text:
Increasing the (L)'s Terminal Capacity
By R32 3348, September 28, 2009 in New York City Subway
R32 3348 10
As some of you may know, the suffers from inefficient terminals that do not allow the trains to turn around quickly enough to provide more service. After thinking about this problem, I looked at the track map, and focused on the terminal at Rockaway Parkway.
When I saw the track configuration I wondered if this terminal problem could be fixed easily, by making the Y-crossover north of RP an X-crossover. This would allow trains to enter the station more quickly and increase the line's TPH with relative ease. Is there any reason why this hasn't been done yet?
Y2Julio 206
What problems? Rockaway parkway is no different than many two track terminals out there. I've been riding the on a daily basis for the past 5 years and I'm very satisfied with the level of service.
When CBTC was put on the , the level of service wasn't able to rise as much as it could have because of the distance of the switch from the Rockaway Parkway terminal. Unlike most terminals (like 8th Ave.) where the switch is right before the station, the switch here is right after E. 105th St., instead of Canarsie. That means trains take longer to cross the switch and enter the terminal, and leave again; thus lowering maximum TPH. I'm not saying service is bad - I'm wondering if the service can be made even better if this terminal can be improved.
Pu3rToRoCk8947 0
Y2Julio you are right.Rockaway Parkway Station terminal is perfectly fine as it is now,although some trains do end at the Broadway-Junction stop and turn back to Manhattan on Weekdays,the current level of service is good.I don't know if more trains can be put in now but in the meantime the Myrtle Avenue Station on the does have a middle track and can be used as a turn back for some trains if i'm not mistaken.Does anybody know if they even use that track at all?
Jah 0
The trains that terminate at Broadway junction don't turn back they lay up into either ENY or Canarsie yard.
CBTC is running full time for the hundreds of millions of dollars it was able to add 1 extra train during the rush.
The middle track at myrtle is used for G.O's, to turn trains when there is a problem ahead, and almost every night to do work train moves.
Longer by what? 20-30 seconds? Yes, let's disrupt service to decrease 20-30 secs.
Oh okay,i thought Broadway Junction was another part time terminal.So i guess what we see on the line is what we are going to get now.You would have thought that the people that designed the line back then would have at least left provisions for a middle track,i guess they figured it wouldn't be necessary,oops they were wrong.It's only a matter of time before the line becomes more overstuffed to the max then it is now B)
Kris actually brings up a very good point. Looking at the track map, service is somewhat inadequate ONLY because of the Canarsie terminal, where the switches are a little too far from Canarsie and closer to East 105th. I'm really shocked that a switch was installed north of Broadway Junction in 2002 but the switch at Canarsie wasn't reconfigured.
A few seconds can save minutes in the long run, and can result in an extra train being added to increase service.
MattTrain 3,099
The Rockaway Parkway station can only hold two trains, and cleaning crews are working quickly to clean up the cars before the (L)'s leave. I think the is fine the way it is. Same at 8th Avenue in Manhattan.
Please explain to me how moving the X switch north of Rockaway Parkway will increase turn around times versus it's current configuration of using the X switch south of East 105th.
Look at how the (E)'s terminal is. The switches are so far from the terminal that the 15TPH the has during rush hours can't handle all of them; some will have to go to Jamaica-179th Street instead. This is the same case with the at Canarsie, and would probably explains why not all trains begin or end there; some have trips that start or end at Broadway Junction, Myrtle Avenue, or East 105th Street when trains leave the yard. If the switch was closer to the actual terminal, then yeah, it may save a few seconds, but all those "few" seconds that accumulate further down the road in a given day would make space for another train.
Eric B 1,024
Actually, the scheduled turnbacks are at Myrtle, and use the middle track, not Bway Junction. Nothing drops out there that I know of. You can't get to the yard southbound. There would be light trains coming from Canarsie that would go to Atlantic, and then enter the yard. (they really should have kept some turnback space on the old Atlantic Ave station structure, so the trains could turn back from Bway Jct instead of Myrtle, as a lot of peopl gro from Myrtle to Bway-Jct).
These turnbacks partly ease the Canarsie terminal, at the same time as providing an increase towards Manhattan.
A suggestion I had to ease Canarsie was to open track 3 (the first track in the yard) up to arriving layups. That way, it could discharge without tying up the terminal (which is the cause of a lot of the congestion), and make the move to the 105 spur and into the yard already out of the way of the road. Track 3 is right next to the same exit the platform uses. And there is grassy space inbetween 2 and 3 (where the fence is) that a platform could be built on. And it would be exit only (not for boarding). Track 11 also has space and an exit next to it.
But they rejected this, even after I suggested the approprite signal protection be added.
I also suggested easing the other terminal bty connecting the middle track at 8th Ave at both ends, to allow alternate trains to drop out at 6th Ave and relay back. They turned this down simply because of the cost of adding platform conductors!:eek:
Grand Concourse 2,690
Great ideas Eric. It's a shame they won't listen to you. Those ideas would be far more 'cheaper' to create than say knocking down the walls at 8th Av to extend the tracks further into the tunnel to allow the L to enter 8th Av at a 'normal' speed. And maybe even laying up a spare train or two beyond the station.
So I take it for the millions spent to add just one train, this wasn't worth the money invested?
Look at the work program there is not a single job that terminates at Myrtle but there are a couple that end at the junction then run light into the yard.
There are some midday trains that end at Myrtle Avenue. They then relay using the middle track and head back to Manhattan.
I stand corrected the work program I had wasn't the newest one. Just checked the newest one and yes there are a few trains that now drop out at Myrtle.
INDman 412
Could it be that they are not planned and are in connection with a GO? I really have no idea since I never ride the .
I'll use Jamaica Center as an example. Because the switch is so far from the terminal, the terminal only has a 12TPH turning capacity. South Ferry is a normal (if not improved) terminal and can handle 24TPH. That's a difference of a 2.5 minute wait time and a 5 minute wait time. Getting back to the , if you're only able to add 1 TPH to the line with CBTC then the $$ is a real waste. If you can do more to increase thoroughput (installing a switch isn't even so major that it can't be done outside of weekend G.O.s) then it would make CBTC more effective on the and help to decrease crowding like the project was originally supposed to do.
If you can do more to increase thoroughput (installing a switch isn't even so major that it can't be done outside of weekend G.O.s).
Want to come up to BERA and volunteer in their track department to see how "easy" that work is?
(installing a switch isn't even so major that it can't be done outside of weekend G.O.s)
Yea, it takes longer then 1 weekend to install a switch. Also, if they did that the whole area would need to be redone so they can put in a diamond cross over. Not only do you have to do track work, but you have to upgrade the interlocking because you need to signals to govern and protect this new cross over that you want. Signal work is very complicated and with CBTC on the , that would take a while.
If they were to install a new crossover, weekend GOs or none, it would take outside a month for something like that to be done.
I didn't mean it could be done in a weekend. It would be like the time they installed the switches near the 74th St. vicinity in 5 weekends, but on a smaller scale. It's not impossible, but it would still require a lot of work.
It's not about jobs ending at Myrtle. The jobs would all be from Canarsie (with about one starting from 8th Ave.), but select intervals that end at Myrtle.
If they end at the Junction, I don't know how they do that. They would have to relay south of Atlantic. Perhaps they simply skip all the stops heading to Canarsie yard. I think I've heard of them doing that. Or was this a really old work program where they still had the middle tracks at Atlantic?
According to Subchat, the Y-crossover was replaced with an X-crossover sometime during the installation of CBTC so it's a moot point anyway.
Damn, what a shame. Any sort of additional trackage would be benificial for the L train. I guess it comes down to extending the tracks past the 8th Av 'walls' if they wanted to speed up the turn around times for the L on the Manhattan side.


