The Argument for More Effective Short-Form Ads
The Argument for More Effective Short-Form Ads
By Blake Burrus, Senior Vice President of Client Services, Nielsen Neuro
The 15-second TV ad is already "the new black," but it has yet to achieve the same level of audience engagement as its 30-second and one-minute predecessors.
Advertisers must now explore this new frontier further to make short-form ads more effective, regardless of the platform.
According to Nielsen, the number of 15-second television commercials jumped more than 80 percent between 2008 and 2012.
And the numbers continue to grow for ads 15 seconds or less, partially due to the proliferation of mobile technologies and new platforms for watching pithy online videos.
Contrary to what many advertisers think, these new platforms are providing more opportunities for existing content. TV ads and mobile ads can be complementary, if advertisers can master the short-form video.
Perfecting the 15-second ad won't be an easy task.
As advertisers' attentions (and budgets) are increasingly divided among new and traditional platforms, many have turned to new tools like consumer neuroscience to boost their efficiency and effectiveness in the face of rapid change.
As ad lengths are shrinking, ad budgets are shifting. Many advertisers don't have the resources to create entirely new ad concepts customized for each channel, and they must repurpose 30-second ads for each of the short-form spots.
Industry creatives typically rely on their "gut" – experience and personal judgment – to repurpose traditional ads by trimming the storyline and reducing repetition. This can result in a significantly less-effective 15-second version of a 30-second commercial.
Neuroscience is changing the art of "cut downs" by creating the science of "neurological ad compression," which uses cutting-edge, moment-by-moment analysis of how consumers react to what they watch.
Whereas traditional methods require consumers to reflect honestly and accurately about their reactions (often an unrealistic task), consumer neuroscience adds more precise measures of engagement to current gauges of effectiveness.
Electroencephalography (EEG) measurements can track the exact moments an ad activates memory, draws attention or prompts emotional response, and can determine on an instant-by-instant basis which parts are and are not effective in engaging viewers.
Consumer neuroscience gives advertisers new insights into viewers' emotional engagement, something creative teams have always considered important but were never able to measure. The technology can confirm, for example, if moments of humor have real impact.
Once crucial moments that maximize key neurological responses are identified, algorithms create a rough edit between 10 and 14 seconds (typically one-third the length of the original spot).
The re-cut commercial is then edited by agency creatives for story flow, continuity and visual seamlessness into a final spot that can be used for TV or alternative video platforms.
Simply put: It uses only the most vital moments and transitions – minimizing spend and maximizing impact.
This mix of art and science is effective and cost effective. Based on Nielsen Neuro's testing of original 30-second TV spots and the EEG-optimized 15-second spots, approximately 90 percent of neuroscience-optimized 15-second ads test just as well as their 30-second counterparts, and a majority actually tests better.
The neurological ad compression approach helps advertisers increase the reach and resonance of campaigns for the same level of spending, or even considerably less, with no loss in effectiveness.
Neuroscience not only helps maximize the impact of 15-second ads (a relatively modern challenge), it also resolves a historical problem for advertisers, who for decades have wasted a significant portion of production costs and ad spend because of their limited ability to understand consumers' emotional responses.
Now, with creative teams spread increasingly thin, this scientific process can boost efficiency by providing instant feedback on what works and what doesn't, making the ad team's job easier and helping advertising evolve at the pace of technology.
This article originally appeared on


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Quantum Technologies Flagship: Basel physicists participate in three research consortia
Today, the European Commission launched its flagship initiative on quantum technologies. Three research groups from the Department of Physics at the University of Basel are involved. The aim of the 1 billion euro research and technology funding program is to develop radically new and powerful quantum technologies by exploiting various quantum effects.
Quantum physics describes the behavior of matter at a microscopic level and forms the basis for the great technological revolutions of the last few decades. Without an understanding of quantum physics, computer and communications technology, laser and medical imaging techniques would never have been developed.
Until now, however, these technologies have not yet exploited the full potential of quantum physics, which allows for radically new phenomena: particles can be in a superposition of several states at the same time, or two distant, "entangled" particles can form such a strong unit that their properties are no longer independent of each other.
On the way to the second quantum revolution
In recent years, physicists have been able to show how they can not only observe these astonishing phenomena but also specifically control them and use them for completely new kinds of technology. These second-generation quantum technologies promise extremely powerful computers, secure communications, quantum simulators for basic research and pharmaceutics, and highly accurate sensors for use in materials science, navigation and medical technology.
Switzerland and other European countries are leading the way in university research on quantum technology. To also be at the forefront of the technology transfer to industry, the European Union has launched the Quantum Technology Flagship, a 1 billion euro funding program over a 10-year period that will give European quantum technology the decisive push towards becoming a market leader. About 140 international consortia of university research groups and industry partners applied for the first three-year funding period, of which only 20 were successful.
Success for Basel quantum physics
Researchers at the University of Basel are heavily involved in three consortia in the area of quantum optics and quantum sensing:
The MACQSIMAL project, co-founded by Professor Philipp Treutlein, is developing quantum sensors based on miniaturized atomic vapor cells. This will enable the realization of compact atomic clocks, gyroscopes, magnetic field sensors, imaging methods for microwave and terahertz fields, and gas detectors. The technology has application potential in areas such as autonomous navigation, non-invasive medical diagnosis and drug detection. The project is firmly anchored in north-western Switzerland; it is coordinated by the research and technology organization CSEM with centers in Neuchâtel and Muttenz, who closely collaborate with the University of Basel.
The ASTERIQS consortium, which the Basel research group led by Patrick Maletinsky helped to initiate, also deals with sensors. The research alliance looks at the quantum properties of ultra-pure diamonds, which are used as precise measurement systems for quantum sensors. They can be used to perform high-resolution measurements of magnetic and electric fields or temperatures, all of which the Basel researchers are pursuing, with a focus on applications on the nanometer scale. The innovative technologies will find applications in a broad range of semiconductor electronics, from basic research to medical diagnostics. The Basel spin-off Qnami is also an associate partner of the project, and will focus on the commercial exploitation of its results.
The Quantum Internet Alliance (QIA) project aims to develop a quantum internet that can be used to network quantum computers to powerful clusters, and for secure communication over large distances. The theoretical physicist Professor Nicolas Sangouard is involved in this project. He has already proposed numerous concepts for the realization of quantum networks, in which individual photons transfer information between network nodes.
Result of a long-term strategy
The physicists' success is the result of a long-term strategy. "For years now, the University of Basel has built a research focus in the area of quantum technologies, which has an excellent international reputation," explains Treutlein, who is also the Dean of Research in the Faculty of Science. "This is also reflected in the successful acquisition of prestigious externally funded research projects, such as the Quantum Technologies Flagship." The participating researchers, who belong to the Department of Physics and the Swiss Nanoscience Institute (SNI), are highly motivated to put their research findings into practice.
Prof. Dr. Philipp Treutlein, University of Basel, Department of Physics, Tel. +41 61 207 37 66, email: _EMAIL_

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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Matching non-rigid shapes is a challenging research field in content-based 3D object retrieval. In this paper, we present an image-based method to effectively address this problem. Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) are first applied to each object to calculate its canonical form, which is afterward represented by 66 depthbuffer images captured on the vertices of an unit geodesic sphere. Then, each image is described as a word histogram obtained by the vector quantization of the image s salient local features. Finally, a multi-view shape matching scheme is carried out to measure the dissimilarity between two models. Experimental results on the McGill Articulated Shape Benchmark database demonstrate that, our method obtains better retrieval performance compared to the state-of-the-art.
Proceedings Title: The IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP), 2010
Conference Dates: September 26-29, 2010
Conference Location: Hong Kong, -1
Pub Type: Conferences
3D shape retrieval, Non-rigid 3D shape, Multidimensional Scaling (MDS), Bag-of-Features (BOF)


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Director, Division Quality, John Deere Financial
"Continual Improvement is the essence of delivering Quality in education, health care, service industries, manufacturing, and every organization. For Continual Improvement to occur, an organization must engage its members at higher levels, as it requires individuals to think not only about what they are doing and how they are doing it, but even more importantly why they are doing it and for what purpose it serves. As Albert Einstein said, 'We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.' Thus, when we begin to ask the question 'why' we engage people at much deeper levels which results in a more collaborative and cohesive work environment, and empowers individuals to more fully contribute to their organizations and the outside world.
Over the past several years, I've had the opportunity to see this transformation taking place throughout the Urbandale district. Students, teachers, principals, and leaders at all levels are dedicated to understanding why they are doing what they are doing, assessing data to determine if what they are doing is effective, and then implementing changes to continually improve the system. Status quo in education, or any organization, is really a thing of the past – it quite simply is not a long-term proposition. Urbandale understands this and acts with same creativity, innovation, and forward-thinking that I've seen global corporations employ – all while excelling at what Urbandale does best: providing learning environments that motivate and inspire."
Director, Division Quality
John Deere Financial


