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Photo by Luca Baggio
What Brings a World into Being?
Published in Commentary Magazine
Since their inception in the 17th century, the modern sciences have been given over to a majestic vision: there is nothing in nature but atoms and the void. This is hardly a new thought, of course; in the ancient world, it received its most memorable expression in Lucretius' On the Nature of Things. But it has been given contemporary resonance in theories — like general relativity and quantum mechanics — of terrifying (and inexplicable) power. If brought to a successful conclusion, the trajectory of this search would yield a single theory that would subsume all other theories and, in its scope and purity, would be our only necessary intellectual edifice.
In science, as in politics, the imperial destiny drives hard. If the effort to subordinate all aspects of experience to a single set of laws has often proved inconclusive, the scientific enterprise has also been involved in the search for universal ideas. One such idea is information.
Like energy, indeed, information has become ubiquitous as a commodity and, like energy, inescapable as an idea. The thesis that the human mind is nothing more than an information-processing device is now widely regarded as a fact. "Viewed at the most abstract level," the science writer George Johnson remarked recently in the New York Times, "both brains and computers operate the same way by translating phenomena–sounds, images, and so forth–into a code that can be stored and manipulated" (emphasis added). More generally, the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins has argued that life is itself fundamentally a river of information, an idea that has in large part also motivated the successful effort to decipher the human genome. Information is even said to encompass the elementary particles. "All the quarks and electrons in the cosmic wilds," Johnson writes, "are exchanging information each time they interact."
These assertions convey a current of intellectual optimism that it would be foolish to dismiss. Surely an idea capable of engaging so many distinct experiences must be immensely attractive. But it seems only yesterday that other compelling ideas urged their claims: chaos and nonlinear dynamics, catastrophe theory, game theory, evolutionary entropy, and various notions of complexity and self-organization.
The history of science resembles a collection of ghosts remembering that once they too were gods. With respect to information, a note of caution may well be in order if only because a note of caution is always in order.
If information casts a cold white light on the workings of the mind in general, it should certainly shed a little on the workings of language in particular.
The words and sentences of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, to take a suggestive example, have the power to bring a world into being. The beginning of the process is in plain sight. There are words on the printed page, and they make up a discrete, one-dimensional, linear progression. Discrete — there are no words between words (as there are fractions between fractions); one-dimensional — each word might well be specified by a single number; linear — as far as words go, it is one thing after another. The end of the process is in sight as well: a richly organized, continuous, three- (or four-) dimensional universe. Although that universe is imaginary, it is recognizably contiguous to our own.
Bringing a world into being is an act of creation. But bringing a world into being is also an activity that suggests, from the point of view of the sciences, that immemorial progression in which causes evoke various effects: connections achieved between material objects, or between the grand mathematical abstractions necessary to explain their behavior.
And therein lies a problem. Words are, indeed, material objects, or linked as abstractions to material objects. And as material objects, they have an inherent power to influence other material objects. But no informal account of what words do as material objects seems quite sufficient to explain what they do in provoking certain experiences and so in creating certain worlds.
In the case of Moby-Dick, the chemical composition of words on the printed page, their refractive index, their weight, their mass, and ultimately their nature as a swarm of elementary particles–all this surely plays some role in getting the reader sympathetically to see Captain Ahab and imaginatively suffer his fate. The relevant causal pathways pass from the printed ink to our eyes, a river of light then serving to staple the shape of various words to our tingling retinal nerves; thereafter our nervous system obligingly passes on those shapes in the form of various complicated electrical signals. This is completely a physical process, one that begins with physical causes and ends with physical effects.
And yet the experience of reading begins where those physical effects end. It is, after all, an experience, and the world that it reveals is imaginary. If purely physical causes are capable of creating imaginary worlds, it is not by means of any modality known to the physical sciences.
Just how do one set of discrete objects, subject to the constraints of a single dimension, give rise to a universe organized in completely different ways and according to completely different principles?
It is here that information makes its entrance. The human brain, the linguist Steven Pinker has argued in How the Mind Works, is a physical object existing among other physical objects. Ordinary causes in the world at large evoke their ordinary effects within the brain's complicated folds and creases. But the brain is, also, an information-processing device, an instrument designed by evolution for higher things.
It is the brain's capacity to process information that, writes Pinker, allows human beings to "see, think, feel, choose, and act." Reading is a special case of seeing, one in which information radiates from the printed page and thereafter transforms itself variously into various worlds.
So much for what information does–clearly, almost everything of interest. But what is it, and how does it manage to do what it does? Pinker's definition, although informal, is brisk and to the point. Information, he writes, "is a correlation between two things that is produced by a lawful process." Circles in a tree stump carry information about the tree's age; lines in the human face carry information about the injuries of time.
Words on the page also contain or express information, and as carriers of information they convey the stuff from one place to another, piggy-backed, as it were, on a stream of physical causes and their effects.
Why not? The digital computer is a device that brilliantly compels a variety of discrete artifacts to scuttle along various causal pathways, ultimately exploiting pulsed signals in order to get one thing to act upon another. But in addition to their physical properties, the symbols flawlessly manipulated by a digital computer are capable of carrying and so conveying information, transforming one information-rich stream, such as a data base of proper names, into another information-rich stream, such as those same names arranged in alphabetical order.
The human mind does as much, Pinker argues; indeed, what it does, it does in the same way. Just as the computer transforms one information stream into another, the human mind transforms one source of information–words on the printed page–into another–a world in which whalers pursue whales and the fog lowers itself ominously over the spreading sea.
Thus Pinker; thus almost everyone.
The Theory that gives the concept of information almost all of its content was created by the late mathematician Claude Shannon in 1948 and 1949. In it, the rich variety of human intercourse dwindles and disappears, replaced by an idealized system in which an information source sends signals to an information sink by means of a communication channel (such as a telephone line).
Communication, Shannon realized, gains traction on the real world by means of the firing pistons of tension and release. From far away, where the system has its source, messages are selected and then sent, one after the other–perhaps by means of binary digits. In the simplest possible set-up, symbols are limited to a single digit: 1, say. A binary digit may occupy one of two states (on or off). We who are tensed at the system's sink are uncertain whether 1 will erupt into phosphorescent life or the screen will remain blank. Let us assume that each outcome is equally likely. The signal is sent–and then received. Uncertainty collapses into blessed relief, the binary digit 1 emerging in a swarm of pixels. The exercise has conveyed one unit, or bit, of information. And with the definition of a unit in place, information has been added to the list of properties that are interesting because they are measurable.
The development of Shannon's theory proceeds toward certain deep theorems about coding channels, noise, and error-reduction. But the details pertinent to this discussion proceed in another direction altogether, where they promptly encounter a roadblock.
"Frequently," Shannon observes, "messages have meaning: that is, they refer to or are correlated according to some system with certain physical or conceptual entities." Indeed. Witness Moby-Dick, which is about a large white whale. For Shannon, however, these "semantic aspects of communication" take place in some other room, not the one where his theory holds court; they are, he writes with a touch of asperity, "irrelevant to the engineering problem." The significance of communication lies only with the fact that "the actual message is one selected from a set of possible messages"– this signal, and not some other.
Shannon's strictures are crucial. They have, however, frequently proved difficult to grasp. Thus, in explaining Shannon's theory, Richard Dawkins writes that "the sentence, 'It rained in Oxford every day this week,' carries relatively little information, because the receiver is not surprised by it. On the other hand, 'It rained in the Sahara every day this week' would be a message with high information content, well worth paying extra to send."
But this is to confuse a signal with what it signifies. Whether I am surprised by the sentence "It rained in the Sahara desert every day this week" depends only on my assessment of the source sending the signal. Shannon's theory makes no judgments whatsoever about the subjects treated by various signals and so establishes no connection whatsoever to events in the real world. It is entirely possible that whatever the weather in Oxford or the Sahara may be, a given source might send both sentences with equal probability. In that case, they would convey precisely the same information.
The roadblock now comes into view. Under ordinary circumstances, reading serves the end of placing one man's thoughts in contact with another man's mind. On being told that whales are not fish, Melville's readers have learned something about whales and so about fish. Their uncertainty, and so their intellectual tension, has its antecedent roots in facts about the world beyond the symbols they habitually encounter. For most English speakers, the Japanese translation of Moby-Dick, although conveying precisely the same information as the English version, remains unreadable and thus unavailing as a guide to the universe created by the book in English.
What we who have conceived an interest in reading have required is some idea of how the words and sentences of Moby-Dick compel a world into creation. And about this, Shannon's theory says nothing.
For readers, it is the connections that are crucial, for it is those connections themselves–the specific correlations between the words in Melville's novel and the world of large fish and demented whalers–that function as the load-bearing structures. Just how, then, are such connections established?
Apparently they just are.
If, in reading, every reader embodies a paradox, it is a paradox that in living he exemplifies as well. "Next to the brain," George Johnson remarks, "the most obvious biological information-processor is the genetic machinery of the cell."
The essential narrative is by now familiar. All living creatures divide themselves into their material constituents and an animating system of instruction and information. The plan is in effect wherever life is in command: both the reader and the bacterial cell are expressions of an ancestral text, their brief appearance on the stage serving in the grand scheme of things simply to convey its throbbing voice from one generation to another.
Within the compass of the cell itself, there are two molecular classes: the proteins, and the nucleic acids (DNA and RNA). Proteins have a precise three-dimensional shape, and resemble tight tensed knots. Their essential structure is nonetheless linear; when denatured and then stretched, the complicated jumble of a functional protein gracefully reveals a single filament, a kind of strand, punctuated by various amino acids, one after another.
DNA, on the other hand, is a double-stranded molecule, the two strands turned as a helix. Within the cell, DNA is wound in spools and so has its own complicated three-dimensional shape; but like the proteins, it also has an essentially linear nature. The elementary constituents of DNA are the four nucleotides, abbreviated as A, C, G, and T. The two strands of DNA are fastened to one another by means of struts, almost as if the strands were separate halves of a single ladder, and the struts gain purchase on these strands by virtue of the fact that certain nucleotides are attracted to one another by means of chemical affinities.
The structure of DNA as a double helix endows one molecule with two secrets. In replicating itself, the cell cleaves its double-stranded DNA. Each strand then reconstitutes itself by means of the same chemical affinities that held together the original strands. When replication has been concluded, there are two double-stranded DNA molecules where formerly there was only one, thus allowing life on the cellular level to pass from one generation to the next.
But if DNA is inherently capable of reproducing itself, it is also inherently capable of conveying the linear order of its nucleotides to the cell's amino acids. In these respects, DNA functions as a template or pattern. The mechanism is astonishingly complex, requiring intermediaries and a host of specialized enzymes to act in concert. But whatever the details, the central dogma of molecular biology is straight as an arrow. The order of nucleotides within DNA is read by the cell and then expressed in its proteins.
Read by the cell? Apparently so. The metaphor is inescapable, and so hardly a metaphor. As the DNA is read, proteins form in its wake, charged with carrying on the turbulent affairs of the cell itself. It was an imaginary reader, nose deep in Melville's great novel, who suggested the distinction between what words do as material causes and what they achieve as symbols. The same distinction recurs in biology. Like words upon the printed page, DNA functions in any number of causal pathways, the tic of its triplets inducing certain biochemical changes and suppressing others.
And this prompts what lawyers call a leading question. We quite know what DNA is: it is a macromolecule and so a material object. We quite know what it achieves: apparently everything. Are the two sides of this equation in balance?
The cell is, after all, a living system. It partakes of all the mysteries of life. The bacterium escherichia coli, for example, contains roughly 2,000 separate proteins, and every one of them is mad with purpose and busy beyond belief. Eucaryotic cells, which contain a nucleus, are more complicated still. Chemicals cross the cell membrane on a tight schedule, consult with other chemicals, undertake their work, and are then capped in cylinders, degraded and unceremoniously ejected from the cell. Dozens of separate biochemical systems act independently, their coordination finely orchestrated by various signaling systems. Enzymes prompt chemical reactions to commence and, work done, cause them to stop as well. The cell moves forward in time, functional in its nature, continuous in its operations.
Explaining all this by appealing to the causal powers of a single molecule involves a disturbing division of attention, rather as if a cathedral were seen suddenly to rise from the head of a carrot. Nonetheless, many biologists, on seeing the carrot, are persuaded that they can discern the steps leading to the cathedral. Their claim is often presented as a fact in the textbooks. The difficulty is just that, while the carrot–DNA, when all is said and done–remains in plain sight, subsequent steps leading to the cathedral would seem either to empty in a computational wilderness or to gutter out in an endless series of inconclusive causal pathways.
