text:
Benefits of Organic
Animal Welfare and Climate Change
Is Milk Healthy?
Milk Study
The Organic Center
What does the Research say?
Choose Organic for the Cleanest Milk
Samples of non-organic retail milk tested positive for residues of antibiotics – two of which are illegal in the United States and banned from dairy production -- and commonly-used controversial pesticides. Organic milk showed no such contaminants. Residues of growth hormones in conventional milk were up to 20 times higher than in organic.
Learn more about this new study conducted by researchers at Emory University, in collaboration with The Organic Center. Here are the highlights:
Antibiotic residues were detected in 60% of conventional milk samples. 37% of the samples tested positive for sulfamethazine, and 26% for sulfathiazole, both of which have long been outlawed in lactating dairy cows. One of the samples contained residue of amoxicillin that exceeded the federally allowed limit.
Bovine growth hormone (bGH) residue levels were found to be 20 times higher in conventional milk than organic.
Pesticide residues of chlorpyrifos, atrazine, permethrin and more were found in 26 percent to 60 percent of the conventional samples, with residues of the controversial and restricted-use pesticide chlorpyrifos in 59% of the conventional samples.
The study shows that organic is an easy way to avoid contaminants in milk, providing consumers with an option free of commonly used antibiotics, pesticides and synthetic growth hormones.
"Consumers can feel safe in choosing organic milk. This study finds that the presence of antibiotics and pesticides in conventional milk is much more prevalent and pervasive than previously thought – and that organic milk doesn't contain any of these contaminants."
Dr. Jessica Shade, Director of Science Programs for The Organic Center.
Antibiotics results
Because the overuse of antibiotics can increase resistance to those antibiotics and make them less effective for both humans and animals, the FDA has set limits on detectable levels of antibiotics in food. In this study, antibiotics were not found in organic samples, but were detected in 60% of conventional milk samples. Specifically, amoxicillin, oxytetracycline, sulfamethazine, sulfadimethoxine, and sulfathiazole were all detected in conventional milk.
Importantly, residues of sulfamethazine were found in 37 percent of the conventional samples, and sulfathiazole in 26 percent. The use of both of these antibiotics for lactating cows has long been banned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The biggest health concern is a life-threatening allergic reaction (acute hypersensitivity). About 2 percent of the general population is severely allergic to sulfa drugs. Outside of allergic reactions, there are many adverse side effects connected to the sulfonamide class of antibiotics. In addition, one of the conventional samples contained residue levels of amoxicillin that exceeded the FDA limit.
"The presence of antibiotics in the food supply has raised concerns about their possible role in increasing antibiotic resistance and hypersensitivity reactions," said the study.
Growth hormone results
While there is no federal limit set for cow-derived hormones in milk, this study found levels of the bovine growth hormone (bGH) to be 20 times higher in conventional milk than organic. The study said that since growth hormones are produced naturally by dairy cattle, some level of bGH can be expected in all milk samples. The dramatically higher residues found in conventional milk "suggests that the difference reflects the use of synthetic growth hormones" in conventional dairy, according to the study.
Pesticide results
The results found no residues of commonly-used pesticides in any of the organic milk samples, but residues in up to 60 percent of the conventional samples.
The researchers tested a wide variety of pesticides currently used in conventional dairy production. All of the organic samples tested zero for pesticide residues. However, the tests on conventional milk showed residues of different pesticides in 26 percent to 60 percent of the samples. Those pesticides included atrazine (26 percent), chlorpyrifos (59 percent), cypermethrin (49 percent), diazinon (60 percent), and permethrin (46 percent). *
Of note is that conventional milk tested positive for residues of the dangerous neurotoxin chlorpyrifos in 59 percent of the samples. Chlorpyrifos is associated with developmental issues in babies and children. Restrictions were imposed on the use of chlorpyrifos in residential settings in 2000. The pesticide was court ordered to be banned in agriculture in 2018, but this ban has been appealed by the current administration.
Citing growing evidence that chloripyfos "causes serious health effects in children and other sensitive populations at lower levels of exposure than previously understood," California recently announced plans to ban the pesticide. While use of the chemical in California – one the country's leading agricultural states – has declined in recent year, the state is the biggest user of the pesticide, applying almost a million pounds to fields and crops in 2016. Several other states have started to take action to crack down on the use of chloripyrifos.
Download The Organic Center's full report – The Benefits of Organic Dairy – to learn more.
Tell Congress to Feed Children ORGANIC Milk and Food in Schools!
Help increase organic options in federal programs that feed women and children.
What are the benefits of organic?
What about animal welfare and climate change?
The Organic Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit research and education organization based out of Washington D.C. Our mission is to conduct and convene credible, evidence-based science on the environmental and health effects of organic food and farming and communicate the findings to the public.
The Organic Network


text:
Q: How to include blade component like  in a <<I'm using Laravel 9 and running PHP 8.2.
In blade views I can use the following example blade component:
<x-frontend.module-button href="#" text="Example button" />

But when using a HEREDOC like so:
$html = <<<HTML
    <x-frontend.module-button href="#" text="This will not output anything" />
HTML;

The x-component doesn't output anything at all, and just to confirm that yes it does work in a standard blade view.
Is this just a limitation of using a HTML HEREDOC or is there some way around this? The only thing I tried was adding a special global function called component that returns the component view like so:
function component(string $componentName, array $data = [], bool $render = true)
{
    $view = view('components.'.$componentName, $data);
    return $render ? $view->render() : $view;
}

And echoing that out within the HEREDOC, but then that kinda defeats the purpose of using the HEREDOC in the first place.
Any idea's or suggestions welcome, thank you!

A: From Laravel 9 you can now render a Blade template inline using Illuminate\Support\Facades\Blade::render($someString).
I don't have an example of your custom Blade component so I mocked one up:
@props([
    'html',
    'text'
])

<div>
    <button>{{ $text }}</button>
</div>

Then to render this component via a string:
<?php

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Blade;

Route::get('/', function () {
    $html = Blade::render(<<<HTML
        <x-frontend.module-button href="#" text="This will not output anything" />
    HTML);

    return view('welcome', compact('html'));
});

Note: To get this to render correctly I had to disable the auto-escaping feature of Blade, so my welcome.blade.php simply contained {!! $html !!}.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
How Facebook wants to provide solutions and not create problems
FB VP Nick Clegg meets Shah, Doval & RS Prasad, tells ET company could help with metadata
Shelley Singh
Anandita Singh Mankotia
September 14, 2019, 07:51 IST
The government-Facebook dispute over traceability of messages in WhatsApp remained unresolved after Nick Clegg, the social media company's vice president of global affairs and communications met senior ministers.
Clegg, who was UK's deputy PM from 2010 to 2015, met home minister Amit Shah, national security adviser Ajit Doval, IT and communications minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and commerce minister Piyush Goyal.
Clegg told ET that Facebook wanted to "provide solutions… not create problems" adding that "data localisation will create balkanisation of the internet… and make it unlikely that the next Facebooks and Googles will come from India". On WhatsApp payment services, he said the company is "waiting for regulatory and central bank nod".
Read Also: Facebook counters Ambani; says data is not new oil, shouldn't be hoarded within nations
"Instead of message content, Facebook could possibly help with metadata… that is, not the content but who messaged who, when and where and so on," Clegg told ET.
In his meeting with Prasad, Clegg offered to track WhatsApp communication activities of persons deemed "dubious or suspicious" by government agencies, officials familiar with the discussions told ET on the condition of anonymity. However, Facebook doesn't want to do this retrospectively. It will only do this for persons identified by the government from now on. Neither does the company want to break end-to-end encryption, which is at the core of the traceability issue.
Clegg said his discussions with Shah was centered around the question of "how even lisas we protect end-to-end encryption we want to continue to work with them in sharing different forms of signals in response to legal requests that can be helpful". With Doval, discussions were along similar lines, he said.
Proposed intermediary guidelines make traceability mandatory for social media companies such as Facebook when content is deemed officially to have created law and order problems. The Supreme Court asked the government on Friday to provide information on the progress with guidelines.
"It will be a great shame if India sets a precedent (on data localisation) that will be copied by other countries," Clegg told ET.
Ravi Shankar Prasad
Nick Clegg
Delhi Police writes to Clubhouse app, Google over targeting of Muslim woman in group audio chat
Google, Apple list harmful consequences of anti-tech bills
Microsoft muscles in on first wave of the metaverse

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Barbados Tridents vs Guyana Amazon Warriors 22nd Match - CPL Betting Tips
Barbados Tridents vs Guyana Amazon Warriors 22nd Match - CPL Betting Tips PUBLISHED ON: 2018-08-31
The 2018 Caribbean Premier League (CPLT20) is the sixth season of the Caribbean Premier League, the domestic T20 cricket league in the West Indies. Matches are being played in seven countries – Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, with three of the matches were played at Lauderhill, Florida, United States. The tournament started on 8 August 2018.
Previous match preview
The previous match between St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots vs St Lucia Stars was abandoned without a ball being bowled(no toss) due to wet outfield.
The 20th match of CPL 2018 held at, Kensington Oval, Bridgetown between Barbados Tridents vs Jamaica Tallawahs and Tallawahs won by 5 wickets. After this match Tallawahs reach the points table summit by winning 5 matches out of total played 8 matches. On the other hand, Tridents are at second last position with 2 wins out of 6 matches
Barbados Tridents played their last match against Jamaica tallawahs and lost by 5 wickets, on the other hand Guyana Amazon won by 4 wickets by defeating St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots. In the last match of both the teams against each other, the Barbados Tridents defeated Amazons by a margin of 30 runs.
Today's match preview
The Warriors faltered under pressure as no other batsman aside from Sherfane Rutherford could make a significant commitment. Be that as it may, things appear to be changed now as Barbados Tridents are stuck at fifth spot in the focuses table with just four focuses. Actually, they have lost their last three matches against Jamaica Tallawahs, Trinbago Knight Riders and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.
The Tridents would be eased that Martin Guptill returned to frame in the last match. In any case, Hashim Amla's progressive disappointments have done them no great. The two Smiths, Dwayne and Steven, have been conventional yet just in patches.
Mohammad Irfan has concocted some enchantment spells yet he is yet to get ideal help from individual seemers Jason Holder and Wahab Riaz.
For the Warriors, young batsman Shimron Hetmyer has been clinical. The newly appointed captain Chris Green has also shaped quite decently. Rayad Emrit and Imran Tahir have been the pick of the bowlers.
Barbados Tridents - Martin Guptill, Dwayne Smith, Hashim Amla, Steven Smith, Shai Hope, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Jason Holder (c), Roston Chase, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Irfan, Ashley Nurse
Guyana Amazon Warriors- Chadwick Walton, Luke Ronchi (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Cameron Delport, Jason Mohammed, Roshon Primus, Sohail Tanvir, Chris Green (c), Rayad Emrit, Keemo Paul, Imran Tahir
Cricket Betting Tips and Match Predictions
Head to Head – Matches 10, Guyana Amazon Warriors(6) ,Barbados Tridents (4)
Our prediction : By analysing the team capabilities and performance, the chances of winning Guyana Amazon Warriors is more.
Get all the latest update news, free cricket betting tips for CPL 2018 and predictions stay tuned with Bhaiji.
Subscribe now for more accurate and result oriented betting predictions for all kinds of tournament.


text:
Q: Refinements of the Riemann hypothesis I have often read that the Riemann hypothesis is somewhat a statement like:

The primes are as regularly distributed as we can hope for.

