text:
\section{Introduction}\label{sec:intro}

The Industry 4.0 smart manufacturing paradigm requires large quantities of real-time data generated from a myriad of wireless sensors\cite{tang2015tracking}. Modern Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) networks deploy a large number of nodes, which either exchange their noisy (and possibly processed) observations of a random process, act as relays and data fusion nodes by aggregating observations from sensors, or execute control actions.  Digital twin (DT) models transform these large volumes of data into predictive models, which can simulate the consequences of potential control strategies and help system operators decide the best course of action~\cite{9899718}.

Considering the tight interaction between the communication and control systems, it is difficult to design them jointly in order to maintain the predictive performance of the DT model while prolonging the network lifetime. Take into account a system of process dynamics as in Fig.~\ref{fig_system_model} where a DT model is built to estimate the dynamic process of a \emph{primary agent} ($\mathtt{PA}$) interacting with the environment. The  \emph{sensing agents}  ($\mathtt{SA}$s) convey their noisy and partial observations via wireless transmission to an \emph{access point} (AP) directly connected to a Cloud platform \cite{srivastava2018review} for building DT models \cite{li2020digital}.
After processing at the virtual world using the Cloud platform, i.e., after the model is updated, the next system state is predicted and the optimal policy is computed, commands are sent to be executed in the physical world.
	A DT may model a wireless sensor network (WSN) in which $\mathtt{SA}$s observe various features in the $\mathtt{PA}$'s state, including position, velocity, and acceleration. These types of measurements are used in a wide range of indoor and outdoor applications such as localization and navigation \cite{zmitri2020magnetic, 9403984}.

Depending on the specific tasks, the DT models may aim at estimating features to varying degrees of confidence, e.g., the accuracy in estimation of position and velocity at different levels may be depend both on the model goals and the measured signals from sensors. Under this premise, it is fundamental to have efficient policies for selecting appropriate $\mathtt{SA}$s based on their measurement errors, the requirements of the DT model, and the cost of transmitting observations over a wireless network.
The problem of scheduling IoT sensors based on Value of Information (VoI) under given underlying communication constraints has been considered in \cite{hashemi2020randomized, 9656153}, with the aim to minimize the MSE of the state estimate with imprecise measurements. The authors in \cite{9768131} proposed a way to schedule sensing agents based on VoI to maximize the accuracy of various summary statistics of the state, which has potential applications in industrial automation or safety.
The aforementioned works and related literature thereof \cite{hashemi2020randomized, 9656153, 9768131}, however, do not consider the incurred communication costs or evaluate the importance of each feature within the state space of $\mathtt{PA}$. Furthermore, measurement errors of sensing agents have not been taken into account, which is critical.

\begin{figure}[t!]
	\centering
	\includegraphics[width=0.45\textwidth]{model_DT.pdf}
	\vspace*{-0.3cm}
	\caption{An example of a DT system.}
	\label{fig_system_model}
	\vspace*{-0.65cm}
\end{figure}
This paper formulates a weighted optimization problem for jointly minimizing errors in state estimation and the total power consumption in a wireless system such as the one in Fig.~\ref{fig_system_model}, as well as defining a scheduling algorithm for $\mathtt{SA}$s under their observations' qualities and communication resource constraints for predictive maintenance of the DT model.
The confidence requirements in estimating each feature are assumed to be heterogeneous: the acceptance margins of estimation errors are individualized and have different priorities. This leads to a different number of scheduled $\mathtt{SA}$s, depending on the VoI of their observations. Our contributions are listed as follows: \textit{(i)}, we propose a DT system tracking dynamic changes of the system parameters and formulate a novel optimization problem to efficiently schedule $\mathtt{SA}$s for maintaining the confidence of system estimate of the DT while minimizing the energy cost; \textit{(ii)}, we propose a VoI-based framework for efficient and practical implementations yielding a low-complexity solution in polynomial time; and \textit{(iii)}, we evaluate the proposed algorithm via numerical simulations, which show that it outperforms the other benchmarks in terms of both computational complexity and power consumption, while providing an improved or equal DT estimation error.

\section{System  Model}
{We consider a WSN, as shown in Fig.~\ref{fig_system_model}, including one $\mathtt{PA}$ and a set of $\mathcal{M}=\{1,2,\dots,M\}$ $\mathtt{SA}$s. The $\mathtt{SA}$s observe the environment and communicate with the \emph{access point} (AP) through a time-slotted wireless channel for building the DT model of $\mathtt{PA}$, where each \emph{query interval} (QI) occurs at $n \in \mathcal{N}= \{1, 2, \dots, N\}$. These $\mathtt{SA}$s synchronize their DTs including locations and power budget status with the Cloud platform. Based on the current model state and the updated information of the environment, the DT model predicts the state of the $\mathtt{PA}$, the optimal policy on scheduling $\mathtt{SA}$s, and the required transmitting power. This feedback signal is sent to the AP to take an action in the physical world.} In the following, upper- and lower-case bold letters denote the matrices and vectors, respectively.  $\mathbf{x}\sim\mathcal{CN}(\boldsymbol{\mu}, \boldsymbol{\Sigma})$ denotes a random vector $\mathbf{x}$ following a complex circularly symmetric Gaussian distribution with mean $\boldsymbol{\mu}$ and covariance matrix $ \boldsymbol{\Sigma}$. $\mathbb{E}[\cdot]$ is the  statistical expectation of the argument.

The $\mathtt{PA}$ operates in a $K$-dimensional process $\mathcal{K}=\{1,2,\dots,K\}$, whose state at QI $n$ is denoted as $\mathbf{s}(n) = [s_1(n), s_2(n), \dots, s_K(n)]^T$, and evolves as follows:
\begin{align}
	\mathbf{s}(n) &= f(\mathbf{s}(n-1)) + \mathbf{u}(n), \forall n\in\mathcal{N},
\end{align}
where $f:\mathbb{R}^{K}\rightarrow\mathbb{R}^K$ is the state update function and $ \mathbf{u}(n)\sim \mathcal{N}(\mathbf{0},\mathbf{C}_{\mathbf{u}})$ stands for the process noise.
At QI $n$, the $\mathtt{SA}$ $m \in \mathcal{M}$ receives a $D$-dimensional observation $\mathbf{o}_m(n)\in\mathbb{R}^{D}$ of the $\mathtt{PA}$'s state (with $D\leq K$) as
$\mathbf{o}_m(n)= \mathbf{H}_m\mathbf{s}(n)+ \mathbf{w}_m(n), \forall m\in\mathcal{M},$
where $\mathbf{H}_m\in\mathbb{R}^{D\times K}$ is  the observation matrix, and $\mathbf{w}_m(n)\sim \mathcal{N}(\mathbf{0}, \mathbf{C}_{\mathbf{w}_m})$ stands for the measurement noise. In general, the covariance matrices $\mathbf{C}_{\mathbf{u}}$ and $ \mathbf{C}_{\mathbf{w}_m}$ are not diagonal.
We assume that $\{\{\mathbf{s}(n)\}_{\forall n},\{\mathbf{u}(n)\}_{\forall n}, \{\mathbf{w}_m(n)\}_{\forall m, n}\}$ are uncorrelated, and that $f$, $\mathbf{C}_{\mathbf{u}}$, and  $\mathbf{H}_m,\mathbf{C}_{\mathbf{w}_m}\,\forall m$ are known.
\subsection{Communication System}
\begin{figure}[t!]
	\centering
	\includegraphics[width=0.4\textwidth]{tdma1.pdf}
	\vspace*{-0.3cm}
	\caption{Communication diagram.}
	\label{fig_tdma}
	\vspace*{-0.65cm}
\end{figure}
The communication between the AP and $\mathtt{SA}$s uses a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) access scheme, with alternating downlink and uplink phases, and the communication link between AP and cloud is assumed to be perfect. In Fig.~\ref{fig_tdma}, the parameter $T_\text{config}$ accounts for the time the DT model requires to update the active state of $\mathtt{SA}$s, after which it estimates the full state and schedules a maximum of $C$ $\mathtt{SA}$s via the AP in the downlink phase. Then, these scheduled $\mathtt{SA}$s use the uplink phase to forward their observations within the TDMA frame. Consequently, the DT model periodically updates the state of the PA following each query interval.

We consider block fading channels for the AP$-\mathtt{SA}$ links, in which the channel remains unchanged within each fading block and includes both a line of sight component, experiencing small-scale fading with rich scattering \cite{8698468}. The channel between AP and $\mathtt{SA}$ $m$ is then modeled as
	$h_m(n)=\sqrt{\mu_m} g_m(n), $

where the large-scale average channel power $\mu_m$ stands for signal attenuation due to both the path loss and shadowing, and $g_m(n) = \sqrt{\frac{G}{G+1}}\bar{g}+\sqrt{\frac{1}{G+1}}\Tilde{g}$ is the small-scale fading coefficient, and $G$ indicates the Rician factor. For an average channel power gain at the reference distance $\mu_0$ and path loss exponent $\alpha$, the path loss is $\mu_m=\mu_0\hat{d}_m^{-\alpha}$. Thus, given bandwidth $W$, the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) $\gamma_m(n)$ between the AP and the $m$-th $\mathtt{SA}$ is
	$\gamma_m(n) = ({p^\text{tx}_m(n)\mu_0|g_m(n)|^2})/({\hat{d}_{m}^{\alpha}\text{W}N_0}),$

where $N_0$ represents the noise power spectral density, $p^\text{tx}_m(n)$ is the transmission power, and $\hat{d}_m$ is the distance between the AP and the $m$-th $\mathtt{SA}$. We apply Shannon's bound to obtain the capacity $R_m(n)$ of the link, which is
$R_m(n) = \text{W}\log_2(1+\gamma_m(n) ).$ However, since uplink data are transmitted at a fixed rate $R^{\mathtt{th}}$ due to the simplicity of the sensors, we consider the  reliability condition
	$\mathbb{P}[R_m(n) < R^\mathtt{th}]\leq \varepsilon,$

