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Consider a square planar grid. (The vertices are pair of points in the plane with integer coordinates and two vertices are adjacent if they agree in one coordinate and differ by one in the other.)
Give every edge a length one with probability a half and length two with probability a half.
Consider a shortest path between the origin and the vertex $(n,0)$.
Show that with probability that tends to one as $n$ tends to infinity the shortest path will not contain the "middle edge" on the x-axis inbetween the orgin and $(n,0)$. (Namely, the edge between the vertices $(\lfloor\frac{n}{2}\rfloor,0)$ and $(\lfloor\frac{n}{2}\rfloor+1,0)$.)
This question is in the category of "a missing lemma". It is not really a full fledged open problem but rather a statement which looks correct that was needed in some paper and resisted proof. Of course, some such "lemmas" turn out to be very difficult, but sometimes maybe a simple argument was simply missed. The relevant paper is with Itai Benjamini and Oded Schramm: First Passage Percolation Has Sublinear Distance Variance
While MO have chosen to accept one answer, and there were some nice suggestions, the problem is still wide open.
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Thanks Alon, I myself cannot see the latex (it leaves the formulas uncompiled) so I prefer the plain text. – Gil Kalai Dec 23 '09 at 10:34
Nitpicking: is it "a shortest path" or "the shortest path"? Do you want to show there is a shortest path avoiding the given edge, or that all shortest paths avoid the given edge. – Boris Bukh Dec 23 '09 at 11:26
That's really a shame, Gil. Have you tried installing jsMath along with the fonts? It's not supposed to be necessary but perhaps it'll help. – Alon Amit Dec 23 '09 at 18:00
Boris, I suppose I just want to show that there is a shortest path avoiding this middle edge. Alon, jsMath? where – Gil Kalai Dec 23 '09 at 18:50
Boris: That's not nitpicky, it's actually an important point. If the distribution of passage times is continuous, then with probability one, there is a unique minimizing path between any two points. Here, since the distribution has atoms, with positive probability, there are multiple shortest paths. – Tom LaGatta Dec 26 '09 at 2:02
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7 Answers
Gil: This is a type of problem that I know little about so here I am thinking out loud about problems that seem natural to ask about this situation. It is hard to believe that people have not already thought about these questions and perhaps answered them. Where would I look to find out more?
You write you are interested in a "square planar grid." So I took this to mean that you were thinking about the points of a "square grid graph" with lx1 squares as the cells that goes from (0,0) to (n,n) and where weights were going to be assigned to the edges of size 1 or 2.
The paths that you are talking about need not be constrained to move up and to the right but it might be interesting to contrast the behavior of general shortest paths with those that move up and to the right. It would also seem to be of interest to see what happens if one selects half of the edges at random and makes them all length 1 edges and makes all the others of length 2. Since there are 4n edges this means 2n are 1's and 2n are 2's. Furthermore, If we insist that paths move up and to the right, such paths all have length 2n, so "very shortest" paths would consist only on 1's.
In both settings:
a. What is the probability there is a shortest path to (n,n) consisting of all 1's?
b. What can be said about the expected value of the length of a shortest path to (n, n)? What can be said about the expected number of paths of this value?
c. When one insists that each of the two lengths appear equally often how many different ways can this happen? (One can also ask how many of these are different up to symmetry of the "colored" graph, treating the lengths as two colors.) One could count in the general case too but the up and to the right case seems more interesting here.
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To whomever gave this post a negative vote: Shame on you. This post does not answer the question Gil asked, but so what? It is exploratory and raises some interesting ideas; perhaps one of those could lead to a correct answer. Posts like this are exactly what MathOverflow needs. – Tom LaGatta Dec 26 '09 at 1:57
Joe, it is a very good idea to consider paths from (0,0) to (n,n) and to consider also the case where you only go north and east. This restricted model is called "directed percolation". As far as I know the lemma is not known for directed percolation. There is one version where the distribution of edge length is exponential and you want the path of MAXIMUM length where this model is understood very well and is strongly connected to maximum eigenvalues of random symmetric matrices, largest monotone subsequences etc. – Gil Kalai Dec 26 '09 at 19:27
It may be possible that for this version (directed percolation; exponential lengths, maximum path), the detailed understanding of the model may lead to a proof of the lemma; but I am not sure even about it. (There are hopes, but no proofs for universality: that various models will behave in some sense the same way.) Strangely, I dont know the answer for a) off-hand. Nice question. – Gil Kalai Dec 26 '09 at 19:34
_USER_. I think you are wrong --- if someone read it and find it not helpful then it is right thing to vote down. (BTW, it was not me) – Anton Petrunin Jan 27 '10 at 19:37
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Gil, as you said, this is one of those typical FPP problems which seems obvious but is hard to prove. What have you tried already? It'd be helpful to know of some naïve attempts which didn't work.
Here are my thoughts:
Claim: There exists non-random $\lambda$ such that, with probability one, for large n, all shortest paths between $0$ and $(n,0)$ meet $\lambda n + o(n)$ edges. (this is a LLN-type theorem so it shouldn't be hard to prove; e.g., via energy-entropy methods, since your passage time distributions are bounded)
Thus one can consider the probability space $\Omega_n$ consisting of all paths between $0$ and $(n,0)$ which meet $\lambda n + o(n)$ edges. A shortest path is a random variable $X_n$ on this space with a certain probability distribution.
Claim: There exists $\sigma$ such that $|\Omega_n| \approx \sigma^n$. (should be easy: $\log|\Omega_n|$ is probably subadditive)
Let $\Omega_n'$ be the subspace of paths which meet the middle edge, so that $|\Omega_n'| \approx \sigma^{n/2} + \sigma^{n/2}$.
Suppose that there exists $p > 0$ such that the shortest path between $0$ and $(n,0)$ meets the middle edge with probability at least $p$. (*)
Here is the part which I'm struggling to quantify. Intuitively, the distribution of $X_n$ should be smeared smoothly over $\Omega_n$. Certainly the mean is a horizontal line segment, but even paths which veer quite far away aren't unreasonable. However, if (*) holds, with probability at least $p$, $X_n$ concentrates on the much smaller subspace $\Omega_n'$. This seems wrong.
Perhaps all I've done is to translate one "obvious" statement into another. Hopefully this helps a bit. Good luck!
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Tom, Interseting suggestion. I dont remember so much what we tried. At the end we managed to go around this lemma. – Gil Kalai Dec 26 '09 at 19:38
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Gil, thanks for bumping this post. I think I've got a new idea for you, but it's not a proof yet. Let $\gamma_n$ be a minimizing geodesic between $(-n,0)$ and $(n,0)$, and let $\gamma^{\pm}_n$ be a minimizing geodesic betwen $(\pm n, 0)$ and the origin.
Denote by $d(\gamma_n)$ the maximal Euclidean distance from the geodesic $\gamma_n$ to the straight line path between $(-n,0)$ and $(n,0)$, and define $d(\gamma^\pm_n)$ similarly for $\gamma^\pm_n$. By the definition of the transversal fluctuation exponent $\xi$, $d(\gamma^\pm_n)$ scales like $n^\xi$ and $d(\gamma_n)$ scales like $(2n)


Micro-Psi and String Theory: How Occultists Beat Physicists to the Punch
from blog.world-mysteries.com: In few, if any, science textbooks or records of Nobel laureates will you find the name of a bona fide and publicly acknowledged occultist or clairvoyant. This, however, is not because such individuals never contributed anything to the history of science. On the contrary, it is due to a profound hubris and acute myopia within the institution of Science that talented metaphysical pioneers have not been credited with scientific discoveries and insights that were ahead of their time. In this material, excerpted from Chapter 6 of my upcoming book The Grand Illusion, we hone in on the startling work of two such metaphysicists in particular.
Read the full article here.
_TAG_: August 3, 2021


text:
Advanced Fishing Techniques
- 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
- Ages 8+
This course will cover species specific fishing instruction for Bass and Northern Pike through a discussion of seasonal movements and activities of the fish. Advanced techniques covered include: map reading, boat position, and lure angles. Class will include a discussion of different fishing tournaments and tournament situations. This class is designed for both the hobbyist fisher and the advanced level tournament angler.
- Registration is required prior to the class start date. If you have questions or would like to register, please visit _URL_ or contact _PHONE_.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


text:
Apollo 11 moon rocks to be transferred to Minnesota Historical SocietyApollo 11 moon rocks are scheduled to be transferred Wednesday from the Minnesota National Guard to the Minnesota Historical Society in front of an audience of children at Science and Technology Academies Reinforcing Basic Aviation and Space Exploration (STARBASE) Minnesota.
Apollo 11 moon rocks are scheduled to be transferred
Wednesday from the Minnesota National Guard to the Minnesota Historical
Society in front of an audience of children at Science and Technology
Academies Reinforcing Basic Aviation and Space Exploration (STARBASE)
"The Apollo 11 moon rocks were found amongst military artifacts in a storage
area at the Veterans Service Building in St. Paul," said Army Maj. Blane R.
Iffert, former state historian for the Minnesota National Guard.
"When I searched the internet to find additional information about the moon
rocks, I knew we had to find a better means to display this artifact," said
Iffert. "It is stated on some websites that approximately 180 are currently
unaccounted for of the 270 moon rocks from the Apollo 11 and Apollo 17
missions. We've just lowered that number by one."
"We are honored to have this in our collection to preserve for future
generations," said Pat Gaarder, Minnesota Historical Society Deputy Director.
"Space exploration is an important part of our shared history. It is also
exciting to think that our collection includes artifacts from across the
globe and now with these moon rocks, the galaxy."
"These students will one day be the scientists, engineers and astronauts to
first set foot on Mars," said Kim Van Wie, executive director of STARBASE
Minnesota. "We're excited they'll be able to see, first hand, evidence of
this historic Apollo mission to the moon and how that has paved the way for
future exploration that they could eventually be a part of."
"The purpose of STARBASE is to educate and inspire urban youth in science,
technology, engineering and math (STEM)," said Van Wie. "STARBASE
Minnesota's hands-on curriculum, unique aerospace resources, state of the art
technology and exciting environment that immerses students in STEM has
inspired 41,000 youth since 1993."