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Home› Blogs› Staff Reports's blog› 2019 HUB AWARD: Hale, Stetelman to be honored Nov.12
2019 HUB AWARD: Hale, Stetelman to be honored Nov.12
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A devoted physician with more than four decades of service in the field of family medicine and an iconic Hattiesburg business and civic leader have been chosen as recipients of this year's prestigious Hub Award.
The Hub Award committee will bestow Dr. Thomas Eric Hale and Andy Stetelman the recognition Tuesday, Nov. 12 event during a ceremony at the Hattiesburg Lake Terrace Convention Center. The event will begin with a reception at 6 p.m.
The Hub Award recognizes individuals who make outstanding contributions to the local community and demonstrate a commitment to excellence and dedication to the public good.
"The Hub Award ceremony celebrates leadership, and it is an important and happy occasion to gather annually to applaud two people who have and continue to make a positive difference in our beloved city," said USM President Emeritus Dr. Aubrey K. Lucas, a member of the Hub Award committee. "We're thrilled to add Dr. Hale and Mr. Stetelman to the list of past recipients, as they have certainly earned this award with outstanding records of service to Hattiesburg."
Proceeds from support of the Hub Award program over the last four decades have produced more than $500,000 in scholarship funds, benefitting students attending The University of Southern Mississippi and William Carey University through the Greater Pinebelt Community Foundation's Hub Award Endowment.
To reserve a seat for the 2019 Hub Award ceremony and banquet, contact the Greater Pinebelt Community Foundation at (601) 583-6180.
ABOUT THE HUB AWARD
Established in 1979, the Hub Award originated as "Bobby Chain Day," with a group of community leaders honoring the contributions and service to the community by the late Bobby Chain, a prominent businessman and former mayor of the city, who also served a term on the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning. The honor continued annually as the Hub Award, recognizing individuals who followed Chain's lead in bettering Hattiesburg and the quality of life of its citizens, through their own achievements and commitment to service.
THOMAS ERIC HALE
Hale is a Hattiesburg native and a 1968 graduate of Hattiesburg High School, where he was a National Merit Scholar. He went on to graduate from the University of Mississippi with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and biology in 1972, and then earned his M.D. from the University of Mississippi Medical Center in 1976.
After completing an internship, residency and tenure as chief resident at UMMC from 1977-1979, Hale served there as an associate clinical professor from 1979-2012. He joined the medical staff of Hattiesburg Clinic, P.A. and Forrest General Hospital in 1979.
At FGH, Hale is past president of its medical staff and past chairman of its credentials committee. He served on Hattiesburg Clinic's board of directors from 1993-2016, and from 2002-2016 was chairman of its finance committee and past chairman of its Building Corporation Board. He was also a member of the Merit Health Wesley Medical Center staff from 1979-2011.
Hale's professional memberships include those with the American Academy of Family Practice; American Medical Association; Mississippi State Medical Association; South Mississippi Medical Society; Society for Teachers for Family Medicine; and the Mississippi Academy of Family Physicians. His professional honors include Forrest General Hospital Physician Mentor of the Year (2009) and Forrest General Doctors' Hall of Fame (2010).
An active civic leader in his community, Hale is a member of the board of directors for the United Way of Southeast Mississippi and the Salvation Army, and an Eagle Scout, where he also serves on the board of directors for the Pine Burr Area Boy Scouts of America. He is a member of Hattiesburg's Parkway Heights United Methodist Church, where he serves on its administrative board.
ANDY STETELMAN
Stetelman, president of London & Stetelman Commercial Realtors, established in 1933, is also a native of Hattiesburg. At age 15, he started working with the family business, performing any work he could as a non-licensed staff member. While attending the University of Southern Mississippi, he passed the Mississippi Real Estate exam, and started working for the company's property management division.
Stetelman graduated with a degree in paralegal studies and a minor in criminal justice from USM, and continued his career in the family business, presently the fourth generation. He earned his Society of Office and Industry Realtors (SIOR) designation, the highest honor of an office and industrial real estate specialist, one of only three SIOR members in the state. In 1998, he was chosen for Mississippi Business Journal's Top 40 under 40 class.
Appointed by the last three mayors of Hattiesburg as a member of the Hattiesburg Convention Commission, Stetelman has served as its chairman since 1995. He was Hattiesburg's Realtor of The Year in 1992, and in 2001 became the first Mississippi Commercial Realtor of the Year; in 2003, he was named regional vice president of the Mississippi Association of Realtors, Southern District. In 2017, he was appointed to the city of Hattiesburg Mayor's Task Force for Planning and Zoning, and served in several capacities with the local, state and national levels of the Realtor Association. He is a founding director of The First Bancshares, Inc., dba, The First National Bank, based in Hattiesburg.
A devoted supporter of USM, Stetelman was a 1999 USM Foundation board member, served on the Southern Miss Real Estate Council in 2003, the USM President's Advisory Board in 2004, and for the USM Business Advisory Council, including as its treasurer in 2016.
Stetelman has been involved with numerous local civic organizations such as Hattiesburg Kiwanis Club, Metro Club, as a leader for the Troop 93 Boy Scouts, and as a Midtown Merchants Association board member. He attends Parkway Heights United Methodist Church with his wife, Laurie, and has participated in several Honduras Hood Team Mission trips. He has three children, Stephen Stetelman, Sarah Carlson and Kate Robbins, and four grandchildren.
Signature Q&A: Demaris Lee
Noteworthy: Royal Horses
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New Year, New Perspective
culture, lifestyle, travel
Accessorize: Reinvent your wardrobe with three simple steps
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culture, music, lifestyle
Noteworthy: Merry Christmas - Bing holds the record at 50 million copies
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Noteworthy: Ty Trehern
2019 Best of the Pine Belt CORPORATE Table Package (Table of 8)
by David Gustafson
2019 Best of the Pine Belt HOF concert ticket (only)
2019 Best of the Pine Belt PLATINUM V.I.P. Package (Couple)
Since 2005, Signature Magazine has been South Mississippi's premier lifestyles magazine. Spotlighting the people, places, and things that make South Mississippi so unique, Signature is published monthly and is the most-popular and most widely-distributed publication in the region
525 N. Main • Hattiesburg, MS 39401
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text:
Scherzer dominates Phillies, Nats sweep double-header
By Destiny Lugardo
Max Scherzer pitched seven shutout innings. (Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire)
Final: Nationals 2, Phillies 0
After a let-down performance to start off the day, the Philadelphia Phillies needed a pick-me-up to regain their confidence and give themselves a chance to win the series against the Washington Nationals in the second half of a day-night double-header. They didn't get that.
Phillies starter Jake Arrieta did all he could to keep his team in it but in the end, the Phillies were shut out by Max Scherzer and the gory bruise under his eye. The 2-0 loss was their third straight and 10th overall in the month of June.
This time around, the Nationals got off to an early lead. With two outs in the second, it seemed as though Arrieta was going to get out of the inning comfortably after surrendering a lead off walk to cleanup hitter Juan Soto and getting Matt Adams to ground into a double play. That didn't prove to be the case as Brian Dozier, who homered in Game 1 of the doubleheader, caught a middle-in sinker over the plate and tucked it over the foul pole for a solo home run:
Brian Dozier hasn't had a great season, but he's raked against the Phillies in 2019. pic.twitter.com/JFcZGuIIEg
— Phillies Nation (@PhilliesNation) June 19, 2019
The Phillies offense was unable to generate much through the middle innings. The hope tonight was that Scherzer, who broke his nose during batting practice before yesterday's postponed matchup, wouldn't be as locked in as he normally is. Instead, Scherzer wore his black and blue eye with pride and carved up the struggling Phillies lineup. He struck out seven through five innings and his slider seemed virtually unhittable. Even though the Phillies led the game in hits at that point, it seemed as though the one-run deficit the team faced was insurmountable with the way Scherzer was pitching.
The team's best chance at getting to Scherzer came in the seventh. Cesar Hernandez began with a lead-off double. The next two batters, Brad Miller and Andrew Knapp, both became strikeout victims. With two outs, Kapler opted to have J.T. Realmuto pinch-hit for Arrieta. Realmuto, who came in three for 39 in his career against Scherzer, struck out to end both the inning and the threat.
Juan Nicasio pitched in relief of Arrieta and delivered a scoreless seventh inning. In the eighth, the returning Pat Neshek was called upon to pitch. It was his first appearance on the mound since May 23rd in Chicago, where he gave up two home runs. He gave up another this time around. The solo shot to left center field off the bat of Victor Robles extended the Nationals lead to two:
HUGE! Victor Robles' homer doubles the Nats' lead. pic.twitter.com/n3hPrFOvfa
— Nationals on MASN (@masnNationals) June 20, 2019
A couple batters later, Neshek was lifted from the game after suffering what appears to be a hamstring injury. J.D. Hammer came into the game with a 2-0 count to Trea Turner and proceeded to walk him. After walking the next batter Adam Eaton, he was able to get Anthony Rendon to ground out to first and keep the deficit at two.
In the top of the ninth, Nats closer Sean Doolittle came in to seal the deal. Hoskins, Jay Bruce and Cesar Hernandez proved to be no match for the hard throwing left-hander and once again, the Phillies bats came up empty despite a brilliant pitching performance from their starter. The team will get another chance to break out of their slump before heading back to Philadelphia when they face Stephen Strasburg and the Nationals again Thursday night, weather permitting, of course.
Shibe Vintage Sports Starting Pitching Performance
The story remained the same for both Zach Eflin and Jake Arrieta in this day-night doubleheader. Both pitchers did exactly what they needed to do to keep the team in the game. The Phillies bats, however, didn't do their part and another great starting pitching performance was wasted.
Without regarding the final score, it's important to note some positive from Arrieta's performance. He sat down nine straight Washington hitters to end his outing. His sinker movement was impressive, something that was expected of him given six days of rest. Arrieta also got the majority of his outs on the ground, with 10 of his 18 outs coming via the ground ball. This is a staple to Arrieta's game and if can string together a few of these starts in a row, it'll be welcome to a starting rotation that hasn't had much in the way of stablility in 2019.
Phillies Nuggets Player of the Game: Max Scherzer
Mad Max was it again. After 117 pitches, he left the game with 10 strikeouts and no earned runs.
Oddly enough, his numbers against the Phillies before tonight were not that great. He sported 5.65 ERA in 18 career starts against the Phillies, but tonight, that all didn't seem to matter. With a broken nose and all, he took his game to another level against a struggling Phillies lineup. That's twice in one day that the Phils were completely shut down by Nats starting position. With Scherzer, Corbin and Strasburg and the helm of this rotation, it would be crazy to completely rule them out of the National League East race.
Ticket IQ Next Game
Thursday June 20th at 7:05 P.M. vs. Washington Nationals @ Nationals Park
SportsRadio 94 WIP; WTTM 1680 (Spanish)
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Three acts to recount the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Three different repertories to allude to a "turbulent" era. 1989-1991: one of the most difficult periods in 20th-century Russian history, which is remembered in a potentially reassuring way as Perestroika. But the club where the film begins seems more like the place for one last dance.
Two women live together for a few months in a two-room apartment in Beirut: they carry mattresses out onto the balcony, frenetically clean the floors, prepare food, play the accordion, chat and dream of other places. They move the walls. Nuhad is fifty years old and fled Damascus because of the war; Angie, the young Lebanese director who has taken her in, shares with her the waiting and the desire to go elsewhere.
From colonial Algeria to the lost community utopia on a Greek island, to contemporary Athens, between collapse and revolution: Le Fort des fous is a journey which crosses the Mediterranean, the cradle of democracy and, perhaps, of its demise.
M spends the night dealing drugs in the city and drawing the portrait of an unknown Sarajevo. A portrait which is also the director's affectionate adieu to a city where he studied film at the Film.Factory founded by Béla Tarr.
Claudette and the other characters in the film are farmers who are approaching retirement age, or who have already passed it. They are breeders in torment, immortal cultivators, gods who resist globalization. The movie camera accompanied them for fifteen years, in the farms and pastures in the region of Forez, the ancient land of Astrea, and has given us a melancholy comedy, both tender and violent.
An archive of movies and audio material in Bissau bears witness to the birth of a cinema which is part of the process of colonial liberation. Filipa César accompanies the projections of this material from the isolated villages of Guinea-Bissau to Europe's capitals. The silent reels become a place where solutions to the crisis of our democracies can be sought.
Ninety-year-old Ruth, a former opera singer who was moderately successful in the past, lives with her rather nervous daughter Jessica, who takes care of her in their apartment: a large, messy penthouse flat crowded with memories and books in New York's Greenwich Village. Their chihuahua Angelina Jolie lives with them and witnesses their constant bickering.
Madeleine, an old woman who lives in the countryside in Normandy, comes across a wild boar piglet and adopts it; Indian monkeys give Vincent a hard time during his trip to India: a free, bizarre and fascinating tale, able to redraw the relations between women and men and animals!