where $\varepsilon>0$ is a system parameter~\cite{9113440}.
\begin{lemma}
	For a given bandwidth $W$ and distance $\hat{d}_m$, the transmitted power of $\mathtt{SA}$ $m$ for reliable transmission with maximum packet erasure probability $\varepsilon$ is upper bounded by:
	\begin{equation}\label{power_require}
		p^\text{tx}_m(n) = \frac{2 WN_0(1+G)(2^{R^\mathtt{th}/W}-1)}{y_Q^2\mu_m},
	\end{equation}
	where $y_Q = \sqrt{2G}+\frac{1}{2Q^{-1}(\varepsilon)}\log(\frac{\sqrt{2G}}{\sqrt{2G}-Q^{-1}(\varepsilon)})-Q^{-1}(\varepsilon)$, and $Q^{-1}(\cdot)$ is the  inverse Q-function.
\end{lemma}
	The proof  is omitted due to space limitations (see \cite{8017572}).
\subsection{Problem Formulation}
The DT model aims at  maintaining an accurate estimate of $\mathtt{PA}$'s state over its belief of states.
Herein, the predicted estimator $\hat{\mathbf{s}}(n)$ of ${\mathbf{s}}(n)$ is modeled with $p(\mathbf{s}(n))\sim \mathcal{N}(\hat{\mathbf{s}}(n), \boldsymbol{\Psi}(n)), n \in\mathcal{N}$,
where the covariance matrix $\boldsymbol{\Psi}(n)$ is updated at QI $n$ according to a Kalman Filter (KF). The MSE of the estimator is
	$\text{MSE}_{} = \mathbb{E}\big[||\mathbf{s}(n)-\hat{\mathbf{s}}(n)||^2_2\big], n \in\mathcal{N}$.
\begin{remark}\label{certainty}
	{\color{black}
		We define the maximum acceptable standard deviation for feature $k\in\mathcal{K}$ as $\xi_k$. This corresponds to the following condition:
		\begin{equation}\label{qos_condition}
			[\boldsymbol{\Psi}(n)]_{k} \leq {\xi}^2_{k}, \forall k \in\mathcal{K},
		\end{equation}
		where $[\boldsymbol{\Psi}(n)]_{k}$ is the $k$-th element of the diagonal of $\boldsymbol{\Psi}(n)$.}
\end{remark}
Since the $\mathtt{SA}$s communicate over a wireless channel with the AP, the $\mathtt{PA}$ cannot reach all of the $\mathtt{SA}$s at any given time. The reachable subset of $\mathtt{SA}$s at QI $n$ by $\mathcal{P}(n)$ is defined as
\begin{equation}\label{Pcal_compute}
	\mathcal{P}(n)\triangleq\{{{m}}\in\mathcal{M}: d_{m}\leq d_{\max}\},
\end{equation}
with $d_{\max}$ indicating the maximum sensing range of $\mathtt{SA}$s. The scheduling decision is then determined by two factors: the first is the expected VoI of each $\mathtt{SA}$, which affects the accuracy of the $\mathtt{PA}$'s future estimates of the state~\cite{box2011bayesian}, while the second is the quality of the link between it and the $\mathtt{PA}$, impacted by the distance.
We then pose a joint scheduling and power control problem, in which we select the $\mathtt{SA}$s that should transmit and minimize the power, whilst meeting the reliability constraints \eqref{qos_condition}. First, we define the scheduling set $\mathcal{Q}(n)$:
\begin{equation}
	\mathcal{Q}(n)=\left\{m\in\mathcal{P}(n):p^\text{tx}_m(n)>0\right\}.

\end{equation}
In order to fit the $\mathtt{SA}$s in a QI, we define a maximum number of connections $C$, corresponding to the number of uplink TDMA slots before the next QI. The problem is then defined as follows, using the power allocation vector $\mathbf{p}^\text{tx}(n)=\{p^\text{tx}_m\}$ as the optimization variable:
\begin{subequations} \label{glob_problem}
	\begin{alignat}{2}
		\mathbf{p}^*=&\  \underset{\mathbf{p}^\text{tx}(n)}  { \mathrm{argmin}}& &(1-\alpha) \sum_{k\in\mathcal{K}}\max\left\{\frac{[\boldsymbol{\Psi}(n)]_{k }}{\xi^2_{k}}-1,0\right\} \nonumber\\
		&&&+\alpha \sum_{\mathclap{m\in\mathcal{P}(n)}}p^\text{tx}_m(n); \label{glob_problema}\\
		&\mbox{such that } && |\mathcal{Q}(n)| \leq C, \label{glob_problemc}\\
		&&& \mathbb{P}[R_m(n) < R^\mathtt{th} ]\leq \varepsilon, \forall   {m}\in \mathcal{Q}(n), \label{glob_problemd}

	\end{alignat}
\end{subequations}
where the non-negative parameter $\alpha\in[0,1]$ represents the relative weight of the accuracy and energy efficiency in the objective function. It is clear that by querying observations from more $\mathtt{SA}$s, the estimation accuracy increases, at the expense of energy efficiency. For those $\mathtt{SA}$s with significant errors in their measurements, or have features that will not contribute in satisfying the confidence requirements of the $\mathtt{PA}$ (i.e., the ones with a low VoI), measuring and sending observations consumes unnecessary energy, which should taken into account.
The constraints in \eqref{glob_problemc},~\eqref{glob_problemd} are required to ensure that transmissions can be reliably performed within a TDMA uplink slot, that no more than $C$ $\mathtt{SA}$s transmit in any QI.
We emphasize that problem \eqref{glob_problem} is a non-convex program due to the non-convexity of the objective function \eqref{glob_problema} and of constraints  \eqref{glob_problemc},~\eqref{glob_problemd}. Furthermore, the selection of nodes makes the problem equivalent to the classic knapsack problem, making finding the solution NP-hard. Accordingly, a heuristic algorithm is used to obtain an efficient suboptimal solution.

\section{VoI Sensing Agent Selection}

The MMSE estimator for a KF is given in \cite[Eq. (1)]{Kalman}, and since our objective is to minimize the (weighted) variance of components of the state, we use the standard Kalman estimator. It is worth noting that, since the general system is nonlinear, the Kalman equations are a linearization of the true dynamic system, and as such, might lead to additional errors. The use of the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is common in the IoT literature~\cite{huang2019epkf}. Another important assumption is that the virtual world has full knowledge about the statistics of the process, i.e., the update function $f(\mathbf{s})$ and the noise covariance matrices. This is also commonly assumed in the relevant literature, as the system statistics estimation can be performed before deployment. As joint power allocation and VoI maximization is excessively complex, we use the heuristic of splitting into separate scheduling and power allocation problems. The main idea to solve \eqref{glob_problem} is that at each QI $n$, the minimum number of $\mathtt{SA}$s is selected to transmit to maintain the estimation certainty of state $\mathbf{s}(n)$ at the required level.

The heuristic steps are as follows: first, we determine the set of $\mathtt{SA}$s $\mathcal{Q}^*(n)$ with minimal cardinality which satisfies constraint~\eqref{glob_problemc} and for which all selected features satisfy the condition in~\eqref{qos_condition}; the minimum power to establish a reliable communication link between scheduled $\mathtt{SA}$s and  AP is then set as in~\eqref{power_require}.
The heuristic, whose pseudocode is listed in Algorithm \ref{alg_global},  effectively addresses problem \eqref{glob_problem}.

In the dynamic scenario, the initial state $\mathbf{s}(n)$ is a random vector with certain mean $\mathbb{E}[\mathbf{s}(n)] = \boldsymbol{\mu}_{\mathbf{s}(0)}$ and covariance matrix $\text{Cov}[\mathbf{s}_0]= \mathbf{C}_{\mathbf{s}(0)}$. $\mathcal{Q}(n)$ is initialized as an empty set due to no prior information. The EKF then computes the estimation errors for the belief  $\hat{\mathbf{s}}(n) \sim \mathcal{CN}(\pmb{\mu}_{\hat{\mathbf{s}}(n)},\boldsymbol{\Psi}^{\mathtt{pr}}(n))$  at the $\mathtt{PA}$  based on prior updates $\hat{\mathbf{s}}(n-1)$ as
\begin{align}\label{prior_error}
	\boldsymbol{\Psi}^{\mathtt{pr}}_{\hat{\mathbf{s}}}(n) = \mathbf{P}\boldsymbol{\Psi}_{\hat{\mathbf{s}}}(n-1)\mathbf{P}^T + \mathbf{C}_{\mathbf{u}(n)}.
\end{align}
For given error variance qualities $\boldsymbol{\xi} \triangleq \{\xi_{k}\}_{k\in\mathcal{K}}$, the conditions in \eqref{qos_condition} result in two possible cases: (1) If those conditions hold for all $k\in\mathcal{K}$, the DT model satisfies the required bound without receiving any observation from the $\mathtt{SA}$s. The prior update is sufficient to ensure the confidence in estimate and $\mathcal{Q}^*(n) = \emptyset$; (2)
If one of those conditions is violated, at least one interesting feature is not estimated accurately enough, and we need the corresponding observations to improve the estimation, as scheduled by our heuristic. We stress that in the first case, the belief can be computed using the EKF blind update operation:
\begin{equation}\label{mu_prior}
	{\hat{\mathbf{s}}^{\mathtt{pr}}(n)}  = \mathbf{P}{\hat{\mathbf{s}}(n-1)} + \pmb{\mu}_{\mathbf{u}}.

\end{equation}
\begin{algorithm}[t]
	\begin{algorithmic}[1]{\fontsize{8pt}{9pt}\selectfont
			\protect\caption{$\mathtt{SA}$ scheduling algorithm for problem  \eqref{glob_problem}}
		\label{alg_global}
		\global\long\def\textbf{Output:}{\textbf{Input:}}
		\REQUIRE $\mathbf{b}_{0,\mathbf{o}_0}, \pmb{\mu}_{\mathbf{u}_0}, C_{\mathbf{u}_0}$
		Available uplink slots $C$, Power budget $\bar{P}^{\text{tx}}$, The state and requirement certainty $\big(\mathbf{s}, \{\xi_{k}^2\}\big)$
		\global\long\def\textbf{Output:}{\textbf{Output:}}
		\REQUIRE The scheduled user set $\{\mathcal{Q}^*(n)\}$; their belief $\{\hat{\mathbf{s}}^*(n), \boldsymbol{\Psi}^*(n)\}$, and the associated transmit power $\{p^\text{tx}_m(n)\}$

		\STATE Initial $\mathcal{Q}(n) = \emptyset$

		\STATE Compute the prior errors $\boldsymbol{\Psi}^{\mathtt{pr}}(n)$ as in \eqref{prior_error}
		\IF {$[\boldsymbol{\Psi}^{\mathtt{pr}}(n)]_{k} \leq \xi_{k}^2, \forall k$}
		\STATE Compute ${\hat{\mathbf{s}}^{\mathtt{pr}}(n)} $ as in \eqref{mu_prior}
		\STATE Update ${\hat{\mathbf{s}}(n)}  = {\hat{\mathbf{s}}^{\mathtt{pr}}(n)} $ and $\boldsymbol{\Psi}_{\hat{\mathbf{s}}}(n) = \boldsymbol{\Psi}_{\hat{\mathbf{s}}}^\mathtt{pr}(n)$
		\ELSE
		\STATE Set $t=1$ and compute available $\mathtt{SA}$ set $\mathcal{P}(n)$ by  \eqref{Pcal_compute}
		\WHILE{conditions \eqref{checking3} hold}
		\STATE Update $\mathcal{Q}(n)$ and $\mathcal{P}(n)$ as in \eqref{update_set}
		\STATE Update the $\mathbf{K}(n)$, $\mathbf{H}(n)$ and $C_{\mathbf{w}(n)}$ as in \eqref{H_compute}, and \eqref{Cw_compute}
		\STATE  Set $t=t+1$
		\ENDWHILE
		\STATE Update $\mathcal{Q}^*(n) = \mathcal{Q}(n)$

