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September 7, 2009 / 11:35 PM / 10 years ago
Colombia shows videos of hostages held 11 years
Hugh Bronstein
BOGOTA (Reuters) - Videos of 10 Colombian soldiers and police officers held by Marxist rebels for as long as 11 years aired on television Monday, but efforts aimed at freeing the gaunt-looking hostages remained frozen.
Police Sergeant Luis Arturo Arcia, kidnapped by The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), is seen in a video presented to the media by Military Forces Commander Fredy Padilla (L) and Army Commander Oscar Gonzalez in Bogota September 7, 2009. Videos of 10 Colombian soldiers and police officers kidnapped by Marxist rebels as long ago as 11 years were transmitted by television on Monday, raising hopes that the gaunt-looking hostages may be freed soon.The 10 men are each seen bound around the neck by chains secured by copper-colored padlocks. A tarp of camouflage material hanging behind them to hide their location, they send their regards to their families and plea for freedom. REUTERS/John Vizcaino
The men are seen bound around the neck by chains secured by copper-colored padlocks. A tarp of camouflage material hanging behind them to hide their location, they speak directly to their families in the videos and plea for freedom.
Leftist Senator Piedad Cordoba has been authorized by the government to broker the hand-over of 24 high-profile hostages held in secret jungle camps by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, Latin America's oldest armed insurgency.
But the FARC and President Alvaro Uribe, a conservative U.S. ally popular for cracking down on the guerrillas, are far apart on terms for a release.
Uribe insists that all 24 be freed at the same time, a condition the FARC calls impossible to meet. The rebels, labeled terrorists by Washington, say the hostages can be freed only in exchange for guerrillas held in government jails.
The tapes were recovered over the weekend from a FARC operative before he was arrested by authorities. The proof-of-life videos were filmed by the guerrillas to increase pressure on the government.
"I am in good health," police officer Jorge Trujillo says to the camera in one of the tapes, his beard specked with gray. His voice then trails off and he appears disoriented.
The plight of Colombian kidnap victims drew worldwide attention last year with the stunning military rescue of French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three American anti-drug contractors held for more than five years.
The guerrillas finance their 45-year-old war against the state through cocaine smuggling and extortion. They kidnap for ransom and to increase their political leverage.
Uribe may run for a third four-year term next year if his supporters succeed in changing the constitution to allow him another campaign. His father was killed in a rebel kidnapping attempt in the 1980s.
Reporting by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by Peter Cooney


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Washington, DC (RMHCDC) has been awarded a grant of $30,000 to help advance their mission to improve the health and wellbeing of children, and lessen the hardship of childhood illness on families, through support for the operation of the organization's KIDS Mobile Medical Clinic/Ronald McDonald Care Mobile® Program. The grant was made by the TD Charitable Foundation, the charitable giving arm of TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank®. RMHCDC believes that every child, regardless of his/her financial means, deserves high-quality, comprehensive, compassionate care, delivered in a respectful family centered environment.
RMHCDC and its clinical partner, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital (MGUH), have jointly operated the KIDS Mobile Medical Clinic/Ronald McDonald Care Mobile® (KMMC/RMCM) since 2003, providing primary healthcare to under-served children (birth to age 21) in low-income areas of Washington, D.C. The objective of the KMMC/RMCM is to remove geographic, financial and other barriers to health care for children and families by delivering holistic health and wellness services directly to children's neighborhoods at no direct cost to their parents or caregivers. During the last year, KMMC/RMCM provided more than 1,200 patient visits to underserved children in D.C. Wards 4-8.
"The commitment from TD Charitable Foundation is an honor to receive and a testament to the work we are doing in the Washington, D.C. community," explained Karen Torres, President and CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities® of Greater Washington, DC. "We are looking forwarded to committing this investment to the care we provide for all children, no matter their family's socioeconomic status."
The KMMC/RMCM, a 40-foot long, 8-foot wide, state-of-the-art vehicle built specifically for delivering pediatric health care services, visits regular sites throughout the week, close to subsidized housing and homeless shelters. This unique delivery system of wrap-around services and regularly scheduled site visits ensures continuity of care and the building of trust between the families served and the medical team. RMHCDC's Ronald McDonald Care Mobile Program also includes the organization's FITNESS Program, a joint effort with the Division of Community Pediatrics at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital to deliver innovative nutrition and exercise curriculum to children at local schools.
"We know family caregivers play a vital role in healing so are proud to support the RMHCDC's innovative solution for keeping parents at their child's side throughout the treatment process," said Terry Kenny, Market President for TD Bank.
RMHCDC, a non-profit 501(C)(3), keeps families with sick children together and close to the medical care their child needs at leading local hospitals with three core programs including Ronald McDonald Houses®, Ronald McDonald Family Rooms®, and two Ronald McDonald Care Mobiles®.


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Top 40 Tracks was a chart from Billboard magazine. It debuted in the issue dated December 5, 1998 to preserve the notion of Hot 100 Airplay when it expanded to include airplay data from radio stations of other formats such as R&B, rock and country. The Top 40 Tracks was compiled by measuring audience impressions (based on a station's ratings and when a song is played) from Mainstream Top 40, Rhythmic Top 40, and Adult Top 40 radio stations.

The chart was discontinued effective from issue date February 12, 2005, concurrent with the introduction of the Pop 100 and Pop 100 Airplay charts.

List of Top 40 Tracks number-one singles

References

Billboard charts

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Why Cisco Ramon is the Best Character on 'The Flash'
11/26/2015 by Corrye Van Caeseele-Cook
As superheroes go, the Flash never really did it for me growing up. I was always more of a Batman/Superman kind of guy. Forgive the horrible pun but a guy who could run fast wasn't as flashy as a dude with laser vision or a guy who decked himself out in a bat suit to fight crime.
Granted I did watch the short-lived series with John Wesley Shipp twenty-five years ago. However, back then superhero shows were at a premium. Now you have a plethora of superhero shows to choose from that's so big, size wise it borders on Batman's Rogues Gallery. Netflix, cable, broadcast networks–superhero shows inundate the entire television spectrum.
In case you couldn't tell by the fact that I write for this website and my pseudonym is Darth Gandalf, I consider myself a colossal geek. However, it may surprise you to know that most of the superhero shows don't appeal to me. Gotham comes across boring and lacking substance, Agents of Shield feels like a tease without the Avengers, and Supergirl–well the less said the better. Throw in a one year old son and my desire to find an enjoyable superhero show isn't particular high on my radar.
Enter CW's The Flash.
I have to admit it took some convincing. I already had my own bias about the character and the show was on the CW after all. I'm not knocking the CW but I mean, it's also the network that carried Dawson's Creek and The Vampire Diaries. Plus Barry Allen was being played by a guy from Glee. Also the first season was half way done by the time my co-worker Colton got on me about watching the show. I watched the series premiere more to get the guy off my back than curiosity or entertainment value.
It turned out to be one of the best television decisions I ever made.
I was hooked right from the beginning. Everything from Barry's transformation into the Flash, the duplicity of Harrison Wells/Reverse Flash, intriguing villains like Captain Cold and The Trickster, and the passion each actor demonstrated for the show was perfect. Was the dialogue a little corny at times? Yes. But it is a superhero show and the fact that The Flash focuses so much on story and character rather than spectacle, makes up for any "You'll never get away with this!" moments. I felt empathy and connection for every single character on The Flash, even Eobard Thawne, season one's main villain. But above all others, the one guy I connected with most was mechanical engineer Cisco Ramon.
The writers for The Flash could easily have made Carlos Valdes' character into a goofy sidekick solely there for comedic value. But they added a depth and sweetness to the character I wasn't expecting. Granted he is the funniest guy on the show. I mean check out some of these lines:
"How can you speak six languages and sound like a dick in every one of them?"
"You guys are like ten seasons of Ross and Rachel, but, just like, smushed into one year."
"We're studying the average number of bugs Barry swallows in a day of running."
Additionally there's all the times Cisco mentioned Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, and (most recently) The Princess Bride. The guy is a virtual encyclopedia of geekiness whether it be comics, television, movies, or superheroes. He's the kind of guy you'd call first to play D & D or go to a Terry Gilliam movie marathon. Cisco is the type of friend who'd get every Shawn of the Dead reference and simultaneously know the entire back story to the arcade game Joust. He's also a straight fanboy too. Look how much he geeked out when he met Black Canary! Cisco's even become a superhero in his own right this season as his enhanced psychic abilities are coming to the fore.
As much as I don't like to think of Cisco as a sidekick (at least not in the traditional sense), he seems to fully embrace that role. Think about it. Cisco assists Barry from the background and utilizes not super speed but his intellectual powers. He also takes it upon himself to name the various villains that the Flash encounters. In fact Cisco gets legitimately pissed off whenever anyone attempts to usurp his authority when it comes to supervillain nomenclature. Cisco was also the first person to figure out Harrison Wells was actually Eobard Thawne, AKA the Reverse Flash. None of these are the actions of a mere sidekick.
However, I always questioned Cisco's purpose on the show. Obviously he's so much more than comic relief but what's his role on the show? He's not simply there to produce a deus ex machina every time Barry or Joe or Iris gets in trouble. That's a complete disservice to the character. I didn't get an inkling until I heard the following Cisco quote on Arrow:
"We want to see the Arrow Cave…I want to see the toys…I need to see the toys…do you guys have an Arrow-mobile?"
He then proceeds to offer suggestions on how to improve the "Arrow Cave."
The very next day that same friend who turned me on to The Flash nailed it with one simple yet profound sentence, "Cisco Ramon is the voice of the audience."
Once you lay it out that plainly it makes perfect sense. I don't want to paint a broad stroke here, but it's probably safe to assume that the audience for The Flash consists of movie/comicbook/superhero obsessed people. Next to actually being the Flash, Cisco Ramon is the ideal character that most geeks would aspire to. It's the ultimate superhero fantasy come true. The audience (including myself) identifies with Cisco. We gravitate towards his personality.
"Yeah it's not gonna happen."
"Uh it's complicated."
And it's not just his geekiness that endears us to him. Cisco is a genuinely good human being. He cares about his friends but also the city at large, the masses that he's never met. Cisco wants to protect them just as much as Barry. Furthermore, while Barry deals with extraordinary circumstances daily (not saying that Cisco doesn't) the audience connects with Cisco's everyday problems because they are issues everyone can relate to. Whether it's romance problems (Golden Glider is probably a lost cause and he's got disappointment ahead regarding Hawkgirl), dealing with his parents favoritism, or being letdown by his mentor; these are all issues that normal people face everyday. Except for his transformation into Vibe. Not that.
It probably goes without saying, but none of this would be possible without the talent and charisma of Carlos Valdes. He brings a depth and passion to the character on par with any actor who's played a superhero. I couldn't see anyone else playing this role.
Cisco Ramon, the geek we need AND the one we deserve.
You can follow me on Twitter @DarthGandalf1
Category : Channel Geek, Spotlight
Tags : arrow, Carlos Valdes, Cisco Ramon, The Flash, Vibe
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7 thoughts on "Why Cisco Ramon is the Best Character on 'The Flash'"
Sahara on 11/26/2015 at 10:07 am said:
And John Wesley Shipp was in Dawson's Creek, as it happens.
erika on 11/27/2015 at 12:00 am said:
YES. AMEN. ALL THE WAY.
schanigirl on 11/29/2015 at 10:55 pm said:
Reblogged this on Her-story: Females in the media, Feminism, music, television, movies, comic books, entertainment.
Timothy Hall on 11/30/2015 at 4:15 am said:
I love Cisco
mangalovergirl on 10/18/2016 at 10:51 pm said:
I agree to all of this. Cisco ist deffinitly the most interesting and relatable character.
I personally can also relate to his vibes and how it changed his life.
His vibes are almost like epileptic sessures. I remember the disscomfort I felt when he had his first vibes, because it reminded me of my problems. His fear was also relatable to me, because it's damn scarry to be overtaken by something you can't controle. Sure, I don't see the future or a paralel universum/timeline, but the result is the same.
Anonymelis on 05/04/2017 at 9:16 am said:
I've always tried to figure out what draws me more to marvel than DC on film and this is it! DC is often portrayed as so brooding that it's very understandable but not as relatable. I love Arrow but the Flash brought a more realistic vision of how people (at least the people I know) would really react if someone they knew had super powers. Cisco does just that and has helped make this one of my favorite shows.
Melinda on 03/18/2019 at 11:29 am said:
Cisco is by far the best character on the show!

