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\section{intorduction}
\IEEEPARstart{H}yperspectral images(HSIs) contain hundreds of spectral bands which range from visible to infrared wavelengths. With abundant spectral information, HSIs are used to many common applications, such as classification \cite{camps2013advances} and object detecion\cite{stein2002anomaly}. However, due to actual hardware constraints, it is hard to obtain HSI with high-spatial and high-spectral resolution simultaneously. A feasible solution is to fuse available low-resolution HSI (LR-HSI) and the panchromatic or multispectral images (HR-MSI) over the same scene, called HSI super-resolution (HSI-SR).

There are many types of researches in related fusion problems\cite{dian2021recent} \cite{yokoya2017hyperspectral} \cite{loncan2015hyperspectral}. Generally, they can be divided into four classes: component substitution\cite{tu2001new}, multi-resolution analysis \cite{nencini2007remote}, model-based approaches\cite{dian2019nonlocal}, and learning-based approaches\cite{liu2022model}. Many approaches focus on the last two classes. For the model-based approaches, they address the HSI-SR problem by optimizing the model based on various priors and the degradation relationships consisting of matrix factorization methods \cite{liu2020truncated}, tensor-based methods \cite{xu2020hyperspectral} , and so on. For the learning-based approaches, they are data-driven and can learn the image features from the training data.

Recently, tensor-based methods have achieved significant performance in the HSI-SR problem. They have advantages preserving the spatial-spectral structure of HR-HSI. The common tensor decomposition methods are canonical polyadic decomposition \cite{kanatsoulis2018hyperspectral}, Tucker decomposition \cite{li2018fusing}, the tensor train decomposition \cite{dian2019learning} and the tensor ring decomposition \cite{chen2021hyperspectral}. However, these methods still have some weaknesses. On the one hand, some deep structural information like multiscale correlation is not considered. On the other hand, these decompositions only establish a connection between adjacent two factors, and thus are highly sensitive to the permutation of tensor modes.

In this paper, to capture the underlying structure of the HR-HSI, we propose a novel model for HSI-SR by utilizing the specific properties of high-order tensor via fully-connected tensor network decomposition (FCTN). Firstly, we unfold the LR-HSI and HR-MSI into high-order tensors which can describe the multiscale correlation of patches. Secondly, the FCTN model is proposed to fuse the LR-HSI and HR-MSI. Finally, we impose a weighted graph regularization on the spectral mode to maintain the spectral structure of the target HR-HSI. Compared to other existing approaches, the method has innovative characteristics as follows:

1) We unfold the LR-HSI and HR-MSI into high-order tensors that can describe the intrinsic information between different scales in both spatial and spectral dimensions.

2) The FCTN can make better use of the correlations between different factors and reveal the dimensional correlations more completely.

3) To maintain the spectral structure, we propose a weighted-graph regularization to constrain the model.
\section{Proposed Approach}
\subsection{High-Order Tensorization}

In this article, the target HR-HSI is denoted by $\mathcal{X}$ $\in{\mathbb{R}}$ $^{M\times N\times S}$, where $S$ represents the number of bands, ${M}$ and ${N}$ represent the number of rows and columns, respectively. Correspondingly,  $\mathcal{Y}$ $\in\mathbb{R}^{\mathit{m}\times {n}\times{S}}$ denotes the LR-HSI, which is a spatially degraded image $\mathcal{X}$ and satisfies $m=M/p$, $n=N/p$ with $p$ being the downsamping ratio. $\mathcal{Z}$ $\in \mathbb{R}^{\mathit{M}\times {N}\times{s}}$ denotes the HR-MSI, which is spectrally downsampled concerning $\mathcal{X}$, satisfying $S>s$. The goal of fusion is to estimate $\mathcal{X}$ from the observations $\mathcal{Y}$ and $\mathcal{Z}$.

Both $\mathcal{Z}$ and $\mathcal{Y}$ are the downsampled versions of $\mathcal{X}$, so they can be represented as $\mathcal{Z}_{(3)}={\mathbf R}\mathcal{X}_{(3)}$ and $\mathcal{Y}_{(3)}=\mathcal{X}_{(3)}{\mathbf P}$. Here $\mathcal{X}_{(3)}\in\mathbb{R}^{S\times{MN}}$ represents the 3-mode of tensor $\mathcal{X}$ by unfolding the tensor into a matrix along the third mode. $\mathbf{R}\in\mathbb{R}^{s\times S}$ and $\mathbf{P}\in\mathbb{R}^{MN\times mn}$ represent the spectral response function (SRF) of sensor and spatial down-sampling operator, respectively.

