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2007-06 | EuroCUP I | Sheffield, UK
Posted by OpenEye Scientific on Jun 21, 2007 12:00:00 AM
8:00 Registration / Tea, coffee, pastries
8:45 Welcoming remarks, Anthony Nicholls, OpenEye
Morning : Chemical information and modeling
9:00 Virtual Exploration of Chemical Space by Database Generation, Jean-Louis Reymond, University of Berne
9:40 Breaking the Language Barrier: Chemical Nomenclature around the Globe, Roger Sayle, OpenEye
10:10 Morning break
10:30 Using Pareto Methods to Evolve Structure-activity Relationships, Val Gillet, University of Sheffield
11:00 Communicating Chemical Information in a Research Organization, Joe Corkery, OpenEye
11:30 Further Adventures in Shape Space, Paul Hawkins, OpenEye
13:15 OpenEye Product Review - Ligand-based design, Paul Hawkins, OpenEye
Afternoon : Structural information
14:15 Structure and Property Predictions for Molecular Organic Molecules: Progress and Blind Tests , Graemer Day, University of Cambridge
14:55 Computed Crystal Energy Landscapes for the Prediction and Understanding of Polymorphism, Sally Price, University College London
15:25 Afternoon break
15:45 Validating Crystallographic Ligands, Brian Kelley, OpenEye
16:15 Exploiting Ligand Conformations in Drug Design Jonas Bostroum, AstraZeneca
16:45 When Pigs Won't Fly..., Gerard Kleywegt, Uppsala University
17:30 Keynote lecture: Drug Discovery: Research or Process?, Dave Timms, AstraZeneca (retired)
19:00 Conference Dinner
8:15 Tea, coffee, pastries
Morning: Electrostatics
9:00 Piling Pelion on Ossa: the Tangled Web of Tautomer Preference, Peter Taylor, AstraZeneca (retired)
9:40 Five Years of Field Comparisons and Other Dangers of Letting Chemists & Physicists Talk, Geoff Skillman, OpenEye
10:30 The Sheffield Solvation Model and Other Stunningly Simple Ideas to Improve Molecular Modeling, Andrew Grant, AstraZeneca
11:00 Protein Electrostatics, Function, and Environment, Jim Warwicker, University of Manchester
11:30 "Physically Correct Charges. Think You Use Them? Think Again., Anthony Nicholls, OpenEye
12:00 Concluding remarks, Anthony Nicholls, OpenEye
Virtual Exploration of Chemical Space by Database Generation
Jean-Louis Reymond, University of Berne, Switzerland
Organic chemisty is the study of molecules made by forming covalent bonds between atoms of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, halogens, and a few other elements (S, P, Si). The ensemble of all possible molecules forms the so-called chemical universe, or chemical space. Our aim is to explore chemical space in depth by exhaustive generation in silico, going beyond what nature and chemists have synthesized or imagined to date. We have generated a database of all molecules of C, N, O, F up to 11 atoms (H's are added to complement valency) possible under consideration of chemical stability and synthetic feasibility rules. The database illuminates the scope of organic chemistry and points to new chemotypes with promising predicted properties. We are also developing a strategy that goes beyond the 11 atom limit of exhaustive listing and explores chemical space systematically up to molecules of ca. 50 atoms.
Breaking the Language Barrier: Chemical Nomenclature around the Globe
Roger Sayle, OpenEye
The use of chemical compound names remains the primary method for conveying molecular structures between chemists and researchers. In research articles, patents, chemical catalogues, government legislation and textbooks, the use of IUPAC and traditional compound names is universal, despite efforts to introduce more machine-friendly representations such as identifiers and line notations. Fortunately, advances in computing power now allows chemical names to be parsed and generated (read and written) with almost the same ease as conventional connection tables. A significant complication, however, is that although the vast majority of chemistry uses English nomenclature, a significant fraction is in other languages. This complicates the task of filing and analyzing chemical patents, purchasing from compound vendors and text mining research articles or web pages. This talk describes the issues with manipulating chemical names in various languages, including British, American, Spanish, Swedish and Japanese, and describes the current state-of-the-art in tools to simplify the process.
Using Pareto Methods to Evolve Structure-Activity Relationships
Val Gillet, University of Sheffield
Classification methods have become popular tools in data mining, for example, in the analysis of high-throughput screening data where the aim is derive a model that is able to separate active from inactive compounds. Such binary classifiers actually have two implicit objective functions: specificity (which describes how well they classify the active molecules) and sensitivity (which describes how well they classify the inactives). In general, it is not possible to simultaneously improve on both measures and so the usual approach to training classifiers is to combine the two measures into a single objective function such as the F-measure (which represents the harmonic mean of recall (R) and precision (P)). This approach provides a balanced solution, however, the user has limited control on the model that is generated. We have used Pareto methods to optimise recall and precision independently. The effect is to generate solutions on a recall-precision curve (equivalent to a ROC curve) where each solution represents a different model. The user may then select a model appropriate for their particular application. For example, a model with high precision but low recall may be preferred when deriving structure-activity information, whereas, a high recall but low precision model may be more useful for virtual screening. The Pareto approach has been extended to derive multiple models which, when taken together, improve on the classification rate achieved by a single model and which enable a dataset to be described by more than one structure-activity relationship.
Communicating Chemical Information in a Research Organization
Joe Corkery, OpenEye
Pharmaceutical and biotech research organizations are relatively heterogeneous, comprised of many distinct groups of users with differing expectations, experience, methodologies, priorities, and even IT infrastructure. The communication of chemical information between these groups is critical to the discovery process but is often limited by these constraints. Chemical information refers to not only chemical structures, but also to their associated "meta" information such as prioritization, hit lists, user annotations, as well as calculated and measured properties. Addressing this challenge has required extensive research, experimentation and innovation on many fronts including navigating the heterogeneity of both hardware and the user, as well as the many varying methodologies of data communication and presentation. We have attempted to tackle these issues with the development of VIDA and Vivant. VIDA addresses the challenges of heterogeneity by providing the same easy-to-use intuitive interface to a powerful visualization application across multiple platforms (Microsoft Windows, Linux/Unix, and Mac OS X). The interface takes advantage of widely accepted interface paradigms in order to focus on use by many different types of users instead of just a narrowly defined subset of specialists. Vivant addresses the challenges of communication by specifically leveraging the established power of Microsoft PowerPoint and the World Wide Web as communication mediums in order to present not only the chemical structures (as visualized in VIDA) but also the "meta" information generated for them based on user interactions with those compounds. Given the resources now available, do they make a difference? Potential tests will be discussed.
Further Adventures in Shape Space
Paul Hawkins, OpenEye
It has been a long-held assumption in ligand-based virtual screening that the bioactive conformation of a molecule is privileged and superior performance should be obtained when using such a conformation. A parallel assumption has been that extensive sampling of the conformational space of database molecules is necessary to obtain optimal performance. Both of these assumptions will be critically assessed in the case when ligand-based virtual screening is carried out in shape space.
Structure and Property Predictions for Molecular Organic Molecules: Progress and Blind Tests
Graemer Day, University of Cambridge
Computational methods for the prediciton of molecular organic crystal structures have been developing rapidly over the past 2 decades and many promising results have been reported. Evaluations of current methods for structure prediction are presented, including blind tests of crystal structure prediciton. Three such blind tests have been run over the past 8 years, as an objective test of current capabilities; the organisation and results of these are presented. As well as the ambitious aim of structure prediction, methods have been improving for the prediciton and understanding of physical properties (including mechanical and dynamic properties) of organic crystals with known structure; these methods, and their performance, are also discussed.
Computed Crystal Energy Landscapes for the Prediction and Understanding of Polymorphism
Sally Price, University College London
Contrasting the thermodynamically feasible crystal structures with those that are experimentally known, can either confirm that an experimental polymorph screen is effectively complete, or provide structures to target by other crystallisation methods and generally help rationalise polymorph and solvate formation. This will be illustrated by a range of examples, including cases of prior prediction of polymorphs, to show how computational modelling is progressing in the range of molecules for which useful crystal energy landscapes can be computed.
Validating Crystallographic Ligands
Brian Kelley, Jim Nettles, and Greg Warren, OpenEye
A daunting task for computational chemists is the validation of crystallographic complexes. Data quality used to determine structures can be quite poor forcing a decision of whether to use the current low quality model or to invest in attempts to collect higher quality data. Here, we present a collection of techniques used by crystallographers and modelers to validate structures. Crystallographic techniques include real space correlation[1] and Difference of Difference (DOD) [2] method. These techniques are juxtaposed with techniques familiar to computational chemists such as contact surfaces, strain energy and clash potentials. Finally we show, using examples from the RSCB[3], that in many cases the initial poor ligand structure can be replaced with a chemically sensible and low-strain conformation that is equivalently fit to the crystallographic data.
[1] Jones, T.A. Acta. Cryst , 1991, A47, 110-119.
[2] Nettles, J. H., Science 2004, 305, 866-869
[3] Perola, E.; Charifson, P. S. J. Med. Chem. 2004, 47, 2499-2510.
Exploiting Ligand Conformations in Drug Design
Jonas Boström, AstraZeneca
Drug discovery requires the analysis of increasing amounts of data. Computational chemistry plays a role in organizing and interpreting such data with the goal of making predictions. More specifically molecular design involves coupling predictions about how modifications to molecular structure are manifested in terms of changes to experimental properties. The dominant methods of establishing similarities between molecules and their relationships to measured data are based on the local connectivity of atoms, and as such reflect how molecules have been historically drawn in medicinal chemistry. A better physically founded approach to molecular modeling is to consider the three dimensional (3D) shape of molecules. However, it has proved difficult to fully realize all of the potential advantages of 3D based techniques, in part due to the difficulty of obtaining good descriptions of the conformations of molecules. A particular challenge is in determining the conformation of a molecule when it is bound to a given biological target, the so-called bioactive conformation. Despite the numerous approximations involved in both modeling the energetics of conformers and the methodologies involved in searching conformational space, it has been shown that the insights from conformational analysis can contribute to drug discovery projects. This will, for example, be illustrated by the design of a novel class of cannabinoid (CB1) receptor antagonists for the treatment of obesity.
When Pigs Won't Fly...
Gerard Kleywegt, Uppsala University
Once upon a time, in the land of the unicorn, where every rainbow had a pot of gold at both ends, where everybody was beautiful, healthy and happy, and where pigs could fly, all protein crystallographers were brilliant scientists who never made any mistakes.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, the situation is slightly less favourable. As the recent debacle with the ABC transporter structures has (once again!) shown, the mere fact that something (say, a hot crystal structure) is published in Nature or Science is uncorrelated to its correctness. A few examples of the mistakes that crystallographers can make will be given, and simple ways in which non-experts can assess the overall reliability of structures will be discussed.
However, even when the overall structure is reliable, some details may not be (much like Orwell's pigs, all residues are equal, but some residues are more equal than others). Of particular interest in this respect are the protein residues that interact with substrates or inhibitors and the interacting molecules themselves. It will be shown (with some amusing examples) that the structures of these "size-challenged" molecules when determined in complex with biomacromolecules are at times rather less reliable than those of their big bio brethren.
Obviously, these observations have important implications for users of protein structures. For one thing, these structures should be treated with healthy scepticism rather than reverence. The best way to assess the reliability of critical aspects of a structure (ligand, active-site residues, metal-binding site, interface residues, etc.) is to inspect the experimental electron density maps. Our efforts to provide such maps, and information derived from them, for all crystal structures for which structure factors have been deposited with the PDB will be discussed. They have resulted in EDS - the Uppsala Electron Density Server (http://eds.bmc.uu.se/).
If time permits, a new tripendicular server called ValLigURL (which is, like, totally pronounced "Valley Girl" - duh!) will also be described. It can be used to answer various totally sluggin' questions about ligand conformations in macromolecular crystal structures, including:
Has this conformation of my favourite ligand, like, been observed before in the PDB?
Which PDB entries contain my favourite ligand but in a, like, way different conformation (somebody - gag me with a spoon!)?
How do the bond lengths and angles of, like, my favourite ligand compare to the ideal values (taken from MSDchem) or to the values found in the same ligand in other gnarly PDB entries?
Which tubular PDB entry contains a copy of my favourite ligand that has the best bond lengths and angles (so that I can, like, totally use that entry as a starting point for my modelling work)?
Piling Pelion on Ossa: the Tangled Web of Tautomer Preference
Peter Taylor, AstraZeneca (retired)
Despite the mass of experimental information that has accumulated on tautomerism over the past half century, there has been no serious attempt so far to systematise the data in the interests of a predictive methodology. Since tautomer preference is phase dependent the choice of standard phase is crucial, and we opt for water as the universal biological medium. We shall demonstrate that removing the distortions entailed in the inevitable use of model compounds can result in such improved internal consistency that hitherto undetected correlations become visible. We go on to analyse one of many cases is which the use of additive assumptions has allowed the identification and quantification of an important perturbing factor whose use can aid prediction in a wide variety of contexts.
Five Years of Field Comparisons and Other Dangers of Letting Chemists & Physicists Talk
Geoff Skillman, OpenEye
Molecular similarity, whether computational or in the imagination of a chemist, has a long and distinguished history of success in medicinal chemistry. In the 1980's and 1990's, a chemistry perspective, in which atom typing played a prominent role, dominated both 2D and 3D similarity approaches (e.g. MACCS, Catalyst). Coulombic-field similarity was also introduced in the early 1990's (e.g. CoMFA) and Coulombic fields were later reduced to atom-type related field points that allowed easier alignment and comparison (e.g. Cresset). In 2002 OpenEye introduced fast physics-based methods to both align and directly compare electrostatic fields of small molecules in water (Anthony Nicholls, Cup II). Here we will present our experience over the past five years and show that careful consideration of chemistry details such as variable resolution conformer exploration, high quality partial charges, proper ionization and tautomer states, physiologic salt concentrations and a justifiable interaction model are both necessary and sufficient to achieve outstanding performance from solvated electrostatic-field comparisons.
Sheffield Solvation Model and Other Stunningly Simple Ideas to Improve Molecular Modeling
Andrew Grant, AstraZeneca
There are two ways to model a solute in water. Choose a force-field, apply massive computing power and wait a long time. Or choose an implicit solvent model, enlist any computer made in the last thirty years and get an answer potentially every bit as good in a fraction of the time. How small a fraction? Typically a million-fold or more. Given the enormous difference in speed between explicit and implicit models, is there really any need for yet faster implicit solvent models? This talk will suggest there is. The Sheffield Solvation model, named for its point of origin, is dramatically faster than other implicit solvent models, allowing, for example, on-the-fly calculation of conformational and vibrational entropies, important components often ignored in physical property prediction. In addition it is competitive in accuracy and trivial to implement with simple, analytic gradients. The historical development of the model will be presented, such as aspects of the more substantial model from which it was derived and also the light it sheds on the over-parameterisation of certain other implicit solvent models. Finally, simple ways will be suggested to extend Sheffield to achieve greater accuracy and extensibility.
Protein Electrostatics, Function, and Environment
Jim Warwicker, University of Manchester
We develop methods to calculate pH-dependent properties for biological molecules, finding that a combination of Finite Difference Poisson-Boltzmann and Debye-Huckel provides a good and relatively fast approximation in many cases. We look for correlations between calculations/predictions and environmental properties, such as subcellular location. Revisiting the widely discussed topic of charges and thermostability, although we predict greater stabilisation from ionisable groups for hyperthermophile proteins, this does not correlate with the numbers of such groups. Since these numbers are also larger for hypothermophile proteins, we infer that at least two effects are in operation (stability and solubility). Shape-based protein electrostatics has seen a minor revival in the era of Structural Genomics, from addressing issues such as predictions of enzyme/non-enzyme or nucleic acid-binding. These are relatively trivial implementations of the complexity implicit in detailed charge/shape analysis. A more lasting contribution would be the development of algorithms to match 3D structures (proteins etc) to detailed functional classes, at least for enzymes.
Physically Correct Charges. Think You Use Them? Think Again
Anthony Nicholls, OpenEye
The point charges we are familiar with in modeling are:
(a) under-determined and not physically observable
(b) try to account for both electrostatic potentials and polarization,
the latter through the ubiquitous application of over-polarized basis sets popularized by the likes of Kollman, Karplus and others. I will illustrate why charges can not do both but that the use of an actual physical observable, the dielectric constant, resolves matters, predicts a new and reasonable constant for solvated systems, unifies a wide range of charge and uncharged systems, solves some old problems, such as halide transfer energies, while posing interesting new conundrums.


