The great Victorian poet, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, one of the many admirers who compared Jane Austen's genius with Shakespeare's, was reported to have "thanked God Almighty with his whole heart that he knew nothing, and that the world knew nothing of Jane Austen, and that there were no letters preserved either of Shakespeare's or of Jane Austen's, that they had not been ripped open like pigs." He spoke too soon. Within the decade, Caroline Austen offered recollections of "My Aunt Jane Austen" (1867) and Caroline's brother, James Edward Austen-Leigh, an often-to-be-reprinted "Memoir of Jane Austen" (1870). Biographies followed apace. As for letters, Jane's acerbic epistles to her sister, Cassandra, have shocked--or at least dismayed--many readers who had formed a more appealing image of Austen from the brighter, subtler, wiser, more graceful voice that narrates her novels.
The disparity between what an artist--particularly a novelist--actually experiences and the final work of art is a contrast based on a linked relationship. At the heart of this biography by Park Honan (who has also written biographies of Matthew Arnold and Robert Browning) is a quest to clarify the disparity, that relationship. Honan is not out to psychoanalyze Jane Austen, but rather to provide as much data about her life as can be pieced together from research, so that we can survey the raw materials--indeed, the very world--from which she created her novels.
An American who is a professor of English and American literature at the University of Leeds in England, Honan has truly immersed himself in Austeniana. By returning to primary sources, such as the original holographs of her letters, he is able to correct errors of previous biographers and editors. His extensive research, including a close perusal of materials in the hands of Austen family descendants, yields significant details, not only about Jane and her immediate family (kindly, reserved, clerical father; witty mother; six brothers and her beloved sister Cassandra), but also about her extended family, her confidantes, friends, and acquaintances, who all contributed their share of variety and distinctness to the orbit of Jane's experience.
From the romantic exploits of her cousin Eliza de Feuillide, whose French aristocratic husband was guillotined in the Reign of Terror, to the nautical adventures of two of her own brothers, Jane Austen had a more wide-ranging sense of the world in which she lived than some critics have recognized. Although her novels concentrate on the nuances of personal relationships and the "feminine" world of love and marriage, Honan rightly reminds us, they do not exude a "hothouse atmosphere." And this, he believes, is because her novels incorporate some vestige of a broader perspective, from the militia and wartime atmosphere in the background of "Pride and Prejudice" to the effects of a plantation in Antigua on the family in "Mansfield Park" and the strong presence of the Royal Navy in "Persuasion." Honan fills in the details of this wider world.
Austen herself proves more elusive. But Honan's research discloses more about her private life, with full accounts of her romances. She was not immune from the errors that beset even her sillier characters. Her rash flirtation with the attractive but impecunious Tom Lefroy (whose family had determined he would have to marry money) set neighborhood tongues wagging. Later, she suffered a deeper embarrassment in first accepting, then rejecting (the very next morning) the proposal of Harris Wither, who was so suitable from a family and financial viewpoint, but so very unsuitable in the eyes of a woman who feared dependency and spinsterhood--"to be old and poor and laughed at," as she once put it--but who still believed in the importance of romantic love.
In his eagerness to invest distant details from the past with vivacity, Honan writes with a kind of forced sprightliness that can be distracting as well as amusing. His knowledge, clearly, is extensive and his judgment thoughtful, but he sometimes fails to distinguish between conclusions based on firm evidence and those that are only informed speculations on his part.
He understands well the importance-- and the indirectness --of the link between life and art. In the variegated life he presents, we see the rich palette Austen had to work with, and we also see the vast differences between these raw materials and the characters, plots, dialogue and incidents she created (not copied) from nature. The degree of creativity involved in her believable, lifelike, eminently realistic novels is easy to underestimate, particularly when compared with the more obvious creativity involved in writing fantasy, Romantic epic or Joycean and Yeatsian mythopoeia. But creating a semblance of reality involves the imagination: As Jane cautioned a niece who had also taken up writing, an incident drawn from real life, no matter how true, no matter how faithfully transcribed, will often not seem "probable" or "natural" in fiction. And if it does not, the fiction will fail.
Honan's fine appreciation of Austen's "technical mastery, intensity, lightness" complements his painstaking evocation of her life. Jane Austen had the gift of lightness, a quality praised by the late Italo Calvino in one of the lectures he was preparing shortly before his sudden death to deliver in the Charles Eliot Norton series at Harvard University. As Calvino explains it, lightness is not superficiality, but the means by which an artist transforms the heaviness of life, the opacity of the material world, and the constraints of society and custom into the lighter, clearer, more flexible and orderly realm of intelligence and art. The lightness, clarity and radiance of Austen's art are manifestly there in her novels for all who have eyes to see, hearts to comprehend. She was not a "personality" like Byron or Oscar Wilde, whose lives are part of their lasting myth. Reading her biography does not increase our pleasure in her art. But it can deepen our admiration for her artistry, the difficult process by which she transformed the heaviness of life into the lightness of art.
In this biography, Honan has spared no effort in his attempt to show us as many aspects of Austen's world as he can, probing, but not prying, displaying sense and sensibility all the while. Perhaps even Tennyson might not have disapproved entirely.


motion sensor light indoor homebase solar powered for sale online s.
woodland baby quilt deer blanket farm animal quilts zoo.
mother of pearl bedside table steel s m 1.
kitchenaid mixer attachments vintage wrought iron patio table and chairs furniture bistro set chair cast rectangular full size of rem.
dishwasher 24 x 34 auction nation phoenix pallet general merchandise.
nightmare before christmas jack and sally coffee mugs sculpted oz set of 2 mug pair.
babys first year book lucy darling watch me grow photography postcard back boy girl l.
sunbrella replacement swing canopy where to buy outdoor umbrella.
wpt folding poker table top padded octagon w cup holders red p l.
toddler outdoor bench benches furniture.


The Wrest Point Coffee Shop does a great lunch buffet. In fact, two hours before writing this article, I went there for the very first time. Just hadn't eaten enough food over Christmas! That bit's not true. I really went there for a birthday celebration, and for the occasion, it was perfect. Diners spanning three generations all gave the place a big tick of approval.
Why the Wrest Point Coffee Shop?
If you like to eat a lot, the Wrest Point Coffee Shop is going to suit you perfectly. There's soups, roast meats, breads, vegetables and salads and an assortment of extras: squid, baked fish and beef in black-bean sauce with rice. As I said, this was my first-ever visit, so I don't know if you could expect the same each time. I would suspect similar; but maybe not exactly the same every time. But something to suit everyone, surely.
If you like to eat a little, you're going to have to sample your favourites and leave the rest for another visit. If you tried to taste one of everything on the lunch buffet, you would explode. And if you like desserts (doesn't everyone?) you're going to be in your element. Chocolate mousse, pavlova, fruit salad, ice-cream, pecan pie and custard tarts. Just to name a few.
I thought the quality of all the food was pretty good. A chef slices the roast meat when it's required and places it on your plate. The food was hot and fresh and the staff were continually replacing empty trays. There was plenty of room to move and no long queues or anything remotely resembling a budget all-you-can-eat bar. And what would the Wrest Point Coffee Shop be without a decent cup of coffee?
It's not fine dining of course, but if you want that, just go somewhere else in Hobart. If you want the kids to be happy and still have nice food for the adults, the Wrest Point Coffee Shop is an option. The cost was $24.50 per adult and $16-00 per child (plus drinks) for what could be a very substantial lunch. Even a small serving over three courses is good value in anyone's language.
Lunch Buffet: Christmas Show, Maybe?
The Wrest Point Coffee Shop would actually be a good option for a Christmas celebration, too. The decorations were still out in force, and they were very elaborate. The meat selection included baked ham and roast turkey. And you can even go shopping on your way out. The display cabinets in the passage had some lovely red jewellery for sale.
Of course, there's other ways to pass the time at Wrest Point. It is a casino, after all. The poker machines didn't interest me, but I did like all the photography from the Wilderness Gallery. Photos taken by professional photographers always attract my attention.
The real reason I wanted to share my experience of the Wrest Point Coffee Shop with you immediately though, has nothing to do with the food, the shopping or the Christmas decorations. It was the service of the staff, who were all friendly and efficient. But one chef in particular went out of his way to provide something really special.
One of the kids in our group was standing near the desserts, looking longingly at the scrumptious selection. The chef came to ask if he needed help. "No thanks. I can't eat dairy, so there's nothing for me." The poor child. Anyway, the chef promptly headed back to the kitchen and returned with a bowl of fresh and dried fruit and marshmallows, and lead the way to the chocolate fountain.
Armed with a skewer and the fruit, he gave a demonstration and assured everyone that the chocolate was in fact, dairy-free. Brilliant! He didn't have to bother with any of that. But he did. And it made everyone smile. Especially one young man, who did not waste his opportunity!
Visit the Hobart Casino website for more information about the Wrest Point Coffee Shop.
You're spot on, Dorothy! I'm still so impressed with the chef and how he interacted with the children. It's a good way to attract repeat business, that's for sure (but it came so naturally to him, he's clearly a caring person regardless of any knock-on effect).
We had lunch today at the buffet coffee shop to celebrate my Birthday , we have eaten there a LOT but today we were disappointed the Beef was tough. and we felt the Menu was not as good as it usually is.


Glass Walls For A Car Showroom for J Edgar & Son in Workington, Cumbria.
After getting a fairly accurate and competitive estimate via their website I contacted Glass at work and explained my requirements and also my tight deadline, I had only 20 days from this day until my deadline -which was set in stone! Craig organised everything for me, from my quote, design, site survey through to the fitting. Even when I changed my mind on the design, nothing was too much trouble. The fitters were very professional and fitting went without a hitch. All of the work was completed within 14 days of my initial contact and well inside my tight deadline. Customers constantly remark on how fantastic our showroom and waiting area now looks.


