Foreign ministers are busy people - especially energetic, creative diplomats like Russia's Sergei Lavrov and Iran's Manouchehr Mottaki, representing capitals that by tradition place great store on international diplomacy.
Therefore, the very fact that Lavrov and Mottaki have met no less than four times in as many months suggests a great deal about the high importance attached by the two capitals to their mutual understanding at the bilateral and regional level.
Moscow and Tehran have worked hard in recent months to successfully put behind them their squabble over the construction schedule of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran. The first consignment of nuclear fuel for Bushehr from Russia under the International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards finally arrived in Tehran on Monday. "We have agreed with our Iranian colleagues a timeframe for completing the plant and we will make an announcement at the end of December," said Sergei Shmatko, president of Atomstroiexport, which is building Bushehr.
At a minimum, the gateway opens for Russia's deeper involvement in Iran's ambitious program for civil nuclear energy. But nuclear energy is not the be-all and end-all of Russo-Iranian cooperation. Iran is a crucially important interlocutor for Russia in the field of energy. The Bushehr settlement is a necessary prerequisite if the trust and mutual confidence essential for fuller Russo-Iranian cooperation is to become reality. Evidently, Moscow is hastily positioning itself for the big event on the energy scene in 2008 - Iran's entry as a gas-exporting country.
In fact, how Moscow proceeds with the reconfiguration of Russo-Iranian relations could well form the centerpiece of the geopolitics of energy security in Eurasia during 2008. The dynamics on this front will doubtless play out on a vast theater stretching well beyond the Eurasian space, all the way to China and Japan in the east and to the very heart of Europe in the west where the Rhine River flows.
What places Russia in an early lead in the upcoming scramble is its fantastic win in the Eurasian energy sweepstakes in 2007. But 2007 as such began on an acrimonious note for Moscow when two minutes before the clock struck midnight on December 31, Russia signed a gas deal with Belarus whereby the latter would have to pay for Russian gas supplies at full market prices on a graduated scale stretched over the next five-year period. President Vladimir Putin's critics seized the moment with alacrity to portray him as a whimsical megalomaniac.
Moscow-based critic Pavel Felgenhauer rushed to condemn Putin's "highly aggressive, unscrupulous and revengeful" mindset as a dictator, and prophesied that the "pressure on Belarus will most likely misfire ... This may undermine the Kremlin's authority ... and provoke internal high-level acrimony [within the Kremlin]". Other Western critics warned European countries not to count on Russia's dependability as an energy supplier.
Much of the vicious criticism might seem in retrospect to be either prejudiced and self-interested, or downright laughable, but that didn't prevent the acrimony from setting the tone for the geopolitics of energy during 2007. Prima facie, Russia was making a transition to market prices for its energy exports, which was quite the proper thing to do if it were to integrate with the world economy in a manner consistent with the broad orientations of its liberal economic policies.
Indeed, the Kremlin had no reason to continue with the Soviet-era subsidies to former Soviet republics like the Ukraine or Belarus. Efficiency demanded that Russia allowed market forces to prevail. Actually, that was also the capitalist world's advice to the Kremlin.
What incensed Western critics was that combined with the state control of oil and gas (and indeed the pipelines), the Kremlin was also maneuvering its way to a commanding position on the energy map of Europe. From its own viewpoint, Russia could claim it was merely pursuing a coordinated strategy aimed at integrating itself with European economies.
But the United States viewed the implications of the Russian strategy to be very severe for trans-Atlantic relations on the whole, as it cast a shadow on the entire range of goals, strategic objectives and security policies that Washington has been pushing within the framework of the Euro-Atlantic alliance in the post-Cold War years. Plainly put, Washington fears that Europe's strategic drift may become a reality unless Russia is stopped in its tracks.
After much US prodding for a coordinated European energy security policy, European Union (EU) members adopted at their spring summit in Brussels an action plan for energy security for 2007-2009, which emphasized the need to diversify Europe's energy sources and transport routes. But the ground reality continues to be that Europe's dependence on Russian energy supplies is growing. In 2006, Europe imported from Russia 290.8 million tonnes of oil and 130 billion cubic meters of gas.
With Europe's energy consumption rapidly rising, its import dependency on Russia is also set to increase. Europe, which imported around 330 billion cubic meters of gas in 2005, will require an additional 200 billion cubic meters per year by 2015. And Russia has the world's largest natural gas reserves, estimated to be 1,688 trillion cubic feet, apart from the seventh largest proven oil reserves, exceeding 70 billion barrels (while vast regions of eastern Siberia and the Arctic remain unexplored).
On the other hand, Europe's self-sufficiency in energy is sharply declining. By 2030, the production of oil and gas is expected to decline by 73% and 59% respectively. The result is that by 2030, two-thirds of Europe's energy requirements will have to be met through imports. In Europe's energy mix, the dependence on oil imports by 2030 will be as high as 94% of its needs, and on natural gas as high as 84%.
As supply becomes concentrated in Russian hands, the Kremlin will find itself in a position to dictate oil and gas prices. There is also the possibility that the supply and demand situation itself might become less elastic - Russia's own demand for gas, for instance, is growing by over 2% annually.
Clearly, the economics of energy supply to Europe are getting highly politicized. Ariel Cohen, a prominent Russia specialist at the US think-tank, Heritage Foundation, who is closely connected with the George W Bush administration, wrote recently, "It is in the US's strategic interests to mitigate Europe's dependence on Russian energy. The Kremlin will likely use Europe's dependence to promote its largely anti-American foreign policy agenda. This would significantly limit the maneuvering space available to America's European allies, forcing them to choose between an affordable and stable energy supply and siding with the US on some key issues."
"If current trends prevail, the Kremlin could translate its energy monopoly into untenable foreign and security policy influence in Europe to the detriment of European-American relations. In particular, Russia is seeking recognition of its predominant role in the post-Soviet space and Eastern Europe ... This will affect the geopolitical issues important to the US, such as NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] expansion to Ukraine and Georgia, ballistic missile defense, Kosovo, and US and European influence in the post-Soviet space."
Thus, through the past 12-month period, the Bush administration has been pressing for the development of new energy transit lines from the Caspian and Central Asia that bypass Russia. Washington has robustly worked for advancing its proposals for the construction of oil and gas pipelines linking Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to Europe across the Caspian Sea; new pipelines that would connect the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline with the Baku-Erzurum gas pipeline (making Turkey an energy hub for Europe); and the so-called Nabucco pipeline that proposes to link Azerbaijan and Central Asian countries with southern European markets.
However, as the year draws to a close, it becomes clear that the Kremlin has either nipped in the bud or frustrated one way or another the various US attempts to bypass Russia's role as the key energy supplier for Europe. Indeed, Moscow's counter-strategy aims at augmenting even further Russia's profile and capacity to be Europe's dependable energy supplier and thereby forcing the European consumer countries to negotiate with Russia as a partner with shared or equal interests.
Subsequently, the US and EU have made herculean efforts to get Ashgabat to resile from the commitment to the project with Russia, but have failed. During the past year, 16 high-level delegations from Washington visited Ashgabat in this regard. Thus, when Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov finally signed the agreement relating to the Caspian littoral pipeline on December 12 with his Kazakh and Turkmen counterparts, the curtain came down on one of the grimmest struggles of the great game in the post-Soviet era. Moscow came out the winner by far, reasserting its pre-eminent position in the Caspian.
The commitment of Turkmen gas to Russia has broader implications. For one thing, the fate of the US-supported proposals for a trans-Caspian pipeline and the Nabucco pipeline depended significantly on the availability of Turkmen and Kazakh gas. Their future is now up in the air. That, in turn, means Europe is increasingly left with only one serious option for diversifying its gas imports - Iran.
In May, Putin struck a second time when he visited Vienna and in a dramatic breakthrough drew Austria into a key energy partnership, placing that country as a base for Gazprom's future expansion into EU territory. The agreements signed in Vienna on May 23 outlined Gazprom's plans to build a Central European gas hub and gas transit management center, the largest in continental Europe, at Baumgarten near Vienna; expansion of Gazprom's market share in Austria; delivery of gas directly by Gazprom to Austrian consumers - for the first time in Europe; and plans to use Austria as a transit corridor for Russian gas exports aspiring to capture new EU markets.
Austria's "defection" to the Russian camp virtually dealt a coup de grace to Washington's strategy to cut Russia's share of Europe's growing need for gas. But Moscow pressed ahead. On June 25, Gazprom signed with Italy's Eni a memorandum of understanding (which on November 22 was finalized as an agreement) on a US$5.5 billion project for building a 900-kilometer gas pipeline ("South Stream") with an aggregate annual capacity of 30 billion cubic meters. The pipeline will run from Russia's Beregovaya on the Black Sea to Bulgaria, where it will split, with the two branches fanning out to reach southern Italy, Greece, Austria, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.
A Gazprom statement highlighted the deep implications of the South Stream project when it said in a studied undertone, "This is another real step in the implementation of Gazprom's strategy to diversify routes of Russian natural gas supplies to European countries and a considerable contribution to the energy security of Europe."
What was unfolding was indeed a spectacular string of successes by Russia, running ahead on the one hand in the transit and downstream races of the great game over Caspian energy, while running way ahead in the upstream race for Central Asian gas to feed these projects.
The Italian government has bucked Europe's concerns about Gazprom, aggressively endorsing Russia as a strategic partner in energy and other areas, such as aviation. Just last week [mid-June], Italy's Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema, held court in Rome with Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's first deputy prime minister and also Gazprom's chairman, to discuss cooperation on a range of sectors. An Italian airline, for example, recently announced its intention to purchase Russian commercial aircraft and an Italian defense contractor, Finmeccanica SpA, is jointly developing a fighter jet with a Russian company.
Nothing could have brought home the shift in the geopolitical templates more dramatically than the first energy summit of the Balkan countries - a region where the US consistently sought to exorcise Russia's historical influence - at Zagreb on June 24. Putin was invited as a special guest. Addressing the summit, Putin outlined the Russian objectives in energy cooperation with Europe. He said cooperation should be based on a "balance of interests"; "equal responsibility of suppliers, transit countries and energy consumers"; "transparent and fair business relations"; and "long-term relations". He virtually gave notice that mutuality of interests must involve Europe dismantling its discriminatory regimes directed against Russian companies in trade and investment.
The Russian daily Izvestia reported that in 2006 European governments blocked deals worth a total of $80 billion involving Russian companies. In its commentary in July, the daily noted, "The relations between the European Union and Russian investors are coming to resemble armed combat ... The European Parliament maintains that foreign companies have no right to acquire Europe's gas and electricity distribution networks. Europe is increasingly fearful about being bought up by foreigners: the prospect of Dutch consumers receiving gas and electricity bills bearing Gazprom's logo; gas stations in Switzerland painted in LUKoil's colors, red and black; and kitchenware in Greece marked 'Made by Russian Aluminum'."
Indeed, Russian strategy also correspondingly hardened. Russia presented yet another project when it proposed the construction of a Burgas-Alexandropolis oil pipeline. The proposed pipeline would start at Russia's Novorossiysk port on the Black Sea; it would cross over to Bulgaria's Burgas and then proceed to the Greek port of Alexandropolis. It is in essence a rival to the trans-Caspian pipeline (CPC) that Washington has been pushing for almost a decade. The capacity of the Russian pipeline will be 15 million tonnes annually in the first stage and 35 million tonnes in the second stage. The great irony is that it is a carbon copy of the CPC insofar as it is also predicated on growing volumes of Kazakh oil being extracted by Western companies.
In other words, Moscow is planning that the volumes of oil coming on stream (thanks to massive investment by American oil majors Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil) in some of Kazakhstan's richest fields (Tengiz oil field, Karachaganak oil, gas and condensate field, Kashagan oil field, etc) would be absorbed into the Russian-controlled transit route for marketing in Europe. An American specialist wrote bitterly, "This could defraud the [American] companies and their shareholders, reinforce Russia's quasi-monopoly on the transit of oil from Kazakhstan, defeat the US-promoted east-west Caspian energy corridor, and create instead a Russian-controlled oil export axis stretching from Kazakhstan to Greece and further afield."
Meanwhile, a struggle is shaping up for control of the Kashagan field, which is billed as the world's largest discovery in the past 30 years. Kazakhstan wants to increase its share in Kashagan at the cost of the Western companies. The renegotiation of the Kashagan concession's production-sharing agreement might well lead to Russia replacing some of Kazakhstan's western partners, even though reports indicate ExxonMobil of the US is furiously lobbying to retain its stake of 18.5% as the field's operator. The stakes are obviously high. Kashagan has proven reserves of 35 billion barrels of oil and potential reserves estimated to be as high as 70 billion barrels. When the project commences production, its daily output will be at least half a million barrels.
The Kashagan struggle highlights that the huge lead Russia has established in the past 12-month period for the control of Caspian and Central Asian energy was possible only by Russian companies investing heavily in a way that competing American oil majors would have rarely encountered in foreign operations.
The US's last big hope in 2007 was Turkmenistan. But the December 12 agreement signals that for the foreseeable future, Ashgabat has decided on Moscow as its preferred partner for its gas exports. The deepening Russian-Turkmen ties comes as a major blow to US oil majors.
All in all, therefore, the year 2007 is ending on a sour note for Washington. In all likelihood, the US will carry forward into the New Year its sense of bitterness. Clearly, Europe is not ready to coordinate its energy strategy with the US. Former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder recently blasted Washington's contention that Russia is an unreliable energy partner. He said, "Experience has certainly shown that Germany has never had a problem with the supply and integrity with the energy imported into Germany from Russia, not during all of the fickle times of the Cold War, not right now, and I personally don't see them in the future."
Schroeder pointed out that energy rivalries lie at the core of the US policy of encirclement of Russia and behind Washington's persistent attempts to denigrate and isolate Moscow. He warned of dire consequences if Washington persisted with such a course, as Moscow is "certainly not happy about it".
In such an overall context, during the months ahead Moscow can be expected to make robust efforts to coordinate with Iran over its oil and gas output and exports. The rationale for such a coordinated strategy involving Iran is very obvious. First, Moscow is intensely conscious of the Western awareness of Iran's enormous untapped hydrocarbon reserves as an alternative to Russian supplies. Russia will strive to stay ahead of the European, and eventually American, overtures to Iran.
Second, the hydrocarbon sector in Iran is firmly under state control and Moscow and Tehran are in harmony in this regard. Third, the two countries will be coordinating their energy policies for wider geopolitical purposes within the broad framework of their strategic cooperation. Furthermore, market forces dictate the rationale of Russia-Iran cooperation. Moscow would simply like to avoid competing with Iran, and vice versa. Russia and Iran control roughly 20% of world's oil reserves and close to half of the world's gas reserves, and it makes good sense to accommodate each other.
Iran is indeed an important energy partner for Russia for many reasons. Russian oil companies, flush with funds, are keen to invest abroad. The Iranian upstream oil and gas sector and Iran's energy ventures, such as pipeline projects, offer an attractive proposition for Russian investment. Again, Iran's geographical location is ideal as an export outlet for expanding Russian energy exports, especially its ambitious developing liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry. Besides, Iran is an influential member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, whose decisions have bearing on price stability and Russian export volumes.
But the most important consideration for Russia will be that Iran's energy policy should not come into conflict with Russian interests. Once the US's engagement of Iran commences, Tehran will have plenty of choice while accessing foreign capital and advanced upstream oil and gas technology. Iran is bound to probe gas markets such as Turkey, the Balkans and central and east Europe. Also, Iran is keen to develop a new LNG industry. Over and above, Iran could well end up competing with Russia as a major oil and gas route connecting the Caspian and Central Asian energy producing countries.
Cooperation with Iran is no less important for Russia in terms of Caspian Sea issues. True, the two countries have divergent views on how the Caspian Sea should be divided. Russia prefers a median line solution, whereas Iran has insisted on an equal share (20%) solution for each littoral state regardless of the length of coastline. All the same, Russia and Iran are in profound agreement in their opposition to the US-led trans-Caspian pipeline projects.
Russia's number one priority in energy cooperation with Iran will be for upstream participation by Russian companies. Gazprom has had some limited participation so far in the early phases of Iran's massive South Pars gas fields with an estimated aggregate cumulative production range of a stunning 13 trillion cubic meters. Moscow will be keen to promote greater involvement. Gazprom has shown interest in the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline project not only as a contractor but also as an investor.
But the big-ticket item will be the future development phases of South Pars, which Tehran has earmarked as feedstock for producing and exporting LNG for the European and Asian markets. Without doubt, Moscow will be keen to develop a role in Iran's nascent LNG industry so that it doesn't end up competing with Russia's own LNG industry.
Following his talks with Lavrov in Moscow last week, Mottaki stressed that the unfolding expansion of relations between Iran and Russia stems from a highly strategic decision taken by the leadership in Tehran. Specifically, Mottaki proposed the setting up of a joint gas company with Russia. Moscow would be favorably inclined towards the Iranian proposal, as it broadly aims at eliminating the possibility of the two countries competing with each other in the range of activities related to gas exports such as production, transportation, sales and prices.
Over and above, Moscow would be pleased at the present orientation of Iranian energy exports toward the Asian market. On the one hand, this would ease the competition from China for gaining access to Central Asian energy producers and on the other, it reduces the likelihood of Iranian energy flows to Europe, which may otherwise cut into Russia's market share.
Equally, Russia would actively promote an Iranian gas pipeline to China via Pakistan and India. But the project is stalled due to US pressure on India. Konstantin Simonov, the chief of Russia's National Energy Security Fund, alleged recently that by opposing the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, the US is principally trying to deny China easy access to Iranian energy reserves.
To be sure, Moscow began anticipating several months ago that with the inevitable collapse of the United States' policy of containment of Iran and with Iran's ensuing arrival as a gas exporting country, an altogether new scenario would shape up on Eurasia's energy map. Moscow would also have taken stock of the 1979 Iranian revolution's ideological struggle between "black Shi'ism" and "red Shi'ism", which has, significantly enough, resumed lately. The West has always been an interested party in the outcome of this struggle.
Two former Western-oriented Iranian presidents - Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammed Khatami - have joined hands in an unlikely alliance of conservatives and liberals. A regime change in Tehran holds out the possibility that the two energy superstars - Russia and Iran - could find themselves being set against each other by the West, or end up treading on each other's toes.
Thus, Putin's historic visit to Tehran on October 16, the first-ever bilateral visit by a Russian leader - Tsarist or Bolshevik - falls into perspective as a landmark event in the geopolitics of energy in the coming period. On whichever turf he has so far touched on energy security, Putin has left his unique personal stamp - that of the keen anticipation of a chess player blending with his swiftness as a black belt in judo. But the Persian chessboard is no easy turf. Putin's moves will therefore be an absorbing sight to watch. Perhaps they are destined to form yet another of his fine legacies in post-Soviet Russia's historic transformation as a great power in the 21st century.
This article appeared at Asia Times on December 22, 2007. It was posted at Japan Focus on December 23, 2007.