The Persecution of Christians Today
August 30, 2004 by
Filed under News
martyrdom1By Johan Candelin
Let me start by saying that many people find it very surprising, even unbelievable, that in today's world the largest group of people being persecuted for their faith are Christians. This seems all the more unusual because Christianity is the world's largest religion. I am fully aware that other religions, whether Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim or others also suffer in various contexts, and we shall address these situations in subsequent articles. However, for the present we will focus on Christians, due to the urgency of the situation. Incredibly, more than 200 million people in over 60 nations are being denied their basic human rights for one reason only: they are Christians. The main reason Christians are being persecuted today is the simple fact that Christianity is growing fastest in countries where human rights are being violated or do not exist. One of my tasks as director of the Religious Liberty Commission is to represent these Christians – both Catholic and Protestant – at the United Nations Commission for Human Rights in Geneva, as well as in other contexts. I would therefore like to give a brief analysis of the global situation regarding persecution of Christians. This analysis is based on reports from 114 countries and personal visits to many countries where Christian people suffer.
The persecution of Christians goes hand-in-hand with some important trends taking place around the world. I'd like to name five:
1. Conflicts tend increasingly to occur within states, rather than between them. In such situations, religious tensions are likely to increase. We are all familiar with the heart-rending struggles in Kosovo, Bosnia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Chechnya, Northern Ireland and East Timor, to name but a few.
The whole structure of the UN was created after the Second World War, and is designed to solve conflicts between states, not within them. Human rights are increasingly at the core of civil conflict, and added to that is the way countries like China, Russia and Indonesia interpret the whole issue of human rights – in other words, that human rights are each country's own internal affair. This places two fundamental principles on a collision course with one another: the sovereignty of the state, and the universal nature of human rights.
2. Many countries with a colonial past are seeking their own identity. Very often, this has strong ties to a religion. We see this clearly, for example, in Asia: Pakistan adheres to Islam, India to Hinduism, Indonesia also to Islam, and Sri Lanka to Buddhism.
It is worth noting that the search for a national identity is strongest in five of the eight countries that together make up more than half of the world population. These are China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Pakistan. In each of these countries, Christians are finding themselves in increasingly tense situations, because they are painted as bearers of the religion brought by former colonial powers, and thus are considered a threat to national harmony.
3. Developments in the Muslim world are likely to have an increasing impact on the lives of Christians within the next decade. The population growth in the Arab world is 4.3 per cent, compared with economic growth of only 0.5 per cent. The population is very young, and this creates the conditions for the growth of radical elements.
4. There is a great difference between the West's view of reality and that of the developing countries. The West often interprets global thinking as its own world view written large. But ways of thinking, interpretation and culture differ far more than Westerners think. The West must be ready to listen, and to listen as never before.
5. I would like to say something here about the growth of the Christian Church. There is a clear misunderstanding in Europe today that religion is no longer relevant to the modern world. Nothing could be further from the truth. The amazing fact is that of the world's six billion people, only a tiny proportion – 151 million – call themselves atheists. There are two billion Christians, 1.2 billion Muslims, 786 million Hindus and 362 million Buddhists. Religion is, and will continue to be, at the very centre of our world, at the centre of the conflicts within it, and also at the centre of how these conflicts are resolved in the next Millennium.
These five paradigm shifts are the principle reasons Christians are being persecuted today, and most likely why it will continue in the future. However, there is a sixth paradigm shift that is very important. This is partnership. The European Union is an example of political partnership, and in the financial world, we hear almost daily of some significant merger. The trend toward partnership is clear, and all of us can work very effectively together to help guarantee the human rights of Christians. At the same time, I want to stress again that religious liberty should apply to every person on this planet, regardless of their religion. The broadest international basis we have for cooperation in helping suffering Christians is the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights of 1949, especially Articles 18 and 19.
Simply put, they say that every person should have the freedom to adhere to and practice the religion he or she chooses, and to change religion without coming under pressure as a result. This obviously includes the right to keep one's religion without being forced into another. In fact, religious rights could be said to be a principle building block, even the cornerstone, of human rights.
It is clear that not all persecution has to do with religion. Many people are persecuted for ethnic, social and political reasons, but they also happen to be Christians. How do we know the difference between that kind of persecution and persecution based on their faith alone? I think we can answer it by asking a simple question: "If a person changes their religion to the majority religion of the country, will things get better for them?" If the answer is "yes," then it seems that the persecution is solely on religious grounds. And by persecution I mean the lack of full human rights, together with some kind of suffering.
Literally hundreds of thousands of people today are being killed, brutalized, sold as slaves, imprisoned, tortured, threatened, discriminated against and arrested solely because they are Christians. They are being subjected to persecution and suffering, the extent of which we can hardly begin to comprehend, because of their faith. They ask us to shatter the silence and use our voices to express their cries. This plea is directed at us, wherever we are, today.
Persecution seems to pass through three phases. The first is disinformation. Disinformation begins more often than not in the media. Through printed articles, radio, television and other means, Christians are robbed of their good reputation and their right to answer the accusations made against them. The public opinion that easily results from being constantly fed such disinformation will not protect Christians from the second step, which is discrimination. Discrimination relegates Christians to a 'second-class' citizenship with inferior legal, social, political and economic standing than the majority in the country. The third stage is persecution. Once the first two steps have been taken, persecution can be practiced without normal protective measures taking place. Persecution can arise from the state, the police or military, extreme organizations, mobs, paramilitary groups, or representatives of other religions.


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Main Article Content
Blow molding is a method of printing hollow workpieces by blowing air into a molded material. From the results of the process, the specification of a product must be met by the manufacturer in fulfilling orders from the customer. The thickness of the bottle wall and the snap dimension is one of the most difficult specifications to be controlled on a 500 ml chemical bottle product. This will be resolved if the machine operator knows the optimal combination of parameters at the time of operation. In this experiment the method used is Design of Experiments with Taguchi Gray Relational Analysis method approach to get the combination between two responses taken to obtain optimal parameters. By doing a total of 27 experiments,the experimentd were implemented on a 500 ml chemical bottle product as per specified specification. Data were collected using a digital microscope for wall thickness and dimensions vernier to snap. The result of analysis with Taguchi Gray Relational Analysis method shows that the parameters which have significant effect on wall thickness and snap bottle dimension are blowing pressure and blowing time. While the parameter of melt temperature and stop time have less significant effect. The optimal parameter setting is blowing pressure of 9 bar, melt temperature of 260 ° C, blowing time for 7 seconds and stop time for 2 seconds.


Cross Racial Alliance and the Turning Point of Slavery in A Mercy
October 27, 2010
Download Story
John Shanahan
Scholars of U.S. Culture and History Sharon Holland, Thomas Foster, Francesca Royster and John Shanahan explore the unexpected fluidity of interpersonal relationships across race and class in colonial America.
Toni Morrison's novel A Mercy represents a wide range of alliances between white indentured servants and free blacks, between enslaved and free blacks, between Native Americans and blacks, between mistresses and servants, and between hetero and non-heteronormative men. How do these relationships challenge our assumptions about traditional categories of identity and difference? What are the points of shared stakes and tension between groups? How and why did such tenuous communities change?
Co-sponsored by DePaul University's Department of English.
Recorded Wednesday, October 27, 2010 at DePaul University's John R. Cortelyou Commons Building.


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To estimate the population totals for the poststratification cells, the NAEP sampling and weighting contractor obtained two sources of information:
Census projections for population totals by age, race, and sex, for October of 2000. These figures were obtained from the Census website.
Detailed cross tabulations by age, race, grade, and Census region. These tabulations were obtained from the Census website from the October Current Population Survey (CPS) Educational Supplement for October 1998 and 1999.
To estimate the size of a given cohort, NAEP statisticians refined the Census projections using CPS data on percent in school, percent in each race/ethnicity by age, by grade category, and so forth. The four race/ethnicity groupings used in poststratification are as follows:
other non-Hispanic,1 and
Within each of these four categories, Westat produced aggregations for the following age groups:
age 9 and not age 9,
age 13 and not age 13, and
age 17 or younger2.
In this process, Census totals were written as Xij, where i = 1,…,4 and j = 1,…,5, with i corresponding to the four race/ethnicity subgroups, and j corresponding to the five age categories. The primary role of the 1998 and 1999 CPS student enrollment data was to partition these 2000 Xij totals into those enrolled in the fourth, eighth, and twelfth grades, and those not enrolled, based on an averaging of 1998 and 1999 data, as well as partition the white non-Hispanic population into Census regions. The implicit assumption was that the relevant proportions were the same in 2000 as in 1998 and 1999. Westat combined two years (1998 and 1999) to reduce the sampling variability inherent in the CPS values (i.e., trading off some bias from using the earlier year to gain greater stability by averaging across two years).
Xijk is the estimated number of enrolled students for the fourth (eighth, twelfth) grade within cell ij (i.e., the subset of Xij which consists of enrolled students).
|CPS total population within the ijth cell for year t (1998 or 1999)|
|= CPS total enrolled students within the ijkth cell for year t (1998 or 1999)2|
These were obtained from the Census website's CPS tabulations. Westat computed the estimated proportion of enrolled students in cell ij (in the Census region also, for White non-Hispanics) from the estimates as follows:
The poststratification control totals were calculated then as:
|1 Other non-Hispanic classifications include American Indian, Eskimo, and Aleut non-Hispanic, and Asian and Pacific Islander non-Hispanic.
2 Westat only poststratifies the sampled twelfth-graders who were 17 or younger to the corresponding CPS control totals (with the older twelfth-graders not included in computing the adjustment). The CPS totals for 'twelfth-graders' who are 18 or older includes adults who are working on receiving a high-school diploma equivalent, which would not be an appropriate control total in this context. The older twelfth-graders receive the poststratification adjustment from the younger twelfth-graders in the final calculation of their weights.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