The high-order tensorization of $\mathcal{X}$ consists of two steps. In the first step, spatial dimensions are divided into $M=M_1\times M_2\times\cdots\times M_d$ and $N=N_1\times N_2\times\cdots\times N_d$, and then make the size ${M\times N\times S}$ changed into ${M_1\times\cdot \cdot \cdot M_d\times N_1\times\cdots{N_d}\times S}$. In the second step, we use permution operation to obtain the high-order tensor of size ${{M_1N_1}\times{M_2N_2}\times\cdot\cdot\cdot\times{M_dN_d} \times S}$ following the column-first rules. It is shown that each mode of the high-order tensor represents the patches at a different scale. For the convenience of presentation, we use $\mathcal{F}\left\{\right\}$ to represent the tensorization steps, so the high-order tensor is $\mathcal{F}\left\{\mathcal{X}\right \} \in \mathbb{R}^{M_1N_1\times M_2N_2\times\cdot\cdot\cdot\times M_dN_d\times S}$.

Analogously, $\mathcal{Y}$ $\in\mathbb{R} ^{\mathit{m}\times {n}\times{S}}$ can be represented as $\mathcal{F}\left\{\mathcal{Y}\right\}\in\mathbb{R}^{m_1n_1\times m_2n_2\times\cdot\cdot\cdot\times m_dn_d \times S}$, which is spatially downsampled $\mathcal{F}\left\{\mathcal{X}\right\}$. $\mathcal{Z}$ $\in \mathbb{R}^{\mathit{M}\times {N}\times{s}}$ can be represented as $\mathcal{F}\left\{\mathcal{Z}\right \} \in \mathbb{R}^{M_1N_1\times M_2N_2\times\cdot\cdot\cdot\times M_dN_d\times s}$, which is spectrally downsampled $\mathcal{F}\left\{\mathcal{X}\right\}$.
\subsection{FCTN Representation}
The FCTN representation aims to decompose $\mathcal{F}\left\{\mathcal{X}\right\}\in\mathbb{R}^{M_1N_1\times{M_2N_2}\times\cdots\times{S}}$ into a set of $\left(d+1\right)$-mode factor tensors $\mathcal U_t\in\mathbb{R}^{\prod_{i=1}^{t-1}r_{t,i}\times{M_tN_t}\times\prod_{j=t+1}^{d+1}r_{t,j}}$, $t\in\left\{{1,2,\cdots,d+1}\right\}$, where $r_{t,t+1}$ represents the rank between $\mathcal U_t$ {and} $\mathcal U_{t+1}$. Let $\mathcal{F}\left\{\mathcal{X}\right\}{(i_1,i_2,\cdots,i_{d+1})}$ be the $(i_1,i_2,\cdots,i_{d+1})$th element of $\mathcal{F}\left\{\mathcal{X}\right\}$. The FCTN representation is defined as follows:
\begin{equation}
\begin{array}{l}
\mathcal{F}\left\{\mathcal{X}\right\}{(i_1,i_2,\cdots,i_{d+1})}=\\
\sum_{j_{1,2}=1}^{r_{1,2}}\sum_{j_{1,3}=1}^{r_{1,3}}\cdots\sum_{j_{1, d+1}=1}^{r_{1,d+1}}\sum_{j_{2,3}=1}^{r_{2,3}}\cdots\sum_{j_{d,d+1}=1}^{r_{d, d+1}}\\\mathcal{U}_{1}\left(i_1, j_{1,2},j_{1,3},\cdots, j_{1, d+1}\right)\\\mathcal{U}_{2}\left(j_{1,2},i_2,j_{2,3}, \cdots,j_{2, d+1}\right)\cdots\\\mathcal{U}_{d+1}\left(j_{1,d+1},j_{2, d+1},\cdots,j_{d, d+1},i_{d+1}\right)
\label{rff}
\end{array}
\end{equation}
By applying the FCTN representation to the tensor $\mathcal{F}\left\{\mathcal{X}\right\}$, we obtain $\mathcal{F}\left\{\mathcal{X}\right \}=FCTN(\mathcal U_1,\mathcal U_2,\cdots,\mathcal U_{d+1})+{\varepsilon}$ where $\varepsilon$ is the error. Similarly, $\mathcal{F}\left\{\mathcal{Z}\right\}$ and $\mathcal{F}\left\{\mathcal{Y}\right\}$ can be represent as $\mathcal{F}\left\{\mathcal{Z}\right\}=FCTN(\mathcal U_1,\mathcal U_2,\cdots,\mathcal U_{d+1}\times_{d+1}\mathbf{R})+{\varepsilon}$ and $\mathcal{F}\left\{\mathcal{Y}\right\}=FCTN(\mathcal Q,\mathcal U_2,\cdots,\mathcal U_{d+1})+{\Large \varepsilon}$ where $\mathcal Q$ represents the downsampling of $\mathcal U_1$ and $\times_{d+1}$ denotes the multiplication between tensor and matrix in the ${(d+1)}$th-mode of tensor. And we can formulate the HSI-SR problem as follows:
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
\min_{\mathcal{Q},\mathcal U_{t,t=1...d+1}}\frac{1}{2}||\mathcal{F}\left \{\mathcal{Y}\right \}-FCTN(\mathcal{Q},\mathcal U_2,\cdots,\mathcal U_{d+1})||_F^2\\+\frac{\lambda}{2}||\mathcal{F}\left\{\mathcal{Z}\right \}-FCTN(\mathcal U_1,\mathcal U_2,\cdots,\mathcal U_{d+1}\times_{d+1}\mathbf{R})||_F^2
\label{formula_8}
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
where the $\mathit{\lambda}$ represents the parameter to balance of two terms and $\mathcal{||\mathcal{X}|}|_F=\left(\sum{_{i_1,i_2,i_3\cdots{i_{d+1}}}}\mathcal{X}\left(i_1,i_2,i_3\cdots{i_{d+1}}^2\right)\right)^{1/2}$ is Frobenius norm.
\subsection{Weighed-Graph Regularization}
The core tensor $\mathcal{U}_{d+1}$ is related to the spectral structure of $\mathcal{X}$. To keep the spectral structure of $\mathcal{X}$, a weighted graph regularization is imposed on the $\mathcal{U}_{d+1}$. The graph is built as $\mathcal{G}$=$(\mathbf{V},\mathbf{E},\mathbf{W})$, where $\mathbf{V}$ is the set of vertices and $\mathbf{E}$ is the set of edges standing for the bands of $\mathcal{Y}$. $\mathbf{W}$ is the set of weights in measuring the closeness of two bands and defined as follows:
\begin{equation}
\mathbf{W}{\left(i,j\right)}=\left\{\begin{array}{ll}
\exp \left(-\frac{\|\mathcal{Y}(:,:, i)-\mathcal{Y}(:,:, j)\|_{F}^{2}}{\sigma^{2}}\right), & j \in\Omega\\
0, &\text{otherwise}
\end{array}\right.
\end{equation}
where $\sigma$ controls the degree of smoothness and $\mathit{j}\in\Omega$ represents the adjacent of band $\mathit{i}$. The weighted-graph regularization can be written as follows:
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
&\frac{1}{2}\sum_{ij}\|\mathcal U_{d+1(d+1)}(i,:)-\mathcal U_{d+1(d+1)}(j,:) \|_{F}^{2}\mathbf{W}{\left(i,j\right)}\\
&=Tr(\mathcal U_{{d+1}{(d+1)}}^T\mathbf{L_S}\mathcal U_{{d+1}{(d+1)}})
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
where $\mathbf{L_S}$ is Laplacian matrix computed by $\mathbf{D-W}$, $\mathbf{D}=diag(\mathbf{I_1,I_2,...,I_S})$ and $\mathbf{I_i}={\sum_j\mathbf{W}}{\left(i,j\right)}$. By integrating the weighted-graph regularization into (\ref{formula_8}) and it can be written as follows:
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
&\min_{\mathcal Q,\mathcal U_{t,t=1...d+1}}\frac{1}{2} || \mathcal{F}\left \{ \mathcal{Y}  \right \}-FCTN(\mathcal Q,\mathcal U_2,...,\mathcal U_{d+1})||_F^2 \\
&+\frac{\lambda}{2}||\mathcal{F}\left \{ \mathcal{Z}\right\}-FCTN(\mathcal U_1,\mathcal U_2,...,\mathcal U_{d+1}\times_{d+1}\mathbf{R})||_F^2 \\
&+\frac{\beta }{2}Tr(\mathcal U_{{d+1}{(d+1)}}^T\mathbf{L_S}\mathcal U_{{d+1}{(d+1)}})+\frac{\eta}{2}\left(\sum_{t=1}^{d}||\mathcal U_t||_F^2+||\mathcal Q||_F^2\right)
\label{formula_11}