Picture 1, the South Yorkshireman, emerging from the cutting between Holdsworth Bridge and Dryclough Junction. The Locomotive is a Stanier Black 5 No 45219.
John Holdsworth & Co Ltd's Shaw Lodge Mills site occupied all the land to the right of the cutting as one approached Halifax, and the photo was taken from the path which started at the west end of the main weaving shed towards the iron bridge that crossed the railway line that accessed Huddersfield road via Spring Hall Lane at the side of Spring Hall. (Recently this road was re-named Mansion Lane by the local authority for no good reason.) The path has long gone but the bridge is still there, known as the Donkey Bridge, whether that is it's official name we are not sure.
Kirsten Holdsworth had the privilege of being christened by Archdeacon Eric Treacy at Arncliffe Church in 1953. A photograph of Eric Treacy at Scargill House, Kettlewell after the event is available here.
Graham Tomlinson was also forunate enough to be christened by Eric Treacy, on this occasion at Halifax Parish Church in 1946.
The train approaching Holdsworth Bridge, in Picture 4, is a Summer Saturday only service from Bradford to Weymouth via Halifax, Huddersfield, Sheffield, Nottingham and Oxford being the main stations. At this time it was the only passenger service using the Dryclough Junction to Greetland Junction section which closed two years later.
The line fell into quite bad disrepair, but fortunately was left in sutu. In the late nineties, with road traffic having increased dramatically it was decided to reopen this section along with Brighouse Station and restart a Bradford to Huddersfield service. The line reopened in 2000 with all the infrastructure being updated including brand new track and signaling. There is now an hourly service between Wakefield Westgate and Selby in both directions calling at Huddersfield, Brighouse, Halifax, Bradford and Leeds.
In the picture, part of Holdsworth Bridge can be clearly seen and that part would have been the exact location where the photograph of the South Yorkshireman would have been taken.
The lines around Halifax at this time were controlled by colour light signals by Halifax East Signal Box with Dryclough Junction, Holdsworth Bridge and Halifax West signal boxes gone by 1970.
The train is being pulled by a class 31 diesel Locomotive 31260 which is a medium powered locomotive which was used on varied duties. As the train approaches the signal you can see a row of white lights pointing to the left, this is known as a feather and indicates to the driver that the route is set for Greetland Junction at Dryclough Junction.
Holdsworth Bridge Signal Box was situated by the rail bridge taking Shaw Hill Lane across the railway tracks, just above John Holdsworth & Co Ltd's 1822 Shaw Lodge Mills, Halifax.
Picture 2, taken from Holdsworth Bridge in June 1958 shows the South Yorkshireman, then a direct train to London's Marylebone Station via the Great Central Line which now has mostly gone.
The locomotive is an ex LNER class B1 4-6-0 of mixed traffic classification, a regular on this train along with the Stanier Black Five class also a 4-6-0 mixed traffic locomotive introduced by William Stanier in 1934 of which 842 were built between then and 1951; 12 of them are still preserved.
The Signal on the right of the gantry is indicating that the route is set at Dryclough Junction a mile further on for Greetland and onward to Huddersfield, Penistone, Sheffield Victoria and then London.
Picture 3, taken from Haig Lane later in the summer of 1964 as steam was beginning to decline; the location is Dryclough Junction.
Saint Mark's Church, Siddal is clearly visible along with the chimney of Alfred Goodall & Company Limited's 1874 Chemical Works at Farrar Mill Dye Works, Salterhebble, although this may have closed by this time.
John Holdsworth & Co Ltd's chimney and part of Shaw Lodge Mills can be seen further in the background.
The train is the 3.58 Halifax to Stockport taking the line for Greetland to get to Stockport via Huddersfield; in the foreground is the line to Manchester Victoria via Sowerby Bridge.
The Locomotive is an ex LMS 2-6-4 Fairburn Tank regularly used on short trains. This class of steam locomotive was designed by Charles E. Fairburn for the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). 277 of these locomotives were built between 1945-1951 of which two locomotives survive in preservation on the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway.
Picture 5, taken in the winter of 1985 from Crossly Hill Bridge near the General Hospital at Salterhebble, Halifax, not far from Dryclough Junction.
The tower of Saint Mark's Church, Siddal is visible on the right of picture.
John Holdsworth & Co Ltd's prominent chimney and their Shaw Lodge Mills can be seen in the background on left of picture.
The locomotive is an early generation of Diesel Multiple Unit class 110 known as the Calder Valley Units as they where mainly used on the Leeds, Bradford and Halifax corridor to Lancashire via the Calder Valley. This unit was on a Leeds to Preston service.


text:
Q: How to solve Unknown column 'id' in 'where clause' error in vb.net but works in Workbench? I am deleting the record using id of the record. When i execute this , it shows error as  "Unknown column 'id' in 'where clause'
 mod_sql.conn2.Open()
sd_cmd2 = String.Format("DELETE FROM risk where `id`='{0}';", nd_index)
cmdd_delete2 = New MySqlCommand(sd_cmd2, mod_sql.conn2)
 cmdd_delete2.ExecuteNonQuery()
 mod_sqlconnect2.conn2.Close()

I tried to change the Delete command to
 sd_cmd2 = String.Format("DELETE FROM risk where `id`={0};", nd_index)

 sd_cmd2 = String.Format("DELETE FROM risk where id={0};", nd_index)

Nothing worked.
If i copy the same sql command and tried in MySQL Workbench, the record get deleted.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


It was good to hear that overall business confidence in Scotland is on the rise, according to a new report.
The Business Barometer from Bank of Scotland Commercial Banking for June found that companies in Scotland report confidence in their business prospects at 29% and economic optimism at 18%.
Together, this gives an overall confidence of 24%, which is nine points above last month's figure of 15%.
Longer term, the underlying trend in Scotland during 2018 shows businesses' confidence growing slowly despite the fact that they are becoming less optimistic about the state of the UK economy overall.
Overall confidence in the second quarter of 2018 stands at 23% per cent, which is two points higher than during the first quarter, while economic optimism has fallen four points to 13%.
Across the UK as a whole, however, overall confidence has fallen six points to 29% since May, as firms' optimism about the economy dipped, weighing down confidence in their own business prospects.
"It's encouraging to see the gradual rise in confidence across the country leading to a boost to recruitment plans throughout Scotland," commented Fraser Sime, regional director for Scotland at Bank of Scotland Commercial Banking.
"The challenge we face now is to keep these levels steady and support the rise in economic optimism to ensure businesses reach their full growth potential," he added.
Across Scotland, a net balance of 16% of businesses say they feel that the UK's exit from the European Union is having a negative impact on their expectations for business activity, down nine points on a month ago.
Meanwhile, a net balance of 46% of Scottish companies expect the Bank of England to increase interest rates this year, with the average firm indicating that raising rates to one per cent would have a significant negative impact on their business.
We understand that facing up to financial challenges can be extremely difficult and stressful. However, you should be reassured to know that there are options available and, with the right advice and support, you can take the necessary steps to improve your situation. Contact MLM Solutions today to arrange a free, no-obligation, options review.


text:
Medio Atrato ist eine Gemeinde (municipio) im Departamento Chocó in Kolumbien. Der Hauptort (cabecera municipal) von Medio Atrato ist Beté. Die Kulturlandschaft der Volksarchitektur der Stelzenbauten von Medio Atrato steht auf der Tentativliste, auf der Stätten stehen, die für eine Nominierung zur Aufnahme in die UNESCO-Welterbeliste in Kolumbien vorgesehen sind.

Geographie
Medio Atrato liegt am Río Atrato im Osten und Zentrum von Chocó auf einer Höhe von , 45 Minuten Schifffahrt von Quibdó entfernt. Die Gemeinde wird zu großen Teilen von Quibdó umschlossen und grenzt zudem im Nordosten an Urrao und Vigía del Fuerte im Departamento de Antioquia.

Bevölkerung
Die Gemeinde Medio Atrato hat 33.542 Einwohner, von denen 1259 in Beté leben (Stand: 2019).

Geschichte
Medio Atrato wurde 1999 als Gemeinde gegründet, da die Region unter der Abwesenheit staatlicher Institutionen gelitten hatte. Das Gebiet wird aber schon seit langer Zeit von afrokolumbianischen und indigenen  Gemeinschaften bewohnt.

Wirtschaft
Die Wirtschaft von Medio Atrato ist zu großen Teilen informeller Natur. Es werden Landwirtschaft, Fischerei, Holzwirtschaft und Bergbau betrieben.

Verkehr
Es besteht keine Straßen- oder Flugverbindung nach Medio Atrato. Die einzigen Wege und Straßen innerhalb der Gemeinde wurden von den Bewohnern selbst angelegt. Der wichtigste Weg zur Gemeinde ist per Schiff über den Río Atrato.

Weblinks

Einzelnachweise

Gemeinde im Departamento del Chocó
Gemeindegründung 1999

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The Austerlitz Bridge is a stone bridge with five arches. It was originally built from 1801 to 1805, but it was widened and strengthened twice during the nineteenth century. The bridge was named after the Battle of Austerlitz, a French victory under the command of Emperor Napoléon I in 1805.
In the twentieth century the Austerlitz Bridge carried more vehicles than any other bridge in Paris, so from 1993 to 1996 a parallel bridge called the Pont Charles de Gaulle was built 350 meters upstream. Now this new bridge carries the motor traffic from the left bank to the right, while the Austerlitz Bridge is a one-way bridge for motor vehicles from the right bank to the left. Pedestrians and cyclists can cross both bridges in both directions.
Between the two road bridges Austerlitz and Charles de Gaulle, there is also a metal railway bridge which carries the Métro line # 5 between Bastille and Austerlitz Station.
The view downstream from the Austerlitz Bridge (Pont d'Austerlitz) is not spectacular, but off in the distance you can see the Île Saint-Louis, which is a beautiful island when you get a bit closer.
In addition to the masses of motor vehicles, there is a steady stream of bicycles on the bike lanes of the Austerlitz Bridge. Two of the city's numbered bicycle routes cross this bridge: route # 8 from Gare de Lyon to Invalides and route # 9 from the Parc de la Villette in the north to the Poterne des Peupliers in the south.
My photos in this post are from 2013 and 2018. I revised the text in 2018.
See more posts on bridges across the Seine in Paris.
As usual, I learned a LOT here Don! Thank you for everything, especially for the historical and literary references! You are always an inspiration for Paris lovers.
Thanks, Lou. Great to hear from you.