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


text:
Relationships: Lesson Plan for Ages 2-6
How to Teach Relationships to Preschoolers
When you were a kid, do you wish someone would have taught you how to protect and support your personal space? Yes? Well, here's a lesson to pass on to the children you know. Littles will learn about "Superhero Me" and will practice being the superhero of their space. Other concepts they will be introduced to are who their family members are, how to be respectful, and who the supporters and protectors are from their community.
This article includes an Inform section that is the instruction the teacher will provide the students. The Explore and Activity sections elaborate on the lesson but allow the students some hands-on learning.
This section of the lesson plan contains the basics of the lesson. There is a slideshow video that you can access at the link below which contains the rest of the slides and a video. The linked page also has additional content that goes along with the lesson.
A relationship is between you and people who protect and support you.
Family and Friends
Support means that you get help when needed. Protect means to keep something safe. You are at the center of the circle, and all the people around you are there to protect and support you. Family can protect and support you. Friends can protect and support you. Neighbors and people in your community can protect and support you.
YOU are in charge of the space around you!
Everything in your space is yours to support and protect. This means you are the superhero of your space. How can you protect your space? You tell people your feelings! You use your words to say how you feel. Superhero me will sometimes need help protecting and supporting their personal space. Family, friends, and your community can help protect and support you.
Family Protects and Supports You
Superhero Me Shares with Family
The people in your family can be your mom, dad, brother or sister. You can also have stepfamily. Other family members are uncles, aunts, grandma, grandpa, and cousins.
While you are growing up with your family, you will learn how to share your feelings. Feelings or emotions you might feel are happy, sad, surprised, angry, disgusted, or afraid.
Neighbors and Friends Protect and Support You
Neighbors are the people who live around you. Friends are people you meet who you like to be with. We should be respectful of our families, friends, and neighbors. Ways to be respectful are to say "please" when you want something and to say "thank you" if you get it. You can show respect by saying "excuse me" when you need attention. You can show respect by saying, "I'm sorry" if you hurt someone.
People in Your Community Support and Protect You
Teacher, Coach, Police Officer, and Doctor
Sometimes you will need other people to protect and support you. Your teacher will help you learn. A police officer will help you if you are in danger. A doctor will help you if you are sick. These people are helpers in your community. There are many more. If you are in need, look for a helper. They will protect or support you.
Look for people in your friends, neighbors, or community who will support and protect you.
This part of the lesson takes the students a little further into what they've been learning. In this case, they will be able to better identify family members.
Make a finger family video with little puppets.
Grampa Finger, where are you?
Hide the finger family members in plastic eggs to do an egg reveal. Kids get to name who is coming out of the egg. When the whole family is out, do the finger family song. Catch the whole thing on video and re-play it. Kids love watching themselves, and it also reinforces this part of the lesson.
The activity gets the kids creating and moving. Take a moment to imagine a room full of superhero preschoolers with capes and hula hoops!
Use a hula hoop to teach personal space, and make a superhero cape to teach kids how to be the "Superhero Me" of their space.
Make a superhero cape from felt. Cut some lightning bolts and stars out of different colors of felt and then use fabric glue to attach them to a larger piece of felt shaped like a cape. You can also get a foam mask kit to make the superhero mask, too. Move a hula hoop up and down while the child stands in the middle to show them where their personal space is. Let them know that "Superhero Me" protects this space, and if they aren't able to, they need to ask an adult for support.


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Assembly: System.Windows.Forms (in System.Windows.Forms.dll)
|Editing begins when the cell receives focus. This mode is useful when pressing the TAB key to enter values across a row, or when pressing the ENTER key to enter values down a column.|
|Editing begins when any alphanumeric key is pressed while the cell has focus.|
|Editing begins when any alphanumeric key or F2 is pressed while the cell has focus.|
|Editing begins when F2 is pressed while the cell has focus. This mode places the selection point at the end of the cell contents.|
|Editing begins only when the BeginEdit method is called.|
The following code example illustrates the use of this type. For more information, see How to: Specify the Edit Mode for the Windows Forms DataGridView Control.


got
first-class degrees– so summa degrees– in
Cambridge Mathematics were called wranglers, and still
are called wranglers, actually. And the reason they're
called wranglers was from way back
in the 17th century where, before they had
exams– or 18th century, I should say, before they had
exams– instead of writing down exam, you have to
argue, or dispute, or wrangle with your professor
to get to pass the class.
So that's where
wrangler comes from. So these people who got
the first-class degree are called wranglers,
and they're ranked. And basically, the
senior wrangler was a very famous person in
the UK in the 19th century. And a lot of them turned
out to be quite successful. So here are a few wranglers. I've just got this one– I can't
reach that, but [INAUDIBLE]. So some of you might
recognize– and I just want to tell you a quick
story about one of them.
OK, so let's start
1841, senior wrangler was George Stokes– so
basic fluid dynamics– the whole of fluid dynamics–
that's George Stokes. 1854, second
wrangler– this is– who was the first wrangler? The second wrangler was James
Maxwell, so electrodynamics, Maxwell equations. He was the second. And I can't quite work
out who was the first. 1880, the second wrangler was
J.J. Thompson, so electrons, atomic physics, that comes
out of– he was only second. 1865, senior wrangler
Lord Rayleigh. So he was the sky is blue. He was first.
So they're a pretty good bunch. So the story–
the best of 1845– I'm going back–
the second wrangler was Lord Kelvin, so absolute
zero, amongst other things, of course. But absolute zero– he
was second wrangler. And the great
story about him, he was the most talented
mathematician of his– of the decade. And he was such a lock
for senior wrangler that– and I actually
read the biography, so this is a sort
of true statement– that he sent his servant
to the Senate House where these things are being read out,
and with a request, "Tell me who is second wrangler." And the servant came
back, and said, you, sir. And because he was such a
lock to be first wrangler. And in fact, what
happened was a question on the mathematical
exam was a theorem that he had proved two years
before in the Cambridge Mathematical Journal. So his theorem was
set on the exam. Because he had not
memorized it, so he had to reprove it,
whereas the person who became senior wrangler
had memorized the proof, and was able to regenerate it.
In those days, there
was a lot of cramming to be done in these exams. So the guy who– Stephen
Parkinson was senior wrangler. He went on to be
FRS, and eminent. But he wasn't– so anyway,
so here's the applied math syllabus. Here's a couple of other
ones which I really like. In 1904, John Maynard
Keynes was at 12th wrangler. Now, I can tell the
story either way, depending on whether I'm in
an audience of economists, or an audience of
mathematicians. Since I'm in an audience
of mathematicians, I like to say the
greatest economist was so poor at mathematics, he only
managed to be 12th wrangler. There are 11 better
mathematicians in the UK in that year. So he was obviously
not that great. If I was talking to
economists, I would say, this guy is so brilliant that
his main field was economics, and yet as part time, he's
able to be the 12th best mathematician in the UK. So last one I wanted to talk
about– 1879– here's a quiz.
This one you have to
have some answers for. OK, so 1980 something– I can't
remember what it is– so here's one, here's two, here's three. I'm going to give
you one and two. You've got to fill in three. You probably aren't going to
be able to get this one yet, but this is– Andrew Alan,
senior wrangler, George Walker, second wrangler, and number
three is the question. That's the question– 1980,
Hakeem Olajuwon, Sam Bowie, question mark–
who's question mark? Do we know which sport
these people play? AUDIENCE: That one's
Michael Jordan. STEPHEN BLYTHE: Yes, right. There we go, that's
Michael Jordan– exactly. This question could go on
forever in the UK because they don't– so Michael
Jordan, famously, was only picked third in the
NBA draft in 1984, was that– four or five,
something like that. So Hakeem Olajuwon was
actually pretty good, but Sam Bowie was a total bust.
But he was third. So in 1879, in the Cambridge
Mathematics Tripos, these two people you never heard
of, who were first and second. And the person who came third,
you've probably heard of him. This is more of a
statistics thing. People know about correlation? What's the correlation–
who's the correlation coefficient named after? AUDIENCE: Pearson. STEPHEN BLYTHE: Pearson,
you've got Karl Pearson. So Karl Pearson was the
third wrangler in 1879. And the founder
of statistics– he founded the first ever
statistics department, and obviously
invented correlation with Gould– Gould and Pearson. Anyway, he was only
the third wrangler. And unfortunately, these
people have very common names, so I have no idea what
they went on to do.
To Google these people
is not very effective. Anyway, so that's the story
of Cambridge Mathematics– lots of good stuff. All right, so in
the last half hour, I just want to go the other
way from– so the other way– we went from option
prices to probability. Let's go from probability
to option price. We sort of already
have, actually. This is what the
Fundamental Theorem does. If we're thinking–
if we take on trust that the Fundamental
Theorem holds, namely option prices today are
the discounted expected payout at maturity. OK, let's take that on trust. Then we're going from
probability distribution to option price in
the following way. So let's actually state the
Fundamental Theorem, FTAP. OK, so I'm going to go
general derivative D is– D, digital D, derivative. It's– so derivative
with payout at T. So this could be
the digital payout. It could be call option payout. It could be one. And price– OK, so
often, we actually think about payout function
as just a simple function of the stock price.
But this notation is useful
when we think about the price as being martingales. Then what is FTAP? D– the ratio of the price
to the zero coupon bond is equal to– is a martingale. In other words,
its expected value under the special distribution,
risk-neutral distribution, of the payout at maturity. And to you point, it's
conditional on S_t. So this is the proper statement. So this is the Fundamental
Theorem of Asset Prices. In words, it's
saying this ratio is a martingale with
respect to the stock price under the
risk-neutral distribution. That's the statement of
the Fundamental Theorem. This is actually rather neat
to prove in the binomial tree, two-state world. It's very, very difficult
to prove in continuous time. This is Harrison
and Kreps in 1979. It's the proof that, however
many times you look at it, you're only probably going to
get through two or three pages before thinking,
OK, that's hard.
But it was done. So this is, you can
imagine continuous time, infinite amount of trading,
infinite states of the world. OK, so now this,
of course, is 1. And this can come up. These are known
at time little t. So if I'm thinking at– if
I'm at current time little t, therefore, the
derivative price is what we had before–
the expected payout. OK, so this is rather
a nice expression. And now we can actually just
write down what this is. This is the expected value of a
function of a random variable. So this is just
the integral of g of x, f of x, dx, where
this is the density of the random variable
at time capital T, conditional on being at S_t. So this is conditional at S_t.
So this is a restatement
of the Fundamental Theorem. So this is essentially
the Fundamental Theorem. And this is a
intuition made good, or intuition made
real– expected payouts