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For a limited time, any member can download an Ocean Way Drums Refill for Reason 4 for free. Ocean Way Drums Kit 10 Medium is mapped for GM and Sonic Reality's iMap.
For a limited time, any member can download an Ocean Way Drums Refill for Reason 4 for free. Ocean Way Drums Kit 10 Medium is mapped for GM and Sonic Reality's iMap.
Three Sonic Reality Drum Kits for us with Yamaha's Motif XS are also free. Ocean Way Drums by Sonic Reality was recorded and mixed by Grammy-winning engineer/producers Allen Sides and Steven Miller in the Studio B room that has seen classic recordings by Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole, and continues with contemporary hits by artists like Radiohead, Green Day, Kanye West and Eric Clapton. Nineteen drum kits were sampled in this room with top-of-the-line mics and audiophile recording equipment. The new affordable Ocean Way Drums DL and Silver Editions offer some of the best-quality software drum plug-ins. Now, the company is offering free Ocean Way Drums Kit 10m (Medium Dry to Ambient Mix) that was programmed specifically for Yamaha's Motif XS Workstation.
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We love that the trend in childrens' rooms is moving toward cool over cutesy. And when a decor scheme is able to encompass kid-friendly patterns and colors that can grow with the little one, well, that's the best of both worlds.
Utah-based interior designer Kirsten Krason accomplished just that when she made over a bare-bones little boy's room in soothing but fun shades of aqua, gray, and orange. Check out Kirsten's budget-friendly approach to decorating for this little man, and see how the pieces she incorporated are sure to last him for years to come.


In January 2000 I started running the first licensed APRS Internet gateway in the UK originally with the callsign GB7UIV. Within a week of experiments starting on the 26th January 2000, the gateway was on air and connected to the internet 24/7 except for periods when the connection dropped out and the modem (remember those?) had to redial. The callsign changed to MB7UIV some time later.
The gateway was on 144.800MHz and was on the air until the 5th June 2010 when it was finally retired. At the time of closedown it was still running UI-View32, written by the late Roger Barker (G4IDE) and a very modest computer, a 1.5GHz P4 system with just 1Gb RAM and Windows 2000.
The RF side was a Kenwood TM-261E with 10 Watts ERP from a roof mounted co-linear and driven by a PacComm Tiny-2 Mk2 in KISS mode. The packet driver used to control the TNC was the AGW packet engine, know as AGWPE.
The callsign of GB7UIV and then MB7UIV was chosen to reflect the very popular APRS software in use at the time: UI-View.
At 13:55z on Wednesday 8th February 2017, MB7UIV returned as an APRS receive only iGate using a Raspberry Pi Zero and an RTL-SDR dongle configured as per the method described in this blog. All local APRS traffic received here on 144.800MHz is gated to the APRS Tier2 Server Network.
I'm very pleased to have MB7UIV active again and am happy to provide the service to any radio amateurs in the area who operate APRS in any way whatsoever.
This entry was posted in Amateur radio, APRS, Data, FM, Raspberry Pi, VHF and tagged APRS, Gateway, iGate, MB7UIV, Raspberry Pi, RPi, RTL-SDR. Bookmark the permalink.


If you require more help or to talk to someone further about All-New XC90, please choose either Private customer – if you are looking to purchase or finance privately or you are a company car driver or select Business Customer, if you are a fleet decision maker for your company fleet.
Browse the owners manual for the All-New XC90 or view the quick guide for how to use a selection of the controls in the car, including Sensus Navigation.
Sensus solutions combine state-of-the art information and entertainment. With a built-in wi-fi hotspot so you and your XC90 are always connected.
Designed to be as natural and intuitive to interact with as possible - just speak to get things done, or tap to control your systems.
We replicated the sound from the Gothenburg Concert Hall, taking 800 individual measurements to most faithfully reflect the purest possible sound.
Like having your car in your smartphone. Use the app to access roadside assistance, lock/unlock doors, and see the status of your car.


Hospital readmissions, a $17 billion annual problem, are higher in rural, remote or smaller communities that sometimes have significantly less access to pharmacies, according researchers who are among the first to examine this issue.
Researchers at Oregon State University (OSU) and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) found that the average number of readmissions in rural areas was higher compared with their urban counterparts (15.3% vs. 14.7%) where the days and hours a person could find an open pharmacy were much higher.
"It's a huge burden both on a patient and our medical system when they have to be readmitted to a hospital," said David Lee, PharmD, PhD, an assistant professor at the OSU and OHSU Colleges of Pharmacy, in Corvallis and Portland.
"The modern pharmaceutical profession is increasingly being recognized as an important partner in health care, and as its services continue to expand it will help even more. This research shows that pharmacy access can help people from going back to the hospital. For older populations who often find hospital experiences quite exhausting, that's extremely important to their overall health.
"The sooner a person gets out and stays out of a hospital, the better off they usually will be," he said.
U.S. hospitals are penalized by federal payors for unplanned hospital readmissions. It can be a problem with various groups: older adults; people who have several medical conditions; those taking multiple medications; and people who have difficulty adhering to their medication regimens.
The study was done in Oregon with census data of patients older than 65 years of age, studying 507 pharmacies and 58 hospitals. It was supported by the OHSU Layton Aging & Alzheimer's Disease Center, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health.
In some rural areas of Oregon, Dr. Lee noted, a person might have to drive 100 miles or more to find a pharmacy. In one of Oregon's rural communities there is a single pharmacy that's open 54 hours a week; by comparison, in some major urban areas a person might be able to find multiple pharmacies that collectively are open more than 3,800 hours a week.
These challenges of availability, distance and convenience to professional pharmaceutical products, service and counsel are a problem, the researchers said. Another interesting corollary to the issue, they said, is identification of what have been called "pharmacy deserts" even within major urban areas, such as Chicago.
Health-system pharmacists can help improve these statistics, they said. Improved hospital discharge medication counseling has been shown to increase adherence to use of new or changed medications, the study indicated. And some hospitals around the country have also taken it upon themselves to open outpatient, community and 24-hour pharmacies to reduce readmission rates.
"Pharmacy-led initiatives have included performing medication reconciliation and discharge medication counseling at the patient's bedside. Discharge medication counseling has shown to increase adherence to new medications and medication changes made at hospital discharge," the researchers wrote.
Nonadherence to medication usage ranges from 25% to 50% in the United States, depending on the disease state, and is associated with increased illness and death, the study noted. Causes can include adverse side effects, insurance coverage, costs, education levels, cognition and pharmacy access.
If more conventional pharmacies are not economically viable, the researchers said, a possible remedy to the problem is growth and improvement of telepharmacy or mail-order services that are carefully backed up by personal advice, monitoring and counsel from professional pharmacists.


