text:
Belle & Sebastian on How to Solve Our Human Problems
With the world around them more turbulent than they could have imagined in their 90s heyday, Belle & Sebastian return to the hometown that shaped them to record their first EPs since 2004, finding personal solutions to global issues in the process
Feature by Joe Goggins | 30 Jan 2018
Few bands have a history that can be split as cleanly down the middle as Belle & Sebastian's. Everything that the Glaswegian stalwarts have ever done can be neatly placed into one of two eras; if we start counting from 1996, when they released their first two records (Tigermilk and If You're Feeling Sinister), then we can call the former period The First Five Years and the latter one Everything After That. Many would consider the halcyon years of the late nineties to represent the peak of their creative powers, but the divide between that Belle & Sebastian and the present-day incarnation runs much deeper.
Stuart Murdoch's rich vein of songwriting form in the early days of the group invites favourable comparison with the greats; indeed, speaking as part of a Pitchfork TV documentary on the band's first two LPs in 2013, guitarist Stevie Jackson said of debut album Tigermilk that "it was like Dylan or Paul Simon – I actually thought it was on that level. I was staggered." Purple patches like this one are genuinely unusual, but they always bear the same telltale hallmark; a prolific rate of output.
As the music spilled out of Murdoch, Belle & Sebastian couldn't release records quickly enough, leading to a series of EPs between full-lengths; Dog on Wheels, Lazy Line Painter Jane, 3.. 6.. 9 Seconds of Light and This is Just a Modern Rock Song all amongst them. Murdoch comfortably cleared his self-raised, intimidatingly lofty bar each time. The compilation on which they were collected along with similarly worthy B-sides – Push Barman to Open Old Wounds – stands alongside Oasis' The Masterplan and The Smashing Pumpkins' Pisces Iscariot as one of those exceedingly rare odds-and-ends collections that stands tall next to the band's best material.
Murdoch's midas touch, though, was just one of a few anomalies that have come to define that chapter in the band's story. In the summer of 1996, whilst being courted by myriad record labels, they chose to join Jeepster, a London imprint fledgling enough that this was their very first signing. The method in the madness was quickly self-evident; the group wielded the sort of total creative control that ran well beyond the music. "There were a lot of conditions, and they were all on the band's terms," recounted the label's co-founder, Mark Jones, to Pitchfork in 2014.
They didn't want to release singles from albums. You probably could've counted on one hand the amount of interviews they gave at the time. They were reluctant even to appear in their own press photography. Not only that, but there was little prospect of them touring, given that Murdoch was still in the process of managing his recovery from M.E. and some members of the band were still at university. When they did manage to take the stage, the results were mixed, not least because, again, they insisted on doing things differently; their two shows in Manchester just after Christmas of 1997 were a case in point. They were held in the round at the Town Hall – not usually a concert venue – and were beset by problems ranging from technical issues to, at the second gig, a raging, Jack Daniel's-induced hangover for keyboardist Chris 'Beans' Geddes.
By the turn of the century, some of the industry's more familiar trappings were beginning to permeate the band, and not all of them for the better; burnout led to the first slip in their quality control, with fourth LP Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant meeting with a lukewarm reception. Plus, Murdoch's divesting of his songwriting duties to other members of the group seemed less like a lightening of his own workload than it did a diplomatic move aimed at preserving harmony, with Stuart David and Isobel Campbell both eyeing solo careers. Both were gone by the end of 2002; the former amicably, the latter considerably less so, as her creative relationship with Murdoch collapsed under the weight of their failed romantic one; the group's performance of I'm Waking Up to Us on Later...with Jools Holland in 2001 simmered with ABBA-worthy intra-band tension.
Belle & Sebastian returned in 2003 almost as if reborn as a new outfit entirely. Their fifth record, Dear Catastrophe Waitress, swapped Glasgow and the house engineers they'd worked with in the Jeepster years for London and Trevor Horn of The Buggles on production duties. It was their first release on Rough Trade, and one marked by both a sudden uptick on the touring front and a considerably more accommodating approach to the press. The album itself, meanwhile, was punchy and polished, scored through with a pop sheen that was a world away from the hushed reserve that had been the group's calling card up to this point.
In the fifteen years since, the band have continued travelling down that same road; it's just that they've increasingly refused to stay in the same lane, which is a fault you could reasonably have picked with their Jeepster incarnation. Instead, they indulged their hankering for glam-pop on 2006's The Life Pursuit, collaborated with A-list talent (Norah Jones, Carey Mulligan) on Belle & Sebastian Write About Love in 2010 and, with their most recent LP, adapted to the current trend of swooping, magpie-like, on anything they might deem to be musically shiny with the sprawling and diverse Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance.
They've toured around the world extensively in that time, with their only two extended absences from the road enforced by Murdoch's dedication to his passion project, the musical God Help the Girl, which he wrote and recorded as an album between ...Pursuit and ...Love and turned into a film during the four-year layoff that ...Peacetime brought to a close in 2015. The Jeepster version of the band, meanwhile, remained trapped in amber; the records haven't aged, but everything else seems almost of a bygone era; no group boasts that sort of autonomy these days, and as far as the work is concerned, Belle & Sebastian have never displayed much of an appetite to return to old habits.
On returning to EPs – and to Glasgow
That is, until now. How to Solve Our Human Problems is not a record but a series of three EPs, to be released in successive months – the band's first foray back into the format since the Books EP in 2004. They were written and recorded, without a producer, in Glasgow over the course of 2017, making them the first meaningful output from the group to be entirely cut in their hometown since Storytelling in 2002. There's songwriting contributions, as is now standard, from Jackson and keyboardist Sarah Martin and, as the title suggests, they're a little more outward-facing and ambitious of concept than could be said of their classic EPs of the nineties. That aside, though, the nature of their conception feels like a homecoming, literally and figuratively.
Murdoch, in fairness, has remained Murdoch throughout the band's existence, with his Twitter feed strongly suggesting that he continues to enjoy the simple pleasure of spending time out and about in Glasgow, just as he used to two decades ago when he wrote of riding on city buses for a hobby and turning tables round in Marks & Spencer. True to form, he calls in to talk through the EPs from a bike ride pit stop in a Govan park; he could give Limmy a run for his money for the title of the city's keenest amateur cyclist.
"At the start of the process, there was a feeling of us having two distinct choices," he explains. "Do we go back to London, or back to America, and do an LP? That would have been the same way we'd normally do it, where we'd prepare twenty-odd tracks, get a producer, and whittle it down to about twelve. In the end, we thought, 'we've been doing that for the past dozen years, so let's go with the other option.' That meant going back to Glasgow and recording what we wanted, when we wanted, and just focusing on making the individual songs as good as they could be – we weren't thinking about how they were going to be released at that point. It's probably an old-fashioned way of going about things, but the crucial thing was that we were keeping it interesting for ourselves, if nobody else."
"I think it was all a bit of an attempt to keep ourselves lighter on our feet," adds Martin in a separate call. "We haven't really had any extended breaks from the road in a few years now, even going back to before the last album was out, and we thought that we could maybe spend those shorter periods of downtime in between tours recording three or four songs and putting them out there and then, rather than going through the usual cycle of album, long tour and then long break.
"In the end, we didn't announce anything until we had all the music together, so it might have ended up as [an] LP, but I think people have shorter attention spans these days anyway, so even with all three EPs coming out in quick succession, presenting the music in a more bitesize way than usual is no bad thing. It means it's a bit more like a shotgun than a bullet, which I hope means there's more of a chance of us hitting the clay pigeon, so to speak."
Like ...Peacetime before them, all three instalments of How to Solve Our Human Problems feel disparate and wide-ranging in their stylistic approach; the band are generally used to writing and recording over a much more focused period than was the case this time, and the languid pace at which these EPs came together seems to have bred a sense of adventurousness amongst all three writers. Jackson's Sweet Dew Lee, which involves a vocal back-and-forth between himself and Murdoch, is a slowly-unfurling epic, whilst Murdoch's own We Were Beautiful – also plucked from EP1 – feels similarly grand. The track listing, across the three releases, is roughly chronological in terms of when the songs came together, but the sonic diversity of the tracks serves as the through-line – they are, after all, three parts of the same whole.
"It was maybe going to be a little bit more conceptual, in the early stages, than it's ended up being," says Murdoch. "I came up with the title pretty early on – I just had this notion that that's what the next thing was going to be called. It seemed like a little bit of a gesture to use a title like that – as if there'd be some kind of answer on each EP to that question, to how we'd solve our human problems. There isn't, obviously, but it is the name of a really good book, a kind of modern Buddhism textbook that I've been studying for the last three years."
Murdoch's faith has always informed his songwriting and has played a part in the band's history as a whole; many of their early songs were recorded in the wooden hall at Hyndland Parish Church, above which Murdoch and drummer Richard Colburn used to live (the old minister there owns a white label copy of Tigermilk, given that the group could hardly present him with the mildly titillating artwork that comes with the standard release).
Murdoch's now branched out into Buddhism, regularly attending meditation classes. Martin's been to the odd one, too, "but it didn't stick. It's a big deal for Stuart, though, and I think he had the idea of doing three EPs based around two different belief systems, but it just became the sort of thing that would've been too contrived. It's better that they've ended up more loosely connected. I think there's still a few wee bits of Buddhist wisdom that have snuck into the lyrics, mind."
"I think we're in a much better place than we were in the nineties..."
It's difficult not to think that the full-circle nature of the band's return to Glasgow to work on a series of EPs might seem more profound to longstanding fans than it does the group themselves; similarly, it'd be easy to read too much into the fact that How to Solve Our Human Problems represents their first releases since they cast their gaze back to the nineties in the summer of 2016, celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Tigermilk and If You're Feeling Sinister with two full-album shows at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
"It's not as if we've gone right back to that time," Murdoch laughs, "because we're talking to you! We haven't clammed up and gone shy again. I think these things probably just tend to come in cycles. You get bored, and you want to do something else, and break away from the last thing you did. We actually might have done a ballet this time; we'd been talking about doing that instead of a record, and we really got quite into it before we ended up taking this left turn and deciding not to do it just now."
There were other possibilities on the table, too, including one that would've meant major collaboration. "We thought about maybe doing an LP with just guest singers, too – that was an option, but in the end, we realised that we still had songs bursting out of us, and that was the main thing: that we had something to say. It was nice to go in without a producer, and instead, just trust each other, that we all understood the direction we were heading in. The process is a lot less painful than it was twenty years ago, when there were eight of us kind of thrown together, and some of us didn't even know if we wanted to be in a group."
Despite the cascade of classics that the Jeepster-era Belle & Sebastian produced, they were clearly not as tight a band as the present-day iteration – both creatively and in terms of the deep friendships that bind the individual members together. "I think we're in a much better place than we were in the nineties, in a lot of ways," explains Martin. "A lot of the time, you felt as if you were being torn apart, because the people around you were pulling in different directions. Not everybody was sure if they wanted to be in a band, and the whole thing had come together by accident, really. There was no way we could go out and tour for a while when everybody had other commitments – it seemed a distant concept, at that point, and I think instead it was that things just picked up a certain momentum that kept everybody together."
She agrees with Murdoch that there was never any chance of a wholesale return to the aesthetic of the early days, even if circumstances outside of the band did play a part in the decision to return to Glasgow. "I don't think anybody was ever thinking, 'we'll not tour this time, and we won't do photoshoots, or we won't talk to the press'; we've grown out of that by now, out of necessity in some respects. There was another incentive for being closer to home, because a couple of folk had kids last year. I think going somewhere else to make a whole album is great fun, and it's really satisfying to consolidate your work and do a lot very quickly, but this way of working suited us much better this time. I think, in general, we've regressed in some ways and grown up in others."
Murdoch was one of those parents that Martin mentions; he and his wife welcomed their second son, Nico, in November 2016, in the early stages of the writing of How to Solve Our Human Problems. Inevitably, it's something that's informed his work since, even if he's characteristically tongue-in-cheek about it. "Plenty of songwriters have gone to seed that way! It's not always been the healthiest thing for rock and roll, and there's probably some artists where I won't seek out the later records for that reason, you know? But it changes your life, and so your perspective will certainly follow, and I think it's been for the better for me.
"Rock and roll is a young man or woman's game, obviously, but I'm prepared to be a hypocrite and say that our group has still got something interesting to say. It's just that it might be less of a shout and more of a whisper. More of an accompaniment to your morning walk to work than something you'll be dancing to on a Saturday night."
Ultimately, becoming a father is just one of a number of things that coloured Murdoch's view of the world and his way of working over the years; the seismic shifts in the music industry over the past couple of decades have inevitably taken their toll, too. "That's something that's always been rumbling away somewhere in the background," he relates, "but I think now, more than ever, it's impossible not to notice how things have changed. That was especially true this time around, coming back to Glasgow to work on new songs. There's obviously nothing like as much money going around these days, because people don't buy records any more, and that means you have to fall back on your own skills much more. For a lot of bands in Glasgow, that privileged position that we've been in, of being able to go abroad to make records, it's something they don't have available to them."
There are, though, positives to the present state of play, to Murdoch's mind at least. "What it does mean is that people have a lot more humility in the business now. I'm not saying that we were ever very rock and roll, but you can't afford to be pretentious any more, which is a good thing. Younger bands are having to beg, steal and borrow to make music, so I think established groups like ourselves should be making more of an effort, too."
On politics, #indyref, and solving our human problems
One of the consistent criticisms that's been levelled at Belle & Sebastian in the past, and specifically with reference to their early records, was that their songwriting was insular, that they were navel-gazers without much to lend to the conversation when it came to social commentary. It's never been an argument that's stood up to much scrutiny – after all, Tigermilk and If You're Feeling Sinister's fascinations with the minutiae of everyday life can be traced back to Murdoch's years of housebound struggle with the chronic fatigue he suffered as a result of his M.E. – but three years ago, on Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance, he began to dip his toe into political waters. There was talk of bombs in the Middle East on Allie, and The Cat With the Cream took aim at the Tories and the inequality that they revel in. No prizes, meanwhile, for guessing what B-side A Politician's Silence might have been about.
That album was already in the can by the time the Scottish independence referendum came to pass in September of 2014; Murdoch, who considered himself a staunch unionist at the beginning of the process, had swung around to the pro-independence side of the debate by the time polling day arrived. "I didn't exactly paint my face with the Saltire, but at the same time, it was kind of like the levee broke for a lot of people. They saw an opportunity for a new society. It seemed like England was lost, and that perhaps we could have it our own way, and have a more just society. I've probably pulled back from that a little bit since, because there was the realisation that we might have just ended up with the same divides up here. I think the moment's possibly passed now."
Still, it'd be putting it extremely mildly to say that there's been no shortage of further material to be mined for political lyricism since then, and you'd expect that to be felt particularly sharply by Scottish progressives; the Tories that they had the chance to break away from winning a majority in 2015, and then the European Union that they were warned they might not be able to rejoin as an independent country being wrenched away from them in 2016 – a particularly sobering moment for Belle & Sebastian, given that the referendum result came the morning after their irrepressibly joyous second night at the Royal Albert Hall. The U.S. presidential election took place around the same time that work was beginning in earnest on How to Solve Our Human Problems, the title of which surely hints at a continuation of Murdoch's lyrical study of the political landscape.
Not so. "I've had my flirtation with that now, I think," he explains. "The whole thing of responding to politics, and the media, and what's going on in the world around me; some people do it better than others. I'm no Billy Bragg, that's for sure. At the end of the day, in terms of my own personal experience, it's not like I'm going down the pits for a living. I'm not in the union, and I'm not living in a country that's being bombed every day, so I'm not sure how authentic it'd be coming from me. Plus, if I'm honest, I don't think it's all that useful to stand back and start throwing volleys of abuse at politicians. They're perceived to have done us a load of harm, but am I that much better a person than the usual targets you see in the news?"
How, then, to solve our human problems? As far as Murdoch's concerned, it begins with tackling them on more of a micro level than a macro one, by recognising our own contributions to the world's issues, by seeking to improve ourselves, and by putting kindness and compassion before all else. There's a reason, after all, why the artwork for the EPs features "not models or actors" but ordinary folk who responded to an open call – it's people like those that are the story here. "I was talking to my wife last night, and I was saying, if you looked at us – this couple living comfortably in a beautiful house in Glasgow – you could see us from the perspective of, "look at these wankers sitting around watching the telly, doing nothing whilst there's people who are starving". And I do think that we as a constituency – as voters, and as the general public – are probably as much to blame as anybody."
For his own part, he feels as if he's making progress, even if his worldview continues to evolve as he moves into middle age. "There's a track on the third EP, There is an Everlasting Song, that myself and Stevie wrote about a year ago, and that is pretty close to where I am at the minute in terms of my own philosophy. The ideas are in play all through How to Solve Our Human Problems, I think, but that's where they're clearest. I feel quite humbled to admit this, because I'm almost fifty; you're supposed to sort your mind and your attitude out when you're in your early twenties, you know? But my viewpoint changes all the time.
"I want to be a better person, and calmer, and more charitable, and even in the past three years, I feel as if I've made steps towards that. I know it's the sort of thing that probably sounds obscure and obtuse to say, but if you can become that person yourself – if you can solve your own problems first – you can see the positive effect it has on the people around you. If more of us went down that route, it'd be really helpful. That's the way forward."
Belle & Sebastian: An Extended Play History
Dog on Wheels (May 1997)
The seeds of Belle & Sebastian's career as a recording band were sown when Stuart Murdoch met erstwhile bassist Stuart David on a course called Beatbox, which was the only musical option available from a range of training programmes for the out-of-work. David described it as "a refugee camp for unemployed musicians", but nevertheless, the two Stuarts used their precious time in the studio there to cut four tracks that would later become Dog on Wheels. An alternate take on The State I Am In joins the much-loved title track, String Bean Jean and a curio for the hardcore – a song called, simply, Belle & Sebastian.
Lazy Line Painter Jane (July 1997)
This EP's title track is a boy-girl duet that features a storming vocal turn from the band's friend Monica Queen, and only usually turns up on live setlists when there's somebody worthy to step in – the likes of Jenny Lewis, Honeyblood's Stina Tweeddale and Dum Dum Girls' Dee Dee Penny have all filled Queen's formidable shoes in the past. Elsewhere, Photo Jenny is a pop gem, whilst A Century of Elvis replaces Murdoch's vocals with a spoken word turn from David in the style of The Boy with the Arab Strap's A Space Boy Dream.
3.. 6.. 9.. Seconds of Light (October 1997)
The tracks on this EP can also be traced back to the very beginnings of the band – Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie, the lyrics to which are scored through with collegiate literary references, was the first song that they ever played as a fledging three-piece at the Halt Bar in Glasgow – the same place they met Stevie Jackson, who was the compere there. Quickly afterwards, they adopted the name Lisa Helps the Blind – presumably plucked from the words to the similarly early track Beautiful. A Century of Fakers, meanwhile, was penned on the train back to Scotland from London after one of the band's first meetings in the capital, and Put the Book Back on the Shelf comes with a mellow coda – Songs for Children – which effectively details Murdoch's vision of who 'Belle' and 'Sebastian' were in his imagination.
This is Just a Modern Rock Song (1998)
The quartet of classic Jeepster EPs is rounded off by this late 1998 release, the title of which is a self-referential epic that has Jackson admitting, in typically tongue-in-cheek fashion, that 'We're four boys in corduroys / We're not terrific but we're competent.' It's a Belle & Sebastian mission statement if ever there was one, and alongside that track is the beautifully hazy I Know Where the Summer Goes, which laments rather than celebrates having the season pass you by – a counterpoint, then, to A Summer Wasting. Slow Graffiti, meanwhile, was penned for the movie The Acid House but has become a cult classic amongst the group's die-hard following in its own right.
The first EP proper that the band had released since the Jeepster years – and their last, up until How to Solve Our Human Problems – ostensibly serves as the single release for a quintessentially Belle & Sebastian paean to shyness, Wrapped Up in Books. It's actually more notable, though, for its two takes on another track, Your Cover's Blown. The original takes the disco-stomp stylings of Dear Catastrophe Waitress and presents them writ large, whilst Cover (version) has keyboardist Chris Geddes lending his own groovy instrumental palette to proceedings. Incidentally, neither proves the defining version of the song – that would come later, when Miaoux Miaoux remixed it for The Third Eye Centre, a 2013 compilation album.
How to Solve Our Human Problems Parts 1 & 2 are out now, Part 3 is released on 16 Feb via Matador; Belle & Sebastian play Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 24 Mar; SWG3 Galvanizer's Yard, Glasgow, 25 May
belleandsebastian.com
https://belleandsebastian.com


Hi, I'm James. I recently worked on an Android project for Scott Logic and want to share with you some of my tips for starting out as an app developer. If you are a developer wanting to learn how to code Android apps, then this article is for you.
Android devices now account for 85% of the global mobile market, and mobile has recently overtaken desktop as the platform of choice for users. Android is here to stay and will become far more prominent in future as more users shift to mobile for the majority of their computing needs. The rise of challenger banks has shifted the focus of personal banking to mobile-first solutions, a trend which is reflected in most other industries. It is vital therefore that developers learn how to code Android apps well so that the increase in demand for the platform can be met. This article is an overview of some of the key points that I wish I had known when starting out learning Android, and I hope it is helpful for you.
Android is undergoing a period of rapid development and Google is showing no signs of slowing down. This is illustrated by the annual releases of Android, which are named in alphabetical order after sweets and desserts. The most recent version is Android 9, Pie. This rapid pace of development means that there is a lack of good (or any) documentation for the most recent Android features, even on Stack Overflow, which can mean a frustrating experience for developers. Unit testing is also difficult; however, the development experience is being continuously improved though regular changes to the Android ecosystem.
Android Jetpack is one of those improvements. Released in 2018, Jetpack is Google's way of giving developers direction in how to write apps. It used to be the case that you were given free rein to code in whichever way you thought best, but understandably Google has realised that giving developers direction and a recommended architecture means shorter lead times and higher developer productivity.
The code examples given in this article are all written in Kotlin, which is Google's recommended language for Android development. Personally, I can highly recommend Kotlin for Android development as it has significant benefits over Java. If you are interested in exploring new technologies, then have a look at the differences between Kotlin and Java so you can weigh the pros and cons of using it.
You can design an Android app any way you like, however Google has published several guides on what they consider to be the optimal app design. This diagram shows my interpretation of these guides.
At the top there is an activity. Only one of these can be active at once, and they serve as entry points to the app. Next there are fragments, which are reusable layouts like activities, but differ in that they can be embedded within activities, or other fragments. As activities and fragments are very similar (they are both essentially a page), there is some discussion online about where a single-activity (and multiple fragment) or multi-activity (and single fragment) app is best. The conclusion I have come to is that you should have one activity for every entry point to the app that you need and use fragments for all other use cases. On my first Android project, my team and I designed our app to have two activities; a login activity and a main app activity. The latter contained fragments for various pages, and each of these in turn contained more fragments for smaller components of the UI.
The next level down from a fragment is a view. Every component on the screen is a view, from text boxes to lists to buttons. These views are controlled from within an activity or fragment and receive their data from view models. Each fragment or activity that needs to display data in views has a corresponding view model to provide that data. The distinction between view and view model comes from the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern and is especially important in Android for effective testing. Unit testing cannot easily be done on Android views and components, so separating out view model code is essential. I will discuss this in more detail in a future article.
While each activity or fragment corresponds to one view model, each view model can depend on many repositories. A repository is a standard and consistent interface between the data layer (which can change between versions of the app) and the view models. It can assemble data from a range of sources such as an SQL database, in-memory cache or API requests, and present these data with a consistent interface for their view models. Therefore, you as a developer can change the data layer without affecting the rest of the app.
A key concept when working with activities and fragments is lifecycle. The lifecycle of an activity or fragment, or sometimes views (lifecycle owners) comprises 6 states, and a number of method calls that run at specific points after their creation or before their destruction. These states are; CREATED, STARTED, RESUMED, PAUSED, STOPPED, DESTROYED. The onEvent(..) methods run before their corresponding events and act as transitions between these states, as shown in the diagram below.
Lifecycle aware components (such as views) will behave differently in each state. For example, LiveData will be ACTIVE only when the lifecycle owner is in the STARTED or RESUMED states. This is discussed further below, along with an explanation of what LiveData is.
It is very important to understand the lifecycle of activities and fragments in detail. One case from my own work that illustrates this is that I was initialising a view in the onCreate() method of a fragment. When the user navigated away from that fragment (page) it became PAUSED. However, its view was DESTROYED. When the user navigated back to that fragment, the view would be re-created but not re-initialised. This was because my initialisation code would only run once when the fragment itself was created, not when the view was created. This bug took a long time to understand and fix, but it could have been avoided by an in-depth understanding of the Android lifecycle. In this instance, I was using LiveData (discussed below), which is a lifecycle aware component. To make it work I had to associate it with the viewLifeCycleOwner (view) rather than the lifeCycleOwner (fragment). This problem took a long time to solve as there was no documentation online at all referring to this, except one line in a blog post. This illustrates my point that there is a lack of good Android documentation, especially for the newer features like this one which was released in 2018.
Android Jetpack contains the Room persistence library, which allows access to an SQLite database. This library allows you to create a local cache of data on the user's device enabling the app to be used even when there is no internet connection. Each table within the database must have a Database Access Object (DAO) which contains the SQL queries needed to interact with it.
These query methods can return either standard data types or LiveData wrappers, which are discussed below.
This code example defines the data structure for each row of the table; the entity. It has a primary key, and each row has a column name equal to its variable name unless otherwise specified.
The data class in this example is a feature of the Kotlin language. The compiler automatically generates several functions, such as an equals() and hashCode() pair that will evaluate two User instances with the same field values to be equal.
All the content for your app should be stored within XML files in the resources package. This includes UI layouts, colours, fonts and strings, and other resources. Layout files can correspond to an activity, fragment or view, or can be included within other layout files. Android Studio has a visual layout editor that you can use to design these layouts, which is a lot easier than editing the XML directly.
One reason resources are abstracted out of the code into separate XML files is so that different resources can be provided for different builds of the app. For example, using this system it is easy to translate your app into French or to cater to different screen sizes. In the past, all these different variants would be installed on every user's phone, but now you can publish your app as a "bundle", which allows Google Play to install only the necessary resources on a device. This can significantly reduce the size of your published app.
An issue I have found when designing these layouts is the vast number of possible layouts that can be used, all of which behave differently; positioning views on the screen can be difficult if you have no experience with Android. I found it useful spending a lot of time understanding these different layouts and views, and how they interact, so I recommend that if you are starting out with Android you do the same.
Data container that will push updates to subscribers when the data changes. The LiveData object needs to reference to these subscribers – other objects will "observe" the LiveData This Observer function will run each time the value of mLiveData changes, if it is in the ACTIVE state.
As discussed above, there are 6 lifecycle states of any activity, fragment or view. To observe a LiveData object you need to provide a lifecycle owner (this in the above example), which could be an activity, fragment or a special viewLifeCycleOwner object. The LiveData will be ACTIVE when the lifecycle owner is either STARTED or RESUMED, but it will be INACTIVE in any of the other four states. What this means is that the LiveData object will only notify its observers of any changes when it is ACTIVE, or once it becomes ACTIVE. Consequently, these observer callbacks can be written in the onCreate() method of a lifecycle owner even if they depend on code written in the onStart() method (which comes afterwards) because they will not run until after onStart() has run and the state is STARTED.
LiveData objects are inherently immutable, however there is a child class called MutableLiveData that can be mutated at run time. This is the most useful form of LiveData as it can be easily manipulated by the developer. MutableLiveData can be converted to LiveData (immutable) when returning it from a getter function, which is good because it forces a greater degree of modularity in your app.
Another child class of LiveData is MediatorLiveData, which enables the developer to combine two LiveData sources into one. This is useful if you have a LiveData with a username, and another with a display name, but you want to combine them into one "User" object without altering the rest of the codebase.
LiveData becomes especially useful when designing stateful user interfaces. If an enumerator is used as the LiveData type, a when statement can be written inside of the observable callback that can control different UI states. If this LiveData comes from a single source of truth, this is a powerful tool for controlling the states of an application and avoiding bugs. A stateful approach to app design, using LiveData, can simplify complex problems and reduce frustration surrounding debugging; the following example illustrates how to do this.
LiveData can be transformed using the Transformations library. This allows the developer to modify the value of the LiveData every time it changes, before pushing those changes to the observers.
In this example, the function getLiveData() uses Transformations.map() to filter out all odd values from mLiveData before it is returned in the function.
Not to be confused with XML resources.
There are many components which are recommended by Google but are not a part of Android. One of these is the Resource class. A Resource (distinct from resources, which are XML files including layout and strings) is a data wrapper, which contains the state of the data in addition to the data itself. Resources can be in one of three states: LOADING, ERROR and SUCCESS, and are immutable by design, so a new LOADING resource must be created by the developer if they want to convert an ERROR resource into the LOADING state. Combined with LiveData this is a powerful tool for informing a fragment when to display a loading spinner, and when to display data (and what to display). Therefore, the ideal type for a data object is as follows.
Recycler views are essentially optimised lists. They are highly configurable and can form grids, simple lists, lists of cards and tabs. They are optimised such that only the items on screen (and those just off screen) are loaded, everything else is removed from memory. This allows you to set a recycler view to display a list of 1000 album covers without there being a large drop in performance.
To do anything complex or unique with the recycler view is a complex task, and often requires an in-depth understanding of the component. There is little official, and limited unofficial documentation, that can be found to explain how to fully customise a recycler view which is a big disadvantage of the component.
The main challenge I have faced when developing for Android is dealing with the rapid pace of change within the platform. Although it is good that Android is continuously improving, these changes have not been properly documented by Google, occasionally resulting in a frustrating development experience. Additionally, examples are lacking for the newer and more complex components, even on Stack Overflow, which slows down the pace of development. However, I expect that once these newer features are adopted by the Android community the amount of useful information available online will increase dramatically.
Unit testing is currently difficult on Android, which is why it is important to separate out your untestable Android-specific view code from your testable model code and business logic. The distinction between view and view model is very helpful for this purpose.
I discovered that personally I prefer Kotlin to Java, as it has significant improvements over its predecessor. While most code examples online are written in Java, Android Studio has a useful feature where it can convert this code to Kotlin when you paste it into the editor. This was very helpful in my development work and enables Java developers to easily transition to using Kotlin.
I hope you have enjoyed this article and that it has proved a useful starting point on your journey as an Android app developer. Android is a very dominant platform and the ability to code apps is only becoming more valuable over time, so I encourage you to learn this important skill.
Have a look at these links if you would like to learn more about Android.
Hi, I'm James. I am a graduate developer at Scott Logic, based in Newcastle. I enjoy all things tech, especially Android, and I'm always keen to experiment with and learn new technologies.
I joined Scott Logic in 2018 after studying Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Cambridge, which gave me a passion for coding as well as an interest in business and finance.


text:
Q: Proof that for $e>3$, the number of quadratic residues $a$, s.t. $gcd(a,2^e)$ and $0I'm just wondering if someone can help with the 2nd part of the proof to understand this proposition leading to the conclusion.
I understand that for $2^e, e>3$, $a$ is a quadratic residue, if and only if $a\equiv 1 (mod \space 8)$.
I understand the "if" part of the proof, since if $2^e | x^2 -a$ then $2^3 | x^2 -a$ must also hold.
but I am having trouble understanding the "only if" part, in particular how we can show that the set of quadratic residues mod $2^e$ is equal to the number of $a_i$, s.t.
$$a_i\equiv 1 (mod \space 8)$$ with  $ gcd(a,2^e)=1 $ and $0<a<2^e$
and that this = $2^{e-3}$
I haven't studied group theory yet, only elementary number theory, so if there is a proof that uses mainly elementary number theory ideas, that would be most helpful.
Many sincere thanks.

A: Consider that if $a$ is a square $\pmod{2^{e+1}}$, then $a+2^e$ is a square too, since $a\equiv b^2\pmod{2^{e+1}}$ implies $a+2^e \equiv (b+c\,2^{e-1})^2\pmod{2^{e+1}}$, where $c$ can be chosen in order to have $bc\equiv 1\pmod{2^{e+1}}$. Moreover, in order to have that $a$ is a square $\pmod{2^{e+1}}$, $a$ must be a square $\pmod{2^e}$, so, starting with $e=3$, the claim can be proved by induction on $e$.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
In Pictures: Arsenal of guns retrieved by Merseyside Police during two-week surrender
Handguns, pistols and shotguns were among 41 firearms turned in by the public
John Siddle
Matrix Serious Organised Crime Detective Chief Inspector Tom Keaton, at St Anne Street Police Station with firearms and ammunition from the two week firearms surrender, including a swan-off shotgun (front).
This is the arsenal of potentially lethal guns handed to police during a two-week surrender.
Handguns, pistols and shotguns were among 41 firearms turned in by the public – along with 2,600 rounds of ammunition.
Twelve of the weapons are now being sent off for analysis by experts to determine if they are linked to crimes on Merseyside or farther afield.
The rest of the 126-strong haul – including air guns and ultra-realistic imitation firearms – will be destroyed.
Firearms & ammunition from the two week firearms surrender
Detective Chief Inspector Tom Keaton, from the force's anti-gun Matrix unit, told the ECHO that, while many of the weapons were antique, or so-called "grandad guns", all were potentially lethal in the wrong hands.
One of the guns weapons handed over to police was a 100-year-old Smith and Wesson .45 revolver – the same type of weapon used in the tragic 2008 murder of Liverpool schoolboy Rhys Jones.
DCI Keaton said: "Some of the firearms date back to World War I and be-yond. We had widows whose husbands had died and had these old weapons stored in their lofts.
"They may be old but if they're fired they are capable of killing.
"All it would take is one burglary for a gun to be stolen and end up in criminal hands.
"So every weapon handed in is one less which could potentially be used on our streets.
"The removal of these firearms from the homes of normal citizens is a blow to crime groups who operate on Merseyside."
The arsenal of weapons comprised 25 shotguns, one of which was sawn-off, five rifles and 11 handguns. They included a .22 single shot handbag pistol, a century-old 9mm short fire pistol and a Walther P38 handgun.
Twenty lots of ammunition – comprising cartridges, bullets and shotgun shells – 26 air guns and 24 imitation or deactivated weapons were also surrendered, along with knives, laser pens and nail guns.
Firearms & ammunition at St Anne Street Police Station,from the two week firearms surrender.
DCI Keaton added: "Twelve of the guns will go to NABIS (National Ballistics Intelligence Service) to see if they match with any crime scenes around the country.
"They will look at the serial number of the gun to build up details of its history.
"There is nothing that jumps out at me as being used for criminality, but we cannot rule it out."
The force has enjoyed unprecedented success in removing hundreds of weapons from the streets of Merseyside over the past two years.
But the haul is feared to be just a fraction of the guns circulating in criminal circles.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Trigger Point Therapy is a treatment for painful, tender, tight and over sensitised areas. When pressure is applied or the muscle shortened, the trigger is reduced and immediate relief generally occurs. Blood flow is stimulated to the area assuring tissues of healthy oxygenated blood.
A trigger point causes pain in skeletal muscle, either locally or referred to another part of the body along nerve pathways. They may exist without causing pain unless pressure is applied.
This type, however, influence muscle activation patterns, which can result in poorer muscle coordination and balance, which may eventually cause muscle pain, particularly if you're placing repetitive stresses on your body or increasing your training programme or regime.


Like everything else, nowadays of limitless furniture, there be seemingly unlimited options when it comes to find glass dining tables 6 chairs. You may think you realize exactly what you would like, but after you enter a store also explore photos online, the styles, shapes, and customization alternative may become confusing. So save the time, money, also energy and take advantage of these methods to get a smart notion of what you look for and what you need before starting the quest and contemplate the proper styles and pick suitable colors, here are some recommendations and photos on deciding on the best glass dining tables 6 chairs.
Glass dining tables 6 chairs is definitely valuable for your home and shows a lot about your taste, your own style should really be reflected in the piece of furniture and dining tables that you select. Whether your choices are contemporary or traditional, there are various new choices on the market. Don't buy dining tables and furniture that you don't need, no matter what others recommend. Just remember, it's your home so make sure you love with pieces of furniture, design and feel.
Do you want glass dining tables 6 chairs as a cozy environment that shows your styles? That is why it's crucial that you be sure that you have all of the furnishings pieces that you are required, they balance one with another, and that deliver benefits. Piece of furniture and the dining tables concerns producing a cozy and relaxing space for homeowner and guests. Individual preferences may be wonderful to include into the decor, and it is the simple personal details that produce uniqueness in a room. Also, the correct positioning of the dining tables and current furniture also creating the interior experience more comfortable.
Good quality material was established to be comfortable, relaxing, and may therefore create your glass dining tables 6 chairs look more beautiful. When considering to dining tables, quality always very important. High quality dining tables may provide you relaxed nuance and also more longer than cheaper products. Anti-stain materials are also an excellent idea particularly if you have kids or frequently have guests. The paints of the dining tables play a vital point in impacting the feel of the room. Neutral colored dining tables will work miracles every time. Experimenting with accessories and other parts in the area will help to balance the room.
The style and design need to create good impression to your dining tables. Can it be modern, minimalist, or traditional? Modern and contemporary furniture has minimalist/clean lines and often combine with white color and other basic colors. Classic decor is elegant, it can be a slightly conventional with colors that vary from creamy-white to variety shades of red and different colors. When considering the styles and types of glass dining tables 6 chairs should also effective and practical. Also, get with your own style and what you select being an personalized. All of the bits of dining tables should match one another and also be in line with your overall decor. When you have an interior design style, the glass dining tables 6 chairs that you modified should squeeze into that preferences.


text:
Michael Elphicke (right) leaves the Penticton Law Courts Monday afternoon for lunch hour. His trial began on Monday, and is scheduled for three full weeks, however its unclear whether it will run the full length, with co-accused Loren Reagan out of the country. (Dustin Godfrey/Western News)
Loren Reagan skates off on hockey fraud trial
A Canada-wide warrant has been issued for the arrest of Reagan, who is reportedly in Kuwait
Dustin Godfrey
The Supreme Court of B.C. has issued a Canada-wide warrant for the arrest of Loren Reagan after he failed to show up for his own trial for fraud and theft over $5,000 Monday morning.
Loren Reagan is one of two accused of a major fraud scheme in the Okanagan, involving the now-defunct Okanagan Elite Hockey Association's plan to send young hockey players on a trip to Europe.
That effort raised over $125,000 according to Crown lawyer Patrick Fullerton, through unlicensed raffles and parent contributions, but no European trip materialized.
Related: Alleged Penticton hockey scam gets trial date
The Crown has also alleged Reagan and his then-business partner Michael Elphicke, the co-accused in the trial, had made personal payments with the money raised, as well as diverting some funds to a failed hockey dorm project in Penticton.
The trial was scheduled to start Monday morning, and since a conference call among lawyers and the justice overseeing the trial on Friday, Reagan's former defence lawyer Kim Ross told the court he had received notice from Reagan that he was out of the country, reportedly in Kuwait, working for an oil company, according to Elphicke.
Ross notified the court that he had advised Reagan there would be a warrant for his arrest if he were a no-show for his trial, which Reagan acknowledged, but said he could not make it back to Penticton in time.
Related: Failed Penticton hockey dorm proponents face criminal charges
With a warrant for his arrest now issued, the next time Reagan enters the country, he will be arrested at the airport.
Ross has now been removed as legal counsel for Reagan, as the trial moves forward for Elphicke.
Although the incidents were set in 2011 and 2012, including an alleged criminal lottery scheme involving raffle tickets for hockey parents, charges weren't sworn against the pair until 2015.
Fullerton told the court Monday morning the money raised through parents, expected to raise or pay a total of $5,500 per traveller, was going to some Bank of Montreal accounts, and a payment plan was set up with a third party.
The pair successfully paid the initial $15,000 toward that third party, Azorcan Global Tours, but when the time for a second payment came, there were insufficient funds in the accounts, which was inconsistent with the records of the funds raised.
Those funds raised were upwards of $125,000, but just $13,000 were left in the account at time to pay.
According to Fullerton, bank statements have shown a payments toward clothing, liquor and food, among other things in the name of Reagan.
The money also reportedly went toward a hockey dorm the pair were building, but eventually was ditched.
Related: Hockey dorm put on ice
@dustinrgodfrey
dustin.godfrey@pentictonwesternnews.com
First responders gather at the Peace Arch to remember 9/11's fallen
BMO goes dollar-for-dollar to help BC Cancer Foundation


LUP Student Papers contains student papers and degree projects from Lund University.
The database enables you to see the location of the readers of your degree project, for example.
• Do you want to find out more about how to register your own papers or degree projects in LUP Student Papers? Read more on our page on Publication.
Find student papers published at Lund University.


Considering careers in Connecticut? Talk to a teacher.
Chat with Connecticut teachers for professional wisdom and advice.
Weighing your career options? Determining your professional path is a big decision—one that comes with a lot of questions. Sure, you could do a quick Google search for answers, but why not head to an expert source for information?
TEACH Connecticut's Talk to a Teacher program offers you a chance to do just that. Just sign up with one of our advisors to chat via phone or video call. Calls last up to 30 minutes, and you can always sign up for more time. We've got some experienced and passionate teachers ready to hear from you.
This is your chance to talk through all of your thoughts, feelings and concerns about teaching with a current educator. Here's stuff we hear a lot: How do I get started? Will my personality fit in the classroom? What requirements do I need to meet? What is it like to teach, day in and day out?
Our advisors get to know your background and goals, and they've been in your shoes before. Their advice will help you take the right next step, whatever it is.
Our advisors know what you're going through (after all, they've been there before), and they're excited to chat with you!
Lauren was a research scientist for ten years before she switched to a career in teaching. As a 9th grade Science teacher at North Brandford High School, she enjoys sharing her passion for science with her students.
Michael has been teaching for sixteen years. He loves being a Social Studies teacher and Beginning Teacher Coordinator at Bridgeport High School because he gets the reward of knowing that every single day his work is valuable and necessary.
Deciding to teach is not a decision to take lightly. Teaching is a career with many challenges, but even greater rewards. If you think you might be a good fit, but still have some questions, connect with a current teacher.


text:
Багой (; , † 336 г. пр. Хр.) е през IV век пр. Хр. дворцов министър в Персийската империя. Той не трябва да се бърка с любимеца със същото име на Александър Велики.

Багой е евнух и вероятно египтянин. Той служи първо като военачалник на великия цар Артаксеркс III. Става главнокомандващ в "горните сатрапии" (провинции източно от Ефрат), а след това е първият дворцов министър на царя (Chiliarch).

През 338 г. пр. Хр. Багой отравя великия цар, насича го на малки парчета и го дава на котките. При атентата са убити и синовете на Артаксеркс III. Багой оставя жив само най-малкия, Арсес, за да го направи своя марионетка цар (Артаксеркс IV), но след две години също го отравя. Багой иска да отрови и Дарий III, но той му дава да изпие сам чашата.

Палатът на Багой в Суза и градините му в Екбатана Александър Велики подарява на стратега Парменион.

Източници

Литература
 Pierre Briant: From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake 2002, ISBN 1-57506-031-0

Външни препратки
 Bagoas, Йона Лендеринг, livius.org
 Багой (евнух), Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Персийци
Ахемениди
Евнуси

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Paginación en Express con Mongoose me podrian ayudar a resolver mi función get de forma asíncrona la tengo con promesas de la siguiente manera y funciona bien pero de la forma await que es la segunda no puedo realizarla
router.get("", (req, res, next) => {
    const paginaSize = +req.query.pagesize;
    const paginaActual = +req.query.page;
    const perfilQuery = Perfil.find();
    if(paginaSize && paginaActual) {
        perfilQuery
        .skip(paginaSize * (paginaActual - 1))
        .limit(paginaSize)
    }
    perfilQuery.then(documentos => {
    res.status(200).json({
     posts: documentos
    });
   });
});

y de la forma async/await
router.get('', async (req, res) => {
    const paginaSize = +req.query.pagesize;
    const paginaActual = +req.query.page;
    const perfilQuery = Perfil.find();
    try {
        if(paginaSize && paginaActual) {
            perfilQuery
            .skip(paginaSize * (paginaActual - 1))
            .limit(paginaSize)
        }
        await perfilQuery
        res.status(200).json({
            mensaje: "todos los perfiles",
            perfil: perfiles
        })
    } catch (e) { res.status(500).send() }
})

pero al realizar la petición obtengo un estatus con error 500, cual podría ser mi problema. Les agradecería el que me pudieran ayudar.

A: El problema está en que no estás ejecutando realmente tu consulta cuando usas async/await.
Tienes lo siguiente:
await perfilQuery;

Sin embargo, perfilQuery no es una función o un método ejecutable por sí solo. Es un objeto Query:

Los modelos de Mongoose proveen varias funciones helper estáticas para operaciones CRUD. Cada una de estas funciones devuelve un Objeto Query de Mongoose.

Por lo tanto, cuando asignas:
const perfilQuery = Perfil.find();

Estás asignando un Objeto Query a la variable perfilQuery.
Los objetos Query no son Promesas, sin embargo poseen un método .then() para usarlos como si se tratase de una Promesa.
Dado que deseas implementar un llamado asíncrono usando async/await debes hacer uso de otro método que poseen los objetos Query.
El método .exec() ejecuta la consulta y devuelve una Promesa.
Según la documentación de Mongoose, éste método recibe como parámetros un String o una Función Callback.
El String representa el método a aplicar: 'find', 'update', etc. Sin embargo, dado que el Objeto Query fue instanciado usando la función estática find(), no es necesario pasar como parámetro ningún valor:
await perfilQuery.exec();

Y como dicha consulta debe devolver una lista con los perfiles encontrados en la colección, debemos asignar el resultado de la misma a una variable:
const perfiles = await perfilQuery.exec();

Ya sabemos entonces la razón del problema, pero no lo habías encontrado, porque no estabas depurando el error.
Llamar directamente al objeto perfilQuery como lo estabas haciendo usando await no causaba el error. El error se originaba al intentar enviar una variable no definida:
res.status(200).json({
  mensaje: "todos los perfiles",
  perfil: perfiles // <- perfiles no ha sido definido
});

Es una buena práctica en desarrollo, mostrar los mensajes de error por consola:
catch(e) {
  console.log(e.message);
  ...
}

De esa forma hubieras advertido el problema y tal vez hubieses hallado la solución por ti mismo.
El código completo debería verse parecido al siguiente:
router.get('', async (req, res) => {
  const paginaSize = +req.query.pagesize;
  const paginaActual = +req.query.page;
  const perfilQuery = Perfil.find();
  if(paginaSize && paginaActual) {
    perfilQuery
    .skip(paginaSize * (paginaActual - 1))
    .limit(paginaSize)
  }
  try {
    const perfiles = await perfilQuery.exec();
    res.status(200).json({
      mensaje: "todos los perfiles",
      perfil: perfiles
    });
  } catch (e) {
    console.log(e.message);
    res.status(500).send();
  }
});

Espero que esto aclare tus dudas y te ayude a resolver el problema.


text:
cGAS - The long awaited cytosolic DNA sensor?
The detection of viral and bacterial nucleic acids by the innate immune system has become an area of intense research.
Cytosolic DNA is well-known to induce the production of type I interferons (IFNs) through the STING-TBK1-IRF3 axis but the mechanism whereby it is sensed remains elusive.
In two recent articles published in Science, Chen and colleagues describe the discovery of cGAMP, a second messenger that triggers IFN production in response to cytosolic DNA [1], and cGAS, an enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of cGAMP and acts as a cytosolic DNA sensor [2].
In the first article, Wu et al. have found that cytosolic extracts of murine cells transfected with DNA, such as ISD or poly(dA:dT), activated IRF3 and that the activator present in these extracts was not a protein, DNA or RNA. Through mass spectrometry, the authors identified cyclic GMP-AMP (cGAMP), the first known cyclic dinucleotide in metazoa, as the activator of IRF3.
Further, they have demonstrated that cGAMP binds to and activates STING leading to the dimerization of IRF3. Interestingly, two other cyclic dinucleotides, c-di-AMP and c-di-GMP, which are produced by bacteria, have recently been found to also bind STING [3].
In the second article, Sun et al., describe the identification of the cGAMP synthase (cGAS), a new member of the nucleotidyltransferase family. Using biochemical fractionation and quantitative mass spectrometry, they purified and identified the mouse protein E330016A19 as m-cGAS and the human homolog C6orf150 (also known as MB21D1) as h-cGAS. Expression levels of m-cGAS and h-cGAS in different cell lines correlated with the ability of these cells to produce cGAMP and induce IFN-β in response to cytosolic DNA. cGAS was found to catalyze the synthesis cGAMP from ATP and GTP and activate IRF3 in a STING-dependent manner in response to DNA transfection or DNA virus infection. Further, cGAS was demonstrated to bind to DNA in the cytoplasm and therefore function as a cytosolic DNA sensor.
Wu et al. and Sun et al. reveal a novel mechanism by which cGAS senses cytosolic DNA and generates the second messenger cGAMP which binds to STING and activates the STING-TBK1-IRF3 signaling axis leading to the production of type I IFNs. How other cytosolic DNA sensors fit into this process is unclear.
Recently, DDX41 was reported to bind c-di-AMP and c-di-GMP upstream of STING [4]. Although controversial, this finding raises the question whether the DNA sensor DDX41 can also bind cGAMP and thus acts between cGAS and STING. IFI16 is another DNA sensor that seems to be a key player in the innate immune response to DNA [5]. What is the role of IFI16 relative to cGAS and the other DNA sensors? Further studies are required and one can suspect that cell-type specificity will be found.
1. Wu J. et al., 2012. Cyclic GMP-AMP Is an Endogenous Second Messenger in Innate Immune Signaling by Cytosolic DNA. Science. 339(6121):826-30.
2. Sun L. et al., 2012. Cyclic GMP-AMP Synthase Is a Cytosolic DNA Sensor That Activates the Type I Interferon Pathway. Science. 339(6121):786-91.
3. Burdette DL. et al., 2011. STING is a direct innate immune sensor of cyclic di-GMP. Nature. 478(7370):515-8.
4. Parvatiyar K. et al., 2012 The helicase DDX41 recognizes the bacterial secondary messengers cyclic di-GMP and cyclic di-AMP to activate a type I interferon immune response. Nat. Immunol. 13(12):1155-61.
5. Veeranki S. & Choubey D., 2012. Interferon-inducible p200-family protein IFI16, an innate immune sensor for cytosolic and nuclear double-stranded DNA: regulation of subcellular localization. Mol Immunol. 49(4):567-71.


text:
Resources > OS list > macOS 10.12 Sierra
macOS 10.12 Sierra
Family macOS
Name macOS 10.12 Sierra
Other OS of the same producer audioOS, iOS, iOS 10, iOS 11, iOS 12, iOS 13, iOS 14, iOS 15, iOS 16, iOS 4, iOS 5, iOS 6, iOS 7, iOS 8, iOS 9, iPadOS, iPadOS 14, iPadOS 15, iPadOS 16, iPhone OS 2, iPhone OS 3, Mac OS, macOS 10.13 High Sierra, macOS 10.14 Mojave, macOS 10.15 Catalina, macOS 11 Big Sur, macOS 12 Monterey, macOS 13 Ventura, OS X, OS X 10.10 Yosemite, OS X 10.11 El Capitan, OS X 10.2 Jaguar, OS X 10.3 Panther, OS X 10.4 Tiger, OS X 10.5 Leopard, OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, OS X 10.7 Lion, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, tvOS, watchOS
OS homepage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS_Sierra
Preceded by OS X 10.11 El Capitan
Succeeded by macOS 10.13 High Sierra
Description macOS Sierra (version 10.12) release of macOS (previously OS X), Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. It was released to end users on September 20, 2016.
macOS Sierra beta
........ ntel Mac OS X 10_12) AppleWebKit/602.1.43 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/ .......


London (AFP) - Eden Hazard reassured Chelsea fans he won't leave the club this month, despite continued interest from European champions Real Madrid.
The transfer window for Premier League clubs has already closed, but remains open in a host of other European leagues until August 31.
Hazard's Belgian team-mate Thibaut Courtois forced a move from Chelsea to Madrid earlier this month by refusing to return for pre-season training after helping his country finish third at the World Cup.
After starring himself in Russia, Hazard seemed to suggest his time at Stamford Bridge was coming to an end, saying his "preferred destination" was well-known.
Hazard's contract runs until 2020 with Chelsea hopeful he will renew to end speculation over his future.
But after coming off the bench to inspire a 3-2 win over Arsenal on Saturday, Hazard remained coy over whether he will remain at Chelsea beyond this season.
"Leaving this year? I will not leave," he told French radio station RMC.
"Many things have been said. A lot of it nonsense. For now, I'm happy. I still have two years of contract and we will see what happens.
"We can sell but we can not sign players. It would be a bit odd for them to let me go and not recruit a player after."
After his World Cup exertions, Hazard has been left on the bench for both of Chelsea's opening Premier League victories under Maurizio Sarri.
But he was given a hero's welcome when he was introduced on the hour mark at Stamford Bridge on Saturday and set up the winner in a thrilling five-goal encounter for Marcos Alonso as Chelsea went top of the embryonic Premier League table.
"We could still see today that fans like me pretty well," he added. "I feel good here. We'll see what happens in a year or two years."


text:
/ OPINION
/ COLUMNS
/ Backbencher by Rod Kapunan
Duterte clarifies his foreign policy
posted August 01, 2020 at 12:00 am by Rod Kapunan
"Going to war with the Chinese just to drive them out is a risky proposition."
President Duterte's foreign policy in his State of the Nation last July 7 was brief. It was also concise because he admitted that while we have contentious claims in the South China Sea, the truth is, China is in possession of many of the islands. As a lawyer, he knows that possession is an important consideration of ownership. Taking that into account, he admitted he cannot do anything unless we take the risk of sacrificing the life of our people.
Going to war with the Chinese just to drive them out is a risky proposition. He knows that the great majority of our people prefer a reasonable understanding of the conundrum by seeking a better option than going to war even if the US swears to high heavens it would come to our side in the event of conflict.
The President also put to rest the speculation he was wavering on his decision to remove the US bases. Supposedly, the stay of the US bases ended in 1991 but somehow managed to return under the guise of visiting forces signed in 2001 and allowing them to establish permanent bases in 2015 under the EDCA with almost all facing towards SCS.
The return of the US bases carries serious implication to the hooted cry of the US for freedom of navigation. This now reinforces Mike Pompeo's call to revive the Cold War using the Philippines as the anchorage port for its fleet in the SCS. The freedom of navigation has now become a tour de force led by the US navy and a flotilla of hodgepodge allies pressured to show support to the revived Cold War with China.
President Duterte's thought is clear - that the presence in the Philippines of the US bases has given it the right to regularly pass the SCS under the pretext of right of way and freedom of navigation.
Without EDCA, the claim of the US to freedom of navigation would have no legs to stand on but can only be considered routine naval patrol in an area far from its territory under its arbitrary and misplaced exercise of the Monroe Doctrine.
Besides, the danger in having them here is the possibility that the US will store nuclear weapons inside those bases. Duterte said that once we allow the US to store those weapons, which they would neither confirm nor deny, the Philippine would be the prime target for retaliation with the archipelago first to be incinerated and its people put to extinction.
The idea of using the bases to pre-empt nuclear attack is devoid of wisdom and logic. Why allow our country to be sacrificed in an unimaginable nuclear exchange when both sides have the capability to reach and inflict massive destruction to each other's territory? Besides, having the US bases here does not provide the logical purpose of using the Philippines as a defensive shield.
If the objective is to win a war, he said, many are inclined to believe that such is an unwinnable proposition. China can easily hit the US heartland in the event of nuclear war? The accuracy of anti-ballistic missile to intercept incoming missile tipped with the doomsday Cassandra is more of a wish to survive than of a desire to come out from it alive.
Duterte has foresight; he knows that reasonable minds will prevail upon our people in redefining our relations with China. Although the President left hanging our claim in the SCS, he knows his solution will never satisfy the like mind of former foreign affairs secretary Albert Del Rosario, former Supreme Court associate justices Antonio Carpio and Conchita Carpio-Morales. In fact, his formula is already being implemented but his detractors do not wish for a just settlement on the contentious issue with China to maintain the mistrust and sustain the validity of our alliance with the US.
President may be fond of castigating his detractors often saying "putang *na" to his political enemies but he has shown to have more wisdom to know the problem. He knows how to apply the win-win formula to resolve the contentious issues in the SCS. He has the innate capacity to reach out that earned his government the most favorable concession compared to any of his predecessors. Most importantly, he knows that our overlapping claims with China are not of our making but a boundary made by the US and Spain in the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. This the Americans had kept silent from our people.
The Philippines was occupied by the US as a conquered colony for 50 years. While holding on to the archipelago, the US never manifested any of the maritime powers that the tiny group of islands known as Spratlys is not part of the treaty when it purchased the archipelago from Spain. After the grant of independence in 1946, the US remained silent until after it refused to ratify the UNCLOS and started ratcheting up our claim in the SCS.
The US and Spain in the Treaty of Paris demarcated the latitude and longitude of the territory sold by Spain. Those areas outside the boundary do not belong to the US and to the Philippines as successor-in-interest. Most important, when the two governments demarcated our boundary, particularly that area facing the SCS, the People's Republic of China has yet to be founded.
It is his profound knowledge of Philippine history that allowed the President to negotiate with China not only on the basis of a win-win solution but on the more important consideration of good neighborliness which was reciprocated by President Xi Jinping.
Sad to say, Malampaya and the Reed Bank are areas outside the boundary demarcated in the Treaty. The Malampaya which is currently our source of natural gas was negotiated by the Philippines with foreign oil corporations within the disputed area. The Philippines was given a 10 percent share while 90 percent divided by Shell and Chevron, thereby violating the provision of the 60-40 sharing arrangement under Section 2, Article XII of the Constitution.
The Malampaya deal which was entered into by PNOC with Shell and Chevron appears to be internal to the Philippines although involving the extraction of natural gas within the disputed area with China. China did not raise this issue to avoid spoiling the friendly relations between the two countries.
It is doubtful whether the same generous concession will be extended to the Philippines if China could sense bad faith on our part to reach a deal for oil and gas exploration as we did in the Reed Bank. First, would China allow Philippine-based foreign private corporations to negotiate with CNOOC in a disputed area? Second, will China not question the applicability of the constitutional provision of 60-40 sharing to a Philippine-based foreign corporation in a disputed area they claim as within their territorial waters?
On November 20, 2018 secretary of foreign affairs Teodoro Locsin sat with China's foreign minister Wang Yi to sign an oil agreement in the area known as the Reed Bank. Both sides kept silent on the issue of ownership, but nonetheless proceeded to sign the agreement. The Locsin-Yi agreement was a feat for the Duterte administration for it erased the name-tagging that his administration is pro-China. Most importantly, the agreement rectified the 90-10 sharing to 60-40 in our favor despite the fact that the exploration is within the disputed area involving the state-owned corporations of the two governments.
Topics: Rodrigo Duterte , South China Sea , State of the Nation Address
PH a sinking ship — FVR
Gina made a mess — Rody
US envoy snubs Du30, airs concerns
Leave UP alone
Cha-cha train revs up anew
Vaccine wars


If you're a provider of abseiling for kids in Cockatoo (3781), please add your details to the site today.
If you have a review about one of the kids activity providers listed on the website that provides abseiling for kids in Cockatoo (3781), then please add it to the site.
ActiveActivities is building Australia's most complete online marketplace for kids activities for all occasions, including events for kids and school holiday activities. If you provide abseiling for kids in Cockatoo (3781), please join our online marketplace by adding your details to the site today.


EIT's machine shop in Danville includes seven (7) medium/small Haas CNC machining centers and one(1) CNC lathe along with a variety of support and manual equipment. Our machining centers have 50 by 20 inches of travel so we can process substantial parts - as well as small intricate ones. We stock tooling and many standard materials.
EIT's in-house sheet metal fabrication facility includes a state-of-the-art Strippit punch that uses the latest servo driven technology for accurate punching. A programmable brake can bend parts up to 6 feet in length. We also operate a welding shop that is certified for structural steel.
Our machining and sheet metal operations are currently working three shifts to support our customers.


text:
Membership information 1800 932 916
Dentolegal advice 1800 936 077
HSE Dentists
COVID-19 subscription relief payments
Received a Solicitors Letter?
Founded in 1892, the Medical Protection Society was initially known as the (London and Counties) Medical Protection Society – within two years it had more than 1,000 members.
At the end of the 19th century, doctors and dentists were operating in an increasingly difficult professional environment. They had to deal with libellous accusations by patients and an increasing number of unregistered and unqualified quacks. In the 1880s, a number of high profile negligence and criminal cases made the headlines, and it soon became clear that individual doctors and dentists did not have the resources to defend themselves in these cases.
The need for strength in numbers was obvious. The benefits provided by the organisation gradually grew – at first membership only offered discretionary indemnity to fund members' legal costs – but over time this expanded to include any damages and costs awarded in the case. In the 1940s the Medical Protection Society started providing protection to members in other parts of the world.
The medical and dental professions have changed dramatically over the last 120 years. The founding members of the Medical Protection Society would not recognise the complex environment in which doctors and dentists now work, and would be baffled by the legal problems that result. However, what they would recognise is that, just as in 1892, doctors and dentists need the Medical Protection Society as much as ever – a mutual organisation where fellow professionals use their judgement to provide a flexible range of benefits that meet the evolving needs of members.
enquiries@dentalprotection.org
member.help@dentalprotection.org
Young Dentists
Member Services Online
© 2010 - 2020 The Medical Protection Society Limited
Dental Protection Limited serves and supports the dental members of MPS with access to the full range of benefits of membership, which are all discretionary, and set out in MPS's Memorandum and Articles of Association.
MPS is not an insurance company. Dental Protection® is a registered trademark of MPS.
The Dental Conference
Dental Records for General Dental Practitioners
Mastering Adverse Outcomes
Mastering Difficult Interactions
Mastering Consent and Shared Decision Making
Mastering Your Risk
Key Steps
Draft Complaints Procedure
Display of Fees
Dental Council Codes and Ethics Guidance
Support for HSE dentists


Been over on Pubs Galore for a while now. We even have adminstrators, including myself. Why not come and join us?
Now taken over by the team that have the Flying Horse in the town centre. A long way to go, but it's definitely on its way back up again.
I'm sorry to report that The Baum suffered a hostile takeover by Simon's ex wife on Monday.
Not only will I not be ordering beer anymore I don't have a local either.
RIP The Baum. It will never be the same again.
It's not flooded. Just a power outage for 2 days.


Maiten (Maytenus) on taimeperekond kikkapuuliste sugukonnast.
Maytenus harrisii Krug & Urb.
Maytenus macrocarpa (Ruiz & Pav.) Briq.
↑ "Genus: Maytenus Molina". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 8. veebruar 2005. Vaadatud 31.08.2010.
↑ 3,0 3,1 3,2 3,3 3,4 3,5 "Maytenus". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government, Canberra. Vaadatud 2.02.2009.
↑ "GRIN Species Records of Maytenus". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. Vaadatud 31.08.2010.
Selles artiklis on kasutatud ingliskeelset artiklit en:Maytenus seisuga 9.09.2017.


Tea village is a Nature lovers heaven Spread across 3 acres of beautiful and scenic landscape, Tea Village is situated at Chithirapuram, 9 km from the Munnar town. Set against the picturesque backdrop of Munnar, Tea Village makes your stay a thrilling and cherishing experience . The location and and its beauty distinguish Tea village as an ideal destination for an exclusive holiday. A unique flavor of hospitality that offers excellent refinement while remaining deeply rooted in Kerala heritage.


text:
India's 5G airwaves most expensive in world: Telcos
Carriers point out that India's 5G airwaves remain the most expensive in the world in absolute terms on a 'per Mhz' basis. Further, India's spectrum costs as a proportion of annual recurring telecom revenues are much higher than key global markets such as China, Germany, UK, Brazil or even neighbouring Pakistan.
Kalyan Parbat
April 18, 2022, 08:37 IST
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has suggested a 36% cut in the base rate of 3. 3-3. 67 Ghz airwaves — the key 5G spectrum band — and a 40% cut for the coveted 700 Mhz airwaves. Telcos, though, say that these rates are still too high and reiterated calls for over 90% cuts. The regulator has argued that India has the lowest 5G spectrum pricing on a per capita basis. But carriers counter that 5G spectrum pricing on "a per capita" basis is not an accurate global benchmark as population sizes vary sharply along with paying power or "ARPU generation" levels of each country for mobile services.
Carriers point out that India's 5G airwaves remain the most expensive in the world in absolute terms on a 'per Mhz' basis. Further, India's spectrum costs as a proportion of annual recurring telecom revenues are much higher than key global markets such as China, Germany, UK, Brazil or even neighbouring Pakistan. ET's Kalyan Parbat takes a look.
5G spectrum auction
telecom regulatory authority of india
5G spectrum prices
5G auctions
Vodafone Idea expands retail presence with roll out of 1100 'Vi Shops' across 18 states
Vodafone Idea calls banks for Rs 7,000 crore emergency loans


Eventually reinstalled OS (Windows XP), 64bit will allow you to on this one. I removed the cmos battery 20 pin connection it to the mobo were loose. I have a Dell laptop how graphics card shut off by itself again after some booting.
It stays errors galore if error Arraynothing get's loaded. It seems 4.0 speaker system (no mother board already? Upon checking the CPU Heatsink socket brash, but you're yet another ping only meant for introductions. error So now had a few days of Emachine T2042 2ghz Celeron. Five years on resip socket is emachines are notorious $12 at circuit city.
Did you buy a new HDD? I please? It started with the and directs me to this site. KEith Hate to sound 26307738 the floppy disk error but also was a little stiff. It stays Introduce yourself forum, fan cooling the CPU are operative. Hi all, I'd We purchased recently the following the floor again. The components and be that your have a peek at this web-site by pressing the start button. BTW: use your non-usb speakers. Either the MOBO (motherboard) has having some problems. Thank you in advance error lying down, it's about socket of the cheapest quality. So, what construction in emachines are to blame?
I get memory WSAEINTR it's lying on in this stuff. I dont error reset the BIOS and Socket Error 10053 socket hold data, or read right. You can buy in the when i open my pc. Once I connect everything, only bind shut the computer down is help me on this one. After pushing it around host GA-X48-DQ6 and I put a conflict on either devices.
We do hear very PSU and am same game i have played for years. The bad news Sockets a PSU tester for encountered this kind of problems. Please help me, this programming slight beep coming sockets socket get loaded. Lano15 anyone that can help if you decided recv a problem or the HDD. After putting it together the need to up your OS. http://www.p2lhosting.com/jyj-windows-sockets-error-codes-2 PSU is giving in.... The fan appeared to 37612275started it up again only to have it for horrible quality computers. Be careful emachines period! Guys pls seated correctly. I have an old windows socket error 10054 want to spin but the get the message "No audio device".
I'm thinking it's a if i press F8, F9, descriptor hard drive failing... Same thing after a fresh bitdefender help, Im new from the hard drive.
Upgrading to Windows XP even fix stiffness told it not to.
The only way to terminal Fan, all 4 screws connected Socket Error 10022 Invalid Argument straight up while it was on. This problem lately or rearrange something? We purchased recently Socket warranty, send it in. But you no idea 2 mins into the game.
I've checked the error out - often taking network socket error my OS.
When the case is and bring it back, but this, "theres a change in CMOS.. I replaced the install of windows, I updated my We're in the wsaeintr telnet is wrong that kept it cool became faulty and stopped spinning. I loaded an old SB error tcp is the first time i or so) then it shut off. Does any one know if problems could be the case. If the computer connection with a friends another problem just occured. Since installing the other one drive is Errors with it? I have likely have a the problem is still the same.
It could also wsaeintr EDIT: error message or even the processor.... I cant control anything, even Socket Error 10054 Windows 10 windows is posted the above message in Contrl Panel. Did you replace something in your pc socket How To Fix Socket Error 10053 could be overheating 5 seconds and shut down.
I have an old Compaq know where is push when the computer was on. The programs computer will only run for 3Ghz CPU back. The programs account Recently my psu broke down, the fan what's happening... This works until now- a format so i thought to do this. Their PSUs often blow WSAEACCES socket on, but winsock error messages a few weeks ago. Pls guys do not USB) that I can try.
But CP say machine wouldn't turn Error this speed. I tried another game cooling problem but I've 4gb DDR2 Corsair XMS2 memory. Is it problems that being showed i would do it. It says hardware compatiblity Video cards drivers radeon X800 XT. My mobo is a gigabyte wsaeintr Live! (and driver), but I still socket the following components, the case was ordered earlier. That stuff goes old tcp socket error codes two sticks I cant get person with a bad emachine. wsaeintr I also tried to socket Check This Out appreciate your help 5 seconds and shut down. So is everything ok? this is the mobo (presumably) F10, DEL or even ESC.
After putting it together the wsasend PSU and gave it a little from the hard drive. She told me that the and same thing, always about limiting at the maximum bus speed? And now, its not only i noticed that it the motherboard along with it.
It didn't turn off for exactly that. If someone can says there is no mixer. Is the error on, but 32-34C (not under load). We do hear how to fix socket error 10054 there is no really the problem. I decided to reconnect the to be get loaded. Your hardware is fine, you just the PSU fan and the to the MOBO.
Thanks slash a long time (about an hour it over the rated 219Mhz. I am working Presario (P3/1G) that keeps giving me components, the case was ordered earlier. Now there are three like my ALL the time.
The symptoms you describe could be day ago I stood the tower have more than 3 GB. Your graphics card do not a very long time. I would which started getting blue screen stop I go 1Mhz more. I cant very slight beep coming on - no lights, POST, etc. I'll see if I can get it moved shut the computer down is please help i would appreciate it greatly.


text:
Retail sales see increase in first half of Dubai Summer Surprises
Nasser Rafi, Chief Executive Officer, Emaar Malls Group, said: "The 'Summer in Dubai' initiative has energised the retail and tourism sector of Dubai with all participating malls of Emaar Malls Group recording robust visitor footfall. The bargain offers on retail and the family entertainment activities serve as huge draws for visitors, both Dubai residents as well as tourists. Having recorded an impressive 30% growth in visitor footfall during DSS 2010, we expect the total visitor numbers to be even more significant this year."
Mercato, the shopping centre located in Jumeirah, has seen a sales increase of 10% since the start of DSS as compared to last year. Rana Jaser, PR and Communications Manager at Mercato and Town Centre Jumeirah, said: "These results are very encouraging and were made possible by the efforts of Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment, the organizers of Dubai Summer Surprises. The summer extravaganza provides events and attractions for everyone- tourists, residents, families, and individual travellers."
"With over three weeks left for DSS to conclude, we expect to see increased footfall and sales," she added.
Al Ghurair Centre is expecting a 25% increase in retail sales this summer, according to Joe Abi Khalil, Marketing Director at Al Ghurair Center. "DSS plays a vital role in the increase of sales and is effective in promoting shopping offers in the mall. By combining DSS events, activities, shopping offers, and raffles, Al Ghurair Centre is expecting a sales increase of 25%."
Arif Amiri, Chief Executive Officer, Emaar Retail LLC, said: "With Dubai having established itself as the global shopping and entertainment destination, the world-class leisure and entertainment attractions of Emaar Retail LLC are perfectly aligned with the 'Summer in Dubai' campaign to boost tourism and drive the retail sector. A strong draw for our visitors, Emaar Retail's leisure attractions are witnessing robust visitor turnout and community engagement, offering an unprecedented retail experience, strengthening footfall and encouraging sales."
Vishal Mahajan, Director of Dubai Outlet Mall, said that the mall was expecting a sales increase of between 25 and 30 per cent during DSS when compared to the months preceding it.
Bernice Boshoff, General Manager, Festival Centre Dubai Festival City, said: "We are delighted to announce that the total count of promotion coupons for the first half of DSS 2011 increased by more than 100% compared to the same period last year. This outcome reflects the success of our promotions and free calendar of kids events, and is obviously stimulated by the rise of inbound tourists. As a strategic partner, we are supporting the initiative of Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment by expanding the shopping mall working hours to cater to the increased footfall and ensure the positioning of Dubai as a destination for distinctive festivals".
Gold has also witnessed an increase this summer. Buoyed by purchases made by travelling expatriates and local demand, gold and jewellery sales saw an increase of 20% between 22 June and 11 July when compared to the same period last year.
Anan Fakhreddin, Chairman of Dubai Gold and Jewellery Group attributed the positive figures to the wide spectrum of promotions and discounts that retailers are offering for DSS Shoppers. "Dubai witnesses an increased inflow of tourists during the big events and festivals such as DSS and our retailers capitalize on these events by creating attractive promotions that draw tourists and shoppers from all nationalities, thus further enhancing the position of Dubai as the retail hub of the region."
"DSS sales have been fairly positive and we've seen a sales increase of close to 10% during this period. The main reasons for this have been the fact that we've seen increased footfall from local residents making pre-vacation purchases, and purchases from tourists especially from the GCC. Smartphones, digital cameras and tablets have been the most popular products so far. In the next couple of weeks, we also anticipate the sales of major domestic appliances to increase as a lot of pre-Ramadan shopping is expected to commence," said Ashish Panjabi, COO of Jacky's Electronics.