My name is Annie Vovan, and I was born a day after my parents' "anniversary" hence my name Annie. Growing up, I was the "cry baby" of the house which used to feel like a weakness of mine, but now I see it as a strength. I guess you can say I've been connected to my emotions and vulnerability from early on, and nowadays I completely own it. This helps me connect with you on so many levels.
My passion is to empower women, one photo at a time, and even after 12 years in business I never get tired of this. Whether I am capturing a first time mama, or a Girlboss, I am passionate about making a difference in how she sees herself. I want to remind her that she is so deserving of all of life's fruit, and, that she is unstoppable. She is beautiful in all aspects of that word.
Caruso is a privately owned, industry-renowned company that blends best-in-class real estate with five-star hospitality to create a timeless collection of town centers, residences, offices, street-front retail and more.
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H. Mathews, MS notebook no.5: "Thurga & Jirringan Languages 1901], pp. 5, 195.
The notebooks were (3.4.1974) in the posession of Professory R M W Dixon, Department of Linguistics, School of General Studiesm Australian National University, Canberra.
A copy is held by the Australian Indistute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra. [The Dhurga and Dyirringan languages were formerly spoken on the far south coast of NSW. According to Mrs Eades (see ), Mathews is the only source of material for Dyirringan, which was probably a language seperate from and to the south of Dhurga (i.e. between Bega and Eden).
A man man and woman bolted away into the ranges away from their people - They camped near a big tree - they ripped a sheet of bark and curled it around them - By and by they saw what appeared to be stars - said 'Stars are coming out'.
Saw the monster by the eyes coming down - It has two sharp prongs on hand - put prongs into one end of bark - man went to other end - It went to other end - man went back - this went on nearly all night.
It went into tree when its young ones were crying - man watched opportuntiy ran away - It cam down rang along with a direstick to prevent its smell rising - nearly overtook man who ran into water and kept quiet, - his nose only above in the reeds. It ran along both directions, but could see no sign and then made terrible stink and man swam away.
He went back to the camp, the woman had likewise gone away - These people reported the matter and the tribe brought some old men back to the tree, and this monster came down and faced them - The old men killed him with their sorcery and burnt the tree down and destroyed the young ones who were crying like children.
195 Myth - see p.5 Thool-a-gal or Moom-ee-ga: Lives in a hollow tree or in a cave. Like a man only larger - very strong - No hair on his head - has claws on fingers.
His feet are like ours. Several live together - He would catch blackfellow and take him to his own camp and eat him.


text:
Fitz John Porter (Portsmouth (Nou Hampshire), 31 d'agost de 1822 - Morristown (Nova Jersey), 21 de maig de 1901), (de vegades escrit FitzJohn Porter o Fitz-John Porter), fou un oficial de carrera de l'Exèrcit dels Estats Units, i un general de la Unió durant la Guerra Civil dels Estats Units.

És més conegut per la seva actuació en la Segona batalla de Bull Run i la seva subsegüent cort marcial.

Després d'això, treballà intensament per restaurar la seva malmesa reputació durant gairebé 25 anys, i finalment va aconseguir ser readmès al seu anterior rang dins de l'exèrcit.

Referències

Generals de l'Exèrcit de la Unió
Alumnes de l'Acadèmia Militar dels Estats Units
Alumnes de la Phillips Exeter Academy
Morts a Nova Jersey
Persones de Nou Hampshire

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Python - Best way to parse specific, standardized information in PDF documents? I am trying to parse these PDF "Arms Sale Notification" letters, found here:
http://www.dsca.mil/pressreleases/36-b/36b_index.htm
Here is a specific PDF document example, of a proposed arms sale to Oman:
http://www.dsca.mil/pressreleases/36-b/2013/Oman13-07.pdf
Since I have 600 of these documents, the information I want to extract in the example include the country name (Oman), the list of articles to be sold ("AN/AAQ-24(V) Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) Systems", the cost of the sale ("$100 million") and the primary contractor ("Northrop Grumman Corporation of Rolling Meadows, Illinois").
What sort of regular expressions or split() function specifications could I use to isolate these pieces of information from a document like this?

A: You need to read the converted text first to determine the regular expression.  PDFs can be quirky about text conversion.  I would recommend ReportLabs over pyPDF as the PDF parsing library of choice.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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You are welcome to come meet us at INDUSTRIE Paris (stand 5F128 – CEA LIST) to discover new possibilities for your quality inspection or robotic guidance processes.
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Looking forward to exchanging with you at the event.


text:
@class IBImageButton, NSString;

@interface IBObjectPickerElementView : DVTLayoutView_ML
{
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    id representedObject;
    IBImageButton *deleteButton;
    id mouseObserveringToken;
    id mouseWillCloseNotificationToken;
    BOOL rolledOver;
    id <IBObjectPickerElementViewDelegate> delegate;
}

@property(nonatomic, getter=isRolledOver) BOOL rolledOver; // @synthesize rolledOver;
@property(copy, nonatomic) NSString *title; // @synthesize title;
@property(retain) id representedObject; // @synthesize representedObject;
@property __weak id <IBObjectPickerElementViewDelegate> delegate; // @synthesize delegate;
- (void).cxx_destruct;
- (void)delete:(id)arg1;
- (void)didCompleteLayout;
- (void)viewWillMoveToWindow:(id)arg1;
- (void)unregisterMouseMovedObserver;
- (void)mouseMoved:(struct CGPoint)arg1 buttonStates:(unsigned long long)arg2;
- (void)drawRect:(struct CGRect)arg1;
- (struct CGRect)titleRect;
- (id)attributedTitle;
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- (id)titleParagraphStyle;
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- (id)effectiveBorderColor;
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- (id)normalBorderColor;
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- (void)layoutBottomUp;
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@property BOOL allowsDelete;
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@end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
OSA Publishing > Optics Express > Volume 21 > Issue 26 > Page 32690
Quasi-phase-matched second harmonic generation in silicon nitride ring resonators controlled by static electric field
Rafael E. P. de Oliveira and Christiano J. S. de Matos
Rafael E. P. de Oliveira* and Christiano J. S. de Matos
MackGraphe, Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie São Paulo, SP, Brazil
*Corresponding author: rafael.oliveira1@mackenzie.br
R de Oliveira
C de Matos
pp. 32690-32698
Rafael E. P. de Oliveira and Christiano J. S. de Matos, "Quasi-phase-matched second harmonic generation in silicon nitride ring resonators controlled by static electric field," Opt. Express 21, 32690-32698 (2013)
Effective refractive index
Harmonic generation
Parametric processes
Ring resonators
Second harmonic generation
Harmonic generation and mixing (190.2620)
Nonlinear optics, integrated optics (250.4390)
Actively-controlled second harmonic generation in a silicon nitride ring resonator is proposed and simulated. The ring was designed to resonate at both pump and second harmonic wavelengths and quasi-phase-matched frequency conversion is induced by a periodic static electric field generated by voltage applied to electrodes arranged along the ring. Nonlinear propagation simulations were undertaken and an efficiency of −21.67 dB was calculated for 60 mW of pump power at 1550 nm and for a 30V applied voltage, which compares favorably with demonstrated all-optical second harmonic generation in integrated microresonators. Transient effects were also evaluated. The proposed design can be exploited for the construction of electro-optical devices based on nonlinear effects in CMOS compatible circuits.
Harmonic generation in silicon nitride ring resonators
Jacob S. Levy, Mark A. Foster, Alexander L. Gaeta, and Michal Lipson
Observation of second-harmonic generation in silicon nitride waveguides through bulk nonlinearities
Matthew W. Puckett, Rajat Sharma, Hung-Hsi Lin, Mu-han Yang, Felipe Vallini, and Yeshaiahu Fainman
Enhanced mid-to-near-infrared second harmonic generation in silicon plasmonic microring resonators with low pump power
Jihua Zhang, Eric Cassan, and Xinliang Zhang
Photon. Res. 2(5) 143-149 (2014)
Highly efficient phase-matched second harmonic generation using an asymmetric plasmonic slot waveguide configuration in hybrid polymer-silicon photonics
Jihua Zhang, Eric Cassan, Dingshan Gao, and Xinliang Zhang
Optical frequency comb generation through quasi-phase matched quadratic frequency conversion in a micro-ring resonator
Zi-jian Wu, Yang Ming, Fei Xu, and Yan-qing Lu
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V. R. Almeida, C. A. Barrios, R. R. Panepucci, and M. Lipson, "All-optical control of light on a silicon chip," Nature 431(7012), 1081–1084 (2004).
M. Krause, H. Renner, and E. Brinkmeyer, "Silicon Raman amplifiers with ring-resonator-enhanced pump power," IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 16(1), 216–225 (2010).
M. A. Foster, A. C. Turner, J. E. Sharping, B. S. Schmidt, M. Lipson, and A. L. Gaeta, "Broad-band optical parametric gain on a silicon photonic chip," Nature 441(7096), 960–963 (2006).
S. F. Preble, Q. Xu, and M. Lipson, "Changing the colour of light in a silicon resonator," Nat. Photonics 1(5), 293–296 (2007).
D. A. B. Miller, "Optical interconnects to silicon," IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 6(6), 1312–1317 (2000).
D. J. Moss, R. Morandotti, A. L. Gaeta, and M. Lipson, "New CMOS-compatible platforms based on silicon nitride and Hydex for nonlinear optics," Nat. Photonics 7(8), 597–607 (2013).
M. Lipson, "Compact electro-optic modulators on a silicon chip," IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 12(6), 1520–1526 (2006).
J. S. Levy, A. Gondarenko, M. A. Foster, A. C. Turner-Foster, A. Gaeta, and M. Lipson, "CMOS-compatible multiple-wavelength oscillator for on-chip optical interconnects," Nat. Photonics 4(1), 37–40 (2010).
A. C. Turner, M. A. Foster, A. L. Gaeta, and M. Lipson, "Ultra-low power parametric frequency conversion in a silicon microring resonator," Opt. Express 16(7), 4881–4887 (2008).
K. Ikeda, R. E. Saperstein, N. Alic, and Y. Fainman, "Thermal and Kerr nonlinear properties of plasma-deposited silicon nitride/ silicon dioxide waveguides," Opt. Express 16(17), 12987–12994 (2008).
J. S. Levy, M. A. Foster, A. L. Gaeta, and M. Lipson, "Harmonic generation in silicon nitride ring resonators," Opt. Express 19(12), 11415–11421 (2011).
C. Xiong, W. Pernice, K. K. Ryu, C. Schuck, K. Y. Fong, T. Palacios, and H. X. Tang, "Integrated GaN photonic circuits on silicon (100) for second harmonic generation," Opt. Express 19(11), 10462–10470 (2011).
J. L. O'Brien, "Exploiting entanglement," Science 330(6004), 588–589 (2010).
N. B. Grosse, W. P. Bowen, K. McKenzie, and P. K. Lam, "Harmonic entanglement with second-order nonlinearity," Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 63601 (2006).
J. U. Fürst, D. V. Strekalov, D. Elser, M. Lassen, U. L. Andersen, C. Marquardt, and G. Leuchs, "Naturally phase-matched second-harmonic generation in a whispering-gallery-mode resonator," Phys. Rev. Lett. 104(15), 153901 (2010).
R. Paschotta, M. Collett, P. Kürz, K. Fiedler, H. A. Bachor, and J. Mlynek, "Bright squeezed light from a singly resonant frequency doubler," Phys. Rev. Lett. 72(24), 3807–3810 (1994).
S. F. Pereira, M. Xiao, H. J. Kimble, and J. L. Hall, "Generation of squeezed light by intracavity frequency doubling," Phys. Rev. A 38(9), 4931–4934 (1988).
S. L. Braunstein and P. van Loock, "Quantum information with continuous variables," Rev. Mod. Phys. 77(2), 513–577 (2005).
A. Dutt, K. Luke, S. Manipatruni, A. L. Gaeta, P. Nussensveig, and M. Lipson, "Observation of on-chip optical squeezing," in The Rochester Conferences on Coherence and Quantum Optics and the Quantum Information and Measurement meeting, OSA Technical Digest (online) (Optical Society of America, 2013), paper M6.67.
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R. H. Stolen and J. E. Bjorkholm, "Parametric amplification and frequency conversion in optical fibers," IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 18(7), 1062–1072 (1982).
K. Padmaraju, J. Chan, L. Chen, M. Lipson, and K. Bergman, "Thermal stabilization of a microring modulator using feedback control," Opt. Express 20(27), 27999–28008 (2012).
M. W. Mitchell, "Parametric down-conversion from a wave-equation approach: Geometry and absolute brightness," Phys. Rev. A 79(4), 043835 (2009).
Alic, N.
Almeida, V. R.
Andersen, U. L.
Bachor, H. A.
Barrios, C. A.
Bergman, K.
Bjorkholm, J. E.
Bowen, W. P.
Braunstein, S. L.
Brinkmeyer, E.
Chan, J.
Chen, L.
Collett, M.
Elser, D.
Fainman, Y.
Fiedler, K.
Fong, K. Y.
Foster, M. A.
Fürst, J. U.
Gaeta, A.
Gaeta, A. L.
Gondarenko, A.
Grosse, N. B.
Hall, J. L.
Ikeda, K.
Kashyap, R.
Kimble, H. J.
Krause, M.
Kürz, P.
Lam, P. K.
Lassen, M.
Leuchs, G.
Levy, J. S.
Lipson, M.
Marquardt, C.
McKenzie, K.
Miller, D. A. B.
Mitchell, M. W.
Mlynek, J.
Morandotti, R.
Moss, D. J.
O'Brien, J. L.
Padmaraju, K.
Palacios, T.
Panepucci, R. R.
Paschotta, R.
Pereira, S. F.
Pernice, W.
Philipp, H. R.
Preble, S. F.
Renner, H.
Ryu, K. K.
Saperstein, R. E.
Schmidt, B. S.
Schuck, C.
Sharping, J. E.
Stolen, R. H.
Strekalov, D. V.
Tang, H. X.
Turner, A. C.
Turner-Foster, A. C.
van Loock, P.
Xiao, M.
Xiong, C.
Xu, Q.
IEEE J. Quantum Electron. (1)
J. Electrochem. Soc. (1)
Phys. Rev. A (2)
Rev. Mod. Phys. (1)
Fig. 1 Ring resonator scheme. Light launched into the bus waveguide couples to the ring where resonating wavelengths experience an intensity build up.
Fig. 2 Intensity distribution in the ring waveguide cross section of the transverse component of the optical electric field for the quasi-TE mode. The red arrows indicate the optical electric field direction.
Fig. 3 Normalized B factor spectra for pump and second harmonic resonances. The arrows indicate the resonance shifts for second harmonic generation with 60 mW of pump power and 10 V applied voltage.
Fig. 4 Ring resonator design with inner electrodes subjected to ground (GND) and V voltage. Inset: Radial static electric field along the ring resonator for V = 10V.
Fig. 5 (a) SHG power evolution for different applied voltages. (b) Output power and conversion efficiency as an applied voltage function.
Fig. 6 SHG transient response when 10V is turned on and off.
(1) ( E t1 E t2 )=( t jκ jκ t )( E i1 E i2 ),
(2) θ= n eff 4 π 2 λ R=2πm,
(3) B= | E i2 E i1 | 2 = (κ) 2 1+ (t) 2 −2tcos(θ) .
(4) m 0 =2 m 1 − m 2 = N 2 ,
(5) E(r,φ,z)=A(φ)Ψ(r,z),
(6) P= |F | 2 ε 0 c n eff 2 ,
(7) |F | 2 =|A | 2 ∬ Ψ 2 drdz .
(8) ∂ F 1 R∂φ = i3 χ rrrr (3) ω 1 8 n eff1 c {[(| F 1 | 2 f 1111 +2| F 2 | 2 f 1122 +(2| F 0 | 2 +2 F 0 2 cos(2 k 0 Rφ)) f 1100 ] F 1 +2[ e i( k 2 −2 k 1 + k 0 )Rφ + e i( k 2 −2 k 1 − k 0 )Rφ ] F 1 * F 2 F 0 f 1120 }
(9) ∂ F 2 R∂φ = i3 χ rrrr (3) ω 2 8 n eff2 c {[2| F 1 | 2 f 2211 +| F 2 | 2 f 2222 +(2| F 0 | 2 +2 F 0 2 cos(2 k 0 Rφ)) f 2200 ] F 2 +[ e i(2 k 1 − k 2 + k 0 )Rφ + e i(2 k 1 − k 2 − k 0 )Rφ ] F 1 2 F 0 f 2110 },
(10) f abcd = ∬ Ψ a Ψ b Ψ c Ψ d drdz ∬ Ψ a 2 drdz ∬ Ψ b 2 drdz ∬ Ψ c 2 drdz ∬ Ψ d 2 drdz ,
(11) Δλ=λ ϕ NL 2πm+ ϕ NL .
(12) W= Γ eff P 775 Q SHG ,

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Microsoft: DAT210x Programming with Python for Data Science Course Modules
https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:Microsoft+DAT210x+6T2016/info


text:
Failure to Report
Patrice L. Spath, BA, RHIT; March 2007
An infant receives an overdose of the wrong antibiotic (cephazolin instead of ceftriaxone). The nurse spoke with the ED physician on duty but was informed that the medications were essentially equivalent and did not report the error.
Perspectives on Safety > Perspective
What Can the Rest of the Health Care System Learn from the VA's Quality and Safety Transformation?
with commentary by Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH, The Transformation of Patient Safety at the VA, September 2006
Five years after the landmark Crossing the Quality Chasm report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), the quality and safety of health care in the United States remains far from ideal.(1) It is easy to feel pessimistic. Can health care organizations really...
An Organisation with a Memory: Report of an Expert Group on Learning from Adverse Events in the NHS Chaired by the Chief Medical Officer.
Donaldson L. London, England: The Stationery Office; 2000.
An Organisation with a Memory set out to understand what was known about the scale and nature of serious failures in the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS) system, examine how the NHS might learn from those failures, and recommend methods to minimize future failures. The analysis was informed by not only medical evidence but also the expertise and experience of other high-risk industries such as aviation. The findings and analysis have been used to modernize the United Kingdom's process for understanding error by addressing a key set of goals to create unified reporting mechanisms, support an open learning culture, ensure that lessons learned are applied and changes made, and to more broadly embrace the systems approach to minimize error.
The WHO World Alliance for Patient Safety: a new challenge or an old one neglected? Get Citation
Edwards IR. Drug Saf. 2005;28:379-386.
This article discusses a working group dedicated to improving safety culture as a means to reduce adverse drug events. While acknowledging the importance of existing pharmacovigilance strategies to ensure medication safety, the authors advocate for greater focus on systemic issues and highlight the importance of both these approaches being used in a collaborative, rather than independent, fashion.
Grant > Government Resource
Patient Safety Research in Progress.
Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; June 2005. AHRQ Publication No. 05-P003-3.
This program brief summarizes patient safety research projects funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) since 2001.
Report 6: Managing Risk and Minimising Mistakes in Services to Children and Families.
Bostock L, Bairstow S, Fish S, Macleod F. London, England: Social Care Institute for Excellence; 2005. ISBN: 1904812279.
This report suggests that a systems approach to child social services in Great Britain would facilitate a fair and open culture and encourage learning from near misses.
The development of the National Reporting and Learning System in England and Wales, 2001-2005. Get Citation
Williams SK, Osborn SS. Med J Aust. 2006;184:S65-S68.
The authors describe lessons learned from a 4-year effort to develop and implement a national reporting system in the United Kingdom.
The safety and quality of health care: where are we now?
Med J Aust. 2006;184:S37-S72.
This special issue includes numerous articles reviewing the activities and successes of the patient safety movement outside the United States.
The need for organizational change in patient safety initiatives. Get Citation
Anderson JG, Ramanujam R, Hensel D, Anderson MM, Sirio CA. Int J Med Inform. 2006;75:809-817.
The authors used a simulation model to analyze organizational response to reported medication errors. They conclude that implementation of voluntary reporting systems must be followed by organizational changes to significantly reduce medication errors.
Wrong-side/wrong-site, wrong-procedure, and wrong-patient adverse events: are they preventable? Get Citation
Seiden SC, Barach P. Arch Surg. 2006;141:931-939.
Although instances of wrong-site, wrong-procedure, and wrong-patient adverse events (WSPEs) have been widely publicized, the true incidence of such errors remains unclear. A prior study indicated a rate of approximately 1 case per 112,000 surgeries, but WSPEs may occur in the outpatient setting or in ambulatory surgery as well. In this study, the authors reviewed four databases to determine the incidence of all WSPEs, including procedures performed outside the operating room. Data from both mandatory and voluntary reporting systems indicates that approximately 1300 to 2700 WSPEs occur yearly, with many occurring during outpatient procedures. The authors argue that all WSPEs should be considered preventable, and recommend reporting and prevention standards for reducing such errors.
Patient expectations of fair complaint handling in hospitals: empirical data. Get Citation
Friele RD, Sluijs EM. BMC Health Serv Res. 2006;6:106.
The investigators surveyed more than 400 patients who submitted complaints and found that patients participated in the process out of a desire to prevent such incidents from happening again.
Managing clinical failure: a complex adaptive system perspective. Get Citation
Matthews JI, Thomas PT. Int J Health Care Qual Assur. 2007;20:184-194.
The investigators interviewed clinicians and managers to assess how knowledge is captured in a clinical setting. They found that mechanistic reporting processes may compromise more organic methods of organizational learning.
Using a survey of incident reporting and learning practices to improve organisational learning at a cancer care centre. Get Citation
Cooke DL, Dunscombe PB, Lee RC. Qual Saf Health Care. 2007;16:342-348.
This study describes a survey tool for measuring organizational learning and provides a framework for how to assess and learn from incidents.
Healthcare 411: medication safety toolkit.
Bethesda, MD; Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. February 25, 2009.
This interview introduces an AHRQ-funded PIPS toolkit to help small and rural hospitals implement medication safety initiatives.
The relationship between organizational leadership for safety and learning from patient safety events. Get Citation
Ginsburg LR, Chuang YT, Berta WB, et al. Health Serv Res. 2010;45:607-632.
The role of organizational leadership in ensuring patient safety has been recognized by accrediting organizations such as The Joint Commission, who issued a sentinel event alert calling attention to the issue and have also developed leadership standards. This Canadian study sought to quantify the relationship between leadership and organizational learning from safety events, and found that hospitals with stronger safety leadership structures demonstrated a greater capacity to learn from errors and near misses. This relationship was particularly true for smaller hospitals. An AHRQ WebM&M perspective discusses how one hospital responded to a never event.
From blaming to learning: re-framing organisational learning from adverse incidents. Get Citation
Gray D, Williams S. Learn Organ. 2011;18:438-453.
This study reports on an effort to use voluntary error reporting as a tool for teaching trainees about patient safety.
Establishing a global learning community for incident-reporting systems. Get Citation
Pham JC, Gianci S, Battles J, et al. Qual Saf Health Care. 2010;19:446-451.
Voluntary error reporting systems are perhaps the most controversial of the available tools for detecting patient safety incidents. A sizable body of research has characterized the limitations of such systems, but they remain a cornerstone of safety efforts at many institutions. This consensus conference, sponsored by the World Alliance for Patient Safety, drew together an international group of error reporting experts in order to develop a learning community for incident reporting. The ultimate goal was to develop guidelines for effective use of reporting systems to improve safety. Discussing the advantages and challenges of current reporting systems, this article proposes guidelines for maximizing incident reporting utility (based on a previously published framework). A previous article discussed the use of different types of reporting systems to obtain a comprehensive view of patient safety within an institution.
Description and evaluation of adaptations to the Global Trigger Tool to enhance value to adverse event reduction efforts. Get Citation
Kennerly DA, Saldaña M, Kudyakov R, da Graca B, Nicewander D, Compton J. J Patient Saf. 2013;9:87-95.
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Global Trigger Tool is a widely used approach for detecting and monitoring safety hazards, but the accuracy of the tool has been criticized. Cases flagged by triggers also require more detailed chart reviews, which may not be feasible for institutions with limited resources. This study reports how one health system attempted to address these limitations of the Global Trigger Tool, with the goal of developing a sustainable mechanism for identifying adverse events (AEs), tracking rates of AEs over time, and providing sufficient detail to inform solutions. The article provides a detailed description of how the tool was adapted and implemented within existing resource constraints, information that may be helpful to other institutions needing to prioritize among multiple potential approaches for improving safety.
Organisational reporting and learning systems: innovating inside and outside of the box. Get Citation
Sujan M, Furniss D. Clin Risk. 2015;21:7-12.
Incident reporting systems are a popular method for hospitals to detect patient safety hazards, but little progress has been made in utilizing information from these systems to reduce risks. This commentary describes the experiences of two projects aimed at learning from error reports, an internal organizational approach operated by local teams and an external social media mechanism hosted on a public Web site.
An organisation without a memory: a qualitative study of hospital staff perceptions on reporting and organisational learning for patient safety. Get Citation
Sujan M. Reliab Eng Syst Saf. 2015;144:45-52.
This qualitative study found that despite the public outcry over care standards at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation trust, barriers to incident reporting persist, including lack of familiarity among frontline staff, poor feedback, fear of repercussions, and insufficient equipment and training. This suggests that novel approaches to enhancing safety and reporting culture are needed.


text:
Q: How would I put a pause in a .forEach interation I am attempting to put in a pause between a forEach loop for a list.
I would have thought the timeout would cause a pause for the loop but it just seems to start 3 timers all at once. (In very quick succession.)
  startTimeout(int seconds) async {
    print('Timer Being called now');
    var duration = Duration(seconds: seconds);
    Timer(duration, doSomething());
  }

  startDelayedWordPrint() {
    List<String> testList = ['sfs','sdfsdf', 'sfdsf'];
    testList.forEach((value) async {
      await startTimeout(30000);
      print('Writing another word $value');
    });
  }

Any idea how I might do this?

A: Use await Future.delayed() to pause for certain duration and a simple old for(...in...){} loop, instead of forEach() to iterate the values.
If forEach() receives async functions, each iteration call will run in a separate asynchronous context which can be reasoned about similarly to parallel code execution. Meanwhile forEach it self will return immediately without waiting until any async function to complete.
How to Async/await in List.forEach() in Dart
Sample:
https://dartpad.dartlang.org/a57a500d4593aebe1bad0ed79376016c
main() async {
    List<String> testList = ['sfs','sdfsdf', 'sfdsf'];
    for(final value in testList) {
      await Future.delayed(Duration(seconds: 1));
      print('Writing another word $value');
    };
  }


K.S. Engineering Works - offering Pulveriser Machine, Pulveriser Machine,Milling & Grinding Tools in Sultanpuri, New Delhi, Delhi. Read about company and get contact details and address.
Automatic Namkeen Machines. our range of Automatic Namkeen Machine/ Snacks Making Machine/ Continuous Fryer Machines is known for its high performance, low power consumption, sturdy construction and other distinctive attributes.
Pulverizer Machine - Manufacturers, Suppliers . We are the Manufacturers Exporters of Pulverizer Machine from India OVER VIEW / PROCESS Naroto is pleased to introduce itself as a leading manufacturing unit engaged in the business of npu/ k-10 model pulveriser.
· Pulverizer in India,Pulverizer for sale in India,Pulverizer Discover your crusher and grinder machine at the discount Free Live Chat We are the professional pulverizer manufactuer to provide pulverizer in india.
The Very Best Pulverizer Machine Manufacturers In India. Indeed, pulveriser manufacturer is a friendly product that people who are fond of baking should include in their utensils. This promising pulverizer machine for spices can help everyone. Aside from this, you can grind Masala & all grains in this machine.
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SINGHASINI is a trusted name in the field of Indian Pulverizer / Grinding Industry. It is known for its innovation, commitment, competence and compliance. Backed up with more than 66 years of experience & excellence, Singhasini has been serving the Indian Industry since its inception.


This FlyGirl Superheroes mug comes personalised with a face, name and the option to create your own caption. Perfect unique photo gift.
Categories: Photo Mugs, Superheroes. Tags: personalised mug, personalised photo mug, photo mug, superheroes gift, superheroes mug, superheroes personalised mug.
This FlyGirl Superheroes personalised mug comes with a red handle and red trim. Placing a face and a name on this mug makes it a unique photo gift for a Birthday, Christmas or as a surprise Thank you. Give the gift of a giggle.
This Seaside Holiday mug comes personalised with a face and the option to create your own caption. Perfect unique photo gift.


Inspired by the contours of the Tetons, our Fair Trade-Certified Contour Dress is the perfect fusion of style and performance. Flattering back lines with bias lay and above-knee length. 60% cotton/ 40% poly. Classic fit.


The focus is very much on Batman in the final trailer for Zack Snyder's "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" with Ben Affleck's veteran Caped Crusader taking much of the screen time.
There's a bunch of new footage on offer, including stuff you wouldn't expect from the rock soundtrack to some canoodling in a full bathtub. Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman finally gets some dialogue, and there's one hell of a final shot.
Check that all out below along with the stellar new IMAX poster.


NTEN's New Homepage: Share Your First Impressions!
After months of thoughtful reflection, accompanied by much weeping and gnashing of teeth, we are close to finalizing the design of the new NTEN homepage. Our web design experts from Cornershop Creative have put together a page that we hope will fulfill the intended goals of the redesign: to create a more dynamic, easy to navigate website that will help to support our active community of nonprofit professionals to connect, learn, and change the world.
Now it's time to turn it over to our trusted community of people like you to see if our website redesign mockup actually achieves our intended goals in the wild. Will you help us out by participating in this quick first impression test?
To participate, click on this link: http://bit.ly/NTENwebsiteUX1.
The entire test should only take about 5-10 minutes to complete, and your valuable participation will help us to refine the design going forward. This will provide us with an opportunity to see whether users are able to quickly find elements and perform tasks that we have prioritized. To help administer this test, we are using using a tool called Chalkmark from Optimal Workshop.
Thanks in advance for your participation to help us improve NTEN's website!


The number of mortgage loans given to first-time buyers this October was the highest since November 2007, new data from the Council of Mortgage lenders has revealed.
The loans added up to £3.7bn which represented an increase of 16% compared to the previous month and an increase of 48% on the same month last year.
Lending for home-owner house purchase also increased in October, up 17% compared to September and up 24% on October last year.
In total, 60,800 loans were advanced in October with a total in value of £9.7bn.
The represented an increase of 17% on September this year and a year-on-year monthly increase of 33% making it the second highest monthly lending amount for home-owner house purchase since November 2007.
Loans advanced to home movers for house purchase was 33,900 in October, up 19% on September and up by 16% compared to October 2012.
Home mover loans totalled £5.9bn in October, representing a 16% rise on September and a 23% increase compared to October last year.
Home-owner remortgage activity declined in October with a total of 28,300 remortgage loans. This was down 12% compared to September and a 3% fall compared to October last year.
These loans totalled £4.2bn in value, a decrease of 11% on September but up 14% compared to October 2012.
Paul Smee, director general of the CML, said: "After years of a relatively flat mortgage market, 2013 has shown signs of lending turning a corner and looks set to finish the year strongly.
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text:
Abortion Comes To Ireland…
Morals, Abortion 79 Comments
The Government has finalised the text of the landmark abortion legislation.
The final legislation is not changed substantially from the earlier draft but the wording does:
increase the number of hospitals where abortions can be carried out;
alter what psychiatrists will be involved in assessments of suicidal pregnant women;
narrow the definition of the criminal offence of carrying out an illegal abortion;
allows the revoking of the licence of hospitals not following the guidelines. Read more…
Who would have believed it? An Irish Government passing legislation to butcher unborn babies in their mothers' wombs – legislation that is even worse than the abortion law in the UK, and that's saying something.
Enda Kenny defends his unconscionable promotion of this evil law by arguing that he is a "Catholic not a Catholic Taoiseach". It will be interesting to see how that particular novel interpretation of Canon Law is received on Judgment Day.
In the meantime, we expect Mr Kenny's Parish Priest to enforce Canon 915 – assuming that Kenny has the temerity to keep up the appearance of being a Catholic by attending Mass in his local parish. Apparently, he's been receiving 100 letters a day objecting to the abortion legislation but will these same pro-lifers write letters to Kenny's parish priest and bishop demanding the enforcement of Canon Law because Kenny is a very public sinner and so, in fidelity to Canon 915, he must not be allowed to receive Holy Communion?
And so say all of us?
One of the signatories on our petition has written the following about Fr Tony Flannery of the infamous Association of (Anything But) Catholic Priests:
Fr. Tony Flannery is being very vocal on twitter mocking any Irish Bishops who contest legalization of abortion. https://twitter.com/FlanneryTony .
I certainly wouldn't like anyone to think that the Irish pro-life movement is by any means in defeatist mood. If anything I have posted here gives that impression then I need to seriously watch my language. What I'm sure all of us here understand by the term pro-lifers are those people who actually get out and do something, whether taking part in public prayer Vigils and processions, praying outside abortion referrals centres, contacting their public representatives, distributing prolife literature, collecting signatures, , attending pro-life rallies, putting up anti-abortion posters that in many instances are taken down within a day, and in the process are sometimes labelled extremist, fundamentalist, or nutters by family, friends, work colleagues, politicians, media, and clergy, or even have imbecile strangers shouting obscenities at them in the street. The same remarks could just as easily apply to anyone who stands up for the institution of marriage, or any other ordinance of God's law. I'm sure the Catholic Truth team who prayed at a parade celebrating sexual perversion in Glasgow last summer understand what I mean.
I'm not too inclined to describe as "pro-lifers" those who stand and watch from afar in silent apathy, or hurry by on the other side of the road. To mind my, the vast majority of those in the prolife movement are following, consciously or not, the admonition of Saint James' epistle that "faith without works is dead". To be a pro-lifer in this age of global demonic influence is more and more to be a "sign of contradiction."
On the issue of defeatism, I have out of frustration, referred to too much apathy amongst Irish Catholics who aren't helping in the prolife movement. That mightn't have been the brightest thing to say at this point in time.
I've also posted earlier that "at this stage it has to be said that the prospects of winning the political battle appear to be diminishing" and that "the Irish people have been engulfed in a tsunami of sheer lies, deception and corruption of language on the part of politicians and the abortion lobby"- June 16 3.11pm. That unfortunately is the grim reality at the moment. I'm mindful of comparisons with what has happened in Westminister and France recently in relation to so-called same sex "marriage".
Please bear with me, as I try give a brief explanation of why the political battle against this legislation is so difficult a struggle.
Enda Kenny and his Fine Gael party gave a pre-election commitment not to legislate for abortion, which quickly became worthless. And no, political promises on taxes or spending are not comparable. The Government's intentions have been obvious for two years.
http://europeanlifenetwork.blogspot.ie/2011/07/irelands-crisis-pregnancy-agency.html
Kenny's politburo appointed an advisory "expert" committee, which conveniently contained a number of abortionists, in order to give a veneer to plans. The government have continuously referred to a flawed Supreme Court judgment and deceitfully claimed compulsion on account of a ruling from Europe which does not oblige abortion legislation.
Earlier this year, a parliamentary hearing of expert testimony from the doctors, psychiatrists and other interested parties which was almost certainly intended to give the government cover, blew up in their faces, spectacularly. Despite the fact the several prolife doctors were prevented from giving evidence, the medical and psychiatric expert evidence destroyed the government's so-called "justifications" for the taking of innocent life. The findings of the hearings were hastily buried from public view.
The parliamentary Health Committee's hearing on the published legislation has been described by one parliamentarian as the greatest sham".
At this point in time, we have a government with a large majority, the major party of which has broken its prolife promise to the electorate, a government intending to impose a party whip on legislation to permit the killing of the unborn up to birth. These twisted creatures have told us that medical aid will be children who have survived being aborted, which only goes to show that they are obviously either ignorant, or feigning ignorance of the unspeakable methods used in late term abortions.
This legislation was never a vote getter. The abortionists struggle to get a turnout of 200-300 for a demonstration. I could go on and on about lies and deception and the contempt being shown by Irish parliamentarians for democracy. I get the impression that the cabinet ministers driving this satanic agenda would sooner see their families sold into bondage than relinquish this legislation. As I've said before the whole thing is very dark and strange. As things stand, at this stage a climb down or defeat would be a major political embarrassment for Kenny.
And of course the prolife voice finds it very difficult to be heard in the public square. Anything approaching a vague pretence of giving a fair hearing to those protecting the unborn has been well and truly ditched. The state broadcaster has long since been infiltrated by Marxist idealogues. The paid hacks of the secular, viciously anti-Catholic press are more than happy to give plenty of backup.
If anyone wants reassurance that the Irish prolife movement is not defeatist and will never fail to stand between the unborn and the bloody hands of abortionists and the political minions of lucifer then go the website of the organization that has done more than anyone else to keep abortion from these shores:
http://www.thelifeinstitute.net/
I don't think it is a concession of defeat to be aware of the forces at the command of the "spirits of wickedness in the high places" (Ephesians 6:12).I mentioned Lepanto and the Siege of Vienna in a previous post. The odds mightn't have been promising there either, but Don John of Austria and Jan Sobieski prevailed nevertheless.
There are plenty of Rosaries being said in Ireland right now. Who knows, it might even be something of a rediscovery.
I'm sure Our Lady has got some surprises in store for Enda Kenny and his crew of antichrists. For their sake, and the sake of the whole of Ireland I hope those surprises come in the next few weeks.
pius x
Leo,
What is Fianna Fail's attitude to abortion? Also, what does President Higgins think of it- Although that's a daft question as he's a Labour man. What about Mary McAleese, the devout 'Catholic' who supported homosexuality and women priestesses. The last true Catholic leader Ireland had was probably De Valera. What was Padraig Hillery or Charles Haughey like regarding church doctrine?
The Fianna Fail grassroots activists have expressed strong opposition to abortion. However, the party leader, Micheal Martin appears, like Enda Kenny, to be a deeply troubled man. He has expressed support for the bill and described it as "consistent with a pro-life position"!
Some of his front bench colleagues have objected in no uncertain terms, and ensured that at least in that party, there will be a free vote. What should of course be happening is that the party vigorously oppose the legislation in parliament. In that way they might regain some sort of self-respect.
To describe De Valera as the last truly Catholic leader in Ireland would be a disservice to Liam Cosgrave, who in 1974 opposed his own Fine Gael led government's legislation to permit married couples to obtain contraception.
"I don't think anyone (certainly not most people) can claim invincible ignorance in this day and age, with information on everything only a computer click away. It is relativism surely, not invincible ignorance, that leads to nihilism and the inability to distinguish right from wrong. Catholics, generally speaking, are not hearing the truth about Faith and Morals from the "relativized" clergy who, for one reason or another, refrain from saying anything "controversial" in their chatty, non-challenging homilies." – June 18 10.35am
I agree completely with what you said above.
Certainly, there are very good priests who preach the Church's teaching on abortion very clearly. They deserve the support of all of us. Sadly the situation in Ireland is very mixed. Some parish priests haven't allowed pro-life flyers to be distributed on Church grounds, using "politics" as an excuse. Hardly a good reason on such an extremely grave matter, but I think some priests are uneasy about going out on a limb when named political parties are involved, while no doubt there are some who are worried about lay busybodies. Other priests who clearly understand the priority of Divine law have no such qualms.
I've been told of one parish where the priest, having allowed the distribution of pro-life literature after Mass, proceeded, in his sermon to speak against the "two extremes" i.e. abortionists and pro-lifers who use the graphic photographs.
I know one activist who was virtually chased off a public footpath outside a Church and who on another occasion was told off by a lay reader who proclaimed herself "pro-choice". On another occasion someone was berated by a female extraordinary minister of Holy Communion for handing out flyers after Mass.
That's just a little sample of what I fear goes on in a lot of places. So where exactly are all the much-heralded fruits of last year's Eucharistic Congress in Dublin?
It all goes back to self- destructing novus ordoism. I don't think that it is any coincidence that Catholics who attend the Tridentine Mass are active in the pro-life apostolate out of all proportion to their numbers.
Of course, like so much that we discuss here, the problem goes back to a lack of a lead from the Bishops. I have given favourable mention to Bishop Eamon Martin of Armagh and Bishop Seamus Freeman of Ossory before. We need a lot more examples of leadership. People will definitely respond to such leadership.
With all due respect, the recent statement by the Irish bishops isn't satisfactory to my eyes. It contains some words that are undoubtedly true but the overall tenor struck me as being one of compromise, with an emphasis on man not God. Most of it could have been written by a secularist. There was no talk of offending Divine law, or the loss of souls. It gives the impression of desperately trying to avoid offending anybody. We had the old Vatican II reliable of liberty of conscience as a "fundamental human right". There was nothing that even remotely resembled Pope Leo XIII's words in Immortale Dei:
"…All public power must proceed from God. For God alone is the true and supreme Lord of the world. Everything without exception must be subject to Him, and must serve Him, so that whosoever holds the right to govern, holds if from one sole and single source, namely, God, the Sovereign Ruler of all. 'There is no power but from God.' (Romans 13:1)"
Or in Libertas Praestantissimum:
"The binding force of human laws is in this, that they are to be regarded as applications of the eternal law, as in the principle of all law…where a law is enacted contrary to reason, or to the eternal law, or to some ordinance of God, obedience in unlawful, lest while obeying man we become disobedient to God."
It would have been absolutely unthinkable not so long ago, but who can say with certainty that in the not too distant future Ireland will not be faced the prospect of some sort of "National Patriotic", Erastian Church.
At this point in time, Ireland like everywhere else needs bishops of the calibre of Saints Thomas Beckett or Saint John Fisher, or in more recent times, Cardinal Joszef Mindszenty of Hungary. The opposition nowadays is taking on an equally dangerous, if subtler, appearance to the Church's persecutors in those earlier times of trial.
How is Liam Cosgrave doing nowadays?
Shocking, Leo, that any priest would use "politics" as an excuse not to push the pro-life message. And it is an excuse. Have they any idea of what happens in an abortion? I think these priests – like those who have "no problem with gays teaching in Catholic schools, even if they happen to have a partner" (Cardinal O'Brien) may well have a problem of a sexual nature in their own lives.
The police here are showing graphic pictures of car crashes, in an effort to cut down on drink driving. They are delighted that the graphic images are making a big difference.
Abort67 have proved that the same is true of showing graphic images of abortion. Every priest in Ireland and every bishop, should be sent such graphic images. Without delay.
I'm just popping in, in between appointments right now, but I have to say that I've just checked the petition and the names that are NOT there – including people I've emailed personally to alert to the petition – just amazes me.
Can anyone explain to me why any allegedly orthodox Catholic would NOT want to sign a petition seeking the application of Canon Law 915, given the fact that the majority of Catholic MPS and MSPs have voted FOR anti-God legislation, whether it be abortion or same-sex marriage (and the same will undoubtedly be true when the time comes to vote for euthanasia) ?
Why? If it's because the petition has been posted by Catholic Truth and they hate us for whatever reason (as I know some do, whether in our address book or not) then they need to question themselves closely. For one thing, the request for a petition didn't come from any of the Catholic Truth team, but from a woman in a Scottish diocese who has been trying, unsuccessfully, to get her PP to apply Canon Law to HER MP who attends Mass in her parish and receives Holy Communion despite having just voted for same-sex marriage.
So, signing the petition is not showing support for Catholic Truth, any more than the lady who asked us to launch a petition necessarily supports Catholic Truth. Those of you who hate us should understand that by signing the petition you are showing your concern that Our Lord is not offended by the scandal of manifest sinners, with the approval of their priest and bishop, being allowed to "eat and drink unworthily" to quote the Scriptural warning.
Don't let your hatred of Catholic Truth prevent you from making a difference by helping to end this scandal. There are already some signatures up there from people whom I know do not fully (at least) support our work. I admire their dispassionate concern to end the abuse of the Blessed Sacrament caused by the refusal of priests to apply Canon Law # 915.
Thanks to those who have signed the petition so far – we're approaching the 200 mark which is good enough at this stage. Keep spreading the word, though – we do want to reach our goal of 1,000 signatures as soon as possible.
A reader in England has asked me to post the following link on this thread
http://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2013/06/the-abortion-issue-jo-osullivan/
I read a reference to this article somewhere else although I haven't brought myself to read it yet.
What more is there to say about the ACP at this stage except that this is reason number 735 or thereabouts for long overdue measures of a terminating nature.
Agreed Leo. And the fact that the Irish bishops are tolerating the ACP AND refusing to apply Canon 915 to those who vote for abortion underlines the dire state of play in Ireland.
And here's a hint of things to come. This case is about a young man who is imprisoned for opposing same-sex marriage, dress it up as you will, and it's on the way here, as well. It starts with divorce and goes downhill from there on in, abortion being a "must-have" … Note: the linked article is in French but you can translate – there is a drop down menu at the top of the page, almost centre, where you may select English.
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text:
import sys
import logging
import logging.config

import yaml

logger = logging.getLogger("saltbot.config")

class ConfigParser:
    def load(self):
        if len(sys.argv) == 1:
            cfile = "saltbot.yml"
        elif len(sys.argv) == 2:
            cfile = sys.argv[1]
        else:
            raise ValueError("Usage: {} [config.yml]".format(sys.argv[0]))
        self.cfg = yaml.safe_load(open(cfile).read())
        self.check_config()
        self.configure_logging()
        return self.cfg

    def check_config(self):
        for sec in ['web', 'database', 'irc', 'logs', 'github', 'commands',
                    'repos']:
            if sec not in self.cfg:
                raise ValueError("Missing {} section in config".format(sec))
        self.check_web_config()
        self.check_db_config()
        self.check_irc_config()
        self.check_github_config()
        self.check_commands_config()
        self.check_repos_config()

    def check_web_config(self):
        web = self.cfg['web']
        if 'url' not in web:
            raise ValueError("Must specify web.url in config")
        if web['url'][-1] == "/":
            self.cfg['web']['url'] = web['url'][:-1]
        if 'per_page' not in web:
            self.cfg['web']['per_page'] = 20
        try:
            self.cfg['web']['per_page'] = int(web['per_page'])
        except ValueError:
            raise ValueError("web.per_page must be an integer")

        if not (
                ('socket' in web and 'mode' in web) or
                ('host' in web and 'port' in web)):
            raise ValueError("Missing socket/mode or host/port in config")

    def check_db_config(self):
        db = self.cfg['database']
        engine = db.get('engine', None)
        if engine == "sqlite":
            if 'file' not in db:
                raise ValueError("Missing database.file in config")
        elif engine == "postgresql":
            if 'database' not in db:
                raise ValueError("Missing database.database in config")
        else:
            raise ValueError("Unsupported database.engine in config")

    def check_irc_config(self):
        irc = self.cfg['irc']
        for setting in 'server', 'port', 'channel', 'nick':
            if setting not in irc:
                raise ValueError("Missing required irc.{} in config"
                                 .format(setting))
            if 'owners' not in irc:
                self.cfg['irc']['owners'] = []
                logger.warn("No IRC owners specified, commands cannot be run")
            if 'password' not in irc:
                self.cfg['irc']['password'] = None
                logger.warn("No IRC password specified, will not identify")

    def check_github_config(self):
        if 'secret' not in self.cfg['github']:
            raise ValueError("Missing required github.secret setting")

    def check_commands_config(self):
        cmds = self.cfg['commands']
        if 'ship' not in cmds:
            raise ValueError("Missing commands.ship")
        ship = cmds['ship']
        if 'it' not in ship:
            raise ValueError("Missing commands.ship.it")
        if 'target' not in ship:
            raise ValueError("Missing commands.ship.target")
        if 'expr_form' not in ship:
            self.cfg['commands']['ship']['expr_form'] = 'glob'

    def check_repos_config(self):
        repos = self.cfg['repos']
        for repo in repos:
            for branch in repos[repo]:
                if 'target' not in repos[repo][branch]:
                    raise ValueError("No target specified for repos.{}.{}"
                                     .format(repo, branch))

    def configure_logging(self):
        logging.config.dictConfig(self.cfg['logs'])


text:
SSSIHL
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In the past few years, the research output has grown manifold. SSSIHL has over 100 Doctoral Research Scholars and faculty members pursuing a Ph.D. Our students and faculty continue to have access to the best possible infrastructure and facilities, thanks to the continued support of the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust. In the past five academic years, its investment of over ₹50 crores has resulted in excellent academic infrastructure, buildings, laboratories and world-class research facilities in the Central Research Instruments Facility (CRIF) and the Central Research Laboratory (CRL). Many of our application-oriented research projects have been of such high quality and value that we have filed for patents in order to protect our intellectual property, on the one hand, and, on the other, chased the 'Affordable Innovation' concept that may lead to the creation of an 'Innovation platform' within SSSIHL. It is envisioned that this platform will create an ecosystem for startups that will take the benefits of research at SSSIHL to the society.
The results of these are visible. Research funding from agencies like DST, DBT, CSR, ICMR, and the Tata Foundation Trust has led to the successful clinical validation of the first prototype of a portable, cost-effective and high-resolution Gamma Camera system – SAI-GC – for small organ imaging, including that of non-invasive cancer. Other areas of research such as Disease Biology, Environmental Studies, Functional Materials and Composites, Nanomaterials, Point-of-Care Devices, Edible or Medicinally Active Natural Products, etc., are showing similar promising results. Most importantly, almost all our research applications are intended to directly benefit those who belong to the lowest strata of society in diverse ways.
A strong research environment, combined with exceptional academic practices that are in place at SSSIHL, has resulted in the growth of national and international collaborations. For instance, the Department of Chemistry has undertaken a series of collaborative projects in emerging areas of research with Labby Inc, USA, SKAN Research Lab Pvt. Ltd., Puducherry, Devic Earth Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore, Twastrix, Pune, Dr. Reddy's Institute of Life Sciences, Hyderabad; and the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science is involved in pursuing joint research with Proventeq India Pvt. Ltd., Pune, Thinkcube Innovations Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore, Grey Scientific Labs, Visakhapatnam, Code Tantra Tech solutions Pvt. Ltd, Hyderabad and United Care Development Services, Hyderabad in contemporary research areas of mutual interest.
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Last time we discussed the problem of nQueens and the general logic used to create our algorithm. We are now going to take that solution and implement it in code.
Before we were talking, human to human. We do this a lot, so it's much easier to get ideas across. Now we will be talking human to computer, which is a bit more difficult, they lack the ability to deal with ambiguity. Which means we need to be more precise, and explicit; both in speech and thought.
Lets take a look at our current logic, though for the sack of less drawing, we are moving from a board of 5×5, to a board of 4×4. Lets review our logic so far.
Pick an available number from the column array, and pick one from the row array.
If you get a (o) when you check the major and minor arrays, you are good to go. Place a queen at that chosen spot. Then remove the chosen numbers from their respective column and row arrays. Then mark major and minor arrays as taken (x) at the spots you checked. Section 1 has a more detailed walk-through of this.
Let's see how this looks on a 4×4 board.
Step 1: Our empty board, all choices are available.
Step 2: We chose 0,0 as it was the first available spot, no conflicts. We took 0 out of both the Row and Column arrays. We also marked the spots taken in the Major and Minor arrays.
Step 3: You'll see that the first thing we tried, was to place a queen at [1,1]. This was because the numbers were available to us, so we tried it. We then did a lookup in the Major and Minor array, and found there was a conflict with the Minor array, so we moved onto the [1,2] where we placed our second queen.
You'll note that we no longer have a valid board. There is only 1 available slot and we need to place 2 more queens to have a valid solution. What do we do now?
As a person I'm sure you would say,"Ummm, I guess we try some different spots?" You, person, are totally right. We try some different spots. But how would we tell a computer this? Also since computers are fast at this kind of problem, how do we tell it to try EVERY possible spot, then tell us which ones work.
Lets try some plain language logic for this. We have a good starting point, Step 1, an empty board. With a bit of trial and error, it turns out that for a 4×4 board, there is no solution that involves starting a piece at [0,0]. That means we should step back to the empty board, and try the next possible spot, [0,1] and go through again.
Above, you can see our logic laid out in a branching fashion. For this first iteration I've laid each choice to match it's row:column value. Diagrams laid out like, because of the branching, are often called trees. Get it? Branches, trees. Yeah, you get it. If we were to fill the above diagram out fully, the [0,0] circle would have one more child node, [1,3]. [1,3] would have no valid children.
I've changed the positioning a bit, to reflect a more typical tree data structure. The [1,3] choice is also shown. Clearly [0,0] is a dud, we must move onto [0,1].
After choosing [0,1], our first 2 child options end up having diagonal conflicts. The third one, however, was just right. Each successive choice in our algorithm also proves to be valid, and we now have one functioning board that satisfies the nQueens requirements. Awesome!
Any time you see data branching, as we did in the above node diagram, that problem is a good candidate for recursion. If are comfortable with recursion, then hopefully this post was useful to you by visualizing the flow of data. If you do not know what recursion is, you should google around for resources on it. But before you do, be confident knowing that what we walked through in this post and the previous one, was recursive. If you understood what we've said, you can grasp recursion just fine.
That's all well and good, but what about some code?
Here is my decently commented solution. I solve it using 'recursion with side-effects.' Which just means that there are a few variables that each recursive call can all see, and they can all modify.
My November 1 Game a Month is wrapped up. I feel this one is my best yet.
The main takeaway for future games is to design a tighter experience with snappier controls. Don't let the time between physics steps ruin your ideas. And lastly, the more fleshed out your world looks, the more the players expect of it.
The 2 animations I submitted to the Animation Mentor 2014 showcase made it in. I'm pretty proud. The entire showreel looks great, and it feels good to be in there.
I began the one game a month excursion last month (October.) I made 2 games that month, one was for a game jam, the game was titled Arc. We are hoping to polish this game up some more. That game went really well and is fun.
After getting the initial system working with spheres, I found that it was indeed a neat simulation and if you let it go their population will boom and bust. But the ease at which the player could cull the population lacked challenge or thought.


text:
Q: view hexbin as data.frame with counts in a column Is there anyway to view the hexbins as a data.frame?
dat = data.frame(x = rnorm(10000), y = rnorm(10000))
hbin <- hexbin::hexbin(dat$x, dat$y, xbins = 40)
as.data.frame(hbin)

Error in as.data.frame.default(hbin) :
    cannot coerce class 'structure("hexbin", package = "hexbin")' to a data.frame

A: hexbin objects are S4 data (here is a great resource about manipulating S4 in R by Hadley Wickham), so if you see:
require(hexbin)
dat <- data.frame(x = rnorm(10000), y = rnorm(10000))
hbin <- hexbin::hexbin(dat$x, dat$y, xbins = 40)
str(hbin)

#> Formal class 'hexbin' [package "hexbin"] with 16 slots
#>   ..@ cell  : int [1:1003] 19 96 110 133 148 149 179 180 181 182 ...
#>   ..@ count : int [1:1003] 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...
#>   ..@ xcm   : num [1:1003] -0.335 -1.267 1.246 -1.771 0.841 ...
#>   ..@ ycm   : num [1:1003] -3.75 -3.49 -3.39 -3.28 -3.28 ...
#>   ..@ xbins : num 40
#>   ..@ shape : num 1
#>   ..@ xbnds : num [1:2] -3.55 3.69
#>   ..@ ybnds : num [1:2] -3.75 3.28
#>   ..@ dimen : num [1:2] 48 41
#>   ..@ n     : int 10000
#>   ..@ ncells: int 1003
#>   ..@ call  : language hexbin::hexbin(x = dat$x, y = dat$y, xbins = 40)
#>   ..@ xlab  : chr "dat$x"
#>   ..@ ylab  : chr "dat$y"
#>   ..@ cID   : NULL
#>   ..@ cAtt  : int(0)

Then, you can subset parts of hbin with the @ operation. For example, if you wanted to include hbin.xcm and hbin.ycm in a data frame (both vectors with 10003 elements long).
df <- data.frame(xcm = hbin@xcm, ycm = hbin@ycm)
head(df)

#>           xcm       ycm
#> 1 -1.15641677 -3.464301
#> 2 -0.67133436 -3.435775
#> 3  0.08136055 -3.422812
#> 4  0.80232574 -3.437158
#> 5 -3.06306998 -3.314999
#> 6 -1.39092669 -3.101475


CTIA has officially released the latest edition of the CTIA Wireless Industry Indices report - an in-depth analysis of the 2016 data survey results. The survey, previously conducted semi-annually, is now conducted on an annual basis. CTIA has conducted the data survey since January 1985.
With 47 tables and 41 charts, the 145-page CTIA Wireless Industry Indices report provides a comprehensive review of the survey results over time, and a detailed series of benchmarks for industry performance and productivity. The latest issue of the CTIA Wireless Industry Indices report provides special sections on prepaid and wireless data services, including the number of smartphones and other devices. Among current and historical industry trends analyzed are wireless service revenues, subscriber usage (minutes of use, messages, and megabytes), incremental capital investment, prepaid subscribership, and subscriber-to-employee ratios. CTIA's Wireless Industry Indices report provides a broad range of statistics for the wireless industry, including gross additions and disconnects. The report draws upon additional sources to include subscribership by state and household penetration.