text:
Transcorp Hotels Plc gross profit rises 143% to N16.23 billion, revenue more than doubles to N21.7 billion
By Morton L. Richardson on April 4, 2022 Gross profit
Transcorp Hotels Plc paid a total dividend of N717 million to its shareholders at its 8th Annual General Meeting held at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja on Monday.
Chairman of the Board, Mr. Emmanuel Nnorom, said the company closed the 2021 financial year strong, with an impressive gross revenue of N22 billion, surpassing its pre-COVID revenue. of 2019 by 20 billion naira.
"Our disciplined approach to financial management continued to deliver results, as evidenced by the reduction in financial expenses during the year. During the year, Transcorp Hotels maintained its corporate and bond credit rating, as two leading rating agencies confirmed the company's "stable" outlook. » said Mr. Nnorom.
"The pandemic has changed guest behavior, check-in and check-out patterns, and the geographic distribution of hotel operations. We have harnessed all of this and led the market by outperforming the industry average and the N10 billion revenue recorded in 2020," the Chairman added.
In her address, the Managing Director/CEO of Transcorp Hotels Plc. Ms. Dupe Olusola noted that occupancy – the proportion of hotel accommodation occupied – which started at 55% in January has steadily increased to reach a record high of 80% in December 2021. The average daily rate (ADR) has also increased from N69,000 in January 2021 to N83,000 in December 2021.
"We remained the superior choice for everyone, including many global leaders and dignitaries from around the world whom we welcomed in 2021. We continued to strengthen our position as a comprehensive industry leader with an increased focus on the providing excellent quality of service, customer satisfaction and safety", Ms. Olusola added.
Reiterating the Chairman's statement on revenue, the Managing Director/CEO noted that the company closed the year 2021 with an impressive gross revenue of N22 billion.
"This good progress reflects the growth achieved in most of our business segments and the strengthening of our leisure activity. We have become more innovative in our leisure activities segment in response to the COVID-19 pandemic which has been a key success factor for us in 2020. We pushed further in 2021 and increased revenues in this segment by 118 %, rising from N1.7 billion in 2020 to N3.7b at the end of 2021", Mrs. Olusola said.
She expressed optimism that the company's impressive performance will continue despite the industry's cautious stance.
"Our main objective will be a continuous investment in innovation which allows us to be dynamic and agile while providing superior offers and service to all our customers. We will continue to innovate and optimize all facets of our business, from operational efficiency to customer engagement and strengthening direct revenue. The good cost-cutting habits and financial strength we have cultivated through nearly two years of volatile market conditions will be reinforced," Ms. Olusola stressed.
lr: non-executive director, Mr. Alex Okoh; Non-Executive Director, Hon. Pierre Elumelu; Non-Executive Director, Ms. Owen Omogiafo; Managing Director/CEO, Ms. Dupe Olusola; President, Mr. Emmanuel Nnorom; Company Secretary, Ms. Kofo Olokun-Olawoyin; Independent Non-Executive Director, Ms. Bolanle Onagoruwa; and Non-Executive Director, Mr. Alexander Adeyemi during the 8th Annual General Meeting of Transcorp Hotels Plc held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel Abuja on Monday
Also commenting on the results, Ms Oluwatobiloba Ojediran, Chief Financial Officer of Transcorp Hotels Plc, pointed out that the company continued its impressive performance despite the economic headwinds.
"Gross profit increased by 143% to N16.23 billion for the year ended December 31, 2021, from N6.67 billion in 2020. We also saw revenue growth of 114% to 21 .74 billion naira compared to 10.16 billion naira in 2020", Mrs. Ojediran said.
In his comments, a shareholder, Chief Olatunde Okelana, while noting that Transcorp Hotels Plc's flagship hotel, Transcorp Hilton Abuja, is the safest and most serene in Abuja, also added that one of the secrets of Transcorp Hotels Plc's success is inclusiveness. "Look at the composition of the board of directors", he underlined, pointing out that 50% of the members of the Council are women.
The Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) listed hospitality giant has continued to set the tone in the industry, cementing its position as a premier hospitality brand. During the second half of 2021, the company launched Aura by Transcorp Hotels, an online booking platform that allows people to book accommodation (hotels and apartments), order food and book various types of experiences, including visits. Transcorp Hotels continued to strengthen its business and invest for the future. The company is developing a world-class event center at the Transcorp Hilton premises in Abuja. It is also working on a lifestyle resort/hotel in Lagos, which is expected to rival the best of its kind globally, even as it upgrades its property in Calabar to maintain the standards of hospitality the brand is for. known.
Transcorp Hotels Plc. is one of Africa's leading hospitality companies, committed to redefining the standards of hospitality. Transcorp Hotels is the hotel subsidiary of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp). The Company's hotels include the award-winning Transcorp Hilton Abuja and Transcorp Hotels Calabar. It also owns Aura, an online platform for booking accommodation, dining and memorable lifestyle experiences.
Find out more at www.transcorphotels.com
HighCo: Gross Margin Q2 2021
Square's Cash app saw its gross profit increase 94% to $ 546 million in the second quarter, but saw a $ 45 million write-down on its bitcoin holdings
AES Andes net income in the first half of 2021 affected by decarbonization and peaks in gross margin
Square Yards First quarter gross profit up 14% to Rs 32cr; turnover up 50% to Rs 101cr


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Boosie BadAzz Says He Has White Friends That Call Him N-Word
C. Vernon Coleman II
Prince Williams, Getty Images
Boosie BadAzz thinks the White battle rapper who recently got punched by his opponent for using the N-word deserved what he got. However, Boosie also believes White people using the word is okay under some circumstances.
The Baton Rouge rapper was interviewed by TMZ on Friday (Jan. 24) at Los Angeles International Airport when he was asked about the viral battle where William Wolf got socked by his challenger Avenue C for uttering the phrase "My nigga" during a heated bout.
"It was probably just a bad situation," Boosie said of the battle. "I've had close White friends call me 'My nigga.' You can't do that in certain situations. You gotta know how to say that word."
Boosie said a battle rap is not the scenario where a White person should think it is okay to drop an N-bomb.
"In battle rap, you dissin. In a battle rap, it's different. It's aggression," Boosie added. "The other word is like, 'Love, my nigga.' You saying nigga like...they was supposed to bust him in his shit. They did the right thing. [He] was trying to be derogatory with it, [offensive] with it. That's something you can't do."
Boosie is fresh off a controversy of his own. Earlier this month, he caught heat from members of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity for wearing one of their sweaters at a basketball game. In December, he was the victim of a car break-in where the culprits made off with $70,000 in jewelry.
See Photos of Every XXL Freshman Ever Inducted Into the Freshman Class Over the Years
Source: Boosie BadAzz Says He Has White Friends That Call Him N-Word
Filed Under: boosie badazz