		\STATE Compute ${\hat{\mathbf{s}}(n)}  = {\hat{\mathbf{s}}^{\mathtt{pos}}(n)} $ and $\boldsymbol{\Psi}_{\hat{\mathbf{s}}}(n) = \boldsymbol{\Psi}_{\hat{\mathbf{s}}}^\mathtt{pos}(n)$ as in\eqref{pos_update},   \eqref{pos_variance}
		\STATE Compute the power consumption $\{p^\text{tx}_m(n\}$ as in \eqref{power_require}
		\ENDIF
	}
\end{algorithmic}
\end{algorithm}
In the second case, we run Algorithm 1.
It is worth noting that  at the $t$-th iteration, if any constraint is still unmet and $\{|\mathcal{Q}(n)| <\ C, |\mathcal{P}(n)| >0\}$, there is room for scheduling new $\mathtt{SA}$s to join $\mathcal{Q}(n)$. In order to be able to choose the most uncertain candidate feature $s_k^{*}(n), k\in\mathcal{K}$, the following optimization problem is considered at the $t$-th iteration:
\begin{subequations} \label{finding_state}
\begin{alignat}{2}
	s_k^{*}(n) =& \underset{s_k(n)\in\mathbf{s}(n)}{\ \mathrm{argmax }} &\quad & [\boldsymbol{\Psi}^{(t)}(n)]_{k }/ \xi^2_{k} \\
	&\mbox{subject to} &&  {m} \in\mathcal{P}(n), \forall m\in\mathcal{M}, \label{finding_stateb}\\
	&&& {m} \rightarrow s_{k}(n), \forall m\in\mathcal{M},
\end{alignat}
\end{subequations}
where ${m} \rightarrow s_{k}(n)$ means that the $\mathtt{SA}$ $m$ measures feature $s_k(n)$.
At iteration $t=1$, we set $\boldsymbol{\Psi}^{(1)}_\mathbf{s}(n) = \boldsymbol{\Psi}^{\mathtt{pr}}_{\hat{\mathbf{s}}}(n)$. We emphasize that according to constraint \eqref{finding_stateb}, feature $s_k^{*}(n)$ is selected only if at least one $\mathtt{SA}$ ${{m}}\in \mathcal{P}(n)$ can provide coordinating observations. Then, the  $\mathtt{SA}$ ${{m}}^*\subset\mathcal{P}(n)$ measuring feature $s_k^{*}(n)$ with the minimum error covariance is chosen to send its measurement. The scheduled and available $\mathtt{SA}$ sets $\mathcal{Q}(n)$ and $\mathcal{P}(n)$ are updated as
\begin{equation}\label{update_set}
\mathcal{Q}(n) \leftarrow \mathcal{Q}(n) \cup\{ {{m}}^* \};\  \mathcal{P}(n) \leftarrow\mathcal{P}(n)\backslash\{{{m}}^*\}.
\end{equation}
 $\mathbf{H}(n)$ and $\mathbf{C}_{\mathbf{w}(n)}$ are the combination observation and covariance matrices, which are respectively formulated as
\begin{align}
\mathbf{H}(n) &= [\mathbf{H}_{1};\mathbf{H}_2;\dots;\mathbf{H}_{|\mathcal{Q}(n)|}], \label{H_compute} \\
\mathbf{C}_{\mathbf{w}(n)} &=  \text{diag}[\mathbf{C}_{\mathbf{w}_1}, \mathbf{C}_{\mathbf{w}_2},\dots,\mathbf{C}_{\mathbf{w}_{|\mathcal{Q}(n)|}}]\label{Cw_compute},
\end{align}
where $\mathbf{H}_{{m}}$ is the  observation matrix of  the $\mathtt{SA}$ ${{m}} ({{m}}\in\mathcal{Q}(n))$.
The posterior error covariance matrix is derived by
\begin{align}\label{pos_variance}
\boldsymbol{\Psi}^{\mathtt{pos}}_{\hat{\mathbf{s}}}(n)=  (\mathbf{I} - \mathbf{K}(n)\mathbf{H}(n))\boldsymbol{\Psi}^{}_{\hat{\mathbf{s}}}(n-1),
\end{align}
where $\mathbf{K}(n)$ is the EKF gain, computed using the standard KF equation.
The iterative loop continues as long as all three of the following conditions are true:
\begin{align}
\{|\mathcal{Q}^*(n)| &< C;\
\exists [\boldsymbol{\Psi}(n)]_{k} \geq {\xi}^2_{k}; \
\exists s_k^{*}(n) \mbox{ in }\eqref{finding_state}\}. \label{checking3}
\end{align}
{\color{black}Hence, it makes intuitive see that the loop repeats for at most $C$ iterations before terminating.} The posterior update is then:
\begin{equation}\label{pos_update}
{\hat{\mathbf{s}}^{\mathtt{pos}}(n)}  = {\hat{\mathbf{s}}^{\mathtt{pr}}(n)} + \mathbf{K}(n)(\mathbf{o}(n) - \mathbf{H}(n){\hat{\mathbf{s}}^{\mathtt{pr}}(n)} ),
\end{equation}
where $\mathbf{o}(n) $ represents the combination of received $\mathtt{SA}$ observations. Accordingly, we update $\hat{\mathbf{s}}(n) = \hat{\mathbf{s}}^{\mathtt{pos}}(n)$. Despite the local $\mathtt{SA}$ scheduling solution, our  approach ensures the long-term balance between state certainty and communication cost over different QIs with respect to the $\mathtt{PA}$'s requirements.
\begin{figure*}[t]
\begin{minipage}{0.9\textwidth}
	\centering
	\includegraphics[trim=0.cm 15.5cm 8.5cm 0.8cm, clip=true, width=4.1in]{legend.eps} \\
	\vspace*{-0pt}

\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{0.24\textwidth}

	\includegraphics[trim=0.cm 0.1cm 0.cm 0.8cm, clip=true, width=1.3in]{connect_vs_qi_v2.eps} \\
	\vspace*{-0pt}
	\centering \fontsize{8}{8}{$(a)$}
	\vspace*{-5pt}
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{0.24\textwidth}

	\includegraphics[trim=0.cm 0.1cm 0.cm 0.8cm, clip=true, width=1.3in]{power_vs_QI_v2.eps} \\
	\vspace*{-0pt}
	\centering \fontsize{8}{8}{$(b)$}
	\vspace*{-5pt}
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{0.24\textwidth}

	\includegraphics[trim=0.cm 0.1cm 0.cm 0.8cm, clip=true, width=1.3in]{prob_vs_QI_v2.eps} \\
	\vspace*{-0pt}
	\centering \fontsize{8}{8}{$(c)$}
	\vspace*{-5pt}
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{0.24\textwidth}

	\includegraphics[trim=0.cm 0.1cm 0.cm 0.8cm, clip=true, width=1.3in]{RMSE_vs_QI_v2.eps} \\
	\vspace*{-0pt}
	\centering \fontsize{8}{8}{$(d)$}
	\vspace*{-5pt}
\end{minipage}
\vspace*{-0.05cm}
\caption{The system performance of different metrics versus query interval  ($M = 60$ sensors including $30$ position sensors and $30$ velocity sensors): $(a)$ the number of selected sensors; $(b)$  the power transmission; $(c)$ the probability of  uncertainty appearance; and $(d)$ the RMSE.}
\label{fig:per_vs_QI}
\vspace*{-12pt}
\end{figure*}
\begin{figure*}[t]
\begin{minipage}{0.9\textwidth}
	\centering
	\includegraphics[trim=0.cm 15.5cm 8.5cm 0.8cm, clip=true, width=4.1in]{legend.eps} \\
	\vspace*{0pt}

\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{0.245\textwidth}

	\includegraphics[trim=0.cm 0.1cm 0.cm 0.7cm, clip=true, width=1.3in]{connect_vs_num_sen_v2.eps} \\
	\vspace*{-0pt}
	\centering \fontsize{8}{8}{$(a)$}
	\vspace*{-5pt}
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{0.245\textwidth}

	\includegraphics[trim=0.cm 0.1cm 0.cm 0.7cm, clip=true, width=1.3in]{power_vs_num_sen_v2.eps} \\
	\vspace*{-0pt}
	\centering \fontsize{8}{8}{$(b)$}
	\vspace*{-5pt}
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{0.245\textwidth}

	\includegraphics[trim=0.cm 0.1cm 0.cm 0.7cm, clip=true, width=1.3in]{prob_vs_num_sen_v2.eps} \\
	\vspace*{-0pt}
	\centering \fontsize{8}{8}{$(c)$}
	\vspace*{-5pt}
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{0.245\textwidth}

	\includegraphics[trim=0.cm 0.0cm 0.cm 0.7cm, clip=true, width=1.3in]{mRMSE_vsnum_sen_v2.eps} \\
	\vspace*{-0pt}
	\centering \fontsize{8}{8}{$(d)$}
	\vspace*{-5pt}
\end{minipage}
\vspace*{-0.2cm}
\caption{System performance of different metrics versus the total number of sensors (equal number of different types of sensors): $(a)$ the number of connections; $(b)$  the power transmission; $(c)$ probability of  uncertainty appearance; and $(d)$ the MRMSE.}
\label{fig:per_vs_num_sen}
\vspace*{-18pt}
\end{figure*}
\section{Numerical Results}
\begin{table}[!t]\vspace{-0.5cm}
\caption{Simulation Parameters}
\resizebox{8.9cm}{!}
{
	\begin{tabular}{ll|ll}
		\hline
		Parameter & Value & Parameter & Value \\
		\hline
		Carrier frequency ($f_c$)          & 2.4 GHz      &  Rate threshold ($R^\mathtt{th}$) \cite{Neri14}          &   250 kbps    \\
		Bandwidth   (W)       & 5 MHz      &  Channel noise power          & -11.5 dBm     \\
		Required error variances $(\xi^2_{pos}, \xi^2_{vel})$ & (0.015, 0.005)     &  Max. distance ($d_{\max}$)          & 20 m     \\
		Max. connection ($C$) & 10 & $\mathtt{PA}$'s weight ($m_\mathtt{PA}$)& 100 kg\\
		Rician factor ($G$) & 15 dB &  Outage probability factor $(\varepsilon)$& 0.0001\\
		\hline\vspace{-0.5cm}
	\end{tabular}
}
\label{parameters}
\end{table}
In this section, we examine our proposed algorithm in a specific sensor scheduling scenario. Particularly, we consider an object $\mathtt{PA}$ with mass $m_\mathtt{PA}$ moving in the XY circle plane with position vector $\mathbf{s}(n) = [x(n), y(n)]^T: \mathbb{R}\rightarrow\mathbb{R}^2$, and velocity vector $\mathbf{v}(n) = [v_x(n), v_y(n)]^T: \mathbb{R}\rightarrow\mathbb{R}^2$, as illustrated in Fig. \ref{fig_system_model}.  To randomly model a movement of $\mathtt{PA}$, we apply a driving force by $\mathbf{f}(n) = [F_x(n), F_y(n)]^T =  [A_x\cos(2\pi f_xn), A_y\cos(2\pi f_yn)]^T$.
We apply a calibrated additional force, derived experimentally, $\mathbf{g}(n)=\bar{G}\frac{\mathbf{x}(n-1)-\mathbf{O}}{d_{\mathtt{PA},\mathbf{O}}}\frac{|\mathbf{v}(n-1)|}{R-d_{\mathtt{PA},\mathbf{O}}}$ to the $\mathtt{PA}$, aiming at pulling the $\mathtt{PA}$ into the center whenever the $\mathtt{PA}$ moves close to the edge of the region. Herein, $\bar{G}$ and $\mathbf{O}$ are the force parameter and the center position, respectively. Then, the position, velocity, and acceleration of the $\mathtt{PA}$ are given as $\mathbf{x}(n)\triangleq\mathbf{x}(nT) =  \mathbf{x}(n-1) + T\mathbf{v}(n-1),  + \frac{n^2}{2}\mathbf{a}(n-1) + \mathbf{n}_x$; $
\mathbf{v}(n)\triangleq\mathbf{v}(nT) = \mathbf{v}(n-1) + T\mathbf{a}(n-1) + \mathbf{n}_v$; $
\mathbf{a}(n)\triangleq\mathbf{a}(nT) = \frac{\mathbf{f}(n)+\mathbf{g}(n)}{m_\mathtt{PA}},$
where perturbations $\mathbf{n}_x, \mathbf{n}_v$ are modeled as independent random variables, i.e., $\mathbf{n}_x\sim\mathcal{CN}(0,\boldsymbol{\sigma}_{pos}^2)$ and $\mathbf{n}_v\sim\mathcal{CN}(0,\boldsymbol{\sigma}_{vel}^2)$ with $\boldsymbol{\sigma}_{pos}^2=\mathbf{I}\times0.04$ and $\boldsymbol{\sigma}_{vel}^2=\mathbf{I}\times 0.01$.