London Sport believes in the benefits of physical activity.
Quelle surprise. It is, after all, what we stand for.
But our vision of making London the most physically active city in the world isn't a vanity measure or totem. It's a vision that carries with it a host of benefits to Londoners, and to the capital itself.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, London has the country's largest working population, with a daytime population across the capital of over 10 million people.
That's a tremendously large group of people for whom increased levels of physical activity could contribute enormously to their physical and mental wellbeing, their social connectivity and their overall health.
It also represents an enormous number of businesses who could benefit from having a more active population.
In the first year of the Active Citizens Worldwide initiative, analysis of physical activity participation in London found that at its current rates, physical activity in London contributes £314m of productivity-related savings through reduced sickness and friction costs.
Across the three Active Citizens Worldwide Founding Cities (Auckland, London and Singapore), the total annual savings related to physical activity including health-related savings, reduced absenteeism and reduced friction costs totalled US$1.1bn.
It's not only in health terms that businesses stand to benefit from increased employee physical activity rates.
Active Citizens Worldwide found that physically active residents of the three Founding Cities reported 4% higher levels of self-rated happiness – a 2015 study from the Social Market Foundation, meanwhile, found that happy employees are up to 20% more productive than unhappy employees.
Put simply, an active workforce is a happy, healthy workforce – and a happy, healthy workforce is good for business.
That makes it a simple business decision, which makes it all the more surprising that research from Westfield Health shows just 23% of companies believe their organisation has a responsibility for employee health and wellbeing.
At a time where UK productivity has experienced a slowdown more pronounced than any other western country, simple measures that can support increased productivity are worth their weight in gold.
That's the thinking that underpins our workplace wellbeing partnership with Westfield Health, and it's also the thinking that sits at the heart of our own approach to workplace health.
By building a culture that values and promotes physical activity as a key pillar of our organisation's approach to workplace wellbeing, we're working to provide our employees with a raft of benefits, while benefiting our business at the same time.
At a business level, the decisions can be deceptively simple.
From easy-to-introduce workplace adjustments (like supporting staff to exercise during lunchtimes, promoting standing and walking meetings, and promoting use of stairs for those staff able to use them) to business investments, such as our adoption of Westfield Health's corporate wellbeing solutions or helping to fund employee sport teams, we are working to help London Sport to be a physically active workplace in a physically active city.
The evidence to do so is overwhelming. It's time for workplaces to see past an HR problem and explore a productivity solution.