For example  $\pi(x) = Li(x)+ O(x^{\sigma+\epsilon})$  for any $\epsilon>0$ as long as there are no zeros of $\zeta$ for any
$s \in \mathbb{C}$ with $\Re s > \sigma$. And of course $\sigma=\frac{1}{2}$ is the best we can hope for.
However there are instances/problems where the Riemann hypothesis does not give the "right conjectural"
answers about the distribution of primes.
Let me state one example I recently read about.
Cramer's conjecture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cram%C3%A9r%27s_conjecture
asserts that
$$ p_{n+1} - p_n = O(\log^2 p_n ). $$
Here, the Riemann hypothesis only gives $p_{n+1} - p_n = O(\sqrt{p_n} \log p_n )$. So, in some sense RH does not give the best we can hope for.
I am now asking for for refinements that could achieve this. Could, for example, Cramer's conjecture be deduced from a refinement of $\pi(x) = Li(x)+ O(x^{\frac{1}{2}+\epsilon})$   (under RH), maybe making the O term more precise. And how would this be reflected in terms of the $\zeta$-function and its zeros.
I know there are generalizations to other $L$-functions and refinements like the pair correlation conjecture or predictions from random matrix theory(though I do not have any clue about this). But I do not know whether these
can help to resolve for example Cramer's conjecture. My question is somewhat unprecise (if anyone can write it up better, feel free to edit.)
: Is there a "Super Riemann Hypothesis" predicting stronger properties of the $\zeta$ or other $L$-functions that would settle most questions about the distribution of primes?
EDIT: Thank you for the answers so far. Since Charles pointed out that my question is really to imprecise as we could prove anything about the primes if we knew the zeros of $\zeta$ I am going to rephrase my question inspired by the interesting article of Heath-Brown mentioned by Idoneal:
What sort of properties do we have to know/assume about the zeros of $\zeta$ in order to deduce Cramer's conjecture?

A: Yes, your question is imprecise. If we knew exactly where the zeta zeroes were, we could answer any question about the primes that could be formulated by means of the explicit formulae. In crude terms, the primes are obtained from the zeroes by an integral transform. Specific questions can depend, for example, on rational dependencies between the imaginary parts of the zeroes. There is quite a large literature on conditional results on primes, and if you are asking whether there is a way of packaging it all up neatly I'd expect the more reasonable answer to be "no" rather than "yes". Several generations of analytic number theorists have contributed.

A: For the Riemann zeta function, there are several conjectures that are stronger than the Riemann Hypothesis and these imply stronger results on distribution of prime numbers than what are known on RH alone. The most notable is probably the Pair Correlation Conjecture of Montgomery. This is a conjecture that assumes the Riemann hypothesis and predicts on finer distribution of the gaps between the imaginary parts of the zeros. There are similar conjectures due to Katz and Sarnak for many other $L$-functions. A good place to read about this is the article by Katz and Sarnak http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1999-36-01/S0273-0979-99-00766-1/home.html
About the conjecture you have mentioned, I don't know if any standard conjecture on the zeros of the Riemann zeta function implies it. Heath-Brown has a result on the application of PCC on gaps between consecutive primes but I don't think it comes anywhere near this one.

A: The paper arxiv:1008.2381 has a claim for the prime gap
p_(n+1) - p_n = O(log^2(p_n)/loglog(p_n)),
assuming the Riemann hypothesis.


In celebration of IABSE's 90th anniversary in 2019, the association will raffle out a Free Conference Registration for one (1) lucky winner who meets the referral eligibility requirements. The choice of conference is upon the winner's preference, and can either be for the IABSE Guimarães Symposium in March 2019 or IABSE Congress in New York City in September 2019.
This promotion runs for 90 days starting on November 19, 2018.
Referrals mean complete and paid membership brought in the association within the campaign period. A referral can be a new member or a former member of IABSE.
There is no limit in number of entries that can be earned. Referrals from all other IABSE campaigns cannot be combined in this promotion.
If a non-member joins IABSE and wants to participate in this campaign, his membership is counted as one (1) referral (self-referral).
A referral can only be counted towards one person in line with this campaign and cannot be shared by multiple parties.
The approximate value of the prize is EUR 700, but is not convertible to cash and is non-transferable.
The prize includes the conference registration only. All other items such as flight tickets, accommodation and meals are not included in the prize and shall be at the winner's own expense.
The raffle draw shall take place at the IABSE Headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland on March 18, 2019.
If the winner happens to be attending the IABSE Guimarães Symposium in March 2019 and had already pre-paid the registration at the time of the draw, IABSE shall reimburse the cost of registration to the winner to fulfill the prize award.
If the winner is unable to claim the prize within the year 2019, the prize will be forfeited and cannot be carried over to other IABSE conferences in the future.
IABSE reserves the right to nullify the prize if there's evidence proving manipulation of the campaign mechanics.


Richland, WA—Kadlec Foundation was awarded three grants totaling $23,500 in March for equipment in the area's only level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and for the Kadlec Academy program.
Some current beds in Kadlec's level III neonatal intensive care unit are aging beyond repair. The NICU cares for our region's smallest and most fragile premature infants and having the best technology available is a responsibility the medical center takes very seriously. In response, Kadlec Regional Medical Center submitted a grant request to Kadlec Foundation to fund five new beds (three OmniBeds and two radiant warmers) to replace the older units initiating a small capital campaign by Kadlec Foundation to donors for the over $126,000 project.
Three of the requested beds are OmniBeds which are necessary in the first 30 days of a preemie's stay for temperature, humidity and sound control as premature infants are not able to adequately acclimatize to the natural environment. The beds also have monitoring equipment, ease patient transferring, and have an in-bed scale and a specialized mattress; all of which make it easier to access and treat the infant—ultimately making the stay safer and more comfortable for the patient and family. The OmniBeds convert to radiant warmers once the infant is able to be in an environment with the bed's hood raised.
The grant awards from The Wildhorse Foundation and Northwest Farm Credit Services add towards the total cost of the beds with a grant funded in late 2018 by the Beverly J. Jewell Foundation in the amount of $50,000. The remainder of the project will be paid through the Pediatric Champions fund which is made up primarily through proceeds from Kadlec Foundation's Kidz Dig Rigz event held every May.
Kadlec Academy is a free four-week, after school program targeted to students in grades 1 through 5 throughout the Tri-Cities. A program coordinator and countless volunteers help to educate students on the brain, lungs, heart and nutrition with the goal of teaching life-long healthy living. Each session includes hands-on education, exercise and a healthy snack. The Walmart grant will be used to help fund program expenses like equipment and nutrition for the elementary students.
Kadlec and Kadlec Foundation are extremely grateful to The Wildhorse Foundation, Northwest Farm Credit Services and Walmart for supporting our efforts to elevate community health. It is only because of our generous donors that we are able to continue to meet the philanthropic needs of Kadlec, the only not-for-profit hospital system in our community.
For more information on supporting these projects, call 509-942-2661 or send an email or visit the Foundation website.
The Beverly J. Jewell Memorial Foundation has awarded a grant that will purchase five new OmniBeds —necessary in the first 30 days of a preemie's stay—for the Kadlec Medical Center NICU.
As a market-level sponsor, Kiemle Hagood supports Providence foundations in Spokane, Walla Walla, Richland and Missoula - not only in dollars, but in time given to these communities.


ARGO MARITIME Yachting Services, Shipping & Customs Agents is a newly established company based in Athens that aims to deliver services of supreme quality all around the sea.
Our new wholly owned head office is conveniently located close to the main Athens marinas, from Piraeus to Aghios Kosmas & Glyfada. Just around the corner from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center & Athens Metropolitan Park at Delta Falirou.
ARGO MARITIME is an officially registered shipping agency in Greece, where yacht owners can find a trustworthy partner and masters a helpful colleague ready to assist you 24/7.
Every yacht is a small business unit on her own, or more likely a luxury vacation house into seawater! As such, in order to run her properly, a yachtsman, owner or captain, is confronted with a wide range of management issues, maintenance, crew, regulatory, safety and security, even accounting ones, whilst the yacht should at the same time serve her main purpose of pleasure and recreation.
ARGO MARITIME can undertake any technical project, from refits and scheduled annual maintenance to emergency repairs, whether ashore or afloat. Our dedicated staff will offer you complete support in cooperation with a network of specialised yachting professionals.During a refit or any other maintenance work we will ensure the management of your finances as well as the proper completion of the project, through a documented work plan and correct hiring and controlling of contractors.
Based in Athens, at the heart of the Mediterranean paradise of unparalleled natural beauty, with a variety of itineraries to choose from, ARGO MARITIME can help you plan your next dream vacation onboard a luxurious yacht.
Whether new or pre-owned we can assist you in your quest for the perfect match of motor yacht.
Recruitment, Training & Administration Finding and keeping good loyal crew is critical. ARGO MARITIME has the expertise to assist any yacht owner in your crew search and selection process.


text:
\section{Introduction}\label{s:intro}
Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) are unstable, evolved massive stars and characterized by their high intrinsic luminosities. They are generally considered to be a short but violent phase of the most massive star towards the late stage of their evolution \citep{Humphreys1994,Langer1994}. One of the distinguishing characteristics of the LBV stars is that they lie on the S Dor instability strip during the quiescent phase and contain large $L/M$ ratios \citep{Humphreys2016}. LBVs are found to exhibit multiple successive eruptions. They typically show optical variability over a wide range of amplitudes and diverse time scales \citep{Szeifert1996}. Normally outburst with amplitudes of 1 to 2 mag are observed in optical bands but sometimes, though very rare, the brightness can increase by more than 2 mag \citep{Humphreys1994,Szeifert1996,Kurtev1999}. The typical outburst phase could last from a few years to tens of years followed by an extremely long period of quiescent phase. This kind of irregular variability pattern is the hallmark of LBV phase of the most massive stars. There are two possible scenarios proposed for the existence of LBVs, one suggests that LBVs are the final stage of super-massive stars before a supernova explosion \citep{Kotak2006, Meynet2011} and second one advocates that LBVs could be a product of stellar evolution in the binary systems \citep{Smith2015}. The irregular photometric and spectroscopic variability in LBVs are related to transient eruptions, mechanism of which is still not fully understood but believed to be caused by the hydrodynamic instabilities in the stars particularly when they reach their Eddington limits of radiative stability \citep{Langer1999}. It is believed that the episodic ejection of the H envelope during the eruptions in LBV stars is a dominant mode of mass-loss for massive stars, however, strong shock waves may also play a role in some of these eruptions \citep{Smith2006,Smith2011}. In general, LBVs cover a range of objects that includes S Dor variables, P Cygni variables and Hubble-Sandage variables \citep{Conti1984}. Since only a small number ($\sim 10\%$) of super-massive stars ($M_{\sin i} > 22M_\odot$) pass through this evolutionary track \citep{Humphreys2014b}, study of LBVs helps us in understanding the evolution of such high mass stars, mass loss history and their effects on the interstellar medium.

The Hubble-Sandage variables, a subclass of LBVs, are one of the most luminous objects in the nearby spiral galaxies M31 and M33 \citep{Luyten1928,Hubble1953}. The main characteristics of these post main-sequence stars are high luminosity, blue colour, and irregular variability \citep{Hubble1953,Humphreys1975}. The sudden outburst in these stars results in an enhanced mass outflow which advances to the formation of an expanded atmosphere towards the maximum brightness phase. At this stage, the slowly expanding envelope with the speed of 100-200 km~s$^{-1}$ is relatively cool ($\sim$ 7000\,-\,9000\,K) and dense ($N \sim 10^{11}$~cm$^{-3}$) and star resembles with a very luminous F to A-type supergiant \citep{Szeifert1996}. An important photometric characteristic of LBV stars is that during an eruption phase, the bolometric luminosity remains almost constant \citep{Wolf1989,Humphreys1994}, however, the mass loss rate increases and the wind becomes opaque and cool. The change in flux variation is caused by the apparent shift in the energy distribution driven by the instability \citep{Szeifert1996}. Spectroscopically they are hot emission stars and show H, HeI, FeII and [FeII] lines with a very strong UV continuum and no Balmer jump \citep{Humphreys1978}. The high resolution spectra of these objects show the P Cygni profiles in H and HeI emission lines \citep{Gallagher1981,Humphreys2014a}. The P Cygni profile, which is characterized by strong emission lines with corresponding blue-shifted absorption lines, contains features in the stellar spectrum that points to an outflow of material in the form of either an expanding shell of gas or a strong stellar wind.

\citet{Hubble1953} discovered one such star, first of its kind in M31, {\sl AF And} (Var 19) having distinguished features of a LBV that falls in the category of Hubble-Sandage variables. A detailed analysis of this object has been carried out by many authors in the past \citep{Gallagher1981,Sharov1990,Szeifert1996,Humphreys2014b,Humphreys2017}. We also monitored this star under the Nainital Microlensing Survey that was conducted for four years during 1998-2002 in the direction of M31 \citep{Joshi2001,Joshi2005}. It should be noted here that although prime motivation of the survey was to detect gravitational microlensing events in the direction of M31, the photometric data accumulated over many years was also found to be suitable for the characterization of different class of variable stars. In earlier studies, we have presented our analysis on the microlensing event \citep{Joshi2005}, Cepheid variables \citep{Joshi2003,Joshi2010}, novae \citep{Joshi2004,Joshi2012}, and eclipsing binary stars \citep{Joshi2017}. In this study, we carry out photometric and spectroscopic analysis of the star {\sl AF And}.

Our paper is structured as follows: The past study of {\sl AF And} is briefly discussed in Section~\ref{past}. In Section~\ref{data}, we provide some information about the data used in the present analysis. The photometric study of the object is described in Section~\ref{photo}. The details about spectroscopic observations is given in Section~\ref{spec} followed by spectral analysis in Section~\ref{spec_ana}. A short discussion on our study is presented in Section~\ref{discuss} and we summarize our results in Section~\ref{conclu}.
\input{table01.tex}
\section{Previous Studies of {\sl AF And} in M31}\label{past}
There are notable photometric and spectroscopic variations of this star since its discovery by \citet{Luyten1928} and \citet{Hubble1953} and some of them are briefly discussed below.
\begin{itemize}
\item {\sl AF And} was monitored for a period of almost 36 years from 1917 to 1953 but no definite periodicity was noticed in the brightness variation of the star \citep{Hubble1953}. There were at least 5-6 major eruptions with photometric variability of more than 0.7 mag and 2-3 secondary eruptions with the visual variability of less than 0.5 mag.
\item As observed by \citet{Gallagher1981}, strong FeII emission lines and weaker [FeII] emission lines were present during the eruption phase. Further, they noted that there was absence of FeI, [FeI] and OI emission lines as well as no OII nebular lines which are normally seen in these type of stars. As indicated in \citet{Gallagher1981}, the absence of OI lines suggests the lack of extended low density envelop in the star.
\item \citet{Sharov1990} noted that there were 2 major eruptions in {\sl AF And} around 1970-1974 and 1987-1992 with photometric variability of more than 1.5 mag. They also noticed several secondary minor outbursts during those two decades.
\item \citet{Szeifert1996} studied the UV photometric and spectroscopic properties of H-S variables in M31 and M33 and derived luminosity for {\sl AF And} between $log(L/L_{\odot})$=5.9 to 6.1 and a mass loss rate of 3$\times$10$^{-5} M_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ through IR-excess in the stellar energy distribution. Numerous FeII and [FeII] emission lines have also been observed by them along with MgII line around 2800. They also detected HeI ($\lambda$3187) along with NII (4600$<\lambda<$4643) and SiIII ($\lambda$4553,4568,4578) in UV spectrum with P Cygni profile.
\item \citet{Humphreys2014b} reported that this star has spectrum similar to an Of/late WN star with strong emission lines of NIII and HeII $\lambda$4686 and has shown very little spectroscopic variation since 2003-2004 because of its quiescence phase. \citet{Humphreys2017} also reported variation in the strength of H and HeI P-Cygni profiles but, in general, spectra of {\sl AF And} from 2010, 2013, and 2015 do not show any substantial change.
\end{itemize}
\section{Photometric Data}\label{data}
The Nainital Microlensing Survey (NMS) project was conducted for four years during 1998-2002 towards the disk of M31 where Cousins $R$ and $I$ bands photometric observations of the target field centered at $\alpha _{2000}$ = $00^{h} 43^{m} 38^{s}$; $\delta_{2000}$ = $+41^{\circ}09^{\prime}.1$ have been carried out using the 1.04-m Sampurnanand Telescope at Manora Peak, Nainital, India. The observational details of our survey can be found in \citet{Joshi2003,Joshi2010}. Although the project had been carried out with the primary aim of detecting gravitational microlensing events in the direction of M31 \citep{Joshi2001,Joshi2005}, however, photometric data was also found to be well suited for the identification of other kind of variable stars. Several surveys aimed to find microlensing events towards M31 have already unearthed thousands of variable stars as a major by-product, most of which were previously unknown \citep{Joshi2003,Ansari2004,Darnley2004,Fliri2006,Joshi2010,Lee2012,Soszy2016}. In continuation of our efforts to identify variables in the archival data taken under our survey, we searched for eruptive variables in the target field of M31. In the present study, we analyse one such variable {\sl AF And} which is present in our target field.

The Cousins $R$ and $I$ bands photometric data of {\sl AF And} was acquired on 169 nights spanning for a duration of about 5000 days which is long enough to study such kind of long-term irregular variables. In total, we collected more than 1300 frames in $R$ and $I$ bands using two different telescopes namely 1.04-m Sampurnanand Telescope (ST) and 2-m Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT). A log of our observations is given in Table~\ref{tbl:obs_log}. Out of 169 nights of observations, data on 149 nights were taken from 1-m ST and 20 nights were collected from 2-m HCT. It should be noted here that all the observations acquired during Nainital Microlensing Survey have been taken during October to January when M31 is visible from our site while observations before October are unlikely to happen due to monsoon season in India.

On each night, the frames in $R$ and $I$ bands have been co-added separately to increase the signal-to-noise ratio. On these co-added frames PSF-fitting photometry was performed using DAOPHOT. The typical accuracy of our photometric measurements is about 0.02 mag. A total number of 159 and 135 photometric data points were accumulated for {\sl AF And} in $R$ and $I$ bands, respectively. As our target field was not observed in both the filters on all the observing nights, the $(R-I)$ colour information could be extracted for only 126 nights. In Table~\ref{tbl:data}, we provide mid-JD of our observations (mJD), photometric magnitudes in $R$ and $I$ bands and their corresponding photometric errors. Both Tables~\ref{tbl:obs_log} and \ref{tbl:data} are available online in the complete form.
\input{table02.tex}

Basic parameters of {\sl AF And} are compiled in Table~\ref{tbl:basic_parameters}. This star has been observed photometrically in $UBVRI$ bands through a survey of local galaxies conducted by \citet{Massey2006}, in $JHK_s$ bands by 2MASS survey \citep{Skrutskie2006}, and $W_{1,2,3,4}$ bands by WISE Survey \citep{Cutri2012}. According to the latest release of GAIA mission \citep{Gaiamission}, in the DR2 release \citep{Gaiadr2}, {\sl AF And} is found to have a mean $g$-band magnitude of $17.049\pm0.011$. These photometric observations were further used to study the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the star in Section~\ref{spec_temp}.
\input{table03.tex}
\section{Photometric analysis of AF And}\label{photo}
\begin{figure*}
\includegraphics[width=17.0cm,height=11.5cm]{fig01.eps}
\caption{The $R$ and $I$ photometric variation as a function of time during the observing period 1998 to 2011. Lower and upper panels represent the $R$ and $I$ bands, respectively.}
\label{phot_lc}
\end{figure*}
\subsection{Temporal evolution}\label{lc}
The light variations of {\sl AF And} in $R$ and $I$ bands are shown in Figure~\ref{phot_lc}. Here, the errors in data points are too small to be seen in comparison to the large amplitude of magnitude variation. From Figure~\ref{phot_lc}, it is quite evident that {\sl AF And} was in outburst phase in the first year of our survey itself when the star brightened by about 1.5 mag in comparison to the quiescence phase which we missed prior to the outburst but captured at the later stage. It is important to note that this star also went through an eruption phase during 1987-1991 when it also brightened by same magnitude \citep{Szeifert1996}. In the present data, the star was found to show maximum brightness in both the filters simultaneously on 16 January 1999 (at JD 2451195.1) having $R_{max}=15.896\pm0.003$ mag and $I_{max}=15.794\pm0.004$ mag. It is also noticed that apart from a normal fall in the stellar brightness, random fluctuations in brightness with amplitude of about 0.1 mag within a time scale of a few weeks are also present in the light curves. From the brightness variations illustrated in Figure~\ref{phot_lc}, one can observe that three different evolutionary phases are present on different time scales. In the following subsections, we discuss the photometric evolution of {\sl AF And} during these three phases.
\subsubsection{Primary outburst}
In the primary outburst phase of our observations, the flux increased by 0.23 mag in $R$ band and 0.27 mag in $I$ band in less than two months and reached to peak brightness. At this stage, the eruption triggers an enhanced mass outflow that leads to the formation of an extended atmosphere or "pseudo-photosphere" \citep{Szeifert1996}. The increasing flux during the outburst indicates that the star is approaching the instability. It is suggested that before the star reaches the Eddington limit, the luminosity is heavily dependent on mass as $L \propto M^3$, but it changes to $L \propto M$ as the star approaches Eddington limit \citep{Owocki2008}. Furthermore, the radiation pressure dominates gas pressure as the star approaches Eddington Limit and mass loss takes place. During the decay phase post peak brightness, brightness of the star decreases gradually and it took almost 3 years to reach the quiescent phase. Although there are gaps during the decline phase due to our irregular observations in the survey, it is quite evident that we indeed caught the star during the entire decay phase as well as when it finally settles on the quiescent phase. During this period, the star reduced in brightness by about 1.5 mag in both $R$ and $I$ filters. Over a duration of 3 years, the visual brightness difference between the two extremes is found to be about 1.5 mag in our photometric data for the star {\sl AF And}.

In the initial stage, it is believed that the star throws out significant amount of stellar material in the stellar atmosphere resulting in a high mass loss, however, it slows down gradually in the post-outburst phase. Here, the star expands slowly with a speed of around 100-200~km/s making the star cooler which resembles a supergiant. The wind velocity primarily depends on the size of the stellar photosphere which dictates the visual brightness of the star. The optical density is inversely proportional to $T_{\textrm{eff}}$ \citep{deKoter1996}. Hence the temperature of the star starts to rise during the post-outburst phase as a consequence of increase in the stellar size.
\subsubsection{Quiescent phase}
The brightness decline phase of {\sl AF And} lasted for about 3 years and by the end of year 2001, the star has returned to its quiescent state. During this phase, brightness of {\sl AF And} remains almost constant though small short-term variability ($<$0.1 mag) have been noticed. Although we do not have enough phase coverage during the quiescent phase due to end of our microlensing survey program but from the intermittent follow-up observations taken over a period of about 3000 days, we do not see any significant change in brightness in both the filters. During this phase, even if the winds are slow, star is hotter than a normal hot supergiant with similar spectral type. In its effect, the star sheds some of the mass which can go up to $10~M_\odot$ \citep{Owocki2008} and thus the effective gravity of the star decreases that causes escape velocity of the star to decrease \citep{Humphreys2014b}. At visual minimum, the temperature of the star reaches $>$30,000 \,K as we have seen in the present case of {\sl AF And}. This stage may last for several years with flux remaining fairly constant and high temperature as described above.
\begin{figure*}
\includegraphics[width=17.0cm,height=7.5cm]{fig02.eps}
\caption{The colour and temperature variations as a function of time during the entire monitoring period.}
\label{col}
\end{figure*}
\subsubsection{Secondary outburst}
After years of quiescent phase, {\sl AF And} again showed secondary outburst on 12 October 2010 in our data (at JD 2455533.2) when its brightness increased by about 0.44 mag in both $R$ and $I$ bands in comparison of its quiescence phase. Such short amplitude variation lasting over a few months are not unusual in LBVs \citep{Clark2012,Humphreys2014a}. Unfortunately, we had no observations prior to 12 October 2010. The next observations could be done only on 02 December 2010. On both the observed nights, the star has shown enhanced brightness. We collected 5 frames each in $R$ and $I$ bands on two observing nights during the secondary outburst phase. The star has shown brightening in all the 10 frames. In the light curves presented by \citet{Lee2014} using the PANSTARS data taken during mid-2010 to 2012, {\sl AF And} had indeed shown a brightness variation of about 0.6 mag in both PS1 $r$ and $i$ bands where maximum brightness was attained around mid-December 2010 before fading down to the quiescence phase about one year later. This is in confirmation of our observations taken during the same period.
\subsection{Colour Excess}\label{reddening}
In order to de-redden the apparent magnitude for extinction, we need information of reddening in the direction of our observed field. Using the $R$ and $I$ bands $P-L$ diagrams of classical Cepheids found in our target field of M31, we determined the reddening value as $E(R-I)=0.16\pm0.11$ mag \citep{Joshi2003}. Since reddening estimation in our previous study has large uncertainty due to significant scatter in the $P-L$ diagrams of the Cepheids, we did not consider this value in our present analysis. Instead reddening, $E(B-V)$, was estimated based on the extinction maps provided by \citet{Schlegel1998} and \citet{Schlafly2011} using Galactic Dust Reddening and Extinction computing facility on NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive \footnote{\url{https://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/applications/DUST/}}. The resulting reddening values are given in Table~\ref{tbl:basic_parameters}. Using the values listed in the table, we adopted an average reddening of $E(B-V)=0.36$ mag in our analysis which contains both foreground reddening due to the Milky Way as well as reddening due to the disk of M31. The corresponding extinction was obtained using the relation $A_V = R\times E(B-V)$ where $R$ was taken as 3.07 \citep{Fitzpatrick1999}. We obtained an extinction of $A_V=1.11$ mag in the direction of our observed field which is significantly large but considering the location of {\sl AF And} in the spiral arm of M31, it is well expected.
\subsection{Colour and temperature evolution}\label{cev}
Amongst the total of 169 nights observed in the present study, {\sl AF And} was monitored in both $R$ and $I$ bands on 126 nights. For these nights, we determined $(R-I)$ colour of the star. The variation in the colour during our observations is illustrated in Figure~\ref{col} where we can see a change in colour from 0.14 mag in outburst phase to -0.14 mag in the quiescent phase. Although about 0.28 mag variation is seen in the colour of the star during its evolutionary phase in our data, however, most of the variation in colour has been observed in the first 3 years of our survey. One can notice that the colour evolution does not exactly follow the light curve variation. It is suspected that dust formation during the outburst may also have a strong influence on the colour evolution. To get a better physical interpretation of the evolution of {\sl AF And}, photometric colour $(R-I)$ was converted to the corresponding effective temperature ($T_{eff}$). For this, first we converted $(R-I)$ into $(B-V)$ colour using the relation $(B-V) = (R-I)/0.55$, assuming a normal reddening law. To convert $(B-V)$ to $T_{eff}$, we derived the following colour-temperature relation for the supergiants using the Table 4 of \citet{Flower1996}.
\begin{equation}
log~T_{eff} = 4.01258-1.05432~x+2.13061~x^2-2.4917~x^3
\label{eq1}
\end{equation}
where $x$ is the colour $(B-V)$ of the star. In Figure~\ref{col}, we also illustrate the corresponding temperature variation of the star as a function of time on the right side of y-axis. The resulting temperature of the star only gives an approximate value but good enough to analyse general properties of {\sl AF And} which are described below for three different phases of its evolution.
\subsubsection{Primary outburst}
During the rising phase of {\sl AF And}, colour of the star gradually increases and reached a maximum value of $(R-I) = 0.14$ mag which corresponds to a temperature of about 7050\,K. Here the temperature of {\sl AF And} is similar to that of the F spectral type stars. According to \citet{Humphreys1994} and \citet{deKoter1996}, LBVs attain temperature of around 7000\,-\,9000\,K at the time of peak brightness during the outburst phase when star reaches to cold state. It is evident that the maximum positive colour which represents coolest temperature exactly coincides with the time of peak brightness of the star. As the eruption subsides, an inversion in the colour was found when $(R-I)$ changes from maximum positive value of 0.14 mag to maximum negative value of -0.14 mag in about 500 days indicating that the temperature in the photospheric region was increasing.

During the post-outburst phase, the mass loss rate increases and due to higher mass loss rate and lower wind velocity, the winds get optically thin \citep{Garcia1997}. It causes temperature to rise gradually \citep{Humphreys1994}. In the case of {\sl AF And}, it reaches up to $T_{\textrm{max}} >$ 30,000\,K as seen in the present photometric observations. Since, the bolometric luminosity remains fairly constant in LBVs \citep{Wolf1989,Humphreys1994}, temperature rise is supplemented by decrease in the radius which is caused by the high mass loss due to stellar winds.
\subsubsection{Quiescent Phase}
In the quiescent phase, {\sl AF And} settled with almost constant magnitude and effective temperature of $>$30,000\,K where it resembles a spectral type of O-type supergiant. Here, the outer envelope of the star which has acquired high temperature due to mass loss continues to be in a minimum state which does not cause much change in the luminosity and colour as seen in Figures~\ref{phot_lc} and ~\ref{col}, respectively. The star may remain for an extremely long period in this state. After long quiescent phase of {\sl AF And}, the wind again starts to radiate more i.e. become less opaque due to reduced mass loss rate \citep{Garcia1997} hence brightness may increase.
\subsubsection{Secondary Outburst}
We caught a secondary outburst when stellar brightness increased by about 0.44 mag in late 2010. During this phase, the colour of {\sl AF And} was found to be $0.02\pm0.03$ mag and $-0.03\pm0.02$ mag on the two observed nights in our observations separated by almost 2 months. The total colour variation during this phase is only $0.05\pm0.04$ mag which corresponds to a change in temperature of about 2200\,K. However, due to poor sampling of our data, this does not reflect a total change of temperature during the secondary outburst phase. In a better coverage of this outburst in the PANSTARS data collected between 2010-2012 \citep{Lee2014}, {\sl AF And} has shown a PS1 $(r-i)$ colour variation of 0.25 mag at the time of maximum brightness.

In Table~\ref{tbl:mag_col_vari}, we summarize the amplitudes of variability in $R$ and $I$ bands as well as in $(R-I)$ colour during various phases of evolution of {\sl AF And} in our data.
\input{table04.tex}
\subsection{Colour-Magnitude variation}\label{cmd}
The $(R-I)$ colour variation of {\sl AF And} during the primary outburst phase in our observations with respect to corresponding $R$ band magnitude is shown in Figure~\ref{col_mag}. It is apparent that despite the irregular colour variation, there is a trend in the colour-magnitude diagram during the evolution of star from the outburst phase to quiescent phase. Although there are large uncertainties in the colour determination when star is fainter but, in general, we find that {\sl AF And} exhibits a redder-when-brighter (RWB) trend in its colour-magnitude diagram. This RWB behaviour is typical of a LBV characteristic as they become cooler during the outburst phase. In the early part of the outburst phase, the colour remains almost constant as can be seen in Figure~\ref{col_mag}. The temperature of the LBV during the quiescent phase reaches above 30,000\,K making it bluer.
\begin{figure}[t]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=9.0cm, height=11.0cm]{fig03.eps}
\vspace{-4.7cm}
\caption{The variation in $(R-I)$ colour with the brightness in the $R$ band. The errorbars in both colour and magnitude are shown for each point. The polynomial fit is also drawn by a continuous line.}
\label{col_mag}
\end{figure}
It is noticed that the colour-magnitude diagram becomes steeper for fainter magnitudes. In the figure, the variation in the $(R-I)$ colour with respect to $R$ magnitude may be represented by a quadratic polynomial equation of the following type
\begin{equation}
(R-I) = -0.08~(R-15)^2 + 0.11~(R-15) + 0.04
\end{equation}
$$
~~~~~~~~~~\pm0.03~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\pm0.10~~~~~~~~~~~~\pm0.07
$$
\noindent A best fit shown by a continuous line in Figure~\ref{col_mag} yields a $\chi^2$/ndf of 0.04. A similar trend was also shown by \citet{Sholukhova2011} and \citet{Solovyeva2019} in their analysis of LBVs in the galaxies M33 and NGC~4736, respectively. Our study further ascertains the characteristic RWB nature during the LBV phase that suggests the colour of the LBV star becomes bluer as a consequence of increase in the temperature of stellar photosphere in its quiescence phase.
\subsection{Bolometric magnitude}\label{bm}
One of the important parameter to evaluate the extent of outburst of any eruptive variable is its peak bolometric magnitude. In the case of LBV outburst, this information is critical for evaluating the extent to which the star exceeded its own Eddington limit though temporarily with small adjustments in opacity or stellar structure \citep{Smith2011}. Using the extinction value of $A_V$ = 1.11 mag as determined earlier, we estimated an extinction of $A_R$ = 0.95 mag and $A_I$ = 0.71 mag assuming the normal extinction law in the direction of our observed field. Considering a distance of 750~kpc for M31 \citep{Freedman2001}, we estimated a maximum visual magnitude of $M_R \approx -9.43$ mag and $M_I \approx -9.30$ mag which correspond to a maximum visual magnitude of $M_V \approx -9.49$ mag. Since bolometric correction at peak brightness is negligible \citep{Smith2011}, the above maximum absolute magnitudes correspond to $M_{bol} \approx -9.49$ mag which yields a luminosity of $log(L/L_{\odot}) \approx 5.70$. The peak luminosity and colour during the outburst phase suggests a F-type spectrum for {\sl AF And}. \citet{Szeifert1996} derived a luminosity of $log(L/L_{\odot})$ = 5.9 to 6.1 for {\sl AF And} which is consistent with our estimated value. As the brightness variation in the decline phase is compensated by the change in bolometric correction, the total luminosity of the star remains almost constant \citep{Wolf1989, Humphreys1994}. Hence bolometric magnitude during the quiescent phase also remains at the same level of about -9.49 mag. Here, we caution readers that the largest uncertainty in the estimation of bolometric magnitude or total luminosity comes through the extinction derived in the direction of the target field.
\subsection{Rate of decline}\label{rd}
As the rise time in eruptive variables is poorly constrained most of the time due to sudden outburst, but their temporal evolution during the fading stage is relatively better characterized. The photometric light curve illustrated in Figure~\ref{phot_lc} shows a continuous decrease in brightness from the maxima before it becomes steady. The rate of decline is generally quoted as either a fall of 2 mag ($t_2$) or 1.5 mag ($t_{1.5}$) from its peak brightness. In the case of {\sl AF And} the total fall in brightness is $\sim$ 1.5 mag between the peak brightness phase and quiescent level hence we determined $t_{1.5}$ for this star. It is found that the maximum and minimum brightness respectively fall on $JD$ = 2451195 and 2452222 in our data. This means that it takes approximately 1027 days between the time of maximum brightness and the time when the star fades back to its quiescent level. Using a linear approximation, we determined the decline rates of {\sl AF And} in $R$ and $I$ bands during its outburst between 1998 to 2001 to be:
\begin{equation}
t_{1.5} (R,I) \sim 0.0015 ~ \tt{mag~day}^{-1}
\label{eq5}
\end{equation}
Although we did not have a complete and uniform coverage during the post-outburst phase of {\sl AF And}, the estimated decline rate gives an idea how slow the star fades from the peak brightness in its LBV phase. It is important to note here that decay rate does not exactly correlate with the amount of total mass ejected from the LBVs \citep{Smith2011}. Recent estimate of mass loss in two well known LBVs in the Milky Way $\eta$ Carina and P Cygni are about 10 $M_\odot$ and 0.1 $M_\odot$ respectively despite both having similar duration of about 10 years for their major eruptions \citep{Smith2003,Smith2006}. Although it is well accepted that the eruptive nature of LBVs is the consequence of their approaching or exceeding the classical Eddington limit \citep{Smith2011}, it is still not very clear which underlying physical mechanism drives the extent of mass loss during the major eruptions of these stars.
\begin{figure*}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=17.0cm, height=9.0cm]{fig04.eps}
\caption{Flux calibrated spectrum of AF And in the wavelength range 3800-8400~\r{A}. The observations with grisms gr7 (blue solid line) and gr8 (red solid line) were taken at mJD equal to 2457642.29087 and 2457642.32407, respectively when the star was slightly brighter than its quiescent phase \citep{Martin2017a}.}
\label{fig:flux_calibrated}
\end{figure*}

\begin{figure*}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=17.0cm, height=7.0cm]{fig05a.eps}
\includegraphics[width=17.0cm, height=7.0cm]{fig05b.eps}
\caption{Continuum-normalized spectrum of {\sl AF And} with various prominent spectral features marked with a dashed line. In the top panel the spectrum is plotted in the whole wavelength coverage of our observations. For clarity, we show the spectrum in the range 3800-6000 $\r{A}$ in the bottom panel to highlight the strong emission lines.}
\label{fig:flux_normalized}
\end{figure*}
\section{Spectroscopic Data}\label{spec}
Spectroscopic studies of {\sl AF And} in the past also reveal its spectroscopic variability in quiescent phase. \citet{Gallagher1981} note the presence of more FeII and [FeII] lines as compared to the previous observations by \citet{Humphreys1975,Humphreys1978}. To investigate this aspect, we carried out spectroscopic observations of {\sl AF And} using Hanle Faint Object Spectrograph Camera (HFOSC) mounted on 2.0-m Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT), operated by Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) at Hanle, Ladakh, India in the low-resolution mode on the night of 10 September 2016. We used SITe CCD of 2K$\times$4K pixels with pixel size of 15$\mu\times$15$\mu$ and image scale of 0\arcsec.29/pixel. We used grism gr7 (3800-6800~\r{A}) and slit width of 0$^{\prime\prime}$.77 (67 $\mu$), giving a spectral resolution of R$\sim$1300. Far visible region of the spectrum was collected using gr8 (5800\,-\,8400~\r{A}) having a slit width of 1$^{\prime\prime}$.15 (100 $\mu$) and a resolution of $R \sim 2200$. Our optical spectra of {\sl AF And} thus cover the wavelength range from 3800 to 8400~\r{A} although there was significant overlap from 5800 to 6800~\r{A} between two set of grisms. The bias, flat and arc spectra were observed on the same night for the calibration purposes. Fe-Ne spectra for the wavelength calibration in gr7 could not be taken on the observation night because of some technical issues. Therefore lamp spectra were taken from the previous nights for gr7 wavelength calibration. Feige110 was observed as a standard star in both grisms for the flux calibration on the same night. All steps for the spectroscopic data reduction were performed under IRAF environment. We also checked the spectra for the contamination problem but did not find any nearby objects within 10 arcsec of our target star. This rules out any contamination of light in our spectral observations. Final flux-calibrated spectra and dereddened gr7 and gr8 spectra are shown in Figure~\ref{fig:flux_calibrated}. The present spectra corresponds to the phase when star was going towards the outburst phase from the quiescent phase as can be seen from \citet{Martin2017b}.
\begin{figure*}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=17.0cm, height=8.5cm]{fig06.eps}
\caption{Spectral Energy Distribution of {\sl AF And} from 3000 \r{A} to 2.2 $\mu$. Solid lines represent the flux-calibrated and rescaled gr7 (blue) and gr8 (red) spectra whereas other line styles in grey color show the Planck curve for different temperatures as indicated in the legend. Flux values obtained from reddening corrected $UBVRI$, GAIA $g$ band and 2MASS $JHK_s$ photometry are represented by blue circles, green triangle and red squares respectively. Errors corresponding to flux values are very small ($\sim 10^{-17}$) and therefore not shown in the figure.}
\label{fig:final_fit}
\end{figure*}
\section{Spectroscopic Analysis of AF And}\label{spec_ana}
The LBVs not only reveal the photometric variability but also show different spectra that depends upon the evolutionary state they are in. In the outburst phase, their spectrum resembles a F to A-type supergiant whereas, in the quiescent phase, they show the spectrum similar to a hot supergiant with H, He and FeII, prominently seen in emission along with P-Cygni profile. Our observations were taken close to the quiescent phase and are marked with the presence of strong H Balmer (6563, 4861, 4340, 4101 \r{A}) emissions with very weak [N II] feature at 6584 \r{A}. For an easier line-identification, the continuum normalized spectra are shown in Figure~\ref{fig:flux_normalized} which highlights the presence of He I at $\lambda$4026, 4471, 4686, 5015, 5876, 6678 and 7065 \r{A} apart from other weaker emissions of He I. The spectrum is dominated by many FeII and [FeII] emission lines, a typical signature of LBV spectrum in the quiescent phase, but the prominent ones are observed at FeII $\lambda$5018 and [FeII] $\lambda$5158. A weak Ca II $\lambda$3933 absorption and Na D line are also present in the observed spectrum. These are shown in the lower panel of Figure~\ref{fig:flux_normalized}. Here, outburst and cooler phase of LBV spectrum is marked by the presence of Mg II $\lambda$4481 and other A-type absorption features which are missing from our spectra. This indicates towards the hotter surface of the star. The features in our spectrum match with the previous observations of \citet[their Figure~5]{Humphreys2014a} where He \textsc{I} lines with weak emissions of N \textsc{III} are observed. We also note the asymmetric line profile in the strong emissions, e.g. He I, and split in the Balmer lines which indicates the mass loss, winds, and outflow, a characteristic phenomenon of LBVs.
\subsection{Energy distributions and photospheric temperature}\label{spec_temp}
For estimating the photospheric temperature by fitting a black body spectrum on the spectral energy distributions (SED), we used the photometric data from \citet{Massey2006}. To correct the $UBVRI$ magnitudes for the interstellar extinction, color excess $E(B-V)$ is taken to be equal to 0.36 mag as mentioned in Section~\ref{reddening}. The same value is also adopted for the reddening correction of the observed spectra. Flux values corresponding to the photometric observations are shown in Figure~\ref{fig:final_fit}. The errors on photometric flux values are of the magnitude similar to the size of the symbols and hence have not been represented on the diagram. The calculated photometric flux values and optical spectra are fitted against the Blackbody curve for various values of temperature. After visual inspection of the SED fitting, we assign 30,000\,-\,36,000\,K as the estimated range of photospheric temperature for {\sl AF And}. The presence of infrared excess is also quite evident which is generally observed in the LBVs because of free-free emission and/or thermal emission from the dust in the NIR region \citep{Kraus2014,Humphreys2014a,Sholukhova2015}.

For an independent confirmation of our $T_{\textrm{eff}}$ estimate, we also try an online utility called Virtual Observatory SED Analyzer \citep[VOSA;][]{Bayo2008} hosted by the Spanish Virtual Observatory. It allows the user to input the photometric magnitudes in different bands as well as queries the existing photometric databases to retrieve the photometry for the object of interest. After constructing the SEDs, two independent approaches based on theoretical and empirical stellar models are explored for estimating $T_{eff}$. In the first approach, $\chi^2-$fitting is performed against the theoretical models from Kurucz model atmospheres \citep{Castelli1997} for different atmospheric parameters. Best fitted $T_{\textrm{eff}}\,=\,33,000\pm3000$\,K is returned corresponding to the minimum value of $\chi^2$. For the other method, empirical templates of flux calibrated stellar spectra, with spectral classes ranging from O5 to M9 (including 5 spectral templates of L type stars) at $R\sim2000$ and wavelength coverage of $3650\,-\,10200$ \r{A}, are taken from \citet{Kesseli2017}. These templates were created by the co-addition of individual stellar spectrum belonging to the same spectral class from Sloan Digital Sky Survey \citep[SDSS,][]{York2000}. Fitting the derived SED against Kesseli templates returns O7 spectral type as the best matching flux distribution, which is also consistent with the photometric temperature obtained in Section~\ref{cev}.
\subsection{Host galaxy metallicity}\label{Metallicity}
Several diagnostics exist for the metallicity measurements \citep{McGaugh1991,Kewley2002,Pettini2004,Pilyugin2005} which depend mostly upon the emission line ratios and calibration measurements. Systematic differences are obtained by using different calibration measurements \citep{Ellison2005}. \cite{Sanders2012} used a number of H II regions and planetary nebulae in M31 to provide metallicity estimates. They show that the ISM of M31 is mostly clumpy and inhomogeneous with large gradient in oxygen and [NII] abundances.  \cite{Sanders2012} metallicity estimates varied from 7.3 dex to 9.1 dex. Since the sensitivity of HFOSC is low towards the blue end, we were unable to detect [O III] 3727 \r{A} and 3729 \r{A} line. Furthermore, the [S II] 6717, 6731 \r{A} line are also not detectable. However, weak [N II] $\lambda$6584 \r{A} feature and [O III] $\lambda$5007 \r{A} line is resolved. So, we were able to measure the O3N2 index and N2 index for metallicity estimates. For the N2 index, \cite{Pettini2004} relates the metallicity by the following equation:
\begin{equation}
12 + log(O/H) = 8.90 + 0.57 \times N2
\label{eq6}
\end{equation}
where N2 = log([NII] 6584/H$\alpha$) and 95\% of the measurements being within $\pm$0.41 of the values as derived from the above equation. Using above equation, the metallicity value is estimated to be 8.89$\pm$0.41 dex for M31. \cite{Pettini2004} also gave the metallicity relation for O3N2 index given as:
\begin{equation}
12 + log(O/H) = 8.73 - 0.32 \times O3N2
\label{eq7}
\end{equation}
where O3N2 = log{([O III] 5007/H$\beta$)/([NII] 6584/H$\alpha$)} and measurements are within 0.25 of the best fit line. The estimated metallicity value of M31 is 8.73$\pm$0.25 dex using above method. \citet{Stasiska1998} estimated a metallicity value of 8.64$\pm$0.23 dex for the M31 bulge which are within the error bars of our estimated value.
\subsection{Terminal velocity}\label{ter-vel}
Wind speed or terminal velocity is often calculated from the blue edge of the P Cygni profile \citep{Humphreys2014a}. We also see a weak P-cygni feature in the HeI emission line of {\sl AF And} in Figure~\ref{fig:flux_calibrated}. A dip is also seen in the right side of the P-cygni profile of {\sl AF And} which is possibly originating due to the blend of Na D doublet. From the left side absorption minima of HeI 5876 \r{A} line, we find the wavelength corresponding to the central dip of {\sl AF And}. Since the rest wavelength is already known, applying the Doppler shift formula, we estimate a terminal velocity of $300\pm35$~km~sec$^{-1}$. We also performed a Gauss fit over the blue-edge of {\sl AF And} and the terminal velocity is obtained to be $280\pm30$ km~sec$^{-1}$. Previous studies on {\sl AF And} gave an estimated terminal velocities between 100 - 300 km~sec$^{-1}$ measured from blue-edge of HeI 5876 line \citep{Leitherer1994,Stahl2001,Groh2009}. Some of the galactic LBVs, AG-Car had shown low velocities during the quiescent phases \citep{Smith1994}. \citet{Groh2009} found a very low velocity of 105 km~sec$^{-1}$ for {\sl AF And} during its 2001 minima. In quiescent phase of {\sl AF And}, \citet{Szeifert1996} has estimated a terminal velocity of 150 km/s. The value obtained by us is slightly higher than their value as we have taken spectroscopic observations when star was in the rising branch of the outburst phase. However, the values obtained by us and \citet{Groh2009} are much less than the typical value for WNL and late-WN stars \citep{Crowther1995a, Crowther1995b} which varies between 400 to 1300 km~sec$^{-1}$ and also between 400 - 1000 km~sec$^{-1}$ for early type supergiants \citep{Mokiem2007}. The smaller terminal velocity estimated in the present study is indicative of dense and slower winds around LBVs. Since they have lost most of their mass during S-Dor type variability phase and in giant eruptions, their terminal velocities are lower than most supergiants and late WNLs.
\subsection{Mass loss rate}\label{mass-loss}
We estimate the mass-loss rate of the luminous blue variable star assuming the luminosity of the ejecta-CSM interaction is fed by energy imparted at the shock front. The progenitor mass loss rate $\dot{M}$ can be broadly calculated using the relation of \cite{Chugai1994}:
\begin{equation}
\dot{M}=\frac{2L}{\epsilon}\frac{v_w}{v_{LBV}^{3}}
\label{eq8}
\end{equation}
where $\epsilon < 1$ is the efficiency of converting the shock's kinetic energy into visual light (an uncertain quantity), v$_w$ is the velocity of the pre-explosion stellar  wind, v$_{LBV}$ is the velocity of the shell undergoing eruptions and L is the bolometric luminosity of {\sl AF And} in the same phase. As mentioned in section \ref{bm}, we estimated a bolometric luminosity value of log$_{10}$L = 5.7 L$_{\odot}$ which essentially remains constant during both the quiescent and eruptive phases. We also estimate a typical wind velocity of v$_{w} \approx 280$ km~sec$^{-1}$ which is also taken into account for the estimations. The H$\alpha$ component has a full width at half maxima of 54.165 \r{A} which corresponds to a velocity of 2476 km~sec$^{-1}$. The efficiency factor $\epsilon$ is taken to be 0.5 (at lower optical depth the efficiency may be less; see \citet{Smith2007}). Using above values, the estimated mass loss rate in this phase is found to be about 2.2$\times$10$^{-4}$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$. Many authors have reported slightly smaller mass-loss rate than our estimate \citep{Humphreys1994,Szeifert1996} but most of them have estimated mass-loss rate during the quiescent phase when mass-loss is found to be smaller than the outburst phase.

We summarize stellar parameters obtained in the present study in Table~\ref{tbl:param}. Since many uncertainties are involved in the determination of these parameters, our values can only give an approximate estimates of given parameters. Nevertheless, they show a broad characteristics of the LBVs found in the M31 and M33.
\input{table05.tex}
\section{Discussion}\label{discuss}
The LBV star {\sl AF And} in M31 has been known to go through major eruptive phase quite often since a long time and one of the most studied object in the past \citep{Gallagher1981,Sharov1990,Szeifert1996,Humphreys2014b,Humphreys2017}. Even though significant variability on smaller scale of a few years to longer scale of decades have been noticed but no clear periodicity was found in the light curve variations of this star hence it is very difficult to anticipate onset of its eruption. However, thanks to our microlensing survey program towards the M31 disk, where our target field happens to fall on the location of {\sl AF And}, we serendipitously caught this star going through the outburst phase in 1998 when it has shown a major brightness change of about 1.5 mag in a time span of about 3 years. {\sl AF And} has shown an absolute maximum (cold state) of visual brightness during early 1999 and absolute minimum (hot state) in late 2001. During the same period, its $(R-I)$ colour has changed by about 0.28 mag when the temperature has increased from about 7000\,K at the time of peak brightness to over 30,000\,K during the quiescence phase. Our sparse follow-up monitoring of {\sl AF And} after the end of our microlensing survey program has shown a secondary outburst in this star in late 2010 followed by a quiescent phase again. During this time, an increase in brightness of about 0.44 mag was noticed in our photometric data. This star has also been undergoing many eruptions in the past as reported in many previous studies where major outbursts were normally observed with an amplitude of 1 to 2 mag while minor outbursts were observed with 0.4 to 0.6 mag photometric variations \citep{Humphreys1994,Szeifert1996,Kurtev1999,Lee2014}.

The evolutionary outburst phase has been characterized by the huge mass-loss rate due to stellar wind resulting in the stellar photosphere. During this phase, the mass loss causes the wind to become optically thick and photospheric temperature goes down. The pseudo-photosphere is formed around them, which is swept by the strong and fast winds. Although, star brightened by about 1.5 mag during the outburst phase in comparison of quiescence phase but it is believed that the total luminosity of LBV does not change much between the two phases. Even though the photometric coverage during the quiescent phase is quite patchy, it is found that {\sl AF And} resembles with a typical O-type supergiant where photospheric temperature has gone beyond 30,000\,K. Estimating an average interstellar extinction of $A_V=1.1$ mag, we obtained a maximum visual magnitude of $M_V \approx -9.49$ mag corresponding to a maximum luminosity of $log(L/L_\odot) = 5.7$ assuming no bolometric correction at the peak.

Comparing the observed spectrum with respect to the one presented by \citet{Humphreys2014a} reveals its spectroscopic evolution. \citet{Humphreys2014a} spectrum shows no signature of FeII and [FeII] emissions whereas in our spectrum we see two strong Fe emissions. FeII $\lambda$ 5018 is blended with He I $\lambda$5015 and [FeII] at 5158 \r{A} is clearly distinguishable. Weaker FeII and [FeII] emissions are also present in the wavelength range 4900-5400 \r{A}. We observed a weak P-cygni profile in the emission lines of our observed spectra as has also been found by \citet{Humphreys2014a}. P-cygni profile with absorption at the blue end and emission at the red end suggests an outflow in the photosphere. For estimating the photospheric temperature using SED fitting, we used the $UBVRI$ magnitudes from \citet{Massey2006}, $JHK_s$ magnitudes from the 2MASS survey \citep{Skrutskie2006}, and $g$-band magnitude from the GAIA survey \citep{Gaiamission}. From the SED analysis, we determined a photospheric temperature of 33,000$\pm$3000\,K which happens to be close to the photometric temperature obtained through the colour information during the same phase. This is also the typical temperature most of the LBVs exhibit in their hot state.