The state vector of the $\mathtt{PA}$ includes its position and velocity:
$\mathbf{s}(n) = [\mathbf{x}_x(nT)\ \mathbf{x}_y(nT)\ \mathbf{v}_x(nT)\ \mathbf{v}_y(nT)]^T$.
Other important parameters are included in Table \ref{parameters}.  The observation matrix of position and velocity $\mathtt{SA}$s are respectively given by
\begin{equation}\label{}
\mathbf{H}_{pos} = \left [ \begin{matrix}
	1 & 0 & 0 & 0\\
	0 & 1 & 0 & 0
\end{matrix} \right ]; \quad 	\mathbf{H}_{vel} = \left [ \begin{matrix}
	0 & 0 & 1 & 0\\
	0 & 0 & 0 & 1
\end{matrix} \right ].
\end{equation}
For benchmarking, we compare our proposed Alg. 1 and four other methods: \textit{Cost-based greedy} (Cost-BG) allows the AP to get observations from all nearest $\mathtt{SA}$s based on ascending order of distance from AP to $\mathtt{SA}$ at each QI; \textit{Confidence-based greedy} (Confidence-BG) is similar to Cost-BG but based on descending order of $\mathtt{SA}$s' confidence. The number of scheduled $\mathtt{SA}$s in the greedy benchmarks is $|\mathcal{Q}(n)^*| = \min(C, |\mathcal{P}(n)|)$. We also consider \textit{Random scheduling} (RC) , which randomly selects $C$ $\mathtt{SA}$s. Finally, we consider the \textit{Best candidate selection} (BCS) heuristic~\cite{GUPTA2006251}, in which the DT model chooses the best $\mathtt{SA}$ with the highest confidence in $\mathcal{P}(n)$ at each QI.

In Fig. \ref{fig:per_vs_QI}(a) and Fig. \ref{fig:per_vs_QI}(b), we compare  the average number of selected sensors and the  associated power consumption at each QI using different approaches. The results show that Alg. 1 brings benefits to the number of sensors connected and thus saves the used power. At first QIs, Alg 1 utilizes multiple sensors to enhance the efficiency of state estimation. However, after achieving the required estimated confidence, the AP only queries observation from 4 sensors per QI (from QI 30) to maintain the confidence of the estimated state, thereby directly saving power consumption (as in Fig. \ref{fig:per_vs_QI}(b)) compared to other schemes. Fig \ref{fig:per_vs_QI}(c) plots the probability of uncertainty appearance, i.e., the probability of violating at least one of the requirements in \eqref{qos_condition} in the coherence interval. While significantly reducing communication costs, Alg. 1 provides a probability of uncertainty appearance comparable to that of the best greedy algorithm (Confidence-BG). Due to the fact that only one sensor is connected to each QI, the BCS scheme always causes the highest level of uncertainty, even with minimal power consumption, as shownin Fig. \ref{fig:per_vs_QI}(b). By maintaining 4 connections to sensors from QI 40 onward, Alg. 1 can meet the estimation error requirements for all features of object's state, which is approximately $2\times$ lower comparing to Confidence-BG, Cost-BG or RC schemes. The Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) is used in Fig. \ref{fig:per_vs_QI}(c)  \cite{9845870} to evaluate the overall system performance of our algorithm over all benchmarks. It is seen that Alg. 1 always provides the lowest RMSE equivalent to Confidence-BG regardless of QI.

In Fig. \ref{fig:per_vs_num_sen}, we examine the same metrics in Fig. \ref{fig:per_vs_QI} based on the divergence in the number of sensors distributed in the observed area. The average number of sensors connected to the $\mathtt{PA}$ per QI and the corresponding power consumption are shown in Fig. \ref{fig:per_vs_num_sen}(a) and Fig. \ref{fig:per_vs_num_sen}(b), respectively. As expected, Alg. 1 significantly outperform the greedy alternatives in terms of probability of uncertainty appearance. Furthermore, Fig. \ref{fig:per_vs_num_sen}(d) plots the mean RMSE (MRMSE) defined at \cite{9656153} to average the RMSE over the entire simulation time. As the number of sensors allocated increases, our proposed scheme always yields an MRMSE equivalent to the best one (Confidence-BG) and increases the margin compared to others.

\section{Conclusions}
In this paper, we have investigated the optimization of $\mathtt{SA}$s scheduling based on the VoI of sensing agents with limited communication resource. We proposed an efficient algorithm selecting subsets of $\mathtt{SA}$s to meet the requirements in the confidence of state estimation. Future work on the subject may aim at considering the long-term effects of scheduling choices in more complex systems, as well as integrating deep learning-based estimators.
\setstretch{0.91}
\bibliographystyle{IEEEtran}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


The Douglas DC-4 is a four-engined propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s in a military role. From 1945, many civil airlines operated it worldwide.
After the abortive DC-4E proved to be complicated to maintain and uneconomical to operate, Douglas responded to the Eastern and United requests for a smaller and simpler derivative. Before the definitive DC-4 could enter service the outbreak of World War II meant production was channeled to the United States Army Air Forces and the type was given the military designation C-54 Skymaster, with US Navy aircraft designated Douglas R5D. The first aircraft, a C-54, flew from Clover Field in Santa Monica, California on 14 February 1942.
The DC-4's tricycle landing gear allowed its fuselage to be constant cross-section for most of its length, so it could be easily stretched into the later DC-6 and DC-7. A total of 1,163 C-54/R5Ds were built for the United States military services between 1942 and January 1946.The DC-4/C-54 proved a popular and reliable type, 1245 being built between May 1942 and August 1947, including 79 postwar DC-4s. Several remain in service as of 2011. An example is Buffalo Airways of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.
Douglas continued to develop the type during the war in preparation for a return to airline services when peace returned. However, the type's sales prospects withered when 500 wartime C-54s and R5Ds came onto the civil market, many of which were converted into civilian versions by Douglas. DC-4s were a favorite of charter airlines such as Great Lakes Airlines, North American Airlines, Universal Airlines and Transocean Airlines. In the 1950s Transocean Airlines (Oakland, California) was the largest civil operator of the C-54/DC-4.
Douglas produced 79 new-build DC-4s between January 1946 and cessation of production on August 9, 1947. Pressurization was available as an option, but all civilian DC-4s (and C-54s) were built unpressurized. Purchasers of the new build aircraft included National Airlines, Northwest Airlines and Western Airlines in the USA and KLM Royal Dutch Air Lines, Scandinavian Airlines System, Sabena Belgian World Airlines, Avianca and South African Airways in overseas markets.
Very few DC-4s remain in service today. The last three passenger DC-4s believed to be operating worldwide are all based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Two fly old South African Airways (SAA) colors. They are ZS-AUB "Outeniqua" and ZS-BMH "Lebombo" and are owned by the South African Airways Museum Society and operated by Skyclass Aviation, a company specializing in classic airliner charters to exotic destinations in Africa. The other Skymaster is ZS-AUA "Tafelberg" which is also operated by Skyclass Aviation but is leased from the Dutch Dakota Association.
A 1944 built DC4 is currently being restored in NSW, Australia.