text:
We can definitely say one thing about the electronics industry – thanks to it, adhesive tapes are at our side all the time. For example, in our smartphone. According to a 2015 survey in Germany, 17 percent of surveyed users installed over 31 apps on their mobile phone. What they do not know was that the number of tesa adhesive tapes installed in their smartphone is around 45.
While users swipe across their touchscreen, oblivious to them, one level below, each individual special adhesive tape is doing its work layer by layer: adhesive tapes hold the layers of the screen together (unnoticed, since they are extremely transparent and optically clear); they block the light inside and direct it to where it should go, divert heat so that the processors do not burn out, and they cushion the impact if the device with its 31 apps and 45 adhesive tapes falls to the floor. In the process, adhesive tapes are so inconspicuous and thin that they can be used for any design. Incidentally, tapes also play a role in LED televisions, laptops and digital cameras and in navigation and communication systems for cars.


text:
By the Revd Alan M. Barker
To appreciate the importance of
shared memories and Armistice Day. Bible link: Matthew 5.3-10 (Jesus' famous
sayings called the Beatitudes help us to remember how happiness can be found
Preparation and materials
- You will need a'memory display', consisting of a British Legion poppy
and other items associated with memory, e.g. a photograph, a diary, an
appointments calendar, a fridge magnet, a Post-it note, a video, a knotted
handkerchief, an electronic organizer, a floppy disk, a newspaper clipping, a
war-time medal. All the items need to be arranged so that they are clearly
visible to all the children, but to begin with they are carefully covered with
- Tell the children that you are going to test their memory. Show the
objects in the memory display for just a short while. Ask one child to recall
as many as they can, while you compile a list of things remembered. Explain
that he or she will probably need the help of others to remember everything -
ask other children to help until the list is completed.
- Point out that the children had to help one another to remember, and
that the items displayed were all associated with memory. Talk about some of
the items, highlighting their significance. Some help us to remember and plan
for future events. Others assist us to remember past events and people. Who
keeps a diary or uses an electronic organizer
- What special times and experiences do the children recall? We can all
remember both happy and sad experiences. Remembering helps us to learn from the
past and to plan for the future. The sharing of memories is an important part
of family, school, and community life.
- Focus on the poppy and explain that it helps us to remember those who
lost their lives or were injured in wartime. The Poppy Day Appeal, organized by
the Royal British Legion, helps those ex-servicemen and women who continue to
suffer as a result of wartime injuries, and it also helps their families.
Explain that the poppy was chosen as an emblem after the First World
War (1914-18). Thousands of soldiers fought in France and many lives were lost
in trench warfare. (A photograph might help everyone to understand.) Each
summer poppies grew in the soil churned up by the fighting and their colour
spoke of the blood which had been shed. War memorials in almost every town and
village list the names of those killed, and so help us to remember how the war
brought sadness and disruption to so many homes. Refer to a local war memorial
and, if appropriate, the phrase 'Lest we forget'.
- Conclude by talking about the silence observed at 11 a.m. on Armistice
Day, 11 November, and in church services on Remembrance Sunday. It is a way of
remembering not only past events but also the suffering that war continues to
bring to the world today. Some will remember heroes, others will mourn friends
whose lives have been lost. It's important that in this way we help one another
to remember. The sharing of memories strengthens our community life. If
appropriate, build a time of silence for this purpose into the reflection
Invite the children to quietly remember a happy time and to be
thankful for it. Ask them to recall a difficult time and to remember friends
who helped. Ask them to remember others in need of help because of the
suffering caused by war.
We thank you for
the gift of memories that we can share together.
Help us not to forget the
feelings of others.
May we heal painful memories through kindness
create better, happier, memories for tomorrow.
'Make me a channel of your peace'
(Come and Praise, 147)
out, simply click the printer icon on the tool bar of your browser.


text:
A University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health study into the skin absorption rates of contaminants in public drinking water found that the skin absorbed an average of 64% of the total contaminant dosage. Another study found the face to be 2-6x more permeable than broad body surfaces, and underarms and genitalia to be even more permeable.
They recommended a 100% absorption estimate for the later areas (Kasting, 2005). Studies also show the absorption varies depending on the compound. For instance, caffeine is absorbed through the skin at 48% while DDT is absorbed at 10%. For Fragrance ingredients, a commonly used approach is to assume 100% absorption (Robinson et al, 2000).
Regardless of the actual percentages, it is quite clear that a lot of what we apply on our skin ends up in our bodies. So it makes good sense for us to pay attention to the ingredients that are in our skin care products. Choosing natural and organic ingredients immediately cuts out a lot of preservatives, fragrances and color compounds that are suspect to be harmful to us. While not all naturally derived ingredients are good for us, you can be assured that with a certified natural or organic product, extra effort has been taken in the interest of health and cost-saving short cuts avoided.


text: Thriving on musical extremes, Hendrix mastered balls-out incendiary electric blues soloing, but tempered it with a gentler approach to his ballads, one that acknowledged R&B greats such as Curtis Mayfield and Pops Staples, and even country pianist Floyd Cramer. On the flip side of Hendrix's universe, Examples 3 and 4 guide you through some characteristic Hendrix-style ballad moves derived from familiar A major, dominant, and minor chord shapes played in the fifth position. Similar partial-chord runs are applied to make magic over the Em-G-Am-Em progression in Ex. 5. Fly on, brother.


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Game design – Ensuring there's Always a valid way/path
Today I would like to write about a simple but very important game design concept that is to ensure there is always a way or path.
In arcade games, one of the challenges when generating random levels is to get the right difficulty without risking impossible situations (or "No-exit" situation). Let's imagine the game is about a rocket that flies with a constant speed and needs to dodge circles that appear as he moves.
Ok, now that we have an idea about the amazing visuals of the game, these are our requirements:
- Random levels
- Difficulty progression with time
- The game must be fair so there must always be a path (no blockades where the player will die for sure)
Requirements 1. and 2. are easy to implement. In this case, for example, it would be enough to create new circles on a random Y at a right-offscreen position every X seconds. To make the difficulty progression, X would decrease with time. The problem with this approach is that as X gets smaller and the number of circles starts to get larger, the probabilities of a no-exit situation increase.
How to solve this problem? Well, there are different possible approaches depending on the complexity of the game and some design choices, I'll show you 2, the "Workaround way" and the "Pregenerated Path" way:
The Workaround way
A classic trick to solve this problem is to change the problem itself. Predetermine some hardcoded safe values (frequency in the example) to generate obstacles that for sure will not cause a non-exit situation. This frequency will remain constant through the game. Now, to increase the difficulty, instead of increasing the frequency generating more and more obstacles, just progressively increase the rocket speed. This moves the challenge from geometry path-finding to reaction time.
The Pregenerated Path way
If the first way is not an option, we need to make sure when creating the obstacles that there will be a path. To do that we need 3 things.
- Generate a random path for the rocket. You don't need to care about any obstacle, just make sure it moves randomly up and down as the rocket would do. We'll call this the Safety Path.
- Define the size for a bounding box for the rocket that we'll call Safety Area. Imagine the Safety Area follows the safety path. If you were playing the game you should be able to keep the rocket inside the Safety Area.
- Finally, when generating the obstacles, make sure they will not overlap the Safety Area on the future time T when the obstacle is at the same x position than the rocket. It may be necessary to make multiple checks (on an interval around T) depending on factors such as the width of the obstacles, Safety Path changes of direction, etc…
Here you can see a couple of examples to illustrate the way we've implemented it:
1. This level is about dodging bouncing circles
This one is about dodging shrinking circles
And a bit messier with rotating rectangles…
- Blue Rectangle is the Safety Area
- White dots on first screenshot and grey rectangles center point is the Safety Path
- Yellow shapes are the exact position and shape of the obstacles on T (plus extra checks)
- Light Blue circle is the main character
- Black shapes with white glow is the current position an shape of the obstacles
Even if it took some time to create the foundations for this checks, once done it allows us to add any amount and type of objects with randomly generated speed, shape, angular velocity, etc… to our levels without needing to worry about "no-exit" situations.
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Anosov $C^{1}$-diffeomorphism. Smale and Williams (see [H(1970)]) proved the following nice theorem. \proclaim {Theorem 4.1} Assume that the set of periodic points of $T$ is dense in $\bom$. If $F$ is a compact invariant subset of $\bom$ satisfying $\text {\rm codim}_\bom\ F \ge 1$, then $\text {\rm codim}_\bom\ F \ge 2 $. \endproclaim The combination of Theorem 4.1 with our weak Lemma 2.1 provides a strong ball-avoiding statement for smooth systems: \proclaim {Corollary} For any $B \neq \emptyset \subset \bom$ open, $A_\Bbb Z(B)$ is a closed set of topological codimension is at least two. \endproclaim \demo {Proof of the Corollary} Topological transitivity, the invariance of $A_\Bbb Z (B)$, and the openness of $B$ imply that $\text {\rm Int} A_\Bbb Z (B) \neq \emptyset$. Proposition 3.3 then proves the claim. \enddemo \qed \demo {Proof of Theorem 4.1} Throughout the whole paper we will denote by $\{\gamma^s\}$ and $\{\gamma^u\}$ the invariant foliations defined by the dynamics in question, and by $\gamma^s_{\varepsilon}(x)$ and $ \gamma^u_{\varepsilon}(x)$ the local invariant manifolds of size $\varepsilon$ through the point $x$. Denote by $\Cal P$ the set of periodic points of $\bom \setminus F$. We use the following simple statements: \noindent {\it Claim 1.} $\Cal P$ is dense in $\bom$. \noindent {\it Claim 2.} If $x \in \Cal P$, then $\gamma^u(x) \cap F = \gamma^s(x) \cap F = \emptyset$. These claims easily provide the truth of the Theorem. Indeed, let $y \in F$ and choose $\varepsilon > 0$ small. The foliations $\{\gamma^u\}$, $\{\gamma^s\}$ define a local product structure and using it we can consider a parallelogram $\gamma^u_\varepsilon (y) \times \gamma^s_\varepsilon (y)$. Moreover, we define $ F_0 = F \cap (\gamma^u_\varepsilon(y) \times \gamma^s_\varepsilon (y))$. By Claim 2, for any $x \in \Cal P$, $(\gamma^u(x) \cup \gamma^s(x)) \cap F = \emptyset$, and, consequently, $F_0 \subset (\gamma^u_\varepsilon (y) \setminus \cup_{x \in \Cal P}\gamma^s(x)) \times (\gamma^s_\varepsilon (y) \setminus \cup_{x \in \Cal P}\gamma^u(x))$. Claim 1 and Proposition 3.3 then say that the factors of the previous product set have codimension at least one each. Hence the Theorem follows by the product theorem (cf. Theorem III.4 of [H-W(1941)]). Let us now prove Claim 1. Take an arbitrary open subset $G$ of $\bom$. The open set $G \setminus F$ is not empty for otherwise we would have $\dim F = n$. Since $\Cal P$ was dense in $\bom \setminus F$, we also have $(G \setminus F) \cap \Cal P \neq \emptyset$. Turn next to Claim 2. We prove $\gamma^s(x) \cap F = \emptyset$ for an arbitrary $x \in \Cal P$. Assume $T^px =x$. Select an open neighbourhood $G$ of $x$ disjoint from $F$. By invariance, $(\cup_{n \in \Bbb Z} T^n G) \cap F = \emptyset$. Now for any $y \in \gamma^s(x)$\ \ $\rho(T^{kp}y, x) \to 0$ if $k \to \infty$, and thus, for $k$ sufficiently large, $T^{kp}y \in G$ implying $y \notin F $. \enddemo \qed \noindent {\bf Remark 4.2.} After the aforementioned result, the study of compact invariant subsets was continued --- among others by Franks [F(1977)], Hancock [H(1978)] and Ma\~n\'e [M(1978)]. Since the sets $A_\br(B)$ provide natural examples of compact, invariant subsets --- in fact, all compact invariant subsets are of this form ---, this description has been used by several authors. In particular, for every $0 \le k \le d-2$, Przytycki [P(1980)] found examples of sets $B_k$ such that $\dim A_\br(B_k) = k$. \heading 5. A Strong Ball-Avoiding Theorem for Hyperbolic Systems (With or Without Singularities) \endheading \bigskip \bigskip For simplicity, we formulate the theorem for discrete time groups $\ddina$ of hyperbolic systems since the generalization to continuous time is straightforward. Our setup is that $\bom$ is a compact $C^\infty$-manifold and $\mu$ is a smooth, invariant probability measure. We also want to permit singularities as it is done in [L-W(1995)] or in [Y(1998)] or in [Ch(1998)]. For saving space, we do not list the conditions formulated in these works since we only use some standard consequences of them. Namely: the $\mu$-a. e. existence of the local invariant manifolds and the absolute continuity of the canonical isomorphism between them, and further the simple fact that if in case of singularities we define trajectory branches as it is described, for instance, in????, then can always be considered continuous on these trajectory branches. On the other hand, the kind of hyperbolicity needed will be implicitly ensured by our assumptions. Start with the corresponding definition. \proclaim {Definition 5.1} A point $x \in \bom$ is called {\sl a zigzag point} if one can find arbitrary small open neighbourhoods $U$ of $x$ such that for every zero-set $A \subset \bom$ there exists another zero-set $A'\supset A$ with the property: for every $y, y' \in U \setminus A'$ there exists a chain (also called Hopf-chain) $$ \g_{\text {loc}}^u(z_0), \g_{\text {loc}}^s(z_1), \g_{\text {loc}}^u(z_1), \g_{\text {loc}}^s(z_2), \dots, \g_{\text {loc}}^u(z_{n-1}), \g_{\text {loc}}^s(z_n) $$ (here $z_0=y, z_n=y'$) of local unstable and stable invariant manifolds inside $U$ such that each intersection $$ \g_{\text {loc}}^u(z_i)\cap \g_{\text {loc}}^s(z_{i+1}) \qquad \qquad \qquad (i=0, \dots, n-1) $$ and $$ \g_{\text {loc}}^s(z_i)\cap \g_{\text {loc}}^u(z_i) =\{z_i\} \qquad \qquad \qquad (i=1, \dots, n-1) $$ consists of exactly one point belonging to $U\setminus A'$. \endproclaim The following theorem generalizes Lemma 4.3 of \kssw, and its proof is also based on its ideas. \proclaim {Theorem 5.2} Assume that \roster \item "{(i)}" the group $\ddina$ is mixing; \item "{(ii)}" for the subset $Z$ of zigzag points of $\bom$, $\bom \setminus Z$ is slim; \item "{(iii)}" $B\neq \emptyset\ (\subset \bom)$ is open; \item "{(iv)}" $H\ (\subset \bz)$ satisfies\ $ \sup H = -\inf H = \infty.$ \endroster Then $A_H(B)\ (\subset \bom)$ is a closed zero-set of codimension at least two. \endproclaim \noindent {\bf Remark 5.3.} For the first glance, condition (ii) of Theorem 5.2, as formulated, might seem too restrictive, but, fortunately, this is not the case. In the case of hyperbolic systems with singularities, with billiards included (cf. [L-W(1995)]), the singularities, to be denoted by $\Cal S$


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Mid-Small Sized Wind Turbine Towers
The tower of the wind turbine carries the nacelle and the rotor. Towers for large wind turbines may be either tubular steel towers, lattice towers, or concrete towers. Guyed tubular towers are only used for small wind turbines (battery chargers etc.)
Tubular Steel Towers
Most large wind turbines are delivered with tubular steel towers, which are manufactured in sections of 20-30 metres with flanges at either end, and bolted together on the site. The towers are conical (i.e. with their diameter increasing towards the base) in order to increase their strength and to save materials at the same time.


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What is a community's classification based on?
A community's classification is based on:Administration of codes, including:
- building code edition in use
- modification of the codes
- zoning provisions to mitigate natural hazards
- training of code enforcers
- certification of code enforcers
- incentives for outside education/certification
- building officials' qualifications
- contractor/builder licensing and bonding
- public awareness programs
- participation in code development activities and the appeal process
- staffing levels
- level of detail of plan review
- performance evaluations
- review of plans for oneand two-family dwellings, multifamily dwellings, and commercial buildings
- staffing levels
- level of detail of inspections
- performance evaluations
- final inspections
- issuance of certificates of occupancy
In addition, ISO collects underwriting information, including natural hazards common to the area, number of inspection permits issued, number of inspections completed, the building department's funding mechanism and date of establishment, size of the jurisdiction and population, and fair market value of all buildings.
What is the evaluation process?
ISO distributes detailed questionnaires to building officials of all municipalities in a state. Upon completion of the questionnaire, ISO arranges for a trained field representative to meet at a mutually convenient time at the community site with each municipality's building officials. The ISO representative and building officials together review and verify the community's capabilities. The ISO representative seeks clarification and obtains supporting documentation, as necessary. The review usually takes from two to four hours. The ISO field representative may also visit construction sites with building officials. The ISO field representative then tabulates the points "scored" on the various sections of the schedule and assigns a grade from 1 (exemplary commitment to building code enforcement) to 10.
What classifications does the BCEGS program apply to a community?
ISO evaluates communities on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 representing exemplary enforcement of a model building code or local building code demonstrating equivalency to a model building code.
Why do communities have an incentive to improve their rating?
Any community with a classification other than 1 has many incentives to improve its classification, including:
- the prospect of reduced injuries and loss of life, reduced property losses, and reduced economic and social disruption caused by catastrophes
- the prospect of lower insurance rates on buildings constructed after the community improves its classification
- pride and professionalism of the community building department to be the best it can be
- good public policy
Does a city really have incentives to raise fees or taxes to improve code enforcement — other than just so the insurance industry can cut losses?
The primary incentive for communities to commit resources to ensure proper code enforcement should be to reduce loss of life, the risk of property loss, and economic and social disruption that result from natural catastrophes. Communities with good enforcement can expect commensurate reductions in property insurance rates.
In most states, the program provides for premium credits only — not surcharges or increases. By legislative mandate, Florida requires positive and negative rating factors. Consequently, the Florida Insurance Department has approved a 1 percent surcharge for those communities not participating in the program. The surcharge applies to new construction only.
BCEGS is a useful, objective evaluation tool for assessing the resources and support available for building code enforcement relating to natural hazard mitigation. ISO developed the BCEGS program with significant input from the three model code groups and with responses to surveys sent to more than 7,500 building officials countrywide.
With BCEGS, ISO measures communities against objective standards, highlighting where resources can be applied to improve performance and a community's grade in the future.
Once ISO evaluates a community's building codes and establishes a classification, how often can the classification change?
The plan is to reevaluate each community every five years. If the community notifies ISO of a change that could affect the classification before the five-year reevaluation, ISO will reevaluate the community sooner, as ISO's schedule permits.
Can a community get only one classification, or can different classifications apply to different types of properties?
Some municipalities, for example, don't adopt or enforce codes for buildings with two or fewer families, but do enforce codes for buildings with three or more families or for commercial occupancies. In such cases, separate classifications apply. ISO lists oneand two-family dwellings as outside the scope of this program, while all other properties receive the community's classification. The insurance manual's rules advise which classification to use for a particular risk.
What happens when ISO evaluates a community?
When ISO evaluates a community, the classification automatically applies to any building receiving a certificate of occupancy in the year the classification goes into effect or later years. Once ISO assigns a classification to a building, based on the community classification in effect at the time the building is constructed, that classification will remain with that building — even if a community is subsequently reevaluated.
What happens when ISO reevaluates a community?
The new classification will apply to buildings receiving a certificate of occupancy in the year the new classification becomes effective and later years. It is conceivable that as a building department improves over time, a community could have more than one classification. The applicable classification for any building would depend on its certificate-of-occupancy date.
To consider a specific example: What happens to buildings constructed in 1997 when a town had a classification of 5, but in 2002 the classification changes to 3?
The classification assigned to a building will be the classification in effect in the year the building receives a certificate of occupancy. The classification that applies to a building will not change as a result of a municipality's subsequent changes in code effectiveness that result in a different classification for the municipality. The new municipal classification will apply only to buildings constructed when the new municipal classification is effective.
Thus, in this example, the buildings constructed from 1997 through 2001 would receive a classification of 5, and buildings constructed in 2002 or later would receive a classification of 3.
How can a building department be best prepared for its evaluation? What resource materials should be available?
Department officials should have available documentation that supports questionnaire answers. For example, officials must provide copies of employee-code certifications, training records, the building code agency's budget, number of inspections and plan reviews performed (by type: oneand two-family dwellings, multifamily residential, and commercial and industrial structures). In addition, records on the amount of time spent on public-awareness programs will help complete the evaluation.
12. Are classifications established on the basis of codes and level of enforcement in place at the time of the survey? Or has ISO established classifications on an absolute scale, so that meeting certain criteria always results in the same classification?
The classification system looks at one year's worth of documentation and effectively takes a snapshot at a particular time. The classification considers the model code in effect at that time as well as the municipality's resources and enforcement level.
These are dynamic elements. Thus, a community classified in 1995 could possibly be evaluated against a different code from a community classified in 2005. For example, in 2005, a community that retains its 1995 code rather than adopting a more stringent code prevailing in 2005 would receive a less favorable classification.
13. Did ISO prepare the schedule specifically for very large jurisdictions, unfairly penalizing some small cities?
ISO wrote the schedule to assess the risk of property loss regardless of a jurisdiction's size. A structure does not stand any different chance of survival in a small community than in a large community when both share an equal commitment to code adoption and enforcement.
14. How does BCEGS compare with ISO's Public Protection Classification system for classifying communities' fire-suppression capabilities?
ISO modeled BCEGS after the insurance industry's fire protection classification system, which assesses municipal fire departments and water supplies. The similarities include the classification scale of 1 to 10 and a reliance on recognized standards as reference points for the evaluation. The fire protection classification system, which began in 1916, was an insurance industry response to fire losses and has been a fundamental factor in developing insurance premiums ever since.
The main difference is that changes to a community's fire department and water supply affect the potential risk to all structures in the community, while changes to a community's building department affect the potential risk only to structures built after the change.
15. How long after grading occurs will the building department become aware of its classification?
Usually within three months.
16. How flexible is the process in recognizing effective local programs that may be unique and innovative? Is there a special provision in the schedule? Does the BCEGS program consider innovative initiatives for extra credit?
The BCEGS program is designed to be a performance-related program. That is, it represents the degree of the risk for property loss within a jurisdiction as a function of the community's commitment to building code enforcement, with a major emphasis on mitigation of natural hazard damage. Although BCEGS relies on recognized standards as the foundation for code adoption, BCEGS can recognize alternative methods of enforcing those codes. ISO recognizes alternative methods if they are effective and equivalent to industry standards.
17. Is there a cost associated with the evaluation process?
Insurers bear all of the program's costs, because insurers use BCEGS information. Municipalities and taxpayers don't incur any costs.


Deciding Which Compound is the Best
It is my pleasure to introduce to you, a member of the MLC team, Chris Town, PhD. Chris is a consultant in Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokintietics (PK). He has spent over 30 years in the Pharmaceutical industry designing, executing and interpreting PK studies and conducting research in support of pre-clinical development, ultimately moving compounds from research projects into human studies.
Take it away Chris!!!
Somewhere in the course of any new drug project, you have to decide which compound(s) to take into development and eventually into man. You hopefully have some compounds showing good activity in your in vitro assay. Ideally, these compounds also show efficacy in your in vivo model. You have to choose the compound from the active ones that is most likely to show efficacy in humans. It must have characteristics that will allow you to get far enough in development that you can justify to your management and the FDA that you should do a first-in-human study. Pharmacokinetics (PK) should play a role in choosing the compound that has the best chance of success. No matter how good a compound's in vitro activity is, it has to work in a human being, at a reasonable dose and dosing interval. The pharmacokinetic studies that you run to choose the best lead will vary from project to project. However, if you do the right studies and correctly interpret the data, you have a better chance of success in development. Normally, you start in vivo testing with rodents. They are small animals (less expensive) and don't use a lot of drug in each study. Rats and mice are the most commonly used rodents for in vivo pharmacokinetic and toxicity studies. For example, you have to attain a reasonable multiple, of the expected efficacious human plasma concentration, in the rat. You also need a concentration multiple in the second, non-rodent tox species, often the dog.
In order to accomplish this goal, I recommend that the first in-vivopharmacokinetic screen be done with the rat. You might wonder why the rat? You can't sell drugs to cure anything in a rat, so there's no money to be made there! However, rats are a very important species in drug development. In addition to their use in toxicity studies, the pH in a rat's stomach is closer to humans than the pH in a dog's stomach. So, rats can be used as a model for liquid formulation testing. You can do a reasonable number of exploratory studies without using a lot of compound. When you test a compound in a dog for pharmacokinetics, formulation or any one of a number of other parameters, you use a lot of compound. Monkeys fall somewhere in between, but they are very expensive and difficult to maintain. So, to gather the most information at a reasonable price and use the least amount of drug, rats are an excellent species. I start with intravenous administration. That way I get some idea of clearance and half-life which tells me a bit about the chances of getting high exposure in rat. If you compare your in vivo data from the rat with in vitro data from microsomes or hepatocytes from rat, dog and human, you can determine whether the in vivo and in vitro clearances match in the rat and later in the dog. If they do, you can predict that they might do the same in humans! This will give you some confidence that this compound will have acceptable pharmacokinetics in man to be efficacious with QD (once a day) or BID (twice a day) dosing.
Human testing is where the REAL fun starts, I'll let someone else talk about that! 😉
 - To be successfully developed, compounds must havegood pharmacokinetics in humans and the two species used for toxicology studies (commonly rats and non-human primates).
 - Compounds that don't have optimal PK characteristics need to be eliminated early in the screening cascade while the best compounds move forward.
 - In order to save time and compound (and money!), the first in vivo PK screen should be an intravenous study using rats.


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In the wake of Pearl Harbor, New York mobilized for war, and the New-York Historical Society was no exception. As the city braced for possible enemy attack, the New-York Historical Society took precautions to protect the collection as its staff members departed for the Armed Forces and defense factories. Nine New-York Historical Society staff members saw active duty during WWII. William R. Baillie, Laidslaw Csierny, Joseph Gymory, George Henry Johnson, Vincent J. Marshall, Charles T. Miller, George Takacs, and Alexander J. Wall Jr. served in the Army. H. Maxson Holloway served in the Navy. Following the war, some of these men donated their uniforms and accouterments to the museum (now on display in WWII & NYC).
In 1942, the American Red Cross set up a surgical dressing workroom in two ground-floor galleries of the New-York Historical Society. The all-female volunteer unit rolled a staggering four million surgical sponges by December 1944. Once completed, the 4″ x 8″ dressings were boxed, shipped overseas, and sterilized for use in evacuation hospitals. The Army Medical Corps reported back that "the splendid surgical sponges prepared by you actually have gone to war. We are using [them] in treating Allied battle casualties, directly behind the lines."
The spirit of service continues at the New-York Historical Society to this day, from the programs and exhibitions we present to increase public understanding of American history, to the auxiliary initiatives taken up by our staff and trustees to support our community. On the day after Hurricane Sandy in 2012, New-York Historical immediately reopened its doors so that thousands of children and families from across the city could learn and have some fun, while schools remained closed and widespread power outages. Admission proceeds were redirected to help cover the cost of damages inflicted on some of our city's important historic sites through the Historic House Trust of New York City's Emergency Maintenance Fund.
Times may change, but here's to hoping that New Yorkers' commitment to their history and public service always remain strong.


performances are non-optimal when a single score threshold is used to determine whether sample pairs are genuine or imposter. Furthermore, actual performance ratings vary greatly from the reported across subgroups. Thus, claims of specific error rates only hold true for populations matching that of the validation data. We mitigate the imbalanced performances using a novel domain adaptation learning scheme on the facial encodings extracted using SOTA deep nets. Not only does this technique balance performance, but it also boosts the overall performance. A benefit of the proposed is to preserve identity information in facial features while removing demographic knowledge in the lower dimensional features. The removal of demographic knowledge prevents future potential biases from being injected into decision-making. Additionally, privacy concerns are satisfied by this removal. We explore why this works qualitatively with hard samples. We also show quantitatively that subgroup classifiers can no longer learn from the encodings mapped by the proposed.
A Hamiltonian Monte Carlo Model for Imputation and Augmentation of Healthcare Data Machine Learning
Missing values exist in nearly all clinical studies because data for a variable or question are not collected or not available. Inadequate handling of missing values can lead to biased results and loss of statistical power in analysis. Existing models usually do not consider privacy concerns or do not utilise the inherent correlations across multiple features to impute the missing values. In healthcare applications, we are usually confronted with high dimensional and sometimes small sample size datasets that need more effective augmentation or imputation techniques. Besides, imputation and augmentation processes are traditionally conducted individually. However, imputing missing values and augmenting data can significantly improve generalisation and avoid bias in machine learning models. A Bayesian approach to impute missing values and creating augmented samples in high dimensional healthcare data is proposed in this work. We propose folded Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (F-HMC) with Bayesian inference as a more practical approach to process the cross-dimensional relations by applying a random walk and Hamiltonian dynamics to adapt posterior distribution and generate large-scale samples. The proposed method is applied to a cancer symptom assessment dataset and confirmed to enrich the quality of data in precision, accuracy, recall, F1 score, and propensity metric.


The percentage of English-language learners passing reading and math tests in the 2003-04 school year trailed progress goals in nearly two-thirds of the 48 states that submitted data, according to a study released Wednesday by the federal Government Accountability Office. Some Arizona districts have used longer math instruction, retention and a consistent curriculum to help ELL students post higher scores on the state exam.
Related Summaries


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Graphene synthesis on large-area silicon wafers suitable for manufacture
The objective of the Phase I project was to demonstrate graphene synthesis on a silicon (Si) wafer with (001) orientation without relying on the transfer of a template layer or any other material from one substrate to another. This Phase I objective was successfully demonstrated using symmetry transformation layers (STL). The proposed Phase II objective is to further develop the STL concept for graphene synthesis. Reduction in maximum processing temperature will be pursued in Phase II. Maximum temperature of 1150 C or less is possible. Refinement of graphene synthesis parameters will be undertaken to improve the structural and electrical characteristics of graphene produced by this method. Characterization of the transport and optical characteristics of graphene will be performed with potential applications (e.g. rf communications, sensors, digital imaging and displays) in mind. Devices from one or more of these application areas will be demonstrated to assess potential product feasibility. Marketing of graphene/Si integrated materials is planned.
Small Business Information at Submission:
Group 4 Development, LLC
3024 Hamilton Street West Lafayette, IN -
Number of Employees:


Vote for your favourite NSW threatened species: Round 1
Bananas for the barking owl? Potty for long-nosed potoroos? Now's your chance to help our native plants and animals step into the limelight – cast your vote to help your favourite become crowned the Saving our Species Threatened Species of the Year.
Smoky Mouse (Pseudomys fumeus), critically endangered
Each of the nearly 1000 threatened species in NSW has a role to play in creating a healthy natural environment and needs our protection.
At Saving our Species (SoS), we want more people in NSW to know and care about our threatened plants and animals, so we've scoured our website analytics to find out which 30 species you've been searching for the most, and now we want you to pick your favourite!
Read more about these 30 unique and amazing threatened species below, then cast your vote. Your choice will help to determine the top 10 NSW threatened species for the second round of voting.
The top 10 species will be announced on 10 May, followed by the winning species on World Environment Day (5 June).
Regardless of which species wins, by taking part in the vote you're helping spread understanding and love for these species that we're working hard to conserve.
You can only vote for one plant or animal – so make it count!
Vote now
Barking owl
Barking owl (Ninox connivens)Scientific name: Ninox connivens
Conservation status in NSW: Vulnerable
Description: The barking owl is a medium-sized bird of prey that has a characteristic voice with calls ranging from a barking dog noise to a shrill human-like howl of a screaming woman. This owl is brown with white spots on its wings and a vertically streaked chest. It has large eyes that have a yellow iris.
Distribution: Although still common in parts of northern Australia, in NSW, the barking owl occurs in wide but sparse locations around the western slopes and plains and in some northeast coastal and escarpment forests.
Habitat and ecology: They prefer to live in forests or woodland areas often near river, swamp or creek beds. Although barking owls are uncommon and sometimes even rare in many suburban areas, they occasionally may start to nest in streets or near farmhouses. Barking owls are monogamous and form strong pair bonds that last for life.
Threats: The main threat to barking owls is the loss of habitat, particularly the deterioration or loss of the large, hollow-bearing trees on which these birds depend for nesting. Hollows suitable for nesting for owls do not form in eucalypts until they are at least 150–200 years old.
What is SoS doing? SoS is addressing the loss and degradation of barking owl habitat by promoting the retention of large old trees. In regions where high priority barking owl populations can be increased and stabilised, improving habitat quality and installing nest boxes to create more barking owl sheltering sites is another key action.
Broad-headed snake
Broad-headed snake (Hoplocephalus bungaroides)Scientific name: Hoplocephalus bungaroides
Conservation status in NSW: Endangered
Description: The broad-headed snake is black with numerous yellow markings arranged in irregular, narrow crossbands. It is a nocturnal animal and feeds on lizards and frogs.
Distribution: The broad-headed snake is found in the Sydney Basin and throughout a 250km radius from Sydney. The snake is quite sedentary and during winter, when it lives under bush rock or in crevices, it doesn't move much at all and waits for food to come to it.
Habitat and ecology: The broad-headed snake spends most of its life near the rocks, especially sandstone rocks, and may give birth to 8–20 live young at a time.
Threats: Bush rock removal and disturbance severely impacts on sheltering and foraging sites for the snake and results in loss of habitat.
What is SoS doing: SoS has an active project in place to help educate the local Sydney community about the importance of bush rock to help maintain key habitat for the snake. Rocks are homes to a range of wildlife and should be left untouched.
Broad-toothed rat
Broad-toothed rat (Mastacomys fuscus)Scientific name: Mastacomys fuscus
Conservation status in NSW: Vulnerable
Description: A compact rodent, chubby-cheeked, with a short, wide face and ears, and long, dense, fine fur. Who said rats couldn't be cute?!
Distribution: In NSW the broad-toothed rat occurs in 2 widely separated areas: the wet alpine and subalpine heaths and woodlands in Kosciuszko National Park, adjacent nature reserves (Bimberi NR and Scabby NR) and State Forest (Buccleuch SF) in the south of the State; and on the Barrington Tops, north-west of Newcastle.
Habitat and ecology: The broad-toothed rat lives in a complex of constructed vegetation runways through the dense grass, sedge or heath environments and under the snow at higher elevations. This relatively warm under-snow space enables it to be active throughout winter.
Threats: Foxes, introduced herbivores, altered fire regimes, ski resort development and the impacts of climate change pose key threats to the habitat and survival of the broad-toothed rat.
What is SoS doing? SoS is undertaking a fox and feral cat control program targeting known high-quality habitat and recently disturbed potential habitat to help the survival of the broad-toothed rat. Management programs are also being undertaken to reduce the impacts of feral pigs and deer in habitat areas.
Brush-tailed rock-wallaby
Brush-tailed rock-wallaby (Petrogale penicillata) in mid leapScientific name: Petrogale penicillata
Conservation status in NSW: Endangered
Description: The brush-tailed rock-wallaby has a characteristic long and bushy, dark rufous-brown tail that is bushier towards its tip. This wallaby is highly agile and can move swiftly and confidently through rugged areas, helped by their compact, muscular build, long and flexible tail that is used for balance and their well-padded and rough textured feet that provide excellent traction.
Distribution: In NSW, they occur from the Queensland border in the north to the Shoalhaven in the south, with the population in the Warrumbungle Ranges being the western limit.
Habitat and ecology: Occupy rocky escarpments, outcrops and cliffs and shelter or bask during the day in rock crevices, caves and overhangs and are most active at night when foraging. Females settle in or near their mother's range, while males mainly disperse between female groups within colonies, and less commonly between colonies. You can watch this wallaby in action on our brush-tailed rock-wallaby cam.
Threats: Include predation by foxes and wild dogs; competition for forage and refuge areas with feral goats; loss, degradation and fragmentation of habitat; fire regimes that reduce the abundance and diversity of ground forage; and infestation by invasive weeds causing loss and degradation of foraging habitat.
What is SoS doing? To lend a much-needed hand to this wallaby after the devastating 2019–20 bushfires, SoS, NPWS rangers and partners delivered more than three tonnes of sweet potatoes, carrots and lucerne to colonies across NSW. Monitoring cameras and GPS collars confirmed the entire colony of brush-tailed rock-wallabies in Kangaroo Valley survived the bushfires, with expert assessment showing the wallabies were in good health. SoS and NPWS are also working to control foxes, feral herbivores and weeds to help protect the wallaby and its habitat.
Cumberland Plain land snail
Cumberland Plain land snail (Meridolum corneovirens)Scientific name: Meridolum corneovirens
Conservation status in NSW: Endangered
Description: Superficially similar to the familiar garden Snail, the Cumberland Plain land snail differs as this snail is a fungi specialist and unlike the garden snail, it will not eat the lettuce in your garden!
Distribution: Lives in fragmented bushland on the Cumberland Plain west of Sydney, from Richmond and Windsor south to Picton and from Liverpool west to the Hawkesbury and Nepean Rivers at the base of the Blue Mountains.
Habitat and ecology: Lives under litter of bark, leaves and logs, or shelters in loose soil around grass clumps and can dig several centimetres into soil to escape drought. It is most active at night.
Threats: Removal of leaf litter, logs and spraying herbicide chemicals in native bushland for weed control can negatively impact the Cumberland Plain land snails' sheltering sites.
What is SoS doing? A large conservation project is in place to protect the whole Cumberland Plain and as part of that, actions and protections are in place for the Cumberland Plain land snail so their habitat is maintained and enhanced and the surrounding community are aware and understand about the importance of this snail.
Dusky woodswallow
Dusky woodswallow (Artamus cyanopterus cyanopterus)Scientific name: Artamus cyanopterus cyanopterus
Conservation status in NSW: Vulnerable
Description: The dusky woodswallow is a smoky deep brown to grey bird. This species roosts communally and sometimes migrates in groups (like birds of a feather, they stick together!), however they for


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Rural and regional planning
Regional Victoria is the area outside metropolitan Melbourne and includes regional cities, towns and rural land as well as important natural areas.
Rural and regional planning aims to enhance regional growth opportunities through effective planning for land use and development in regional Victoria.
This involves development of integrated land use planning policy, plans and strategies in response to growth and change in regional Victoria.
Rural and regional planning addresses:
- liveability and economic prosperity
- climate change adaptation and migration
- population and demographic change
- risks from hazards such as bushfires, flooding and coastal inundation and
- water supply uncertainty.
In this section:
Regional Growth Plans
Eight regional growth plans are being developed in partnership between local government and state government agencies and authorities to provide broad direction for land use and development across each region, as well as frameworks for key regional centres.
Peri-urban areas are the non-urban areas close to cities and towns. A number of planning strategies and programs are addressing peri-urban issues.
Rural and Regional Planning Projects
Place based or thematic projects, such as:
- Armstrong Creek Urban Growth Area
Find out about planning for the Armstrong Creek Urban Growth Area.
- Murray River Settlement Strategy
A collaborative planning exercise to establish settlement strategies along the Murray River corridor.
- Regional Towns Development Program
A funding program for place-based projects in Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Latrobe and Wodonga.
- Rural Land Use Planning Program
A listing of planning projects funded in rural and regional areas.
- South West Landscape Assessment Study
A study to assess the visual character and significance of the landscapes of south-west Victoria.
Links for related projects or topics
- Metropolitan Planning Strategy
A new metropolitan planning strategy for Melbourne to build on its liveability and ensure the future prosperity of the State.
- Planning and Building for Bushfire Protection
Information about planning and building matters in Victoria associated with bushfire prevention and recovery.
- Urban Development Program (UDP)
Information on residential and industrial land supply and demand for metropolitan Melbourne and regional cities.
- Victoria's Planning System
A guide to the planning system and regulatory framework for land use planning in Victoria.
- Victoria in Future
The official population and household projections of the Victorian Government.
- Catchment Management Authorities
Responsible for management of regional waterways, floodplains, drainage and environmental water reserves in each of Victoria's ten catchment regions.
- Department of Primary Industry
Responsible for delivery of policies and programs for agriculture, fisheries, earth resources, energy, forestry, pets and game hunting in Victoria.
- Department of Sustainability and Environment
Leads the Victorian Government's efforts to sustainably manage the environment.
- Department of Transport
Aims to provide a safe reliable transport system for Victorians.
- Regional Development Australia
An Australian government initiative that brings together all levels of government to enhance the development of Australia's regions.
- Regional Development Victoria
The Victorian government's lead agency in developing rural and regional Victoria.


importance assigned to tight clustering of peaks across participants. If there is high importance assigned to rank order (smaller M), then relatively larger clusters of peaks across participants will be acceptable (although these may have little anatomical consistency). However, if the effect in question does not reach the top M peaks in most participants, it will be completely missed by the analysis. By contrast, if M is set to be too large, then the inclusion of many superfluous (i.e., low rank) peaks will mean that a very tight spatial distribution is required to distinguish a functionally meaningful cluster from one occurring by chance. This is an analogous problem to the choice of image smoothing parameters in fMRI, and analogously the choice depends on the question asked. As a starting point, we propose a simple heuristic to choose a value of M which balances dependence on peak rank against cluster size. If we take the knee of the curve in Figure 1 to represent some optimal balance between dependence on peak magnitude (small M) and anatomical consistency across participants (small R), we can compute a parameter J which quantifies the distance of the curves from the knee,
where M and R are the number of peaks and the confidence radius respectively. Now plotting J against M gives a curve with a clear minimum (see Figure 2). For each sub-group (N), crosses on the curve indicate that at least one significant (p<0.05) cluster was found for this choice of M when analyzing positive peaks. Importantly, and giving some validiation of our choice of heuristic, these significant excursions predominate around the minimum of the function.
Figure 2. Peak amplitude and anatomical consistency trade-off.
A plot of the heuristic to optimize the balance between peak magnitude and anatomical consistency across subjects. J increases for large numbers of peaks (where there is a very tight distance threshold (R) on how close the peaks must be) and also increases when M is small due to the corresponding decrease in anatomical specificity (due to increase in threshold R shown in Figure 1). Alternatively, one can choose to test a range of M (2–30 in this case), produce significant clusters (for each M; shown by crosses), and then correct for multiple comparisons. After multiple comparison correction (for M), two significant clusters were found which are denoted by the circles and squares around these points. These are the same two clusters identified in our experimental data.
The next problem is how to set an appropriate significance level. There is a single univariate null hypothesis–that the peaks are clustered by chance. However, as we change (increase) M, we are re-testing the same hypothesis with different subsets of data. Hence, a multiple comparisons penalty is necessary. One simple solution would be to only examine the function minima at each value of N. One problem here is that the minima are relatively flat and the smoothness depends on the number of random permutation steps performed, which is processing intensive. Also, one can see from Figure 2 that each subgroup curve N has a different optimal M value (the larger the number of participants in the group, the larger the optimal number of peaks).
Another possibility is to consider the range of M which defines this minimum. This approach does not rely on the identification of minima (so it is more robust) and can be computed for all N at once. However, there is a multiple comparisons penalty. It is important to note, however, that a completely new (i.e., independent) set of data is only introduced each time the number of peaks is doubled.
Making a Bonferroni correction, the significance level should be decreased by a factor each time the number of peaks is doubled. This means that the test wise error rate to give a family wise error rate of 0.05 is based on the following Bonferroni correction:
where log2 is log to the base 2, pcorr is the corrected significance level and Mstart and Mend define the range of M we pre-specify an interest in. The circles and squares around the crosses in Figure 2 show the two significant ellipsoids found after multiple comparisons correction for the range of peaks tested (for Mstart = 2 and Mend = 30).
Measuring Algorithm Performance: Simulated Data
In order to test algorithm performance against some ground truth we simulated a single dipolar source across a group of participants. The same single sphere head model and sensor locations were used for each simulated participant. System white noise was simulated at 10 fT/sqrt (Hz) over a bandwidth of 80 Hz. Data for 10 participants were simulated, differing only in the simulated source location and white noise realization. In each simulated participant, a random seed location was generated, drawn from a Gaussian distribution of standard deviation 5 mm, centered on MNI location x = 52, y = −29, z = 13. The nearest canonical mesh location [8] to this seedpoint and the corresponding surface normal were used to set the location and orientation of the single simulated dipole in each participant. Our simulated sources were normal to the cortical mesh, but as location was jittered, both source location and orientation changed over participants. The dipolar source was driven with a 40 Hz sinusoid over a period of 200 ms (sample rate = 200 Hz). The source was active for 30 of 60 epochs and a linearly constrained minimum variance (LCMV) beamformer was used to produce a volumetric beamformer image of the change in power in the 0–300 ms, 0–80 Hz band in terms of a normalized difference (or pseudo-t) image [9] on a 10 mm grid. The beamformer has been described extensively [2], [3], [9], [10], and an abbreviated version is presented here.
The beamformer is simply a spatially filtered expression of the MEG sensor data.
where W is a vector of weighting coefficients and m(t) is the measurement vector at time t. To obtain the weighting coefficients, power is minimized over the covariance window subject to the constraint of unit gain at a specified coordinate θ:
where H is the forward solution for an equivalent current dipole (ECD) at coordinates and orientations specified by the vector θ. The solution to the equation is:
where C is the covariance matrix of the measurements calculated over the specified covariance window (Tcov). The 2 (i.e., single-sphere) or 3 (i.e., multiple spheres) orthogonally oriented components of W at each location can be estimated independently to produce a vector beamformer. In this case, we used a scalar beamformer in which optimal source orientation at each voxel was estimated through the method of Sekihara et al. [11]. A normalized source power estimate can be obtained over any test period (within the covariance window) through the estimation of the sensor level covariance matrix Ctest over this period, and an estimate of the sensor noise εtest (in this case, we used identity) matrix over this period:
We should note that in the experimental data analysis stage, we used the proprietary software (SAM) to analyze the data [9]. This computes separate covariances (and hence weights) for both active and passive periods. In the simulation stage, however, we computed a single covariance matrix (based on both active and passive periods), but as there was only white noise in the passive period, this should have marginal effect on the power difference calculation (see discussion).
Different participant groups were constructed by drawing 8 of these 10 images randomly twenty times. For each participant group, we used SnPM (multiple participant, one sample t-test, variance smoothing 25 mm) to identify significant (family wise error = 0.05) positive effects across the normalized power difference images. Using the peak clustering algorithm, we used the same data to look for clusters within the top 5 image peaks that were smaller than one would expect by chance (i.e., M = 5 peaks, N = 8 participants). For each simulated group, we compiled a list of the significant local maxima (p<0.05 corrected) in the SnPM images and a list of the centers of the peak-clusters deemed significant. We classed a hit as a peak/ellipse center closer than 20 mm to the initial MNI seed location and a miss to be any significant peak or ellipsoid center outside this range. The peaks were defined by local image maxima identified using the SPM function spm_max based on 18 neighbors. This means that two local maxima can be as close as a single (non-maximal) voxel apart.
Measuring Algorithm Performance: Experimental Data
We assessed the performance of our peak-clustering algorithm on experimental data. In our experiment, ten right-handed volunteers (Mean Age = 29.4 years, range = 20–36 years; 2 males) gave written informed consent following Aston University ethical guidelines and participated in the MEG study. The protocol was approved by the Aston University Institutional Review Board and complied with all guidelines expressed in the Declaration of Helsinki. Briefly, participants (N = 10) performed a superordinate-level categorization task on pictures of objects drawn from 3 living and 3 nonliving categories (see Figure 3). A total of 78 pictures were selected, half of which depicted a living object and half a nonliving object. Each picture was shown twice, half with a congruent label and half with an incongruent label. Therefore, a total of 156 trials were shown during the scan. The order of trial presentation was randomized across participants. We recorded neuromagnetic data at a 600 Hz sampling rate with a bandwidth of 0–150 Hz using a CTF 275 MEG system (VSM MedTech Ltd., Canada