> you were asking or do did you want to know something else?
node-revision' error as you changed the data on disk.
don't know what is causing that.
Next message: Ben Reser: "Re: Reverse blame?"
Previous message: Benjamin Fritz: "Reverse blame?"


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Juan Verdugo Pérez (Còrdova, Andalusia, 22 de maig de 1949), és un jugador espanyol de futbol, ja retirat, que va destacar per la seva fortalesa i la seva seguretat en defensa.

Trajectòria
Va iniciar la seva carrera al Club Séneca, fins que va passar al Córdoba CF, on va destacar com a defensa. Això va fer que el Reial Madrid el fitxés. Amb el club blanc va disputar 4 temporades, fins que va fitxar pel RCD Espanyol l'any del 75è aniversari del club. Amb el club català es va convertir en un referent defensiu i va firmar grans actuacions que el van portar a debutar amb la selecció espanyola l'any 1978.

Palmarès
 2 Lliga espanyola (1972, 1975) amb el Reial Madrid
 2 Copa del Rei (1974,1975) amb el Reial Madrid

Futbolistes cordovesos
Futbolistes del Córdoba CF
Futbolistes del Reial Madrid CF de la dècada de 1970
Futbolistes del RCD Espanyol de la dècada de 1970
Futbolistes del RCD Espanyol de la dècada de 1980
Futbolistes internacionals amb Espanya de la dècada de 1970
Futbolistes internacionals amb Catalunya de la dècada de 1970

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Do you enjoy cutting down your own Christmas tree? This has been a family tradition in our family before Mozart was born and we did it with her during her first five years in California.
But due to 9 years of non-stop world travel, we didn't keep up with this Christmas tradition as things were different in Spain during the holidays and Christmas in tropical Asia was totally different.
We loved those experiences and how they enriched us and you can see that in our latest Christmas Medley video showing Mozart photos through her Christmas pasts in California, Spain, China, Malaysia and Christmas markets in Europe .
This year, we are back in the United States, so once again, can pick up our cut-your-own-tree tradition. We just googled it and found many farms in the nearby countryside within an hour from Dallas. Their busiest time is the day after Thanksgiving, but we prefer to do it on Solstice.
14 year old Mozart had missed this family treat, although it is a little bit different in Texas than it was in California. We'd never seen some of these trees before, but summers get hot here, so this is what works and we love our tree.
...not to mention a little kiss for Santa himself!
...so she cut it down with the help of our assistant who happened to be a well-traveled CPA.
He was kind enough to carry it back for us to the barn where they wrap it up for it's car trip home.
Then he put it in the tractor-pulled trailer and helped us take it to our car.
....playing Mrs. Santa Clause, then it was time to head back home to the city.
...then put some final touches on the next morning.
How time flies! Seems like only yesterday we were celebrating like this.
Wishing you and yours a magnificent Christmas, Hanukkah, Soltice or what ever you celebrate at this time and a great year ahead!
Gratitude Quotes, Autumn Beauty & Giving Thanks!
Mozart's Recording Her Beautiful Song "You're Not Alone"!!
I love picking out my own tree to cut, a fresh cut tree just looks and smells better than anything you can buy that is fake... the real question is whether you prefer a tree like the Charlie Brown tree, or a big fluffy tree. A blue spruce is my favorite, but there's so many varieties, it's always great seeing what people like the most.


Tales of Wonder is a 3-disc set from Alice Kane. Alice had a musical voice that carried her audiences away. She held the firm belief that stories can mend broken hearts and broken worlds. To learn more about the recording and about Alice Kane, click here.
You can purchase her CD here, or buy a digital download of it on CD Baby.