text:
https://pakistan.asia-news.com/en_GB/articles/cnmi_pf/features/2017/09/19/feature-01
Tehran's timid response to Soleimani killing underscores regime's fragility
Sindh government cracks down on illegal drugs as dealers target students
Rescue 1122 continues expansion into tribal districts
Revival of Pakistan-US military training represents boon to relations
Environment |
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's billion-tree project is conservation 'success story'
The provincial government's Billion Tree Tsunami Afforestation Project is ahead of schedule, coming under budget and receiving international acclaim.
By Adeel Saeed
Trees planted on the outskirts of Peshawar are shown in this July aerial view. The KP government is close to plantint a billion trees in fewer than three years to protect the environment. [Courtesy of BTTAP]
PESHAWAR -- The success of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government's Billion Tree Tsunami Afforestation Project (BTTAP) demonstrates Pakistan's serious commitment to the environment and the resolution of global issues, observers say.
The KP government launched the BTTAP in 2014 and set the goal of planting one billion trees and increasing the province's forested area by at least 2 percentage points by 2020.
The project also simultaneously fulfills a pledge to the Bonn Challenge -- a global effort to restore 150 million hectares of deforested and degraded land by 2020, and 350 million hectares by 2030.
As its share, the KP government in 2014 pledged to restore 348,400 hectares by 2020.
Efficient fulfilllment
Less than three years into the project, the province has made remarkable success, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the secretariat for the Bonn Challenge.
"The Billion Tree Tsunami initiative is a true conservation success story, one that further demonstrates Pakistan's leadership role in the international restoration effort and continued commitment to the Bonn Challenge," IUCN Director General Inger Andersen said in a statement released August 11.
She congratulated KP Province for surpassing its target by restoring and planting trees on 350,000 hectares of degraded forest landscapes three years ahead of schedule.
BTTAP achieved its restoration target through a combination of protected natural regeneration (60%) and planned afforestation (40%), according to the IUCN.
In addition, it has established 13,000 private tree nurseries, which have boosted incomes, created thousands of "green" jobs and empowered formerly jobless youth and women in KP.
KP is expecting to hit its goal of planting a billion trees by the end of September, also three years ahead of schedule, according to a September report by Geo News.
The KP government has spent $123 million (Rs. 12.3 billion) to fund the BTTAP and will allocate another $100 million (Rs. 10 billion) to sustain the project through June 2020, according to the IUCN.
So far, the BTTAP has come in at $80 million (Rs. 8 billion) under budget -- costing Rs. 14 billion ($140 million) rather than the originally planned Rs. 22 billion ($220 million), according to BTTAP Project Director Muhammad Tehmasip.
Investments in environmental protection
"This support makes the project one of the largest eco-investments ever made in Pakistan," the IUCN said in its statement of KP's effort.
In May, the Pakistani government made its own pledge to the Bonn Challenge, adding to the KP government's pledge, tipping the Bonn Challenge over its 150-million-hectare milestone.
"Pakistan is pledging 0.1 million hectares to the Bonn Challenge as part of the Green Pakistan Programme spearheaded by our Prime Minister," said KP Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra in May, according to an IUCN statement. "The costs of implementing this commitment will be shared equally by the government and provinces. Other provinces in Pakistan are likely to make their own additional pledges in the near future."
"The Bonn Challenge is not just a driver for forest restoration; it is also a means for green growth, a tool for climate change mitigation, and it creates green jobs," said Malik Amin Aslam Khan, IUCN vice president and chair of the KP Green Growth Initiative and BTTAP Pakistan, in May, according to the same IUCN statement.
"What started as a very good idea outside of the negotiation process is now a restoration movement that has shown remarkable results on the ground," he said in May.
"Apart from becoming the first country to surpass the Bonn Challenge [commitment], the success of the Billion Tree Tsunami is also in compliance with international conventions on global warming including the Paris Agreement, a global agreement signed in 2015 in France on reduction of climate change," said Tehmasip of the BTTAP.
"With the maturity of one billion trees in 2020, the temperature of KP will decrease by two degrees centigrade as required by the Paris Agreement," he told Pakistan Forward.
At the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, KP was honoured as one of the global "forest restoration leaders" -- along with Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica and India -- for voluntarily carrying out large afforestation and forest preservation projects to tackle global climate change, Tehmasip said.
Commitment to progress, development
"This remarkable achievement of the KP government has produced a positive image of the country among the community of nations, [showing] that Pakistan is a responsible state and gives due consideration to global concerns," said Shamim Shahid, a Peshawar-based journalist and security analyst.
"The contributions made by our country in the ongoing war against terrorism also reflect the mindset of Pakistanis, that we are a responsible people and can make any sort of contribution for the eradication of this menace from the globe," he told Pakistan Forward.
"The success of the Billion Tree Tsunami Project has conveyed a positive image of Pakistan to the world community," agreed Shakil Ahmad Khan, president of the Peshawar Chamber of Small Traders and Small Industries.
"Pakistanis are pro-development and are a progress loving nation who want to make their own country and the whole world developed and peaceful, free of all prejudice, hatred and other elements of hazardous nature," he told Pakistan Forward.
This commitment to protecting the environment shows the world a different side of Pakistan, which for decades has battled violence and terrorism, he said.
"It has reflected our commitment to the resolution of issues of international concern including extremism," he said.
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Waseem | 07-01-2018
How much area reqrd to plant 1 bilion tress ?
What is planting frequency per day ?
Planting is manual or automated
Usman Hafeez | 09-25-2017
Jaffar | 09-22-2017
Congratulations KPK government in Pakistan
| Environment
'Plant for Pakistan' sets sights on planting 10 billion trees in 5 years
Under the project, launched by Prime Minister Imran Khan, about 5.4 million trees are expected to be planted each day across Pakistan for the next five years.
In photos: once barren and scorched, KP's hills now covered in 'green gold'
Hundreds of millions of trees have been planted to fight deforestation in the Heroshah region of Malakand District.
Mangrove planting campaigns shore up Pakistan's coastal ecosystems
Sindh Forest Department officials planted more than 1.1 million mangroves in less than 13 hours last month, breaking the department's own earlier Guinness World Record.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Hamas's Fatah and the No-State Solution
by Khaled Abu Toameh
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9707/hamas-fatah
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared that 2017 will be the "year of international recognition of the State of Palestine."
The melee in Gaza exposes as the lie that it is Abbas's repeated claim of a unified Fatah able to lead the Palestinians towards statehood. Incredibly, Abbas seeks global recognition of a Palestinian state at a time when the flames in his own backyard are set to engulf him and his questionable regime.
More bad news from the poll: if presidential elections were to be held today, Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the terrorist group Hamas, would beat Abbas by 49% to 45%.
Palestinians are now openly talking about two different Fatah factions. After Abbas's decision to strip the legislators of their parliamentary immunity, six Fatah PLC members participated in a Hamas-sponsored meeting of the PLC in the Gaza Strip. This was the first time since 2007 that such a move had been made.
Fatah leaders in the Gaza Strip, unlike their colleagues in the West Bank, are de facto recognizing the Hamas rule over the Gaza Strip. This is wonderful news for Hamas, whose leader, Ismail Haniyeh is likely to defeat Abbas in a presidential election.
The Fatah gunmen who marched in the Gaza Strip courtesy of Hamas are not supporters of Abbas. Instead, they represent the "other face" of Fatah -- the one that does not believe in any peace process with Israel and shares Hamas's ambition of destroying Israel.
During a celebration in Ramallah marking the 52nd anniversary of the founding of his Fatah faction, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas declared that 2017 will be the "year of international recognition of the State of Palestine." Hailing the recent anti-settlement UN Security Council resolution 2334, Abbas said he was prepared to work with the new administration of Donald Trump "to achieve peace in the region."
But while Abbas and his lieutenants were celebrating in Ramallah, at least 11 Palestinians were wounded in a scuffle that erupted between rival Fatah factions in the Gaza Strip. According to sources in the Gaza Strip, the fight broke out between Abbas loyalists and supporters of estranged Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan. The confrontation, which was the most violent between the two sides in many years, is yet another sign of increasing schism in Fatah. Moreover, it is an indication of how Abbas's control over his own faction is slipping through his hands. Hamas policemen who were at the scene did not interfere to break up the fight between the warring Fatah activists.
The melee in Gaza exposes as the lie that is Abbas's repeated claim of a unified Fatah, able to lead the Palestinians towards statehood. Incredibly, Abbas seeks global recognition of a Palestinian state at a time when the flames in his own backyard are set to engulf him and his questionable regime.
Abbas says he wants to work with the Trump Administration to achieve peace in the Middle East, yet he cannot even achieve peace in his very own faction.
Abbas's speech coincided with a new public opinion poll that showed that 64% of Palestinians want him to step down. The poll, conducted by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, also showed that two-thirds of Palestinians do not believe that the current Fatah leadership can achieve their aspirations.
The poll's findings show that the percentage of Palestinians who want Abbas to resign has risen over the past three months from 61% to 64%. More bad news from the poll: if presidential elections were to be held today, Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the terrorist group Hamas, would beat Abbas by 49% to 45%.
The results of the poll should not come as a surprise to those who have been monitoring Palestinian affairs for the past few years. Judging from the sentiments on the Palestinian street, there is good reason to believe that the 81-year-old Abbas, who is now in his 12th year of his four-year term in office, has long ago lost much of his credibility among his people. The real surprise is that only 64% of Palestinians want to see him gone.
Many Palestinians hold Abbas personally responsible for the continued and rapid deterioration in the Palestinian arena. They see his incompetent and failed leadership as the main reason behind the 2007 violent Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip. As soon as Hamas started shooting, Abbas's fragile, corrupt and strife-ridden Palestinian Authority security forces collapsed. Critics of Abbas say that lack of leadership and decision-making on his part facilitated the Hamas seizure of the Gaza Strip.
Yet over the years, it has become evident that Abbas has not only lost the Gaza Strip and its two million inhabitants to Hamas, but that he is also losing control over his own Fatah faction there. Abbas has managed to alienate many Fatah leaders and activists in the Gaza Strip (most of whom are not necessarily affiliated with his arch-rival, Dahlan) to a point where Palestinians are now openly talking about two different Fatah factions.
Instead of devoting his energies to freeing the Gaza Strip from the iron grip of Hamas, Abbas has spent the past few years waging war against anyone in Fatah who dares to challenge his policies or criticize him. In this regard, he has resorted to a number of punitive measures that have further escalated tensions among Fatah cadres.
These measures include cutting off salaries and pensions to Fatah employees whose loyalty to Abbas is in question or who are suspected of being affiliated with Dahlan. As far as Abbas is concerned, affiliation with Hamas is less of a crime than being affiliated with Dahlan or any of his rivals in Fatah. Another measure that Abbas has taken to punish his rivals in Fatah: stripping them of their parliamentary immunity. The latest victims of this punishment: Mohamed Dahlan, Nasser Juma'ah, Shami Al-Shami, Najat Abu Baker and Jamal Al-Tirawi. Abbas took the decision without seeking the approval of the Palestinian parliament, the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), or any other judicial or decision-making institution. His detractors point out that the removal of the parliamentary immunity is in violation of the Palestinian Basic Law, because the PLC is the only party authorized to take such a decision.
When Fatah legislators protested against Abbas's arbitrary measure by holding a sit-in strike inside the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ramallah, Abbas ordered his security forces to raid the compound and evict them by force. "This is a grave violation of the legislators' rights and it is completely unjustified," said a spokeswoman for Fatah in the Gaza Strip.
"It is also an indication of the repressive measures taken by the Palestinian Authority security forces. The legislators were holding a peaceful protest inside the offices of the Red Cross after President Abbas's decision to remove their parliamentary immunity. We hold the president, the prime minister and the security forces responsible for the violations against human rights and public freedoms. We also condemn the silence of the Red Cross towards this despicable assault against the legislators inside the (Red Cross) offices."
Abbas's crackdown on his Fatah critics has driven them into the open arms of Hamas. After Abbas's decision to strip the legislators of their parliamentary immunity, six Fatah PLC members participated in a Hamas-sponsored meeting of the PLC in the Gaza Strip. This was the first time since 2007 that such a move had been made.
The PLC has been effectively paralyzed since the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip. However, this has not prevented Hamas from continuing to convene sessions of the parliament in the Gaza Strip during the past few years. Until recently, Fatah legislators have boycotted these meetings because they do not recognize Hamas's rule over the Gaza Strip. Abbas's punitive and vengeful measures, however, have pushed Fatah legislators to change this status quo. This means that Fatah leaders in the Gaza Strip, unlike their colleagues in the West Bank, are de facto recognizing the Hamas rule over the Gaza Strip. This is wonderful news for Hamas, whose leader, Ismail Haniyeh (according to the latest poll) is likely to defeat Abbas in a presidential election.
Emboldened by the growing divisions in Fatah, Hamas leaders are also beginning to flirt with disgruntled Abbas critics who have been hurt by Abbas's measures. For the first time in many years, the Hamas government permitted thousands of Fatah gunmen to hold a military parade in the Gaza Strip this week, marking the faction's 52nd anniversary.
The Fatah gunmen who marched in the Gaza Strip courtesy of Hamas are not supporters of Abbas, the overall commander of Fatah. Instead, they represent the "other face" of Fatah -- the one that does not believe in any peace process with Israel and shares Hamas's ambition of destroying Israel. The message that the Gaza Strip branch of Fatah wished to send to Abbas: Unlike you and your West Bank Fatah, we will not give up the "armed struggle" against Israel. "This parade sends a message to Abbas that Fatah has not relinquished the armed struggle," explained Palestinian political scientist Ibrahim Abrash.
Meanwhile, Abbas appears to be living on a different planet. His ego prevents him from grasping the news that the polls reveal: most of his people are done with him. He refuses to wake up to the truth that his Fatah faction is falling into pieces, his erstwhile loyalists getting into bed with Hamas. He asks the world to recognize a Palestinian state when his own private residence in the Gaza Strip is forbidden to him. Indeed, it seems that the Palestinians are moving toward a "no-state solution" -- a Gaza Strip run by Hamas and dissident Fatah members and a West Bank controlled by another Fatah that is still loyal to Abbas, largely because he is paying them salaries.
Abbas maintains that he is eager to work with the Trump Administration to achieve peace in the region. But will he have the courage to tell the new US administration some uncomfortable truths -- namely that he has become a political liability to the majority of his people, and that the Palestinians have never been as divided as they are at this moment? In short, will Abbas dare to share the truth of the splintered Fatah's no-state solution?
Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist, is based in Jerusalem.
Follow Khaled Abu Toameh on Twitter
Related Topics: Palestinian Authority
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Sala Abrahim • Jan 5, 2017 at 19:12
It appears that there are deep divisions within Fatah which will eventually lead to its political disintegration and the end of the political career of Mahmoud Abbas. According to the latest poll 62% of Palestinians want to see him gone. The winner will be Hamas which doesn't believe in peace, its charter calls for the destruction of Israel.
It would foolhardy to speak of a two state solution and blame Israel for being an obstacle to peace when you have Hamas having the upper hand politically and continue to radicalize and recruit Palestinian youth.
Juanita Skelton • Jan 4, 2017 at 08:33
Well, this is a "ghoul-ash" of a political stew! What a mess! To kill or be killed?...THAT is the question in Palestinian affairs. There doesn't seem to be too many real options for the people who are politically engaged enough to vote. You can vote for Fatah( either faction) which says to continue the struggle, but let's call in our "Trump card"!) Or, you can go for the Hamas-Fatah faction that will continue the armed struggle with Israel but have as your leader a Mr. Ismail Haniyeh who wants to destroy Israel(let there be NO DOUBT, if you GO that way, YOU WILL GET DESTROYED, as well). Not a lot of choices!
This is sort of like our American election: hard choices;old problems are hanging around with no solutions; and everyone is DIVIDED over everything just because NO ONES KNOWS HOW TO LOSE WITH DIGNITY without taking everyone down with them; and finally...the worst... BETRAYAL!!!!
My heart goes out to the Palestinians and Israelies who are the real heroes in this Promised Land. These heroes brave the impact of whoever is "elected". These heroes are the martyrs who go unsung, unfed with the "meat of peaceful lives"; undernourished due to lack of inspirational leadership; and getting too much "bang" for their bucks they pay in taxes for the necessary government military hardware in bombs.
Can we who sit on the sidelines help? No one can help if the two sides cannot and will not help each other.
NadavKatz • Jan 4, 2017 at 01:09
We must never lose sight of the fact that the fundamental goal of both the PLO and HAMAS has been to advance the demise of the State of Israel and the "cleansing" of the national home of the Jewish people of its Jews, through all means, violence and deception included, and in stages if need be...!!
champ • Jan 3, 2017 at 23:27
Since the days of Arafat, Fatah has been about one thing; the financial betterment of its leadership. It has never been about the advancement of the "Palestinian" people. Arafat lived and died as a billionaire, living off the money that Fatah extorted from weak-minded Western governments and aid organizations. Abbas saw how this scheme worked, and after assuming leadership of Fatah, carried it out to his own advantage.
the open Mike • Jan 3, 2017 at 20:51
Looks like we were wrong: after years of talks, Sec. Kerry tells us that the over-riding barrier to Israeli-Palestine peace is Israel's building family residences in the West Bank. Guess Kerry found meaningless to the peace process, the split between Abbas and Hamas, or establishing who legally represents and speaks for the Palestinian people. For Kerry, the PA/Hamas situation is not a problem - but, Israel's residential building in the West Bank--now there's the rub... Dealing with the reality that the Abbas PA will most probably soon be thrown out on its ass in the coming West Bank elections and Hamas will be the new sheriff in control of the two Palestinian territories...could mean that Kerry has been blindly coddling the wrong party. Land swap, Israeli withdrawal, ending of West Bank expansion, will all be meaningless to Hamas, whose only objective is the extinction of the state of Israel... whatever its boundaries.
Is it not delusional for the Obama/Kerry team to assume that Abbas speaks for the Palestinian people and would be able to enter into any binding agreement that Hamas is not a signature party to. Can Kerry just ignore the fact that the FA does not carry any weight in Gaza or the fact that the Hamas leaders in Gaza have never given any indication of a peaceful settlement allowing the state of Israel to exist under any circumstances. So if the UN were to unilaterally recognize the "State of Palestine", it would be in essence setting a precedent for the recognition of an acknowledged "terrorist' government.
SaEFan • Jan 3, 2017 at 12:12
Dahlan, Barguti, Hanyeh, all blood soaked to the bones, will vie for Judah-Samaria leadership when Abbas leaves the scene. Gaza is a separate entity and Israel will make sure it remains so. The carrot for the Falasteenians in the street is Statehood as a precursor to "return". For the leaders, "return" is a horizon, unreachable by definition. Statehood to be solid must be won, not bestowed. For Israel the statehood bestowed by the UN was solidified by the win of 1948. After that there lingered questions of permanence, that vanished in 1967. I see no equivalent "win" for a Falasteen, only a bestowal. In Arabic, a Baksheesh! Even if a state of Falasteen will appear, it will be a failed State from any definition of the word, totally dependent on foreign support for its very existence. Basically an Israeli Protectorate - if they behave! This situation will not be likely to change, as the territory is too small, the population too small, no natural resources, not even enough water, no oil, no nothing!! All they will have is aspirations and willingness to create havoc, in essence blackmailing the world. Even Jordan is no supporting cane, being de-facto a Sa'udi-Israeli Protectorate.
Frank Adam • Jan 3, 2017 at 10:45
The Palestine Arabs like the Lebanese, Iraqi, Yemeni and Syrian Arabs can not live as civilised neighbours between themselves in the PA nor anywhere so how do the 2334 backers Neville Kerry and Mussobama expect them to live as peaceful neighbours with Israel and Turkey - or anybody?
The Arabs broke the 1949 Armistices about Israeli access to the Western Wall and Mt Scopus campus; and the 1971 cease fire by moving the SAM missiles to the Suez Canal so how do the 2334 backers Neville Kerry and Mussobama expect them to make or keep any other peace with Israel.
The Arabs broke the 1957 withdrawal from Sinai clauses to keep open the Gulf of Eilat / Aqaba; and laddered the Oslo Agreements by bus bombs and shelving the abrogation of the PLO Charter clauses against Israeli existence so how do the 2334 backers Neville Kerry and Mussobama expect them to make or keep any other peace with Israel.
2334 infers the Green Line was a frontier rather than a generic border so admits that West Jerusalem is Israel. Why therefore do the backers of 2334 still refuse to move their embassies to Jerusalem?
2334 bulldozes any progress and wiggle room to compromise achieved in 242 and Oslo and consequences so how do the 2334 backers Neville Kerry and Mussobama expect to re-advance from the 1967 start line of the Arab Khartoum: No peace! No talks! and No recognition! [of Israel]? Which has turned out to be long term Arab policy.
As 2334 ditches all Arab peace talks with Israel till now by sanctifying the 1949 Armistice Green Line. So is it not the case that the international law status of any land of the former Palestine Mandate reverts to the last internationally agreed recognised and ratified treaty about it namely the Palestine Mandate and its clauses for close Jewish settlement to create a Jewish [majority] state and so the Israeli towns and villages built since 1967 are legal - or not illegal?
Given the Arab parties to the Arab war on Israeli existence have refused eight offers of an Arab state in Palestine since 1937 including four such offers and opportunities before Israel built anything East of the Green Line do the 2334 backers Neville Kerry and Mussobama expect the parties in dispute to do anything other than keep calm and carry on?
Shirley Carere • Jan 3, 2017 at 10:40
The argument over this area is ridiculous - the UN had no right to reverse this decision allowing Palestinians to control part of the City. They could simply have set up another Jerusalem in another area.
Palestinians do not believe in the same God and therefore they are cutting their own throats by wanting to have this religious site to share without conversion.
tiki • Jan 3, 2017 at 10:00
The choice in "Palestine" is between terrorist "President" of the PA Abbas and terrorist chairman of Hamas, Haniyeh
"Palestinians" are Arabs and therefore not entitled to another Arab State, especially not on the ancient Jewish lands of Judea & Samaria.
Time to state some facts and reset the mix up.
Gea • Jan 3, 2017 at 09:21
In 1922/23 under the British Mandate for managing former Ottoman occupied territories, which included many other Arabs populated countries where there were also about a million of Jews, the British lopped off 85% of the Ottoman province "Palestine" (name given it by the Romans before Roman Empire split in West and East) and created Transjordan, with mostly Arab Muslim population.
The West Palestine (west of river Jordan) was left for future Jewish homeland promised to Jews with a Balfour Declaration. Then the British started being dependent on Arab oil and started limiting Jewish immigration into Palestine which was being revived by the Jews and experience.d large influx of Arabs ( (mostly Muslims) from Egypt, Syria and elsewhere who were looking for better life in West Palestine. Same with Muslim invasion of Europe as Muslims are usually looting others rather then creating something by themselves
Therefore, all current Muslim inhabitants of Samara, Judea and Gaza can move to Egypt, just as more than half of the Jewish population of Israel (which also has 23% Muslims) are descents of the Jews who had to flee or were ethnically cleansed by the Muslims who are now doing the same thing to Christians as there are no more Jews left among them. There will be no end to terrorism and violence until Islam ITSELF STOPS teaching hatred of ALL non--Muslims and particularly Jews.
Mohamed also envied and hated and ethnically cleansed them from Arabian peninsula, starting in 627 AD, when he had 900 Jewish men beheaded, looted their property and took their women and children into slavery, which is widely practiced under Muslims even today, from London, Mauritius, Senegal, Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia, Saudi Arabia and beyond. Many EX-Muslims had warned Westerners that Islam ITSELF is an IDEOLOGY, which is worse than Nazism. Should be let millions of Nazis invade our countries or create another Nazi like state in addition to current 56 dysfunctional, corrupt, overpopulated Muslims occupied states which want another Muslims Judenrein state to destroy the ONLY state where Jews are in majority (although Israel as a fifth column of 23$ Muslims, just as India has 16% of Muslims, which is increasing because Muslims have much higher birth rates).
UN needs to abolish special division dedicated to keep "Palestinian problem" brewing and feeding ever increasing number of Muslim children as Islam promotes pedophilia multiple marriages and high birth rate which makes their lives even more dysfunctional. That is why Muslim are invading Europe, Australia and Americas after destroying their original sharia run countries of Islam. Islam ITSELF is not compatible with the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights which most of 56 Muslims occupied countries refused to sign and thus Islam ITSELF has no place in a civilized world.
Dean • Jan 3, 2017 at 09:04
I think that 2017 will be the year that ends Abbas' leadership and any hopes for another failed Islamic state that is part of the overall conquest of Islam. The other Islamic states would prefer not to have another member to compete with for power. Also, the game of garnering world sympathy for terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Fatah has been so successful under Mufti Obama that the other states are afraid that their positions will be undermined by the smartest terrorists of all, the whining "Palestinians."
Vincent Fisher • Jan 3, 2017 at 08:37
"the Hamas government permitted thousands of Fatah gunmen to hold a military parade in the Gaza Strip this week, marking the faction's 52nd anniversary."
Was Kerry there to give a speech?
jeb • Jan 3, 2017 at 08:08
The first demand Abbas made when the UN forwarded a petition to make Palestine a state was to demand that the UN subsidized refugees, 30-40% of the West Bank would retain their "Jizyah" funded refugee status. They want to be a state? A state does not demand the UN retain all its "refugee" camps as refugees, in their own state. This is another example of the OIC pushing sharia concepts of inequality and Islamic superiority against the interests of the rest of the world. The end result will be a greater more stagnant region dependent on welfare based on religious entitlements based on Islamic bigotry.
Solomon Balas • Jan 3, 2017 at 05:59
Abbas does not want a state; Hamas does not want a state. The former have a gold mine from the West. The latter seek glory whilst playing soldiers and getting rich
The real solution for the Normal Humans involved, is to implement a Marshall plan for a greater Gaza to be home to those Arabs West of the River who do not want to go to Jordan, the original 2nd state for "Jewish"Palestinian Arabs,
Greater Gaza, redeveloped to Gulf state standards with an indigenous economy in tourism Fishing Agriculture and energy providing jobs housing schools hospitals for the taking.