The mass-loss takes places continuously in these stars through the incessant wind in their photosphere. Using the empirical mass-loss estimation, we found that {\sl AF And} has a high mass-loss rate of 2.2$\times10^{-4}$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$. Although mass-loss rate varies during the eruptive and quiescence states but it is dominant mode in the former one. In fact it is believed that these massive young stars have shed bulk of their initial masses in their supergiant phase hence their effective gravities and escape velocities are now much lower \citep{Humphreys1994, Humphreys2014a}. In recent evolutionary tracks considering mass loss and stellar rotation, \citet{Ekstrom2012} has shown that these stars would have shed about half of their initial masses by now and reached close to their Eddington limit. Since LBVs undergo significant mass loss during their evolution, they accumulate vast amount of material in their circumstellar environment ejected via wind. When a black body spectrum is placed in their energy distributions, most of the LBVs show infrared fluxes lying above the theoretical curve \citep{Kraus2014}. For the best fit of 33,000$\pm$3000\,K black body curve in the SED profile, {\sl AF And} also exhibits an infrared excess in its longer wavelength. The excess in LBVs is believed to be due to free-free emission and/or thermal emission from their stellar winds in the extended atmosphere \citep{Humphreys2014a,Sholukhova2015}. This in fact, along with their location in the spiral arms, make LBVs observations favourable in the longer wavelengths.

Unlike B-type supergiants and Of/WN stars, the LBV stars are well known to have low wind speeds during their quiescence phase where about 100-200 km s$^{-1}$ velocities were found \citep{Smith1994, Groh2009}. However, wind velocities are found to be relatively larger in the quiescent phase manifested in the form P-Cygni profile of emission lines. Though we do not observe as strong P-cygni profile in the emission lines as seen in the spectrum by \citet{Humphreys2014a}, but, an asymmetry towards the blue end exists in all prominent H and He lines. Based on our spectral analysis of a P Cygni feature in the HeI emission line, we estimated wind terminal velocity of about 280 to 300 km~s$^{-1}$ with an uncertainty of 30 to 35 km~s$^{-1}$. We note here that a more precise estimate of terminal velocity requires high-resolution spectroscopy comprising high S/N signal in the P Cygni profile but our low-resolution spectrum still provides an approximate estimation of the outflow speed which is well in agreement with the previous studies on such objects.
\section{Summary}\label{conclu}
The primary aim of the `Nainital Microlensing Survey' was to search for microlensing events in the direction of M31. However, the vast amount of data also enabled us to identify a substantial number of variable stars and optical transients in the target field of M31. Here, we carried out a long-term photometric analysis of the prominent LBV star {\sl AF And}. The study of LBVs is very important as only a small number of such stars are known making them unique and interesting objects. As we were fortunate enough, an outburst was caught in {\sl AF And} in the beginning of the survey itself. Our photometric analysis of the data taken for about 5000 days revealed that {\sl AF And} has gone through two outbursts, one major and other minor, in a time span of about 11 years. The main results of our study are summarized below.
\begin{enumerate}
\item {\sl AF And} has been caught in the outburst phase in 1998 when we started our survey to detect mircolensing events in the direction of M31.
\item The star was in a fairly bright state at the start of our observations and reached peak brightness around mid-January 1999 before fading down to the quiescent phase over the period of 3 years.
\item We found a magnitude variation of about 1.5 mag between its primary maxima and minima and a colour variation of about 0.28 mag during this period.
\item The colour and temperature analysis of the star during eruption phase has shown that star was cooler at the time of peak brightness phase when its temperature decreased to about 7000\,K. During the quiescent state, the temperature rose to beyond 30,000\,K which is the typical characteristic temperature of such stars. For the {\sl AF And}, we also estimated $T_{eff}$ from SED which matches well with its photometric temperature.
\item The star exhibits a very slow decline of about 0.0015 mag~day$^{-1}$ before settling in the quiescent phase where it did not show any significant brightness variation over the next 9 years.
\item Our follow-up monitoring of this star has shown a secondary outburst in the year 2010 followed by a quiescent phase again. During this period, {\sl AF And} has brightened by about 0.44 mag though not much change in temperature was noticed.
\item The duration of primary and secondary outbursts have diverse time scales. While former eruption lasted for more than 4 years, the secondary outburst lasted only for about a year.
\item The spectral analysis of {\sl AF And} exhibits prominent Balmer and He I emission lines along with comparatively weaker FeII and [FeII] emissions. The characteristic P-Cygni profile was also present in this star.
\item Our analysis of this star during the quiescence phase yields a mass-loss rate of about 2.2$\times$10$^{-4}$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$ through stellar winds in the photosphere.
\item We determined the wind terminal velocity for {\sl AF And} between 280$-$300 km~sec$^{-1}$ using P-Cygni profile of HeI emission line.
\end{enumerate}

Although several measurements were made in the past for this star reporting the frequent outburst nevertheless accumulating a multi-band photometric data and monitoring their spectroscopic and photometric nature over a long period of time of our observations and subsequently determination of physical parameters yield some insights into the eruptions towards the late stage of its evolution.

\acknowledgments
We would like to thank referee for the constructive comments that has significantly improved this paper. We are very thankful to the supporting staff at the Nainital and Hoskote for their help in carrying out successful observations for such a long period. KS acknowledges financial support through Raja Ramanna Fellowship. This work has made use of data from the European Space Agency (ESA) mission {\it Gaia} (\url{https://www.cosmos.esa.int/gaia}), processed by the {\it Gaia} Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC, \url{https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/dpac/consortium}). Funding for the DPAC has been provided by national institutions, in particular the institutions participating in the {\it Gaia} Multilateral Agreement. It also makes use of VOSA, developed under the Spanish Virtual Observatory project supported from the Spanish MINECO through grant AyA2017-84089.
\begin{center}
\large{APPENDIX}
\end{center}
M31 has been monitored in our microlensing survey program at Nainital conducted during 1998 to 2002 where LBV star {\sl AF And} serendipitously happens to fall on our target field. Keeping its irregular nature in mind, we made follow-up observations of this star until 2011 of which we present analysis in this paper. \citet{Martin2017a} and \citet{Martin2017b}, however, reported that this star has again gone in the outburst phase between 2015 to 2017 and their follow-up observations are still going on.\\

\bibliographystyle{aasjournal}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


On 2 July 2015, in addition to its acquired accreditation status for calibration (CAL) service, the SCL was accredited for its proficiency testing provider (PTP) service in accordance with the international standard ISO/IEC 17043:2010 by the Hong Kong Accreditation Service (HKAS). PTP service is always in demand by laboratories in the testing and certification industry to demonstrate their technical competence.
As the official custodian of reference standards for physical measurements in Hong Kong, the SCL is in the best position to play the PTP role for local testing and calibration laboratories. The SCL is currently accredited to provide PTP services in electricity and magnetism, time and frequency, temperature and humidity, acoustics, photometry and radiometry, mass and related quantities and dimension.
Electricity and magnetism - Digital multimeter, multifunction calibrator, high voltage probe, clamp meter, LCR meter, power meter and gauss/tesla meter.
- RF power sensor, RF coaxial line, RF attenuator and oscilloscope.
Time and frequency - Frequency counter and stop watch.
Temperature and Humidity - Platinum resistance thermometer, thermocouple, liquid-in-glass thermometer, digital thermometer and relative humidity measurement instruments.
Acoustics - Sound calibrator, sound level meter and audiometer.
Photometry and radiometry - Illuminance meter, tungsten standard lamp and unfiltered photodetector.
Mass and related quantities - Standard weights, pipettes and electronics balances.
Dimension - Calliper, engineer's steel rule and square.
PT programmes that are currently in progress or under planning are listed in the following table. Interested party can contact us for more information.


March 12, 2018 (Merrimack, NH) — Introducing Waypoint Robotics, a NH-based startup — formerly known as Stanley Robotics — focused on building robots for real-world applications to empower the workforce.
Jason Walker, CEO and Co-Founder of Waypoint Robotics, said the company will continue to follow the same culture and standards of innovation, manufacturing excellence, customer service, and dedication to employees as the companies from which they spun off — Stanley Innovation and Stanley Elevator.
Waypoint's flagship mobile robot — Vector — is a compact, ROS native, omni-directional, mobile robot; perfect for the laboratory or factory floor. Vector comes fully equipped and ready for use — a truly turnkey autonomous robot.
Walker said Waypoint's robots are not only being used as platforms for the latest robotics research projects taking place at today's top colleges and universities, but they are also already hard at work in manufacturing, industrial, and commercial facilities.
Included in the rebranding effort is a renewed focus on a completely redesigned website (waypointrobotics.com).
Waypoint Robotics is on a mission to make robots accessible to everyone. We build real robots for the real world, that are designed to be setup and used by the people who put them to work. Waypoint is located just north of Boston, MA — an area renowned for robotics innovation.


My baby has been both transverse and breech recently. She's breech right now. It's fine, they don't start worrying about them turning until 36w.
I heard in my child birth class that babies don't breathe the way we think about breathing until they are born and take their first breath. In utero they are getting all the oxygen they need through the umbilical cord. So you don't have to worry about baby suffocating. They have exercises on youtube to help move your baby into better positions. Doing them daily is best.
This video is most similar to what I learned in a spinning babies class (which is all about helping baby "spin" or turn into position) .
Thank you very much..so relieve there..
Mine was transverse at my 28 week appt head down by my 32 week appt.
At least your girl is active. My baby boy is too lazy to kick me and move around.
Babies get their oxygen from the umbilical cord till they're born. They aren't breathing like we do in the womb.. theyre completely surrounded by amniotic fluid. How on earth do you figure she's breathing in fluid and even able to suffocate? That's not how that works at all.
