission to the Sacraments through the Back Door…
Francis to “Archbishop” Forte:
“If we speak explicitly of Communion for the Divorced-and-Remarried, we don’t know what a mess will result. So let’s not mention it directly. Make sure the premises are there, and I will draw the conclusions”!
For those who have been denying the obvious about Francis’ post-synodal exhortation Amoris Laetitia, this latest revelation probably won’t make a difference either, but this won’t keep us from laying the facts on the table:
Just as “Cardinal” Gerhard Muller of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Destruction Doctrine of the Faith went out of his way to argue that Amoris Laetitia does not permit public adulterers to approach the Novus Ordo sacraments, “Archbishop” Bruno Forte, one of the more notorious Modernists in the Italian Novus Ordo hierarchy and author of the infamous mid-term report (Relatio Post Disceptationem) that caused the first wave of chaos after the 2014 Synod, has revealed that Francis told him personally that while he would indeed allow the reception of “Communion” by public adulterers, he wanted to do so only very discreetly — through the back door, so to speak — in order to prevent a “mess”!
Thank goodness, the Synod in Rome is finally over: Two weeks of speculation, intrigue, accusations and denials, and pseudo-theological hysteria that culminated in the blasphemous and sacrilegious “beatification” of the False Pope Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Montini) are finally at an end. What was supposed to be an episcopal discussion group on theological matters turned out to be a wild soap opera of Hollywood proportions — and it’s far from over.
This assembly in Rome was merely the first, “extraordinary” part of a larger, two-synod event which will conclude in October 2015 with an “ordinary” synod at which the attendant Novus Ordo bishops will submit final recommendations to Francis with regard to the topics under discussion, after which the “Pope” will then release a so-called “post-synodal apostolic exhortation” as he did in 2013 with the heretical and turgid Evangelii Gaudium.
Beginning with a “concrete situation” rather than with a principle from divine revelation is a typical hallmark of Modernist theology: https://t.co/XhH3Lv2zNI No doubt the god of surprises will have a lot to say at that synod! #popefrancis #catholic #AmazonSynod
Fr. Zapelena, in answering an objection regarding the note of Catholicity, says that his intention is to write about the Church as it exists throughout the centuries, implying that at the end of times, explaining the notes will be difficult, according to Lc. 18:8 and Mt. 24:10.
Nearly 250 young adults will meet in Rome this week for the International Youth Forum to discuss how best to implement ideas from the 2018 Synod of Bishops in their home dioceses.
Irish prelate wants more joyful Vatican II language; still not enough marriage annulments; "Cardinal" Maradiaga encounters joy stopper in Honduras; and more in our latest NEWS DIGEST!
https://t.co/udUGYmgfb9 You can’t make it up! #fsspx #catholic #vatican #prolife #popefrancis
As Instrumentum for Amazon Synod wasn’t released in English, a striking passage in the text underscores how October gathering will likely end up as the Roman “strike” Francis always wanted – Context: https://t.co/hntIP35PxU
...here, the key grafs as translated from today’s doc:


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A veteran leftwinger such as Jeremy Corbyn is unlikely to have fond memories of the late Sir Robert Mark, who was London’s hard-as-nails reforming police chief in the street-fighting 1970s of Corbyn’s hot youth. The current Labour leader has always been more of a Marxist than a Markist.
But perhaps Corbyn should look again at Mark. That’s because the former Met commissioner once told an interviewer that the art of policing was “to win while appearing to lose”. Which is pretty much exactly what Corbyn has done in his shadow cabinet reshuffle.
To understand why this week’s marathon Westminster shambles nevertheless counts as a successful 48 hours work for Corbyn in spite of so much evidence to the contrary, it is important to understand why reshuffles happen.
Conventionally, a party leader reshuffles the team either because the old team is jaded, or because events have made it inevitable, or because it is time to assert authority. Yet in Corbyn’s Labour none of these conditions really apply.