Going to Thiruvananthapuram? Find the best month to visit Thiruvananthapuram based on the weather.
Expect 31°C daytime maximum temperatures in the shade with on average 7 hours of sunshine per day in Thiruvananthapuram in December. Check more long-term weather averages for Thiruvananthapuram in December before you book your next holiday to Kerala in 2019/2020.
The December weather guide for Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala shows long term weather averages processed from data supplied by CRU (University of East Anglia), the Met Office & the Netherlands Meteorological Institute. Find out more about our data sources.
The average maximum daytime temperature in Thiruvananthapuram in December is a hot 31°C (88°F) with high heat & humidity. The average night-time temperature is usually a warm 23°C (73°F). There are usually 7 hours of bright sunshine each day, which represents 60% of the 12 hours of daylight.
Expect 69mm (2.7 inches) of rainfall across the whole of December with 4 days with some rain falling. Maximum UV levels will be very high (10 UV index) at midday when the skies are clear.
The average sea temperature in and around Thiruvananthapuram in December is 28°C (82°F).
Browse the sunrise & sunset times for Thiruvananthapuram in December 2019. Select a month to view Thiruvananthapuram sunrise & sunset times for the next twelve months.
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Showing availability for one unit only: The Mill House Search all availability at House on the Brooks
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The Mill House (2 at House on the Brooks)
UK England South East England West Sussex Petworth House on the Brooks
Sleeps 6 (max 6 adults, 5 children)
TV with Freeview
The Owner Says
The Mill House has four large, multi-bedded bedrooms themed around everything from India to China, with pillars rescued from ancient temples, oriental carvings and laqueured four-posters; other rooms are devoted to Italy and the memory of the Mexican painter Frieda Kahlo. It enjoys a super-secluded location on the far side of the estate, close to multiple woodland walks and again with terrific views of the fields, woods, and the Downs beyond.
About House on the Brooks
Search All Availability at House on the Brooks
House on the Brooks is located at Hardham Mill, Hardham, Pulborough, West Sussex RH20 1LA
House on the Brooks is easy to reach by car: just follow the A24 from Horsham and follow the signs to Pulborough and then Hardham; the property is well signposted, just don't be put off by the slightly inauspicious entry road. It's also a good place to go car-free: you're only 3 miles from Pulborough train station, from which there are regular taxis or the owners will pick you if you arrange it in advance.


Intility is proud to announce the recent launch of Work Folders, providing superior file storage and synchronization to all its customers. By enabling Work Folders "as a Service" Intility is able to offer all its 500 companies and 15,000 users access to the service simultaneously, being the first Managed Service Provider (MSP) to do so worldwide.
The Intility Work Folders Service represents an effective, familiar and safe file storage solution. Firstly, all files are only stored locally on the user's encrypted harddrive and within Intility's data centers, using familiar interfaces. Secondly, all files in Work Folders are encrypted when synchronized and sent over the Internet. Thirdly, files stored through the service are part of Intility's standardized back-up regime, and protected by our industry-leading security systems.
Intility and the Microsoft Windows Server team have begun a long-term collaboration through Microsoft's Advisory Partnership program. The goal of the collaboration is to share valuable insights between the two companies to ensure continued innovation for mutual customers' benefit.
"Intility delivers Work Folders as a service to all of their customers so mobile workers can access their data from anywhere, on work or personal devices, while offering IT the peace of mind that comes with centralized management and control of data on Windows Server 2012 R2" states Adam Skewgar, Principal Program Manager Lead for Windows Server & Services at Microsoft Corp.
Work Folders is a place to store your work files so that you can access them from all of your devices, even when you are offline. It also provides its users the ability to synchronize their work data on all their devices wherever they are while remaining in compliance with company policies.
Intility is a managed cloud service offering unlimited and scalable access to compute, storage and network, as well as integrated tools for productivity, security and mobility. The Service represents a next-generation alternative to traditional operating models where companies establish and manage dedicated IT platforms on their own or with external suppliers. The Intility platform is continuously upgraded and offers seamless public cloud integration to services such as Office 365, Microsoft Azure, AWS, Salesforce and more. More than 500 companies are currently using Intility.


For having crooked and ill-set teeth, you may be quite disturbed because of the appearance. This is a problem that is found with lots of people because of which they visit their dentists. Aesthetically, such set of teeth may not be liked by many as they want straight and aligned teeth. Properly aligned teeth will surely improve the looks because the regularly arranged dentition adds to the smile quotient. If you are having an irregular set of teeth with distorted line and rotated tooth with gaps in between, check with our dentist at Westwood Dental Esthetics. Dr. Kiai will help you in getting the right kind of orthodontic or prosthodontic treatment, which will give the best appearance for your particular face and smile.
Our dentists can use Invisalign to bring your set of teeth to regular size and arrangement. This is a special kind of aligner that doesn't make use of wires and braces and instead is having a transparent color that suits the teeth. When put over the teeth inside the oral cavity, it appears as if nothing is fitted. So, you can freely smile without fearing that others may see that you are getting your teeth fixed. Also, it doesn't lead to any injuries that may occur due to the wires.
Taking care of Invisalign is quite easy with the right kind of directives as given by our dentist. This will not only make these prosthetics work for long but also keep your teeth and oral cavity free of any diseases. It can be changed at frequent intervals and there is freedom from the worrying wires and such procedures.


Fried potato ball stuffed w/beef.
Yellow rice w/ pigeon peas.
Chicken stew carrots w/ rice.
Fried chicken chunks or fried pork chunks.
Stuffed fried green bananas w/beef.
Chicken or pork on a stick.
Pernil, ham, salami, Swiss cheese, garlic, pickles, & spicy mustard.
Jerk chicken, jerk sauce, & Swiss cheese.
Tostones (fried green plantains) as bread w/ steak, or chicken, onions, sauce, lettuce, and tomatoes.
All plates served with side of Rice and Plantains (Maduros or Tostones) unless otherwise stated.
Grilled Steak w/ rice & plantains.
Mashed green plantains w/ garlic and pork rinds.


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'Six ways to win anti-graft war'
The Nation Feb 26, 2019
The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) has called for a change in tactics in the anti-graft war. It suggested six things to be done at its one-day second feedback session…
Woman, others win Physics Nobel prize
A TRIO of American, French and Canadian scientists won the 2018 Nobel Prize for Physics yesterday for breakthroughs in laser technology that have turned light beams into precision tools for…
Okorocha: APC will win Southeast in 2019
The Nation Aug 14, 2018
Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha has said the All Progressives Congress (APC) will win Southeast in 2019. The governor said ensuring President Muhamadu Buhari's re-election was a…
Three start-ups win Visa's contest
The Nation Jul 31, 2018
Visa, the world's leader in digital payments, has announced Nigerian startups CredPal and Zowasel as winners in the Merchant Payments and Financial Inclusion challenges of its first …
Why PDP will win -Adebayo
The Nation Jul 8, 2018
MEANWHILE, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state is unrelenting in its boast that it will win the July 14 gubernatorial election even with President Muhammadu Buhari's endorsement…
2019: Buhari will win, says Ajomale
The Nation May 16, 2018
The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, Otunba Oladele Ajomale, speaks on the cold war between the Presidency and the National Assembly. He examines President…
How to win anti-graft battle, by Buhari
Our Reporter Jan 30, 2018
To President Muhammadu Buhari, corruption is one of Africa's greatest evil. Speaking on the theme: "Winning the fight against corruption: A sustainable path to Africa's transformation" at…
Can PDP win poll?
Nwanosike Onu Oct 30, 2017
The Anambra State governorship election is scheduled to take place barely 20 days from now. Yet, some parties are still battling to put their houses in order. One of such parties is the…
'PDP can't win in 2019'
BOLAJI OGUNDELE Oct 13, 2017
Olorogun O'tega Emerhor was the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State in the 2015 elections. In this interview with BOLAJI OGUNDELE, he speaks on the…
'OUR CRAZY STEPS MAKE US WIN'
AKINOLA ABIDEMI Jul 8, 2017
Oparah Wisdom, Obaje ThankGod and Isreal Samson of TG Smash Dance Crew emerged winner of Match Up Your Destiny dancing competition organised by Moinc Records. In this interview with AKINOLA…


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Exclusive Premiere: Stream Sigil's "Kingdom Of The Grave" Album
Jamie Lee	April 7, 2017
The blood that pumps through Sigil's brand of death metal is leached from the early days of the genre; before Glen Benton picked the scab from his first sacrilegious brand; before Morbid Angel decided that electronica was all the rage; and long before the proliferation of subgenres that end with "core." Simply put, Sigil are old school. Today marks the official release of Kingdom of the
COLOMBIAN NECKTIE: "KEVIN'S SONG" EXCLUSIVE STREAM IS HERE!
Metal Mark	August 28, 2014
Last week the sludgecore giants, Colombian Necktie, released their highly anticipated album, "Twilight Upon Us," to the masses and it exceeded every and all expectations. This is, without a doubt, one of the most emotional and powerful records of the year, and how could it not be with what this band has gone through. Before it's release the guys released
TOMBS: MIKE HILL EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY METAL MARK!
Metal Mark	June 3, 2014
When it comes to the most anticipated albums of 2014, "Savage Gold" from Tombs should be at the top of everyone's list. The band's previous record, "Path of Totality," put them on the map with fans everywhere, and the new album will surely take this band to new heights. Once again they've managed to incorporate several types of metal into
RED FANG: AARON BEAM EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY METAL MARK!
Metal Mark	May 30, 2014
Red Fang is currently in the middle of the "Situation Awesome!" tour, and with Big Business and American Sharks in direct support, it's a full night affair of neck breaking riffs. This bill came through New York City earlier this week and was absolutely insane! To a packed Music Hall of Williamsburg, all three bands delivered incredible performances, but Red
TWELVE FOOT NINJA EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY METAL MARK!
Since the release of "Silent Machine" back in 2012, Twelve Foot Ninja has grown into one of the most exciting bands in the music industry. Their unique sound brings in audiences from all types of music, and their live show is just awesome. After seeing them live a few weeks ago, it's no surprise why there is such a buzz
CROWBAR: KIRK WINDSTEIN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY METAL MARK!
Metal Mark	May 9, 2014
The mighty Crowbar will be releasing their new album, "Symmetry in Black," on May 27th via Entertainment One Music, and the countdown to more crushing riffs is ON! Kirk Windstein previously said that the riffs are like "an anvil to the face," and that the whole album is "Crowbar at it's finest," so if that doesn't get you excited I
DOWN: JIMMY BOWER EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY METAL MARK!
The mighty DOWN will be unleashing their new EP, "Down IV – Part Two," next week on May 13th via Down Records/ADA Music. It goes without saying that the whole metal world is excited to hear the new music, and as you read in my review, it is absolutely awesome! Even though it is only six tracks, it has the
KILLER BE KILLED: EXCLUSIVE MAX CAVALERA INTERVIEW BY METAL MARK!
Metal Mark	April 28, 2014
Killer Be Killed will be unleashing their highly anticipated album on May 13th via Nuclear Blast Entertainment. Max Cavalera, Greg Puciato, Dave Elitch and Troy Sanders all came together in the studio to create something unique for the metal world and the end result is truly something special! My review of the record is up now, and today we have
THY WILL BE DONE AND LEAD PIPE CRUELTY EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY METAL MARK!
Earlier this week we learned the exciting news that Lead Pipe Cruelty is actually happening! The group featuring former God Forbid drummer Corey Pierce, Thy Will Be Done vocalist J. Costa, former Anthrax vocalist Dan Nelson, ex-Thy Will Be Done bassist Eric Tavares, and long-time friend Rob McElroy were here in town this week writing and recording the music for
GHOST SHIP OCTAVIUS: MATT WICKLUND EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY METAL MARK!
Metal Mark	March 19, 2014
Ghost Ship Octavius, the band featuring Matt Wicklund (God Forbid, Himsa, Warrel Dane), Van Williams (Ashes Of Ares, Pure Sweet Hell, Nevermore) and Adon Fanion, have been hard at work putting together their first release, and now they need our help! They've started a new Kickstarter campaign to cover the full production of the album, and we should all chip
The blood that pumps through Sigil's brand of death metal is leached from the early days of the genre; before Glen Benton picked the scab from his first sacrilegious
Last week the sludgecore giants, Colombian Necktie, released their highly anticipated album, "Twilight Upon Us," to the masses and it exceeded every and all expectations.
When it comes to the most anticipated albums of 2014, "Savage Gold" from Tombs should be at the top of everyone's list. The band's previous
Red Fang is currently in the middle of the "Situation Awesome!" tour, and with Big Business and American Sharks in direct support, it's a full
Since the release of "Silent Machine" back in 2012, Twelve Foot Ninja has grown into one of the most exciting bands in the music industry.
The mighty Crowbar will be releasing their new album, "Symmetry in Black," on May 27th via Entertainment One Music, and the countdown to more crushing
The mighty DOWN will be unleashing their new EP, "Down IV – Part Two," next week on May 13th via Down Records/ADA Music. It goes
Killer Be Killed will be unleashing their highly anticipated album on May 13th via Nuclear Blast Entertainment. Max Cavalera, Greg Puciato, Dave Elitch and Troy
Earlier this week we learned the exciting news that Lead Pipe Cruelty is actually happening! The group featuring former God Forbid drummer Corey Pierce, Thy
Ghost Ship Octavius, the band featuring Matt Wicklund (God Forbid, Himsa, Warrel Dane), Van Williams (Ashes Of Ares, Pure Sweet Hell, Nevermore) and Adon Fanion,


When did you last talk to your neighbour? Neighbours can provide help and practical tips if you just ask them. Good and sustainable ideas about things like solar energy spread effectively when talking face to face, and a quick encounter can trigger a chain of positive events that touches many people.
Savings: Good tips are valuable, regardless of whether they concern installing a heat pump, arranging shared rides or building a home garden.
Remember this: Not everyone has neighbours and sometimes it can be difficult to approach them if your neighbourhood doesn't have a tradition of chatting with each other.
Reducing your carbon footprint: If the desire to install solar panels, for example, increases after neighbours start talking more with each other, this could reduce the neighbourhood's carbon footprint by 6% per year.
When did you last go into the forest?


The Pound Euro exchange rate was on something of a roller coaster rise last week but ended up close to its opening levels.
Sterling saw some weakness early on in the week but was buoyed by some unexpectedly weak Eurozone GDP growth. Q3 figures came in at a rate of 0.2% – half of the expected 0.4% and sparking market fears of a gathering slowdown across the bloc.
At the same time the German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that she would be stepping down at the end of her term following some disastrous regional election results.
The Pound then sank on some weaker-than-expected retail figures before bouncing back strongly on reports that Theresa May could have secured a deal for the UK financial services sector granting it access to European markets after Brexit.
This was swiftly followed by the Bank of England talking up the UK economy after the latest rate meeting (no change), hinting at the possibility of raising interest rates even in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Looking ahead PMI data will be in focus today, with the high-impact UK services reading due out at 9:30.
Current forecasts are for a slight rise in the pace of sector activity, which could be all that's needed to boost Sterling against the Euro.
Tomorrow will see the release of October's Eurozone services and composite PMIs, with no change currently forecast.


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Crypto Exchange Zaif Hacked In $60 Million Bitcoin Theft
Updated Sep 21, 2018 at 12:05 UTC
Yet another Japan-based cryptocurrency exchange has been hacked, losing a 6.7 billion yen (about $60 million worth of cryptocurrency), including 5,966 bitcoins.
The licensed exchange, called Zaif, is operated by the Tech Bureau. It said on Thursday that the exchange first noticed an unusual outflow of funds on the platform around 17:00 Japan time on September 14, after which the company suspended asset deposit and withdrawal services.
Tech Bureau explained that after further investigation, it discovered that hackers with unauthorized access to the exchange's hot wallets had stolen roughly $60 million in bitcoin, bitcoin cash, and MonaCoin. That being said, the exact amount of bitcoin cash stolen remains unknown.
The exchange added that since its own asset reserve is currently around 2.2 billion yen (or $20 million), it has reached an agreement with a Japan-listed firm called Fisco to receive a $44.5 million investment in exchange for a major share of ownership.
Tech Bureau said given the nature of the unauthorized fund access, it has filed the incident as a criminal case to local authorities for further investigation.
The incident marks the second hack in Japan this year, after Coincheck also reported that a whopping $520 million in NEM tokens were stolen by hackers in January.
Following Coincheck's hack, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) – Japan's financial watchdog – has launched a series of inspections on cryptocurrency exchanges in the country regarding their security measures.
The FSA had already notably issued a business improvement order to Tech Bureau in March specifically on its security and anti-money laundering enhancement.
Japanese yen image via CoinDesk
JapanHacks


Google reports that the federal government now has its own YouTube channel. There, viewers can watch weekly addresses from President Obama, videos from NASA, the Department of Education, and several other government agencies. The move into cyberspace is part of Barack Obama's goal to make government more transparent and accessible, although my guess is that outside of political junkies and Obamaphiles, government videos aren't going to capture much attention. Obama's first weekly video (released during inauguration week, four months ago) has been viewed about 1.2 million times; the Slap-Chop Rap has been viewed 2.1 million times in the last month, and this idiot kid has been viewed 4 million times in the last three weeks (and my faith in humanity has just died a little more). The view counts for all of BHO's videos since inauguration week have steadily declined, and last week's video is sitting at 85 thousand views. But the government videos are there if you want 'em, and that's probably a step in the right direction.
So, can we do away with those televised presidential addresses now? I don't watch much television, but it always seems that the SOTU is on the one night I want to watch House, or whatever.
To sum up, the difference between a public choice student and a nonstudent of this relatively new discipline in policy matters is very largely a difference in attitude that arises from the knowledge of public choice. Much traditional reasoning has turned on totally unrealistic ideas about the efficiency of government. The student of public choice will not think that government is systematically engaged in maximizing the public interest, but will assume its officials are attempting to maximize their own private interests.


Robinson Racing X-Hard Steel Differential Output Gear for Axial YETI, "1527"
This is the Robinson Racing X-Hard Steel Differential Output Gear for the Axial YETI. It is 32-pitch/27-Tooth, precision machined, heat treated, and extremely strong and durable.
Toughen up your ride and get yours today at RC Hobby Explosion!


Saying that her primary fight against Sen. Bernard Sanders "strengthened Secretary Clinton as a candidate," the political arm of the Congressional Progressive Caucus on Monday formally endorsed Hillary Clinton.
The post Hillary Clinton endorsed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus appeared first on www.washingtontimes.com stories: Inside Politics.
Why did Keith Ellison lose the DNC race?


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Gary Phillips may refer to:

 Gary Phillips (basketball) (born 1939), basketball player
 Gary Phillips (footballer) (born 1961), football player
 Gary Phillips (Australian footballer) (born 1963), Australian former soccer player and coach
 Gary Phillips (rugby league), New Zealand international
 Gary Phillips (EastEnders) fictional character from EastEnders
 Gary Phillips (keyboardist) (1947–2007), late keyboardist with the Greg Kihn Band
 Gary Phillips (comics), writer who created the comic book series Angeltown
 Gary Phillips (racer), Australian Top Doorslammer drag-racer

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Careful with those Christmas bargains across the frontier!
Torben's tale is worth thinking about: "Jeg forstär ikke, jeg forstär ikke ..."
Torben, a young Dane from Aarhus, was so stressed one July afternoon when he returned to Nice from a half-day's trip to Ventimiglia that he was failed by his usually excellent English. He had driven across the frontier because he had been told that's where the bargains were. He gleefully stocked up with Lacoste teeshirts, Chanel perfume, a couple of Montblanc pens and a state-of-the-art Motorola cell phone. All of these items were knock-offs, of course, copies of the real products of poor quality, though that wasn't immediately obvious to the untrained eye.
"Great harm to the economy"
So what didn't Torben understand? He was flagged down by Italian police as he was about to leave Ventimiglia. They searched his car, seized his shopping - and told him he was due for a fine of ... 3300 euros! Across the frontier he was stopped again but, of course, bereft of his booty, was quickly waved on. So what Torben didn't understand was this: at certain times of year - during the tourist high season and again in the days leading up to Christmas - the authorities crack down on the huge trade in fake "luxury" goods which flourishes in and around Ventimiglia. It does great harm to the economy: sucking revenue away from both manufacturers and straight retailers. This last summer season there was a co-ordinated campaign by carabinieri and gendarmes. The Italians showed themselves to be especially severe in applying a new range of penal measures on their side of the frontier.
A gendarme told us: "It's a mug's game, really. Even if you get caught on this side and you're not obviously a big-time trafficker although the fine might be smaller your purchases will be confiscated and destroyed. If you're picked up with a lot of stuff, of course, the penalty could be much harsher." And a final warning from Françoise Souliman, a senior official at the Prefecture in Nice: "This end of year we'll be out in force and so will our Italian colleagues. We're determined to stamp on the trade in fakes."
From Reporter 112 - Dec 2005
Christmas in France: Have yourself a Merry little ... Noël
While living in France you'll soon discover that Christmas is THE holiday so there are a few things you should know if you want to be…
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