First, the computational wilderness. Proteins appear in living systems in a variety of three-dimensional shapes. Their configuration is crucial to their function and so to the role they play in the cell. The beginning of a causal process is once again in plain sight–the linear order expressed by a protein's amino acids. And so, too, is the end–a specific three-dimensional shape. It is the mechanism in the middle that is baffling.
Within the cell, most proteins fold themselves into their proper configuration within seconds. Folding commences as the protein itself is being formed, the head of an amino-acid chain apparently knowing its own tail. Some proteins fold entirely on their own; others require molecular chaperones to block certain intermediate configurations and encourage others. Just how a protein manages to organize itself in space, using only the sequence of its own amino acids, remains a mystery, perhaps the deepest in computational biology.
Mathematicians and computer scientists have endeavored to develop powerful algorithms in order to predict the three-dimensional configuration of a given protein. The most successful of these algorithms gobble the computer's time and waste prodigally its power. To little effect. Protein-folding remains a mystery.
Just recently, IBM announced the formation of a new division, intended to supply computational assistance to the biological community. A supercomputer named Blue Gene is under development. Operating at processing speeds 100 times faster than existing supercomputers, the monster will be dedicated largely to the problem of protein folding.
The size of the project is a nice measure of the depth of our ignorance. The slime mold has been slithering since time immemorial, its proteins folding themselves for just as long. No one believes that the slime mold accomplishes this by means of supercomputing firepower. The cell is not obviously an algorithm, and a simulation, needless to say, is not obviously an explanation. Whatever else the cell may be doing, it is not using Monte Carlo methods or consulting genetic algorithms in order to fold its proteins into their proper shape. The requisite steps are chemical. No other causal modality is available to the cell.
If these chemical steps were understood, simulations would be easy to execute. The scope of the research efforts devoted to simulation suggests that the opposite is the case: simulations are difficult to achieve, and the requisite chemical steps are poorly understood.
If computations are for the moment intractable, every analysis of the relevant causal pathways is for the moment inconclusive.
As they are unfolding, proteins trigger an "unfolding protein response," one that alerts an "intracellular signaling system" of things to come. It is this system that in turn "senses" when unfolded proteins accumulate. The signal sent, the signaling system responds by activating the transcription of still other genes that provide assistance to the protein struggling to find its correct three-dimensional shape. Each step in the causal analysis suggests another to come.
But no matter the causal pathways initiated by DNA, some overall feature of living systems seems stubbornly to lie beyond their reach. Signaling systems must themselves be regulated, their activities timed. If unfolding proteins require chaperones, these must make their appearance in the proper place; their formation requires energy, and so, too, do their degradation and ejection from the cell. Like the organism of which it is a part, the cell has striking global properties. It is alive.
Our own experience with complex dynamical systems, such as armies in action (or integrated microchips), suggests that in this regard command and coordination are crucial. The cell requires what one biologist has called a "supreme controlling and coordinating power." But if there is such a supreme system, biologists have not found it. The analysis of living systems is, to be sure, a science still in its infancy. My point, however, is otherwise, and it is general.
Considered strictly as a material object, DNA falls under the descriptive powers of biochemistry, its causal pathways bounded by chemical principles. Chemical actions are combinatorial in nature, and local in their effect. Chemicals affect chemicals within the cell by means of various weak affinities. There is no action at a distance. The various chemical affinities are essentially arrangements in which molecules exchange their parts irenically or like seaweed fronds drift close and then hold fast.
But command, control, and coordination, if achieved by the cell, would represent a phenomenon incompatible with its chemical activities. A "supreme controlling and coordinating power" would require a device receiving signals from every part of the cell and sending its own universally understood signals in turn. It would require, as well, a universal clock, one that keeps time globally, and a universal memory, one that operates throughout the cell. There is no trace of these items within the cell.
Absent these items, it follows that the cell quite plainly has the ability to organize itself from itself, its constituents bringing order out of chaos on their own, like a very intricate ballet achieved without a choreographer. And what holds for the cell must hold as well for the creatures of which cells are a part. One biologist has chosen to explain a mystery by describing it as a fact. "Organisms," he writes, "from daisies to humans, are naturally endowed with a remarkable property, an ability to make themselves."
Naturally endowed?
Just recently, the biologist Evelyn Fox Keller has tentatively endorsed this view. The system of control and coordination that animates the cell, she observes in The Century of the Gene, "consists of, and lives in, the interactive complex made up of genomic structures and the vast network of cellular machinery in which those structures are embedded." This may well be so. It is also unprecedented in our experience.
We have no insight into such systems. No mathematical theory predicts their existence or explains their properties. How, then, do a variety of purely local chemical reactions manage to achieve an overall and global mode of functioning?
Information now makes its second appearance as an analytic tool. DNA is a molecule–that much is certain. But it is also, molecular biologists often affirm, a library, a blueprint, a code, a program, or an algorithm, and as such it is quivering with information that it is just dying to be put to good use. As a molecule, DNA does what molecules do; but in its secondary incarnation as something else, DNA achieves command of the cell and controls its development.
A dialogue first encountered on the level of matter (DNA as a molecule and nothing more) now reappears on the level of metaphor (DNA as an information source). Once again we know what DNA is like, and we know what it does: apparently everything. And the question recurs: are the sides of this equation in balance?
Unfortunately, we do not know and cannot tell.
Richard Dawkins illustrates what is at issue by means of a thought experiment. "We have an intuitive sense," he writes,
that a lobster, say, is more complex (more "advanced," some might even say more "highly evolved") than another animal, perhaps a millipede. Can we measure something in order to confirm or deny our intuition? Without literally turning it into bits, we can make an approximate estimation of the information contents [emphasis added] of the two bodies as follows. Imagine writing a book describing the lobster. Now write another book describing the millipede down to the same level of detail. Divide the word-count in one book by the word-count in the other, and you have an approximate estimate of the relative information content of lobster and millipede.
These statements have the happy effect of enforcing an impression of quantitative discipline on what until now have been a series of disorderly concepts. Things are being measured, and that is always a good sign. The comparison of one book to another makes sense, of course. Books are made up of words the way computer programs are made up of binary digits, and words and binary digits may both be counted.
It is the connection outward, from these books or programs to the creatures they describe, that remains problematic. What level of detail is required? In the case of a lobster, a very short book comprising the words "Yo, a lobster" is clearly not what Dawkins has in mind. But adding detail to a description–and thus length–is an exercise without end; descriptions by their very nature form an infinitely descending series.
Information is entirely a static concept, and we know of no laws of nature that would tie it to other quantitative properties. Still, if we cannot answer the question precisely, then perhaps it might be answered partially by saying that we have reached the right level of descriptive detail when the information in the book–that is, the lobster's DNA–is roughly of the same order of magnitude as the information latent in everything that a lobster is and does. This would at least tell us that the job at hand–constructing a lobster–is doable insofar as information plays a role in getting anything done.
Some biologists, including John Maynard Smith, have indeed argued that the information latent in a lobster's DNA must be commensurate with the information latent in the lobster itself. How otherwise could the lobster get on with the business at hand? But this easy response assumes precisely what is at issue, namely that it is by means of information that the lobster gets going in the first place. Skeptics such as ourselves require a direct measurement, a comparison between the information resident in the lobster's DNA and the information resident in the lobster itself. Nothing less will do.
DNA is a linear string. So far, so good. And strings are well-defined objects. There is thus no problem in principle in measuring their information. It is there for the asking and reckoned in bits. But what on earth is one to count in the case of the lobster? A lobster is not discrete; it is not made of linear symbols; and it occupies three or four dimensions and not one. Two measurements are thus needed, but only one is obviously forthcoming.
The unhappy fact is that we have in general no noncircular way of specifying the information in any three- (or four-) dimensional object except by an appeal to the information by which it is generated. But this appeal makes literal sense only when strings or items like strings are in concourse. The request for a direct comparison between what the lobster has to go on–its DNA–and what it is–a living lobster–ends with only one measurement in place, the other left dangling like a mountain climber's rope.
We are thus returned to our original question: how do symbols–words, strings, DNA–bring a world into being?
Apparently they just do.
One might hope that in one discipline, at least, the situation might be different. Within the austere confines of mathematical physics, where a few pregnant symbols command the flux of space and time, information as an idea might come into its own at last.
The laws of physics have a peculiar role to play in the economy of the sciences, one that goes beyond anything observed in psychology or biology. They lie at the bottom of the grand scheme, comprising principles that are not only fundamental but irreducible. They must provide an explanation for the behavior of matter in all of its modes, and so they must explain the emergence as well as the organization of material objects. If not, then plainly they would not explain the behavior of matter in all of its modes, and, in particular, they would not explain its existence.
This requirement has initiated a curious contemporary exercise. Current cosmology suggests that the universe began with a big bang, erupting from nothing whatsoever 15 billion years ago. Plainly, the creation of something from nothing cannot be explained in terms of the behavior of material objects. This circumstance has prompted some physicists to assign a causative role to the laws of physics themselves.
The inference, indeed, is inescapable. For what else is there? "It is hard to resist the impression," writes the physicist Paul Davies, "of something–some influence capable of transcending space-time and the confinements of relativistic causality–possessing an overview of the entire cosmos at the instant of its creation, and manipulating all the causally disconnected parts to go bang with almost exactly the same vigor at the same time."
More than one philosopher has drawn a correlative conclusion: that, in this regard, the fundamental laws of physics enjoy attributes traditionally assigned to a deity. They are, in the words of Mary Hesse, "universal and eternal, comprehensive without exception (omnipotent), independent of knowledge (absolute), and encompassing all possible knowledge (omniscient)."
If this is so, the fundamental laws of physics cannot themselves be construed in material terms. They lie beyond the system of causal influences that they explain. And in this sense, the information resident in those causal laws is richer–it is more abundant–than the information resident in the universe itself. Having composed one book describing the universe to the last detail, a physicist, on subtracting that book from the fundamental laws of physics, would rest with a positive remainder, the additional information being whatever is needed to bring the universe into existence.
We are now at the very limits of the plausible. Contemporary cosmology is a subject as speculative as scholastic theology, and physicists who find themselves irresistibly drawn to the very largest of its intellectual issues are ruefully aware that they have disengaged themselves from any evidential tether, however loose. Nevertheless, these flights of fancy serve a very useful purpose. In the image of the laws of nature zestfully wrestling a universe into existence, one sees a peculiarly naked form of information–naked because it has been severed from every possibility of a material connection. Stripped of its connection to a world that does not yet exist, the information latent in the laws of physics is nonetheless capable of doing something, by bringing the universe into being.
A novel brings a world into creation; a complicated molecule an organism. But these are the low taverns of thought. It is only when information is assigned the power to bring something into existence from nothing whatsoever that its essentially magical nature is revealed. And contemplating magic on this scale prompts a final question. Just how did the information latent in the fundamental laws of physics unfold itself to become a world?
Apparently it just did.
Writer, Thinker, Raconteur, and Senior Fellow, Discovery Institute
David Berlinski received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University and was later a postdoctoral fellow in mathematics and molecular biology at Columbia University. He is currently a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. Dr. Berlinski has authored works on systems analysis, differential topology, theoretical biology, analytic philosophy, and the philosophy of mathematics, as well as three novels. He has also taught philosophy, mathematics and English at such universities as Stanford, Rutgers, the City University of New York and the Universite de Paris. In addition, he has held research fellowships at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria and the Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques (IHES) in France.
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Darwinism
Proceeding's summation by then sitting board member Robert P. George: "Authentic education plainly requires fair consideration of all reasonable points of view. It is disturbing that there are efforts to exclude from the curriculum responsible criticism of Darwinism. There is nothing to be …
Fruitful Interchange or Polite Chitchat?
The demand that epistemic support be explicated as rational compulsion has consistently undermined the dialogue between theology and science. Rational compulsion entails too restrictive a form of epistemic support for most scientific theorizing, let alone interdisciplinary dialogue. This essay presents a less restrictive form of epistemic support, explicated not as rational compulsion but as explanatory power. Once this notion of epistemic support is developed, a genuinely productive interdisciplinary dialogue between theology and science becomes possible. This essay closes by sketching how the Big Bang model from cosmology and the Christian doctrine of Creation can be viewed as supporting each other.