The old team, each of whom Corbyn appointed when he became leader in September (earlier Labour opposition leaders had the much more difficult task of having to work with an elected shadow cabinet), has been in place for only four months, so there is no need to shake them up so soon. No one in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet has died, retired or decided to spend more time with their families, so there was no urgent pressure for a change. And Corbyn never had very much authority among Labour MPs in the first place. Very few of them voted for him. Many regard him as the leader from hell.
So Corbyn was always going to have his work cut out to make major personnel changes when there was so little appetite, need or scope for him to do so. Saying that Corbyn is entitled to exert his authority as leader after the embarrassments of the free vote on Syria is true in theory, but pretty meaningless in such circumstances. And reshuffles are never easy, even when a leader has the authority of a Thatcher or a Blair, both of whom were reluctant knife-wielders.
Judged by conventional standards, Corbyn’s January 2016 reshuffle has been a totally botched job. Ramped up in advance as a big and decisive act of retribution, it turned out to be unusually limited and laborious. Protest resignations have even outnumbered sackings. Instead of giving Labour fresh focus this has triggered only recriminations. As an exercise in party management it was a disaster. As a piece of media management it was about as counterproductive as it gets.
But, and it’s a very big but, this was not a conventional reshuffle. So it can’t just be judged by conventional standards. Corbyn is not a conventional Labour leader. His project is not about winning at Westminster, or even in the country. It’s about control of the Labour party. And by that yardstick, the only one that really matters to him and those around him, this has been a good week.
As the week’s twitterstorm dies away, Corbyn has emerged with one very significant gain: control over Labour’s policy on the renewal of Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons. In the end, that could prove much more telling than all the Westminster wrist-wrestling. The quiet departure of Maria Eagle and the arrival of the more pliant Emily Thornberry opens the way for Labour’s national executive to put an anti-Trident policy to the autumn party conference. If the trade unions can be squared – a big if, because they weren’t when the issue came up last autumn – Labour will go into the next election on an anti-nuclear weapons policy for the first time in more than 30 years.
When you recall that most voters aren’t paying attention to Corbyn’s travails, don’t know Eagle from Thornberry, have never heard of Michael Dugher or Pat McFadden, and aren’t on Twitter anyway, it could all be a lot worse for the Labour leader. There is, of course, the important point that most voters support Trident. But it is four years before they will get their chance to deliver a verdict. And that leaves plenty of time for Corbyn and his allies to make the changes in the Labour party that are their priority.


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text: Background: Radix Astragali is an herb with tonifying qi or adaptogenic effects and commonly used for spleen-qi deficiency in traditional Chinese medicine. Astragalus polysaccharides (APS) is one of the major bioactive ingredients, and little is known on APS in attenuating the dampness stagnancy due to spleen deficiency (DSSD). Objective: The objective of the study is to investigate the potential mechanism of action of APS underlying attenuating water and fluid retention of rats with the DSSD syndrome in order to provide novel insights into the application of APS on modulating the DSSD syndrome. Materials and Methods: Four-week-old Wistar rats were fed with one high-fat and low-protein diet and subjected to exhaustive swimming to induce the DSSD model for 8 weeks. APS (300, 600, and 1200 mg/kg) and Shen Ling Bai Zhu San (SLBZS) (2.5 g/kg) were administrated starting at 9 weeks for 2 weeks. Results: APS increased the body weight, decreased the water load index, and attenuated symptoms of the DSSD syndrome. APS also increased spleen and thymus indices, the percentage of CD3+, the percentage of CD3+ CD4+, and CD3+ CD4+ to CD3+ CD8+ ratio and decreased levels of serum interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor-α in DSSD rats. Significant effects were seen for toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) at both protein and gene expression levels with amelioration of expression levels in APS groups. Conclusion: These findings suggest that APS may be used to attenuate the fluid retention of the DSSD syndrome through the immunoregulatory effect, which is driven in part by the modulation of TLR4.