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Lotty's Top 10 Albums of 2018
Hi Everyone – It's Rick. Before I let you loose on Lotty's top 10 of 2018 I just wanted to thank her. Not only has she has been an excellent addition to our team but this isn't just a list, it's an incredibly detailed mini review of each album and I know how busy she is. Thanks Lotty!
It is more than safe to say that this year has just been full of fantastic releases. Ones I had the pleasure to review and listen to months before release yet feeling the frustration of not being able to share it with my nearest and dearest until release date. Some that I came across for pleasure, whether that be on Spotify, in the shop or YouTube. It was very difficult to pick a top ten so here they are.
10. Powerwolf – "The Sacrament Of Sin"
I don't think I have ever seen so many single releases for one album. To be fair, if I had a strong collection of songs on my album then I would be very keen to show them off too. It's the very reason why POWERWOLF's "The Sacrament Of Sin" is the perfect way to open up the top ten. When reviewing this album before it's official release date, I was able to hear some brilliant belters that have now become anthems. We have the pumping 'Incense & Iron', the sexy 'Demons Are A Girls Best Friend' and even their first ballad 'Where The Wild Wolves Have Gone'. POWERWOLF have a sterling reputation for delivering solid material and their latest collection of metal psalms is no exception. A must have for fans of the band and genre.
9. Kobra And The Lotus – "Prevail II"
Over the past few years, Canadian Hard Rockers KOBRA & THE LOTUS have gained a large following of fans. Judging from their ballsy sound and charismatic stage presence it's easy to see why. "Prevail II" doesn't beat around the bush when you press play, it gets straight down to business with the track 'Losing My Humanity'. This belter along with other anthems such as 'My Immortal', 'Modern Day Hero' and 'Velvet Roses' make up a top-quality Hard Rock record. Their stunning cover of FLEETWOOD MAC's 'The Chain' is the icing on the cake.
8. Handsome Jack – "Everything's Gonna Be Alright"
They aren't quite as heavy as CLUTCH yet they are too raw to sound like BLACK STONE CHERRY. I suppose that is the beautiful power HANDSOME JACK possess, it's hard to pinpoint who they sound like. During anxiety ridden and dark times, we need to feel great again and the album "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" does just that. The album contains songs that encourage rejoicing and empowerment. I had a great time listening to this record. Particularly the tracks 'Hey Mama (Put Your Red Dress On)' and 'Baby Be Cool'. I just want to belt out the chorus of 'Hey Mama (Put Your Dress On)' at the top of my lungs. It's a simple but powerful chorus that will have you singing loud before you know it. The soulful tones of 'Baby Be Cool' won't just go down with Hard Rock fans, it will be a treat for music lovers in general.
7. Visions Of Atlantis – "The Deep And The Dark"
VISIONS OF ATLANTIS were one of the bands to help shape my music taste into what it is today. Their tales of sailing the seas containing strong vocals and fantastic symphonic melodies had me hooked. It had been a while since I heard anything from them and was very pleased to come across "The Deep And The Dark". It provides a strong reminder of the sound that introduced me to them and their lyrical content linking to self-doubt is more than relatable today. This album is truly uplifting with some great content. From the impactful 'The Grand Illusion' to the soft ballad tones of 'Prayer To The Lost', this album is a mighty voyage with many twists and turns. A metaphor for life you might say.
6. Sirenia – "Arcane Astral Aeons"
SIRENIA are another band to help shape my music taste so their latest album came as a grand surprise. If you were to look up Symphonic Metal in the dictionary, a picture of this album could certainly be a definition. It starts off with the booming 'In Styx Embrace', along with the track 'Into The Night' it shows off the vocals of Emmanuelle Zoldan. Her versatile vocal range works wonders across the album from the opening track to the burning ashes of 'Glowing Embers'. Other notable tracks include 'Desire', 'Queen Of Lies' and 'The Twilight Hour'. For fans of the band and genre this is a must have for the collection.
5. Arion – "Life Is Not Beautiful"
This was a surprise this year. I had heard of ARION but never listened to them until now. The opening notes of 'No One Stands In My Way' had me intrigued immediately. The uplifting sounds of the track had me smiling within minutes and this applied for the rest of the album. In a world of uncertainty and doubt, we need empowerment in our lives. Appropriately starting with 'No One Stands In My Way', it leaves you feeling ready to overcome struggles. This feeling continues with songs such as 'Unforgiveable', 'Punish You' and 'At The Break Of Dawn' featuring AMARANTHE siren Elize Ryd. 'Through Your Falling Tears' is a beautiful ballad that calms the tones before getting heavy again. This album was a fantastic listen from start to finish.
4. Kissin' Dynamite – "Ecstasy"
German Hard Rockers KISSIN' DYNAMITE have been on my radar for a little while now. They have produced solid albums over the past few years and their 2018 release "Ecstasy" is no exception. The first notes of the opening tracks 'I've Got The Fire' and 'You're Not Alone' instantly uplift the mood and give you hope. Each track shows a different side of the band, you have the revolutionary 'Break The Silence', the sexy 'Somebody's Gotta Do It' and the rapid beats of 'Superhuman'. Even the ballads 'Still Around' and 'Heart Of Stone' show power and sass. "Ecstasy" is a more than appropriate title for this energy fuelled portfolio of tracks.
3. Kamelot – "The Shadow Theory"
For the past ten years, KAMELOT have been personal favourites of mine and their latest album "The Shadow Theory" reinforces my love for the American/Swedish Progressive Power Metal 5 piece. "The Shadow Theory" contains an array of music that will make your hair stand on end and blow you away. One of the things I admire about KAMELOT is their inclusion of upcoming musicians in their albums. This time round we had versatile vocals from ONCE HUMAN singer Lauren Hart in 'The Phantom Divine (Shadow Empire)' and 'MindFall Remedy'. There were also the beautiful tones of BEYOND THE BLACK's Jennifer Haben in the stunning 'In Twilight Hours'. Other fantastic tracks included 'Burns To Embrace', 'Amnesiac' and 'Stories Unheard' particularly for their thought-provoking lyrical content and beautiful music.
2. Brothers Of Metal – "Prophecy Of Ragnarök"
The original release of this, from the Swedish warriors, was in 2017 and when I first heard the album, I had it on loop for days. I was excited when they announced the re-release of the album as I could include it in my top ten this year. "Prophecy Of Ragnarök" is a mighty quest of power and sheer determination. Songs like 'Son Of Odin', 'The Mead Song' and even the sweeping ballad 'Yggdrasil' makes you want to sing out loud and run into battle. The excellent song writing, heroic melodies and flawless vocal work between the three different singers will ensure great things for BROTHERS OF METAL. Once you experience the mighty sounds of the Swedish Warriors, there will be no going back. You'll be shouting AXE TIME SWORD TIME before you know it!
1. Dark Sarah – "The Golden Moth"
Usually picking a number one record of the year is a tricky feat. It is a task that often takes days, weeks, even months to decide. From the moment I listened to DARK SARAH's "The Golden Moth", I knew this was my number one choice. There are many reasons why I came to this conclusion.
Firstly; the vocal power between Heidi Parviainen (Dark Sarah) and JP Leppäluoto (The Dragon). You don't have to see the videos to hear the soul and passion in their voices, particularly for the story that is told within the record. You can really hear the emotion behind their voices for particular moments in the songs.
That leads me onto the second point why I admire this album. The storytelling. For those who don't know, DARK SARAH have released concept albums and this is the third one. The third part of the story. "The Golden Moth" is a story of adventure, betrayal and strength. Knowing the story makes the album all that more powerful as you are completely involved and not just scratching the surface. Feelings and emotions are delved into.
Third point. The songs; there is a fantastic variety from the sweeping notes of 'My Beautiful Enemy' to the thunderous notes of 'Gods Speak'. These are also emphasised by the number of guest musicians they used. Netta Skog's skills on the accordion gave 'I Once Had Wings' a fun and bouncy flavour. The vocal powers of Marco Hietala and Zuberoa Aznárez in 'Gods Speak' provide that appropriately godly tone the track gives away.
I could explain more reasons why I love this record but there wouldn't be enough space. The sheer vocal power, storytelling, cinematic musical arrangements and the potential cliff hanger at the end are the reasons why DARK SARAH's "The Golden Moth" is my number one album of 2018.
So this is my top ten, do you agree with my choices?
I would also like to give an honourable mention to the following albums.
Firstly to the complex yet catchy "The Living Dead" from Heavy Metal veterans GRAVE DIGGER, the thought provoking lyrics and messages in ORPHANED LAND's "Unsung Prophets & Dead Messiahs", the stunning live album "Symphonized" from the talented Anneke Van Giersbergen and finally STORMCAST's triumphant return with "The Ghost Eater".
Posted on December 19, 2018 December 19, 2018 Author Ever MetalCategories UncategorizedTags 2018 Top 10, Anneke Van Giersbergen, Arion, Brothers Of Metal, Dark Sarah, Grave Digger, Handsome Jack, Kamelot, Kissin' Dynamite, Kobra And The Lotus, Orphaned Land, Powerwolf, Sirenia, Stormcast, Top 10, Top 10 Albums, Top Ten Albums, Visions Of Atlantis
One thought on "Lotty's Top 10 Albums of 2018"
Keyon Knighten says:
Reblogged this on whygee.
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Today is World Refugee Day. The United Nations (U.N.) designated World Refugee Day as a day to commemorate the strength, courage and perseverance of millions of refugees. On World Refugee Day, refugee supporters also use this day an opportunity to celebrate the great contributions that refugees bring to our nation and our communities.
This year, the Trump administration set the Refugee Admission Ceiling at 45,000, the lowest on record. And nine months into the fiscal year, only 15,000 have been admitted so far, making it extremely unlikely that we will reach anywhere near that number by the end of September.
Tell your elected officials that your community welcomes refugees and that you support raising the refugee admission ceiling and increasing the number of refugees entering the U.S. Contact your U.S. Senators and Representatives by phone or written letter.
Support the refugees that are already in our community. Show refugees that they are welcome here and that they have a community ready to support them. Attend or organize events in your community to stand with refugees. This Saturday there are two events being held in honor of World Refugee Day.
A World Refugee Day celebration hosted by the Coalition of Refugee Services Agencies (CRSA), which LSG is a member of, and Refuge Coffee Co., from 10-Noon in Clarkston. Click for more info.
WRD 2018: Resistance, Resilience, & Celebration from 2-5 p.m. at Clarkston United Methodist Church. Click here for more info.
In addition, patronize refugee businesses. Here is a list of refugee owned and operated restaurants and stores.
Educate yourself and others. Know the facts about refugee resettlement and share them with others. The Refugee Council USA is a great resource of information, facts and figures on refugees.
Last year, the Refugee Council developed a series of videos and a social media campaign – Refugees Love America – to combat anti-refugee sentiment and open up important public dialogue.
These videos are great for sharing on email/facebook/twitter. Or create your own content – share stories of your personal experience with refugees – and use #refugeeswelcome in your posts.
Thank you so much for standing with refugees. We continue to be encouraged and inspired by our supporters!