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Recently, I was talking with some folks who were lamenting the dwindling size of classical concert audiences, and we were trying to think of ways to rebuild them. It's a nearly universal phenomenon.
I think I understand one of the reasons why classical music (concert or recording) is such a hard sell these days.
Or rather, time and focus.
Both, it would seem, are in precious little supply these days. There is more to do, there are shorter deadlines, there are more things vying for our attention.
And a symphony takes, say, 45 minutes. Nobody has 45 minutes in one block anymore. And that's just listening time. If you're going to a concert, you have to include travel time, intermission…you get the idea. And to get to the concert, you're probably going to have to fight traffic, not conducive to preparing one for focused listening. Oh, and don't forget to turn off your phone before the concert (and check if there's anything you need to attend to immediately?). After the concert, when you turn your phone back on, it will be sure to alert you if you missed anything.
But then, people go to pop concerts. Since the time commitment's the same, what's different? Well, there's more moving around on stage, possibly dancing. People have their phones out taking pictures or videos, tweeting. There might be a light show* and pyrotechnics. I don't advocate pyrotechnics for a classical concert (except in the case of the 1812 Overture, then definitely). And it's hard to dance with a cello.
What was the complaint about Glenn Gould's Goldberg Variations in 1981? Oh yeah—too slow. Was he trying to tell us something?
When was the last time you had the luxury of that kind of time?
So, what do we do about these concerts? I wish I had a surefire answer. We might make them more approachable, more lively. We might change the programming a little; in the early 20th century, one might hear a sonata movement, not the entire sonata. That's not necessarily true to the composer's intent, but now, if something catches your ear, you can probably hear the rest of it on demand and explore. Others have noted the tyranny that audio recording has imposed on live performance—there is less risk-taking, because people want to hear what they heard in the recording, which is flawless, immaculate (and the product of numerous takes and editing). I'd prefer to hear someone playing from their soul, taking some risks, even if it means a few mistakes are made.
Or we can hope that the pendulum will swing back, and people will begin to turn away from the relentless jangling go go go of getting and spending,2 quick, easy, fast, now living, and turn more toward a slower, more deliberate pace, with focused attention and the taking of time. And, with that, the savoring of classical music.
Thank you for your precious time and attention, now and always.
And now, Glenn Gould's 1981 version of the Aria from Bach's Goldberg Variations.
**Robert Schumann first applied it to Schubert's Symphony in C Major; it was later more broadly applied to his sonatas.
Gleick, James, Faster. New York: Pantheon Books, 1999.
from William Wordsworth's The World Is Too Much With Us, via poetryfoundation.org. It was written around 1802, published in 1807 (also see Written in London. September, 1802).
Image attribution: Difficult times via https://imgur.com/gallery/Mb8q5.
Categories: Musings | Tags: Bach, Fox, Gould, Schubert, Schumann | Permalink.
Glenn Gould was not only a great pianist, he was also well-versed in the art and technology of audio recording. He was the final arbiter of what appeared on his released recordings. Any retrospective look at his 1955 and 1981 recordings of Bach's Goldberg Variations will mention the countless alternate versions of individual variations that Gould discarded in favor of the performances that ultimately were released.
I'm sure I'm not the only one to wonder what those outtakes were like. The difference between his 1955 and 1981 recordings of the Variations is stunning. What alterations were occurring in 1955 that we didn't get the chance to hear? Some outtakes were made available in the retrospective A State of Wonder recording that included both the earlier and later renditions. But it was only a small sample.
Finally, it is possible to hear them all. Sony has released a box set containing all of the alternate versions that were recorded in the 1955 sessions. There are five CDs of outtakes. The box set also includes a coffee table book that includes audio engineering notes and the score, the 1955 and 1981 recordings on CD, the 1955 recording on vinyl, and a poster. You can see the box set here.
Or should we perhaps trust Gould's meticulous selection of variations, seamlessly spliced together, as representing his vision of what the Goldberg Variations should be, as he saw it in 1955? I will leave it to you to decide.
Here is a video of Gould playing some of the variations in a television broadcast from 1964.
Categories: Listening Guide, Resources | Tags: Bach, Gould, piano | Permalink.
It's very much the same feeling you might get when you're learning a foreign language, and you decide to test your newfound skill with a native speaker. And your methodical elementary-school-level bid is met joyfully with a flood of fluency, the torrent of a mountain stream, water flowing over and around rocks, streams combining in ways that leave one wondering where one begins and another ends. Itisveryhardtounderstandwhenyoudon'tknowwherethewordsactuallyend.
The same goes for Bach. When those melodic lines start to intertwine, you can try to follow them, and you catch a glimpse of one every now and then as it goes by, but it is really tough to grasp everything that is going on.
I was listening to Bach's Keyboard Concerto No. 1 (BWV 1052), and immediately had to listen to it again to try to figure out what was going on, it was so good. The first movement begins simply enough as Bach states his theme. Ah, but then, the keyboard and orchestra begin stating the theme individually, and the keyboard adds a rippling line, and here the water image is particularly apt, as the strings and keyboard take turns surging forward then receding. If you want to hear it and follow the score, you can do so here.
This video provides a balanced, and amazingly fast, performance of the first movement.
Another fascinating video puts the keyboard in a more prominent role, this time with Glenn Gould at piano and Leonard Bernstein conducting. The performance begins at 5:08, but Bernstein's introductory remarks about the performance of music that bears few interpretative markings may be of interest as well.
Ok, so now we reach the second movement. And one would expect the same sort of interplay of instruments and lines. You know, predicting, because you're starting to get this.
Bach pulls the rug out from under your feet, beginning the second movement with an extended statement, everyone playing the same note (within the particular octave their instrument plays). It then develops into a thought-filled, deeply expressive, one might even say somber, melody.
The liveliness of the first movement returns in the third movement, and it is classic Bach.
There are moments, something in the strings, that seems to reach forward in time toward the Classical era.
And that's the stunning thing with Bach. Every now and then, you come across a phrase, and there is foreshadowing of music yet to come. It's there, little glimpses of the future, and yet, it's undeniably Bach.
One more thing. Here's the kicker about the keyboard concerto. Most experts say that he put it together from earlier works, probably a violin concerto, judging by the violin-like features, and there's some direct copying from earlier cantatas.
As stunning as it is, it's just a reworking of stuff he already wrote.
And that's the Bach and awe of it all.
Categories: Listening Guide | Tags: Bach, concerto, Gould, harpsichord, keyboard, orchestra, piano | Permalink.
Photo: TIme Travel Haikus 5-7-5 by CityGypsy11 (Flickr.com/Creative Commons).
How long is that note?
That's the way I'll know.
Glenn Gould played with time.
When will we reach the coda?
I've been thinking about time a lot lately. Probably because there are some important deadlines on my horizon, and the clock is ticking very loudly. Also because it's one of my children's birthday, and how can they be that age already?
As we say in linguistics, "Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana" (and yes, there really is a Wikipedia entry for this).
In music, time can be a very fluid thing. While a note has a fixed duration relative to other notes in a given piece of music, its absolute duration is quite malleable.
So how fast is allegro? And exactly how much rubato can you get away with (they do call it "stealing time" after all) before people start to raise their eyebrows at you?
It's fuzzy–except when it's not. I'm thinking of the famous disagreement between Glenn Gould and Leonard Bernstein on the tempi of a Brahms concerto. Gould insisted on stunningly slow tempi for certain portions of the concerto, and Bernstein felt it necessary to make an announcement before the piece began to make the audience aware that this would be a…unique…interpretation.
Beethoven's Grosse Fuge was deemed too vast to be the last movement of the Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 130. But some have recorded the quartet with the fugue, leaving it to the listener to make up their own mind.
Schumann described Schubert's ninth symphony using the word's "heavenly length"; the phrase is now more typically applied to Schubert's late sonatas. Both Schubert's and Beethoven's late sonatas seem worlds unto themselves, time stretching out infinitely.
But while it seems to extend endlessly, time can also be too short. Monday's featured artist, Jacqueline du Pré, was forced by illness to stop performing at age 27. Schubert died at 31, having already produced over 600 songs, nine symphonies (and he had started a tenth). What if he had lived to 80? What would a Schubert who lived to the time of Brahms, Bruckner, San-Saëns, and Liszt write?
Minutes tick by, never to return. You can blaze through Chopin's Minute Waltz, sure, but after listening to many feats of pianistic wizardry, I have to go with Rubinstein's less-blazing performance. Each note is clear, distinct, and it becomes a small jewel.
I am definitely going to be late to choir practice…again.
Categories: Haiku, Musings | Tags: Beethoven, Bernstein, Brahms, Chopin, Gould, Rubinstein, Schubert | Permalink.
I have been intrigued by fugues for a long time. The one that most people have heard is from Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, a Halloween staple and the opener in Disney's original Fantasia movie.
But what is a fugue exactly? It is a piece of music where different voices echo one another, but with a very specific formulation. A voice means a melody line, which may be represented by a human voice, an instrument, or one of the melodies played simultaneously on a piano.
The opening passage, the theme of the piece, is called the subject. For it to be an "official" fugue, the subject must be stated by each voice participating in the fugue. Typically, the first restatement of the subject (in a different voice), called the answer, is an interval of a fifth higher. The subject may be followed by a countersubject, a new passage that works well with the subject and will help in building the fugue.
The section where the subject, answer, and any countersubject are stated is called the exposition. The way in which the voices play off one another is called counterpoint. Typically, the key will change (sometimes multiple times), which keeps things interesting.
After the exposition, there is a development section. The subject and countersubject may be restated, probably numerous times, but they don't have to repeat themselves in the same way each time—otherwise it would be a round or canon (like "Row, row, row your boat"). Changes will be made to reveal nuances in the musical passage (which sounds fancier than "to play around with it"), or to accommodate harmony in the interweaving of voices (so you don't get unpleasant clashing of notes).
Finally, the whole fugue may wrap up with a coda or codetta that brings the fugue back to its initial key, but it's not a necessary component.
To start out, it helps to write a plain, vanilla passage for your subject (and countersubject), because once you start bouncing notes off one another, chaos will ensue if you pick weird intervals.
Chaos, like handing an 8-year-old an alarm clock and a screwdriver. Bits will be left over; parts may disappear; things will not fit together right. And it may never work.
That being said, it can be done, and done brilliantly. Bach makes it look effortless. His Well-Tempered Clavier presents preludes and fugues in every key, and his Art of Fugue is mind-boggling. Here is a sample, Contrapunctus 11, with the themes indicated by different shapes. Beethoven's Grosse Fuge is a monument (although it was not initially well received). Brahms caps off his Variations and Fugue on a Theme of G. F. Handel (Op.24) with a wonderful fugue (measure-by-measure analysis here). And in the 20th century, Paul Hindemith used a fugue in the last movement of his third piano sonata and achieved a thoroughly modern sound.
The fugue is alive and well, though you probably won't hear it on a top-40 radio station. That being said, YouTube yields facetious fugues written on themes by Adele and Lady Gaga and more (the Nokia ringtone?!).
But the fugue that tickled me the most was this one by none other than Glenn Gould, titled So You Want To Write a Fugue. The link is to a performance; you can find a performance with a visual presentation of the words and music here.
See the references for sites where you can find out more about the fugue.
Categories: Composing, History, Resources | Tags: Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, fugue, Gould, Handel, Hindemith | Permalink.
The Valse Sentimentale is the last movement in Tchaikovsky's work Six Pieces (Op. 51) for solo piano, composed in 1882.
You can read the history of the creation of this set of six pieces here (if you're a Tchaikovsky fan, this website is a wealth of information; here's the main page). Here you can see the manuscript of the pieces in Tchaikovsky's own hand (click on the book icon in the middle of the page).
Here is Tchaikovsky's Valse Sentimentale performed by pianist Lucas Debargue.
There's an interesting story behind the solo piano video presented above. The French pianist in the video, Lucas Debargue, was awarded fourth place by the judges in the 15th International Tchaikovsky Competition. Of six finalists, there was one gold, a joint silver, a joint bronze, and fourth place. Yet his performance was widely acclaimed, leading some to question the judges' decisions (first place was awarded to Russian Dmitri Masleev).
Conductor Valery Gergiev, chairman of the competition, made the bold move of insisting that Debargue play at the concert showcasing the winners of the competition, and that is the performance presented above. You can read more about the competition and the controversy here and here and here, from one of the judges.
I'm not going to get into that debate.
But I suppose if you disagree with an interpretation, any interpretation, it makes you think about how you believe it should be interpreted. It makes you think about the music. And that is always a good thing. I can't help but recall Leonard Bernstein's disagreement with Glenn Gould over the Brahms Piano Concerto No 1, in which the two had widely differing opinions about how the piece should be played.
Interested in hearing more from the International Tchaikovsky Competition? Want to be an unofficial judge? The performances of participants in the piano, cello, violin, and voice competitions can be found here. This might be the soundtrack of your Monday!
Categories: History, Listening Guide | Tags: Bernstein, cello, Debargue, Gould, piano, Tchaikovsky, violin | Permalink.