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Imaging technology could reveal cellular secrets
R&D Mag, 26th April 2013
Researchers have married two biological imaging technologies, creating a new way to learn how good cells go bad. "Let's say you have a large population of cells," says Corey Neu, an assistant professor in Purdue University's Weldon School of…
Researchers have married two biological imaging technologies, creating a new way to learn how good cells go bad.
"Let's say you have a large population of cells," says Corey Neu, an assistant professor in Purdue University's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering. "Just one of them might metastasize or proliferate, forming a cancerous tumor. We need to understand what it is that gives rise to that one bad cell."
Such an advance makes it possible to simultaneously study the mechanical and biochemical behavior of cells, which could provide new insights into disease processes, said biomedical engineering postdoctoral fellow Charilaos "Harris" Mousoulis.
Being able to study a cell's internal workings in fine detail would likely yield insights into the physical and biochemical responses to its environment. The technology, which combines an atomic force microscope and nuclear magnetic resonance system, could help researchers study individual cancer cells, for example, to uncover mechanisms leading up to cancer metastasis for research and diagnostics.
The prototype's capabilities were demonstrated by taking nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of hydrogen atoms in water. Findings represent a proof of concept of the technology and are detailed in a research paper that appeared online in Applied Physics Letters. The paper was co-authored by Mousoulis; research scientist Teimour Maleki; Babak Ziaie, a professor of electrical and computer engineering; and Neu.
"You could detect many different types of chemical elements, but in this case hydrogen is nice to detect because it's abundant," Neu says. "You could detect carbon, nitrogen and other elements to get more detailed information about specific biochemistry inside a cell."
An atomic force microscope (AFM) uses a tiny vibrating probe called a cantilever to yield information about materials and surfaces on the scale of nanometers, or billionths of a meter. Because the instrument enables scientists to "see" objects far smaller than possible using light microscopes, it could be ideal for studying molecules, cell membranes and other biological structures.
However, the AFM does not provide information about the biological and chemical properties of cells. So the researchers fabricated a metal microcoil on the AFM cantilever. An electrical current is passed though the coil, causing it to exchange electromagnetic radiation with protons in molecules within the cell and inducing another current in the coil, which is detected.
The Purdue researchers perform "mechanobiology" studies to learn how forces exerted on cells influence their behavior. In work focusing on osteoarthritis, their research includes the study of cartilage cells from the knee to learn how they interact with the complex matrix of structures and biochemistry between cells.
Future research might include studying cells in "microfluidic chambers" to test how they respond to specific drugs and environmental changes.
A U.S. patent application has been filed for the concept.
Source: Purdue University
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How Badly Did Satoru Iwata's Nintendo Mess Up? Let Us Count the Ways
Amid the news of Nintendo's severely lowered sales forecasts, many fans and armchair analysts are arguing for the removal of the company's president, Satoru Iwata. That's fine and all, but a lot of people simply use the Wii U's poor sales as an explanation without delving into how the Wii U got to where it is now in the first place. That's what this article is all about. From third-party relations to brand confusion, this is a quick summary of where Satoru Iwata's Nintendo went wrong.
One major factor that happened pre-Wii U was how Satoru Iwata took away the autonomy of Nintendo of America when he took over. This meant the Japanese branch, the headquarters, made all the calls. This was right when the West started gaining a lot of traction as the most important part of the world sales-wise for the industry. Multiple Western third-party relationships with Nintendo quickly soured, many that had worked with Nintendo closely in the past had their bonds broken with the big N, and it still hurts Nintendo to this day. Third-party support in general is much more horrid than when Satoru Iwata originally stepped into the role as president of Nintendo, and it has only been getting progressively worse.
Under Iwata's leadership, Nintendo allowed the Wii to flounder for two years at the end of its life without much software support. This made it so the casual gamers that were attached to the Wii name went elsewhere for their entertainment, and it made it so any momentum Nintendo would have had going into the Wii U was dead.
One would think that not supporting the Wii much near the end meant that Nintendo was heavily working on HD games at the time. I mean, it makes perfect sense since HD development is a big change, yet lo and behold the Wii U launched and many games planned for the launch window were delayed. Nintendo had six years to prepare for HD development, and unless its proverbial head was in the sand, it could have heard how difficult the switch from SD development to HD development was from the myriad of other developers and publishers in the industry saying so. However, Nintendo was somehow still unprepared.
Even if the Wii U's launch window games did release on time, the majority of them don't even use the selling point of the system, the Wii U GamePad, to any worthwhile degree. If Nintendo can't even come up with interesting ideas for the GamePad, what is its use besides making the price of the entire Wii U package skyrocket? I personally love off-TV play as much as any Wii U owner who has experienced it, but I'd love to see more games like Nintendo Land, LEGO City Undercover, Game & Wario, and ZombiU (though this last one is from Ubisoft) use the GamePad in better, more creative ways.
Then there's the Wii U name itself. At E3 2011 and 2012 it was clear that there was a lot of confusion surrounding the name, even from the most dedicated of gamers. Was this a new tablet for the original Wii? Was it a new console? Was it an upgrade to the Wii? This is still a problem with consumers. Not only that, but Nintendo suffered this brand confusion problem before with the Nintendo 3DS. Many thought that handheld was simply another revision of the ultra-popular DS. Apparently Satoru Iwata and Nintendo did not learn from the past and made the absolute mistake again, naming the new console the Wii U instead of something less bewildering.
Moving onto the Nintendo 3DS, that system isn't selling to the pace of its predecessor, Nintendo DS, but it's important to note that the Nintendo DS released at a time where smartphones and tablets had not become popular yet. It allowed a big part of its user base, casual gamers, access to the system with titles like Brain Age, Nintendogs, Crosswords DS, among other titles. A big part of the system's appeal was its cheap price, so what does Satoru Iwata and Nintendo do? They release a successor that was $250, an incredibly expensive amount, and have a list of launch games that were less than exciting. Lower than expected sales meant Nintendo had to do something unprecedented-- cut the price by a good amount and give early 3DS owners free downloadable games as an apology.
Now, all of these factors add up to one colossal screw-up by Nintendo that many argue could have been avoided or at least fixed from the time the system was revealed to the time it was released. Many of these very much could have been, and it's all on Satoru Iwata and his board for these mistakes. Should Mr. Iwata step down? I can't answer that. All I know is I really like the fellow. He's one of the few CEO's in the gaming industry who doesn't nickel and dime gamers, make people buy season passes, lock DLC on the disc, or try to implement DRM into Nintendo's consoles. Satoru Iwata is a man who understands games, coming before as a developer at HAL Laboratory. While some may say that Iwata has earned the right to fail thanks to his great success with the Wii (and no, it was not a fluke) and the DS, others want his head on a stick (metaphorically speaking, of course). Regardless of what happens, 2014 is going to be a really interesting year for Nintendo and the industry in general.
Labels: editorial, low sales, nintendo, satoru iwata, wii u
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes (PS4, X1, Wii U, PS3, 360) Review
This is an interesting review for SuperPhillip Central. It's the first that is for a game that is also available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Regardless, we will be looking at the PlayStation 3 version, as that is the one that was played. Here's our review of LEGO Marvel Super Heroes.
A Love/Hate Relationship to Marvel At
LEGO City Undercover was one of my biggest surprises from 2013. It exuded with charm, polish, and had a dense open world to explore. Coming off that game, which I deemed the greatest LEGO game yet, I was eager to see how TT Games' next licensed LEGO game would turn out. The end result is LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, and I don't think I have had as many ups and downs with a game in a looooong time.
The simple but original plot of LEGO Marvel Super Heroes has such names as Iron Man, Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, Wolverine, Thor, and more teaming up to tackle and take down a scheme from Loki and a gathering of other Marvel supervillains who plan on creating a weapon that can destroy the planet. The interactions between characters within the game are rather funny, even if the jokes occasionally fall flat.
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes consists of 15 story missions as well as 11 bonus levels that unlock after the game has been beaten. LEGO game veterans should be up to snuff with what these levels contain, but for those who have yet to try one of the myriad past LEGO games available, this is how it goes down. You pretty much need to smash every breakable object in sight that isn't cemented to the ground. In certain LEGO objects are broken up LEGO parts that need to be reassembled to create something valuable in proceeding through the level. For instance, in the first level you need to break Sandman's makeshift gate by having Iron Man destroy silver scaffolding, reassemble the broken pieces into an anvil, and then have Hulk pick it up and toss it at the gate, allowing progress.
"Hulk not big thinker...
How solve puzzle?"
While it is very much true that there are over 100 playable characters to select from in LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, the majority of merely reskins of other characters. There are multiple types of characters with their own abilities. Such an example includes the Human Torch. Not only can he fly, but he can also shoot out a steady beam of fire to destroy gold LEGO bricks. Meanwhile, Storm can use her lightning powers to charge up switches to turn on certain machines or open specific doors. Then there's the Incredible Hulk archetype who is the only type of character that can pull green handles. That's just some of the many varieties of character archetypes in LEGO Marvel Super Heroes. Many powers and abilities crossover between characters, so there is some variation here and there.
When all else fails, use force!
It's important to use the right power at the right time to progress through the story levels. There's generally just one way to solve a puzzle, and through breaking everything in sight you eventually come across what needs to be done. "Oh, hey. I just broke a dumpster that allows me to use the broken LEGO pieces inside to build a vent that only Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four can enter into. Awesome." While the puzzles themselves are genuinely pretty clever, the LEGO formula is really, really getting old.
Still, you cannot discredit LEGO Marvel Super Heroes for the amount of content it has. As soon as the credits roll and you are put back onto the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, the game opens up exponentially, especially compared to the start of the game where you couldn't even explore much of the city. You can freely explore Manhattan as any character you want, making it easy to come across hidden gold bricks, citizens that have missions for you, and character/vehicle tokens. All around the island of Manhattan are goodies to be found and puzzles to solve. Of course, getting around could be much easier, but flying (which is the fastest way of getting around, after all) has controls that were obviously devised in the third circle of Hell.
Fly like an eagle... who is seriously drunk.
The genius who said the controls for flight were passable needs to have their head examined. Somehow, someway, flying is even worse than LEGO Batman 2. This wouldn't be so much of a problem if there were not flying races where you have to carefully speed through aerial rings. These races glaringly show the flaws of the control implementation. You raise up with one button, and lower with another. The problem here is that the lower button and the land button are the absolute same thing. It becomes clear this is inexcusable in narrow areas where you have to stay close to the ground, only to accidentally land, screwing up any momentum you possibly had going.
It's fun to explore the many areas of Manhattan.
Then there's free play that unlocks after a given story level is completed. These allow you to take the characters you've already purchased or otherwise unlocked into the level with you, granting you access to previously unavailable areas and to solve previously impossible puzzles. When you originally play a story level, you are very limited in what characters you have to choose from. You just have the ones the game has granted you as it pertains to the LEGO Marvel's overarching story. This means you're lucky to be able to find 1-3 minikits in a given level, of which there are ten in each. Through having any character you have unlocked available to you, you can get all of the minikits in each level.
Say "cheese" everyone!
However, like most things in LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, there's something else that soils this slightly. In past LEGO games when you were in free play mode, you could switch characters with the shoulder buttons. In LEGO City Undercover for the Wii U, this was possible, as well as holding a button brought up a character selection wheel to easily switch between your most used/selected characters. This isn't the case in LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, of course, as in this one you have to hold a specific button for a second, have a menu slide up from the bottom of the screen, select your desired character, and wait for the two or three seconds it takes to load them. This would be fine if you didn't have to change characters so much. You're constantly needing to switch back and forth between numerous types of characters to solve puzzles. That's switching between Iceman to remove the fire in the way, Magneto to interact with the magnetic object, Jean Grey to use her telekinesis to assemble another object, and then Thor to use his lightning to activate a switch. It's tedious to switch so much.
Even gods must keep their beards well groomed.
In total, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes will take upwards of 35-40 hours to see and do everything. There are 250 gold bricks to collect. These are found scattered around New York City, earned through completing levels, collecting enough studs, the currency of LEGO, in a level, finding all minikits in a level, and rescuing Stan Lee in a given level. There's also 100+ characters to unlock and multiple vehicles to unlock through coming across their tokens around the city. This, like getting gold bricks in NYC, requires you to solve an environmental puzzle or help out a citizen with a task in the city. Unfortunately, said tasks pretty much amount to fetch quests and battles with a group of goons. The problem here is that the combat system of LEGO games is so simple and that death has no consequence makes these fights nothing more than a nuisance. I started groaning each time I was met with another bunch of henchmen to throw punches (or beams) at.
Another nuisance is how LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, at least on the PlayStation 3, performs in general. Many times I would arrive at a section of New York City where I knew a citizen was waiting for me only to discover there was nobody around. Instead, I had to wait about five seconds for the citizen to load into the city. Then there's all of the glitches within the game-- characters not showing up, respawns over pits, making a character continuously die in an endless cycle, falling through floors, etc. Let's not forget the long loading times and the many hard freezes I had to endure. Curiously, there's even some cutscenes that aren't able to be skipped while some are. There's no rhyme or reason for this. However, there's an option to skip this one screen... that just happens to be a loading screen. Why would you need a loading screen if I can just skip the darn thing?!
"We want to be in a less glitchy game!"
Overall, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes is an odd beast. Compared to LEGO City Undercover, Marvel Super Heroes is an unpolished mess. However, I really enjoyed a lot of the elements of the game-- playing through the story levels, exploring Manhattan, collecting all there was to collect, and so forth. Nonetheless, for every two parts of the game I enjoyed there seemed to be one baffling design decision or one irritating bug or glitch that turned my smile into a grimace. It's this love/hate relationship with the game that keeps me from wholeheartedly recommending it to everyone. If you plan on going for 100% completion, be ready to be annoyed often. If you're just going to casually go through the story and complete missions, then you'll probably have greater success with this game than I. Nuff said.
[SPC Says: 6.5/10]
Labels: lego marvel super heroes, playstation 3, playstation 4, review, tt games, wb games, wii u, xbox 360, xbox one
BLTN Reviews: BioShock Infinite (PS3, 360, PC) Review
BioShock Infinite was our runner-up for Best Multiplatform Game at our SuperPhillip Central Best of 2013 Awards ceremony, so you sort of have a hint on how we feel about this game. If not, read this review and be amazed!
The BioShock Series Takes to the Skies
Meet Booker DeWitt. He's taken to a lighthouse on a secluded island courtesy of a mysterious married couple. His objective is stated short and succinctly: "Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt." However ambiguous this mission is to the player, Booker takes it on, entering the lighthouse, reaching its top, and enters into a chair. The chair propels Booker miles into the sky, upon then the sight of Columbia, a breathtaking city above the clouds is revealed. The goal now is simple-- find a girl named Elizabeth and escape with her from her confines in Columbia.
The story is quite nebulous, with the player seldom really knowing what's going on. However, once the pieces of puzzle fit into place, there's this ah-ha moment where everything suddenly makes sense. It's this realization that makes BioShock Infinite's story so fantastic. There's a continued mystery throughout the game, and when all is resolved during Infinite's twist ending and final conclusion, a great sense of satisfaction will most likely be given to the player. Each act of the game is well done, and there really is no weak link to be found, unlike how the original BioShock sort of fell apart halfway through. It's a story that shows that video game plots and narratives can be as engaging as other media when done right.
Columbia is a gorgeous sight to behold.
As for the gameplay itself, BioShock Infinite plays like what you'd expect a first-person shooter to be like, but the level of polish that the gameplay has and the tightness of the controls make for a really rewarding experience. Rapture in both BioShock and BioShock 2 was rather claustrophobic, obviously because it was underwater and all, but it limited the amount of combat options you had to utilize. In contrast, Infinite's Columbia is far more open, allowing considerably more varied combat scenarios.
This is really how George Washington
looked when he was president.
Seriously. Look it up.
Such a fun scenario comes with Columbia's cargo transit system, the sky rail. There an abundant number of these around Columbia, and with Booker's Sky Hook wrist attachment, you can ride these. Six Flags and Disney World have nothing on these rides. You can speed up, slow down, and switch directions effortlessly. Where this involves combat is that you can use one hand to ride the sky rail while the other picks off foes on the ground. You can even do sky rail executions by targeting an enemy on the ground and pressing a single button to launch into them in glorious, violent fashion.
Coming through!
Booker can carry up to two weapons at a time. There's everything from standard handguns, machine guns, shotguns, rocket launchers, sniper rifles, among many others to tackle whatever challenge is thrown your way. Weapon ammo and weapon upgrades can be purchased with money found all around Columbia at specific vending machines to increase the power of his arsenal.
Booker gets a hold of some serious hardware.
In addition to standard guns, Booker obtains special powers and abilities through coming across Vigors, Infusions, and Gears. Vigors, of which there are eight within the game, give Booker the power to unleash what one could call magic onto foes. These are highly creative, such as being able to possess an enemy, whether it be human or mechanical, the power to shock a foe into submission, and another that calls upon a flock of crows to rip an enemy to shreds. However, you can't just use these Vigor powers all willy-nilly. Each time a Vigor is used, a portion of Booker's Vigor gauge goes down. It can be replenished through coming across Salts, found in food and drinks all over Columbia. From inside bars to inside barrels, food and treasure are plentiful around the city in the sky, and it's fun to scavenge around areas to see what sorts of goodies you can find.
Booker's having a blast in Columbia.
Infusions serve as upgrades for either Booker's health, shield, or Vigors. When one of these is found, usually hidden in an out of the way location, you can decide to upgrade one of the aforementioned three attributes. Health is self-explanatory, while the shield, which is earned early in the game, protects Booker from a small amount of damage before disappearing, leaving him vulnerable to attacks. It will rejuvenate, but it takes a little time. Using an Infusion to upgrade the shield means that it will be able to take more punishment before disappearing. Finally, boosting your Vigors means you can use them more times before needing to refill your supply via Salts.
Meanwhile, Gears can be equipped to Booker and come in four types: Hats, Shirts, Pants, and Boots. Only one of each type can be equipped at the same time. These Gears grant Booker with abilities such as creating a surrounding circle of flames upon landing from a sky hook or increased attack strength when low on health.
Within close to a third of BioShock Infinite, Elizabeth joins your side. While she doesn't get involved with combat, she does prove to be an invaluable asset to Booker. She has the mysterious power of opening tears, gateways that can bring forth useful objects for Booker to use, such as a box of health-restoring medical kits, cover, and defense turrets, for example. She scavenges around areas to throw Booker health, salt for Vigors, ammunition, and money. Lastly, move over Jill Valentine, as Elizabeth is now the new master of unlocking. As long as there are enough lockpicks in your arsenal, Elizabeth can tackle any lock. Inside usually hides some great rewards, like lots of money, Infusions, Gears, or Voxophones, audio recordings that give back story to BioShock Infinite. Thankfully, when all is said and done, Elizabeth never gets in the way of the player, and unlike BioShock, you need not protect Elizabeth, as she can take of herself, so this is definitely no escort mission-type nonsense. It all adds up to Elizabeth being a great addition to Booker's mission.
Elizabeth's reaction to meme humor.
BioShock Infinite will last most players anywhere between 10-15 hours for a first run. However, there's plenty of collectibles to uncover and secrets to be found. When the game is cleared, BioShock Infinite challenges players with its 1999 Mode, where enemies are more ruthless and take more damage, ammo is scarcer, aim assist is gone, and managing your resources is as important as ever. Perhaps because of how few cutscenes that take the player out of the gameplay are and that most of the story is told while Booker is under the player's control, subsequent play-throughs can be a bit tedious. You have to sit through story elements all over again, and while yes, the story is worth sitting through again, it can be annoying for those that just want to get to the gameplay.
Time to bring out the big gun, big boy!
The presentation of BioShock Infinite is top-notch guaranteed. The visuals are bright and you can almost feel the sun as it shines on the city streets of Columbia. Characters are modeled well and show damage wonderfully. Columbia itself is so incredibly well done and superbly realized that it feels like another character in the game. The level of detail is immense, and all of this runs at a silky smooth frame-rate. The voice acting is phenomenal in BioShock Infinite, and the music is marvelous, too. Hearing barbershop quartet versions of songs like "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and "God Only Knows" brought a large smile to my face. Irrational Games spared little expense to make a truly remarkable setting and presentation for BioShock Infinite.
Take a picture. It'll last longer!
What this all adds down to is a game that must be played-- it must be experienced. While some might just portray BioShock Infinite as "just another first-person shooter", there's more to this book than what the cover reveals. Inside there is a game with a stunning story, well developed characters, engaging gameplay, tight and responsive controls, and an amount of polish that puts other games to shame. BioShock Infinite pushes the envelope of what a game can be with its terrific tale and astounding artistry. It's not quite infinitely rewarding, but it sure does come close.
Labels: better late than never, bioshock infinite, irrational games, pc, playstation 3, ps3, review, xbox 360
SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs - Two Dragons and A Ninja Walk Into A Bar... Edition
Boy, have we got an interesting mix of games and music here to share with you this week, gang! That's right. It's time for SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs, a collection of our most loved gaming themes and songs. This week we have music from Dragon's Dogma and Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon-- two games that have yet to see an appearance on our list until now-- Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, and No More Heroes. Enough talk! Let's do this!
v541. Dragon's Dogma (PS3, 360) - Imminent Triumph
If you know our Favorite VGMs well enough, then you know we cannot pass up a track that has a full choir and chilling orchestra backing it! That's exactly what we get with Dragon's Dogma's Imminent Triumph, a theme that plays as a boss is nearing defeat. It gets the adrenaline pumping. Just don't choke when you're this close to victory!
v542. Blue Dragon (360) - Main Theme
We were going to insert Eternity into our list of Favorite VGMs, but we didn't want to tarnish our list with something that is so polarizing. For most who like the vocal theme, it's really in so-bad-it's-good territory. Regardless, the Main Theme of Blue Dragon starts off with some nice brass, giving off a very friendly attitude to the listener. And then the boss theme comes in and you go "WTF"?
v543. Lost Odyssey (360) - The Gun Barrel of Battle
Another Mistwalker Xbox 360 exclusive and another Nobuo Uematsu score, Lost Odyssey is the more adult-oriented RPG for Microsoft's second gaming system. The Gun Barrel of Battle is, believe or not, the battle theme of Lost Odyssey. If you can track down a cheap copy (good luck), it's definitely our recommendation to try Lost Odyssey out.
v544. Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon (N64) - Flowery Oedo, the Lost Village
A charming action-adventure game with 3D platforming and even first-person robot battles, Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon was a game from back when Konami had more interesting series than Metal Gear and Castlevania to their name. Excuse us. We were going to talk about the game and the music, but we're now depressed at yet another sad Japanese publisher outcome.
v545. No More Heroes (Wii) - The Virgin Child Makes Her Wish Without Feeling Anything
The theme that Dr. Peace sings before his battle on the baseball field with Travis Touchdown, The Virgin Child, et al. is a marvelously sung song that reaches utterly beautiful levels of poignancy at the end. Goichi Suda, the director of the game, wrote the lyrics of this song himself, perhaps providing a back story to the boss assassin.
Labels: best video game music, blue dragon, dragon's dogma, lost odyssey, mystical ninja starring goemon, no more heroes, superphillip central's favorite vgm
How Badly Did Satoru Iwata's Nintendo Mess Up? Let...
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes (PS4, X1, Wii U, PS3, 360...
BLTN Reviews: BioShock Infinite (PS3, 360, PC) Rev...
SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs - Two Dragons...


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Q: i cannot set the type of state in typescript I'm writing code for server error handling using typescript in react(version 6).
But i got the error from useLocation and state.
useLocation got error which message is "Expected 0 type arguments, but got 1.ts(2558)" So if i erase  then the error disappeared but still state have errors like "Object is of type 'unknown'.ts(2571) "

import { Button, Container, Divider, Paper, Typography } from "@mui/material";

import { useHistory, useLocation } from "react-router";

export default function ServerError() {
    const history = useHistory();
    const { state } = useLocation<any>();

    return (
        <Container component={Paper}>
            {state?.error ? (
                <>
                    <Typography variant='h3' color='error' gutterBottom>{state.error.title}</Typography>
                    <Divider />
                    <Typography>{state.error.detail || 'Internal server error'}</Typography>
                </>
            ) : (
                <Typography variant='h5' gutterBottom>Server Error</Typography>
            )}
            <Button onClick={() => history.push('/catalog')}>Go back to the store</Button>
        </Container>
    )
}

A: It looks like the type of state is unknown in the useLocation type definition: https://reactrouter.com/docs/en/v6/hooks/use-location
Thus, you can use a cast to cast the state type as any to avoid those errors:
const location = useLocation();
const state = location.state as any;

Or, if you know the type of location.state, you can cast it to a custom object type:
const location = useLocation();
const state = location.state as { error?: { title: string; detail?: string } }

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
From our Managing Partners to our valued clients, we strive to build a personal relationship with every organization we work with. Please take a moment to get to know our team.
Managing Partners
Gretchen Case
Managing Partner, MPH, CPC
Gretchen is a managing partner for The Wilshire Group, Associates, and was a founder of the firm in 2007. In her role as managing partner, Ms. Case is responsible for service line...
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Managing Partner, CPA
Hank is a managing partner for The Wilshire Group and was a founder of the firm in 2007. Hank is responsible for the firm's strategic direction, client management, human capital...
Spencer Thielmann
Spencer is the Vice President of Operations for The Wilshire Group and has been with the firm since 2015. In his role as Vice President, Spencer is responsible for the...
Rebecca Haymaker
Vice President of Revenue Cycle Services
Rebecca Haymaker is the Vice President of Revenue Cycle Services for The Wilshire Group and has been with the firm since 2019. In her role as Vice President, Rebecca is...
Jennifer Esterbrooks
Director of Health Information Services
Jennifer is the Director of Health Information Services at The Wilshire Group. She is responsible for development and progressive alignment of these operations with technical expertise. With over 20 years of...
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Director of Clinical Services
Ryan is the Director of Clinical Services at The Wilshire Group. In this role, he is responsible for solutions development, service line offerings, account management, project staffing and oversight, staff...
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Manager of Patient Access
Freeman Jenkins is a Manager of Patient Access at The Wilshire Group. Freeman is an experienced healthcare consultant and leader who focuses on maximizing value in the revenue cycle across...
Matt Perron
Matt Perron is a Manager of Patient Access at the Wilshire Group. Matt brings over 9 years of patient access implementation and optimization experience where he specializes in front end...
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Andrew is an experienced revenue cycle leader with over six years of revenue cycle consulting, implementation, and project management experience. As a former Epic employee, Andrew managed the revenue cycle...
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April is a Senior Consultant who joined The Wilshire Group in 2017. She specializes in Revenue Cycle, Health Information Service optimization as well as Healthcare Compliance. April has over 10 years...
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Daisy Roberts is a Senior Health Information Services Consultant for The Wilshire Group specializing in HIM and Revenue Cycle consulting, systems implementation, and project management. Daisy joined The Wilshire Group...
Jenn Krebs
Jenn 'Ellison' Krebs is a Senior Strategic Advisor who's been with The Wilshire Group since 2012 and specializes in Health Information Management. Jenn's area of expertise lies in analyzing client...
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Senior Strategic Advisor
Jeremy is a Senior Hospital Billing and Revenue Cycle Consultant for The Wilshire Group, joining the team in 2009. He blends technical expertise and operational know how to help HIT...
Morgan McClure
Morgan McClure brings 15 years of experience working with Epic's clinical product suite in a variety of settings, ranging from an ambulatory accountable care organization to an academic medical center...
Nick Jenneman
Nick Jenneman is a Senior Revenue Cycle Consultant with over eight years of revenue cycle consulting, implementation, and project management experience. Before Wilshire, Nick completed several implementation and optimization projects with...
Rick Walsh
Senior Strategic Advisor, ITIL
Rick is a Senior Revenue Cycle Consultant and Epic Project Manager who joined The Wilshire Group in 2017. Rick specializes in Epic Revenue Cycle Optimization with a concentration in charging...
Sergio Franco is a Senior Revenue Cycle Consultant who joined The Wilshire Group in 2008. He oversees the Revenue Recovery Collections unit at one of the largest and well known...
Tyre Pierce
Tyre is an experienced revenue cycle leader with over five years of revenue cycle consulting, implementation, and project management experience. As a former Epic employee, Tyre managed the revenue cycle...


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Rosemary Sutcliff
rosemarysutcliff.com
Rosemary Sutcliff (1920-1992) wrote over 40 novels for young adults, including Mark of the Horse Lord, Black Ships Before Troy, The Wanderings of Odysseus, and The Eagle of the Ninth; five adult novels, including Sword at Sunset; and several books of nonfiction.
Titles by Rosemary Sutcliff
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Sword at Sunset (4 Formats) ›
By Rosemary Sutcliff, Foreword by Jack Whyte
Trade Paper Price 24.99
Trade Paper, PDF, EPUB, Mobipocket
This brilliant Arthurian epic cuts through the mists of pagan, early Christian, and medieval splendors that have gathered about the subject and tells the authentic story of the man who may well have been the real King Arthur—Artos the Bear, the mighty warrior-king who saved the last lights of Western civilization when the barbarian darkness descended in the fifth century. Presenting early Britain as it was after the departure of the Romans—no Round Table, no many-towered Camelot—the setting is a hard, savage land, half-civilized, half-pagan, where a few men struggled to forge a nation and hold back the Saxon scourge. Richly detailed, the story chronicles the formation of a great army, the hardships of winter quarters, the primitive wedding feasts, the pagan fertility rites, the agonies of surgery after battle, the thrilling stag hunts, and the glorious processions of the era. Stripped of the chivalric embellishments that the French applied to British history centuries ago, the Arthurian age here emerges as a time when men stood at the precipice of history—a time of transition and changing values and imminent national peril.
The Mark of the Horse Lord (4 Formats) ›
By Rosemary Sutcliff, Afterword by Scott O'Dell
"There was a smell of blood mingling with the smell of burning that still clung about scorched timber and blackened thatch, and a great wailing rose from the watching crowd. The old High Priest dipped a finger in the blood and made a sign with it on Phaedrus's forehead, above the Mark of the Horse Lord." So began the ceremony that was to make young Phaedrus, ex-slave and gladiator, Horse Lord of the Dalriadain. Phaedrus had come a long way since the fight in the arena that gained him his freedom. He had left behind his old Roman life and identity and had entered another, more primitive, world—that of the British tribes in the far north. In this world of superstition and ancient ritual, of fierce loyalties and intertribal rivalry, Phaedrus found companionship and love, and something more—a purpose and a meaning to his life as he came fully to understand the significance of the Mark of the Horse Lord. First published in 1965 but long out of print, The Mark of the Horse Lord has been acclaimed by many readers as the finest of Rosemary Sutcliff's many novels, imparting true insight into the nature of leadership, identity, heroism, loyalty, and sacrifice.


On this page you find links to local World Space Week sites around the world, that are maintained by local World Space Week Organizing Committees or our National Coordinators.
We will add more local webpages when they are created or we find out about them. If your country is not listed, please refer to the list of National Coordinators to find the contact person in your country.


text:
Celebrating Astronomy Day in an inclusive way
Home / Celebrating Astronomy Day in an inclusive way
March 31, 2021 Category: News
The activity, for aimed at visually impaired people, was carried out together with the Dedoscopio initiative and focused on telescopes and light pollution.
Astronomy is a fascinating science in many aspects, one of them being its visual appeal. However, what seduces a large part of the population represents a limitation for those who cannot appreciate these impressive images due to low vision or blindness.
To combat this exclusion, a few years ago initiatives have emerged in Chile that seek to make astronomy an inclusive science. One of them is Dedoscopio, a project integrated by astronomers Carla Fuentes and Pamela Paredes, which began in 2018 with tactile talks in the Biobío region, but soon began with activities in other communes throughout the country. Currently, it is part of the TITANS Millennium Nucleus. This year, to celebrate Astronomy Day, Las Campanas Observatory of the Carnegie Institution for Science began a collaboration with them with the purpose of creating activities to teach astronomy to visually impaired people from the Coquimbo region.
The first activity within this alliance was "Tactile Journey with LCO: telescopes", a workshop led by Dedoscopio and held on March 20, 2021 with a group of adults belonging to the communes of La Serena, Coquimbo, Ovalle and Vicuña. The workshop focused on the parts, movements and operation of telescopes, through two tactile models, one of them, the Magellan twins of LCO. In addition, light pollution was discussed through the comparison of two tactile images of the sky, with and without light pollution.
Due to sanitary restrictions to avoid the spread of the COVID-19 virus, this activity was carried out via zoom, after sending the necessary materials to each of the participants. This represented a challenge, due to the impossibility of contact between the exhibitors and the participants.
"In the activity we started leaving touch behind and used the sense of hearing, using corporeality to recreate concepts. Something new for us", says Pamela Paredes.
Carla Fuentes, who is also a telescope operator at Las Campanas Observatory, emphasizes the importance of the instructions given to the participants, especially in a remote context. "Three tactile materials were used. One of them was a telescope that helped people to clearly understand the path that light follows, which was one of the main objectives of the workshop", she adds.
For Luis Carmona, President of the ULIVIS Association, the activity was very good. "Sometimes we, blind people, are taught things but in an abstract way. In this work we had tactile material, which we could touch and which allowed us a better understanding. The activity that stood out the most was the telescope. I learned how light reaches the mirrors and how you can finally observe with it", he says.
"Las Campanas Observatory of the Carnegie Institution for Science is committed to making astronomy a means to promote equality, diversity and inclusion in society. We consider this activity essential for the development of the regions of Coquimbo and Tarapacá," says Leopoldo Infante, director of the Las Campanas Observatory.
The purpose is to continue with this activity and replicate it with new groups of visually impaired adults and children, also in other regions of the country. The astronomers who make up Dedoscopio consider that the theme chosen for the workshop is essential to continue with more astronomical concepts. In addition, they point out that many of the participants in this type of activities have always wanted to touch a telescope and this activity represents a real approach for them.
Dedoscopio belongs to the Chilean Inclusive Astronomy Network, a group that also includes the Las Campanas Observatory. The joint workshop follows the line of inclusivity that Las Campanas Observatory has promoted in its activities, one of them being the inclusive transmission of the total solar eclipse of 2020.
The workshop "Tactile travel with LCO: telescopes" was made possible thanks to the support of the Chilean Society of Astronomy, SOCHIAS, and its project "Breaking the barriers".
After decades of work, six employees leave LCO
Traditional Christmas tree was lit in El Pino Hill
Research presents new strategy for major astronomical survey
LCO Mechanical Engineering Specialist
LCO Instrument & Operations Support Specialist
Events – LCO
Category Cielos del Sur Outreach talks


Material. Asphalt shingles are the most common roofing material in the US these days, because they combine durability with affordability. However, you may prefer a different type of material for esthetic or other reasons. See the Compare Roof Materials chart below for a detailed comparison.
Size. Measure the ground perimeter of your home yourself to get a rough idea of the size of roof you'll need. Then call in a roofing pro to measure the precise dimensions.
Access. Your roof will be more difficult to access if you live in a multi-story or attached house.
Pitch and slope. You'll need proportionately more material for a steeper pitch.
Style and difficulty. Style refers to the basic roof shape. A difficult roof means its design includes a large number of hips and valleys, as well as features like dormer windows, vent covers, chimney(s), or skylights.
Condition of old roof. If your existing roof is only one layer thick and is not badly water damaged, your roofer may not need to remove it. Instead, he can simply install your new roof on top.
Local climate. Live in a region with heavy snow, high heat, or strong winds? Your roof will need to be specially built to stand up to harsh weather.
Age of your house. When you own an older home, chances are good that it will have to have some structural repair in addition to the roof installation.
$100+ depending on species, grade, weight, etc.
Materials -- The job quote includes the roofing material you have agreed on. The average house will need about 200-250 roofing squares in total.
Labor -- Your roofer will remove the old roof as required and make minor structural repairs. He will then install your new roof. Installation typically includes ice dam protection, asphalt paper, shingles, flashing, and a ridge vent. If extensive repair is needed, the cost will be adjusted accordingly.
Supplies and Equipment -- Usually the cost to hire a roofer includes all supplies and equipment.
Building Permit -- You may have to pay for a building permit, with its associated fee, when replacing more than 100² ft of roofing.
Reuse roofing materials such as flashing if possible. Replace old roof with high-quality new materials for a longer lasting job.
Use an Energy-Star-certified light roof shingle color, which will lower energy bills by reflecting sunlight and helping your attic stay cooler in summer. Check whether this will also qualify you for a utility company rebate or a federal tax credit.
Consult your homeowners' insurance broker. They may reduce your premiums if you install an upgraded, safer roof.


HERE THEY COME!!!! SOCIAL CONDITIONING. IN A FEW YEARS 96% WILL SAY ..OK WHY NOT!
More than four dozen employees of a Wisconsin company are getting microchip implants that will enable them to go through doors, log onto computers and more. NBC's Ron Mott reports from the company's first-ever "chip day," where employees have the chips implanted and one demonstrates buying a candy bar from a vending machine with a wave of his hand.


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Gmina Center (ang. Center Township) – gmina w USA, w stanie Iowa, w hrabstwie Clinton. Według danych z 2000 roku gmina miała 626 mieszkańców, a jej powierzchnia wynosi 109,88 km².

Przypisy

Center


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Bayley's in for title shot
By Michael Phillips
Bayley's Primary have made their way back into yet another final of the Guardian Group Herman Griffith National Sports Council Primary Schools Cricket Competition. After losing out last year to see Wesley Hall to their 11th win, Bayley's have secured a chance to take a fourth title – their first since 2011 – with a win over 2013 losing finalists Eden Lodge on Friday.
Playing at Briar Hall in the only game at the semi-final stage, Bayley's picked up a seven-wicket win after easily chasing down Eden Lodge's total of 50 runs. Only Antone Darlington made it to double-figures for Eden Lodge, putting up 17. The St. Michael team were bowled out with David Callender and Shaquan Belle both taking three scalps for eight and seven runs respectively. When they went in to bat, Bayley's rolled to a comfortable 51 for the loss of three. Preston Clarke (10) and Daniel Duncan (11) were responsible for most of those runs. However, Raheem Holder did well enough to take two wickets for 19 runs for Eden Lodge.
Over at Dover, 2014 champions West Terrace were busy booking their berth for the semi-finals. They got the better of Reynold Weekes Primary after putting up 73 to take a 32-run win. Batting first, Brandon Hinds struck up 20 to lead the charge with the likes of Raedon Bellamy (17) and Zion Brathwaite (10). Reynold Weekes had a solid bowling attack with the likes of Azaan Bennett (3-16) and Nykobi Connell (3-4) both taking big hauls. Javonte Crawford, Jakeem Pollard and R'Jai Gittens all took a wicket each as well to keep the runs down.
In their reply, Bennett was Reynold Weekes' best hope as he made it to 18 before being dismissed. The rest of the order had to contest with the bowling of Bellamy, who stacked up five scalps for four runs, Brathwaite (2-16) and Raashon Hackett (1-14). Reynold Weekes had to say goodbye to any semi-final hopes as they were bowled out for 41 runs.
The competition continues tomorrow with West Terrace taking on St. Giles at Dover. The winner of that match-up is expected face Bayley's in the final at Empire this coming Thursday.


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Rajnath Singh Extends Diwali Greetings To Soldiers Guarding Borders Of India
The Defence Minister further stated, on this Diwali, the Prime Minister has made a request to all the countrymen to lit a diya (earthen lamp) at their home in honor of all the soldiers engaged in the defense of India.
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Union Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday extended his wishes to the soldiers guarding the borders of the country, on the occasion of Diwali.
"On this occasion of Deepawali, I extend my best wishes especially to all the soldiers guarding the borders of the country and to their families. I salute the courage and valor of all the soldiers of the country and wish them good health," Singh tweeted (roughly translated from Hindi).
"I also wish Deepawali to the ex-servicemen of the country and their families. They have given their lives to the security and service of the country. Even though they are no longer in active service, their passion to do anything for the country remains at stake," he added.
"All of you must lit a diya for the soldiers and express your respect towards them," he added.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Ram Nath Kovind and Union Home Minister Amit Shah also extended their greetings on Diwali.
(ANI)
rajnath singh diwali defence minister twitter soldiers


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Despite ban, vaping devices still available on Amazon.in
New Delhi, Sep 19 : A day after the government decided to ban e-cigarettes and hookah bars, vaping devices were still being sold on Amazon.in.
While some platforms including Flipkart and portals like Vapestop and Litejoy removed e-cigarettes from their online platforms, Amazon.in was still selling such products, according to product listings reviewed by IANS.
Amazon offered several pen-shaped smoking vipes on its platform, like reusable food grade plastic cleaning stone tobacco cigarette filter (Swasmok), Metier 3-inch metal small discreet lipstick smoking pipe, Metier 4-inch tall bud bomb predator Aluminum hand smoking pipe (Bud Bomb) and 'Honey Badger' smart electric smoke device with USB charging cable combo pack (1 black device + 4 classic tobacco pods) ? in the range of Rs 200-Rs 3,000.
When contacted, Amazon.in said it is an online marketplace enabling third-party sellers to list and offer goods for sale to customers in India.
"The products listed for sale on the Marketplace are owned and/or sold by such third-party sellers and the sellers are themselves responsible for compliance with all applicable laws," the e-commerce giant told IANS in a statement.
"Tobacco products, including Electronic Nicotine Delivery System (ENDS), commonly known as electronic cigarette/e-cigarettes containing tobacco or nicotine are not allowed to be listed or sold on amazon.in as per Amazon policy," the company added.
Amazon.in said that in case, sellers list such products evasively and the same is brought to its knowledge, the company "delists such products and takes appropriate enforcement action against such sellers."
A Flipkart spokesperson said in a statement: "We are aware of the ordinance and immediately alerted our teams to work with sellers to remove all products off the platform."
"We will continue to monitor the listings to ensure that these products are not available on the platform," the spokesperson added.
Vapestop wrote on its website's opening page: "The website in no longer accessible in India due to the current ban on ENDS by the Government of India."
With the promulgation of the ordinance, production, sale, distribution, import or even advertisement of ENDS would attract penalty of up to Rs 5 lakh and a 3-year jail term or both for repeat offence.
After the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said vaping or e-cigarettes appear cool but a lot of health concerns had been raised against them.
"The decision has been taken keeping in mind health of the youth," she said, citing recommendations of premier medical institutes.
ENDS includes e-cigarettes, heat-not-burn devices, vape, e-sheesha, e-nicotine flavoured hookah and other similar devices.
E-cigarettes and other ENDS products are imported. Juul is one of the popular brands among youth. As many as 400 different brands of ENDS are imported and sold in the country.
na/kr.
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