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Mariners Overcome 18-Point Second Half Deficit To Sink Yeshiva, 61-56
Yeshiva
Yeshiva (6-4, 4-1 SKY) 27 29 56
Merchant Marine (3-7, 1-2 SKY) 18 43 61
Pts: Judah Cohen - 18
Reb: 2 Players (#00, #33) - 8
Ast: Michael Berg - 9
Pts: Matt Miller - 18
Reb: David Washington - 11
Ast: Hunter Jones - 3
KINGS POINT, N.Y. (Dec. 12, 2016) – The USMMA men's basketball team earned its first Skyline Conference victory of the season with an amazing come-from-behind victory over Yeshiva, 61-56, on Monday night at the Liebertz Gymnasium. The Mariners improve to 3-7 overall (1-2 Skyline) with the victory, while the Maccabees fall to 6-4 and suffer their first Skyline loss of the year, dropping to 4-1 in league play.
Merchant Marine trailed by as many as 18 points, 38-20, early in the second half, but rattled off an incredible 20-0 run over nearly nine minutes of action to take a 40-38 lead with 7:50 to play. The two teams traded leads over the next four-and-a-half minutes until the Mariners went ahead for good at 3:14 on a jumper in the paint by senior Hunter Jones (Goodyear, Ariz.).
USMMA built its lead up to six points on two separate occasions in the final minute of play and went 6-for-9 from the free throw line down the stretch to help secure the victory.
Three players scored in double-figures for the Mariners, led by senior Matt Miller (Augusta, Ga.), who tied for the game-high with 18 points. Freshman Connor Green (Flower Mound, Texas) had a big second half, scoring 13 of his 15 total points in the second stanza. Green had seven points during the 20-0 run, and he drained the jumper at 8:24 that tied the game at 38-all. Junior Robbie Kennedy (Spring Lake, N.J.) added 11 points off the bench for Merchant Marine.
Jones and junior Christian Wittendorf (Granger, Ind.) both finished with six points and sophomore David Washington (Frisco, Texas) contributed five points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Wittendorf brought down seven boards, Miller had six and Jones ended the night with five steals to lead all players. Junior Stephen Hinton (Warrenton, Va.) chipped in with three boards in the game to go along with a big steal and a big block while the Mariners were inching closer in the second half. Freshman Eric Sobocinski (Southampton, N.J.) did his part with two rebounds to the victory.
Yeshiva built up its big second half lead thanks in large part to nailing a remarkable 13 three-pointers over the 40 minutes. Sophomore Judah Cohen hit six of those 3's, as he ended the night with 18 points. Senior Jordan Hod finished with nine points, while three other Maccabees added eight points each, including senior Michael Berg, who also led all players by dishing out nine assists and recording three blocks.
The Mariners will close out the 2016 portion of their schedule this coming Saturday, Dec. 17, when they play host to non-conference Widener at 2 p.m. at the Liebertz Gymnasium. Live stats and a live video stream of that game are available with links on the USMMA Men's Basketball Schedule Page.
Receive USMMA Men's Basketball News Right To Your E-Mail!
If you would like to receive the latest news on the USMMA men's basketball team, including all press releases, send an e-mail to Assistant Athletic Director for Communications Joe Guster at gusterj@usmma.edu with the subject "Men's Basketball E-Mails."
Follow USMMA Athletics On Social Media!
Be sure to follow USMMA Athletics on social media to get up-to-the-minute updates on your favorite teams! Start following today on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube!


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The Saturdays still hit the high notes without pregnant Rochelle
April 05, 2013 - 15:22 BST hellomagazine.com The Saturdays bowl over fans as they perform together for the Grand National.
British pop sensations The Saturdays are getting into the groove of performing without pregnant Rochelle Humes, who is now on maternity leave as she awaits the birth of her first child.
The four remaining ladies – Una Healy, Frankie Sandford, Vanessa White and Mollie King – put on a dazzling display as they kicked off the three-day Grand National Festival at Aintree on Thursday.
Red was the sartorial theme of opening day – as Una and Vanessa perfectly demonstrated with rouge outfits teamed with leather jackets. Mollie continued the theme and accessorised with a chunky Chanel belt, while Frankie contrasted in a black one-piece cinched in at the waist with a flash of red.
The girls are riding high after their first ever number one single What About Us recently went straight to the top of the charts. The track also became the fastest-selling single of the year.
Mum-of-one Una took the opportunity to pose with the groups' number one trophy and share the photo with her followers, and Vanessa wrote, "Thank you sooo much to everyone who bought #WhatAboutUs - we are so happy :) WE DID IT!".
Topping the charts was the perfect swan song for pregnant Rochelle, who gave her last performance with The Saturdays at a G-A-Y gig.
She will soon join Una Healy as the band's second working mum. Una and her husband Ben Foden are parents to little Aoife Belle Foden, who recently celebrated her first birthday.
The little girl is now an honorary member of the group, and often travels with Una when she is on the road.
Una Healy
More about the saturdays
Una Healy stuns as she walks the Pride of Britain red carpet as a single lady
Rochelle Humes celebrates her birthday and gets the sweetest tribute from husband Marvin
Rochelle Humes pregnant with baby number two!
Exclusive: Una Healy and Ben Foden reveal they're having a baby girl
Una Healy and Ben Foden exclusively reveal baby name to HELLO!
Exclusive: Una Healy and Ben Foden introduce baby Aoife Belle
Pregnant Frankie Sandford performs with The Saturdays at Summertime Ball as Rochelle prepares to return
Rochelle and Marvin wed in the fairytale pop wedding of the year
She's back! New mum Rochelle Humes back with The Saturdays for a royal encounter


text:
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<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    package="com.kriminal.main_activity">

    <!-- Permissions -->
    <!-- vibrator -->
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.VIBRATE" />