Sometimes animals show up in our lives when we need them most, and other times when they need us. Franklin, aka Fran, is one such dog who needed to know that good humans do exist. Elizabeth B. walked into the shelter on the right day. She changed his life, he changed hers, forever. The rest is a Tripawd Tuesday love story.
Franklin got his wings last month, but he left this earth reassured that he was loved and treasured. Here is his story.
We adopted Franklin on New Year's Day 2016. He was 7 months old and severely abused with a shattered hip and broken front elbow. Because he was a pit bull and because he was such a mess the shelter was hesitant to show us him and told us that if at any point we changed our minds that they understood and would take him back but from the second i saw him he was mine. After a few surgeries to try to save the front leg he wound up having a full amputation.
He was the craziest dog. We tried a bunch of nick names like Frankie, Frank, etc but he was 100% a Fran. If you met him for more than a minute you'd immediately understand, he's totally a Fran. He loved to play fetch with his favorite purple toy. He had a lot of anxiety issues and was over protective of our other dog Loki which made it really hard to take him anywhere.
He was an amazing dog at home but a beast out in public. We consulted with vets, took the basic puppy classes 3 times in a row and even went to a dog psychic to try and help him with his anxiety but no luck. So we renovated our entire backyard to accommodate him so that we could keep him happy at home.
In a freak accident while playing fetch with his favorite purple toy he impaled himself in the back of the throat with a stick and over the past 10 months had 5 surgeries to repair a reoccurring, rupturing abscess in his throat/neck as a result of the puncture. Unfortunately we exhausted all of the medication and surgical options and on Tuesday, September 4th we had to put him down as his abscess returned and ruptured for the 5th time.
When I say Fran was the best dog I mean THE BEST dog. He had the hardest life and suffered so much in his short 3 years of life but he was our sweet baby boy.
Even though he was a tough cookie everyone who met him immediately fell in love with him. Every single vet, vet tech, receptionist, etc at our vet loved him. I think they cried just as much as we did when we made the hard decision to have him put down.
Whatever we were doing around the house be needed to be part of. He wanted to be close to us every minute of the day. Fran was the kind of dog who would play until he couldn't stand any more if we were outside or spend the entire day snuggled in bed if we were being lazy. Whatever he did he did with his whole being. He always needed to be covered up in his blanket in our bed. He was the loudest snorer. He had the softest velvety fur and the sweetest, goofiest face.
When we had our son last year Franklin immediately became his protector. I would always tell people that Benny (our son) is not my baby, he's Fran's baby. He was such an amazing dog. We were so lucky to have him in our life even if it was only for a short time. Too short of a time. The whole "who rescued who" is so true in our case. He changed our lives so much.
I dont think anything I could ever write about him would ever do justice to how amazing he was.


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Vorträge und Schulungen
DRM LEGAL is a law firm with an office in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded in 2012 by attorney Dr. Florian Meyer. DRM LEGAL advises start-up and medium size companies (including Amazon FBA Sellers) from Germany and abroad in the fields of unfair competition as well as product law and media law. One focus of our legal work lies on a strategic consultancy in dealing with regulatory issues, health claims, warning letters, administrative complaints, criminal investigations and product crises.
Please feel free to contact us! You will find us in the center of Hamburg City.
Dr. Florian Meyer
Dr. Meyer was admitted to the bar in 2004. He studied in Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Freiburg and completed his doctorate on the topic health claims in Europe and the U.S.. He is the author of a book on the European Health Claims Regulation and other specialized publications. Since 2006, he is also a speaker at the Food Law Academy at the University of Marburg, a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Marburg Research Centre for Food and Feed Law and a winner of the food law Prize 2005 (pmi Verlag). In addition, he is on the advisory board of the magazine Medical BEAUTY FORUM and mentor at the Food Tech Campus Berlin on food and data protection issues.
Experience (excerpt):
Lawyer at the life science team of U.S. law firm Jones Day
Legal adviser at a large German trading company
Representation of one of the largest German medical societies against a therapy provider in a statement dispute in 34 court proceedings
Advising a commercial enterprise on more than 30 product crises and authority complaints
External data protection officer for a food company
Advising a supraregional advertising agency on advertising concepts for pharmaceuticals and food
Representing a provider of dietary supplements in several criminal proceedings
Accompanied biocidal product launches in 19 EU Member States
Drafting and negotiation of various contract manufacturing and distribution agreements in the fields of cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and food supplements
Advising a pet food retailer in trademark applications and defenses and on feed law issues
Assessment of various websites offering health and consumer products as well as medical practitioners, Beauty salons and other service providers in the health sector
Advising start-ups on product launches and drafting contracts, in trademark law and on the General Data Protection Regulation
Current Topic: German regulation on protection against non-ionising radiation (NiSV-Verordnung)
In 2018 the German legislator passed the Regulation on the protection against harmful effects from non-ionizing radiation when used on humans (so called NiSV-Regulation) which will enter into force on December 31, 2020. What is this regulation about and what impact does it have on the health sector, in particular the cosmetics and wellness sector? Below we provide you with the essential content of this law.
According to the regulation, certain cosmetic or non-medical device applications covered by the NiSV are reserved for licensed doctors. Applications require specialist training or further training. General requirements for the operation of the devices also apply.
Scope of the Regulation
The regulation applies to the
Operation of systems for the use of non-ionizing radiation in humans and
That are used for cosmetic or other non-medical purposes or in the context of other economic activities
Non-ionizing radiation includes
electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields in a frequency range from 0 Hertz to 300 Gigahertz;
optical radiation in the wavelength range from 100 nanometers to 1 millimeter as well;
Ultrasound in the frequency range from 20 kilohertz to 1 gigahertz.
The following devices fall within the Regulation:
Intense light sources that emit intense pulsed or unpulsed incoherent optical radiation, the purpose of which is to exert an effect on the target tissue;
Laser devices that use a laser of classes 1C, 2M, 3R, 3B or 4 according to DIN EN 60825-1: 2015;
Ultrasound devices that can cause sound intensities of more than 50 milliwatts per cm2 on the eye or more than 100 milliwatts per cm2 on the rest of the body with a mechanical index greater than 0.4 or a thermal index greater than 0.7 that can be used for imaging for non-medical purposes;
High-frequency devices that generate high-frequency electromagnetic fields
emit in the frequency range from 100 kilohertz to 300 gigahertz, which, when used on humans, can lead to specific absorption rates or power densities that may exceed the basic limit values in Appendix 1 of the NiSV
emit in the frequency range from 100 kilohertz to 10 megahertz, which, when used on humans, can cause internal electric field strengths in the body that exceed the basic limit values of Appendix 1 of the NiSV, or
emit in the frequency range from 100 kilohertz to 110 megahertz, which when used in humans can cause contact currents that exceed the reference values in Appendix 1 of the NiSV;
Low-frequency devices that emit electrical or magnetic fields in the frequency range from 1 hertz to 100 kilohertz or produce currents in the body that, when used on humans, can cause electric field strengths in the body that exceed the basic limit values of Appendix 1 of the NiSV or that can cause contact currents that can exceed reference values of Appendix 1;
Direct current devices that can produce electrical direct current (contact current) of more than 0.5 milliamperes and current densities of more than 8 milliamperes per square meter in the body;
Magnetic field devices that generate static magnetic fields of more than 400 millitesla, including magnetic resonance tomographs.
Not within the scope of the NiSV e.g.: Cryolipolysis, Microneedling, Microdermabrasion
The following treatments are only allowed for doctors and from Dec. 31, 2020 forbidden for aestheticians and alternative medical practitioners
Intense light sources
High-frequency devices
Applications in which the integrity of the epidermis as a protective barrier is violated
Adipose tissue reduction
Treatment of vascular changes (e.g. treatment of varicose veins)
Treatment of pigmented skin changes (e.g. removal of liver spots)
Ablative laser applications (e.g. skin resurfacing
Removal of tattoos or permanent make-up
Thermal tissue coagulation
Systems for stimulating the central nervous system in humans may only be used by licensed doctors who have the appropriate specialist knowledge after further medical training or advanced training.
Magnetic resonance tomographs may only be used for non-medical purposes in humans only under the responsibility of a doctor with specialist knowledge of the proper operation of magnetic resonance tomographs.
The NiSV constitutes several requirements for treatments allowed for aestheticians and alternative medical practitioners (and also for treatments by doctors).
Operational requirements
Proper installation (applies to new devices and replacement devices);
Instruction of the user in proper handling (all relevant devices);
Suitability test of the system by the user in relation to the respective application;
Condition check by the user before each use in terms of functionality and proper condition (inspection, checking connections, indicator lights, test run if necessary);
Maintenance by personnel who have the necessary technical knowledge, in particular through maintenance / inspection taking into account the information provided by the manufacturer and through compliance with the device-specific standards (inspection intervals);
Advice and information to the customer before use by the user, in particular about application / effects / risks / side effects / alternatives / individual situation / possible need for prior medical clarification;
Protection against side effects / protection of third parties against harmful effects (e.g. spatial separation, restricted access).
The regulation also stipulates new documentation requirements:
Information on the identification of the system (e.g. invoices, device and maintenance books);
Check the installation;
Briefing;
Date and results of inspection / maintenance (maintenance book);
Maintenance date; Date, type and consequences of malfunction;
Documentation of advice, information and application (type / system used / treatment parameters / individual treatment plan / if necessary photo documentation / side effects);
Declaration of consent of the treated person for use.
Notification to the competent authorities
The operator of a device/treatment covered by the NiSV must notify the competent authority of the operation of the device by stating
the name or company of the operator,
as well as the address of the permanent establishment and
and providing information for the identification of the respective system.
Evidence must be attached to the notification that the persons using the system have the necessary expertise.
Devices that will be put into operation after December 31, 2021 must be reported to the authority within two weeks.
If a system is already in operation on December 31, 2020, the notification must be made by March 31, 2021.
Expertise and training requirements
Expertise and training requirements for the users, must be fulfilled by December 31, 2021 at the latest
Expertise can be acquired through successful participation in suitable training or through appropriate training and further education. It must be kept up to date. For this, participation in further training is required at least every five years;
Training, education and advanced training can also take place in another EU country if the requirements are essentially comparable;
Expertise and Training requirements:
Devices/Treatments
Units (45 min. each)
Basics of the skin and its appendages
This course is not necessary in the following cases:
User has
successfully completed state-recognized training as a aesthetician,
has successfully completed a course of training as a state-certified aesthetician
has successfully passed the master craftsperson examination in the cosmetics industry o
on December 5, 2021 has at least five years of professional practice in the cosmetics industry.
High-frequency
Low-frequency devices
Direct current devices
Magnetic field devices
for transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation or for muscle stimulation
Possible Sanctions in case of violations (subject are aestheticians and alternative practitioners, not manufacturers)
Violations of the above requirements are an administrative offense that can be punished with a fine of up to EUR 50,000 per violation
In the event of violations, there are also threats to use bans and closings
The NiSV does not contain criminal offenses, but in the case of bodily harm, non-compliance can result in negligence or even intent
Violations can also result in competition law warnings.
Please also be aware of the Alternative Medical Practitioners Act (Heilpraktikergesetz) in Germany. Anyone wishing to practice medicine without having been appointed as a doctor requires permission to do so. The practice of medicine in the sense of this law is any professionally or professionally performed activity for the detection, healing or relief of illnesses, ailments or bodily harm in people, even if it is carried out in the service of others. Purely cosmetic treatments can also be seen as practicing medicine, if (firstly) the activity generally requires medical expertise, and (secondly) the treatment - given a generalizing and typifying view of the activity in question - can cause significant health damage." This is to be determined by the German courts on a case-by-case basis. German courts are generally inclined to view treatments within the scope of the Act if the manuals of the devices state serious contraindications and side effects. The courts argue that aestheticians do not have the expertise to judge whether the treatments should be performed or not.
Also be aware of the new EU-Regulation on medical devices. The MDR also includes certain cosmetic devices without a medical purpose in its area of application. These are listed in Annex XVI of the MDR. These devices will be treated legally like products with a medical purpose, hence medical devices, and as such must go through the MDR conformity assessment procedure and be provided with a medical CE marking. In addition, special operator obligations then apply (if the NiSV does not already apply). However, the EU legislator will first have to issue so called "Common specifications" for these devices according to which the devices will have to be certified. Until then the devices are not deemed medical devices and do not have to undergo MDR conformity assessment.
Hamburg, April 5th, 2020
Rechtsanwalt Dr. Florian Meyer
(Attorney under German Law)
NiSV: Ab dem 31.12.2020 gilt der Arztvorbehalt, Zeit zu handeln!