A customer maintained a database which recorded information per user. The information in the database is keyed by the user's SID. This works out great most of the time, but there are cases in which a user's SID can change.
"Wait, I thought SIDs don't change."
While it's true that SIDs don't change, it is also true that the SID associated with a user can change. Since SIDs encode the domain to which they belong, a user which moves from one domain to another within an organization, will need to be assigned a new SID.
But wait, does that mean that the user lost access to all their stuff? After all, all their stuff was marked "Owned by X\UserName" but the user's SID is now Y\UserName.
No, the user doesn't lose access to their stuff thanks to SID history, and if you move users around a lot, the SID history can get quite large.
A token for a user contains not only their current identity but also all of their earlier identities. That is what permits Y\UserName to continue to access things that was marked "Owned by X\UserName": The token for Y\UserName includes an entry that says, "Oh, I used to be X\UserName."
The customer's database can take advantage of the SID history to match up users with their former selves. Our customer was lucky in that their database recorded only users who had logged into the local machine, so that list is typically pretty small. The simplest solution for this particular customer is just to go through all the users in the database, and for each one, see if the current user has that database user in their SID history. And the easy way to do that is to make the security system do the work for you: To see if the current user has user X in their SID history, create a security descriptor that grants access only to user X, then call AccessCheck to see if the current user can access it. If so, then that means that the current user was at one point in the past known as X.
(If you have a large database where iterating over all users is impractical, you can ask for the current user's SID-History attribute and walk through the previous identities manually.)


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Название: Characterization of Powders and Aerosols
Автор: Kaye B.H.
The properties of many solids depend on the size of the particles. For many processes, the uniformity of these particles are crucial (in powder coating and therapeutic aerosol technology), because countless modern materials begin from small particles. Particle size measurement is a critical step in powder technology, as the properties of a powder are dependent upon its particle size distribution. This book helps to not only explain the theory of different methods in this process, but provides the answers needed to get reliable results.


VLOOKUP Tutorial: Updating prices in a master price list
MVP Bill Jelen has created this VLOOKUP tutorial for those of you who have a basic working knowledge of Excel but want to improve your skills. This tutorial assumes you've heard about the VLOOKUP function and its benefits, but that you don't really know how or when you might use it. Bill uses the example of updating prices in a product list to introduce the value of this time-saving function.
The Problem: It's taking way too long to find and update prices in a master price list
The Solution: Speed up the process with VLOOKUP
Suppose that you maintain an Excel workbook with over 10,000 prices for products that your company sells. Parts are arranged in sections by category. You have part numbers in column A, prices in column B, and other information in column C. Now, imagine that your manager just gave you a worksheet with updates for 475 of the items in your list.
Attempt 1: Use CTRL + F to update the list
 You decide to copy the price update to a blank section of your master price list.
From this point, you start trying to find each item from the new list in the old list. Since the items in the old list are not sorted and cannot easily be sorted across the various sections of the price list, you decide to use the Find command to make the process easier.
Here is your first attempt:
 1. Select the first part number from the new list in cell G3
 2. Press Ctrl+C to copy this item to the clipboard
 3. Select all of column A by clicking on the A heading
 4. Press Ctrl+F to open the Find dialog
 5. Press Ctrl+V to paste the part number into the Find dialog
 6. Click the Find button
You are now at row 2063 and fairly proud that you didn't have to click PgDn one hundred times to get here. Unfortunately, you've forgotten the new price so you have to start over.
Watch me try using CTRL + F to update the list:
Attempt 2: Use Find All to update the list
You try jotting the new price on a sheet of scrap paper, but then you think there might be a faster way. After some experimenting, you end up with this awesome set of steps:
 1. Select the next part number from the new list (you are down to G9) by now.
 2. Press Ctrl+C to copy that cell to the clipboard
 3. Press Ctrl+A twice to select all cells in the worksheet
 4. Press Ctrl+F to open the Find dialog
 5. Press Ctrl+V to paste the part number in the Find dialog
 6. Press Alt+A to Find All! This brings up a list of both the item in the original list and the item in the new list
 7. Switch between the two cells using the up and down arrow keys.
 8. At this point, it is probably easier to switch to the mouse. Click on the new price. Right-click and choose Copy. Click on the old price. Right-click and choose paste.
 9. You can return to the right section of the new price list using the hyperlinks in the still-open Find dialog.
Watch me using Find All to update the list:
Even with this improved set of steps, it is taking almost 1 minute per item. You do some quick math and realize that 450 items are going to require 8 mind-numbing hours. Your first thought might be, "There has to be a better way, but what is it?"
The Solution: Speed up the process with VLOOKUP
I began working as a financial analyst in 1989. I've learned that data is rarely perfect.
This price list workbook is a case in point. It has been handed down in your department for the last dozen years. It was set up by some guy named Bob who no longer works here. In the workbook, there are lots of things that would have made life easier.
For example, it would have been nice if:
 - The category information was in another column, so you could easily sort the list by part number and then back by category.
 - The list of new prices included all the items where the price did not change, and if it was in the exact same order as your list, so you could copy and paste huge ranges of prices.
 - Your manager would have just done this himself.
But, in real life, data is not perfect. When data is not perfect, knowing an Excel function called VLOOKUP can save the day.
VLOOKUP explained
VLOOKUP stands for "Vertical Lookup." The vertical means that your list of new prices is going down the spreadsheet instead of across. (If you are wondering, there is an HLOOKUP for when your lookup table is going across.)
The tooltip for VLOOKUP says you need:
 - Lookup_value is the part number that you are looking up. To find a new price for the part number in A2, you are looking for A2. =VLOOKUP(A2,
 - Table_array is the lookup table. The data that you are looking to match must be in the first column of the lookup table. That works in this case, because part number is in column G and new price is in column H. If those had been reversed, you would copy the prices so they are to the right of the part numbers. When you type the address of the table, make sure to use dollar signs so that the table reference doesn't change as you copy the formula down your worksheet. Instead of G3:H477, use $G$3:$H$477. Those dollar signs tell Excel to not lower the range as the formula gets copied down. =VLOOKUP(A2,$G$3:$H$477,
 - Col_index_number tells Excel which column you want to return from the lookup table. In this case, you only have two columns. Part number is in the first column of the lookup table. New Price is in the second column of the lookup table. Since you want to return New Price, use 2 for the column. =VLOOKUP(A2,$G$3:$H$477,2
 - Range_lookup – the square brackets in the tooltip say that this argument is optional, but in real life it is not optional! You should always put False as the fourth argument. If you leave the argument off, you are allowing Excel to find close matches. Close matches are never appropriate when you are doing the type of lookup described in this situation. =VLOOKUP(A2,$G$3:$H$477,2,False)
Add a new column to your price list called New Price. Enter =VLOOKUP(A2,$G$3:$H$477,2,False) in cell C5. You get the new price. This looks promising!
The new price appears in C5
Your first VLOOKUP returns the new price
Select the formula in C5 and double-click the fill handle to copy the formula down. (The fill handle is the square dot in the bottom right corner of the selected cell.) Because of the blank cells between categories, the fill handle will only copy the formula down to the end of the first category. Already, you can see that something seems to be wrong.
A bunch of _TAG_/A errors in column C
Uh-oh! _TAG_/A errors are usually bad, but maybe not in this case
Techniques for dealing with inevitable _TAG_/A errors
A few of the VLOOKUP formulas are returning numbers. Many more are returning the _TAG_/A error. When you do a VLOOKUP, the _TAG_/A error means that the value you are looking up is not found in the lookup table. In this case, this is to be expected, since only 475 of the 10,000 prices are being updated.
Since you are expecting the _TAG_/A errors, you can use the IFERROR function (available in Excel 2007 or later) to replace the _TAG_/A with something else. You might put a space. You might put a zero. Or…in this case, if you don't have a new price, then the old price is still valid, so you could put the old price!
Edit the original formula in C5. Here are the three formulas you could use:
 - To show a blank, use =IFERROR(VLOOKUP(A5,$G$3:$H$477,2,FALSE),"")
 - To show a zero, use =IFERROR(VLOOKUP(A5,$G$3:$H$477,2,FALSE),0)
 - To use the old price, use =IFERROR(VLOOKUP(A5,$G$3:$H$477,2,FALSE),B5)
Choose a formula and copy it down. Your new column shows the new price if there is one, and the old price if there isn't one.
The IFERROR function replaces the _TAG_/A error with something more useful
 =IFERROR() to the rescue
In this video, see how I define VLOOKUP and explain the VLOOKUP formula, and get rid of _TAG_/A:
Use conditional formatting to highlight new prices
When I look at the two columns of data, it is hard to see which prices changed and which did not. You can use conditional formatting to highlight which items changed.
 1. Select C5:C18. Although


Meet Archangel Raphael, the Angel of Healing
Archangel Raphael's Roles and Symbols
Tobias Meets the Archangel Raphael, c. 1640. Artist: Vaccaro, Andrea (_PHONE_)
Tobias Meets the Archangel Raphael, c. 1640. Artist: Vaccaro, Andrea (_PHONE_). Heritage Images/Getty Images / Getty Images
Raphael means "God heals." Other spellings of Archangel Raphael's name include Rafael, Repha'el, Israfel, Israfil, and Sarafiel.
Raphael is often depicted in art holding a staff that represents healing or an emblem called a caduceus that features a staff and represents the medical profession. Sometimes Raphael is depicted with a fish (which refers to a scriptural story about how Raphael uses parts of a fish in his healing work), a bowl or a bottle.
Energy Color
Archangel Raphael's energy color is Green.
Role in Religious Texts
In the Book of Tobit, which is part of the Bible in the Catholic and Orthodox Christian denominations, Raphael shows his ability to heal different parts of people's health. These include physical healing in restoring the blind man Tobit's sight, as well as spiritual and emotional healing in driving away a demon of lust that had been tormenting a woman named Sarah. Verse 3:25 explains that Raphael: "was sent to heal them both, whose prayers at one time were rehearsed in the sight of the Lord." Rather than accepting thanks for his healing work, Raphael tells Tobias and his father Tobit in verse 12:18 that they should express their gratitude directly to God. "As far as I was concerned, when I was with you, my presence was not by any decision of mine, but by the will of God; he is the one whom you must bless as long as you live, he is the one that you must praise."
Raphael appears in the Book of Enoch, an ancient Jewish text that is considered canonical by Beta Israel Jews and Christians in the Eritrean and Ethiopian Orthodox churches. In verse 10:10, God gives Raphael a healing assignment: "Restore the earth, which the [fallen] angels have corrupted; and announce life to it, that I may revive it." Enoch's guide says in verse 40:9 that Raphael "presides over every suffering and every affliction" of people on Earth. The Zohar, the religious text of the Jewish mystical faith Kabbalah, says in Genesis chapter 23 that Raphael "is appointed to heal the earth of its evil and affliction and the maladies of mankind."
The Hadith, a collection of the Islamic prophet Muhammad's traditions, names Raphael (who is called "Israfel" or "Israfil" in Arabic) as the angel who will blow a horn to announce that Judgment Day is coming. Islamic tradition says that Raphael is a master of music who sings praises to God in heaven in more than 1,000 different languages.
Other Religious Roles
Christians from denominations such as the Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox churches venerate Raphael as a saint. He serves as the patron saint of people in the medical profession (such as doctors and nurses), patients, counselors, pharmacists, love, young people, and travelers.


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EGM2008 Free-air Gravity Anomalies Map
Created By: Indrid Cold
Last Updated: December 26th, 2009 9:12pm
West: 135° East: 90°
Country: Mexico, United States
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Other Maps By Indrid Cold (See All)
In geodesy and geophysics, the usual model is the surface of a global spheroid (ellipsoid of Hayford or WGS84) by rather simple formulae (2 functions of latitude).
The observed value of gravity has to be reduced down to the zero level of the geoid, using
- the elevation of the point where gravimetry was done. This is called a Free-air Correction.
- the normal gradient of gravity (rate of change of gravity for change of elevation), as in free air, usually 0.3086 milligals per meter, or the Bouguer gradient of 0.1967 mGal/m (19.67 µm/(s²·m) which considers the mean rock density (2.67 g/cm³) beneath the point; this value is found by subtracting the gravity due to the Bouguer plate, which is 0.1119 mGal/m (11.19 µm/(s²·m)) for this density. Simply, we have to correct for the effects of any material between the point where gravimetry was done and the geoid. To do this we model the material in between as being made up of an infinite number of slabs of thickness t. These slabs have no lateral variation in density, but each slab may have a different density than the one above or below it. This is called the Bouguer Correction.
- and (in special cases) a terrain model, using a map or a digital terrain model (DTM). A terrain correction, computed from a model structure, accounts for the effects of rapid lateral change in density, eg. edge of plateau, cliffs, steep mountains, etc.
For these reductions, different methods are used:
- free-air anomaly (or Faye's anomaly): application of the normal gradient 0.3086, but no terrain model. This anomaly means a downward shift of the point, together with the whole shape of the terrain. This simple method is ideal for many geodetic applications.
This Mapset is a transparent overlay, with Green contours (labled as EGM) set at 1 foot intervals, cut into 5°x5° segments matching Garmin's World Basemap.
The following image shows the data (brown in this image) with a border shapefile overlaid for reference.
Overlay (Major/10' and Intermediate/5' shown, Minor/1' on zoom in)
Same area in World Basemap:
Sample in BaseCamp:
Map data source:
Version 1.00 (25 May 09)
- Initial release Coverage: 0°N~45°N, 135°W~90°W (1/32 planet)


are some reasons your German Shepherd will howl:
 - You have not had time for him all day, and he's looking for attention.
 - He's sensing some danger, and he wants to warn you about it.
 - Another dog in the neighborhood is howling, and he is responding as the pack dog that he is.
 - He's reacting to high-pitched sounds like an ambulance siren.
 - He's alone and lonely at home and suffering from separation anxiety.
 - He has medical issues that are causing him pain or itching, and he wants you to know and do something about it.
Why Do German Shepherds Lay on Your Feet?
German Shepherds are pack dogs and, therefore, have remnants of the tendency to stick close together. German Shepherd behavior consisting of lying or sitting on or next to your feet can have 3 different meanings.
1. Seek and Offer Protection
Your German Shepherd will sit at your feet to feel safe and offer you protection at the same time. Among pack dogs, the alpha has a prominent position. So, laying at your feet shows that your dog recognizes you as the alpha. But your dog also feels safe and secure close to you.
2. Be Warm
Ever wondered why dogs will tend to lie close to each other or on each other most of the time? Especially in cold weather, most pack dogs would lie close to each other to preserve the warmth. Whether it's cold or not, it is warmer near your feet, and your GSD seeks that natural doggie closeness that is wired into their nature.
3. Seek Affection and Attention
Your German Shepherd may lie on or close to your feet to simply seek affection and attention. German Shepherds enjoy a warm cuddle and sometimes they can even become extra clingy.
If you are sitting at a chair tapping at your computer's keyboard for an hour or two, your furry friend will take what he can of your closeness, hoping to remind you that he exists.
My 5 Favorite German Shepherd Products to Make Life Easier:
 1. Walk Your Dog With Love No-Pull Harness. I love this harness, and it's what I use. There's just no way your dog can pull. It's easy to fit and inexpensive. You can read my full review here.
 2. Midwest Homes for Pets iCrate. A crate is a must-have product. This cool all-inclusive one has a ton of handy features, and there's nothing extra to buy.
 3. FURminator Undercoat deShedding Tool. I've tried many others, but this grooming tool is by far the best. It gets right through to the undercoat and easily removes all the loose hair.
 4. KONG Classic. I love KONG toys as they're super tough and made for your German Shepherd's teeth! The Classic Toy is fun to chew, chase, and fetch or even stuff with tasty treats.
 5. Big Barker Orthopedic Dog Bed. Scientifically proven to prevent and reduce joint pain in big dogs. The 10-year guarantee is also pretty cool too! You can also get it on Amazon here, but you don't get the 10-year warranty.
My full list of recommendations can be found here.
Why Do German Shepherds Lay Down to Eat?
Some people will say fatigue, aging, pain, and injury are reasons for this German Shepherd behavior. While these are valid, there is one reason that seems to be a more logical explanation of why your GSD lays down to eat.
In their wild nature, before we domesticated them, dogs had to hunt their food and protect it from intruders. This meant that keeping sight of their prey from the hunting stage to when the prey was ready to eat was important. Hence, dogs lie down to eat so they can see who is approaching from the front while they enjoy the fruit of their labor.
Below is a photo of my German Shepherd displaying this dog behavior.
A German Shepherd laying down eating from her bowl. Why Do German Shepherds Eat While Laying Down?
"Just checking no one is coming for my dinner!"
What is most interesting is that a dog's natural laying position while eating is better for his health.
Feeding your German Shepherd from his usual bowl can affect your dog's oral and spinal health. This is because eating involves not only a dog's teeth but also other bones and muscles.
Eating the unnatural way can cause misalignments in these bones and muscles and disrupt the body's acidic pH, which explains the health risks to the spine and the tartar, gingivitis, and loose teeth.
Next time your German Shepherd eats lying down, just smile and say, "Well, my dog is being natural today!"
For a more in-depth article on this behavior, check out my article, 5 Reasons Why German Shepherds Lay Down to Eat.
Why Do German Shepherds Sit on You?
If you noticed that your German Shepherd likes sitting on you every time you sit or lie down, what would you make of that? Here are 4 different reasons to explain this behavior:
1. Dominance
It seems that dogs tell their owner that you belong to them by spreading their scent on you. To do so, they'll need to be close to you as much as possible. So, sitting on your lap whenever you sit down or on your belly when you lie down may be their way of labeling what is theirs with their scent.
2. They Are Initiating Play
If you tend to react to every one of their behaviors, German Shepherds may sit on you to simply get you to send them away and give them a chance to climb back and be sent away again – a bit like kids do!
If you're laughing or showing signs of enjoying this back-and-forth game, you've succeeded in rewarding your German Shepherd with some playtime. Expect them to climb on you the next time you lie down in a similar position!
3. They Seek to Cuddle
German Shepherds have a warm temperament and love to cuddle. They are a very affectionate breed and will even follow you to the bathroom! Climbing on your lap may simply be a way of reaching out and getting a warm hug.
4. You've Let Your GSD Have His Way With You!
A study comparing dogs' behavior showed that dogs would choose to be closer to people who are nicer to them, play with them, talk to them, and stroke them. So if your German Shepherd likes sitting on you, it might be you've let him have his way, and he's become used to sitting on you!
Why Do German Shepherds Circle Before Lying Down?
Many will wonder why their dog will circle their bed or a spot on the carpet before lying down. Here are some suggestions:
1. To Make a Nest
The first reason is that dogs would circle a spot to trap grass or shrubs and create a little nest for themselves in the wild. This innate behavior seems to linger in their system despite centuries of domestication.
2. Security Reasons
The second reason dogs will circle a spot before lying down is to assess the spot's security by ensuring there are no threats in the surroundings. Those who live with a GSD in a secluded home may have noticed that the dog will often make a couple of rounds around the home before settling and lying down.
3. Assess Their Laying Spot
It seems that your German Shepherd doesn't trust the safety of his bed or lying spot. It will also circle the spot to ensure there are no vermin or harmful objects that will make your pet's rest uncomfortable.
There is little scientific data to prove the above 3 examples – except for the idea that dogs circle before lying down to make a nest. This small study of 62 dogs implied that dogs are more likely to circle before lying down when given a soft, uneven surface to make a temporary nest to sleep in.
4. A Medical Issue
The last reason for dogs' circling behavior is that they may be suffering from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, but this is a rare condition in dogs. OCD is a psychological health condition that often has a genetic predisposition in some breeds. Dogs will repeatedly perform normal canine behavior and often fail to respond to therapy.
Why Do German Shepherds Roll on Their Backs?
German Shepherd Rolling on his back in the snow. Why Do German Shepherds Roll on Their Backs?
 - To avoid a nape bite (on the side of the neck)
 - To launch an attack (be offensive)
Why Do German Shepherds Pee When Excited?
Excitement urination in dogs is especially associated with puppies, and it's expected that they will grow out of this behavior with age.
When you scratch your GSD's belly, arrive home from work, or a visitor greets them, all these can cause them extreme excitement, and your puppy may pee small amounts of urine. Of course, this is a problem if your pup is on the carpet or lying on your new couch!
According to UCDavis Veterinary Medicine, excitement urination in dogs may also be triggered by a few other causes:
 - Accidental reinforcement – this means that you sympathize with and excuse your German Shepherd's inability to always hold their urine, and they begin to use it as a way to find sympathy from you.
 - Bladder sphincter – this is a bladder dysfunction that comes with decreased bladder control.
 - Genetic predisposition – your dog's parents were predisposed or had the condition.
Excitement urination should be differentiated from urine-marking (spraying) which is a


text:
Winton, Burning of
Winton, the seat of Hertford County, was burned by Federal troops on 20 Feb. 1862. It was the first North Carolina town burned by Union forces during the Civil War and the only one burned completely. On 19 February a flotilla of eight Union gunboats steamed up the Chowan River. As the vessels approached Winton's wharf, Confederate artillery and infantry opened up from the river bluff, but the boats sustained no serious damage.
When the flotilla returned the next morning, Winton was deserted, but several buildings had clearly been used for Confederate billeting and storage. These were torched, resulting in a blaze that left only one small house standing. The Hertford County Courthouse had been destroyed in 1830, and virtually all records from 1830 to 1862 were consumed in this fire, along with several dozen houses, stores, and other buildings. The cooperation of Union army and navy forces in the action constituted one of the first amphibious operations in the history of the American military.
Thomas C. Parramore, "The Burning of Winton in 1862," NCHR 39 (Winter 1962).
"Burning of Winton." Courtesy of the North Carolina Collection at the University of North Carolina libraries. Available from _URL_ (accessed May 18, 2012).
"Ruins of Winton." Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, October 24, 1863. Courtesy of North Carolina Collections at the University of North Carolina Libraries. Available from _URL_ (accessed May 18, 2012).
1 January 2006 | Parramore, Thomas C.


Bluetooth and ANT+ Sensors
The Dash can be paired to Bluetooth and ANT+ sensors, including power meters, heart rate monitors, speed and cadence sensors, as well as smart trainers and other bio-sensors. To pair to a Bluetooth or ANT+ sensor:
 1. First activate or wake the sensor up.
 - Heart rate monitor: Put the sensor on.
 - Speed/Cadence sensors: Either move or pass by the corresponding magnet.
 - Power meter: Rotate the sensor.
 2. Go to Main Menu > Activity Sensors > Add Sensor > BLE or ANT Sensors.
 - A list of sensors available to the Dash will populate.
 3. Select a sensor and then choose from the following options:
 - Cancel: Cancels selection and sensor will not be added
 - Confirm: Adds sensor to the currently selected activity profile.
 - Enabled Activities: Adds sensor to all currently enabled activity profiles.
 - Add to All: Adds sensor to every activity profile.
Manual Entry (ANT+)
ANT+ sensors have simple ANT+ IDs that can be entered and saved to the Dash without using the search function. If the sensor has a visible ANT+ ID, it can be added directly into the activity sensors list:
 1. Go to: Main Menu > Activity Sensors > Add Sensors > Manual Entry.
 2. Select Sensor Type, then use the arrow buttons to select the correct sensor category.
 3. Press the enter button to confirm selection, then select Confirm.
 4. Locate the ANT+ ID number on your sensor and enter it into the number field.
 - Use the arrow buttons to change the digit and then use the enter button to advance to the next digit.
 - Note that if your sensor ID is shorter than the number of fields, it should be preceded by 0s.


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|What Is the Purpose of the Kabbalah Red String?|
Followers of the mystical Judaic tradition Kabbalah often believe that wearing a red string tied around the left wrist will ward off the evil eye. According to Kabbalah teachings, the talisman works as a "spiritual vaccination": the red string, being the color of danger, will shield the wearer against danger and negativity. Before Kabbalah red string is sold to followers, it is wound around the tomb of Rachel, a Biblical matriarch whose motherly protection becomes part of the red string's power.
Many cultures have used a red string, ribbon, or cloth as a ritualistic talisman of protection, including the ancient Greeks, Egyptians and Chinese; red string also appears in the folk customs of Ireland, Romania and India. Scholar Elly Teman identifies three elements that make the red string such a powerful cross-cultural symbol: the knotting of the thread, symbolizing binding and closure; the circularity of the string, symbolizing sacredness and protection; and the string's redness, connoting blood, earth and courage.
The Kabbalah red string is a type of "segulah," the Jewish term for a protective, healing spiritual act. However, Rabbi Ahron Lopiansky claims that there is no scriptural basis for this particular segulah, citing instead a Talmudic verse that equates the red-string ritual to superstition and idol worship.
The modern red string ritual began in the '30s when those with fertility problems began making pilgrimages to Rachel's Tomb; thus, early on, the red string was used primarily as a fertility charm. This tradition disappeared while the tomb was under Jordanian rule, but reappeared after the Six Day War in 1967, and the string came to mean protection rather than fertility. The Kabbalah string must be wound seven times around Rachel's Tomb to endow it with full protective powers.
In the '80s, the red string became more and more popular as the conditions in Israel grew more and more uncertain; Elly Teman believes that national anxiety is at the root of contemporary usage of the Kabbalah string. Then, in the late '90s, many celebrities (including Madonna, David Beckham and Britney Spears) began wearing a red string as a fad accessory.
By J.C. Tolentino, eHow Contributor


text:
The pitch hunt: The role of voice pitch in top-down repair of interrupted speechClarke, J. N. 2017 [Groningen]: University of Groningen. 190 p.
Research output: Thesis › Thesis fully internal (DIV)
For a normal hearing person, understanding speech from a single talker is effortless in quiet surrounding. It becomes more challenging when the talker is surrounded by a loud crowd or other kind of noise. Individuals with hearing impairment might already experience problems in understanding speech in quiet, and it may become even more challenging in noise. In the present dissertation, I investigated how characteristics of the voice of a talker contribute to understanding speech in difficult listening situation. For this, I presented sentences, which were either interrupted with silent gaps, or with noise filling in the gaps, making speech perception more challenging. I further manipulated the vocal characteristics of these sentences, allowing me to test for effects of vocal characteristic manipulation in challenging listening scenarios. The participants had to employ cognitive strategies to perceptually restore the parts of the sentences that were replaced with either silence or noise. I found that interrupted speech can be successfully restored even for some voice manipulations, when linguistic context prevails over these manipulations. The results help to establish the importance of pitch for interrupted-speech perception as well as for triggering the cognitive restoration mechanisms, especially when the input sounds are degraded, as in hearing-impairment. However, interestingly, speech perception improvement that was expected to occur with access to pitch cues was not captured at the group level for actual hearing-impaired individuals, although they perceived better sound quality. These findings contribute to assessing how to improve speech perception in noise for hearing-impaired individuals.
|Qualification||Doctor of Philosophy|
|Place of Publication||[Groningen]|
|State||Published - 2017|
No data available


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The grant is through the Catawba-Wateree Habitat Enhancement Program of Duke Energy.
A large portion of wildlife habitat, including native plant species, can be found on waterfront property in Cowan's Ford Nature Refuge and Latta Plantation Nature Preserve in northern Mecklenburg County and McDowell Nature Preserve in southern Mecklenburg County.
The department will use the grant money for grassland/shrub land management areas on projects that include:
- improving habitat for rare bird species,
- removing invasive plant species, such as Autumn olive,
- and managing non-native animal species, such as feral hogs.
Autumn olive can reduce native plant species and their habitat, and feral hogs have a negative impact on water quality and threaten many desirable plant and animal populations.
"The money will allow Park and Recreation to do some work that it normally couldn't afford and will go a long way toward helping us protect the wildlife who inhabit the nature preserves along the Catawba River," Chris Matthews said. He is division director for Park and Recreation's Nature Preserves and Natural Resources Division.
In 1994 the department's Nature Preserves and Natural Resources Division began actively supporting the protection, management, and restoration of natural communities in Mecklenburg County. The work includes developing and restoring Piedmont Prairie habitat sites and the protection of rare plant and animal species.


Japan, S.Korea agree to keep talking
By Kiyoshi Takenaka
The Prime Ministers of Japan and South Korea have met for talks, at a low point in their relations.
The Prime Ministers of Japan and South Korea have met for talks, at a low point in their relations. Credit: EPA
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon have agreed on the importance of co-operating on North Korea and other issues, seeking to rebuild relations amid a bitter feud over history and trade.
But there was scant sign of real progress and Abe reiterated that South Korea would need to keep its promises for ties between the two Asian allies of Washington to improve.
Relations between Tokyo and Seoul have deteriorated since South Korea's top court last October ordered some Japanese firms to compensate Koreans forced to work in their wartime mines and factories.
Japan, which says the matter was settled by a 1965 treaty, calls the decision a violation of international law, and the feud has spilled over into trade and security matters.
About 100 journalists were present at the start of talks in Tokyo on Thursday, the highest-level meeting between the two sides since the row flared. The meeting began with a handshake but no smiles.
Abe urged Seoul to keep its promises - a reference to the 1965 treaty - in order to restore relations, according to statement issued by Japan's foreign ministry.
"Our two nations are important neighbours for each other, and keeping in contact over North Korea, bilateral relations and our ties with the United States are quite important," Abe was quoted as telling Lee.
The statement also quoted Lee as saying he shared the view that dialogue was important, while a parallel statement from South Korea's foreign ministry said Lee agreed relations should not be left in their current state.
Lee, who was in Tokyo to attend Japanese Emperor Naruhito's enthronement ceremony, delivered to Abe a letter from South Korean President Moon Jae-in in which Moon called for attempts to resolve the pending bilateral issues.
The animosity between Japan and South Korea is linked to the history of Japan's 1910-45 colonisation of the Korean peninsula, the mobilisation of forced labour at companies and women in wartime military brothels, and a row over the ownership of islets in the sea between the two nations.
Earlier this year, the dispute escalated when Japan tightened export controls on materials vital for South Korean chipmakers. It then dropped Seoul from a list of countries eligible for fast-track exports.
In August, South Korea announced it would scrap a military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan when it expires in November, just as the allies face rising tensions over North Korea's nuclear weapons program and increased competition from China and Russia.


Quick Answer: Can You Swallow Your Tongue?
What is scalloping of the tongue?
A scalloped tongue gets its name from the wavy or rippled indentations that appear along the sides of a person's tongue.
A scalloped tongue is also known as: wavy tongue.
pie crust tongue..
Is your tongue the strongest muscle?
It is considered a very powerful muscle along with calf muscles because it pulls against the force of gravity to keep the body upright. The tongue is a tough worker. It is made up of groups of muscles and like the heart it is always working.
Why do retainers smell so bad?
Your retainer will keep collecting bacteria, plaque, and tartar from your mouth while you wear it. Over time, it may even start to smell or taste funny if you don't clean it often enough. More importantly, retainers can harbor dangerous bacteria like Streptococcus, including S.
Can you bite your tongue off during a seizure?
Myth 8: During a seizure, a person could swallow or choke on his or her tongue. Fact: Impossible. The worst thing that can happen during a seizure is that a person could bite his or her tongue.
What is the thin membrane that connects your tongue to the bottom of your mouth?
Look in the mirror at what's under your tongue and you'll see your frenulum (say: FREN-yuh-lum). This is a membrane (a thin layer of tissue) that connects your tongue to the bottom of your mouth.
Can your tongue heal itself?
A cut or tear to the tongue can bleed a lot. Small injuries may often heal on their own. If the injury is long or deep, it may need stitches that dissolve over time. If a piece of your tongue was cut off or bitten off, it may have been reattached.
What drug turns teeth black?
Also known as "meth" or "crystal meth," this drug is one of the top most destructive substances for your mouth. The effects of methamphetamine are so extreme that users are often identified by "meth mouth," in which the teeth along the cheeks are severely decayed. They may be worn down to the gums or black with decay.
Is tongue a muscle?
The soft patty of flesh we call the tongue is not just one muscle, it's a conglomeration of eight separate muscles. Unlike other muscles, such as the bicep, tongue muscles don't develop around a supporting bone.
Does your tongue help you swallow?
When we chew, the tongue and the cheeks work together to constantly move the food between the teeth so that it can be chewed. The tongue presses the crushed food against the palate and moves this bolus, which is then ready to be swallowed, to the throat.
Can you swallow your retainer?
Orthodontic bands, palatal bars, and auxilliary springs have been swallowed incidentally, usually without complications. However, ingestion of a metal and acrylic retainer with sharp edges and bare wires could, without appropriate treatment, cause death.
Why does biting your tongue hurt?
"When the tongue is bitten accidentally, the damage is swift and more severe, resulting in a deep cut with more tissue damage. This damage stimulates nerve endings resulting in pain perception." He adds, "It is not possible to inflict pain upon oneself, intentionally, to such a magnitude so as to create similar damage.
Can tongue be sutured?
The tongue will need to be held out of the mouth; this can be achieved by using a large suture through the centre that can be used to pull the tongue out. This will cause further trauma however. The tongue can also be held out using a towel clamp.
How do I stop my tongue thrusting?
For fixing this bad habit, we recommend this following exercise:First, place a small orthodontic rubber band on the tip of your tongue.Press the tip of your tongue against the gum in the roof of your mouth that's right behind your upper front teeth.Bite your teeth together in your regular bite; don't bite forward.More items…
Can you live without a tongue?
She and Wang have been looking into isolated congenital aglossia, the rare condition in which a person is born without a tongue. Rogers, their test case, is one of 11 people recorded in medical literature since 1718 to have the condition, and there are fewer than 10 in the world today who have it, McMicken said.
What kind of retainer do you get after braces?
The first type is called a bonded retainer. It's attached to your teeth after your braces are removed to keep them in place for the first few months after treatment. A bonded retainer is recommended if you need to wear your retainer at all times as a follow-up to orthodontic treatment.
What drug makes you chew your tongue?
MDMA, also known as "molly" and ecstasy, is an illicit drug that causes extreme euphoria. It also appears to cause bruxism, which can cause severe injury to the teeth, cheeks, and tongue.
How do you treat a badly bitten tongue?
Eat foods that are soft and easy to swallow. Take an over-the-counter pain reliever, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Advil) to reduce pain and swelling. Apply a cold compress to the injured area for five minutes a few times a day. You can also suck on a piece of ice or fruit-flavored ice pop.
What should I do if my permanent retainer breaks?
If the retainer has broken off or injured another part of your mouth, see your dentist or orthodontist right away to minimize any further damage to your teeth, mouth, or retainer. Check for emergency contact. Many dentists and orthodontists have an emergency line you can call or text in case of emergencies.


text:
Texas 80-Meter Wind Map and Wind Resource Potential
The U.S. Department of Energy's Wind Program and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) published an 80-meter (m) height wind resource map for Texas. This map is a key piece of understanding the state's wind resource potential from a development, policy, and a jobs and economic development impact perspective.
About the 80-Meter Texas Wind Resource Map
The wind resource map shows the predicted mean annual wind speeds at an 80-m height, presented at a spatial resolution of about 2 kilometers that is interpolated to a finer scale for display. Areas with annual average wind speeds around 6.5 meters per second and greater at 80-m height are generally considered to have a resource suitable for wind development. Utility-scale, land-based wind turbines are typically installed between 80 and 100 m high.
Texas Wind Resource Potential
The chart to the right shows the wind resource potential above a given gross capacity factor at both 80-m and 100-m heights for Texas.
NREL estimated the windy land area and wind energy potential in various capacity factor ranges for each state using AWS Truepower's gross capacity factor data. The table lists the estimates of windy land area with a gross capacity of 30% and greater at an 80-m height and the wind energy potential from development of the "available" windy land area after exclusions.
"Installed capacity" refers to the potential megawatts of rated capacity that could be installed on the available windy land area, and "annual generation" refers to the estimated annual wind energy generation in gigawatt-hours that could be produced from the installed capacity. NREL reduced the wind potential estimates by excluding areas unlikely to be developed, such as wilderness areas, parks, urban areas, and water features (see Wind Resource Exclusion Table for more detail). Additional wind potential tables are included for various capacity factor ranges.
These maps and wind potential estimates resulted from a collaborative project between NREL and AWS Truepower. This is the first comprehensive update of the wind energy potential by state since 1993. NREL has worked with AWS Truepower for almost a decade on updating wind resource maps for 36 states and producing validated maps for 50-meter heights. The U.S. Department of Energy's Wind Powering America initiative supported the mapping efforts.
Note: Wind resource at a micro level can vary significantly; therefore, you should get a professional evaluation of your specific area of interest.


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God's ways are not the Supreme Court's ways
1 year ago
| Prophetic
Thursday, June 27, 2013
God's ways are not the Supreme Court's ways
The LORD says in Isaiah 55:8, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways." Most assuredly, this holds true for the wisest among the branches of the Federal government as evidenced by the recent decision of the Supreme Court regarding marriage. The Supreme Court was very specific-benefits cannot be denied legally married couples. States address who is legally married. If the states say that marriage includes same sex couples, then benefits afforded married couples cannot be denied to those of the same sex. Interesting logic, especially since the US Constitution really does not address the definition of marriage. The Court ignores any definition of marriage.
The Genesis account of marriage could not be clearer. Eve was created from the rib of Adam and God brought her to Adam and he said in Genesis 2:23, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man." In the next verse, God said, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." Jesus reiterated that marriage by definition is between only a man and a woman when he said in Mark 10:8, "And they two shall be one flesh: so then they are no more two, but one flesh." So no matter what the White House, the Congress or the Supreme Court says, God says marriage is between a man and a woman.
In fact, I would argue that there is no such thing as same sex marriage from a Biblical world view. Marriage is not marriage unless it is between a man and a woman. The thought that there is same sex marriage is describing marriage in a way that cannot be considered marriage. The state may want to redefine marriage, but in doing so it is really abolishing the institution of marriage and family thereby redefining legally what is meant only spiritually as manifest in the flesh. The basic element of society is marriage. It is how that society sustains itself, prospers, advances. The absence of marriage will result in the breakdown of society. This is something missed by politicians who are to uphold and protect our nation.
In a 2012 speech, Masha Gessen, Russian born journalist and well known LGBT marriage activist said to great applause: "I agree, it's a no-brainer that we should have the right to marry, but I also think equally that it's a no-brainer that the institution of marriage should not exist...That causes my brain some trouble, and part of it why it causes me trouble is because fighting for gay marriage generally involves lying about what we're going to do with marriage when we get there, you know, because we lie that the institution of marriage is not going to change, and that is a lie. The institution of marriage is going to change and it should change. And again I don't think it should exist." That's the agenda's dirty little secret. It is not God's thought or way, but rather the thinking of satan-and the Supreme Court.
Have a Blessed and Powerful Day!
Bill Wilson


How Data security and Employee Cultural differences are related to outsourcing?
October 9, 2008
With globalization and offshore outsourcing on the rise, several companies have employees and contractors using their business critical data in various countries like India, China, Brazil, etc. Many companies do not have comprehensive security policies and procedures to mange their business data in offshore locations. Cisco systems sponsored a study to find the cultural differences of employees working in various countries and how it affects their handling of secure data. The study finds that employees and their culture play a key role in the security of business critical data.
Offshore Data Security
The study interviewed IT decision makers in the following countries: US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, China, India, Australia and Brazil, following is the result of the study:
1. Many countries did not have issues like denial of attack, worm in Email, etc, like US and UK, so the employees in those countries have much more tolerance in using their computer and networks, which are considered security threat in US.
2. Employees in other countries take their laptop home and use it for their personal purpose and they allow outsiders to use their laptop and mobile devices without any supervision. They also share customer problems and issues with their friends and families because they want to find an idea for a problem or just to vent out their daily issues that happened at office.
3. They also alter the security and policy settings in their laptops, which is considered to be a critical
security violation in countries like US and UK.
4. When guests visit employees during office hours, most of the time they were not escorted while entering and leaving a secured office facility. Employees in UK and US generally follow the security procedures and policies more methodically then employees in other countries. In other countries the cultural and social issues plays a key role among the employees and they take the security issues lightly.
offshore Security Survey
Though the offshore vendors and captive centers owned by US companies have state of the art technology in place for security and they are on par with US, but ultimately the employees need to be trained to use and follow the security policies and guidelines set by the parent company in US. If the companies do not take this issue seriously before outsourcing then they compromise the security of their own data. The bottom line is that companies in US and UK can outsource the work, but they cannot outsource their liability to ensure the security of their business data.
One Response to "How Data security and Employee Cultural differences are related to outsourcing?"
 1. Growth of Legal Process Outsourcing | Outsource Portfolio on February 5th, 2009 9:38 pm
 […] of the major concerns for the US and UK companies to use offshore LPO vendors is offshore security and confidentiality of their customer's data in offshore locations. Though several […]
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Fifty years ago this week, the first of more than 10 million visitors boarded the newly docked USS North Carolina in its new home on the Wilmington riverfront.
Thanks to the efforts of Jimmy Craig and Hugh Morton, along with 700,000 school children across North Carolina, the battleship was saved from the scrapyard. Bringing it home, however, was no easy matter.
The move, originally scheduled for October 1, 1961, had to be delayed for a day because of the weather and problems with some of the tug boats.
At nearly 729 feet, the North Carolina was the longest ship to navigate the river, which was only 500 feet wide at the time. Also, the ship drew 30 feet of water, and the channel was only 32 feet deep.
After 10 hours of intricate maneuvering with a fleet of tugs pushing and pulling, the huge, 35,000 ton battlewagon was edged into a slip here at 5:37 p.m.
Thousands of persons lined the Wilmington waterfront and had a grandstand view as the ticklish maneuver of edging the ship from the Cape Fear River into her slip was executed.
The bow of the North Carolina apparently went aground at one time during the move into the slip. The only other mishap to mar the big ship's final voyage came when gunmounts at the very end of her stern crunched into the topside of a floating restaurant, the Ark, moored at the end of Princess Street.
This was not the first time the Ark had been on the losing end of such an encounter.
On prominent display inside the restaurant has been a Navy submarine plaque in honor of the fact that the Ark some years ago was involved in the only recorded collision between a "man-of-war and a restaurant." The man-of-war was the Navy sub USS Crusher. -- The News & Observer 10/3/1961
The USS North Carolina's service in World War II included downing 24 planes, fighting in every major offensive in the Pacific, and earning 15 battle stars. Six times the Japanese reporting sinking it.
The Japanese couldn't sink the battleship, but a history book nearly did. In 1971, Sandy Bunn, a high school junior from Rocky Mount wrote to the staff of the Battleship Memorial, asking if the ship had been recovered or if the memorial was a replica. He had read in a library book, The Story of Submarines by George Weller that the USS North Carolina had been sunk.
Weller's book was published by Random House, Inc., as part of it "Landmark Books" for children in the middle grades of school. On page 121 it tells of submarine attacks sinking the battleship North Carolina and the cruiser Indianapolis.
But the North Carolina was never sunk, only damaged by a torpedo in September 1943, memorial officials said. The memorial organization reported it will set the record straight.
Meanwhile, Sandy was brought to the memorial to visit the battleship and see for himself that it is the real thing. -- The News & Observer 2/14/1971
Read more about the campaign to save the battleship.
Clayton Price (left), a crewmember of the USS North Carolina during World War II, reassures Sandy Bunn of Rocky Mount that the ship is authentic. (File Photo)


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I think they were all afraid that they'd be tarred with the same brush. I guess it's like any marginal group. If somebody in your group is doing something that is not considered to be mainstream, you're all kind of lumped in together... They would have considered something like being a lesbian as a bit extreme.
– Sandy Pottle, former Women Centre Coordinator for the St. John's Status of Women Council, on why some women were resistant to having openly gay women associated with the Women's Movement
Sexual orientation was rarely talked about in the 70s. But by the 1980s, more people were comfortable with being openly gay. The question of how lesbian rights and issues fit into the Women's Movement sometimes caused tension within some women's groups, while other groups ignored it. However, at least few attempts were made to address these issues on a provincial level. For instance, women at a Provincial Women's Lobby in 1987 urged the government to include protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation in the provincial Human Rights Code.


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the state's economic incentive programs.
- TTARA supports the continuation of Chapter 312 of the Tax Code, which allows cities, counties and special districts to offer temporary property tax abatements on new investments.
- TTARA supports the continuation and simplification of Chapter 313 of the Tax Code, which allows school districts to offer temporary limitations on the taxable value of new investments.
- TTARA supports simplifying and centralizing the application and reporting requirements of the state's current incentive programs.
Principles. The state's primary role over unclaimed property is to aid in returning it to its rightful owners; it is not to raise money for the state or to punish businesses. Amounts turned into the state should be tied to specific records and not based on sampling.
- TTARA supports reasonable requirements for businesses to maintain unclaimed property records for a period not to exceed seven years.
- TTARA opposes the use of third-party contractors to audit unclaimed property records.
School Finance and Education
Principles. All Texans are entitled to a quality education that provides them with the skills needed to achieve their greatest potential. School curricula must be rigorous and rewarding, meeting the diverse needs of our students, economy and society. Schools should have relatively equal access to a level of funds that enables the provision of a desired level of measurable academic achievement through an efficiently-managed system. School districts should be accountable to taxpayers and their communities for the money they spend and the results they achieve. Educators and administrators should work collaboratively within and across school districts to ensure that all may learn and benefit from best practices and shared services.
- TTARA supports voter approval of taxes levied for enrichment purposes above a reasonable level.
- TTARA supports a sufficient and appropriate level of funding necessary to efficiently provide an education that allows all students to be successful.
- TTARA supports updating elements of the formulas used in calculating school funding if there is a reasonable expectation that it will result in increased student achievement or student skills.
- TTARA opposes changes that would lessen the current level of funding equity in the school finance system.
- TTARA opposes financing public schools with a split property tax roll that treats business and residential property differently.


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No matter if you manage a group or are the head of a company, having a strategic mind is key to your success. Strategic thinkers are open and willing to listen to new ideas. They are able balance today's needs with tomorrow's goals. Tactical thinkers on the other hand are more process-driven and cost-focused, and prefer clear briefs. In addition, they are less flexible and are more likely to follow procedure and avoid risk. In case you have virtually any inquiries about exactly where in addition to tips on how to use strategic thinking training, you possibly can email us from the webpage.
Qualities that make strategic thinkers great
Strategic thinkers can see the bigger picture, and have a vision of the future. They aren't afraid to challenge the status quo and believe that asking the right query is as important as getting the right answer. They are able to change direction as necessary and constantly revise their assumptions in light of new information. Strategic thinkers can also make sense overarching trends by analysing information from multiple angles.
Next, strategic thinkers must be able to question everything. Although this does not mean that one should reject a brilliant idea, it does suggest that one should carefully consider the facts. A big asset is to keep an open mind and be willing to learn from others. They are curious about the world around them and open to new ideas. They are willing to take risks, embrace failure and have the ability to ask questions to gain an advantage.
Ways to develop a strategic mindset
Are you looking to achieve more success in your business? Are you interested in developing a strategic mindset? If so you aren't alone. Many people strive to become better strategic thinkers, and more business-savvy. Developing your strategic thinking skills will help you think of things in terms of the big picture. Your ability to think strategically will enable you to envision different outcomes. This will make planning and execution of your goals easier. The key to a strategic mindset is practice and patience.
Strategic thinking can be aided by learning from your past mistakes. Take the lessons from past failures and use them to improve your future thinking. If you still have trouble understanding the strategic thinking process, it is worth sharing your experiences with friends and colleagues. Ask your friends and colleagues what do you think they have learned and how they have improved their strategies. If you find that you are still struggling, take some time off from your routine tasks. You can improve your strategic thinking skills by taking a break from the daily grind.
Develop a strategic mindset for others
Developing a strategic mindset in others begins with understanding what it takes to develop one. These people are highly curious and savvy about their businesses. They are open to learning and challenging their own ideas. Knowledge of business metrics is crucial to a strategic mindset. They must also understand how these affect the entire business. Knowledge of the details is also necessary, but only if a person understands how those details contribute to the overall strategy.
People with a strategic outlook are better equipped to identify threats and recognize opportunities before they cause actual damage. This mindset encourages people to challenge assumptions and seek out new opportunities. A strategic mindset helps people think more strategically and act faster, which can be the difference between a successful business and a failing one. This mindset can be learned by encouraging collaboration and challenging work practices.
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Dynamically populating list of expand clause based on navigation property name
The general approach for fetching a parent and its child entity data in a single OData call is by implementing GET_EXPANDED_ENTITY method of the Data Provider Class. This involves explicitly specifying which child entities can be retrieved along with parent entity through hard-coding of the navigation properties in the method implementation. This requires populating the data in the nested properties of the parent structure carrying the same name as navigation property names and then adding the navigation's to standard exporting parameter ET_EXPANDED_TECH_CLAUSES to inform the framework that the expand clause has already been catered by custom implementation and there is no need to call the child entity sets.
In OData project the 3 entities (FormulaHeader, FormulaTerm and FormulaComponent) are modeled as below:
Entity 1: FormulaHeader
Entity 2: FormulaTerm
Entity 3: FormulaComponent
Association 1: FormulaHeader -> FormulaTerm (1:N)
Association 2: FormulaTerm -> FormulaComponent (1:N)
Navigation 1: FormulaTermSet (between FormulaHeader and FormulaTerm)
Navigation 2: FormulaComponentSet (between FormulaTerm and FormulaComponent)
This OData call would return FormulaHeader data for its specified key fields (DealGUID and FormulaGUID), its corresponding child entities FormulaTermSet and FormulaComponentSet in a single Gateway call through GET_EXPANDED_ENTITY method.
The main point here that needs to be taken care is that we need to tell the Gateway framework that we have expanded the FormulaHeader, FormulaTerm and FormulaComponent entities in a single entity set call and there is no need to call the child entity set to fetch the Formula Terms and Formula Component data. We can do this using parameter ET_EXPANDED_TECH_CLAUSES of GET_EXPANDED_ENTITY and append both the Navigation Property Name(FORMULATERMSET and FORMULATERMSET/FORMULACOMPONENTSET) in this exporting parameter, which will tell the gate way framework that the child entities have already been expanded and there is no need to call the child entity sets.
In this blog I provide an alternative approach where I dynamically generate and append the navigation property names in ET_EXPANDED_TECH_CLAUSES through recursion.
The below call of method GET_EXPANDED_TECH_CLAUSES is implemented in the GET_EXPANDED_ENTITY method of the data provider class.
 ir_expand = ir_expand
 it_children = ir_expand->get_children( )
 ct_expanded_tech_clauses = et_expanded_tech_clauses ).
Logic for the above method is as follows:
 1. Loop at all the child entities of the calling URL.
 2. Check if the calling entity has a parent or not.
 3. If it doesn't have a parent e.g. in our case the 1st call to this method would not have a parent so only FORMULATERMSET would be appended as child entity's navigation property name).
 4. If it has a parent e.g. in our case the 2nd call to this method would have parent as FORMULATERM for child entity FORMULACOMPONENT, so in that case parent's navigation property name(FORMULATERMSET) and child entity's navigation property name FORMULACOMPONENTSET would be appended to CT_EXPANDED_TECH_CLAUSES.
Above scenario explained with screenshots:
For the above scenario, when the specified URL is executed, GET_EXPANDED_TECH_CLAUSES method is called from the GET_EXPANDED_ENTITY method.
For the 1st call from GET_EXPANDED_ENTITY method, the call is for FormulaHeader to get its children and navigation property names.
In this case, the parent is blank and FORMULATERMSET is its child entityset with FORMULATERMSET as its navigation property name.
Thus, in the 1st call FORMULATERMSET is added in field CT_EXPANDED_TECH_CLAUSES.
For the 2nd call of GET_EXPANDED_TECH_CLAUSES method(as it is recursive in nature), the call is for FormulaTerm to get its children and navigation property names.
In this case, the parent is FORMULATERMSET and FORMULACOMPONENT is its child entityset with FORMULACOMPONENTSET as its navigation property name.
Final result in CT_EXPANDED_TECH_CLAUSES is as follows:
As this method is being called in recursion, during the second call the parent entity is FORMULATERM and FORMULACOMPONENTSET is its child entityset.
The implementation of GET_EXPANDED_TECH_CLAUSES method can handle navigation of multi-level child entities as it is recursive in nature.
Also, the main advantage of this approach is that no hard-coding of the navigation property names and entities are involved. And it can cater to all entities and its child entities without any entity specific logic.
 - Hi Sumita,
 Nice way to get things happen dynamically.
 I generally use other approach using standard utility, do you have any idea on fallback for below approach.
 DATA: lo_tech_request TYPE REF TO /iwbep/cl_mgw_request.
 lo_tech_request?= io_tech_request_context.
 DATA(lv_expand) = lo_tech_request->/iwbep/if_mgw_req_entityset~get_expand( ).
 SPLIT lv_expand AT ',' INTO TABLE et_expanded_tech_clauses.
 - Hello Tarun,
 This approach also works. I tried the above approach for a few scenarios and it works for all.
 Thanks for providing an alternative solution.