As an instructor for the U.S. Postal Service, I often taught classes where 40 executives would spend two weeks at our executive center learning about all functions of the company and gaining a familiarity with the business of business. More than once, an executive would ask me what the cost of this experience was to the company. Now, the direct costs were easily calculated, so I would follow up with "What costs besides travel costs?"
These people were asking about the loss of effectiveness to their organization due to their absence. They were serious, and I was aghast at their presumption. In truth, their operations probably breathed a sigh of relief, and effectiveness likely increased. That was when I was much younger and still had some innocence.
Since then, I have had opportunities to address groups of all sizes on employee motivation, leadership development, actionable metrics, process improvement, etc. I am most interested in helping people learn about themselves as the first step toward helping others to grow.
I employ a simple exercise during a presentation, couched as a stretch-the-legs exercise. I ask all attendees to stand up. Then, I begin a little audience participation. I ask that those who believe things at home will not go as well while they are at this meeting to sit down.
I then ask those who believe that a full week's absence will have no effect or loss to output to sit down. Then two weeks, then four weeks … OK, how about six weeks? With about 15 percent of the audience standing, I then ask all to sit down.
"Each of you has defined what you perceive to be your value point for your organization. This is where you decided that your unique contribution to the company comes into play." Each of the attendees has a unique situation by which they may rationalize their value point, and indeed it could be situational. The message here is that some managers were standing at six weeks. What could each person individually do to revise his or her value point? How do people define their unique contribution(s)?
In studying management, Peter Drucker brought up the concept of a person's "unique contribution" to his or her company. This is what identifies that person's value. It could be unique experience, knowledge, passion, talent, relationships, skills, abilities, interpersonal abilities, political savvy, etc. Is it truly unique? Will it pigeon-hole the person or affect his or her career? What effect does it have on the person's subordinates, peers or superiors? How does he or she exploit it (for power, to destroy or to help)? What happens if this person was hit by a truck and lost to the organization?
In "Leadership is an Art," author Max De Pree tells about the retirement of a college custodian. Several hundred people showed up, and selected former students spoke. All present testified to the effect this custodian had on their lives. He was a true listener with an understanding heart who always had time for students. His gift was an ability to guide students to make their own decisions and develop their confidence as directors of their own lives. The speakers included a general, CEOs and "regular" folks.
What was his unique contribution and how did he use it? What was his value point? Do you use your unique contribution as the custodian did?


Bill Gothard, founder of the Institutes for Basic Life Principles and the Advanced Training Institute – both organizations the Duggar family have had involvement with – has been placed on administrative leave after accusations of sexual harassment by several women who worked for him went unreported, RadarOnline.com reports.
The Duggar family has gathered on many occasions at the Basic Life Principles ministry, but now it seems, after the first claim of sexual harassment was made in 2012, the Duggars have distanced themselves from Gothard and the ministry. Now, 34 more women have come forward with similar claims, some even teenagers.
During an April 2013 episode of 19 Kids and Counting, the Duggars sent son Joseph Duggar to Gothard's military boot camp for young men when he began exhibiting bad behavior. Seems like Gothard, should have attended the camp himself! Gothard, 79, has yet to make a public statement about the claims, nor has he made any admittance of guilt or taken responsibility for any of the claims against him.


text:
Business News›Markets›Stocks›News›NIIT Tech approaches private equity funds as promoters look to exit
NIIT Tech approaches private equity funds as promoters look to exit
Indulal PM
Arijit Barman
, ET Bureau Last Updated: Dec 03, 2018, 06:45 AM IST
The company is also in talks with tech majors like Tech Mahindra; first round of non-binding offers due next week
The transaction will also trigger an open offer for an additional 26 per cent of the company.
Coforge Ltd.
The sale process for NIIT Technologies has gathered momentum with Bain Capital, Blackstone, Carlyle, Apax Partners and Advent among private equity funds that have been sounded out, said people with knowledge of the matter. The founder-promoters are looking to exit the company, they said.
The first round of non-binding offers is due next week, said multiple sources aware of the development. Global and local players like Tech Mahindra too have been approached, said one of them, although this could not be independently verified.
The company said "there is nothing to report". NIIT Technologies is the listed technology services arm of NIIT Ltd, a pioneer in computer coaching and IT training that was set up by Rajendra Singh Pawar and Vijay Thadani. The listed parent owns 23.54 per cent of the total 30.61 per cent that is up for grabs.
The transaction will also trigger an open offer for an additional 26 per cent of the company. That could see the new owner acquire a stake that exceeds 51 per cent in the mid-tier firm.
NIIT Tech's market capitalisation was Rs 6,725.32 crore at Friday's close. The stock has risen about 90 per cent in the last three years along with several other midcap IT stocks and around 70 per cent in the past year as against the 9.2 per cent appreciation in the benchmark Sensex.
This triggered the founders' decision to revive their plans to cash out, said the people cited above. Credit Suisse has been roped in to run a formal process to find a buyer.
"There are multiple partners looking to exploit run-up in the stock and upbeat mood in the space. They have allowed the company to be run under a professional management. A new CEO, Sudhir Singh, is taking off from where the previous one left off," said one of those cited above. But this follows years of underperformance and just a few quarters of growth, the person said.
"Similar unsubstantiated rumours and queries have been coming to us for many years. We don't have any comments to offer and there is nothing to report," an NIIT Spokesperson told ET. Bain, Blackstone, Carlyle, Advent and Apax declined comment. With three delivery centres in the US, one in South America, 10 in Europe, 16 in the Asia-Pacific and one in the Middle East, the company's offerings include a range of services such as data and analytics, automation, cloud, digital, application development and maintenance, infrastructure management and business process management.
NIIT Technologies recently scaled up its digital business by hiring around 450 people. Since the leadership change in December 2017, the company adopted a vertical-based business model. Banking and financial services contribute 16.2 per cent to the overall revenue of the group while insurance accounts for 28.8 per cent and travel and transportation 26.9 per cent .
"Sustained deal pipeline, large deal wins, robust growth across verticals, improving client mining and hunting and improving digital revenues is expected to drive top line and margins in coming years. Hence, we expect rupee revenue, PAT to grow at a CAGR 18.3 per cent & 29 per cent , respectively, in FY18-20E with ebitda margin expansion to 17.8 per cent in FY20," said Devang Bhatt and Deepti Tayal of ICICI Securities in a note on October 19. "We expect a sharp revival in ebitda margin profile mainly led by operating leverage and rupee tailwind."
However, expectations of a strategic control premium may prove to be a roadblock as experts believe this has already been built in.
"Global companies remain apprehensive buying a listed stock where promoters own only a third. There is also no guarantee that the entire offer for additional shares will be subscribed to. It may largely be a PE play as they have a stomach for such trades," said a technology-focused investment banking source from a rival firm who requested anonymity.
"This could open up opportunities to merge some of the PE-backed tech companies like Mphasis or a Zensar. For a Tech Mahindra, it could potentially offer access or scale to newer verticals like transportation," said one of the sources mentioned above.
niit offer for saleniit promotersNiitNIIT open offerNIIT Technologies
NIIT Ltd Board approves Rs 237-crore buyback plan
Stock market update: SmallCap stocks climb; NIIT surges 12%
NIIT Q2 results: Net profit at Rs 26 crore
Stock market update: IT stocks up; NIIT Tech climbs 1%
Share market update: IT shares gain; NIIT Tech climbs 5%
Read before you invest. Insights on Coforge Ltd.. Explore Now

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
RoboCup 2016 Humanoid TeenSize Winner NimbRo: Robust Visual Perception and Soccer Behaviors
09/28/2018 ∙ by Hafez Farazi, et al. ∙ University of Bonn ∙ 0 ∙ share
The trend in the RoboCup Humanoid League rules over the past few years has been towards a more realistic and challenging game environment. Elementary skills such as visual perception and walking, which had become mature enough for exciting gameplay, are now once again core challenges. The field goals are both white, and the walking surface is artificial grass, which constitutes a much more irregular surface than the carpet used before. In this paper, team NimbRo TeenSize, the winner of the TeenSize class of the RoboCup 2016 Humanoid League, presents its robotic platforms, the adaptations that had to be made to them, and the newest developments in visual perception and soccer behaviour.
Hafez Farazi
Philipp Allgeuer
Grzegorz Ficht
André Brandenburger
Dmytro Pavlichenko
Sven Behnke
A ROS-based Software Framework for the NimbRo-OP Humanoid Open Platform
Over the past few years, a number of successful humanoid platforms have ...
09/28/2018 ∙ by Philipp Allgeuer, et al. ∙ 0 ∙ share
NimbRo Robots Winning RoboCup 2018 Humanoid AdultSize Soccer Competitions
Over the past few years, the Humanoid League rules have changed towards ...
09/05/2019 ∙ by Hafez Farazi, et al. ∙ 0 ∙ share
Learning to Improve Capture Steps for Disturbance Rejection in Humanoid Soccer
Over the past few years, soccer-playing humanoid robots have advanced si...
09/28/2018 ∙ by Marcell Missura, et al. ∙ 0 ∙ share
Deep Visual Perception for Dynamic Walking on Discrete Terrain
Dynamic bipedal walking on discrete terrain, like stepping stones, is a ...
12/04/2017 ∙ by Avinash Siravuru, et al. ∙ 0 ∙ share
RoboCup 2019 AdultSize Winner NimbRo: Deep Learning Perception, In-Walk Kick, Push Recovery, and Team Play Capabilities
Individual and team capabilities are challenged every year by rule chang...
12/16/2019 ∙ by Diego Rodriguez, et al. ∙ 0 ∙ share
Dynamic Walking with Compliance on a Cassie Bipedal Robot
The control of bipedal robotic walking remains a challenging problem in ...
04/25/2019 ∙ by Jacob Reher, et al. ∙ 0 ∙ share
Grown-up NimbRo Robots Winning RoboCup 2017 Humanoid AdultSize Soccer Competitions
The ongoing evolution of the RoboCup Humanoid League led in 2017 to the ...
09/13/2018 ∙ by Grzegorz Ficht, et al. ∙ 0 ∙ share
Figure 1: The igus® Humanoid Open Platform, Dynaped and team NimbRo.
In the RoboCup Humanoid League, there is an ongoing effort to develop humanoid robots capable of playing soccer. There are three size classes—KidSize (40-90cm), TeenSize (80-140cm), and AdultSize (130-180cm). Note that the overlap in size classes is intentional to facilitate teams to move up to higher size classes.
The TeenSize class of robots started playing 2 vs. 2 games in 2010, and a year later moved to a larger soccer field. In 2015, numerous changes were made in the rules that affected mainly visual perception and walking, namely:
the green field carpet was replaced with artificial grass,
the field lines are only painted on the artificial grass, so they are highly variable in appearance and no longer a clear white,
the only specification of the ball is that it is at least 50% white (no longer orange), and
the goal posts on both sides of the field are white.
Our approach to addressing these rule changes in terms of perception are given in Section 3.1.
In this year's RoboCup, we used our fully open-source 3D printed robots, the igus® Humanoid Open Platform [1] , and the associated open-source ROS software. Furthermore, we revived one of our classic robots, Dynaped, with the same ROS software, by upgrading its electronics and PC and developing a new communications scheme for this to work. This was done in such a way that the robot hardware in use was completely transparent to the software, and abstracted away through a hardware interface layer. More details are given in Section 2. Both platforms are shown in Fig. 1, along with the human team members.
2 Robot Platforms
2.1 Igus Humanoid Open Platform
RoboCup 2016 was the first proper debut of the latest addition to the NimbRo robot soccer family—the igus® Humanoid Open Platform, shown on the left in Fig. 1. Although an earlier version of the robot had briefly played in 2015, 2016 was the first year where the platform constituted an integral part of the NimbRo soccer team. Over the last three years, the platform has seen continual development, originating from the initial NimbRo-OP prototype, and seven robots of three generations have been constructed. The igus® Humanoid Open Platform is 92cm tall and weighs only 6.6kg thanks to its 3D printed plastic exoskeleton design. The platform incorporates an Intel Core i7-5500U CPU running a full 64-bit Ubuntu OS, and a Robotis CM730 microcontroller board, which electrically interfaces the twelve MX-106R and MX-64R RS485 servos. The CM730 incorporates 3-axis accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer sensors, for a total of 9 axes of inertial measurement. For visual perception, the robot is equipped with a Logitech C905 USB camera fitted with a wide-angle lens. The robot software is based on the ROS middleware, and is a continuous evolution of the ROS software that was written for the NimbRo-OP. The igus® Humanoid Open Platform is discussed in greater detail in [1] .
2.2 Upgraded Dynaped
Dynaped, shown in the middle in Fig. 1, has been an active player for team NimbRo since RoboCup 2009 in Graz, Austria. Through the years, Dynaped has played both as a goalie and a field player during numerous competitions, contributing to the team's many successes. Dynaped's competition performance and hardware design, including features like the effective use of parallel kinematics and compliant design, contributed to NimbRo winning the Louis Vuitton Best Humanoid Award in both 2011 and 2013.
In 2012, our focus of development shifted towards the development of an open platform—the NimbRo-OP prototype, later followed by the igus® Humanoid Open Platform. Because of platform incompatibilities and a severe electrical hardware failure during RoboCup 2015, we decided to upgrade Dynaped to the newer ROS software, in a way that is transparently compatible with the igus® Humanoid Open Platform. The upgrade included both hardware and software improvements. In terms of hardware, Dynaped has been equipped with a modern PC (Intel Core i7-5500U CPU), a new CM740 controller board from Robotis, and a vision system as in the igus® Humanoid Open Platform, consisting of the same camera unit and 3D-printed head.
Figure 2: Dynaped's custom communication scheme
To adapt Dynaped to the new ROS software framework, a number of modifications had to be made. Thanks to the modularity of our software, only the low-level modules needed a specific reimplementation, while all of our high-level functionality that contributed to the success during RoboCup 2016 could be used untouched. At first glance, the only fundamental difference seems to be the utilisation of parallel kinematics, leading to the loss of one degree of freedom, but in fact, quite importantly, Dynaped still uses the older Dynamixel actuators. The used Dynamixel EX-106 and RX-64 have very similar physical properties to the MX-106 and MX-64 used in the igus
® Humanoid Open Platform, but they lack a bulk read instruction, which is essential for allowing fast communications with multiple actuators with a single instruction. This limitation greatly reduces the control loop frequency, as each actuator needs to be read individually. This increases the latencies with each added actuator to the bus. To reduce these delays, Dynaped utilises a custom firmware for the CM740, which no longer acts merely as a passthrough from the PC to the servos. Instead, it communicates with both sides in parallel (see Fig. 2). On the actuator side, the CM740 queries all registered devices on the Dynamixel bus in a loop. Communications with the PC are performed using an extension of the original Dynamixel protocol, which allows the use of the same, well-developed error handling as our original firmware, as well as having the option to still use the CM740 as a passthrough device. The CM740-PC protocol has been extended by four new instructions:
Configure extended packet communication,
Enable extended packet communication,
Send extended packet, and
Receive extended packet.
To start the custom communication scheme, the hardware interface first sends a configuration packet containing a list of servo ID numbers, along with their respective model types. This informs the CM740 which servo registers it needs to keep reading from and writing to. Typically, these registers correspond to position, torque, and controller gain data. The read packets contain the most recent data from all of the Dynamixel devices, with an indication of how many times it has been read from since the last packet. The write packets include the current position setpoints and compliance values for the servos. In Dynaped's case, the packet transmission frequency is 100Hz, which allows all devices on the Dynamixel bus to be read at least once before a new read packet is sent. This transfer rate would not be achievable on Dynaped's hardware with the traditional request-response transmission paradigm.
Figure 3: Serial to parallel kinematic translation. Left: Before translation, virtual chain visible. Right: After translation.
Creating a model with parallel kinematics and using it in the hardware interface proved to be another challenge, as ROS does not natively support this. In order to translate between the serial and parallel kinematics, the created model has two sets of leg kinematic chains, a virtual serial one and the true parallel one that is actuated. The virtual kinematic chain receives the commands as-is from the motion modules, which the hardware interface then translates for the parallel chain (see Fig. 3) before sending a command to the actuators. In order to recreate the state of the parallel joints when reading out positions from the actuators, virtual joints have been added in order to offset the next link in the kinematic chain by the same angle that the joint has rotated. With these modifications, the robot can be seen as an igus® Humanoid Open Platform robot by the software, and thanks to our modular design approach, no robot-specific changes had to be done to any motion modules, or other higher level parts of our code.
3.1 Visual Perception
The primary source of perceptual information for humanoid robots on the soccer field is the camera. Each robot is equipped with one Logitech C905 camera, fitted with a wide-angle lens that has an infrared cut-off filter. The diagonal field of view is approximately 150∘
. The choice of lens was optimised to maximise the number of usable pixels and minimise the level of distortion, without significantly sacrificing the effective field of view. Our vision system is able to detect the field boundary, line segments, goal posts, QR codes and other robots using texture, shape, brightness and colour information. After identifying each object of interest, by using appropriate intrinsic and extrinsic camera parameters, we project each object into egocentric world coordinates. The intrinsic camera parameters are pre-calibrated, but the extrinsic parameters are calculated online by consideration of the known kinematics and estimated orientation of the robot. Although we have the kinematic model of both robot platforms, some variations still occur on the real hardware, resulting in projection errors, especially for distant objects. To address this, we utilised the Nelder-Mead
[2] method to calibrate the position and orientation of the camera frame in the head. This calibration is crucial for good performance of the projection operation from pixel coordinates to egocentric world coordinates, as demonstrated in Fig. 4. As a reference, the raw captured image used to generate the figure is shown in the left side of Fig. 5. More details can be found in [3] .
Figure 4: Projected ball, field line and goal post detections before (left) and after (right) kinematic calibration.
Figure 5: Left: A captured image with ball (pink circle), field line (light blue lines), field boundary (yellow lines), and goal post (dark blue lines) detections. Right: Distant ball detection on RoboCup 2016 field.
3.1.1 Field Detection:
Although it is a common approach for field boundary detection to find the convex hull of all green areas directly in the image [4] , more care needs to be taken in our case due to the significant image distortion. The convex hull may include parts of the image that are not the field. To exclude these unwanted areas, vertices of the connected regions are first undistorted before calculating the convex hull. The convex hull points and intermediate points on each edge are then distorted back into the raw captured image, and the resulting polygon is taken as the field boundary. An example of the final detected field polygon is shown in Fig. 5.
3.1.2 Ball Detection:
In previous years of the RoboCup, most teams used simple colour segmentation and blob detection-based approaches to find the orange ball. Now that the ball has a pattern and is mostly white however, such simple approaches no longer work effectively, especially since the lines and goal posts are also white. We extend [5] , our approach is divided into two stages. In the first stage, ball candidates are generated based on colour segmentation, colour histograms, shape and size. White connected components in the image are found, and the Ramer-Douglas-Peucker [6] algorithm is applied to reduce the number of polygon vertices in the resulting regions. This is advantageous for quicker subsequent detection of circle shapes. The detected white regions are searched for at least one third full circle shapes within the expected radius ranges. Colour histograms of the detected circles are calculated for each of the three HSV channels, and compared to expected ball colour histograms using the Bhattacharyya distance. Circles with a suitably similar colour distribution to the expected one are considered to be ball candidates.
In the second stage of processing, a dense histogram of oriented gradients (HOG) descriptor [7]
is applied in the form of a cascade classifier, with use of the AdaBoost technique. Using this cascade classifier, we reject those candidates that do not have the required set of HOG features. The aim of using the HOG descriptor is to find a description of the ball that is largely invariant to changes in illumination and lighting conditions. The HOG descriptor is not rotation invariant, however, so to detect the ball from all angles, and to minimise the user's effort in collecting training examples, each positive image is rotated by
±10∘ and ±20∘ and mirrored horizontally, with the resulting images being presented as new positive samples, as shown in Fig. 6. Greater rotations are not considered to allow the cascade classifier to learn the shadow under the ball. The described approach can detect balls with very few false positives, even in environments cluttered with white, and under varying lighting conditions. In our experiments, we observed detection a FIFA size 3 ball up to 4.5m away with a success rate above 80% on a walking robot, and up to 7m away on a stationary robot, as shown in the right side of Fig. 5. It is interesting to note that our approach can find the ball in undistorted and distorted images with the same classifier.
Figure 6: Ball detection tracking data augmentation extending one positive sample (leftmost) to ten, by applying rotations and mirroring operations.
3.1.3 Field Line and Centre Circle Detection:
Due to the introduction of artificial grass in the RoboCup Humanoid League, the field lines are no longer clearly visible. In past years, many teams based their line detection approaches on the segmentation of the colour white [4] . This is no longer a robust approach due to the increased number of white objects on the field, and due to the visual variability of the lines. Our approach is to detect spatial changes in brightness in the image using a Canny edge detector on the V channel of the HSV colour space. The V channel encodes brightness information, and the result of the Canny edge detector is quite robust to changes in lighting conditions.
A probabilistic Hough line detector [8] is used to extract line segments of a certain minimum size from the detected edges. The minimum size criterion helps to reject edges from white objects in the image that are not lines. The output line segments are filtered in the next stage to avoid false positive line detections where possible. We verify that the detected lines cover white pixels in the image, have green pixels on either side, and are close on both sides to edges returned by the edge detector. The last of these checks is motivated by the expectation that white lines, in an ideal scenario, will produce a pair of high responses in the edge detector, one on each side of the line. Ten equally spaced points are chosen on each line segment under review, and two normals to the line are constructed at each of these points, of approximate 5cm length in each of the two directions. The pixels in the captured image underneath these normals are checked for white colour and green colour, and the output of the canny edge detector is checked for a high response. The number of instances where these three checks succeed are independently totalled, and if all three counts exceed the configured thresholds, the line segment is accepted, otherwise the line segment is rejected.
In the final stage, similar line segments are merged together to produce fewer and bigger lines, as well as to cover those field line segments that might be partially occluded by another robot. The final result is a set of line segments that relate to the field lines and centre circle. Line segments that are under a certain threshold in length undergo a simple circle detection routine, to find the location of the centre circle. In our experiments, we found that this approach can detect circle and line segments up to 4.5m away.
3.1.4 Localisation on the Soccer Field:
Localisation of the robot on the soccer field—the task of estimating the 3D pose (x,y,θ) of the robot—is performed using the field line, centre circle and goal post detections. Each component of the 3D pose is estimated independently. To estimate the θ component, we use the global heading information from the magnetometer, and maintain an internal correction term based on the angular deviation between the expected and detected orientations of the white lines. This approach does not rely on having an accurate magnetometer output, and in experiments was able to correct deviations up to 30∘ coming from the magnetometer. Using the estimated θ, which is normally quite exact, we can rotate every vision detection to align with the global field coordinate system. The detected line segments can thereby be classified as being either horizontal or vertical field lines. In each cycle of the localisation node, we use the perception information and dead-reckoning walking data to update the previously estimated 2D location. For updating 2D location, we distinguish x and y component using estimated θ. The y component of the localisation is updated based on the y components of the detected centre circle, goal posts and vertical field lines. With the assumption that the robot is always inside the field lines, the vertical sidelines can easily be differentiated and used for updates. The x component of the localisation is analogously updated based on the x components of the detected centre circle, goal posts and horizontal field lines. The horizontal lines belonging to the goal area are discriminated from the centre line by checking for the presence of a consistent goal post detection, centre circle detection, and/or further horizontal line that is close and parallel. This approach can easily deal with common localisation difficulties, such as sensor aliasing and robot kidnapping. In contrast to some other proposed localisation methods for soccer fields, this method is relatively easy to implement and very robust. Our experiments indicate that the mean error of our localisation is better than what was reported in both [4] and [9] .
3.2 Bipedal Walking
Motivated by the changed game environment at the RoboCup competition—the chosen application domain for our own use of the igus® Humanoid Open Platform—the gait generation has been adapted to address the new challenge of walking on artificial grass. The use of a soft, deformable and unpredictable walking surface imposes extra requirements on the walking algorithm. Removable rubber cleats have been added at the four corners underneath each foot of the robot to improve the grip on the artificial grass. This also has the effect that the ground reaction forces are concentrated over a smaller surface area, mitigating at least part of the contact variability induced by the grass.
The gait is formulated in three different pose spaces: joint space, abstract space, and inverse space. The joint space simply specifies all of the joint angles, while the inverse space specifies the Cartesian coordinates and quaternion orientations of each of the limb end effectors relative to the trunk link frame. The abstract space is a representation that was specifically developed for humanoid robots in the context of walking and balancing [10] . The abstract space reduces the expression of the pose of each limb to parameters that define the length of the limb, the orientation of a so-called limb centre line, and the orientation of the end effector. Simple conversions between all three pose spaces exist.
Figure 7: The implemented corrective actions in both the sagittal (left image) and lateral (right image) planes, from left to right in both cases the arm angle, hip angle, continuous foot angle, support foot angle, and CoM shifting corrective actions. The actions have been exaggerated for clearer illustration.
The walking gait in the ROS software is based on an open loop central pattern generated core that is calculated from a gait phase angle that increments at a rate proportional to the desired gait frequency. This open loop gait extends the gait of our previous work [11] . The central pattern generated gait begins with a configured halt pose in the abstract space, then incorporates numerous additive waveforms to the halt pose as functions of the gait phase and commanded gait velocity. These waveforms generate features such as leg lifting, leg swinging, arm swinging, and so on. The resulting abstract pose is converted to the inverse space, where further motion components are added. The resulting inverse pose is converted to the joint space, in which form it is commanded to the robot actuators. A pose blending scheme towards the halt pose is implemented in the final joint space representation to smoothen the transitions to and from walking.
A number of simultaneously operating basic feedback mechanisms have been built around the open loop gait core to stabilise the walking. The PID-like feedback in each of these mechanisms derives from the fused pitch and fused roll [12] state estimates and works by adding extra corrective action components to the central pattern generated waveforms in both the abstract and inverse spaces, namely arm angle, hip angle, continuous foot angle, support foot angle, CoM shifting, and virtual slope. The corrective actions are illustrated in Fig. 7. The step timing is computed using the capture step framework [13] , based on the lateral CoM state [14] .
Overall, the feedback mechanisms were observed to make a significant difference in the walking ability of the robots, with walking often not even being possible for extended periods of time without them. The feedback mechanisms also imparted the robots with disturbance rejection capabilities that were not present otherwise. Reliable omnidirectional walking speeds of 21cms−1 were achieved on an artificial grass surface of blade length 32mm. Over all games played at RoboCup 2016, none of the five robots ever fell while walking111Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9saVpA3wIbU in free space. Only strong collisions with other robots caused falls from walking Igus robot s could quickly recover using keyframe get-up motions [15] .
3.3 Soccer Behaviours
Given the current game state, as perceived by the vision system, the robots must autonomously decide on the higher-level actions to execute in order to try to score a goal. For this we use a two-layered hierarchical finite state machine (FSM), that has a tailor-made custom implementation for RoboCup soccer. The upper layer is referred to as the game FSM, and the lower layer is referred to as the behaviour FSM. Given the current required playing state of the robot, the former is responsible for deciding on a suitable higher-level action, such as for example "dribble or kick the ball to these specified target coordinates", and based on this higher-level action, the latter is responsible for deciding on the required gait velocity, whether to kick or dive, and so on.
In the order of execution, a ROS interface module first abstracts away the acquisition of data into the behaviours node, before this data is then processed, refined and accumulated into a so-called sensor variables structure. This aggregates all kinds of information from the vision, localisation, RoboCup game controller, team communications and robot control nodes, and precomputes commonly required derived data, such as for example the coordinates of the currently most intrusive obstacle, whether the current ball estimate is stable, and/or how long ago it was last seen. This information is used to decide on the appropriate game FSM state, such as for example default ball handling, positioning, or wait for ball in play, which is then executed and used to compute standardised game variables, such as for example kick if possible and ball target. These game variables, along with the sensor variables, are then used by the behaviour FSM to decide on a suitable state, such as for example dribble ball, walk to pose or go behind ball. The execution of the required behaviour state then yields the required low-level action of the robot, which is passed to the robot control node via the aforementioned ROS interface module, completing the execution of the soccer behaviours.
3.4 Human-Robot Interfaces
Despite being designed to operate autonomously, our robots still need suitable human-robot interfaces to allow them to be configured and calibrated. For the lowest and most fundamental level of control and operation, each robot can be launched and configured directly on the command line inside SSH sessions directly on the robot PC. This allows the greatest amount of freedom and flexibility in launching ROS nodes and checking their correct operation, but is also a complex and time-consuming task that is prone to errors and requires in-depth knowledge of the robot and software framework.
Figure 8: A screenshot of the web application used to help calibrate the robot.
To overcome these problems, a web application was developed for the robot (see Fig. 8), with the robot PC as the web server, to allow standard web browsers of all devices to connect to the robot for configuration and calibration. This operates at a higher level of abstraction than the command line, and allows users to perform all common tasks that are required when operating the robot. This makes routine tasks significantly quicker and easier than on the command line, and avoids problems altogether such as hangup signals and resuming command line sessions. By exploiting the client-server architecture of web applications and the highly developed underlying web protocols, the connection is very robust, even over poor quality wireless network connections, and of low computational cost for the robot as most processing is implemented on the client side. The web application, amongst many other things, allows the user to start, stop and monitor ROS nodes, displays all kinds of status information about the robot, allows dynamic updates to the configuration server parameters, shows the processed vision and localisation outputs, allows various calibration and system services to be called, and allows the pose of the head to be controlled manually.
During operation, whether managed over the command line or the web server, the robot can be visualised using the RQT GUI, and dynamically reconfigured using the configuration server. This requires a live network connection to the robot for communication purposes. To configure the robot instantaneously, and without the need for any kind of network connection, a QR code detector has been implemented in the vision module. With this feature, arbitrary reconfiguration tasks can be effectuated due to the great freedom of data that can be robustly encoded in a QR code. QR codes can conveniently be generated on mobile devices, also for example with a dedicated mobile application, and shown to the robot at any time. The robot plays a short tune to acknowledge the QR code, serving as auditory feedback that the QR code was detected and processed.
In this paper, we described our platforms and approaches to playing soccer in the Humanoid TeenSize class. During RoboCup 2016, we successfully demonstrated that our robots could robustly perceive the game environment, make decisions, and act on them. Our team NimbRo TeenSize aggregated a total score of 29:0 over five games. We have released our hardware222Hardware: https://github.com/igusGmbH/HumanoidOpenPlatform and software333Software: https://github.com/AIS-Bonn/humanoid_op_ros to GitHub with the hope that it is beneficial for other teams and research groups.
5 Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the contributions of igus® GmbH to the project, in particular the management of Martin Raak towards the robot design and manufacture. This work was partially funded by grant BE 2556/10 of the German Research Foundation (DFG).
[1] P. Allgeuer, H. Farazi, M. Schreiber, and S. Behnke, "Child-sized 3D Printed igus Humanoid Open Platform," in Proceedings of 15th IEEE-RAS Int. Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), (Seoul, Korea), 2015.
[2] J. A. Nelder and R. Mead, "A simplex method for function minimization," The Computer Journal, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 308–313, 1965.
[3] H. Farazi, P. Allgeuer, and S. Behnke, "A monocular vision system for playing soccer in low color information environments," in 10th Workshop on Humanoid Soccer Robots, IEEE-RAS Int. Conference on Humanoid Robots, (Korea), 2015.
[4] T. Laue, T. J. De Haas, A. Burchardt, C. Graf, T. Röfer, A. Härtl, and A. Rieskamp, "Efficient and reliable sensor models for humanoid soccer robot self-localization," in Fourth Workshop on Humanoid Soccer Robots, pp. 22–29, 2009.
[5] H. Schulz, H. Strasdat, and S. Behnke, "A ball is not just orange: Using color and luminance to classify regions of interest,"
[6] U. Ramer, "An iterative procedure for the polygonal approximation of plane curves," Computer Graphics and Image Processing, vol. 1, no. 3, 1972.
[7] N. Dalal and B. Triggs, "Object detection using histograms of oriented gradients," in Pascal VOC Workshop, ECCV, 2006.
[8] J. Matas, C. Galambos, and J. Kittler, "Robust detection of lines using the progressive probabilistic hough transform," Vision and Image Understanding, 2000.
[9] H. Schulz and S. Behnke, "Utilizing the structure of field lines for efficient soccer robot localization," Advanced Robotics, vol. 26, no. 14, pp. 1603–1621, 2012.
[10] S. Behnke, "Online trajectory generation for omnidirectional biped walking," in Proceedings of 2006 IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2006.
[11] M. Missura and S. Behnke, "Self-stable omnidirectional walking with compliant joints," in 8th Workshop on Humanoid Soccer Robots, Humanoids, 2013.
[12] P. Allgeuer and S. Behnke, "Fused Angles: A representation of body orientation for balance," in Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2015.
[13] M. Missura and S. Behnke, "Balanced walking with capture steps," in Robot Soccer World Cup, pp. 3–15, Springer, 2014.
[14] P. Allgeuer and S. Behnke, "Omnidirectional bipedal walking with direct fused angle feedback mechanisms," in Proceedings of 16th IEEE-RAS Int. Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), (Cancún, Mexico), 2016.
[15] J. Stückler, J. Schwenk, and S. Behnke, "Getting back on two feet: Reliable standing-up routines for a humanoid robot.," in IAS, pp. 676–685, 2006.


Copyleft is a term that describes a copyright licencing scheme where the author surrenders some of his rights. Typically a copyleft licence will allow a work to be freely copied, distributed or adapted, provided that all copies or modified versions are also freely available under the same licence.
The actual word 'copyleft' has no legal meaning in itself, it is simply a play on the word 'copyright'.
Copyleft is not the opposite of copyright, merely a way of describing a more 'liberal' copyright licencing policy. The most well known example is the GNU General Public License (GPL).
Any form of copyright work can be subject to a licensing arrangement, and the licence is nothing more than a way of changing the restrictions placed on the work. By default, copyright law prohibits acts of copying, distribution or adaptation without the author's consent.
A licensing scheme such as GPL gives everyone permission to adapt or distribute copies of the work freely, provided that any copies or adaptations are subject to the same licence as the original.
Release of rights: Which normally prohibited actions may be allowed and what conditions should apply?
Commercial use: Can a licensee use the work within a commercial setting? i.e. for direct or indirect monetary gain, or to add content to a commercial project.
Derivative works: Can the licensee adapt or build upon the work? Or must it be presented as the author created it.
Distribution and copying: When and how may a work be copied or distributed. In the case of copyleft works, the copyright owner will typically permit others to distribute copies of the work only if they include the original licence, this is often referred to as a 'share alike' licence.
Jurisdiction: Should the license be subject to the law of a specific country or region.
Fortunately, you do not need to be a legal professional to draw up the licence, there are a number of freely available licences that can be applied to your work.
The GNU project provides a number of licences that can be applied to your own works, including the GNU General Public License (GPL) and Lesser General Public License (LGPL) for software licensing and the GNU Free Documentation License (FDL) for documents.
Creative Commons also provide a free licence generator for all types of work and uses.
The typical purpose of a copyleft licence is to ensure that the work and its derivatives will always be freely available. If the author simply relinquished his copyright (i.e. puts the work in the public domain), then it would be possible for someone else to commercially market the work for their own gain; if no copyright exists, there is no way to prevent this.
A licence such as GPL ensure that this does not happen. As the work is still subject to copyright, the author still has some control.
In some areas, particularly software design, a number of contributors may work collaboratively on a common project, some most notable examples being Open Office and Linux. A copyleft licence makes it easier for individuals to contribute to a project and ensures that the whole community benefits from their work.
The GNU project page 'What is copyleft?'.
Copyleft fact sheet from Copyright Witness.


text:
Press Release 6 December 2018
Apparel Sourcing Week opens on March 15; booking closes soon!
No one can ignore the potential of the retail market in India. It is a huge market that is still unexplored and with Tier-2 and Tier-3 now joining the retail landscape, the size of the market is mind-blowing… In fact it is not only the size of the market, but also many other factors that make the Indian market more attractive for Bangladesh manufacturers.
Today, the two countries that are looked upon as alternate markets to the West are China and India. "Why would I want to struggle to establish business in a country like China where everything is a challenge – from language to food habits to the way business is conducted. Working with Indian retailers would be more satisfying and with retail getting better organised, the issues that were previously a deterrent, no longer exist," reiterates Director of Mahmud Group, Gazi Mahbubul Alam.
Many of the manufacturers working for India don't have to make any special effort as their regular buyers directly source the total requirement and ship out directly to the individual countries. "Sometimes a product reaches India even before it can reach the shelves in Europe," says Humayun Rashid, MD, Energypac Fashions Limited. The company is making suits and formal jackets for M&S which is directly being sent to the individual markets including India.
It's not only the business practices which play to one's advantage, sharing common boundaries makes client servicing an even easier proposition from Bangladesh's perspective. "If any discussion is required, it is so easy to fly over and sort it out directly. After all, most Bangladeshis are comfortable travelling to India on regular holidays and even shopping," agrees Sayed Tanvir, Director, Pacific Jeans, one of the largest exporters from Bangladesh. His views are shared by many manufacturers in the country.
Given the size and diversity of the Indian fashion retail market, there's no better option than building new tie-ups with suppliers from the established manufacturing destinations of Bangladesh, Vietnam and China. Flexible, price-competitive and committed as they are, manufacturers from these Asian manufacturing strongholds are the best bet to meet the demands of the rapidly growing fashion retail, which is set to touch a whopping US $ 115 billion by 2025.
The first-of-its-kind in India, Apparel Sourcing Week 2019 from the house of Apparel Resources, brings a unique and wide mix of manufacturers from Bangladesh, Vietnam and China with their equally diverse product portfolios under a single roof to make sourcing more exciting and dynamic for you.
The two-day sourcing extravaganza (on 15 and 16 March, 2019) in Bengaluru has already received huge response from the retailers and brands. With just a few more slots left and booking closing on 15 December 2018, hope you have ensured your participation already!
Look forward to seeing you in Bangalore…
About Apparel Sourcing Week 2020
Apparel Sourcing Week 2020, a three-day Sourcing Show not only provides the Asian manufacturers a platform to showcase their products & manufacturing capabilities to the Brands & Retailers from all over the world including India, but also extends them a chance to attend the multiple seminars (headed by industry experts), workshops, open-house discussions and networking opportunities organised during these three days, which would help the manufacturers get a better understanding of Indian and International Retail and evolving dynamics of sourcing in various markets and retail formats.
Apparel Resources is well known for its benchmark publications – Apparel	Online, StitchWorld and Resource Guide published from India, Bangladesh &	Vietnam. These publications have been around in the industry for over 35	years, supporting, guiding and standing by garment exporters and the retail	industry globally, providing them a platform to source better.


Sharon brought this to me and it's so pretty!
It's fusible applique and the fabrics are soft and pretty. But also the fabrics provide great textures to add to the overall effect of the quilt.
I am not a hunter..nobody in my family is either….but I am thinking it is. So Happy Deer Day!
I love the effect you have with the trees. They came out looking 3D! Great job as usual!
What a stunning quilt! Your quilting totally makes the trees!
Oh I so love this !


text:
William Hayley
English poet and biographer
William Hayley, (born Oct. 29, 1745, Chichester, Sussex, Eng.—died Nov. 12, 1820, Felpham, near Chichester), English poet, biographer, and patron of the arts.
Hayley is best remembered for his friendships with William Blake, the great pre-Romantic poet, painter, and designer, and with the 18th-century poet William Cowper. He was also a patron of less well-known writers, including the poet and novelist Charlotte Smith. Hayley is also recalled for his well-meant but destructive patronage of George Romney, a painter whom he persuaded to continue the "drudgery of face-painting" when Romney would have preferred to paint ideal subjects.
Of independent means and good intentions, Hayley in 1800 invited Blake and his wife to live in a cottage on his Felpham estate and engrave and print illustrations for his books. His failure to understand Blake's visionary genius caused Blake, despite his joy in the Sussex scenery and his gratitude for Hayley's generosity, to see in him "an enemy of my Spiritual Life while (pretending) to be the Friend of my Corporeal"; and in 1803, realizing that Hayley's wish to turn him into a tame poet, engraver, and miniature painter would eventually destroy his artistic integrity, he returned to London, immortalizing Hayley in the epigram:
Thy friendship oft has made my heart to
ache:
Do be my Enemy for Friendship's sake.
Nevertheless, Blake illustrated Hayley's Ballads Founded on Anecdotes Relating to Animals (1805). Hayley's other poetical works include the long didactic poems The Triumphs of Temper (1781) and The Triumphs of Music (1804). Though mocked by fellow poets, these were popular in their time. His Life . . . of William Cowper, 3 vol. (1803–04), foreshadows the methods of modern biography; he also wrote lives of Milton (1796) and Romney (1809). Hayley retains his place in literary history as Blake's Hayley (title of a study by Morchard Bishop, 1951).
More About William Hayley
association with Blake
In William Blake: Patronage of William Hayley and move to Felpham
Chichester, England
November 12, 1820 (aged 75)
Felpham, England
Richard Monckton Milnes
Sidney Colvin
E.M. Forster
George IV
James Anthony Froude
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
Charles Dickens, English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian era. His many volumes…


text:
Nanocladius dichromus är en tvåvingeart som först beskrevs av Jean-Jacques Kieffer 1906.  Nanocladius dichromus ingår i släktet Nanocladius, och familjen fjädermyggor. Arten är reproducerande i Sverige.

Källor

Fjädermyggor
dichromus


text:
CBI probes Chennai firm complaint on UK co's hand in multi-crore scam
The suspected fraud came to light when the promoter of Chennai-based Zynergy Solar Projects and Services Private Limited approached the Madras high court seeking a probe by economic wing of the CBI.
Suresh Kumar
CHENNAI: The CBI has commenced a probe into a possible several hundred crore money laundering scam involving a UK-based venture capital firm. The suspected fraud came to light when the promoter of Chennai-based Zynergy Solar Projects and Services Private Limited approached the Madras high court seeking a probe by economic wing of the CBI, based on his representation dated October 5.
When the plea came up for hearing on October 27, special public prosecutor for CBI told the HC that action was being taken in accordance with the law based on Zynergy's representation. Recording the submission, Justice G Jayachandran disposed of the plea. The primary allegation of Rohit Rabindranath, who floated Zynergy in 2007, is that TejKohli of Kohli Ventures, a UK-based investment firm, had "cheated him and utilised Zynergy for money laundering."
Deal with UK firm had been struck in July 2015
Rabindranath ventured into solar power generation in 2010, and in July 2015, he signed a strategic investment agreement with Kohli Ventures. It was agreed by both sides that ₹30 crore would be invested by Kohli Ventures through its nominees in Zynergy partially in the form of equity capital and partly as fully compulsorily convertible debentures (FCCD) and optionally fully convertible debentures (OFCD).
"An initial investment of $4.445 million (₹30 crore) in remittances came in August-December 2015 from Kohli Ventures and Cascade Global Pvt Ltd Hong Kong, through Cyprus and Cayman Islands. Shares constituting 51% of the shareholding were allotted to Cascade Energy Pte Ltd (Cascade) as per the agreements," the petitioner said.
However, after the allotment of shares and securities in favour of Cascase Systems, it came to light that the transfers contravened mandatory provisions of master circular issued by the RBI, dated July 1, 2015, under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999. As per the circular, a non-resident investor may exit after a minimum lock-in period of one year and no such investor should be guaranteed any assured exit price at the time of making such agreement and to only exit at a fair price at the time of exit. This apart, Zynergy's banker KEB Hana Bank, said the KYC report of its 51% shareholder, Cascade Systems was negative and notified the firm to conduct due diligence, and said financial assistance granted by the bank would be withdrawn if the issue was not rectified.
"A due diligence conducted by us revealed that TejKohli was involved in several criminal cases that are pending and was also convicted by the United States district court, central district California. He was also prohibited from owning or being affiliated or employed by any financial institution insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or from being employed in any capacity wherein he has custody, control or management of his employer's funds," the petitioner alleged.
Meanwhile, another banker of the company, Union Bank (UK), issued letters to the firm in March stating that Kohli if continued to be a shareholder in Zynergy, it would be constrained to call off the $4 million loan it had advanced.
On May 19 this year, income tax department officials attached the shares held by Cascade Systems in Zynergy under the Benami Property Transactions Act, 2016 on the ground that the act constituted a benami transaction as the investment was funded by Tej-Kohli and Cascade Global Limited, Hong Kong thus rendering the shares to be held by one person and the beneficial owner as someone else.
Zynergy Solar Projects
cascade systems
cascade energy pte ltd
Most Read in Renewable


2012 Summer Olympics in London – British cycling team brings home an unprecedented eight gold, two silver and two bronze medals.
The title "Head of Marginal Gains" might not sound impressive, but on UK sports teams this is the guy whose attention to detail is what wins games, races, and medals. In the lead-up to the 2012 Olympics, the title belonged to Matt Parker, a then-32-year-old sports scientist with a reputation for never being satisfied. To shave crucial seconds off of race times — not only winning the British cycling team Olympic medals, but also helping them to break a total of eight world records during his four-year stint — Parker ran a team of 15 and set up a total of 28 performance-testing projects for the 2012 Olympic team in the two years leading up to the London Olympics. Meticulous in the planning, execution, and analysis of these experiments, Parker tested everything from sleep patterns to mattresses to the heated shorts the team eventually became known for. In addition to the famous "hotpants," Parker got the team sleeping on hypoallergenic mattresses, consuming large quantities of fish oil and Montmorency cherries (their high antioxidant content helped muscles recover more quickly), and collecting both video and on-bike data.
One area of focus, what Parker termed "Project Golden Hour," relied on key data from the 2008 Beijing Olympics: that there tended to be about one hour between the semi-finals and finals of cycling events. So Parker set about finding ways to maximize recovery time in that hour. The result? Cyclists on the 2012 British team were the only ones to log faster circuits in their finals than their semi-finals.
Parker's results were so impressive that in 2013 the English rugby team recruited him. There, he's been working his magic again — although the secrets of marginal gains are tightly kept, Parker has admitted to having the team train at night to be better prepared for evening games, partnering with a nearby pharmaceutical company (GlaxoSmithKline) to test supplements and energy drinks, and conducting a thorough evaluation of how Team England sweats, in order to optimize hydration and recovery during games. In the lead-up to the UK-hosted World Cup in 2015, Parker is intent on finding and tweaking the details that will make the difference between winning games and winning championships.


A former Royal Welch Fusilier, who left school at 14 and fought in France during World War Two, has been awarded his doctorate at the grand age of 95.
Dr Charles Betty, who graduated this summer, is the oldest person to ever be awarded a PhD by a UK University.
He completed his thesis at the University of Northampton through a long distance programme from his home in Spain, whilst caring for his wife who suffers from a long-term illness.
As part of his PhD, Charles researched the experiences of older ex-pats who've decided to move back to the UK from Spain.
Charles, born in Fleetwood in 1923, has lived in Spain for over 30 years and drew upon his own experiences as inspiration for his thesis.
During his time abroad he has worked to help integrate fellow British migrants and co-founded Age Care Association, an organisation which helps and supports the older British community on the Costa del Sol.
Charles said: "I came to live in Spain in 1985 after my wife had serious health problems and was told that her life expectancy would increase if she moved to a warmer climate.
"After we made the move, I paid a routine visit to a local health centre near to where we live in Spain, and I found out that many older British retirees were having problems communicating with the medical staff. I then set-up an interpreter service, which proved very successful.
This PhD is the latest in a long list of academic achievements for Charles, who was previously a head teacher at two UK schools in the 1960s.
With Master's degrees from both Brighton University and Nottingham University already under his belt – Charles has not let distance deter him from achieving his ultimate academic goals.
Charles, who is a grandfather of three and great grandfather of two, explains that his background was traditional working class.
"I was born into a solid working-class family, I had four brothers. My mother was a housewife and my father was a deep sea fisherman – his occupation as a trawler chief engineer meant that he was away for weeks at a time.
Charles left school at the age of 14 without any qualifications and joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers at the age of 18. He served five years before being wounded in France in 1944 and sent back to the UK. Two years ago, Charles was awarded the French medal Legion D'Houneur for his services in World War Two.
After the war had ended, Charles recalled that it was a simple note on a notice board that kick started his career in education and his eventual academic aspirations.


text:
Accessibility and Display Options
Choose accessibility and display settings
Text Preferences Text Size Standard+1+2+3 Font Standard (Arial)TimesCourierOpen Dyslexic Letter Spacing Standard+1+2+3
Colour Schemes Select colour scheme StandardHigh ContrastMonochrome
Cookies Save accessibility setting in a cookie?
Some of these cookies are necessary to make the site work. We'd also like to use optional cookies to help improve your experience on the site. You can manage your optional cookie preferences below. Using this tool will set a cookie on your device to remember your preferences. Your preferences can be changed at any time.
For further details, see our Cookie Policy and our Privacy Policy
I AcceptI Do Not Accept
Essential cookies enable core functionality such as page navigation and access to secure areas. The website cannot function properly without these cookies; they can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences. Third party functions such as Google Search and Analytics will not be enabled.
Opt-in to performance settings
Performance settings enable you to use the Google Search engine on our website and help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on its usage (for example, which of our pages are most frequently visited).
Fareham Today
Leisure & Community
Welborne
You are here: Home / Planning / Applications And Advice
Notes to accompany prior notification application forms for rear extensions/ additions
The form sets out the legislative requirements for an application. However, you should be aware that the Council can request further information to allow it to assess the impact of the proposed development on the amenity of any adjoining premises.
To avoid this and consequent delays in determining the matter, it is recommended that the following information is also submitted:
A location plan should be at an identified standard metric scale typically 1:1250. Plans should identify sufficient roads (normally two) and/or buildings on land adjoining the application site to ensure that the exact location of the application site is clear. It must also show the direction of North. The application site should be edged clearly with a red line.
A site plan should be drawn at an identified standard metric scale, typically 1:200. It should accurately show the direction of North and the proposed development in relation to the site boundaries and other existing buildings on the site, with written dimensions including those to the boundaries.
Floor plans and elevations should be drawn at an identified standard metric scale, typically 1:50. The drawings should explain the proposal in detail and clearly show the proposed works in relation to what is already there. All sides of the proposal should be shown and these should indicate, where possible, the proposed building materials and the style, materials and finish of windows and doors. Blank elevations should also be included; if only to show that this is the case.
If there is a change of level across the site, particularly in relation to the adjoining properties, a section at a scale of 1:50 or 1:100 through the proposed building showing its relationship with those on either side.
Back to Top How to get here
Tel: +44 (0) 1329 236100 | Mobile Text/Photo: 07860 098627
Email this page |
Print this page |
Accessibility Statement.


text:
Home Sports Betting Soccer Lionel Messi Considering Move to Man City, Barcelona Insists it Will Keep Superstar
Lionel Messi Considering Move to Man City, Barcelona Insists it Will Keep Superstar
By Ed Scimia on August 26, 2020 3 min read
Argentinian forward Lionel Messi told Barcelona that he plans to leave the club this summer, but the Spanish side isn't giving up on retaining its star player.
Lionel Messi informed Barcelona that he plans to leave, but the Spanish club is fighting to keep its star player. (Image: Getty)
Messi informed Barcelona of his intentions on Tuesday, with multiple media reports linking the 33-year-old with a move to Manchester City.
Dispute Over Language in Barca Contract
When Messi last signed a contract with Barca in 2017, it included a clause that allows him to leave on a free transfer at the end of any season, provided he informs the club of his intentions during the first 10 days of June. When he didn't do so, Barcelona believed it would keep its star for another year.
Messi is claiming that the unusual COVID-19-delayed season has changed that timeline. Barcelona played its last match on Aug. 14, losing 8-2 in the Champions League quarterfinals to eventual champion Bayern Munich.
The resolution of that dispute could determine where Messi plays next season. Barca plans to try to work with their star to keep him on the squad.
"Internally we are working long hours to find the best solution for FCB and for Leo," Barcelona sporting director Roman Planes told reporters on Wednesday, at a press conference announcing the signing of Francisco Trincao. "We count on Messi for the future just like we count on Trincao as a talent for the future. We hope he will play alongside the greatest player in history, the greatest player in the world, but these things happen, and we hope we will come back stronger from the defeat at the end of last season."
ESPN reported Tuesday that Messi has already spoken with Man City manager Pep Guardiola about a possible transfer last week, citing unnamed sources. The report also noted that City had been working on the math to see if the club can afford such a signing under Financial Fair Play rules.
Oddsmakers See Two-Team Race to Land Messi
Messi could potentially leave Barcelona, whether or not his interpretation of his contract is correct. If the club proves correct instead, another suitor would have to deal with Messi's €700 million ($828.5 million) release clause. City or another team could attempt to negotiate that number down significantly.
Online bookmaker Unibet sees Barcelona as a -125 favorite to hold on to Messi after the summer transfer window. City (-112) stands out as the club most likely to pry him away, with Manchester United (+1100), PSG (+1400), Bayern Munich (+2000) and Chelsea (+2000) also potentially in the mix.
If Messi does move to Man City, he might not finish his career there. Multiple sources told ESPN that City could offer the superstar a long-term contract that would move him to New York City FC of the MLS after three years with the Premier League club.
Barcelona fans reacted strongly to the news of Messi's potential departure. A group of supporters gathered outside the club's stadium offices on Tuesday calling for the resignation of president Josep Maria Bartomeu. Jordi Farre, who plans to run for club president next year, has also called for a vote of no confidence in Bartomeu's leadership.
January 14, 2022 MLS
USMNT Kellyn Acosta to Move from Colorado Rapids to LAFC
By Emanuel Rosu
RSL Signs 14-year-old Axel Kei Who Becomes Youngest Player in MLS History
January 13, 2022 AFCON 2021
Chaos on the Pitch: Final Whistle Blows Early in Match Between Tunisia and Mali


text:
http://www.business.nd.gov/smartmail/DevelopmentFundApril2018/
Development Fund - April 2018
ND Development Fund Approves Projects
The North Dakota Development Fund (NDDF) recently awarded funding for the following projects totaling $1,313,050:
Giggles & Such Childcare Inc. (Fargo) was awarded $250,000 in loans to provide funding for the purchase of three existing Fargo area childcare centers.
TSR Parts (Colgate) was awarded a $175,550 loan to provide funding to upgrade their steel cutting machine and assist with working capital. The company manufactures replacement straw choppers for all models of combines.
Dog Ids (Fargo) was awarded a $50,000 loan to fund working capital. The company is an E-Commerce business selling dog products nationally.
Dakota Valley Growers (Bathgate) was awarded a $250,000 loan to fund working capital. The company operates a 3,000-head dairy heifer replacement operation for larger, out-of-state dairies.
Harvest Profit (Fargo) was awarded a $170,000 loan to fund working capital. The company has developed a farm business management system to help farmers manage their operations for efficiency and increased profits.
Scribbles & Giggles Daycare (Fargo) was awarded a $100,000 loan to purchase the assets from an existing daycare company. The company provides daycare services for the Fargo area.
Project Phoenix (Fargo) was awarded a $82,500 loan to provide working capital for their AegisFlow Pilot Platform. Project Phoenix is a software development company that focuses on the unmanned aircraft systems market.
Elinor Specialty Coatings (Fargo) was awarded a $135,000 loan to provide funding for expansion of their manufacturing operations. The company solves problems in niche high-tech coatings-related markets through commercialization of innovative anti-corrosion technology and in-house scientific research and development.
LK Brons LLC dba Little Keepers (Grand Forks) was awarded a $100,000 loan to provide funding for the purchase of an existing Grand Forks area childcare center.
Funding for Rural Primary Sectory Businesses Available
The North Dakota Revolving Rural Loan Fund provides flexible gap financing for new or expanding primary sector businesses in North Dakota; located in cities with a population of less than 8,000 or the business is located more than 5 miles outside the city limits. The fund is a flexible source of financing, in partnership with private sources. If a business can't handle added debt, the Development Fund can take an equity financing position.
Eligible primary sectory businesses can receive up to $1,000,000 (based on job requirement). The fund also offers a lower than market interest rate, subject to risk of project.
Development Fund was Key for Dan's Tank Company, Inc.
Dan Conlin founded and incorporated Dan's Tank Company in 2012 in a 9,600 square-foot walkway shop in response to growing demands from the booming oil industry in western North Dakota. The company designs and manufacturers a range of oil-field equipment, including but not limited to barrel tanks, fiberglass tanks, containment systems, and vertical and horizontal treaters and parts. Today, the business has expanded to a 36,000 square-foot tank and walkway production facility and is regarded as an industry leader in the oil tank manufacturing business.
The new, state-of-the-art manufacturing plant is based in Berthold where the company produces 100 to 1,000 gallon oil-barrel storage tanks. Dan's Tank Company now also manufacturers access systems such as stairways, walkways and walkovers to allow for regular monitoring and maintenance on tanks and tank batteries. As his business opportunities increased, Conlin needed to find capital in his efforts to meet the demands of the oil industry.
"We used the North Dakota Development Fund as a [means] to purchase and set up new equipment so we could expand and get started on building more tanks," says Conlin. "Now, I need to expand [even] more." Conlin acknowledges that the it was the Development Fund that enabled him to timely meet the demands for oilfield services out west, and says he is grateful that such a resource exists in North Dakota. He explains because demand is now increasing so rapidly, he needs to find more sources for capital: "The oilfield is back and we're really starting to get busy – very busy – out there."
Meet Board Member: Pat Murphy
Patrick K. Murphy is a native of Minot, North Dakota. He is a 1979 graduate of Minot State College and began a very successful career in automotive sales in 1979, and has been in the business ever since.
He has been the Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC Truck Dealer in Williston, ND since 1987. He has won numerous sales contests, attended many training courses, and has been recognized nationally by winning the TIME Magazine Quality Dealer Award in 2011.
He is a past President of the Williston Shrine Club, and plays the role of Lucky the Clown at each years Shrine Circus. He is a 32nd degree Master Mason, a member of the Elks Lodge, Moose Club, and St. Josephs Church. Pat is an avid boater, hunter, chess player, and gourmet cook.
Pat has one son, Grant, who is a lead scientist for Merck, and three grand-children.
The North Dakota Development Fund was created in 1991 as an economic development tool. It provides flexible gap financing through debt and equity investments for new or expanding North Dakota primary sector businesses. Primary sector businesses create new wealth and are typically manufacturers, food processors and exported service companies.