text:
\section{Introduction}

Language modeling, the task of assigning a probability to sequences of words, is a key problem in natural language processing.
Modern language models are data-driven, relying on a large corpus of text. Many such models are trained on corpora from a specific domain, such as Wikipedia or news articles~\cite{radford2019language}. These models often suffer from generalization issues when used to model language from a different domain. This motivates the use of model fine-tuning, in which the weights of a pre-trained language model are tuned by gradient descent on a second dataset of interest~\cite{radford2019language, Devlin2019BERTPO, Liu2019RoBERTaAR}.

 In some cases, we would like to fine-tune our model with respect to a dataset containing private information. As such, there is an obligation to preserve the privacy of individuals who contribute text to the private training corpus. For example, training a medical chat-bot may require learning a language model from transcribed patient-doctor conversations; it would be critical that this model not expose sensitive information about the patients whose conversations are used as training data.  In recent years, differential privacy (DP) has been a key quantitative measure of privacy which allows one to use aggregate statistical information about a dataset while preserving the privacy of its individual datapoints.

 In the case of language modeling, we are interested in preserving the privacy of individuals who contribute text to a private corpus. As each individual who contributes to this dataset could potentially contribute several sentences, our notion of privacy is \textit{group differential privacy} \cite{dwork_privacybook}, in which all sentences from a single individual are grouped. In practice, group DP is equivalent to DP with re-scaled parameters. A potential limitation of this approach is that the number of contributed sentences may not be uniform over users, leading to sub-optimal bounds on the privacy guarantee. There has been some success in directly training differentially private language models, but these often require access to large datasets in order to achieve a reasonable level of quality \cite{recurrent_DP}. Other work has trained a differentially private base model which was then fine-tuned through active learning on a non-private dataset  \cite{zhao2019improving}.

 We instead train a non-private base model on a large, public dataset, which we proceed to fine-tune on a private out-of-distribution dataset through differentially private stochastic gradient descent (DPSGD) \cite{2016arXiv160700133A}. By doing so, we successfully train a high-quality model which is differentially private with respect to our tuning dataset. Our experimental results show that DP fine-tuning not only boosts the performance of DP language modeling, but makes it possible.

\section{Related Work}

Training a feedforward neural network with DP is achievable through the popular DP-SGD algorithm \cite{2016arXiv160700133A}. However, this method may lead to significant decreases in the accuracy (or other metrics) of the resulting model. Recent work considers the use of metric privacy for language modeling \citep{fernandes2019generalised,feyisetan2020privacy}, which is a relaxation of differential privacy where noise is instead added to the vector embedding of a word. We leave the exploration of metric privacy for the private fine-tuning task as a direction for future work.

Many high-quality language models rely on some form of recurrent neural architecture, such as RNNs or LSTMs \cite{DBLP:journals/corr/abs-1808-03314, 10.1162/neco.1997.9.8.1735}. In \cite{recurrent_DP}, the authors develop a method for training such models while achieving differential privacy. However, this approach requires a large private dataset, and the mechanisms to achieve privacy lead to a significant decrease in model quality.

In \cite{zhao2019improving}, the authors attempt to train a language model which is simultaneously differentially private and of high quality. The first solution proposed in \cite{zhao2019improving} is to fine-tune the language model with publicly available data, but as this public data is likely distributed differently than the private data, the resulting model is likely mistuned. The second proposed approach is to augment the training data by actively selecting non-private data instances. This effectively reduces the privacy cost incurred during each training step, but still requires training with potentially out-of-distribution data.

In contrast, our work begins with a pre-trained model which only has access to publicly available data. This base model is then fine-tuned through DPSGD on our private domain of interest, resulting in a model that is both differentially private and tuned with respect to our protected dataset. By tuning a pre-trained public model, we achieve higher quality models without incurring any additional costs to our privacy budget.

\section{Approach}

Let $\mathcal{D}$ be a publicly available corpus, and $\mathcal{P}$ be a protected corpus whose contents we would like to protect the privacy of. Denote by $\mathcal{X}$ the fixed, shared vocabulary of these corpora.
At a high level, our approach is to first train a language model $M_\mathcal{D}: \mathcal{X}^n \to [0, 1]$. In practice, we choose a feedforward architecture for $M_\mathcal{D}$ due to limited computing resources. We fine-tune this model with respect to $\mathcal{P}$ by using the DPSGD algorithm \cite{2016arXiv160700133A} on batches of sentences from $\mathcal{P}$.

\subsection{$(\epsilon, \delta)$ Differential Privacy}

Intuitively, an algorithm is $(\epsilon, \delta)$-DP if the output of the algorithm cannot be used to probabilistically determine the presence of a single instance in the database by more than a factor of $\exp(\epsilon)$. We additionally allow this constraint to be violated with probability $\delta$, with $\delta$ typically being small\footnote{Some authors recommend a value of $10^{-5}$ \cite{2016arXiv160700133A}.}.