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:configChanges="orientation|screenSize"
        tools:replace="android:icon"
        android:icon="@mipmap/app_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme">
        <activity
            android:name="com.kriminal.main_activity.MainActivity"
            android:configChanges="orientation|screenSize|screenLayout|uiMode"
            android:label="@string/app_name"
            android:theme="@style/AppTheme.NoActionBar">

            <receiver
                android:name="com.kriminal.database.DatabaseChangedReceiver"
                android:enabled="true" >
                <intent-filter>
                    <action android:name="com.kriminal.database.DatabaseChangedReceiver.DATABASE_CHANGED"></action>
                </intent-filter>
            </receiver>

        </activity>
        <!--
             ATTENTION: This was auto-generated to add Google Play services to your project for
             App Indexing.  See https://g.co/AppIndexing/AndroidStudio for more information.
        -->
        <meta-data
            android:name="com.google.android.gms.version"
            android:value="@integer/google_play_services_version" />

        <activity
            android:name="com.kriminal.splash_activity.SplashScreen"
            android:configChanges="orientation|keyboardHidden|screenSize"
            android:label="@string/app_name"
            android:theme="@style/Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name="com.kriminal.settings_activity.SettingsActivity"
            android:label="@string/title_activity_settings"
            android:parentActivityName="com.kriminal.main_activity.MainActivity">
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


An appeal has been launched by the Royal Mail to try to reduce the number of dog attacks on postmen and women.
Dog Awareness Week aims to encourage responsible dog ownership and inform of new legislation which means dog owners could face prosecution for dog attacks on private property.
Despite a 35 per cent decrease of dog attacks from April 2013 to April 2014, 15 postal workers were attacked by dogs in the SL postcode area and the Royal Mail hopes to see this reduced further.
Royal Mail's delivery director for Slough, Gary Yard, said: "We know that most dogs are not inherently dangerous, however, even the most placid animal can be prone to attack if it feels its territory is being threatened.
The campaign is running in the SL postcode area, which includes Maidenhead, Windsor and Slough, this week (Monday, June 30, to Friday, July 4).
Visit www.royalmailgroup.com/dogs for tips on how to prevent dog attacks.


text:
GreenDen
People for a better planet
About GreenDen
Category: Creatives
— Leave a Comment
Art as activism: bright cartoons with punchy messages
Jess Harwood is a Sydney-based artist, cartoonist and communications professional who is passionate about protecting the natural world, wildlife and combating climate change. She has long been involved in community groups and the not-for-profit sector and has recently started using her art to support her activism.
Jess loves telling important stories to highlight campaign moments and shedding light on the underhand methods that big mining companies, developers and lobby groups use to profit at the expense of people and the planet.
Sydney-based artist, cartoonist and activist Jess Harwood.
Jess recently took the time to chat about her art and campaign work.
I read in one of your Instagram posts that you used to work as a lawyer briefly. Why did you decide to stop? Is your art now your full-time vocation?
I have always been keen to change our environmental laws, so they protect and preserve our precious environment, our wildlife and our heritage.
Art with a clear message. Copyright: Jess Harwood Art.
However, once I graduated I saw that the changes I could make as a lawyer would be incremental. I also realised that I was actually more interested in building social movements to generate the change we need. That's why I left the law and then started working in the NGO sector.
Activists Creatives
September 15, 2019 March 7, 2021
— 1 Comment
Environmental art: Creating beauty from plastic waste
When environmental artist John Dahlsen first started experimenting with what would soon become his creative medium of choice, it had some of his friends slightly worried. The huge piles of plastic rubbish – all neatly sorted by colour – that had taken over much of the available space in the artist's house certainly raised eyebrows. "Some of my friends asked me if I was OK", the Byron Bay based environmental artist remembers laughingly.
John Dahlsen is an environmental artist based in Byron Bay. Image credit: John Dahlsen.
But what may have initially looked like an odd quirk, turned out to be a tremendous source of inspiration. In fact, it would change the course of his career.
The artworks that John created from plastic rubbish washing ashore on local beaches catapulted him into the Australian art scene and helped him win international acclaim.
In 2000, John received the prestigious Wynne Prize for his Thong Totems sculpture and was selected as a finalist in 2003 and again in 2004. His work featured in exhibitions in Florence, Milan, New York, Beijing – and countless places in between.
Absolut and Nespresso commissioned work from him to raise awareness about plastic pollution and recycling long before the David Attenborough effect brought the issue into the mainstream.
The accidental environmental artist
All of this was set in motion by happenstance. In 1997, John discovered the potential of plastic rubbish as a means for creative expression while scouring remote beaches in Victoria for driftwood to make furniture. "I noticed all this plastic washing up, so I started picking it up with the intention to take it to the local tip for recycling," recounts John.
April 20, 2019 March 7, 2021
— 2 Comments
wild_ about Australia's threatened species
Australia is home to some of the world's most unique wildlife. Yet, sadly we're not doing such a great job in protecting the continent's rare natural environment. More than 1,800 plant and animal species are at risk of becoming extinct and the environment department has admitted to having no clue if Australia's threatened species plans are actually being implemented.
Raising awareness for the plight of Australia's wildlife is something that's close to Sarah Ash's heart. A couple of years ago the Queensland based mother, photographer, videographer and musician started wild_ – a photo project, showcasing Australia's threatened species.
This Eclectus parrot was more interested in what's happening behind the camera than posing in front of it.
Image: wild_
Sarah took the time to chat about her creative project.
What motivated you to start wild_?
I started wild_ a few years ago while I was working for an environmental management company. I was doing some research for the company's social media page and came across all these animals I had never heard about.
These species were also listed as endangered and I wanted to do something to raise awareness. If I hadn't heard about them, this was probably also true for most Australians. So, I decided to use my skills to try and do something about it.
Urban expansion continues to threaten Koalas. Image: wild_


Our organization provides all licensing required continuing education hours in a convenient location at a reasonable cost. We offer top speakers at a fraction of the cost of larger educational organizations.
Our annual Accounting and Auditing Compliance update which includes Peer Review requirements.
An annual Tax Day consists of federal and state tax law updates as well as specialized topics relevant to current tax law such as Power of Attorney issues, IRS procedural issues and many more, presented by top tax attorneys and CPA's.
Our annual Estate and Trust seminar dealing with form preparation, valuation and procedural issues as well as any current and relevant topics.
The bi-annual Ethics seminar which fulfills the ethics requirement for active licenses in MD & DC.
Our annual Tax Season Post Mortem which is a round table discussion forum of current tax season hot topics. Recent topics include identity theft and filing issues.
Monthly Tax Raps, moderated in-person forums to discuss tax issues encountered in current practices. These offer 22 hours of FREE CPE annually!
Seminars offering expansive knowledge on specific topics such as owner basis in partnerships, S-corporations, LLC's, etc.


"yubiDia"is an iPhone version application software of CoreDia&CocoDia. It shows railroad's service planning diagram (graphical representation of working timetable) with inputting data from published timetables by users. "yubiDia" is useful for railfans who would like to know detailed operational situation for a section of railroad, when they take pictures, do station bashing, or other exciting activities.
Because the file format of "yibiDia" (extension is "sqlite") is compatible with that of CoreDia (greater than 0.7.0) which is running on MacOSX, two softwares can share files via iTunes' file sharing function. In addition, "yubiDia" can download/upload data from/to strage of Google Docs (user must have an account for Google Docs for downloading data, while they must have an account for Google Apps for Business for download/upload data).
Google Docs and Google Apps are services provided by Google Inc.
Update history of "yubiDia" is available.


text:
Q: search field from database (mqsql/php) So had this code for course catalog search field:
 if (isset($_POST['submit']))
    $search = $_POST['search'];
    $byNameOrCode = mysqli_query($link, "SELECT course_name, course_code, ects_credits FROM courses WHERE course_name LIKE '%$search%' OR course_code LIKE '%$search%'");

it worked perfectly but had to change to parameter binding. so I switched last line with:
$byNameOrCode = mysqli_stmt_prepare($link, "SELECT  course_name, course_code, ects_credits FROM courses WHERE course_name LIKE ? OR course_code LIKE ?");
mysqli_stmt_bind_param($byNameOrCode, "ss", "%" . $search . "%", "%" . $search . "%");
    mysqli_stmt_execute($byNameOrCode);
    mysqli_stmt_bind_result($byNameOrCode, $course_code, $course_name, $ects_credits, $semester_name);

It crashed the whole page.
Then I did:
if (isset($_POST['submit']))
    $search = '%' . $_POST['search'] . '%';
    mysqli_stmt_bind_param($byNameOrCode, "ss", $search, $search);
    mysqli_stmt_execute($byNameOrCode);
    mysqli_stmt_bind_result($byNameOrCode, $course_code, $course_name, $ects_credits, $semester_name);

the page is okay but it does not seem to search anything. anyone has any idea how to fix it?

A: Check the working code below.
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost", "root", "", "test");
$link = mysqli_stmt_init($con);

$search = '%ab%';

mysqli_stmt_prepare($link, "SELECT  course_name, course_code, ects_credits FROM courses WHERE course_name LIKE ? OR course_code LIKE ?");
mysqli_stmt_bind_param($link, "ss", $search, $search);
mysqli_stmt_execute($link);
mysqli_stmt_bind_result($link, $course_code, $course_name, $ects_credits);

while (mysqli_stmt_fetch($link)) {
 print("course_code: ".$course_code."\n");
 print("course_name: ".$course_name."\n");
 print("ects_credits: ".$ects_credits."\n");
 print("\n");
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Pride and fear can build walls of separation. There was a woman in the Gospels who'd suffered much from a bleeding affliction for twelve years. In addition to the obvious physical challenges, she would have also been considered perpetually "unclean" according to Jewish law, (limiting her worship activities).
Sometimes there is fear in the "reaching". Sometimes pride prevents an extension of the hand to admit we need Him. But the truth is, we NEED Him! His healing power is available and His grace can cleanse a dirty life. What do you need to reach out for today? There is nothing like the touch of the Master!
This entry was posted in Daily Devotions and tagged Bible, Bible Study, Christian, Christian blogs, Christian Life, Christianity, church, Devotional, Devotions, God, hope, Jesus, Pastors, Prayer. Bookmark the permalink.
I enjoy your blog.. Thanks for the needed devotional point today about "reaching".
Thanks Greg for reading and commenting. I hope you have a fantastic day!


text:
Africa 3.0 is here
Writers Kevin Bloom and Richard Poplak
Our starting proposition is now an acknowledged fact: during the first decade of the 21st century, while the West was engaged in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, China was executing its plans for African expansion. The effect of this Chinese advance has been immense, on the one hand sparking interest from a range of economies – both emerging and developed – that do not want to miss out, and on the other driving growth rates that are amongst the highest in the world.
"Africa 3.0" is how we would describe the continent's latest iteration, where Africa 1.0 was the era of European colonialism and Africa 2.0 the years of post-independence. Here, you are engaging with the online component of a three-medium approach to the telling of this epochal story.
Our book Whiteout: An Investigative Journey into Africa 3.0 is due for international release in 2013. A documentary series, Continental Shift, is in pre-production with Ochre Media. Our first-stage web presence can be accessed at http://africa3point0.tumblr.com/.
A video clip serves as our inaugural post for our partnership with the Mail & Guardian Online, where we'll be delivering weekly updates that highlight aspects of our travels and investigations. These introductory visuals have been chosen mainly because they represent an interesting inverse on the China-in-Africa theme.
Six weeks ago, we were in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, conducting research into the African community that lives and trades in an area known as Xiaobei or, as it is referred to colloquially by local taxi drivers, "Chocolate City". As China was the twelfth country and the first one outside Africa we'd visited, we were offered a perspective on our story that was both fresh and nuanced.
You'll get from the scrolling banner in the hotel lobby that the Chinese attitude to its African visitors is anything but welcoming. Still, what these images show is a complex and rich demimonde that we believe reflects the spirit of Africa 3.0 – globalised, connected, plugged in.
Africa 3.0 is an online community, and we want to hear from you. Send us your ideas, movies, music, thesis papers, images – and perhaps we'll post it up on http://africa3point0.tumblr.com/. If you want to argue, engage or stay updated, you can reach us on Facebook and Twitter.
Kevin Bloom is an author, editor and journalist. He has written for a wide array of South African and international publications, including Granta and the Guardian, and is an honorary writing fellow at the University of Iowa, having completed a residency of the international writing programme in 2011. Kevin's first book, Ways of Staying, won the 2010 South African Literary Award for literary journalism and was shortlisted for the Alan Paton Award.
Richard Poplak has been working as a freelance writer for six years, perfecting the third-person present and past tense, along with other useful techniques. His journalism has won South Africa's Media24 Best Feature Writing Award and a National Magazine Award in Canada. Richard's books, published internationally, include Ja, No, Man: Growing Up White in Apartheid-Era South Africa (2007), The Sheikh's Batmobile: In Pursuit of American Pop Culture in the Muslim World (2010), and the experimental journalistic graphic novel Kenk: A Graphic Portrait (2010).
Africa 3.0
Richard Poplak


text:
Our featured translation projects are Crossing Borders Writers Translated into Italian and Sing Like a River. Crossing Borders Writers Translated into Italian consists of stories written by Crossing Borders writers and translated into Italian. These stories are republished from Buràn and Bibliomanie and include work by Stephen Mugambi, Blessing Musariri, Tolu Ogunlesi and Ifeanyi Ajaegbo, Ken Kamoche and Wame Molefhe. Read them here.
Sing Like A River emerged from a performance poetry workshop that Graham Mort ran at the Beyond Borders festival in Kampala in October 2005. Over a period of three one-hour sessions, a group of African writers took part in a process designed to produce a collaborative work, which began life in a number of languages – Arabic, Sepedi, English, French, Afrikaans, Luganda, Kiswahili – before being translated into English. The poem was performed at the festival and subsequently translated into Sepedi by Phomelelo Machika ('Opela Bjalo Ka Noka'), Afrikaans by Henning Pieterse ('Sing Soos 'n Rivier') and Luganda by Susan Kiguli ('Yira Ng'o Mugga')." You can read and listen to them here.


text:
è un personaggio fittizio e una dei protagonisti della serie Resident Evil, serie videoludica di genere survival horror targata Capcom.

Caratteristiche
Jill Valentine è un ex poliziotta, membro di un'unità speciale chiamata S.T.A.R.S., che esercita presso una città americana immaginaria, Raccoon City. Jill è particolarmente abile con le armi bianche, e scassina le serrature molto rapidamente. Nel quinto episodio subisce una mutazione genetica, ottenendo prestazioni fisiche notevoli.

Appare come una donna risoluta e molto testarda, fattore che sorprende e innervosisce spesso i suoi alleati. La sua caparbietà si rivela tuttavia spesso la sua salvezza.

Nella scheda del primo episodio, Jill viene descritta come una donna alta un metro e sessantasei centimetri, dal peso di cinquantasei chili. Ha gli occhi azzurri e i capelli castani, e il suo gruppo sanguigno è "B".

Biografia

Infanzia e gioventù
Jill Valentine nasce il 14 febbraio 1975, in una località Fort Worth in Texas degli Stati Uniti. La madre è di origini giapponesi, mentre il padre è francese. La sua vita prima degli eventi del gioco è incerta in quanto esistono tre differenti versioni di essa:

La versione principale pubblicata nel primo episodio vuole che Jill sia un'esperta di esplosivi arruolata presso il corpo speciale di polizia della S.T.A.R.S.. Prima di lavorare nel suddetto corpo speciale, aveva operato presso un'unità militare segreta conosciuta come Delta Force.

Un'altra versione, contrastante con la prima e attualmente riconosciuta, sostiene invece che Jill fosse una ladra che dopo aver conosciuto un poliziotto, Barry Burton, abbandona la sua vita di fuorilegge e,aiutata da quest'ultimo, entra nelle forze dell'ordine e successivamente nella S.T.A.R.S..

La versione narrata dalla scrittrice S.D. Perry ricalca la versione secondaria: Jill avrebbe avuto come unico parente prossimo noto il padre, Dick Valentine, uno scassinatore che fu arrestato lasciando l'adolescente Jill sola e senza una guida genitoriale. Jill a sua volta finì per intraprendere una vita di crimine e precariato sociale ed è in tale situazione che conobbe Barry Burton, che la dissuase dal proseguire lo stesso cammino del padre e l'aiutò a entrare nella S.T.A.R.S..

Ad ogni modo, il denominatore comune della varie storie resta il fatto che Jill si arruola, come Chris, nella S.T.A.R.S. grazie all'aiuto di Barry.

Riassunto dei capitoli

Resident Evil
La notte del 24 luglio del 1998, Jill fa parte della squadra Alpha incaricata di indagare su delle misteriose morti avvenute sulle montagne di Arklay, situate ai margini della città di Raccoon City, e di indagare su un'altra squadra inviata sul luogo e scomparsa misteriosamente.

Giunti sul luogo, Jill e alcuni membri della sua squadra trovano i resti dell'elicottero utilizzato dalla squadra Bravo, ma prima che essi possano investigare sull'accaduto vengono attaccati da alcuni cani insolitamente aggressivi che uccidono l'agente Joseph. Jill e i suoi compagni sono costretti a rifugiarsi in una villa nelle vicinanze ritenuta abbandonata da tempo. All'interno, Jill rinviene alcuni corpi della squadra che l'ha preceduta e si accorge che la stessa aggressività riscontrata nei cani si manifesta anche in alcune persone che trova all'interno dell'abitazione.

Svolgendo alcune indagini, Jill e i pochi membri superstiti della sua squadra scoprono che la villa è una copertura di un laboratorio scientifico segreto nel quale si svolgono ricerche sulle armi biologiche per conto della Umbrella Inc., una famosa multinazionale farmaceutica. Tra i suoi vari esperimenti, gli scienziati della struttura crearono una tossina sintetica, il virus T, che colpisce il sistema nervoso facendo regredire l'intelligenza a uno stato elementare che si manifesta con il bisogno di nutrirsi di qualsiasi altra forma di vita non infetta. In seguito ad un incidente di protocollo, tale tossina si disperde, infettando persone, animali e addirittura vegetali. Nei meandri del laboratorio, Jill scopre che il suo stesso capitano, Albert Wesker, lavora per conto della Umbrella e che si avvaleva della sua posizione nelle autorità locali per informare e coprire i movimenti occulti dell'azienda farmaceutica. L'uomo in questione non tarda a presentarsi, ed attiva una bio-arma chiamata Tyrant, venendo da questa però subito ucciso. Jill riesce a sconfiggere la creatura e fuggire dalla villa insieme a Chris Redfield, Barry Burton e Rebecca Chambers, a bordo di un elicottero guidato dal commilitone Brad Vickers.

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis

A circa due mesi di distanza dagli eventi della villa, l'infezione del virus T si propaga nelle fogne e raggiunge la città, causando un'epidemia nell'intera città di Raccoon City.

Jill, che in quei mesi si era battuta invano insieme ai suoi compagni di squadra per rivelare all'opinione pubblica la verità sulla villa e gli esperimenti condotti dalla Umbrella, tenta di fuggire dalla città e si reca alla stazione di polizia in cerca di superstiti tra i suoi colleghi. Giunta sul luogo, la donna si imbatte in Nemesis, una imponente arma biologica antropomorfa progettata dalla Umbrella per eliminare i membri della S.T.A.R.S., che uccide il suo collega Brad e la insegue per ucciderla a sua volta. Jill incontra Carlos Oliveira, un mercenario appartenente all'unità della U.B.C.S. (Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Squad, una squadra che provvede alle contromisure sulle armi biologiche della stessa Umbrella), inviato sul luogo per raccogliere materiale di ricerca insieme alla sua squadra della quale sono rimasti soltanto lui, Viktor Mikhail e il supervisore Nikolai Ginovanev. La ragazza si unisce a questa unità superstite in cerca di un modo per lasciare la città, ma Nemesis li intercetta continuamente e sventa ogni tentativo di fuga. Jill rimane persino contagiata dal Virus T dopo essere stata aggredita da Nemesis, ma Carlos riesce a procurarsi un vaccino nel laboratorio segreto dell'ospedale della città e mettere in salvo la ragazza, che adesso è immune alla suddetta tossina.