As per the invites sent by LG earlier, the speculations were made that the company will be launching LG V30 on August 31st this year, but nothing could be said with surety as no name was mentioned on the invite.
Today, the company has cleared that doubt also. The company has sent out new invites and this time by mentioning the name of the device, of course, LG V30 on the invites which is soon going to be released on August 31. The image does not give any thing major about the features of the device but gave us a hint about the camera by saying 'Lights. Camera. Action' in the center.
As far as camera section is concerned, no major leak has surfaced. Though the phone will be having dual camera set-up on the rear with the V30 also featuring laser-assisted autofocus. It is also said that the V30 will be having bezels that are even thinner than the LG G6's.
As per previous leaks, some features which can be extracted include the display of the LG V30 which might be of around 6-inches with dimensions 151.4×75.2×7.4mm. Under the hood, the smartphone will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC and it also packs a 3200mAh battery. Coming to the storage part, the phone will be tipped with 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB storage capacities. LG V30 carries the codename 'Project Joan' and might come with Android 7.0 or higher.
The more details will be surfaced with the model coming on the surface. Stay tuned for more information about upcoming smartphones.


A truly fantastic film that is far too often forgotten about. Stephen Spielberg has had such a successful career that a film like 1941 tends to get lost in the mix. This film is fast, funny, and star studded. The only problem is that this day in age the typical viewer would probably need a history lesson to really appreciate most of the humor in the film. The film plays off the fear and pandemonium that struck California following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In reality this wasn't something that was very funny, but over 30 years later it was something everyone was ready to laugh at. This film has great roles performed by John Belushi, Dan Akroyd, Slim Pickens, Christopher Lee, John Candy, and Tim Matheson. My personal favorite scene in the movie is when the Japanese force, made up of descendants of "ninja assassins," invades the mainland and encounter the Slim Pickens character Hollis Wood. The Japanese look so goofy dressed as Christmas trees and Slim Pickens steals the scene.
Stephen Spielberg has been making hits for over 30 years now, he is still one of the greatest filmmakers in Hollywood. 1941 is a great movie and it's really funny, but honestly it is low on the totem pole of many great Spielberg films. When you are great at what you do it isn't hard to amass a career full of fantastic films. When your resume lists titles like Jaws, Indiana Jones, E.T., Jurassic Park, and Saving Private Ryan a comedy about a time period people are starting to forget just doesn't measure up in the eyes of some. I still love the film and encourage anybody who has the opportunity to see it.
I had a tough and long week you guys. I'll be honest, I fell asleep during this flick. However, this is what I will say about this film. It has all of the elements for a great comedy, Dan Akroyd, John Candy (I miss you), John Belushi, however this film's comedy is outdated. By 2011 all of it has been seen before. It has it's moments like the scene where the Japanese dress up like trees and try to blend into the scenery while Hollis Wood is trying to cut them down. I laugh every time at that scene. However, this movie goes on and on and on. I know this post is short, but like I said I fell asleep, that may say something about the movie, or my week…you decide. It is still worth seeing if you haven't ever watched it before.


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Koss Corporation  je americká společnost, zabývající se navrhováním a výrobou sluchátek.

Historie firmy Koss
John C. Koss založil firmu J. C. Koss Hospital Television Rental Company v roce 1953. Ve městě Milwaukee (Wisconsin, USA) se nejprve zabýval pronájmem televizí nemocnicím. Nadšený hudebník a člen orchestru se brzy soustředil na nové možnosti a pronikl do hi-fi průmyslu. Jeho obchodním partnerem se stal Martin Lange a společně se pustili do vzniku gramofonu 390. Představen byl na hi-fi show v Milwaukee společně s párem leteckých sluchátek. Od této doby se firma Koss nasměrovala k vyrábění sluchátek.

Šedesátá léta 20. století – Koss Stereophones si oblíbili mnozí známí hudebníci, mezi jinými Mel Torme či Tony Bennett. Profesionální svět se nadchl pro zvuk Koss sluchátek. Ve slavné éře The Beatles vznikají Koss Beatlephone. Mají mušle s obrázky slavné hudební skupiny. Roku 1969 se Koss sluchátka objevují v letadle Air Force One během cesty prezidenta Richarda Nixona.

Roku 1970 se firma Koss stěhuje do větších prostor, kde sídlí i v současné době. Sedmdesátá léta 20. století jsou časem pro vznik co nejdokonalejšího zvuku, o to se pokouší vývojové laboratoře firmy Koss. Nová montážní linka rozšiřuje výrobu.

Roku 1972 byla použita první velkoplošná reklama v Milwaukee, která se postupně rozšiřuje i do dalších velkých amerických měst. Sláva zvuku Koss neustále roste. Roku 1973 se Koss účastní veřejného výstavního salónu elektroniky a ve stánku se mohou návštěvníci dostat k přímému poslechu. Od roku 1977 se již Koss ocitá na prahu nové světové éry pro svůj kvalitní přenos zvuku.

V roce 1991 začala firma Koss Audio & Video Electronics vyrábět a prodávat elektronické výrobky v oddělené společnosti ve městě Hazelwood (Missouri, USA). Rodina Kossů vlastní více než 75 % firmy.

Další historické mezníky firmy Koss
1982 – Koss sponzoruje zřízení centra pro výzkum a léčbu sluchu na lékařské univerzitě ve státu Wisconsin
1986 – Představena komfortní infračervená bezdrátová sluchátka JCK/200
1989 – Americké symfonické orchestry hodnotí Koss nejvyšší známkou kvality v nahrávacích studiích
Červenec 1989 – Koss vyhlašuje doživotní záruku  na veškeré své výrobky

Druhy sluchátek Koss
Společnost Koss vyrábí mnoho druhů sluchátek, mezi něž patří také níže uvedené. Některé druhy se již nevyrábějí.

Sluchátka SP-3
Montování sluchátek SP-3 začalo v říjnu 1958. Šlo o svého druhu první na světě v hi-fi kvalitě a fanoušci si přivykli na označení "zvuk Koss".

Sluchátka ESP/950
Objevují se na trhu v 90. letech 20. století a jde o elektrostatická sluchátka

Sluchátka QZ/100
Díky aktivnímu systému umí potlačit vnější šumy. Slyšitelnost je naprosto vynikající a bez cizích zvuků.

Koss KSC/35
Sportovní sluchátka nevyžadující hlavový most. Díky speciálním držákům se zasunou za uši a sluchadlo je tedy velmi pohodlné při pohybu.

Koss Porta Pro
Koss Porta Pro jsou jedny z nejpopulárnějších sluchátek současnosti od společnosti Koss, dobře známé i v České republice. Unikátní design byl poprvé navržený v roce 1984  a od té doby se nezměnil.

Mezi populární současné modely sluchátek Koss patří také iSpark, The Plug, UR/20, KSC75 a další.

Typy sluchátek Koss
Různá sluchátka slouží k různým účelům. Zde je výpis různých typů sluchátek Koss podle stránek českého distributora.

Profi sluchátka
Špičkové modely pro práci ve studiu, na pódiu, pro DJ, pro zatlumení v náročnějším provozu a druhy pro call centra. Profi druhy nabízí uzavřené nebo skoro uzavřené mušle. Pro své využití se vyznačují vysokou odolností, dobře izolují od okolního prostředí.

Domácí sluchátka
Nápadité moderní designy, retro styl i druhy v barevném provedení. Zahrnují miniaturní uzavřená sluchátka, s velkou mušlí, koženkovými náušníky, polouzavřená i otevřená sluchátka.
I v levnějších variantách můžete počítat s přijatelným zvukem, který jde regulovat. Některé druhy se dají skládat. Vhodné na cesty a na doma.

Přenosná sluchátka
S uchycením do uší, za uši, s týlním mostem, přes hlavu. Do této kategorie zapadají legendární Koss Porta Pro, dodávané již od roku 1984 v nezměněné podobě. Jsou charakteristické silnými basy, což vyhovuje při poslouchání rockové a elektronické hudby.

Komunikace
Sluchátka Koss využijete k počítači, kde díky mikrofonu můžete bez problémů telefonovat. Využijete je i při hraní her a při poslechu hudby.

Reference

Externí odkazy

Americké firmy

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
30 day squat challenge: It can transform your body - but be aware of the risks
Some say it's a good way to get into a fitness regime, others are more cautious
Max ChannonLive and Trending Editor
Never miss a big story in Plymouth again with our daily newsletters
There's a 'new' fitness challenge in town - and it's one that put you on the path to fitness and transform your body.
And, even better, it's one everyone can do in the comfort of their own home.
With the workout, you can go from sloppy coach potato to ripe and ready fitness fanatic in just four weeks, reports The Mirror.
However, some fitness experts dissuade fad workouts like this saying challenges such as these can be counterproductive in the long run.
One of those is owner and lead trainer at London gym Reach Fitness, who told Mirror Online that workout challenges can be tricky (more on this at the bottom of this article).
Simply, you can do yourself an injury, or complete the task and then jump straight out of your new-found health drive, safe in the knowledge that you've already achieved something and seen success.
The benefit of the 30 day squat challenge
With the 30 day squat challenge, no weights are involved – so for many it's a stepping stone towards seeing a more active lifestyle. It takes little time out of your day. It's also not too difficult, while still being hard work.
The challenge works almost every muscle in your lower body. It works big muscle groups like the quads, hamstrings, and glutes.
This is important – it burns a lot of fat, and builds muscle, so your metabolism is boosted.
The squat also improves your core strength by strengthening the muscles around your stomach and lower back, as Coach Mag explains.
If you're dreaming of owning a six-pack one day, firming up these other muscles with squats is a positive first step.
People often think they just need to do ab workouts to get great abs. This is false. You need to work on everything else and the abs will come.
There are other benefits.
Wearing sunglasses while driving could land you with a fine - and so could NOT wearing sunglasses
"If you want more power and speed in your legs, and increased resistance to injury, you should be squatting regularly," reports fitness man Joel Snape.
Keira Carter, from Fitness mag, added: "When it comes to butt-sculpting moves, there's no better, more efficient exercise than the squat. Seriously.
"This exercise targets not only your glutes, but your thighs and core. Follow this plan along with your typical workout (even on running or lower-body days)."
Stand with your feet hip-width apart, point your toes forward, hold your chin up and brace your core
Hold your arms out in front of you, or by your sides – just don't put them on your legs.
Lower yourself until your thighs are parallel to the ground – it's like sitting down on an invisible chair.
Go as low as you can to ensure it's a legitimate rep (without falling over!)
Here is the format for the challenge. If you need to take a breather in between sets, carry on. Just work as hard as you can and you'll get there.
Dengue fever carrying Asian Tiger mosquitoes poised to invade UK, warns pest association
And hey, you're not restricted to one month. If you struggle through the first, go again – soon you'll be a pro and you can add on weight.
30 day squat challenge
Numbers indicate reps:
Day 1 – 50
Day 4 – Rest
That's week one done. Congratulations. You'll notice just one rest day, but these increase incrementally.
Day 9 – 100
Day 10 – 105
Day 12 – Rest
Week two done. Hurrah. You're getting high in the numbers now.
Three weeks of squats down. You should be seeing some real changes. And feeling good.
Not long now...
Done! Again?
After the challenge, it's good to keep going. Not with the regime proper, but with squats twice a week.
To take it to the next level, hit the gym and introduce weights. Start small and talk to the trainers there for advice on taking things up a notch.
The 11 things it is now illegal for your partner to do to you
As with all exercises and fitness plans, eating the right foods should also play a key role. There's no point doing squats if you're going to gorge on McDonald's every day. Though, of course, everything in moderation is fine.
Reasons to talk to a trainer first
We mentioned above challenges might need careful thought. All exercise is good – but do be aware of the risks.
Fitness expert Kathleen Trotter told the Globe and Mail : "I am not a huge fan of any of the 30-day challenges.
"With the squat challenge, you start by doing 50 repetitions. After 30 days, you are expected to complete 250 squats in one workout. Most newbie lifters, and even some seasoned lifters, can barely do 10 squats with perfect form, let alone over 50-plus.
Aldi shoppers want Government to make supermarket's checkout staff slow down
"This may sound counterintuitive, but to achieve your goals you are better off doing fewer squats, but being sure you do them properly.
"Basically, when trying to adopt a healthier lifestyle you need to think big picture. You need to sit less, become more mindful of your daily health habits, improve your nutrition and move more."
Download the Plymouth Live app
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It means you can get the news which matters to you faster than ever before - and all the breaking news before anyone else.
It's fast, free and light on adverts. Discover our full range news and features from the area including the latest on Argyle, sport, business, news where you live, weather and what's on.
Just one quick download and you can read our content on the move without being online.
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Find out more about the app here.
Plymouth Live has also launched a WhatsApp group for breaking news alerts, keeping you up to date with all the major incidents and traffic and travel news as it happens in Plymouth. Click here to join. Your number won't be shared with anyone else in the group. If you want more information on signing up, or if this link doesn't work, click here.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Background Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a non-obligate precursor lesion of invasive breast cancer in which approximately half the individuals will progress to invasive malignancy. between human breast CAFs and human being DCIS cells in 3D over time. We specifically inhibited autocrine and paracrine IL-6 signaling to determine its contribution to early stage tumor progression. Results Here DCIS cells created multicellular constructions that exhibited improved proliferation and migration when cultured with CAFs. Treatment with an IL-6 neutralizing antibody inhibited growth and migration of the multicellular constructions. Moreover selective knockdown of IL-6 in CAFs but not in DCIS cells abrogated the migratory phenotype. Summary Our results suggest that paracrine Hyperforin (solution in Ethanol) IL-6 signaling between preinvasive DCIS cells and stromal CAFs represent a key point in the initiation of DCIS progression to invasive breast carcinoma. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-015-1576-3) contains supplementary material which is available to authorized users. and the connected pro-inflammatory genes and (was upregulated 2-collapse in the treated ethnicities. The manifestation of was downregulated greater than 2-fold while minimal changes were observed in the manifestation of (Fig.?2e). To test whether pharmacological suppression of IL-6 could reproduce IL-6 nAb mediated growth inhibition we treated Nrp2 cells with oxymatrine a naturally happening inhibitor of IL-6 gene manifestation. Oxymatrine has been shown to prevent nuclear translocation of NFκB-p65 therefore inhibiting transcriptional activation of its target genes which include IL-6 . Oxymatrine treatment was able to replicate the growth inhibitory effects observed with IL-6 nAb (Additional file 4: Number S2B cf. S2A quantified in S2C). Neither oxymatrine nor IL-6 nAb treatment resulted in marked cell death as cytotoxicity assays showed no difference in cell viability after 48-hour drug treatment (Additional file 4: Number S2D). Carcinoma-associated fibroblasts communicate IL-6 and promote DCIS cell proliferation and motility CAFs represent a populace or group of populations of stromal cells that can promote tumor cell Hyperforin (solution in Ethanol) growth [14 45 The mechanism of supported tumor growth is likely through stromal-epithelial paracrine signaling. Consequently we next evaluated human breast CAFs Hyperforin (solution in Ethanol) to determine their contribution of IL-6 in the tumor microenvironment. Additionally we examined the part that CAFs play in MCF10. DCIS cell proliferation and motility in the Hyperforin (solution in Ethanol) 3D MAME model. We examined the manifestation of mRNA in normal human being fibroblasts and CAFs produced in 3D. Here we found that CAFs exhibited elevated manifestation of mRNA compared to normal fibroblasts (Fig.?3a). Protein levels Hyperforin (solution in Ethanol) of IL-6 in FB-NF-i normal fibroblast lysates were near the lower limit of detection and undetectable in NAF-FB or NAF98i lysates. IL-6 levels in CAF40TKi lysates were significantly higher than in FB-NF-i lysates (Fig.?3b). Levels of IL-6 in CAF-conditioned press were higher than in normal fibroblast-conditioned press (Fig.?3c). Fig. 3 Carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) have high manifestation of IL-6 and promote MCF10.DCIS growth. a Manifestation of IL-6 mRNA in three CAF cell lines (FB-CAF CAF40TKi WS12Ti) and three normal fibroblast cell lines (NAF-FB FB-NF-Ki NAF-98i) (Collapse difference … We next co-cultured MCF10.DCIS cells with CAFs in 3D at a seeding percentage of five tumor cells to one CAF  to evaluate the effect of CAF-secreted cytokines on DCIS cell proliferation and related changes in morphology of multicellular constructions. We found that in MCF10.DCIS:CAF40TKi co-cultures there was an increase in the average diameter and volume of the multicellular structures and a prominent formation of branch-like Hyperforin (solution in Ethanol) interconnections between the structures (Fig.?3e cf. ?cf.3d 3 quantified in Additional file 5: Number S3A). Fluorescent imaging of MCF10.DCIS:CAF40TKi 3D co-cultures revealed the branch-like multicellular connections between structures were primarily composed of tumor cells yet contained some CAFs (Additional file 5: Number S3B and Additional file 6: Video S1). We also observed that CAFs induced an increased rate of proliferation in MCF10.DCIS cells. Using a thymidine analog to evaluate the pace of DNA synthesis we observed that co-cultures experienced a consistently higher rate of DNA synthesis than CAFs only or DCIS cells only (Additional file 7: Number S4A-D). CAF and DCIS co-culture using a slower growing DCIS cell collection i.e. SUM102 also resulted in changes in.


IMPORTANT: You need a newer claws-mail and inkscape for it to work!!!
What it does: at the moment it converts your selfcolored Humanities icontheme and converts it to png for claws-mail (Humanities for MagIcons can be found here: http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Humanity-Colors?content=117230, the second download-link).
After conversion you simply have to restart claws and can easily select your new icon-theme.


"Beautiful Disaster" is raw, real, and reader-centered.
'Rescuing The Prince' is a hidden gem! A fairy tale in the modern world where princesses don't need to be rescued.
It's with great pleasure I have today Natalie Johanson, the talented author of Shadow's Voice, the first of what will become a trilogy. If you want to know more about Natalie's inspiration and this magical book, check this interview.
I'm really excited to introduce you to my guest today, D.J. Williams. His previous novels, The Disillusioned and Waking Lazarus, garnered praise from Hollywood's elite, and his latest novel, The Auctioneer, is now available to pre-order.
'An Anonymous Girl' was twisted, intriguing, and thought-provoking – all in one. Such a page-turner that I couldn't put this book down for anything.
'Too Close' is a psychological thriller that got me hooked from the very beginning. In fact, I'm going to give it 5 stars even though it's not perfect (but as we all know, perfection is impossible to achieve).
Nya, real name Ana. I'm a reader, a writer, a designer, and I blog for fun – so bear with me!
I love mystery & thrillers, romance, sci-fi, fantasy, and non-fiction as well. A little bit of everything, really, depending on my mood.


text:
Possible plagiarism in DNA Chief Prosecutor's doctoral thesis, under scrutiny again
September 29, 2016 September 29, 2016 272
*PSD MP Sebastian Ghita denounced himself at the Prosecutor's Office: "I took part in falsifying the special examination report on Codruta Kovesi's doctoral thesis."
The possible existence of plagiarism in National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) Chief Prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi's doctoral thesis is the topic that has sparked a firestorm in the public space, after PSD Lower Chamber lawmaker Sebastian Ghita filed a denunciation at the General Prosecutor's Office on Tuesday. In it, he claims that along with several state officials he took part in falsifying the special examination report on Chief Prosecutor Kovesi's doctoral thesis.
"I've decided to show up at the General Prosecutor's Office and do something that weighs heavily on me and I believe this is the reason for all that has happened to me in the past two years. I came to file a denunciation which concerns the way in which I and several state officials took part in falsifying the special examination report on Laura Codruta Kovesi's doctoral thesis," Lower Chamber lawmaker Sebastian Ghita stated when arriving at the General Prosecutor's Office.
The lawmaker claims that the DNA Chief Prosecutor knew about it.
"The moment the issue concerning Laura Codruta Kovesi plagiarising her doctoral thesis was raised, in order to protect her at that moment, because we all thought she was doing Romania good, we took the decision for that report, on whose basis the ministry's council decided that the thesis was not plagiarised, we took the decision to change it, to falsify it. Several state officials and I. She [Laura Codruta Kovesi] knew what we were doing. (…) That commission did nothing and that report came out and said that Laura Codruta Kovesi's thesis was not plagiarised and I can tell you that the commission never convened and the report was written at the Romanian Government," Sebastian Ghita added.
The Education Ministry's Legal Directorate approved, in October 2012, the National Ethics Council's (CNE) decision according to which Laura Codruta Kovesi did not plagiarise her doctoral thesis.
CNE's members analysed a notification filed on 25 May 2012 by the Political Investigations Group, as well as the information, data, documents and evidence at hand, noting that Laura Codruta Kovesi's thesis observed all academic and scientific research norms.
CNE's experts established, on 27 July 2012, that General Prosecutor Codruta Kovesi did not plagiarise her doctoral thesis. According to CNE representatives, the experts took the decision relatively easily, since the documents presented were very clear, in the sense that the doctoral thesis did not contain plagiarised elements.
"I published before I was General Prosecutor, under the name of Lascu, because I was not married. All the articles I published on this activity segment (combatting organised crime – editor's note) and which appear in the doctoral thesis were published in the 'Dreptul' journal, which is not available online precisely in order to protect copyright. A great part of the paragraphs they claim I plagiarised from persons who wrote them in 2008-2009 are paragraphs I published ever since 2002. The persons they claim I plagiarised were actually quoting me in their book, quoting these articles that I had published previously," Kovesi stated back then.
The evidence analysed by CNE experts proved that the paragraphs concerned, which appear in books published in 2008, had been published by Codruta Kovesi six years earlier, in the 'Dreptul' journal. Subsequently, Kovesi used those paragraphs in her doctoral thesis.
On 18 May 2012, the Political Investigations Group (GIP), led by Mugur Ciuvica, had claimed that General Prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi plagiarised her doctoral thesis.
Kovesi started her doctoral thesis in 2004, and was appointed General Prosecutor at the end of September 2006.
Anticorruption Chief Prosecutor Kovesi says didn't plagiarise her doctoral thesis
The chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), Laura Codruta Kovesi says her doctoral thesis belongs to her entirely and that she did not plagiarise, adding that the slanderous statements of the "persons investigated by the DNA" have made the object of the notices lodged with the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM).
"If a notice of any nature (denunciation, self-denunciation, complaint) is lodged, it is the prosecutors' obligation to check and clarify all aspects notified, in accordance with the legal provisions, and take the legal measures. As regards my doctoral thesis 'Fighting organized crime through criminal law provisions,' I want to specify that it is a work that belongs to me entirely and that I committed no plagiarism," says Kovesi, according to a DNA release posted on Tuesday on the website of this institution.
The DNA Chief Prosecutor adds that ever since 2012 she has specified she didn't plagiarize her doctoral thesis, from the very appearance in the public space of the "slanderous affirmations of this kind."
"The defamatory affirmations of the persons that are investigated by the DNA, of an unprecedented vehemence this year, have made the object of the notices lodged with the Superior Council of Magistracy which found that they damage the image and credibility of the judiciary. Moreover, concerning earlier stances adopted by Ghita Sebastian Aurelian, where he made allegations regarding the criminal investigations handled by prosecutors, the DNA notified this year both the head of the Prosecutor's Office with the High Court of Cassation and Justice (ICCJ, Supreme Court of Romania) and the Superior Council of Magistracy," adds Kovesi.
CNATDCU will not take notice following Sebastian Ghita's denunciation
The National Council for the Certification of University Titles, Diplomas and Certificates (CNATDCU) will not take notice following the denunciation filed by Sebastian Ghita, which claims that alongside several other state officials he falsified a report on Laura Kovesi's doctoral thesis in order for it to show that the thesis was not plagiarised.
"We do not take notice. Any sound case file is sent to the Executive Union for the Financing of Tertiary Education, Research, Development and Innovation (UEFISCDI), and from there it reaches us and only then we discuss it," CNATDCU President Viorel Barbu stated for News.ro.
Ponta: I will state absolutely everything I know if summoned by prosecutors
Ex-Premier Victor Ponta refused to comment on the denunciation filed by lawmaker Sebastian Ghita, stating that he will state absolutely everything he knows about this topic if summoned by prosecutors.
"If they summon me as part of a criminal investigation I will state absolutely everything I know," Ponta told Mediafax.
Basescu: Kovesi threatened an official that arrests will follow if doctoral thesis inquiry resumes
Ex-President Traian Basescu stated on Tuesday evening that he knew about the falsification of the document, Sebastian Ghita and Mihnea Costoiu being among those involved, "with the knowledge of Victor Ponta, Prime Minister at the time."
Basescu stated that Laura Codruta Kovesi threatened a state official that he will be arrested if the inquiry in the doctoral thesis resumes.
"In 2016, Ms. Kovesi took the liberty to use the official phone line to call up a Romanian dignitary and threaten him that arrests will follow if the inquiry into her doctoral thesis resumes. I'm constrained by the risk that the said dignitary would deny this, I'm just signalling the gesture, I'm not naming names. He could be an Education Minister; he could be a person holding a different high office… Official phone lines are not tapped. They are being used to discuss state secrets too, not just Ms. Kovesi's interests. (…) I've had information, but not evidence, since 2014. Today I confirm that I knew that Mihnea Costoiu wrote the report clearing her of plagiarism and that they hastily looked all over the country for some signatures," Traian Basescu stated on Romania TV.
President Iohannis: It's strange, for the time being it looks like a media scandal to me
Asked for his opinion on the denunciation, President Klaus Iohannis said he considers it "strange" and that those with legal prerogatives have to do their duty.
Likewise, Iohannis pointed out that to the extent this falls under the President's prerogatives, he will hold talks with those involved. Concerning Laura Codruta Kovesi's possible resignation, the President pointed out that for the time being this looks to him like a media scandal. "If it turns out to be more than that, we'll talk more," the Head of State concluded.
Asked why does he think the denunciation was filed now, Iohannis said: "I can give you an answer to this, in a straightforward manner. Because of the elections campaign. (…) There are others employed by the Romanian state to verify these things. When we have a conclusion we will be able to comment. Otherwise this is just talk."
Dragnea on Ghita's denunciation: He's crazy or he's telling the truth. I'm detached
Social Democratic Party (PSD) President Liviu Dragnea says that Sebastian Ghita, his former party colleague, is either telling the truth "or is crazy and is strapping on an explosive belt" when stating that he was involved in falsifying the examination report on DNA Chief Prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi's doctoral thesis.
"There are two options. First: he is crazy, he is strapping on an explosive belt and blowing himself up without any kind of evidence or proof. Or makes things up. The second option is that everything he is saying is true and, if he wants to go through with this, we will all watch this carefully," Dragnea said in a talk-show.
Asked whether he knew anything about this, considering that in 2012 he held the second highest office in PSD, Dragnea answered negatively. "I don't know. Just like any person watching TV, I am looking forward to seeing what will happen next. As any Romanian citizen, [I believe] the relevant institutions should investigate and establish the truth. I'm telling you, maybe I seem out of line, I'm watching this event fairly detached, it doesn't affect me very much. I'll abstain from saying what I believe," Liviu Dragnea added.
The PSD President labelled Ghita's denunciation as "an interesting, savoury action" and promised that if he is ever summoned by prosecutors he will not hesitate to contribute to truth being established.
Gorghiu: Ghita's denunciation is a bluff, I consider it a diversion
National Liberal Party (PNL) Co-President Alina Gorghiu considers Sebastian Ghita's denunciation "a diversion" carried out by persons who have "certain capacities in case files."
"If I were to translate what Mr. Ghita is saying, he's saying this: I, a regular citizen, have committed such a crime with the support of the Premier incumbent at that time. I believe this initiative is based on a direct interest and capacity he has in various criminal cases, nothing more. It's just a bluff, something I believe we will unfortunately comment on far too much or more than necessary. We will see what the institutions analysing this denunciation will decide. But, I repeat, I consider it a diversion," Alina Gorghiu stated in a talk-show.
Former Education Minister Liviu Pop, in office at the time DNA Chief Prosecutor's thesis was analysed: I'm not nervous, I'll state what I stated before too
Former Education Minister Liviu Pop stated for Mediafax that he is not nervous after Sebastian Ghita levied his accusations in what concerns Laura Codruta Kovesi's doctoral thesis.
"Sebastian Ghita's denunciation cannot implicate me because what I did back then, in May 2012, was based on the poor activity of the National Ethics Council. I asked the universities to make proposals for a new Ethics Council, a Council that became operational during that period. And the main reason I replaced the members of the Council consisted of the unexplainable delays in addressing the petitions registered. I don't think my successor can be implicated either, because the "ball" is there, in the court of the special commissions and of the Council, where the specialists reside, and the Minister has no power. (…) I am not nervous at all, I stated everything I knew in 2012, when I was accused of making changes. I have nothing more to state. If they summon me I will go and state the same things I stated in 2012 and anytime I was asked about this ethics commissions' topic," former Education Minister Liviu Pop stated for Mediafax.
In 2012, Liviu Pop changed, through a minister's order, the membership of the National Ethics Council right before the Council ruled on the Ioan Mang case. The commission was working as part of the National Scientific Research Authority, which was subordinated to the Education Ministry, led by Liviu Pop at the time. According to the legislation, the National Ethics Council was the one tasked with analysing plagiarism cases. The Council ruled that ex-Premier Victor Ponta did not plagiarise his doctoral thesis. The Council issued a similar ruling in Laura Codruta Kovesi's case, a week later.
Group of Cluj-based university professors: Kovesi plagiarised
The Group for University Reform and Alternative (GRAUR), based in Cluj Napoca, confirms that prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi plagiarised.
In a press release, the association asks for "the immediate cancellation of the Doctor of Law title conferred to the prosecutor on the basis of a forgery and the drastic and exemplary punishment of all persons who contributed to the fixing and hiding of obvious pieces of evidence with the purpose of aiding and abetting the perpetrator."
According to the aforementioned source, the plagiarism perpetrated consisted of the copying of authentic works without using citations. Kovesi allegedly copied excerpts from several works without crediting the original authors.
The Group for University Reform and Alternative (GRAUR) is a Cluj-based NGO founded by several university professors who militate for the complete reforming of the education system.
The plagiate.ro portal is a website whose purpose is "combatting plagiarism as a social phenomenon" and is not an official authority capable of issuing a ruling.
Journalist Radu Tudor: An anti-DNA group has formed, seeking to destroy Kovesi
Journalist Radu Tudor claims that an anti-DNA group has formed, seeking to destroy Laura Codruta Kovesi. Radu Tudor claims that, at least for now, one cannot say that its political leaders are acting in a coordinated fashion, but the possibility cannot be ruled out.
"After DNA Chief Prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi green-lighted the investigation into the illegal contributions to Traian Basescu's presidential campaign in 2009, the anti-Kovesi and anti-DNA group is reacting. The group is made up of persons that have been targeted by DNA investigations ever since Kovesi took over its leadership: Traian Basescu; Sebastian Ghita; Victor Ponta; Gabriel Oprea; Elena Udrea; Dan Adamescu; Ioana Basescu. Although there are some clues pointing to this, I cannot state very clearly whether the aforementioned persons are engaged in a coordinated action, but they are all seriously affected by DNA investigations. Most of them have made harsh statements about DNA Chief Prosecutor Kovesi. The denunciation filed by Sebastian Ghita is a new stage, an explosive stage, in the fratricidal fight between former allies. I am watching this war from the side-lines, to see whose hairdo resists," Radu Tudor wrote on his personal blog.
Ion Cristoiu: How could some earthlings judge St. Jeanne d'Arc of Romania?
Based on the evidence published by the press, Kovesi's doctoral thesis has numerous excerpts that match excerpts from the works of other authors. Analysts say Kovesi is in a situation identical to that of Ponta. Both of their cases showed visible signs of plagiarism, both were initially cleared. It took for Mircea Dumitru, rector of the University of Bucharest, to become Education Minister for the inquiry to start in the case of famous plagiarism cases such as those of Victor Ponta, Gabriel Oprea and Petre Toba.
Analyst Ion Cristoiu also commented on the scandal of the day, being of the opinion that CNATDCU should verify Codruta Kovesi's doctoral thesis. "But, God forbid! How could some earthlings judge Saint Jeanne d'Arc of Romania?!" the analyst asks. He goes on to present a timeline of events:
"On 18 May 2012, the Political Investigations Group and the Spiritual Militia publicly levied the accusation that Codruta Kovesi plagiarised her doctoral thesis, a thesis she defended at the West University of Timisoara in December 2011. The accusation was backed by a side-by-side comparison of excerpts, with highlighted text. Just like in the case of Victor Ponta's thesis and of all other thesis later on accused of being plagiarised: Gabriel Oprea, Petre Toba. Codruta Kovesi, General Prosecutor at the time, rejected the accusations and notified the Superior Magistracy Council (CSM). The notification first reached CNATDCU, the body legally tasked with analysing plagiarism cases."
"On 18 June 2012, the online edition of Nature magazine accused Victor Ponta of plagiarising his doctoral thesis in 2003."
"On 28 June 2012, the National Council for the Certification of University Titles, Diplomas and Certificates (CNATDCU) decided that Victor Ponta plagiarised."
"Odd! Despite being filed before Ponta's, Kovesi's case was not analysed. At that time, Codruta Kovesi was considered member of Traian Basescu's team. In this context, the press, almost all of it on Traian Basescu's side, did not address Kovesi's case. Victor Ponta responded by asking Liviu Pop, USL's Education Minister, to reject CNATDCU and to transfer the case to the National Ethics Council (CNE). That happened on 29 June 2012. CNE, the new body, convened and decided on 19 July 2012 that Victor Ponta did not plagiarise. After CNE's Technical Commission had established that."
"On 27 July 2012, CNE's Technical Commission established that Kovesi's thesis was not plagiarised. The same CNE (established by Liviu Pop in order to clear Victor Ponta) convened on 5 September 2012 and decided that Codruta Kovesi's thesis was not plagiarised. From 29 June 2012 to 2 March 2016, the state officials' theses were analysed by CNE."
"On 8 July 2015, CNE decided that Gabriel Oprea did not plagiarise. On 26 November 2015, Petre Toba, accused by the press of plagiarism, turned to CNE to clarify the issue. A scandal started. On 2 March 2016, the Ciolos Government decided, in order to put an end to the scandals, that CNATDCU should be tasked with analysing plagiarism cases. The body was restructured from the ground up, in order for its decisions to no longer be under suspicion. The new body analysed the theses that CNE had whitewashed: Victor Ponta, Gabriel Oprea, Petre Toba. The theses were declared plagiarised. It would have been normal for the new body to analyse Codruta Kovesi's thesis too, suspected of benefitting from CNE's good will. (…) It would have been normal for the DNA Chief Prosecutor herself to demand that. Since she claims she did not plagiarise. The new body already has unblemished authority. She didn't do that however. A catastrophic decision, because the accusations levied in the public space can only be stopped by a decision adopted by the new body. God forbid! How could some earthlings judge Saint Jeanne d'Arc of Romania?!" Ion Cristoiu wrote on his blog.
Possible plagiarism in DNA Chief Prosecutor's doctoral thesisunder scrutiny again
Verdict in case concerning Klaus Iohannis's Sibiu house, postponed for December
President Iohannis: Bodies with relevant attributions perform decisive, consistent fight against corruption
Miron Mitrea released on parole
Nine O' Clock May 19, 2016
Hacker Guccifer, brought before US Justice
Nine O' Clock April 7, 2016
Senate postpones adoption of pardon bill for two weeks
Nine O' Clock April 25, 2017 April 25, 2017


text:
var pro
core.VW.Ecma2015.Promise;
exports.createParser= function(args){
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}

/*
// Ver si soporta las nuevas características
var pluginss=[new core.VW.Ecma2015.ArrowFunctionPlugin()]
try{eval('"use strict";var j= ()=>{let y};var j=`aqui`;var obj={j};class Prueba{};')}catch(e){
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}
if(pluginss!=Parser.plugins){
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		pluginss.push(Parser.plugins[Parser.plugins.length-2])
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	try{
		eval('var j= async function(){}')
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	catch(e){
		pluginss.push(Parser.plugins[Parser.plugins.length-1])
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	Parser.plugins= pluginss;
}
*/

pro= function(args){

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		var f= this.pluginsfuncs[type] || this.pluginsfuncs.all;
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			f(ev);
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			if(exp.property){
				prop.push("property");
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			if(exp.properties){
				prop.push("properties");
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	Parser.prototype.parseProgram= function(program, parent){
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	Parser.prototype.parseAST= function(ast,plugins){

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		this.plugins= plugins || this.plugins;
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		}
		this.getFunctions();
		this.parseProgram(ast);
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	Parser.prototype.parseASTAndGenerate= function(ast,plugins){
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				f[id]= createFunc2(funcs);
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		this.pluginsfuncs=f;
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	Parser.prototype.parse= function(code,plugins, options){
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		var program= esprima.parse(code);
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			var ev= {
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				"replacement":null,
				"type": type,
				"parent":parent,
				"parser":self
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				else if(exp.arguments instanceof Array){
					iterate(exp.arguments, index|0, parent);
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				var prop=[];
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						iterateOther(m[0],m[1],m[2]);
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				throw new Error(e);
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		iterateOther(program.body,0,program);
		return escodegen.generate(program);
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Pressure-induced enhancement of proton conduction in brucite
Xinzhuan Guo, Takashi Yoshino
Institute for Planetary Materials
The electrical conductivity of single-crystal brucite was measured as a function of pressure and temperature (P-T) using impedance spectroscopy (IS). IS measurements demonstrated that electrical conductivity perpendicular to the c axis is nearly half order of magnitude higher than that parallel to the c axis under the same P-T conditions. Electrical conductivity increased by 2 orders of magnitude during compression from 3.7 to 11 GPa, irrespective of crystallographic direction. However, the conductivity increase with pressure became less significant upon further compression from 11 to 13 GPa. The pressure effect is closely related to the interactions between neighboring hydroxyls. The ratio of free protons to total hydrogen increases from 2% to 33% when pressure increases from 3.7 to 13 GPa at 950 K. This indicates that most of the protons are bound within the crystal structure at low pressures, whereas more protons become free and mobile at higher pressures. Key Points Electrical conductivity of brucite is measured under high P-T conditions Electrical conductivity of brucite is greatly enhanced by compression More protons become mobile at higher pressure
https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GL058627
pressure effect
proton conduction
10.1002/2013GL058627
Dive into the research topics of 'Pressure-induced enhancement of proton conduction in brucite'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
brucite Physics & Astronomy 100%
electrical conductivity Earth & Environmental Sciences 55%
conduction Physics & Astronomy 39%
protons Physics & Astronomy 38%
electrical resistivity Physics & Astronomy 37%
augmentation Physics & Astronomy 36%
spectroscopy Earth & Environmental Sciences 20%
Guo, X., & Yoshino, T. (2014). Pressure-induced enhancement of proton conduction in brucite. Geophysical Research Letters, 41(3), 813-819. https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GL058627
Pressure-induced enhancement of proton conduction in brucite. / Guo, Xinzhuan; Yoshino, Takashi.
In: Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 41, No. 3, 16.02.2014, p. 813-819.
Guo, X & Yoshino, T 2014, 'Pressure-induced enhancement of proton conduction in brucite', Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 813-819. https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GL058627
Guo X, Yoshino T. Pressure-induced enhancement of proton conduction in brucite. Geophysical Research Letters. 2014 Feb 16;41(3):813-819. https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GL058627
Guo, Xinzhuan ; Yoshino, Takashi. / Pressure-induced enhancement of proton conduction in brucite. In: Geophysical Research Letters. 2014 ; Vol. 41, No. 3. pp. 813-819.
@article{f68de5ccbdaf46418fbd641124bde797,
title = "Pressure-induced enhancement of proton conduction in brucite",
abstract = "The electrical conductivity of single-crystal brucite was measured as a function of pressure and temperature (P-T) using impedance spectroscopy (IS). IS measurements demonstrated that electrical conductivity perpendicular to the c axis is nearly half order of magnitude higher than that parallel to the c axis under the same P-T conditions. Electrical conductivity increased by 2 orders of magnitude during compression from 3.7 to 11 GPa, irrespective of crystallographic direction. However, the conductivity increase with pressure became less significant upon further compression from 11 to 13 GPa. The pressure effect is closely related to the interactions between neighboring hydroxyls. The ratio of free protons to total hydrogen increases from 2% to 33% when pressure increases from 3.7 to 13 GPa at 950 K. This indicates that most of the protons are bound within the crystal structure at low pressures, whereas more protons become free and mobile at higher pressures. Key Points Electrical conductivity of brucite is measured under high P-T conditions Electrical conductivity of brucite is greatly enhanced by compression More protons become mobile at higher pressure",
keywords = "brucite, electrical conductivity, pressure effect, proton conduction",
author = "Xinzhuan Guo and Takashi Yoshino",
doi = "10.1002/2013GL058627",
journal = "Geophysical Research Letters",
publisher = "American Geophysical Union",
T1 - Pressure-induced enhancement of proton conduction in brucite
AU - Guo, Xinzhuan
AU - Yoshino, Takashi
N2 - The electrical conductivity of single-crystal brucite was measured as a function of pressure and temperature (P-T) using impedance spectroscopy (IS). IS measurements demonstrated that electrical conductivity perpendicular to the c axis is nearly half order of magnitude higher than that parallel to the c axis under the same P-T conditions. Electrical conductivity increased by 2 orders of magnitude during compression from 3.7 to 11 GPa, irrespective of crystallographic direction. However, the conductivity increase with pressure became less significant upon further compression from 11 to 13 GPa. The pressure effect is closely related to the interactions between neighboring hydroxyls. The ratio of free protons to total hydrogen increases from 2% to 33% when pressure increases from 3.7 to 13 GPa at 950 K. This indicates that most of the protons are bound within the crystal structure at low pressures, whereas more protons become free and mobile at higher pressures. Key Points Electrical conductivity of brucite is measured under high P-T conditions Electrical conductivity of brucite is greatly enhanced by compression More protons become mobile at higher pressure
AB - The electrical conductivity of single-crystal brucite was measured as a function of pressure and temperature (P-T) using impedance spectroscopy (IS). IS measurements demonstrated that electrical conductivity perpendicular to the c axis is nearly half order of magnitude higher than that parallel to the c axis under the same P-T conditions. Electrical conductivity increased by 2 orders of magnitude during compression from 3.7 to 11 GPa, irrespective of crystallographic direction. However, the conductivity increase with pressure became less significant upon further compression from 11 to 13 GPa. The pressure effect is closely related to the interactions between neighboring hydroxyls. The ratio of free protons to total hydrogen increases from 2% to 33% when pressure increases from 3.7 to 13 GPa at 950 K. This indicates that most of the protons are bound within the crystal structure at low pressures, whereas more protons become free and mobile at higher pressures. Key Points Electrical conductivity of brucite is measured under high P-T conditions Electrical conductivity of brucite is greatly enhanced by compression More protons become mobile at higher pressure
KW - brucite
KW - electrical conductivity
KW - pressure effect
KW - proton conduction
U2 - 10.1002/2013GL058627
DO - 10.1002/2013GL058627
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters


text:
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The Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation is the world's leading non-governmental supporter of research into the causes, treatments, cure, and prevention of neuroendocrine cancer. To further enable its important mission, NETRF convenes a premier Annual Scientific Conference for its funded investigators and select invited guests that aims to stimulate the open exchange of scientific information, to promote collaborations and to spark discussions of novel approaches to understanding and treating NETs. In an attempt to allow for an open discussion and sharing of unpublished data, NETRF requests that, as a participant in the annual NETRF Symposium (the "Symposium"), you commit to hold in confidence all Confidential Information (as defined below) sent in advance of, and presented at, the Symposium. To ensure such confidentiality, NETRF has created the following confidentiality policy and asks that you, as a party who will see and receive Confidential Information as an attendee and/or participant at the Symposium (a "Receiving Party"), sign this confidentiality agreement ("Agreement"), acknowledging that you have read, understand and
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As a participant of the NETRF Symposium, Receiving Party understands that he/she will be exposed to, and possibly receive, Confidential Information and/or unpublished data, the disclosure or use
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text:
Freddie Gibbs Says Young Jeezy Was "Only Concerned With Pushing Jeezy" [LISTEN]
Written By Kazeem Famuyide
Freddie Gibbs unexpectedly left Young Jeezy's record label, Corporate Thugz Entertainment last year shortly before dropping his critically acclaimed project, Baby Face Killa.
After initially saying that there were no hard feelings between the two and the split was amicable, Gangsta Gibbs changed his tune while chatting with The Morning Riot radio show.
"I can't really say it was amicable. I could just say that we agreed to disagree," says the ESGN rapper. "We definitely disagreed. The guy moves in a different way that I move, and I just wanted to branch out and do my own thing. I felt like I was wasting time pushing someone else's brand when I could push my own and do my own thing. Because that's was what he was concerned with, pushing Jeezy. So I gotta be concerned with pushing Gibbs."
Initially, Gibbs and Jeezy played it politically correct, as the two stated in interviews that the two split for the better of each other's interests. "It was a number of things; at the end of the day, it was a good decision for myself and my family," he explained to Power 105 in December of 2012. "It was nothing against him; it was just a move that I had to make personally and business wise."
Moreover, Gangsta Gibbs let off a tweet last night stating " I spent the past 2 years being "politically" correct in the rap game cuz I was wit a ni**a that did so. No more filter."
Uh oh. Something tells us we haven't heard the last of this. Listen to the full interview from WGCI down after the jump.
Photo: BET
cte	, freddie gibbs	, listen


Arrival is an original etching showing four Mallard drakes and two hens as they are making a landing on a lake and climbing up the bank. The American artist Paul Wood ( 1897-1964 ) was known for his watercolors and etchings of animals but particularly of hunting dogs and birds. In the 1930's his etchings were published by the Paris Etching Society and exhibited in the USA and in France.There is a fold in the the top right corner.