When your baby kicking does he or she kick your cervix where it seem like it would hurt ?


The first official practices of the 2017-'18 college basketball season are in the books and Paint Touches is celebrating by counting down every Marquette opponent from worst to first. Each preview will contain a look at how the opponent did last season, who they lose, who they gain, reasonable expectations for their season, and our own prediction of how their matchup(s) with Marquette will go. This series will start with the most under of underdogs and progress all the way up to most unbeatable of opponents. Following Chicago State is the American Eagles, second and last of the true dogs on Marquette's schedule.
• American is the second and slightly better of the two dogs on Marquette's this schedule this season. They were a sub 300 team last season and with a majority of their production departing, are likely to fall into that category again. A specific challenge for the Eagles will be their lack of senior leadership. Despite all 13 scholarships being utilized and 3 walk ons, the most experienced players on the team are two redshirt juniors.
• The best returning player for American will be point guard Sa'eed Nelson. Completely unranked coming out of high school, Nelson was a very pleasant surprised for Coach Brennan. As a true freshman he averaged 15 points a game while managing the lead guard position. He was a terror to opposing ballhanders, picking an average of 2.4 pockets a game.
• It's not typical for a transfer from an NAIA instruction to be a prized recruit, but that is exactly the case here. Sharpshooting wing Larry Motuzis redshirted last season per NCAA transfer rules. The year before that, he was torching the NAIA with his shooting touch as a member of the St. Xavier's Cougars. He averaged over 20 points a game while swishing 81 three pointers with over 40% accuracy. The three point line isn't any farther at the D1 level but he will find defenders to be a lot more skilled. It will be interesting to see how his game transitions from NAIA all the way up to D1.
• The other big addition for the Eagles is JUCO transfer Cheikh "CB" Diallo. The Senegal native spent his first two seasons playing for Kilgore College, one of the better JUCO programs in the country. He started as a sophomore and averaged more than 10 points a game, mostly on the strength of his outside shooting. He sank over 60 three pointers with 42% accuracy.
• American was an extremely poor three point shooting team last season. They only made about 32% of their attempts as a team and only made 5.6 threes a contest. To make things worse, the only three players who made 20 or more three pointers last season will not be on the roster next season. Could explain why Coach Bennett targeted proven deep threats like Motuzis and Diallo for this year's class.
American was one of the lowest scoring teams in America, averaging about 62 points a game as a unit. That's 20 less points a game than the 82 Marquette averaged. Expect Marquette to turn up the heat early on this game with American being unable to keep pace. There may be a frustrating moment or two. Nelson was adept at getting into the lane and drawing fouls and Markus Howard was a fouling machine last year. But even if Markus get in early foul trouble, Marquette should still bombard their way to an easy 25 point+ victory.


APPLIED MATHEMATICS, BIOPHYSICS Correction for "Analytical distributions for stochastic gene expression," by Vahid Shahrezaei and Peter S. Swain, which appeared in issue 45, November 11, 2008, of Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (105:17256–17261; first published November 6, 2008; 10.1073/pnas.0803850105).
The authors note that due to a printer's error, Eq. 13 appeared incorrectly in part. The corrected equation appears below.


text:
Future of The Woodlands' water taxis remains in doubt
Suburbs // The Woodlands News
Bureau's next option might be to buy new ones
By Matthew Tresaugue Jan. 12, 2016 Updated: Jan. 12, 2016 8:33 p.m.
In November, the visitors bureau cut the cruisers' operating hours nearly in half.
Photo: Mayra Beltran, Staff
The Woodlands' last, best chance to keep its money-losing water taxis afloat might be selling the aging boats and buying new ones.
That's because the township's Convention and Visitors Bureau was unable to find a company willing to operate the fleet of cruisers.
The visitors bureau had set a Dec. 31 deadline for those interested to submit a proposal for managing the six cruisers, which ferry mostly tourists along The Woodlands' manmade waterway. Despite contacting 91 companies, the bureau did not receive a response.
"It could be timing," said Gordy Bunch, the bureau's chairman and a member of the township's governing board. "The holidays were probably the worst time to do it."
But Bunch on Tuesday said he is hopeful that the visitors bureau can find a willing buyer within the next month. The bureau, which is responsible for attracting visitors to the suburb, has not committed to operating the cruisers beyond March.
The market appears to be limited, considering the boats are not suitable for use in open waters. Each cruiser is worth about $40,000.
For smaller and faster replacements, it could cost between $70,000 and $160,000 per watercraft, according to the Goodman Corp., which consults The Woodlands on transit.
The bureau has received $253,844 from a federal agency for new generators and motors on the boats or for the purchase of new vessels.
The boats are so much of The Woodlands that one of them appears in the township's logo. But they lose money because not enough people ride them, prompting the bureau to seek a private operator.
The cruisers drew 53,408 riders in 2008. Since then, however, the number of passengers has dropped to about 35,000 a year - a fall attributed in part to the decisions to charge fares and to reduce the days and number of boats in operation.
Without more people riding the water taxis, the visitors bureau projected a shortfall of $202,960 for the fiscal year that began Jan. 1. The bureau decided in November to cut the boats' operational hours nearly in half to trim the projected deficit to about $107,000.
The budget is based on the assumption that fares will cover 34.5 percent of operating expenses. Any shortfall will be covered by the bureau through taxes on hotel stays.
Although the 12-year-old water taxis don't make money, officials said that's not the point. Rather, they are an amenity, like parks and pools, intended to add to the suburb's appeal.
By ZEKE MILLER and AAMER MADHANI, Associated Press
COVID live updates: Do you know when to get your second dose?


Below are listed the popular routes from airports in Burma to airports in Ethiopia. Only the cheapest flights found are shown. To find the best deal on your airline ticket Burma to Ethiopia, use the form below.
More flights: Burma to ADD. No direct flights from Myanmar to Addis Ababa (ADD), Ethiopia found. Prices of flights to Addis Ababa sourced on Sunday 22nd July 2018 at 20:31.


text:
Crime Fiction, Mark Ramsden, Max Allen Collins, Non-fiction, Pulp, Punk Noir Magazine, Televison.
In Praise Of Quarry by Mark Ramsden
Posted by PaulDBrazill on December 1, 2018
Most things I like get cancelled or the creators find, like Spinal Tap, that their appeal 'is becoming more selective'. I can imagine the team behind the excellent Quarry are uneasy at my endorsement, lest it prevent any further projects being greenlit. "Oh no, it's Ramsden. The 'Angel of Death'."
Critical reaction for Quarry was of course very positive, as it should have been. What's it about? Two Vietnam vets, one black, one white. They return to Memphis, Tennessee in 1972, to a less than ecstatic welcome. Work is hard to find.
The Broker gradually persuades Quarry to become a different type of professional killer. This is one of Peter Mullan's greatest performances, so it's as good as it was possible to be in this part. Mesmerising.
The versatile and charismatic Logan Marshall Green excels as the protagonist. All of the well rounded characters are played by memorable actors. It's impossible to forget Damon Herriman's Buddy, a ruthless gay killer, especially once you've seen him lip synching to a Spanish version of Harry Nilsson's Without You, alone in his pants, music and performance turned up to eleven. Quentin Tarantino just cast him as Charles Manson which will be out soon.
There's exceptional cinematography throughout, in particular some gorgeous nature shots. As with Blood Simple, I knew ten seconds into the trailer this was going to be tremendous.
In addition to some heart-breaking family stuff and social commentary, some good points on racism and the disgraceful treatment of Vietnam vets, there's plenty of violence for sad, armchair hardmen such as myself. An Amazon customer thought it was too dark, always a good sign. Someone elsewhere mentioned the 'bleak narrative'. Well, it was never going to be a musical.
Having said that there is a lot of music, a surprising amount of which is live. mostly really good soul and blues. full length on the dvd.
Take it off her and Put It In Me Tank and the Bangas
There's also a fine Gospel choir and a bluesy rock band. Six more good live performances than you generally get. Admirable. The original minimalist soundtrack works well without drawing attention away from what's on the screen, exactly what it's supposed to do.
The DVD's deleted scenes are mostly satisfying character studies, dialogues which may not move the plot along but absorbing nonetheless. Although there's a killing which didn't make the cut – gritty, sleazy and a little chilling. Surely one of the best 'big bloke in white underwear in kitchen slayings' ever.
The abundant extras include commentaries, behind the scene featurettes, music videos. Even the slipcase is beautiful. A highly recommended purchase as are the original novels, five of which I have thoroughly enjoyed.
They could be described as intelligent contemporary pulp, with enough period detail to put you right there. Quarry makes an engaging host. Pigeonholing anyone's work is likely to elicit 'yes but it's also this' but I would imagine the highly prolific and professional Max Allan Collins will be too busy to ever read this. What they undeniably are is compulsively readable and attractively priced (like Fahrenheit Press e-books, especially bought direct. Come on. Do you want the shirt off our backs?). I can't imagine anyone leaving any of the Quarry series unfinished.
Max Allan Collins' many credits can be marvelled at here,
He has collaborated with Mickey Spillane, written The Road to Perdition, one of these episodes and much, much more. Pretty damn impressive like all of these nine episodes, mostly written and produced by Graham Gordy and Michael D Fuller who also worked on Rectify.
All in all, a deep, uniquely stylish series which gets better with repeated viewings.
From the sublime to the occasionally ridiculous – also bleak enough for the most demanding of tastes – Mark Ramsden's latest mystery is Mistress Murder – Bridget Jones meets 120 Days of Sodom. "A visceral, comic, sexy masterpiece."
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MWC3 (Marshall WaitCursor 3) is an application that replaces the default Windows Mobile WaitCursor. It is not a way to skin the existing one (shellres.96.dll), but it is a standalone application that offers a new concept of wait cursors.
New "Finger Friendly" Graphical interface for the configuration tool.
Added a new option "StartDelay" as a global parameter. When the cursor has to be shown, it will wait this delay first. Use it if you see the cursor even for "easy and quick" operations.
I'm assuming that we need to uninstall MWC 2.2 to install, correct?
Uninstall older versions of MWC before installing this.
i installed application and it only has 5 icon choices.. how do i get the 18 that u have....?
the version 2 ones work on this as well?
MWC2.2 and older cursors will not work with MWC3, they are being converted!
Great job thanks for all your hard work!!!
You know what would be really awesome, if somebody could make the new wait cursor from WM 6.5, that would be sweet!