Proseguendo il loro cammino, i due scoprono un impianto di smaltimento segreto appartenente alla Umbrella e vengono messi al corrente del fatto che il governo statunitense ha deciso di prevenire un'ulteriore diffusione del virus, dapprima isolando la città, e successivamente radendola al suolo con una testata nucleare. I due vengono braccati prima da Nikolai, che tenta di ucciderli per ottenere un ulteriore compenso da parte della multinazionale, cercano di bloccarli, successivamente da Nemesis, che viene infine sconfitto da Jill; raggiungono l'eliporto e vengono salvati da Barry Burton poco prima che la testata nucleare esploda sulla città.

Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles
18 febbraio 2003, Russia. Jill entra insieme a Chris a far parte dell'Unità Contenimento Rischi Biologici (un'organizzazione volta a smantellare le attività della Umbrella). I due si infiltrano in una base operativa della multinazionale situata in Russia, in cui era in preparazione una nuova arma biologica. Jill e Chris affrontano questa nuova minaccia, il T.A.L.O.S., per poi epurarlo dalle B.O.W. rimanenti.

Resident Evil: Revelations
Nel 2005, in seguito alla fondazione della Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (B.S.A.A.), Jill e l'agente Parker Luciani vengono incaricati di ritrovare Chris, scomparso sulla Queen Zenobia, una nave da crociera. Jill scopre che, prima di scomparire, Chris, accompagnato da Jessica Sherawat, stava cercando di sconfiggere un nuovo gruppo terroristico, il Veltro, che con il potente virus T-Abyss (ricavato dal virus Progenitor) era intento ad infettare le acque del pianeta.

Resident Evil 5: Lost in Nightmares
Nel 2006 La B.S.A.A. mette Jill e Chris alla ricerca del cofondatore della multinazionale Umbrella Corporation, Ozwell E. Spencer, per arrestarlo. Una volta infiltrati nel castello del vecchio, i due agenti lo trovano a terra morto, ucciso da Albert Wesker, contro il quale ingaggiano una lotta. Wesker afferra Chris per il collo e tenta di ucciderlo, ma Jill per salvarlo scaglia Wesker giù per una finestra cadendo insieme a lui in baratro profondo. La donna viene quindi dichiarata ufficialmente morta.

Resident Evil 5
Tre anni dopo, tuttavia, si scopre che Jill è ancora viva: poco dopo la sua presunta morte in Russia, Jill viene presa da Wesker per i suoi particolari anticorpi, sviluppati dopo un vaccino iniettato alla donna durante l'epidemia di Raccoon City otto anni prima, che si rivelano fondamentali per lo sviluppo di una nuova tossina sperimentale, l'Uroboros.

Sottoposta a tale trattamento, la donna viene tenuta in stato di criogenia per permettere, come nel caso di Alexia Ashford, che l'organismo assimilasse la tossina senza subire alterazioni genetiche. Il lungo periodo di tempo trascorso in criogenia causa sul corpo di Jill un indebolimento della melanina che rende la donna praticamente albina.

A processo ultimato, Wesker colloca sulla donna un dispositivo che le somministra sottocute, a intervalli regolari, una sostanza chimica denominata P30, che inibisce il sistema nervoso e quindi il controllo delle sue azioni, e la utilizza come guardia del corpo durante la sua permanenza in un villaggio situato nel Sudafrica.

Sul luogo, dove si trovano in missione Chris e Sheva Alomar, un agente presso la filiale sudafricana della B.S.A.A., Jill incrocia i due agenti e, su ordine di Wesker, li attacca. Tuttavia Chris riesce a rimuovere il dispositivo e a renderla nuovamente cosciente, e insieme bloccano le attività di Wesker.

Tempo dopo le vicende in Sud Africa, Jill e Chris ritornano sulle tracce della Umbrella, e altre società ad esse correlate.

Resident Evil 5: Desperate Escape
Dopo che Chris insieme a Sheva cercano di catturare Albert Wesker, Jill sviene, più tardi verrà trovata da Josh Stone. Jill insieme a Josh cercano di fuggire da Kijuju e cercano di aiutare Chris a sconfiggere Wesker.

Titoli in cui compare

Serie principale:
 (1996) Resident Evil
 (1999) Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
 (2009) Resident Evil 5
 (2009) Resident Evil 5: Lost in Nightmares
 (2009) Resident Evil 5: Desperate Escape
 (2012) Resident Evil: Revelations
 (2020) Resident Evil 3 (remake)

Spin-off:

 (2006) Resident Evil Deadly Silence
 (2007) Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles
 (2011) Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D
 (2012) Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

Altre versioni:

 (1997) Resident Evil: Director's Cut
 (1998) Resident Evil: Director's Cut Dual Shock
 (2002) Resident Evil
 (2010) Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition
 (2020) Resident Evil 3

Altri media
Il personaggio compare in diversi fumetti dedicati a Resident Evil e nei romanzi di S.D. Perry:
 Tyrant il distruttore (Resident Evil: Umbrella Cospiracy)
 Caliban Cove (comparsa)
 La città dei morti (Resident Evil: City of The Dead) (comparsa)
 L'orrore sotterraneo (Resident Evil: Underworld)
 Resident Evil - Nemesis (Resident Evil: Nemesis)

Cinema
 Nei tre film ispirati alla saga (Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Resident Evil: Afterlife (cameo) e Resident Evil: Retribution), Jill viene interpretata da Sienna Guillory. Nel secondo film indossa lo stesso abbigliamento come viene visto prima nel videogioco Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, mentre nel quarto e quinto film è molto simile a quello di Resident Evil 5.
 Jill è una dei protagonisti dell'adattamento cinematografico reboot dei primi due videogiochi, interpretata da Hannah John-Kamen.

Fuori dalla serie
 Under the Skin, (PlayStation 2)
 Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, 2000 (Arcade, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox Xbox 360)
 We Love Golf!, 2008, (Wii)
 Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds e Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, 2011, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
 Project X Zone - 2012 - (3ds)
 Dead by daylight - 2021 - (Multipiattaforma)

Accoglienza
Retrospettivamente, la rivista Famitsū ha classificato Jill come la tredicesima eroina più famosa dei videogiochi degli anni '90.

Note

Altri progetti

Personaggi di Resident Evil
Poliziotti immaginari


Fifteen years ago, in the middle of Avenue B in New York City's Alphabet City, I learned how to eat a mango. It wasn't on purpose. Learning how to eat a mango was all happenstance and luck.
I didn't even know what a mango was way back then and when I saw a friend of mine eating something from his hands in the middle of the street, I approached him.
"Nope," my friend slurped between bites, "Mango." Mango juice was dribbling down his chin, his arms and from between his fingers. A pool of escaping mango juice pooled in drips on the street between his sneakers.
I watched in awe as my friend devoured each juicy bit of the fruit. As a child of the Midwest, I'd never seen a mango in person before — or really even heard of one — and, in an en passant glance, a mango does have the size, shape and color of a large yam.
My friend tore of a chunk of his mango and offered it to me.
I chewed the fruit. It was fibrous and sweet.
He finished gnawing the meat of the mango and tossed the teeth-scraped rind into the trash.
He started miming eating the mango.
He tore me off a piece of his imaginary mango. I swallowed the chunk whole without a single chew.
"Not as ripe as the first one," I smiled.
He wasn't kidding, so I followed his finger-knife, hand-mango example and did some slicing, pit removal and crosscutting of my own and offered him a piece.
With that, he turned his body from me and began to walk away. He didn't break eye contact until his twisting neck forced him to look forward and away to dodge a passing car on 13th Street.
I licked the leftover mango fibers from my chin and saw my own pool of mango juice invisibly forming on the asphalt beneath me.
I first ate mangoes as a child and have loved them ever since. My mother taught me that you should feel for the pit, which is flat, and make two incisions such that you cut off at least 80% of the mango flesh with skin on. Take those two big hunks and cut them in half and you have a mess-free way to eat the mango.
Excellent advice, Gordon! I admit I do like my mangoes pre-sliced. I'm not into all that sticky messiness.


Tue., September 25, 2018 8:42 p.m. | Tuesday, September 25, 2018 8:42 p.m.
In this Aug. 17, 2017 photo Eagle River resident Justin Schneider appears in Anchorage district court. The Alaska Department of Law stood by a judge's sentence that calls for no jail time for Schneider who authorities say offered a woman a ride and choked her until she was unconscious. Schneider, 34, pleaded guilty to one count of felony assault in the case. A kidnapping charge was dropped as part of the plea deal.
ANCHORAGE — A man drove an Alaska Native woman to a dark street, said he would kill her and choked her until she blacked out.
He stopped on a dead-end street, parked near a car and asked the woman to step out so he could load the truck. That's when the 6-foot-4 man attacked.
Corey did not respond to a request for an interview passed through the court administrator's office.


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An ugly truth about email marketing is that if you haven't made a mistake yet...you will. These slip-ups can range from simple blunders that will make you blush, to strategic errors that can irreversibly damage your sending reputation.
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During this 30 minute session, Kara Widdson - Marketing Specialist at SnapApp, Drew Frey - Demand Gen Manager at ReadyTalk and Robyn Crotty - Product Marketing Manager at ReadyTalk will go through tactics and strategies to better engage your audience and turn registrants into real prospects.


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Home News Dad's Passionate Defense of Mask Mandates in Tennessee Schools Goes Viral (Video)
Dad's Passionate Defense of Mask Mandates in Tennessee Schools Goes Viral (Video)
A Tennessee dad has made an impassioned speech defending the introduction of a school mask mandate and criticizing those parents opposed to it.
Justin Kanew drew widespread praise after a video of his speech was posted to Twitter in which he explained: "Avoiding masks is not in the Bible but taking care of others is."
Kanew, who is father to a 5-year-old girl just starting school, made the remarks during a Williamson County Board of Education meeting.
The meeting was held a week after the Williamson County School Board voted in favor of making it a requirement for all students, staff and visitors to wear masks, following a large spike in COVID-19 cases across the state.
The decision was met with anger from some parents, who were filmed outside the meeting venue harassing medical professionals and board officials who spoke out in favor of masks.
"We know who you are," one man warned them. "You can leave freely, but we will find you."
On Tuesday, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee issued an executive order making it a requirement for schools across the state to allow parents to exempt their children from mask mandates.
Speaking in the wake of the decision, Kanew took aim at those parents opposed to the introduction of masks and condemned Lee's decision.
"I'm the dad of a new kindergartner and her first day was right after the chaos last week," he said.
"She went to school and was one of just a few kids in her class wearing a mask which made her ask why she had to. My answer was because we want to take care of other people."
He continued: "She's 5-years-old but she understood that concept and it's disappointing that more adults around here can't seem to grasp it."
Kanew also hit out at those claiming "religious exemption" from mask wearing.
"I asked a pastor friend of mine and he was very clear that there was no actual biblical justification for using the Bible to get out of a mask mandate passed by a majority of this elected board," he said.
"But thousands are doing it anyway, calling it a religious exemption which is frankly just sad. Avoiding masks is not in the Bible but taking care of others is."
He added: "Now today we have Governor Lee's executive order to allow opt-outs which is government overreach undercutting a local decision. If you only like democracy when it goes your way, you don't actually like democracy."
The video of Kanew's impassioned response has already been viewed more than 540,000 times on Twitter, with the Tennessee father applauded for his measured response.
"Most accurate and compelling statement I have heard in a long time," Laurawbeck commented. "Thank you for standing up for compassion, caring, inclusion and common sense."
Cenphx agreed: "You did such a good job. I'm impressed at how measured and calm you were. I'm not sure I could've managed it."
Ryan46and2 wrote: "If I was in attendance I would have stood up and started clapping. Loudly."
DavidHo43624165 added: "This gentleman has more sense and leadership than anyone in the state legislature or governor's office."
Kanew, who runs a news site called The Tennessee Holler, decided to attend the meeting after witnessing the chaos that unfolded at the last county school board meeting.
"When I showed up and saw almost everyone slated to speak were anti-mask, anti-CRT Moms for "Liberty," I felt like someone needed to speak to counter their talking points. So I signed up," he told Newsweek.
Kanew puts the current resistance to mask-wearing down to a variety of factors including "disinformation" along with "a disdain for science, the media and even doctors."
He feels there is still some resentment around the election and "the lies about it being stolen" along with a general sense of exhaustion over the pandemic.
However, at the root of it, Kanew feels the issues stem from "the same political backlash that caused the American COVID response to go so wrong."
Dad's Passionate Defense of Mask Mandates in Tennessee Schools Goes Viral
BY JACK BERESFORD ON 8/18/21 AT 6:20 AM EDT
01:21Father Blasts Parents Defying School's Mask Mandate: 'Avoiding Masks Is Not In The Bible'
ATennessee dad has made an impassioned speech defending the introduction of a school mask mandate and criticizing those parents opposed to it.
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"It started with the former president framing the outbreak as an attack on him personally, and now his loyalists feel like taking it seriously is somehow a betrayal to him," he said.
"There's also a feeling that being asked to do things to keep each other safe is infringing on their 'freedom'—which is an idea that only seems to apply to things they personally don't approve of. And then there are a lot of politicians fanning the flames for political gain—until it ends up impacting them personally. Then they seem to change their tune."
Kanew also hit out at the Tennessee governor's handling of the pandemic.
"Governor Lee has taken the path of least resistance every step of the way — refusing to pass mask mandates, slow to encourage the vaccine, dragging his feet on the stay-at-home orders, the list goes on," he said.
"Instead of listening to doctors and experts even from inside the Trump administration, Lee has been pandering to extremists and taking the coward's way out, kicking the can to local officials and being unwilling to actually lead. This opt-out order that undercuts local decisions is just more of the same. It's a mask mandate ban by a different name."
Dad's Passionate Defense of Mask Mandates in Tennessee Schools Goes Viral (Video) Reviewed by Facts on August 20, 2021 Rating: 5


text:
\section{Introduction}
In the new era of Industry 4.0 \cite{simo2021role}, the importance of solutions to allow the co-execution of activities with different levels of criticality in common hardware platforms has become crucial.
It is now a sought-after that in recent embedded systems there is the need to have at the same time features typical of generic operating systems (for connectivity, user interface, etc.) together with the ones of a real time operating systems (for interaction with critical sensors, rotors, motors, etc.).
The most common solution to run multiple operating systems in a single platform is the use of virtualization. However, standard hypervisor solutions are designed and implemented focusing on the performance of the guests. This makes difficult to address the safety and security requirements of mixed criticality systems.

In this context, the RISC-V architecture \cite{WatermanI} is quickly gaining relevance in the industry and is bringing a new set of challenges and solutions regarding both safety and security. The use of standard virtualization solutions to implement mixed criticality solution is not possible today. In fact, instruction set extensions to support hypervisors have not yet reached the standard specification, and today there is no hardware platform in the market than can use them.

This paper proposes VOSySmonitoRV, a mixed critical solution for RISC-V platforms that does not need instruction set extensions to support hypervisors. VOSySmonitoRV is able to run multiple operating systems in a single platform partitioning the system resources and protecting the execution of real time/safety critical operating systems.
Performance measurements related to interrupts and context switch operations, considered as key points for multi-operating systems performance, are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of such a design on RISC-V platform.
This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 details the main features of VOSySmonitoRV, Section 3 presents first prototype benchmarks done on the interrupt and context switch latency, Section 4 describes the related work and Section 5 concludes the paper.

\section{VOSySmonitoRV}\label{vosys}
VOSySmonitoRV is a mixed-criticality solution that provides spatial and temporal isolation between co-executing operating systems (OSes) on a multi-core RISC-V processor. It is a software layer that handles the memory area partitioning and isolation in terms of memory, permissions, peripherals, interrupts, and harts (i.e., CPU cores).
In fact, VOSySmonitoRV makes sure that the safety-critical and trusted OSes are booted before un-trusted OSes, guaranteeing for the former best boot time and certifiability. In addition, VOSySmonitoRV is able to provide additional services to the operating systems running on the platform, e.g., power management, communication between OSes, trusted execution environment, custom vendor specific functions, etc.

\begin{figure}[htbp]
\centerline{\includegraphics[width=0.8\columnwidth]{./images/vosys_ov.png}}
\caption{VOSYSmonitoRV architecture overview}
\label{vosys_ov}
\end{figure}

As shown in Figure \ref{vosys_ov}, VOSySmonitoRV exploits standard features of RISC-V:
\begin{enumerate*}
\item it leverages on the RISC-V's privileged architecture, implementing all the VOSySmonitoRV software running in M-Mode;
\item it partitions the memory using the Physical Memory Protection (PMP) unit from the RISC-V privileged ISA standard  \cite{Waterman}, defining memory areas (and their permissions) that are used to run the different operating systems.
\end{enumerate*}
VOSySmonitoRV main benefits are security and isolation provided by technologies like PMP, toghether with the possibility to be already installed in existing RISC-V platforms with no hypervisor extensions,

\subsection{First VOSySmonitoRV prototype}
The first VOSySmonitoRV prototype has been implemented to concurrently FreeRTOS as real time/safety critical operating system and Linux v5.8 as generic and feature rich operating system.
At the system boot time VOSySmonitoRV is executed and initializes the system, setting up low level drivers and taking care of the system resources partitioning for FreeRTOS and Linux. More in particular, the PMP device is configured to guarantee isolation between operating systems, isolating their memory, devices and harts.

As shown in Figure \ref{pmpfig}, each operating system has its own PMP configuration that details access control to memory and devices. Both Linux and FreeRTOS are not able to read/modify the VOSySmonitoRV nor the other operating system memory, thus protecting the integrity of the system.
Serial devices (UART0 and UART1) are allocated respectively to Linux and FreeRTOS, isolating the two operating systems console input/output. This approach can be applied to any other memory mapped devices in the system.
VOSySmonitoRV is executed in M-mode of all processors and can access to all memory regions that are not locked. This places VOSySmonitoRV in a good position to monitor the execution of the operating systems running in the board, and potentially reboot one of them to react to specific safety/security events occur.

\begin{figure}[htbp]
\centerline{\includegraphics[width=1\columnwidth]{./images/PMP.png}}
\caption{Memory permissions to U-mode and S-mode during different OS execution in the first prototype of VOSySmonitoRV}
\label{pmpfig}
\end{figure}

The Linux operating system does not need any specific modification to be un on VOSySmonitoRV.
For that concerns FreeRTOS, minimal modifications were needed to enable execution in S-mode. In fact, the currently available open source version of FreeRTOS automatically runs in M-mode. This might be acceptable in low-power devices that are not equipped with with M, S and U execution modes. However, in a context of a multicore platform we consider a better choice to run FreeRTOS is S-mode, which is the standard execution mode for operating system kernels (e.g., Linux).
The FreeRTOS extensions developed to support S-mode execution include: i) register access adaptation to use the ones accessible in S-mode instead of the ones accessible in M-mode, ii) set up and configuration of interrupt handling related registers and iii) configuration of timer settings and CPU release via ECALLs (the privileged instruction of the RISC-V privileged ISA \cite{Waterman}).

The VOSySmonitoRV first prototype, statically allocating one hart per operating system has been implemented using the SiFive HiFive Unleashed, a development platform for SiFive's FU540-C000 SoC \cite{sifivefu540}.
A video demonstration has been realized \cite{vosysdemo} to show VOSySmonitoRV in action.

\begin{figure*}[htbp]
\centerline{\includegraphics[width=2\columnwidth]{./images/flow.png}}
\caption{ECALL interrupt and context switch benchmarks flow diagram with interaction steps brackets}
\label{flow}
\end{figure*}

\section{VOSySmonitoRV benchmark}
The VOSySmonitoRV first prototype performance has been measured to assess its overhead and responsiveness in mixed critical applications, as well as to assess the feasibility of the described approach.
More in particular, the ECALL interrupt latency and the context switch overhead from Linux to M-mode has been measured to assess the time needed by an operating system to request one of the services provided by VOSySmonitoRV or to trigger a context switch between operating systems when the multiple OSes hart sharing function will be implemented.
To measure this, the cost in terms of clock cycles to handle an ECALL has been measured on the aforementioned SiFive board.

\subsection{Environment and implementation details}
For the implementation of this benchmark the following components were developed: i) a Linux application (U-mode), ii) a Linux kernel driver (S-mode) and iii) a dedicated benchmark extension in VOSySmonitoRV (M-mode). The Linux application makes an ioctl call to request the execution of specific ECALLs by the Linux driver.
These ECALLs trigger the execution of a purpose-built handler in VOSySmonitoRV.
The Linux driver and the purpose built benchmark extension in VOSySmonitoRV are the two endpoints where a performance counter is started/stopped to gather performance metrics.
Figure \ref{flow} shows the interaction between these components and the steps executed by the different actors.

Benchmark measurements are focused mainly to assess ECALL interrupt and context switch performance. More in details:
\begin{itemize}
\item \textbf{ECALL interrupt}:
\begin{itemize}
\item \textbf{Latency} from the driver to the ECALL VOSySmonitoRV handler function, or in other words, the delay between the ECALL occurring and the first instruction in the handler of that interrupt. This is the path from step \texttt{(1)} to step \texttt{(4)} in Fig.\ref{flow}.
\item  \textbf{Overhead}: from the driver to the ECALL VOSySmonitoRV handler function and back. This is the path from step \texttt{(1)} to step \texttt{(9)} in Fig.\ref{flow}. It represents a full timing overhead to handle a very simple ECALL.
\end{itemize}
\item \textbf{Interrupt context switch}:
\begin{itemize}
\item \textbf{Save context}: from the driver to the VOSySmonitoRV main trap handler. It mainly consider the hardware latency and the saving of the context (32 registers). This is the transition done in step \texttt{(1)} (Fig.\ref{flow}).
\item \textbf{Restore context}: from the VOSySmonitoRV handler to the driver. It consider the restore of the context (32 registers) and the hardware latency. This is the transition of step \texttt{(9)} (Fig.\ref{flow}).
\end{itemize}
\end{itemize}

Performance counter is read using the \texttt{rdcycle} pseudo instruction at each of the two endpoints detailed in the steps above and computing the difference between the two values.
For example in the \textbf{Interrupt context switch} (Save context) measurement, the performance counter is read in the driver before the ECALL and then again after the context saving.

All the measurements are done 500 times each to collect the results and do statistical consideration about the values.
Moreover, as suggested by the official iRISC-V documentation \cite{WatermanI}, Linux is forced to run with one processor core (kernel boot argument \textit{maxcpus = 1}) to overcome existing hardware issues to isolate the number of clock cycles per hart.

\subsection{Results}
Figure \ref{context} below shows the \textbf{ECALL interrupt latency} and \textbf{ECALL interrupt handling overhead} results, showing an average latency time of 0.46 $\mu$S and a complete ECALL handling time of 0.66 $\mu$S.
These results are prone to software performance variations due to caches and interrupts, resulting in variable values and a standard deviation of 0.066$\mu$S in the former and 0.076$\mu$S in the latter case.

Conversely, results shown in Fig.\ref{mincontext} for the \textbf{Interrupt context switch} present a lower standard deviation, mainly because there is little/no software variance that impacts this test. Context saving operations need about 0.071 $\mu$S while restore operation cost about 0.048 $\mu$S.

\begin{figure}[htbp]
\centerline{\includegraphics[width=0.8\columnwidth]{./images/contextswitch.png}}
	\caption{Interrupt latency measurements, with an average value ($\mu$) between 0.4 and 0.6$\mu$S and a standard deviation ($\sigma$) in the range of 0,06 and 0.07$\mu$S. }
\label{context}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\centerline{\includegraphics[width=0.8\columnwidth]{./images/min_contextswitch.png}}
	\caption{Context switch measurements, with an average value ($\mu$) between 0.07 and 0.4$\mu$S and a standard deviation ($\sigma$) close to 0$\mu$S. }
\label{mincontext}
\end{figure}

The results of these benchmarks are encouraging if we compare them with similar benchmarks done in the past by the authors. In the Arm case, for instance, measured context switch of the ASIL-C certified VOSySmonitor product resulted in value in the range between 0.6 $\mu$S to 1.4$\mu$S \cite{lucas2017vosysmonitor}

The comparison between different architectures is out of the scope of this work. However, by proving better performance than an ASIL certified product on Arm architecture, VOSySmonitoRV demonstrates to benefit by an architecture and implementation that can cope with mixed critical requirements. Lastly, this work also confirms the readiness of RISC-V processors to execute multiple operating systems in a mixed criticality environment.

\section{Related works}
VOSySmonitoRV combines strong isolation typical of Trusted Execution Environments (TEE) with functionalities of a hypervisor, aimimng directly from the design phase to a certifiable mixed critical solution for automotive and industrial applications.

For what concerns TEEs, key existing solutions are today MultiZone
\cite{garlaticlean} and KeyStone \cite{lee2020keystone}. Both solution, similarly to VOSySmonitoRV, do not require specific hardware extensions to work.
MultiZone features include a real time scheduler and a formally verifiable code base. KeyStone, on the other hand has the possibility to run FreeRTOS in one of its enclaves.
However, both their focus is mainly on providing security for application, in some cases specifically built for the purpose of being executed in an enclave.
More recently, SiFive presented WorldGuard, a security hardware model that offers World ID markers to every hart and every process to protect and isolate different domain execution (data and code).
Being orthogonal to VOSySmonitoRV, such solution can be integrated in a VOSySmonitoRV to provide stronger isolation.
An other security related example is \textbf{Donky} \cite{schrammel2020donky}, a solution that is a hardware-software co-design for memory isolation of user processes. It has a secure monitor called Donky Monitor, part of the software design, that handles in-process access policies in user space. Donky is used for memory isolation of protection keys and it has no kernel interaction, using the RISC-V 'N' extension (the user-level interrupts extension).

For what concerns virtualization and hypervisors, as mentioned previously the standard specification does not yet include virtualization extensions and there is no real hardware implementing them.
Hypervisors such as Bao \cite{martins2020bao} are developed using the QEMU emulator and cannot guarantee the performance and flexibility given by hardware support for virtualization. In general these solutions are prototyped waiting for the availability of hypervisor extensions in RISC-V hardware.
VOSySmonitoRV solution has the advantage is to enable co-existance of multiple operating systems without virtualization extension that could introduce large attack surface due to implementation complexity \cite{sierra2020security}.

\section{Conclusion}
This paper proposes VOSySmonitoRV, a mixed critical solution for multicore RISC-V platforms. VOSySmonitoRV uses the standard RISC-V instruction set architecture does not need virtualization extensions to run multiple operating systems in a single platform.
This is very important in an evolving architecture like RISC-V, where virtualization extensions are stil missing in hardware platforms available the market.
Performance measurements are presented, showing an \textbf{ECALL interrupt latency}  time value of 0.46 $\mu$S and a \textbf{Interrupt context switch} equal to 0.071 $\mu$S.
Interrupt latency and context switch are considered key operations for such as system, because these are an indicator of the time needed by VOSySmonitoRV to switch operating system or to full fill a request coming from an application (e.g., power management).
With such numbers, VOSySmonitoRV demonstrates to benefit by an architecture and implementation that can cope with mixed critical requirements, as well as it proves the readiness of RISC-V processors to execute multiple operating systems in a mixed criticality environment.
Future works include the development of the hart-sharing feaure, to enable multiple operating systems to share hart resources in a configurable way and respecting security and safety requirements of mixed criticality systems.

\section*{Acknowledgment}
This project has received funding from the EU Horizon 2020 Programme under grant agreement No 957269 (EVEREST).

\bibliographystyle{./IEEE_bibitex/IEEEtran}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


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If you have any concerns about the use of this online form, please use the traditional paper pledge form.
If you would like assistance completing this form, please email c3hfinance@gmail.com or call the Church Office, (919)942-2050, and ask to speak with our Congregational Administrator, Andrea. She can provide you with your past pledge information and help you to fill out this form. Andrea can also help you to set up Automatic Electronic Draft Giving through Vanco Services.
Respond to each item below. The items with an asterisk "*" are required. Check your answers before proceeding. When you are ready to record your pledge, click on "Next" at the bottom of the page.
If you are immediately returned to this page, look for an error message over an item suggesting that you correct an error. After making correction(s), again click on "Next".
If you wish to exit at any time, you may click on the "exit" button in the top right hand corner of any page. If you exit via this button, your responses will not be recorded.
When you are satisfied with your responses to all of the required answers and you wish to submit your results, click on "done" found on the last page. The system will acknowledge your success with a "Thank you".