In the case of language modeling, an individual $i$ may possibly contribute $s_i \geq 1$ sentences to the private training corpus. To maintain the privacy of said individual, we require that our algorithm satisfy $s_i$-\textit{group differential privacy}, meaning our algorithm cannot be used to determine the presence or absence of $s_i$ sentences in the dataset. However, $(\epsilon, \delta)$ $s_i$-group DP is equivalent to $(\epsilon/s_i, \delta)$-DP \cite{dwork_privacybook}. Hence, it is sufficient to consider the somewhat unintuitive notion of preserving the privacy of individual sentences in the training set. Any mechanism satisfying $(\epsilon, \delta)$-DP on individual sentences will then satisfy $(\epsilon/\ensuremath{\gamma}{}, \delta)$-DP with respect to contributing individuals, where $\ensuremath{\gamma}{} = \max_i \{ s_i \}$.
Formally, an algorithm $\mathcal{A}$ satisfies $(\epsilon, \delta)$-DP if for all datasets $\mathcal{D}_1, \mathcal{D}_2$ differing by at most one instance, and for any set $S$, we have

\[\mathbb{P} \{\mathcal{A} (\mathcal{D}_1) \in S \} \leq \exp(\epsilon) \mathbb{P} \{\mathcal{A} (\mathcal{D}_2) \in S  \} + \delta \]

Smaller $\epsilon$ values indicate a stronger privacy guarantee. We typically think of $S$ being some query on the outcome of $\mathcal{A}$. A more complete treatment of differential privacy is available in \cite{dwork_privacybook}.

\subsection{Differentially Private Fine-tuning}

Differential privacy is achieved in SGD by adding appropriately scaled noise to the gradient of the loss function.
In particular, we fix a noise scale $\sigma^2 \in \mathbb{R}$ and a gradient clipping level $C\in \mathbb{R}$. For a batch of size $L$, our loss function is given by $\mathcal{L}(\theta) = \frac{1}{L} \sum_i \mathcal{L}(x_i ;  \theta)$. For each $x_i$ in our batch, we compute the clipped gradient $g(x_i)$ by scaling the gradient of the loss at $x_i$ to have $\ell_2$ norm at most $C$ \cite{dwork_privacybook}.

\[g(x_i) = \frac{1}{\max \{1, ||\nabla_\theta \mathcal{L}(x_i; \theta)||_2 / C \}} \nabla_\theta \mathcal{L}(x_i; \theta) \]

We add appropriately scaled zero-mean Gaussian noise to our gradients:

\[\widetilde{g}(x_i) = g(x_i) + \mathcal{N}(0, \sigma^2 C^2 I) \]

Our gradient signal used in training is then the average of $\widetilde{g}(x_i)$ over a given mini-batch, which we use to determine a descent direction as in SGD. Note that our noisy gradient is equal to the true gradient in expectation, as we add mean-zero noise.

As our access to the private data is done entirely in the calculation of $g(x_i)$, with appropriately chosen parameters this method guarantees our algorithm respects our specified level of privacy.

For given noise $\sigma$, we can determine an acceptable privacy violation level $\delta \ll 1$ and compute the resulting privacy parameter $\epsilon$ through the composition theorem proved in \cite{2016arXiv160700133A}. In appendix \ref{DP-guarantees} \ref{fig:eps_delta_refined}, we plot the $(\epsilon, \delta)$-privacy guarantees for various settings of $\sigma$. As expected, for a fixed $\delta$, more noise (greater $\sigma$) results in a tighter privacy guarantee (smaller $\epsilon$).

Throughout this section, we have assumed a maximum individual contribution size of $\ensuremath{\gamma}{} = 1$. When $\ensuremath{\gamma}{} > 1$, the only necessary change is a post-processing scaling of  $\epsilon \mapsto \epsilon / \ensuremath{\gamma}{}$, as $\epsilon$ is computed based on parameters which are independent of $\ensuremath{\gamma}{}$.

\begin{figure*}
\subfigure[Small Language Model]{\includegraphics[width =.5\textwidth]{figures/model_training_test_pp.png} \label{fig:test_pp}}
\quad
\subfigure[Large Language Model]{\includegraphics[width =.5\textwidth]{figures/model_training_test_pp_big.png}
\label{fig:test_pp_big}}

\caption{\textbf{Test-set perplexity as a function of training iterations for the small (a) and large (b) language models.} The legend indicates train-set / evaluation set, with $\sigma$ being the noise scale used in differentially private training. The fine-tuned models are trained on the Brown corpus and tuned on the Reddit dataset. The graph for $\sigma = 1.1$ for the large language model is not visible since all perplexity values are infinity. Note: the graphs are truncated to the first epoch of training.  Perplexities change marginally after this point.}
\label{fig:exps_small_large}
\end{figure*}

\section{Experimental Results}

\subsection{Datasets}

For our public dataset, we choose the Brown corpus \cite{francis79browncorpus}, as it is a fairly large corpus designed to represent modern English. For our private dataset, we used the Reddit comments dataset \cite{reddit_data}. While this corpus is not truly private, we felt it represented the type of language data one might be interested in protecting -- written language generated by individual users which likely contains personal information. We randomly select a subset of $10$k comments for private training data and $5$k comments for development and testing. \changed{For more details, see Appendix~\ref{appendix:dataset}.}

 \subsection{Models and Evaluation}
 \label{sec:evaluation}

For our language models, we consider two feed-forward architectures: a small network and a large network, each with three hidden layers, but with varying numbers of nodes (see appendix \ref{architectures} for details). For both architectures, we train three baseline models:

\begin{itemize}[nosep]
    \item A non-private model trained only on the public corpus.
    \item A non-private model trained only on the private corpus.
    \item A non-private model pre-trained on the public corpus, and fine-tuned on the private corpus.
\end{itemize}

For each architecture, we compare these baseline models to a private model which is pre-trained on the public corpus and fine-tuned on the private corpus. For the private models, we hold $\delta=1e-5$ and set gradient clipping to $1.0$.  We train each private model with $\sigma=1.1$ and $\sigma=0.1$. \changed{Also, we fine-tune OpenAI's pre-trained GPT-2~\cite{Radford2019LanguageMA} non-privately on both Brown and Reddit.} For each model, we report the perplexity scores.

\subsection{Results}

\paragraph{GPT-2 Fine-tuning }

The GPT-2 model fine-tuned for three epochs on the Brown training data set scored $40.0$ perplexity on the held out test set.  The GPT-2 model fine-tuned for the same time on the Reddit training data set scored $45.14$ on the held out test set.

\paragraph{Small Feedforward Neural Network}

Next, we trained and evaluated a smaller feedforward neural network on the evaluation schema from section \ref{sec:evaluation}.
Figure \ref{fig:test_pp} shows the test-set perplexity for each of our models as a function of training iterations. We observe that each of the base non-private models converges at roughly the same rate, but the models trained on the Brown corpus converge to a lower perplexity than those trained on the Reddit corpus. We also note that the fine-tuned models achieve a significantly lower perplexity in fewer iterations, even with the inclusion of differential privacy mechanisms. The increase in perplexity seen in the base Reddit model may be indicative of overfitting.

\paragraph{Large Feedforward Neural Network}

Next, we train and evaluate a large feedforward neural network model.  The results can be found in figure \ref{fig:test_pp_big}. We found that the larger models performed mostly similar to the smaller ones. However, the larger model does significantly outperform its smaller counterpart when trained and evaluated on 10,000 comments sampled from the Reddit dataset. This can be seen when comparing figure \ref{fig:test_pp} and \ref{fig:test_pp_big}. The ``Reddit\_10k / Reddit\_10k" curve reaches a much lower value much sooner for the larger model. Another difference is that the larger model was not able to get finite perplexity values when fine-tuned on Reddit\_10k in a differentially private way with noise set to 1.1, while the smaller model was able to do this.

\section{Analysis}

\paragraph{Finetuning improves DP perplexity} We summarize the perplexities of our final small and large models in table~\ref{tab:finaltessetperplexities} in the appendix. A $\sigma^2$ of zero indicates non-private training while a $\sigma^2 > 0$ indicates private training where privacy increases with larger $\sigma^2$.  We additionally provide the $\epsilon$ values for the private models in figure \ref{fig:epsilon_vs_perplexity}.  The perplexity scores for both the small and large feedforward language models are orders of magnitude worse than the GPT-2 models indicating that they are not competitive with state of the art language models.

However, our results indicate that pre-training may significantly improve the perplexity of a differentially private language model.  We were unsuccessful in training a differentially private model on the Reddit data alone, as all models tested gave unreasonably high perplexities (i.e. useless models). When DP fine-tuning was used to create a private language model for this domain, our small model outperformed the baseline models \changed{(except for its non-private equivalent)}. This indicates that pre-training may be highly valuable in facilitating the training of DP language models.

\paragraph{Qualitative Analysis}

We provide a sample of sentences generated from models fine-tuned on the Reddit $10k$ data set in table \ref{tab:generatedsentences} in the appendix.

Aside from the state of the art GPT-2 model, both the small and large feedforward neural networks are not able to generate sentences that are coherent. Additionally, there is not a discernible difference between the various levels of private fine-tuning.  This is likely because feedforward neural networks are not strong language models. \changed{We do see the pre-training benefits for privacy with such models.}

\section{Conclusions}
Training neural models with differential privacy often significantly degrades model performance. However, differential privacy could prove crucial when doing language modeling on private datasets. Our work shows that DP fine-tuning not only boosts the performance of DP language modeling, but makes it possible.
We also compared our experiments across two different model sizes and found that increasing the model size while decreasing the number of training epochs does not significantly impact the results in the differentially private transfer learning scenario.
Future research could experiment with stronger model architectures (e.g., LSTM's, transformers) instead of regular feedforward neural networks, as well as train models longer in order to increase performance.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv