On Ambiguities in SAR Design
Conference: EUSAR 2006 - 6th European Conference on Synthetic Aperture Radar
Proceedings: EUSAR 2006
Pages: 4Language: englishTyp: PDF
Freeman, Anthony (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA)
Ambiguities are an aliasing effect caused by the periodic sampling of the scene backscatter inherent to pulsed radar systems such as Synthetic Aperture radar (SAR). In this paper we take a fresh look at the relationship between SAR range and azimuth ambiguity constraints on the allowable pulse repetition frequency (PRF) and the antenna length. We show that for high squint angles smaller antennas may be feasible in some cases. For some applications, the ability to form a synthetic aperture at high squint angles is desirable, but the size of the antenna causes problems in the design of systems capable of such operation. This is because the SAR system design is optimized for a side-looking geometry. In two examples design examples we take a suboptimum antenna size and examine the performance in terms of azimuth resolution and swath width as a function of squint angle. We show that for stripmap SARs, the swath width is usually worse for off-boresight squint angles, because it is severely limited by range walk, except in cases where we relax the spatial resolution. We consider the implications for the design of modest-resolution, narrow swath, scanning "SAR scatterometers".


Speed Networking and Beyond
Launch yourself into a new circle of people waiting to talk to you.
Speed networking programs generally involve people meeting each other one at a time for a short interval and then moving on to the next person in line. They are fairly structured in the way people queue up to meet. For example, one variation is to have two concentric circles of people. The individuals sit across from one another and after the set time period--generally one or two minutes--the outside circle of people gets up and moves in one direction around the circle until everyone has met.
As founder of the world's largest business referral and networking organization, you might not be surprised to learn that I have some definite opinions and ideas about how to best use speed networking as a tool for creating viable referral partnerships. First, I think speed networking is a great way to meet other business professionals in a short period of time. It's a good tool for business people to apply the "visibility" stage of the VCP Process TM--Visibility, Credibility, Profitability--that I mentioned in my past article, " Build Relationships that Last."
The potential downside to speed networking is if someone thinks this is "all" they have to do to network effectively. The key to making speed networking work, is to take those contacts and develop them over time into "credible" relationships that lead to "profitable" referral partners.
Some people have likened speed networking to speed dating. While there are clearly some similarities, there is also a subtle but significant difference. Speed dating is done to eliminate potential suitors and keep from wasting time on people with whom you share no common interests and no mutual attraction. The presumption is that you are going to follow up with only the ones you connect with during the exercise.
This speaks to why I titled this article "Speed Networking and Beyond." I don't feel speed networking can be used to its potential if you treat it as a means to eliminate potential referral sources. If you're already familiar with my material, you know how I feel about poaching at business events, looking for the big kill. Developing a strong referral base is about developing relationships with a variety of people, even when it seems you have nothing in common.
So how do you go about participating in a speed networking exercise with the proper focus to make the most of your time? Here are several points to consider:
1. Start with the end in mind. You're not there to bag the big one. You're not there to eliminate referral sources or referral partners. You're there to find ways to connect with each and every person you have the opportunity to sit (or stand) in front of for that oneto two-minute period.
If you view the speed networking exercise as a type of catalyst event (see my past article " Using Events to Gain Referrals "), you're already thinking with the end in mind. While you will not, realistically, become close friends with every person in the room, you're increasing your potential referral sources by meeting many people in one setting.
Conduct the exercise as a mini interview
2. Conduct the exercise as a mini interview. Think in terms of what you can find out about the person you're meeting. That'll allow you to help further the goals of that individual. Forget about mining her database or trying to determine who she knows to further your goals. In working to mutually benefit one another, ask questions that'll clarify where and how you can best help your new referral source.
3. Make notes during the exercise. If you're not provided some type of contact card on which you can jot notes while in the exercise, be sure to use your own pad of paper to write down the information you discover. Be sure to note the person's interests and goals you could help achieve.
4. Follow up. If you don't follow up with those you meet during the speed networking exercise, you will only have succeeded in wasting your time--which is exactly what you were trying to avoid by attending the event in the first place. Collect the business cards of each person you sit with during the exercise. The magic happens after the exercise, in the weeks and months to come.
Set appointments with each person, not to convince them they need your product, but with the intention of becoming better acquainted, finding out what their needs are and how you can positively impact their lives. You'll realize the reason you went to the speed networking exercise in the first place: to develop more referral business.
I believe speed networking can work if it's done the right way. It can be a fun, energetic and dynamic way to further your own goals of having a thriving, successful word-of-mouth-based business.
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text:
Himalaya PureHands Hand Sanitizer is an effective, alcohol-based hand sanitizer, formulated with the goodness of time-tested herbs. It kills 99.9% of germs, helps prevent infection, and ensures total hand hygiene.
Take 0.5 ml to 1 ml of Himalaya PureHands Sanitizer on your palms. Rub well over the palms, back of hands, fingernails, and grooves briskly until dry. No water is required after use. PureHands is safe for regular use. It contains moisturizers that prevent skin dryness. The product has been clinically tested, and its safety and efficacy are proven.
Dhanyaka [Coriander] One of the important medicinal herbs mentioned in the traditional literatures, it is known to possess Krimihara (antimicrobial) property. Ushira [Vetiver] Well documented in literature due to its usage in various conditions like inflammation and wounds, it has shown to possess antibacterial activity. Nagaramusta [Nutgrass] The herb is reported to possess antifungal and antibacterial activity and helps in controlling bacterial and fungal infections.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


text:
Testifire's use of advanced technologies means that it is able to test an increasingly wide range of detectors. Latest technology stimuli production and delivery renders the product suitable for testing everything from latest technology, complex algorithm, multi sensors to aspirating systems (as well as the more 'traditional' detectors in between).
- Optical point (photoelectric) smoke sensors
Single, laser, dual wavelength or dual scatter types.
- Ionisation smoke sensors
- Aspirating detectors
The unique method of smoke generation used by Testifire provides a smoke profile which is suitable for testing aspirating detection systems. Use of the Testifire Remote Control also allows use with 'holes' along an aspirating pipe run.
- Virtual chamber detectors
Some types of detector - such as those with 'virtual chambers' do not have the physical 'presence' to automatically initiate a test since they do not interrupt the infrared beam within Testifire. The Testifire 25 Remote Control overcomes this challenge by enabling remote manual initiation and end of a test sequence (at a distance of up to nine metres).
- Thermal sensors
Fixed temperature and rate of rise. Testifire features two heat settings. The standard setting allows testing of rate-of-rise and fixed temperature heat settings up to 90°C (194°F). The High Heat setting allows testing of detectors set at higher temperature up to 100°C (212°F).
- Carbon monoxide (fire) sensors
- Multi-sensor or multi-criteria detectors
Multi-sensor detectors may respond to a functional test from a single phenomenon, e.g. smoke, heat. However, a single phenomenon test is not necessarily an adequate test in the field for this type of detector. Each of the detection principles present within the detector (e.g.: smoke / heat / CO) needs to be individually tested for the specific detection principle. Testifire allows the production of different stimuli (e.g. smoke, heat) to be achieved singularly, sequentially or simultaneously in any combination.
Conventional, addressable or analogue addressable detectors of any of the above detector types can all be tested using Testifire.


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Aurora on Jupiter?
 1. Dec 29, 2006 #1
 2. jcsd
 3. Dec 31, 2006 #2
 User Avatar
 Science Advisor
 Homework Helper
 The answer is the same as why we have them on earth. I suggest you do search at how stuff works to see how the aurora borealis works. The magnetosphere plays an important role in generating aurora. Jupiter has quite a strong magnetosphere.
 4. Jan 2, 2007 #3
 Oh really? I thought it would be different from earth. thanks.
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text: With the growing popularity of autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the improvement of safety for UAV operations has become increasingly important. In this paper, a landing trajectory optimization scheme is proposed to generate reference landing trajectories for a fixed-wing UAV with accidental engine failure. For a specific landing objective, two types of landing trajectory optimization algorithms are investigated: i) trajectory optimization algorithm with nonlinear UAV dynamics, and ii) trajectory optimization algorithm with linearized UAV dynamics. An initialization procedure that generates an initial guess is introduced to accelerate the convergence of the optimization algorithms. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is verified in a high-fidelity UAV simulation environment, where the optimized landing trajectories are tracked by a UAV equipped with an L1 adaptive altitude controller in both the offline and online modes.


text:
Pitru Paksh Shraddh, Tarpanam or Shraddham are the various names used to describe the rituals performed for the dead relatives and ancestors in Hinduism. Shraddh holds an important place in rituals associated with Hindu religion and it is performed without fail by most Hindus. Apart from the immediate rituals after a death, there are also annual rituals like Pitru Paksh Shraddh in North India and
East India, Aadi Amavasai in Tamil Nadu, Karikadaka Vavu Bali in Kerala and Amavasi rituals in other places.
Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita talks about the journey of the dead and about the importance of the rituals dedicated to them. Annual Shraddh is usually performed during the Dakshinayana period (July to December). Prashna Upanishad indicates that the rituals performed on the first Krishna Paksha Amavasi during Dakshinayana period directly reach the Dead. In
South India, the first Amavasi after Dakshinayana is considered highly favorable for performing the Shraddham.
Shraddh should be performed with a pious mind. The person who performs the Shraddh should realize that for his birth, body, knowledge, wealth and sanskar he/she is indebted to the ancestors. All that is there was given by the ancestors. So the rituals performed is accepting this fact and is sort of thanksgiving. Both male and female relatives of the dead can perform the rituals.
The rituals including the 'pind dhan' that are performed reach the dead ancestors through the rays of Surya (Sun.) It is said that a year of humans is a day for the dead and therefore the ancestors enjoy the fruits of the annual Shraddh throughout the year.
Another belief is that the souls of dead remain in peace in Pitru Loka as a result of the rituals performed by their children or relatives. It is also said that the dead bless them for this and it helps the children and relatives to lead a good life on earth.
Equally important is feeding the poor on the day. Whenever rituals dedicated to the dead are performed, people distribute food and clothes among the poor.
Usually the rituals are performed on a riverbank or on seashore. There are also temples in
where the rituals can be performed. In some places crows are invited to feed on the rice cake that is prepared for the ritual India
The method of performing the rituals slightly varies from region to region. But the essence of the ritual is the same.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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|Location||Finland, Uudenmaan lääni|
|Central coordinates||24o 43.30' East 60o 9.14' North|
|IBA criteria||B2, C6|
|Altitude||1 - 3m|
|Year of IBA assessment||2009|
Summary Core area of the site is pool with standing freshwater, which acts as reservoir of sewage plant. Site is nationally best breeding area for two species: Gallinula chloropus and Anas strepera, and one of the best for Podiceps auritus and Larus ridibundus.
Ornithological information The status of Suomenoja as a nationally important bird area was published in 2002 (report by Leivo et al 2002). At that time site was recognised important as holding nationally significant numbers of Gadwall Anas strepera, Moorhen Gallinula chloropus and Great Reed Warbler Acrocephalus arundinacea. Additionally the site was known holding 11 pairs of Horned Grebes Podiceps auritus, 850 pairs of Black-headed Gulls Larus ridibundus (Lammi & Routasuo 2001). Values of the Suomenoja have apparently improved during last decade and values are also better known, as being more intensively monitored during last decade. The statement of Finnish Environment Research Centre (Pekka Rusanen, 28.11.2005) and further monitoring data, with over 3000 records (!) of this site in database of BirdLife Finland (Tiira, introduced in 2006), have revealed following values: - Suomenoja is one of the most important breeding site for Horned Grebe Podiceps auritus in Finland (18 pairs in 2005, 16 pairs in 2007, being nationally third best place for the species in overall number and nationally best place in population density). Suomenoja holds about 1 % of national population and 0,3 % of population of EU. Species is listed in Annex I of Birds Directive. - Suomenoja is known nationally most important breeding site for Moorhen Gallinula chloropus (about 14 pairs in 2005, 25 pairs in 2007, which means about 10-20 % of national population). Species was classified vulnerable in the last assessment for national Red Data Book (Rassi & al 2001). - Suomenoja is known nationally best breeding site for Gadwall Anas strepera (12 pairs in 2005, 23 pairs in 2007, which means 2-5 % of national population). - Suomenoja is populated by one of the biggest breeding colonies of Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus (2400 pairs in 2005, 3400 pairs in 2008, which means about 2-5 % of national population). Species was classified vulnerable in the last assessment for national Red Data Book (Rassi & al 2001). - Suomenoja is also one of the few regular breeding places of Great Reed Warbler Acrocephalus arundinacea in Finland, with 1-3 territories annually, which mean 1-10 % of national population. Species was classified vulnerable in the last assessment for national Red Data Book (Rassi & al 2001). Suomenoja is also one of the best reproduction site for waterfowl in Finland if the effect of area is taken into account. At least five broods per hectare are raised annually. Good reproduction is documented at least by Horned Grebe, Moorhen, Gadwall and Black-headed Gull (Tiira, database of BirdLife Finland) and some commoner species (Coot, Shoveler, Goldeneye etc). Because of good reproduction, Suomenoja is definitely vital source of breeding populations for other breeding sites, thus making it enormously valuable. Place is true "hotspot" with corea area (the pool) being only 18 hectares in size. The protection of this site would be cost-efficient, as good reproduction and relatively very high numbers of mentioned species of conservation concern overlaps in small area. Small size makes the site vulnerable to development projects.
Site description Suomenoja has been earlier a bay of sea with river estuary. The bay was separated from the sea and river by dams in 1960'es. Core area of the site is now pool with standing freshwater, which acts as reservoir of sewage plant. The pool gets temporarily water influxes from communal sewage and very rarely from the sea (when water level of the sea rises very high). Next to the pool are pasture and reedbed flooded regularly by sea. SIte includes also few hectares of ruderal land and alluvial forests.
|Species||Season||Period||Population estimate||Quality of estimate||IBA Criteria||IUCN Category|
|Gadwall Anas strepera||breeding||2004-2007||14-25 breeding pairs||good||B2||Least Concern|
|Horned Grebe Podiceps auritus||breeding||2005-2007||16-18 breeding pairs||good||B2, C6||Least Concern|
|IUCN habitat||Habitat detail||Extent (% of site)|
|Wetlands (inland)||Rivers and streams; Standing freshwater; Water fringe vegetation||70%|
|Artificial landscapes (terrestrial)||Ruderal land||10%|
|Forest||Alluvial and very wet forest; Mixed woodland||20%|
Land ownership Municipality of Espoo and Fortum (powerplant owner next to the site).
|Land-use||Extent (% of site)|
Management considerations Settlement plans, harbour enlargement, industry developement, overgrowth.
Conservation response Suomenoja was included in 2000'es as target wetland site of alien predator management. Site lacks any protection and official management plans. Site have been proposed by BL FInland as SPA/protection area in 2005 and again, in 2007, without results.
References Lammi, E. & Routasuo, P. 2001: Monitoring the bird wetlands of Espoo municipality in 2000. – Environment Council of Espoo municipality, publication 1/2001 (in Finnish, 65 pages) Leivo, M., Asanti, T., Koskimies, P., Lammi, E., Lampolahti, J., Mikkola-Roos, M. & Virolainen, E. 2002: Finnish important bird areas – FINIBA. – BirdLife Finland's conservation publication nr 4 (in Finnish, 142 pages). Rassi, P., Alanen, A., Kanerva, T. & Mannerkoksi, I. (editors) 2001: The 2000 Red List of Finnish Species. – Ministry of Environment and Finnish Environment Research Center. (in Finnish, 432 pages). Rusanen, Pekka 2005: Statement of values of the Suomenoja. – Annex in the complaint made on the plan of harbour, next to the FINIBA-site Suomenoja.
Contribute Please click here to help BirdLife conserve the world's birds - your data for this IBA and others are vital for helping protect the environment.
Recommended citation BirdLife International (2013) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Suomenoja. Downloaded from _URL_ on 19/06/2013
To provide new information to update this factsheet or to correct any errors, please email BirdLife


text:
NORMAN HIGH SCHOOL HISTORY
By Shirley Manning
When the town of Womble, Arkansas, had its beginning it was little more than a crossroads in Southern Montgomery County. It wasn't until the depot in the town of Black Springs, the intended terminus of the Gurdon–Ft. Smith Railroad, failed to materialize that Womble was born, in 1907. (The town changed its name to Norman in June 1925.)
Three Womble brothers, along with their mother Celia Womble, saw an opportunity to advance themselves and the community and quickly purchased the area now known as Norman, where they created a new town.
The Black Springs Lumber Company, also intended for the town of Black Springs, located itself in the new town to be near the railroad. It was by this means that the virgin timber was cut and transported out of Montgomery County to various parts of the country.
Womble became the largest town in the county, with over 900 people. It also had the distinction of being the only town with a railroad, a depot, and the first to have electric lights and a library, The town was home to the first accredited high school in the county, and home to the first football team.
We know this school as the old Norman High School, first named Caddo Valley Academy. It was constructed by Dr. John T. Barr, Jr. and was in operation from 1924–1971. Dr. Barr ran his Caddo Valley Academy from the Norman Public School on the hill, at the crossroads in town, for the first three years, having founded it in 1921. Students were housed in the old Hillside Hotel, which had been purchased by Dr. Barr at a foreclosure sale. Later, Dr. Barr turned the old hotel/dormitory into a home for underprivileged children.
Caddo Valley Academy (NHS) was constructed in 1924-25, by Dr. Barr and the Arkansas Presbyterian Synod's Home Missions Committee. Dr. Barr ran both the school and the children's home. He came to Womble as a circuit preacher expecting to stay one year. Instead, he spent his life in the town and dedicated himself to the service of the church, the town, and her people.
In 1930, Arkansas was in the midst of school consolidation and Dr. Barr's school was hard-pressed to meet the requirements set by the state. Norman was also pressured to meet state consolidation requirements. As a result, Dr. Barr and the Presbyterian Synod leased the high school building to Norman School District #28, for a period of 49 years. The entire lease price was one dollar. It was understood that Bible would continue to be taught, but no such stipulation was set forth in the lease.
The school closed at midterm 1972, after further consolidation combined Caddo Gap with Norman and a new school was constructed at Caddo Hills, half way between the two towns. The last NHS graduating class was in 1971. However, the class of 1972 was issued senior rings bearing the Norman High School emblem, and a diploma bearing the Caddo Hills name. Graduation exercises were held in the Norman gym.
The beautiful old masonry and fieldstone building went into private ownership after the school moved to Caddo Hills, and for the past 30 plus years it has been left to the elements.
On October 15, 2001, a nonprofit corporation, (Norman Historic Preservation Program, Inc.) made up of former NHS students, purchased the building. They are currently working to restore it for use as an educational/cultural center.
The School Complex has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This listing consist of the administration building (NHS), the home economics building, and the gymnasium. It does not include the old lunchroom. However, the corporation only owns the administration building.
Norman Historic Preservation Program, Inc. needs your help in renovating the old Caddo Valley Academy Administration building, (Norman High School) and in making our dream of an educational/cultural center come true.
Before the programs at the center can be undertaken the building must be renovated. We have come a very long way in the past six years, but our most immediate need (bathrooms) has yet to be met. We are in need of financial assistance, we have received NO grant money. Become a member of N.H.P.P., Inc. ($30 per year) and with your dues you will help preserve the best of the past for the future.
Come by for a guided tour and learn how you can help.


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In a world where sexism has never existed, a female hero must solve the mysteries of her heritage and claim her birthright. |
Imagine a world where roles have never been defined by gender. Imagine heroic myth and archetype manifesting itself as female rather than male. Imagine one step beyond Xena, Warrior Princess. Imagine Star Wars with more than one woman in the universe. If you can imagine all this, then you have attained the paradigm shift that is Flandari's Heirs, the first volume in the saga of Ann of Solsta.
Trained in the ways of a necropath by the hermits who raised her, young Novice Ann is called to minister to the dying Empir Flandari. As the Empir expires, Ann joins souls with her in order to guide her into the afterlife, but what Ann learns in the link shocks her; she is Flandari's true heir, and she must leave the hermitage's safe haven to seek out her destiny. Overcoming one challenge after another, challenges that both shatter her innocence and teach her the art of survival, she finally confronts her twin brother, the amoral Ariel, in the climactic duel to the death for the throne.


Top 3 Online Security Challenges
Banking Institutions Need to Involve the Consumer More
Top 3 Online Security Challenges
As we begin 2012, financial institutions still have a long way to go in their fight against online fraud, says Phil Blank of Javelin Strategy & Research.
In its annual Banking Identity Safety Scorecard, Javelin identifies three weaknesses in online banking:
 - The need for more layered authentication: Institutions rely too heavily on device identification, log-ins and passwords.
 - Continued use of Social Security numbers: Banks and credit unions still use Social Security numbers to identify and verify online users, despite the known identity-theft risks;
 - Not enough implementation of customer and member alerts: Many institutions have alerts, but most are not comprehensive, and few offer more than a pushed communication. Blank says more institutions must deploy two-way, actionable alerts - those that actively involve the consumer.
Up to now, banking institutions have not taken prescriptive security measures into account. "The FFIEC guidance is probably the closest we have to those prescriptive measures, and many FIs have a philosophical bent that the consumer really doesn't want to be involved with security," Blank says in an interview with BankInfoSecurity's Tracy Kitten [transcript below].
But the consumer needs to be involved in fraud prevention. "No software analytics program can know [financial habits] better than you can, so by deputizing the consumer, by enlisting the consumer in the fight against fraud, the fraud can have a material difference."
During this interview, Blank discusses:
 - Security vulnerabilities the updated FFIEC guidance does not address;
 - Why, despite some improvements, most financial institutions have a long way to go when it comes to consumer fraud education;
 - How mobile is expected to expose institutions and consumers to uncharted risks.
Blank provides central leadership to Javelin's Security, Risk and Fraud Practice areas. He has an extensive background in security, information technology, forensics and investigations. His perspectives on information technology and security have been presented at international conferences and published in numerous IT-related publications. He has more than 20 years of experience in both domestic and international organizations, with deep expertise in SAAS operations, security, networking, high availability systems, business continuity planning, customer service and internal support.
TRACY KITTEN: Javelin released its annual banking identity safety scorecard report. What can you tell us about the scorecard, such as the number of institutions that were surveyed for the report?
PHIL BLANK: This is our seventh annual banking identity safety scorecard. We've done this every year for the past seven years so it gives us a pretty good view of what's been going on in the industry. The way we approach the scorecard is we look at the top 25 financial institutions, a combination of credit unions and traditional banks, and we look at the top 25 by deposit size. It's important to note in this study, we're really looking at consumer-facing security measures. We do that for two reasons. One, most FIs won't disclose to us what goes on in the backend of their security with their analytics and two, we would have a very, very difficult time validating and verifying what they're telling us. These are items that are relatively easy for us to validate and take into account how the bank deals with the consumer directly when it comes to security.
Greatest Security Challenges
KITTEN: The study notes that financial institutions continue to struggle to stay ahead of fraud trends in the online space. What vulnerabilities or security weaknesses seem to pose the greatest challenges?
BLANK: We've seen, over the past three years in particular, a really bad drop-off in our prevention detention resolution model. Some of the challenges that the FIs face today are challenges in authentication, the use of what we call layered authentication. A lot of FIs rely on device ID as well as log-in and password. By the way, log-ins and passwords, they've been with us since the '60s and if you think about how much other technology has changed, it's coming time where the creaky old passwords will soon no longer see the light of day.
We're also seeing an increased use of social security numbers. As you know, you have to provide your social security number to provision the account, but FIs really need to move away from the use of SSN when it comes to authenticating the user to the account. We don't see enough FIs incenting the use of the security software. Some of the FIs provide it for free, but many of them don't incent the consumer to use it and therefore lose the advantage of it.
Finally, we see a deficit in alerts. A lot of FIs have alerts but they're either not comprehensive or they are not two-way and actionable. Those are some of the key areas that we've seen in this year's scorecard that are really weaknesses in bank security.
Contributing to the Problem
KITTEN: Is the industry just not doing enough to keep up with the ever-evolving malware and Trojans like Zeus or are there deeper security concerns at the core here? It sounds like maybe some of the practices that institutions are using are really more of the problem.
BLANK: I think you've hit the nail on the head. It's really a combination of issues. Man-in-the-browser protection is very well known, but it's really a technical solution and over time as more and more people get updated software and get man-in-the-browser protection, it will prevent that specific vulnerability. The problem really comes into the fact that most fraudsters are performing what we call "crimes of impersonation." When you perform a crime of impersonation, it's much more difficult for analytics or software to pick that up because as far as the FI knows, it's a legitimate person approaching the FI. It's really incumbent upon the FI to look at a broader range of security issues and that's why a point-technical solution against a Trojan like Zeus or SpyEye isn't really going to solve the total problem.
Online Security Gaps
KITTEN: What trends have been consistent then if we look over the last seven years where online security gaps are concerned? Where do you still see the same problems?
BLANK: Probably the most consistent trend has been a U.S.-based trend. Due to the competitive marketplace in the U.S., the U.S. has never really taken into account prescriptive security measures. The FFIEC guidance is probably the closest we have to those prescriptive measures, and many FIs have a philosophical bent that the consumer really doesn't want to be involved with security. So they try and handle everything behind the scenes. Because of that, there's some amount of fraud that simply is going to continue forever and ever. We've been seeing a very slow change of heart in many of the FIs where they're beginning to realize the value of partnering with the consumer in the fight against fraud, because frankly no one knows your financial habits better than you. No software analytics program can know it better than you can, so by deputizing the consumer, by enlisting the consumer in the fight against fraud, the fraud can have a material difference. That's been a pretty consistent thing we've seen for the past seven years.
KITTEN: Now I've asked about some of the vulnerabilities and some of the gaps that have been consistent over the last seven years. What about areas of improvement? What stood out this time that might be worth noting?
BLANK: The areas of improvement this time have really been around education and providing tools to the consumer. On the other hand, the FIs are not providing the incentives for the consumer to use those tools. So the consumer sees the tool, looks at it and says, "I wonder what that does," and then moves on. For example, several large FIs in the United States provide man-in-the-browser protection for free. It's a free download, but they don't incent the consumer to use it and without having that incentive the consumer isn't likely to go out there on their own.
FFIEC Conformance
KITTEN: That's a great point, and I wanted to note also that the report mentions the forthcoming updated FFIEC guidance for online banking authentication. Where did Javelin find that institutions were perhaps lacking when it came to FFIEC conformance?
BLANK: In terms of the consumer-facing security, there's clearly the issue of static versus dynamic KBA [knowledge-based authentication]. With a proliferation of social media, static KBA is really going by the waste side and we're seeing many FIs still rely on it. There has to be an expanded use of multifactor authentication, true multifactor authentication, and that's another area that FIs really need to think about when the factors are too close to each other. They also need to look at things like out-of-band signaling and items that can really enhance the security of their institution.
We found the FFIEC guidance itself was not particularly robust, especially when it came to mobile applications and some of the newer technologies. We would have much preferred a much more comprehensive document, but unfortunately these things tend to move a bit on the slow side. That by the way is a challenge because the fraudsters move very, very fast and that's why you've seen that drop in prevention over the last three years from 79 percent to 54 percent.
Mobile Risks
KITTEN: That's a great point. The fraudsters often times are moving at a much faster pace than the industry is. This is a good segway because I did want to ask about mobile. Where do you see institutions when it comes to vulnerabilities? Where are some of the greatest risks that surround mobile,


Meanwhile in Russia: Self-learning Robot Escapes for 45 Minutes
Meanwhile in Russia: Self-learning Robot Escapes for 45 Minutes
In the recent frenzy of questionable robotic motives, a Russian self-learning robot escaped a training compound before engineers were able to bring it back home.
Artificially intelligent (AI) robots have demonstrated some incredibly peculiar traits between Microsoft's AI bot turning into a racist-human-hating robot in 24 hours and DARPA announcing their plan for a 132-foot "stalker" warship to hunt the seas for enemies. Whatever the case may be, the age of robotic automation has begun.
Similar to the outpour in AI robots, the Promobot has made recent news after escaping a training ground. On Tuesday, June 14, Engineers at the Promobot headquarters were carrying out tests where the robot was "taught" how to navigate around objects on the premise to better optimize and coordinate the robot's AI system. Following the tests, a robotic engineer left the testing grounds and forgot to close the gates behind him. The robot, who had not turned off quietly followed the engineer outside the text field, driving over fifty meters, and then entered a roadway where its unplanned excursion came to an end due to dead batteries. It was then discovered over 40 minutes later that the robot was missing, and engineers soon after discovered the robot in the middle of the road, holding up traffic.
promobot2People stood by the robot, taking pictures [Image Source: Promobot]
"The robot was learning automatic movement algorithms on the testing ground, these functions will feature in the latest version of the Promobot"
Oleg Kivokurtsev, co-founder of the robot's maker, tells news agency,
"Our engineer drove onto the testing ground and forgot to close the gates. So the robot escaped and went on his little adventure"
The robot caused a traffic jam of pedestrians and cars, but not necessarily because of its positioning. As people passed by, they took to their phones to record the ordeal as children stopped to try and play with the robot.
As a result of the excursion and the engineer forgetting about the gates, reprimands were made by the police and the testing facility was forced to relocate. However, engineers are taking the experience in a positive light as the robot did not crash into any people or cars, and did not cause any damage, making them feel quite accomplished.
promobot3Police came by to investigate the incident [Image SourcePromobot]
The robot is still undergoing tests as a marketing robot to provide all kinds of services to customers, as well as advertising. More information can be found at the Promobot website. While some say the incident was caused by the robots intentions to escape the "robot prison", others believe the ordeal was set up as a publicity stunt.
promobotPolice came by to investigate the incident [Image SourcePromobot]
SEE ALSO: Farminators: Robots to replace Humans in Agriculture
Written by Maverick Baker
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stones. The stones used to resize an aluminum cylinder differ from those used to resize a cast iron or steel cylinder. Remember also that the honing stones must be in good condition. If not, they should be redressed or replaced before you commence the project.
Once the engine block is securely anchored, and the cylinder in position, lower the hone into the bore until the bottom end of the hone protrudes ½ inch or 1.5 centimeters beyond the lowest point of the bore hole. Then adjust the hone until its cutting stones contact the narrowest part of the cylinder; this will normally be at the bottom of the bore. The hone should not be excessively tight against the walls of the cylinder. If you cannot turn the hone by hand, loosen the adjustment knob until you are able to.
The drill should be set to operate within the range of 300 to 700 rpm. When the drill is started, move the hone up and down inside the cylinder at a pace of 40 to 50 times per minute. If all you need to do is a deglazing, just a few strokes will be necessary.
When resizing a cylinder, you will need to work out its narrowest end first. As the cylinder acquires a more uniform diameter, the hone should move gradually further along the cylinder length. The ends of the honing stones should not move more than ½ inch beyond either the top or bottom of the cylinder as the hone is used.
Follow instructions of the hone manufacturer when honing is done. Lubricant such as cutting oil must be used with some hones. Refer to recommendations of the manufacturer to determine the correct lubricant. On the other hand, some hones will not work at all if there is lubricant on the cylinder walls.
As honing proceeds, be sure to check cylinder bore diameter regularly, particularly when resizing. Try to stop every 10 to 20 hone strokes to check not just cylinder size, but its cross hatching. A cylinder is normally honed only enough to produce a uniform pattern of cross hatching on its walls. If a cylinder is being resized for a larger piston, it should be honed until the desired diameter has been reached.
To check bore diameter, remove the hone from the cylinder, and take the measurements described above(INSIDE MEASUREMENT TOOLS). As you cease honing for a measurement, keep the hone traveling up and down in the bore until the cutting stones have stopped turning. As rotation speed decreases, reduce the speed at which you are moving the hone up and down the cylinder. This will maintain proper cross hatching patterns. Once the hone has stopped, loosen its adjusting nut so that you do not scratch the cylinder wall as the cutting stones are extracted from the bore.
If you are resizing a cylinder, it is important to check its size frequently to avoid enlarging the bore too much. When the cylinder is within 0.002 inches or 0.05 millimeters of your desired diameter, the coarse stones you were using should be replaced with fine stones to finish the project. The procedure for finish honing is exactly the same as for coarse honing.
Cleaning the reconditioned cylinder: once honing has been finished, the cylinder walls must be cleaned. It is critical to remove all grit and other particles left by the honing process. The engine block should first be washed with cleaning solvent. Solvent will remove any lubrication oil that was used from the cylinder, however it will not completely remove grit and other particles. To remove these remaining particles, the cylinder must be washed with soap and hot water, and a stiff brush. Be sure your soap solution is very sudsy. Suds will get into cross hatching and float out gritty particles. To complete the cleaning process, wash the cylinder with hot water and dry it with soft clean cloths, or better yet, compressed air. When the cylinder is dry, a fresh coat of new motor oil should be applied to its walls to prevent rusting.
After honing is completed, measure the bore again to be sure it is the proper size. Record your new measurements; you will need them later on to determine piston to cylinder bore clearance.


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Lima City Hall is located at 50 Town Square, Lima, OH 45801; phone: _PHONE_.
Lima was founded at the southern-end of the Great Black Swamp, an area inhabited by the Shawnee Indians until their removal to Kansas in the 1830's. Located on the banks of the Ottawa River (Hog Creek) it developed into the largest landlocked city in northwest Ohio with a population of 55,000. Historic resources most prominent are fine commercial and financial buildings erected following Lima's early industrial growth, particularly related to railroads and the oil industry.
Lima's periods of significance relate to commercial and industrial development:
_PHONE_'s: Lima became an agricultural center followed by the coming of the first railroad in 1858.
1870's: The first large industrial concerns including foundries and iron works countered commercial development of the Public Square.
_PHONE_: The discovery of oil in 1885 led to Lima's population tripling by the turn of the century with much new construction, including South Lima.
Early 20th century: Completion of the Texas oil pipeline, Standard Oil, banking and entertainment created new buildings up to the eve of the Depression.
Post-Depression: New building styles the end of the era of grand buildings.


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Detalles del recurso
Alexandria - University of St.Gallen (Switzerland)
Descripción: In this paper we argue that the fitness of a strategic initiative relative to the firm's internal selection environment hinges on distinct characteristics that enhance survival in the strategic and structural contexts. We test this proposition using data on 962 strategic initiatives originating from ten research and development centers over seven years within a global electronics firm. Our findings suggest that initiative survival in the strategic context is positively influenced by characteristics that enhance interpersonal exchanges and tacit knowledge transfer between an initiative and the headquarters evaluation team. These include geographical proximity to corporate headquarters and the success record of the initiative's champion. In the structural context, initiative survival is negatively influenced by characteristics that increase uncertainty among members of the headquarters evaluation team about the success of the initiative. These include indicators of implementation complexity and the degree of exploration inherent in an initiative's goals. Moreover, fitness characteristics interact across the structural and strategic contexts such that the past success of the champion weakens the negative influences of implementation complexity and exploratory goals on initiative survival. For theory, the results demonstrate the relevance of fitness characteristics as predictors of initiative survival and highlight the positive influence of more tacit, personal characteristics in conditioning the negative effects of more explicit uncertainties in initiative survival.
Autor(es): Marcus Matthias Keupp - Steven Floyd - Oliver Gassmann -


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Michigan State University Extension
Preserving Food Safely - 01600734
Some old pickle recipes call for a bluestone to be added to the pickling brine to give the pickles a blue-green color. Bluestone is copper sulfate and is also known as blue vitro. In earlier days, pickles were usually made in metal pans containing copper. They turned a bright bluegreen as the copper ions interacted with the chlorophyll molecules in the pickle. A similar color was sought for pickles brined in enameled pan or crocks, and it wasn't long before copper sulfate, or bluestone, was found to do the job. Since high levels of copper can produce toxicity symptoms in humans, particularly gastrointestinal problems, the use of copper sulfate in pickling should be avoided. Since its only function is to color the pickles, the bluestone can be simply eliminated from the recipe without affecting the overall quality of the final product.


Video encyclopedia
29/09/1954 The convention establishing CERN is signed
What is CERN Large Hadron Collider LHC? End of the World?
Dark Energy, Black Holes, Other Dimensions? CERN Scientist Sums up What They're Doing at CERN
The convention establishing CERN was ratified in 1954 by 12 countries in Europe. The acronym CERN originally represented the French words for Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, meaning European Council for Nuclear Research, which was a provisional council for building the laboratory, established by 12 European governments in 1952.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: News Media contact: June 2, 1999 David Fiske: _PHONE_ FCC LAUNCHES NEW INITIATIVE TO PROMOTE PRO-COMPETITIVE REGULATORY POLICIES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES The FCC has begun a new technical assistance initiative to assist developing countries in building independent regulatory regimes that will promote competition, liberalization and privatization, FCC Chairman William E. Kennard said today. In a speech to the AFCOM '99 conference in Arlington, Va., Kennard said, "Fair, open and transparent regulatory processes are essential to U.S. companies doing business abroad. This Initiative is designed to promote pro-competitive regulatory policies so that consumers around the world can reap the full benefits of the telecommunications revolution. U.S. consumers will benefit because telecommunications competition and regulatory parity abroad results in lower domestic and international telecommunications back home." Kennard said the FCC would develop specific work plans with individual developing countries to provide ongoing technical and regulatory assistance. He stated that the Initiative would expand and formalize the technical assistance that the FCC has been providing as part of its efforts to promote implementation of the World Trade Organization Agreement on Basic Telecommunications Services. Building on the FCC's existing work with its regulatory counterparts, the FCC will expand technical assistance in the development of pro-competitive regulatory models, and will provide expert information and advice on regulatory issues. Participating countries will invest their own resources; the FCC does not provide any financial support. Kennard said while the Initiative would focus initially on African countries, it would in the future help developing countries as well in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America/Caribbean. He said the first three countries to participate in the Initiative would be Ghana, South Africa and Uganda. Kennard indicated that he would travel to South Africa later this year to conclude a work plan agreement. As part of the Initiative, the FCC has written and released a regulatory guide book for regulators in developing countries. The book is called "Connecting the Globe: A Regulator's Guide to Building a Global Information Community". Kennard said: "This Initiative is designed to utilize the FCC's recognized expertise in telecommunications regulation to assist developing countries move forward in building independent regulatory agencies that will promote competition, liberalization and privatization in their own local markets." He said, "This new program will enable us, by setting up specific work plans with individual targeted countries, to identify specific tasks and goals to enable developing countries to move towards fair, open and transparent regulatory regimes. We will define specific areas of technical and regulatory cooperation, specify procedures for exchanging information, and determine experts, technicians and materials necessary to carry out the program." - FCC - FCC International Bureau Contact: Adonis Hoffman: _PHONE_


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LabelBar (Pro) 5.0
Oct 16, 2005
Labels and Business Cards Software
Windows 95 Windows 98 Windows NT Windows 2000 Windows ME Windows XP Windows CE
LabelBar (Pro) Review
|" Barcode and labels printing software. "
Barcode and Labels Printing Software. LabelBar(Pro) is designed for creating, editing and printing of labels. The program has a simple and convenient interface, preview of labels location on the page, barcodes adaptation for the current printer resolution, connection to various Data Sources.
LabelBar(Pro) has the following features:
- The properties of all label objects are edited in one window which makes the work with the program and the label editing easier. Besides, due to this you have the opportunity of group editing of different objects, various types of objects included (e.g. barcode, picture, etc.).
- One of the most powerful program features is the data import. And this feature is not limited with a text or a barcode, you can use any parameters from the database, such as color, size, text, etc. Besides, you can specify the data for each object from your data source, i.e. either from different databases or from a series or a stamp in any combination. You can also print a series of labels. A series is a text or a barcode with the ascending numbers sequence. You can see how the printed label will look considering the connected data sources in the preview. Besides, you can print any number of pages.
- The program is able to print on any printer installed in Windows. It may be a common printer or a specialized one, for example a barcode or a CD printer.
Grid and Rulers
- The program has the grid and the rulers tools to make the label editing easier.
- If the action is wrong you can undo it. The number of undoes is practically unlimited.
- The program has the feature to set different ways to cut a page.
- The program has a big number of different ways to align objects.
- You can place different Active-X objects on the label. Due to this you are not limited by a standard objects set distributed with the program.
Top Related Downloads


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Therapeutic Listening can impact sensory modulation, attention, behavior, postural organization, auditory defensiveness, speech and language difficulties, and even toilet training. Typically set up as a home program, Therapeutic Listening offers parents the opportunity to significantly enhance their child's sensory program on a daily basis. Therapeutic Listening is a highly individualized, music based tool that activates listening, to help children tune-in to and respond to their world. Music is altered to exaggerate the sounds that naturally capture attention and tap into the parts of the brain involved in regulating bodily functions, relating to others, and organizing behavior.
At Emerge, we have found that therapy outcomes are improved and the length of time in therapy is often reduced when the child is on a consistent Therapeutic Listening program. Therapeutic Listening is started during therapy sessions and then if it seems to be a good match for the child, headphones and music can be loaned for a short trial. After that, parents purchase the headphones and join the Emerge Therapeutic Listening Library so that they can take advantage of a wide array of music.
Therapeutic Listening is typically done twice daily for 20-30 minutes. Typically the music is changed every 2-3 weeks. In addition to the traditional listening program, Emerge now offers the Quick Shift, with music that can be done over a speaker and is used to address specific desired outcomes.
Talk with your child's therapist if you would like more information.


A British Supermarket Successfully Sent a Chicken Nugget to Space
While many strange things have been sent up to space, from cookie dough to toilets worth millions of dollars, this is the first time fast food found its way to orbit. According to the media, the British supermarket chain Iceland Foods Ltd was able to launch a chicken nugget all the way up to space on October 13. The supermarket did the stunt as a way to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
According to Andrew Staniland, the chain's trading director, 2020 was a huge year for the Iceland Foods supermarkets, and they wanted to mark the occasion in a special way. He added that this was the best way for the chain to show that their products were indeed out of this world. The company sent a chicken nugget because it was one of its customers' favorite products.
 "Sent Into Space" Helped Get the Chicken Nugget Out of the Atmosphere
Chicken nugget in spaceIceland Foods teamed up with Sent Into Space to organize the launch and ensure it would be a complete success. The chicken nugget was taken to a predetermined launch site in Wales, where it was tied to a gas-filled weather balloon and released to go to Near Space. It reached an altitude of about 110,000 feet or 20.7 miles, and the media reported it traveled at about 200 mph.
When the nugget was at its highest point into space, the distance was enough to fit around 880,000 chicken nuggets. The nugget made it to Near Space easily and stayed in that area for a while. Scientists refer to Near Space when talking about the space between Earth's atmosphere and Outer Space. It starts at twelve miles above sea level and ends at around 62 miles.
The Chicken Nugget Floated in Space for About an Hour
The chicken nugget after one hour in space
Once the chicken nugget was in Near Space, it stayed there for about an hour and then started descending back to earth. Its fall had to be slowed down by a parachute, and the landing was also a success. Because the nugget was frozen when it was launched, it showed itself to be indifferent to the very low temperatures of space.


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Older adults are the main consumers of drugs but are rarely included in pivotal RCTs. Hence, pharmacoepidemiology is central to understanding drug safety in elderly patients. The mission of the Geriatric pharmacoepidemiology Special Interest Group is therefore to provide a collaborative forum to discuss, develop, and improve the methods, applications, and dissemination of geriatric pharmacoepidemiology.
- To create a forum for discussing the challenges and endeavours of geriatric pharmacoepidemiology
- To discuss, develop and propose high-quality standards for geriatric pharmacoepidemiology research
- To develop, test, and validate best methods for drug safety research in geriatric populations
- To promote the geriatric perspective by outreach, collaboration and educational activities.


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Park von MuskauEdit profile
The Muskau Park (German: Muskauer Park, officially: Fürst-Pückler-Park Bad Muskau, Polish: Park Mużakowski), is the largest and one of the most famous English gardens of Germany and Poland.
Situated in the historic Upper Lusatia region, it covers 3.5 square kilometers (1.4 sq mi) of land in Poland and 2.1 km2 (0.81 sq mi) in Germany. The park extends on both sides of the Lusatian Neisse river, which constitutes the border between the countries. The 17.9 km2 (6.9 sq mi) buffer zone around the park encompassed the German town Bad Muskau (Upper Sorbian: Mužakow) in the West and Polish Łęknica (Wjeska, former Lugknitz) in the East. While Muskau Castle is situated west of the river, the heart of the park are the partially wooded raised areas on the east bank called The Park on Terraces. In 2003 a pedestrian bridge spanning the Neisse was rebuilt to connect both parts.
On July 2, 2004, UNESCO added the park to its World Heritage List, as an exemplary example of cross-border cultural collaboration between Poland and Germany. It was added to the list on two criteria: for breaking new ground in terms of development towards the ideal man-made landscape, and for its influence on the development of landscape architecture as a discipline.History
A fortress on the Neisse river at Muskau was first mentioned as early as in the 13th under the rule of Margrave Henry III of Meissen. The founder of the adjacent park was Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau (_PHONE_), the author of the influential Hints on Landscape Gardening and owner of the state country of Muskau since 1811. After prolonged studies in England, in 1815 during the time when the northeastern part of Upper Lusatia fell to Prussia, he laid out the Park. As time went by, he established an international school of landscape management in Bad Muskau and outlined the construction of an extensive landscape park which would envelop the town "in a way not done before on such a grand scale".
The works involved remodelling the Baroque "Old Castle" - actually a former castle gate - and the construction of a Gothic chapel, an English cottage, several bridges, and an orangery designed by Friedrich Ludwig Persius. Pückler reconstructed the medieval fortress as the "New Castle", the compositional centre of the park, with a network of paths radiating from it and a pleasure ground influenced by the ideas of Humphry Repton, whose son John Adey worked at Muskau from 1822 on. The extensions went on until 1845, when Pückler due to his enormous debts was constrained to sell the patrimony. The next year it was acquired by Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, who employed Eduard Petzold, Pückler's disciple and a well-known landscape gardener, to complete his design. Upon his death in 1881, he was followed by his daughter Princess Marie, who sold the estates to the Arnim noble family.
During the Battle of Berlin, both castles were levelled and all four bridges across the Neisse were razed. The Arnims were dispossessed by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany and since the implementation of the Oder-Neisse line in 1945, the park has been divided by the state border between Poland and Germany, with two thirds of it on the Polish side. Not before the 1960s the Communist authorities slowly accepted the legacy of the "Junker" Prince Pückler. The Old Castle was rebuilt by the East German administration in 1965-72, while the New Castle and the bridges are still being restored.
After the Revolutions of 1989 the German and Polish administration joined forces on the redevelopment of the park ensemble. Since Poland entered into the Schengen Area in 2007, visitors may freely explore both parts of the park without cross-border controls.


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The Mechanism Behind Cytokine Storm and Mitochondrial Dysfunction
The current urge to treat proinflammatory conditions such as the Covid-19 induced cytokine storm has positioned mitochondrial function in the central stage of scientific research. Indeed, impaired immune responses, elevated oxidative stress, and increased proinflammatory cytokines create a vicious cycle in which mitochondrial dysfunction prevails. Furthermore, this continuous state of inflammation leads to oxidative/inflammatory diseases like neurodegenerative disorders, cardiometabolic conditions, inflammatory bowel syndrome, and complications derived from Covid-19 pathology. Preserving mitochondrial function is possible by reducing oxidative stress, improving metabolic processes, and reducing the inflammatory response. Furthermore, the scientific literature supports the efficacy of melatonin, alone or in combination with micronutrients, to support mitochondrial function, reduce oxidative stress and prevent cytokine storms.
What is a Cytokine storm?
Cytokine storm is a medical term currently associated with the Covid-19 pathophysiology but is also present in conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and other viruses. This term describes a severe and damaging immune reaction accompanied by unlimited and uncontrolled production of proinflammatory cytokines.
The mechanism that starts the cytokines storm is when many white blood cells, such as neutrophils, macrophages, and mast cells, release proinflammatory cytokines. This first mechanism, when modulated, coordinates an effective immune response and triggers a regulating inflammatory process that detects and resolves the infection. However, in a cytokine storm, the autoinduction of IL-1, which is capable of expressing its own gene and upregulating the production of IL-6 and TNF-a.
Furthermore, IL-6 creates a proinflammatory milieu by stimulating the differentiation of B-lymphocytes and T- cells as immunoglobulin-producing cells. In addition, TNF-a is responsible for the exaggerated secretion of proinflammatory cytokines by T-cells and is a potent precursor of the NFkB pathway. Consequently, the activation of the NFkB cascade activates the secretion of IL-1β and TNF-a, creating a pro-oxidant state.
Cytokine storm and mitochondrial dysfunction
Mitochondria have multiple essential functions in the body:
ATP synthesis, calcium homeostasis, apoptosis, and reactive oxygen species production. Also, ATP synthesis depends on an intricate metabolic chain mediated by enzymes, which function is upregulated by cofactors (vitamins and minerals). Furthermore, an altered mitochondrial structure will affect its capacity to produce energy, leading to increased production of ROS and contributing to the development of inflammation.
Inflammatory mechanisms altering mitochondrial function:
- Elevated circulatory proinflammatory cytokines are the cornerstone of mitochondrial dysfunction and vice versa, creating a vicious cycle of inflammation and elevated ROS production. Furthermore, an upregulated production of ROS leads to mitochondrial proteins, lipids, and membrane damage, meaning that mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is directly affected by ROS. In addition, the excessive synthesis of iNOS during mitochondrial inflammation upregulates NO production and leads to reactive nitrogen species (RNS) production. Consequently, these mechanisms affect ATP production by interfering with the electron transport chain (ETC).
- The upregulation of inflammatory processes due to elevated TNF-a and IL-1 concentration affects the enzymatic action of essential metabolic molecules, such as pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) and complex I and II. This inhibition has been reported in several cell types like cardiomyocytes, myocytes, and hepatocytes.
- In addition, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) downregulates complex I, III, and IV of the ETC in hepatocytes, altering mitochondrial energy production.
- Research reports that elevated concentration of TNF-a downregulates mitochondrial biogenesis by reducing the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator 1α (PGC-1α).
- Increased production of ROS leads to the activation of the NOD-, LRRand pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome, which acts as a sensor of mitochondrial dysfunction and is an activator of innate immune pathways. Furthermore, NLRP3 initiates Il-1B activation, resulting in reduced mitochondrial membrane potential, elevated ROS production, and a lower ATP synthesis.
An elevated inflammatory response, uncontrolled immune mechanisms, and mitochondrial dysfunction create a vicious cycle that promotes a cytokine storm. The mechanisms described in this article are pathways that can be downregulated using anti-inflammatory bioactive compounds such as melatonin. Furthermore, anti-oxidant vitamins and minerals act as metabolic enzymes and transport proteins cofactors to ensure adequate energy production and reduce ROS concentration. – Ana Paola Rodríguez Arciniega, MS.
Martín Giménez, Virna Margarita et al. "Potential Effects of Melatonin and Micronutrients on Mitochondrial Dysfunction during a Cytokine Storm Typical of Oxidative/Inflammatory Diseases." Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) vol. 9,2 30. 14 Apr. 2021, doi:10.3390/diseases9020030
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The information herein on " The Mechanism Behind Cytokine Storm and Mitochondrial Dysfunction " is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional, licensed physician, and is not medical advice. We encourage you to make your own health care decisions based on your research and partnership with a qualified health care professional. Our information scope is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, sensitive health issues, functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We provide and present clinical collaboration with specialists from a wide array of disciplines. Each specialist is governed by their professional scope of practice and their jurisdiction of licensure. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for the injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our videos, posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate to and support, directly or indirectly, our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We provide copies of supporting research studies available to regulatory boards and the public upon request.
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The research catalogue is an archive of ESRC-funded grants and outputs. Links, files and other content will no longer be maintained or updated after April 2014.
Citizenship After the Nation State (CANS)
Citizenship After the Nation State (CANS) examines the multilevel nature of citizenship:
- the ways that individuals define communities of solidarity at different territorial scales (local, regional, state and continental)
- the perceived importance of government decisions or citizen participation at different levels of government
- the conditions under which regional or supra-state communities become important scales of citizenship for individuals that might rival that of the state as the 'natural' site of citizenship.
The research engages with debates in the UK and elsewhere about the impact of devolution on policy variation and political participation.
CANS will test the impact of variables such as regional identities, government structures and economic strength on multi-level citizenship, that is whether stronger regional identity, or more powerful regional institutions, or stronger economic performance in a region make citizens more likely to identify with a regional community of solidarity or to participate in regional politics.
The network extends an existing partnership across five states (Austria, France, Germany, Spain, UK), bringing in new partners from Belgium, Canada, Hungary, Netherlands, Sweden and the US to share expertise with view to developing funding applications for major crossnational surveys of multilevel citizenship, creating an unprecedented data resource for students and researchers.


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Target: To know the scientific methods used in investigations
To know the scientific steps
Task # 1
* go to _URL_
* now go to the topic science
* click on scientific inquiry
* click on scientific methods
* watch video
* Listen to the Karaoke song (sing it if you feel like it) Have fun with it!
* Finally take the Quiz and print off your score. If you can't print it write your score down and have a parent sign it.
I hope you had fun.


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The DIY NanoApp has just been awarded a Silver Honor award for mobile apps.
The Fall 2012 Parents' Choice review states,
"DIY Nano is a lovely way to provide hands on, accessible science learning to your child."
"It offers engaging videos that set the stage for learning, and spells out simple experiments in a recipe card format. Each experiment comes with a summary, set of instructions, and explanation. It's a great summer time or after school guide for things parents and teachers can do for learning about the difficult field of nanoscience. "
- complete Parents' Choice Review
The DIY Nano app allows families to experience and learn about nanoscale science, engineering, and technology at home or on the go! The app provides free, easy to use, hands-on activities at your fingertips. Each activity includes material lists, step-by-step instructions, and detailed explanations. The activity materials are widely available and inexpensive, and you probably have many of them in your own home. Our app includes links to family friendly videos and helps you browse the whatisnano.org public website for more information, activities, and videos.
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation) and iPad.Requires iOS 5.0 or later.
Activities available as PDFs:
The DIY activities are also available in PDF form. Just visit whatisnano.org and click on the DIY tab.


Tools and resources
ISMP Medication Safety Tools include workbooks, learning guides, manuals and other materials that cover a variety of medication safety topics. Pharmacists and safety personnel can use these free materials to pinpoint specific system weaknesses in the medication-use processes and to provide a starting point for successful organizational improvements.


the non-freezing rain storm could not have caused any ice due to the high temperatures.
Because summary judgment on a snow or ice case requires both climatological data and expert opinion, the defendant's motion for summary judgment failed. Therefore, the lower court erred in granting the motion. The lower court's order is reversed, and the complaint is reinstated.
If you or a loved one was injured in a slip-and-fall after a storm, please contact the New York slip-and-fall expert attorneys at Gallivan & Gallivan to discuss your case today.
Rodriguez v Woods, 2014 NYSlipOp 06887
January 13, 2015
Diving Board Liability and the Assumption of Risk
This post discusses a personal injury concept that, while at times confusing, often plays an integral role in determining liability: assumption of risk. Assumption of risk is a defense in a personal injury action in which a defendant claims that the plaintiff voluntarily undertook an activity with the knowledge that there is an inherent danger of suffering an injury while partaking in such an activity. As such, the defendant should not be held responsible if that injury does in fact occur.
To many, the concept of assumption of risk gained notoriety due in part to a famous decision written by Judge Benjamin Cardozo, at the time chief justice of the New York State Court of Appeals. The case was Murphy v. Steeplechase, 250 NY 479, but is often colloquially referred to as "the Flopper case." In 1929, Coney Island featured a ride known as the Flopper. We can only go by Judge Cardozo's descriptions in the decision, but the Flopper appears to have been a kind of long walkway/maze wherein the floor and walls and "flopped" about, causing riders to lose their balance in what presumably was a humorous and thrilling manner. Plaintiff, a "vigorous young man," fractured his knee cap on the ride, presumably from flopping about and eventually falling to the ground. He lost his lawsuit against the ride owners, with Judge Cardozo noting that, "One who takes part in such a sport accepts the dangers that inhere in it so far as they are obvious and necessary, just as a fencer accepts the risk of a thrust by his antagonist or a spectator at a ball game the chance of contact with the ball."
baseball crowd.jpgThe reference to sports is an appropriate one - the doctrine of assumption of risk has evolved greatly since this decision, particularly in the area of amusement park liability. Where the doctrine still has its greatest bite is in the area of sports liability. It is this very doctrine that has stifled the efforts of those who have been hit and injured by wayward balls at baseball games to be compensated for their injuries. Amusement parks are now far less likely to be protected by the doctrine of assumption of risk, the modern thinking being that people enjoy rides specifically because they do not believe there is any chance of being injured.
That said, assumption of risk doesn't only exist in the context of sporting events. In the recent Suffolk County personal injury case Freeman v. Village of Hempstead, 2014 NY Slip Op 06298, the plaintiff was injured when he fell off a diving board at a public pool. The defendant argued that the plaintiff assumed the risk of falling off when he got on the diving board. On its face, this argument seems reasonable. It did not win the day, however, and here we see a slight twist on the assumption of risk doctrine. The plaintiff alleged that the treads on the diving board, which are standard and meant to create some traction to reduce the risk of slipping and falling, were worn away and thus defective, and that the plaintiff did not assume this risk - only the risk of slipping and falling from a properly maintained diving board. This argument was successful, with the court finding that the defendant did not overcome its burden of showing that the lack of properly maintained treads on the board did not increase the risk of falling beyond what was assumed by the plaintiff.
The takeaway here is that a potential plaintiff should not assume that they assumed a risk by virtue of the activity they were partaking in when that injury occurred. Speak with a personal injury lawyer - they should be able to help inform you as to whether such an injury deserves compensation.
December 4, 2014
New York Personal Injury: Who Owes a Duty?
As we've discussed before on this blog, personal injury liability is determined in a manner that (in theory at least) resembles a checklist. Did the defendant owe a duty to the plaintiff? Check. Did the defendant breach that duty? Check. Did the breach of that duty cause harm to the plaintiff? Check. Duty, breach, causation, and harm: the four checkpoints of tort liability.
The above makes this all sound easy when in fact, in actual lawsuits, it is anything but. In this post, we will examine a legal concept relating specifically to the duty element. How do we know when a duty is owed to another? As we'll see, this also implicates the concept of causation - how far do courts extend "blame" for the actions undertaken by a defendant in a personal injury suit?
snowy lot.jpgThe case of Espinal v. Melville Contractors, an important 2002 action decided by the New York State Court of Appeals, helps to explain the concept of duty. The facts are fairly simple: the plaintiff, Ms. Espinal, slipped and fell in the parking lot of her employer, Miltope Corporation. Ms. Espinal sued Melville Snow Contractors, the company hired to plow the lot. The issue before the Court was whether Melville owed a duty to Ms. Espinal, which would be necessary for a finding of liability. Or did Melville's duty only extend to its client, Miltope Corporation, with whom it had signed a contract?
Generalizing a bit, the principle we're discussing here is useful when, for one reason or another, a plaintiff wishes to bring suit against a so-called "third party" - not the owner of the premises or property that caused your injury, but someone in contract with that person. For example: you get severe food poisoning from popcorn served to you by a movie theater. You soon learn that the theatre itself is bankrupt, so suing them may be an exercise in futility. But the popcorn maker, a different company than the theatre, is not. May you sue the popcorn maker?
The Espinal court identifies three situations where a plaintiff can seek damages from a third party, all having to do with the extent of the contractual undertaking by said third party. The greater the contractual duty assumed by the third party, the easier it will be to prove that the third party is liable to the plaintiff.
Espinal is an example of the law working as we would expect it to. As the Court makes clear, when a plaintiff has relied on the continued proper performance by the third party, that plaintiff should be able to sue the third party if that proper performance ceases or becomes deficient. Similarly, if the third party has essentially replaced the owner or "first party defendant," they will also be assuming certain liabilities. To bring us back to the movie theatre analogy, if a company rented out and operated every aspect of the theater without owning it, they would be liable for the selling of bad, sick-making popcorn.
As for Ms. Espinal, she unfortunately was unsuccessful. The court looked to the contract between the owners of the property where Ms. Espinal fell, and the snow removal company, which has agreed to remove snow and/or lay salt only when very specific conditions were met. Notably, the contract did not simply say, "We will keep your property snow-free, 24/7." If it did, there's a good chance Ms. Espinal would have prevailed.
If you feel that an individual or property owner has breached a duty causing an injury to you, or you think you may need to speak with a personal injury lawyer about an Espinal-like situation you have suffered, please contact our offices. We are happy to assist.
December 4, 2014
Liability for Sidewalk Accidents: Continued
In a previous post, we went over the laws governing which party is liable when a plaintiff trips and falls on a defective sidewalk in the City of New York. Brief review: NYC's Sidewalk Law places liability on "abutting" property owners - those who own the land next to that portion of the sidewalk - with exceptions for one, two, or three family homeowners where the homeowner also resides in the building. (In fact, the excepted homeowners can simply call the City up to perform sidewalk or tree repairs on their property). Here, we will examine ways in which the law treats differently certain features of sidewalks: trees and "tree wells," grates, and covers of certain other objects like cable boxes.
city tree.jpgIt makes sense that liability for negligently maintained tree wells (the little area housing one of New York City's ubiquitous sidewalk trees) is treated differently than liability for the sidewalk as a whole. A business owner, after all, relies on the presence of that sidewalk to give his customers a way to enter his place of business - he benefits directly from the presence of the sidewalk and as such, has an interest in making sure his section of it is well maintained and safe, even if he doesn't "own" that section. But a tree (for one example) is a bit different: the City likely planted that tree, or it was there before an owner bought the building, and that tree is doing little, if anything at all, to benefit the building owner.
As a brief but interesting aside: any building owner in fact can call up the


text:
Discover your intellectual strengths
It is said that to have a mastery of words is to have in one's possession the ability to produce order out of chaos and that command of vocabulary is a true measure of intelligence. Verbal intelligence measures your capacity to use language in order to express yourself, comprehend stories and understand other people. Verbal abilities include reading, writing and communicating with words. The verbal component of this test examines your vocabulary and your capacity to learn verbal material. It also measures your ability to employ verbal skills in reasoning and problem solving.
Your verbal score was 47 and you scored in the 28th percentile.
Your Grade ** Average **
You have good verbal skills and a sound understanding of the intricacies of communication. A good vocabulary will determine the quality of your communication, both in written and oral and will help you appreciate subtle differences between words. Remember there is no ceiling to your knowledge and you can improve your verbal ability infinitely.
Here is a question which contributed to your verbal score
Which one of the sets of letters below can be arranged into a five letter English word?
People with strong verbal intelligence skills have a way with words, so to speak. According to Howard Gardner (author of the theory of multiple intelligences) people who excel in verbal intelligence end up being poets, writers, journalists, and lawyers while in high school they tend to participate in drama and debate clubs.


F
Ready for the clues? Here they are, in the order they appear in the phishing email
1. The email address associated with the Department of the Treasury is not from a Department of the Treasury internet domain.
2. Tax refunds are not issued under section 501(c)(3). Section 501(c)(3) is the definition of organizations that are tax-exempt on account of being organized and operated for religious, charitable, scientific, and other specific purposes.
3. If a tax refund has been determined, there ought be no need to request it.
4. The acronym IWP makes no sense in the context of the message, and even if one could come up with words that would fit those letters, it is highly unlikely that a message with respect to a tax refund would use the term as an infinitive form of a verb.
5. It is patently absurd to think that a government message sent by email would be written using text messaging shortcuts, as is the case with "If u don't receive."
6. There is no "IRS mailing date shown."
7. The email is purportedly sent by the Department of the Treasury, and thus one would expect a reference to "the original Department of the Treasury mailing date"?
8. The grammar in "If you distribute funds to other organization" suggests that the message writer does not use English as a primary language, and is the sort of error that would not persist in a form letter of the sort that goes through multiple levels of review.
9. Even more incorrect grammar shows up in "If you distribute funds to other organization" because either organization should be in the plural or the word other should be another.
10. The misspelling of "wether" corroborates the thought that this email originates with someone who does not use English as a primary language, and is yet another type of error that would have been caught, as described in #8, above.
11. There is no section 497, so there surely is no section 497(c)(15) and there are no such things as section 497(c)(15) purposes.
12. Yet another misuse of the English language shows up in the phrase "If you distribute fund to individuals."
13. The meaning of the phrase "the maner of section" can be guessed only by making the assumption that the word "selection" was intended but ended up as "section."
14. The word "maner" must come from the same dictionary as does the word "wether" and corroborates the point made in #10, above.
15. If "maner" and "wether" aren't enough to raise suspicions, perhaps "realtionship" does.
16. The URL that shows up under "click here" surely is not a Department of the Treasury or IRS web site.
17. If the notification was sent by the Internal Revenue Service, why is it packaged as a message from the Department of the Treasury?
18. The IRS does not appoint people to be the Director of a Letter.
19. The placement of a period after the word Exempt is yet another grammatical error demonstrating that the email is a deception.
20. Anyone who reads the paper knows that the IRS does not use email to initiate contact with a taxpayer concerning refunds.
Sadly, somewhere someone has clicked on the link in hopes of getting a few dollars, and ended up providing a criminal with sufficient information to permit the criminal to steal the person's identity or to use some other nefarious technique to acquire funds to which the criminal is not entitled. Is it not time to being teaching high school students how to identify phishing emails? Surely that is as important a life skill as are most of the others that are taught in our school systems? Hoping that someone's common sense would be sufficient is asking too much.
So how many clues did you identify?
Monday, March 23, 2009
Tax Concept Spawns Tax Details
Perhaps one of the most frustrating aspects of tax practice is that most clients can understand tax concepts but get lost when they encounter the details. One of the most frustrating aspects of being a tax student is learning how to shift from a concept to the specific provisions implementing that concept. A concept, standing alone, isn't worth much. Without a roadmap for applying it to a specific situation, it remains an abstract idea without force. In all fairness, were it not for the demands of dealing with details, tax practitioners would have fewer clients needing their services, and tax students would have even dimmer prospects of finding a market willing to compensate them for their learning.
An excellent example of concept-turned-statute is H.R. 1586, which passed the House of Representatives on Thursday. This is the legislation that imposes income tax on bonuses at a 90% rate. That's the concept. "Tax those AIG bonuses" was a cry heard throughout the land, even though, as I pointed out in Taxing Bonuses, the tax would do nothing to undo the economic mess created in part by the bonus recipients. The tax passed by the House isn't the 100% tax that was being touted, but a tax scaled back to 90%, presumably to avoid constitutional challenges.
Setting aside the wisdom and efficacy of the tax, what needs to be done to implement the concept of imposing a tax on the bonuses? Let's look at H.R. 1586.
One must begin by identifying those to be taxed. Section 1(a) of the bill applies the tax to any "employee or former employee of a covered TARP recipient." This requires a definition of that phrase. Section 1(c)(1) of the bill defines a "covered TARP recipient" as anyone that fits within one of four possible descriptions. The first is any person who, after December 31, 2007, received "capital infusions under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 which, in the aggregate, exceed $5,000,000,000." The second is the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. The third is any person "who is a member of the same affiliated group" as a person in either of the first two descriptions. The fourth is any partnership "if more than 50 per cent of the capital or profits interests of such partnership are owned directly or indirectly by one or more persons in any of the first three descriptions. In the usual game of defining terms in a definition, the provision defines "affiliated group" as it is "defined in section 1504 …, determined without regard to paragraphs (2) and (3) of subsection (b)." For terms such as employee, former employee, partnership, capital interest, profits interest, and others that are used elsewhere in the Internal Revenue Code, section 1(d) of the bill provides that they are to be given the same meaning they have when used elsewhere in the Code. I haven't checked, but there are more than a few terms in the Internal Revenue Code that have different meanings for different purposes, so there may be more analysis that must be done before one can determine if the tax would apply.
As written, section 1(a) would apply even if the TARP recipient repaid to the government an amount of money equal to the amount used for the bonus. Considering the purpose of the provision, that would not make sense. Accordingly, section 1(c)(2) of the bill provides for an exception with respect to repayments. It tells us that a person "shall be treated as described in paragraph (1)(A)," that is, subject to the tax, "only if the excess of the aggregate amount of capital infusions described in paragraph (1)(A) with respect to such person over the amounts repaid by such person to the Federal Government with respect to such capital infusions, exceeds $5,000,000,000." In other words, the test isn't whether the capital infusions exceed $5 billion, but whether the NET capital infusions exceed $5 billion. As a practical matter, this means that the bonus recipient does not know whether or not the bonus is taxable at 90 percent until and unless the employer makes a determination that the employee cannot make, namely, the amount of the net capital infusions, and shares that information with the employee. That, of course, is true for determining the tax status of all sorts of benefits provided by employers to employees.
Having identified those who are to be taxed, the next step is to provide for the taxation of the bonus. But before the bonus can be taxed, it needs to be defined. That seems to be a simple proposition, but hang on, it's not. Section 1(b) of the bill begins with a general rule. It defines a TARP bonus for any taxable year, which is what section 1(a) taxes, as the lesser of two amounts. The first amount is the "aggregate disqualified bonus payments received from covered TARP recipients during such taxable year." The second amount is the excess of the taxpayer's adjusted gross income over $250,000, or $125,000 for a married individual filing a separate return. This has the effect of sparing taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes of $250,000 (or $125,000) from being taxed on the bonus at a 90 percent rate. It also has the effect of limiting the portion of the bonus taxed at 90 percent for taxpayers whose adjusted gross income exceeds $250,000 (or $125,000) by a relatively small amount. This makes little sense, and it presupposes that adjusted gross income is a good measure of the taxpayer's relative economic position. That presupposition is questionable because the people receiving these bonuses include people who manipulated financial instruments in ways that suggest they very well may have manipulated their adjusted gross incomes.
The definition of a TARP bonus depends


Impressive Editing Shortcut with Photolemur
The craze of editing is growing with time as everyone wants to make their picture look impressive. Many photo editing software is available in the market, but very few of them are convenient for use. Photolemur is one of such editing software that is not only convenient for the beginners and advanced users to edit the pictures, but also it is very easy to understand.
With the help of the effects, the whole scenario of a photograph can be changed. To make it more convenient for the uses and attract them towards the social media platforms, even the social media platforms are available with different effects that a user can use while uploading the picture. Using social media effects on your picture can be easy but if you want to make your pictures effective you can make use of advanced effects present in photo editing software.
There are a number of effects present in the different software, but when you are dealing with photo limit, you can adjust the brightness, contrast, sharpness even after applying the effect on photographs.
Aerial perspective
Talking about the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci, they have been one of those paintings which catch our attention because of their tonal perspective. Aerial perspective is all about the colors of objects in images which have to be warm and brighter when they are in close frame and should be cooler and dull when at a distance. There is a tone variation related to distance variation. A person can notice gradual changes in the tone of a painting so aerial perspective can also be called tonal perspective.
Setting contrast
Setting up the contrast of a picture is also important because it put a great impact on the eyes of the viewers. If a person is done with applying effects on a picture uh then also with the help of photolemur application the contrast of a photograph can be adjusted accordingly.


text:
- the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia
Acker came from German or Old English, meaning "field", and is also related to the word "acre". Therefore, Ackermann means "fieldman". Ackerman is also a common Ashkenazi Jewish surname.
Manual translation of Wikipedia sources into WeRelate sources


text:
The Red Hills, also known as the Gyp or Gypsum Hills, are located mostly in Clark, Comanche, and Barber counties in southern and central Kansas. These hills gather their name from the red tint they have. The red color comes from oxidated iron within the soil. The area is also known for its large gypsum deposits. Rainfall amounts are low in this region, so there are few trees and the air is dry.
The flat top hills in the area are more reminiscent of the mesas and buttes in Arizona and New Mexico. The elevation here disputes Kansas' reputation as "flat." Mount Nebo is 2,441 feet (744 meters), Mount Jesus is 2,340 feet (710 meters), and Mount Lookout is 2,320 feet (710 meters).
Entry: Red Hills
Author: Kristina Gaylord
Date Created: July 2011
Date Modified: May 2012
The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.


System Settings
Now that we're starting to use CommandBox in a lot of cloud scenarios like Docker, we're looking for more and more ways to have dynamic configuration. The most common way to do this is via Java system properties and environment variables. We've wrapped up those two into a new concept called System Settings. Now any time you use ${mySetting} in a command parameter, a box.json property, server.json property, or a Config Setting, that place holder will be replaced with a matching JVM property or env var (in that order) at runtime. This is great for setting things like ports, default directories, or passwords and other secrets as an env variable so it can be different per server and not part of your code.
Using system settings from the CLI
You can test it out easily by outputting your system path like so:
echo ${PATH}
Default values
If a system setting can't be found in a Java property or an environment variable, an empty string will be returned. You can provide a default value like so.
server start port=${SERVER_PORT:8080}
This does assume that your default value will never contain a colon!
Lookup Order
System settings are looked up in the following order. If the same variable exists in more than one place, the first one found will be used:
 1. Environment variables for the currently executing command
 2. Environment variables for the parent (calling) command (if applicable)
 3. Global shell environment variables
 4. JVM System Properties in the CLI process
 5. Environment Variables from your actual operating system
For example, if you run the following it will output the contents of your OS's PATH environment variable.
echo ${path}
However, if you set a shell environment variable from inside CommandBox called path and then output it, you will see the contents of your variable since it overrides.
set path=donuts
echo ${path}
Using system settings in JSON files
When box.json or server.json files are read, they automatically have all system setting setting placeholders swapped out. For instance, you can specify the port for your server in your server.json like so:
server set web.http.port=\${WEB_PORT:8080}
Note, we escaped the system setting by putting a backslash (\) in front of it. That's because we wanted to insert the actual text into the file and not the value of it! The resultant server.json is this. Note the system setting needs to be encased in quotes so it's just a string for the JSON.
Now, if your server has an environment variable called WEB_PORT, it will be used as the port for your server.
System settings can also be used in object key names as well in your JSON files. Here is an example of a.cfconfig.json file with a dynamic datasource name.
Note if there are duplicate key names after the system settings are expanded, the last one expanded will win.
In the REPL
You can use system settings and environment variables in the REPL using the same syntax as the CLI
CommandBox> set foo=bar
CommandBox> REPL
CFSCRIPT-REPL: echo( '${foo}' )
Manual system setting replacements
If you're writing a custom command or task runner that reads a JSON file of your own making, you can do easy system setting replacements on the file.
In a complex data structure
component {
property name='systemSettings' inject='SystemSettings';
function run() {
var mySettings = deserializeJSON( fileRead('mySpecialConfigFile.json' ) );
systemSettings.expandDeepSystemSettings( mySettings );
In a string
The expandDeepSystemSettings() method will recursively crawl the struct and find any strings with system setting placeholders inside them. Be careful not to write back out the same struct after you've done replacements on it. Otherwise, you'll overwrite the placeholders with the current values!
You can also manually replace system setting placeholders in a single string like so:
var myValue = 'User home is in ${user.home}';
myValue = systemSettings.expandSystemSettings( myValue );
Programmatic access
The SystemSettings service also gives you programmatic access to individual system settings in your custom commands and task runners.
var mySetting = systemSettings.getSystemSetting('settingName' );
var mySetting = systemSettings.getSystemSetting('settingName', 'defaultValue' );