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The Regionalist art movement reflects a distinct period in U.S. history, including the efforts by artists to define a uniquely American style. This concentration on a specific geography and culture would emanate, in its purest form, from the American Midwest of Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry, and Grant Wood. Regionalism and the Art of the WPA includes works by these and other artists who drew their inspiration from their immediate surroundings, both rural and urban. In a collaborative endeavor between GVSU and the Muskegon Museum of Art, the Art Gallery will host this exhibition of more than 40 works drawn from the MMA's collection. The collaboration is in conjunction with the MMA's hosting of 1934: A New Deal for Artists, organized and circulated by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., and scheduled in Muskegon for February 16 through May 6, 2012. A series of interdisciplinary programs are planned for students and the public at the GVSU Art Gallery, the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies, and the Muskegon Museum of Art.
Art Gallery, _PHONE_


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Creative Father's Day Card Kids' Activity
Why buy a ready-made Father's Day card when your child can make her own? Instead of going with a store-bought version, get personal (and crafty) and DIY one. Your child can create this easy-to-make card, and then add to it. Fill the inside of the card with a favorite poem that describes dad, a sweet sentiment or anything that your kiddo wants to add.
- Card stock paper
- Craft felt
- Clear-drying school glue
- Fold an 8×10-inch piece of card stock paper in half, from top to bottom. This creates a tent-like card.
- Draw bubble letters that read "DAD" onto the craft felt. If your child can't write the letters herself, write them for her and then ask her to trace over them.
- Cut the letters out.
- Glue the letters to the front of the card.
Here's where your child can get even more creative. She can draw around the "DAD" word on the front, designing a card that looks like nothing dad has ever seen before. She can draw a pattern, a rainbow of color blocks or anything else she wants.
After the glue has dried (and after your child has written a special message inside), put the card in an envelope and give it to that very deserving guy!


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Fran Díaz, the founder of Autofabricantes, has embarked on a mission to transform the prosthetics industry, with a particular focus on improving the lives of children who require prosthetic devices. He recognized a glaring issue in the industry before starting his venture: prosthetic devices were often one-size-fits-all, failing to account for individual preferences and specific needs. This oversight was compounded by the exorbitant costs associated with these devices, making them inaccessible to many. In Spain, for example, the price tag for a single prosthetic device was a staggering 20,000 euros or more. Autofabricantes was established to address these issues, using 3D printing technology to revolutionize the design and production of prostheses.
What sets Autofabricantes apart is not just the use of 3D printing technology, which has become more widespread, but their unique decision-making methodology. They make users, including children, an integral part of the design and production process. This user-centered approach results in prosthetic devices that are highly effective and personalized. While Autofabricantes has a team of professionals, including engineers, designers, and therapists, the true experts at the heart of their process are the individuals who will be using the prosthetics, whether they are children or adults. Furthermore, Autofabricantes makes their designs open-source, allowing people worldwide to access and download them.
An illustrative success story from Autofabricantes revolves around a shy young boy named Leo. When Leo visited the workshop, he was encouraged to participate in the design process by choosing the colors and features of his new prosthesis. The outcome was astonishing—Leo returned to school with newfound confidence, proudly showcasing his colorful and cheerful prosthetic hand to his classmates. This transformation in his sociability highlights the impact of personalized prosthetic solutions.
Fran Díaz's work extends beyond Spain, with projects initiated in Mexico and Colombia. In Colombia, Autofabricantes collaborated with NGOs and government organizations to address the needs of individuals affected by the armed conflict. They shared their expertise and collaborated with local groups to establish teams similar to the one in Madrid. These experiences informed their expansion efforts, leading to the establishment of permanent teams in Mexico and plans for further expansion in Uruguay. Autofabricantes also actively collaborates with community organizations, assisting them in conducting clinical studies and long-term assessments.
Autofabricantes has had a global impact, with their open-source designs being downloaded more than 3,000 times. Feedback and interest have poured in from diverse regions, including Asia, Latin America, and various parts of Africa. Autofabricantes encourages others to adopt their designs and principles to help even more individuals worldwide.
Looking ahead, Autofabricantes seeks to collaborate with public institutions, civil associations, and private sector groups to integrate their solutions into public health approaches, both in Spain and on a global scale. They also require funding for clinical research trials to support their ongoing development. Fran Díaz's grand vision for healthcare extends beyond prosthetics; he envisions a healthcare system where inclusivity and patient involvement in decision-making are the norm. To achieve this goal, he calls for public institutions to champion this new and inclusive vision, which has the potential to transform healthcare for the better.
Watch the video playlist below and visit Autofabricantes' website to learn more about them.


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Interpretive Summary: Ancient grains as novel dietary carbohydrate sources in canine diets
By Anne Zinn
Pets have become increasingly integrated into family life, which has led to the projection of human perceptions onto the pet food market. As a result of the popularity and novelty of ancient grains in the human market, they have become an increasingly abundant carbohydrate choice in pet food, but the research on the potential health effects of a high inclusion of the present ancient grains in pet food is limited.
A paper recently published in the Journal of Animal Science aimed to evaluate the effects of the novel carbohydrate sources on total apparent total tract digestibility, fecal microbiota, and fermentative end-product concentrations and to evaluate the effects of novel carbohydrate sources on the postprandial glycemic and insulinemic responses in healthy adult dogs. The research team hypothesized that the consumption of ancient grain-based diets would beneficially shift fermentative end products and fecal microbial populations and lower glycemic response with no detrimental effect on nutrient digestibility or the overall animal health.
Overall, results of the present study demonstrated that ancient grains, when utilized as the main carbohydrate source at relatively high inclusion levels, were well accepted and appropriate for adult dogs and did not indicate any detrimental effects on stool quality or macronutrient digestibility. Specifically, the dietary inclusion of amaranth and oat groats were beneficial in shifting fermentative end products indicative of a butyrogenic effect. Although oat groats did not significantly impact the postprandial glycemic or insulinemic responses in healthy dogs in this study, it can be implied from the present results that this ancient grain may benefit obese, insulin resistant, and/or diabetic dogs; this implication should be evaluated further.