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
where ${\beta}$ and ${\eta}$ are the parameters that control the importance of the weighted-graph regularization and tensor decay regularization, respectively.
\subsection{Optimization Algorithm}
To solve (\ref{formula_11}), the alternating optimization framework can be adopted. According to the FCTN representation, if one of $\mathcal U_t, {t\in\left\{{1,2,\cdots,{d+1}}\right\}}$ does not participate in the composition of $\mathcal{F}\left\{\mathcal{Z}\right\}$, we denote it by $\mathcal O^{\neq{t}}=FCTN(\mathcal U_1,\mathcal U_2,\cdots,\mathcal U_{t-1},\mathcal U_{t+1},\cdots,\mathcal U_{d+1}\times_{d+1}\mathbf{R})$, and if $\mathcal U_t$ does not participate in the composition of $\mathcal{F}\left\{\mathcal{Y}\right\}$, we denote it by $\mathcal H^{\neq t}=FCTN(\mathcal Q,\cdots,\mathcal U_{t-1},\mathcal U_{t+1}, \cdots,\mathcal U_{d+1})$. Then, we can gain the relation as follows:
\begin{equation*}
\mathcal{F}\left\{\mathcal{Z}\right\}_{(t)}=\mathcal{U}_{t(t)}\left(\mathcal{O}^{\neq t}_{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}\right)^T
\end{equation*}
\begin{equation*}
\mathcal{F}\left\{\mathcal{Y}\right\}_{(t)}=\mathcal {U}_{t(t)}\left(\mathcal {H}^{\neq t}_{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}\right)^T
\end{equation*}
\begin{equation*}
b_{i}=\{\begin{array}{ll}2 i, & \text { if } i<t, \\
2 i-1, & \text { if } i \geq t,
\end{array} \text { and } c_{i}=\{\begin{array}{ll}2 i-1, & \text { if } i<t \\
2 i, & \text { if }i\geq t
\end{array}
\end{equation*}
Here $\mathcal{O}^{\neq{t}}_{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}$ is gained by reshaping the size of $\mathcal O^{\neq t}$ into multiplication of $\prod_{i=1,\neq{t}}^{d}M_{b_i}N_{b_i}$ and $\prod_{j=1,\neq{t}}^{d}r_{t,c_j}$. Analogously, $\mathcal{H}^{\neq t}_{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}$ have the similar definition. Then, we can optimize the proposed model by solving the following subproblems.\\
1) Solving $\mathcal{Q}$ subproblem: Optimizing with respect to $\mathcal{Q}$ can be written as
\begin{equation}
\min_{\mathcal{Q}_{(1)}}\frac{\lambda}{2}\left\|\mathcal{F}\{\mathcal{Y}\}_{(1)}-\mathcal{Q}_{(1)}(\mathcal{H}_{{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}}^{\neq 1})^T\right\|_{F}^{2}+\frac{\eta}{2}\left\|\mathcal{Q}_{(1)}\right\|_{F}^{2}
\end{equation}
the solution of above is
\begin{align}
&\mathcal{Q}_{(1)}=\left(\lambda\mathcal{F}\{\mathcal{Y}\}_{(1)}\mathcal{H}^{\neq 1}_{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}\right)\lambda\left((\mathcal{H}_{(b_{1:d};c_{1:d})}^{\neq 1})\right)^T\\
&\left(\mathcal{H}_{(b_{1:d};c_{1:d})}^{\neq{1}}+\eta{I}\right)^{-1}
\end{align}
2) Solving $\mathcal U_1$ subproblem: Optimizing with respect to $\mathcal U_1$ is written as
\begin{equation}
\min_{\mathcal{U}_{1(1)}}\frac{1}{2}\|\mathcal{F}\{\mathcal{Z}\}_{(1)}-\mathcal{U}_{1(1)}\left(\mathcal{O}_{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}^{\neq 1}\right)^{T}\|_{F}^{2}+\frac{\eta}{2}\|\mathcal{U}_{1(1)}\|_{F}^{2}
\label{lll}
\end{equation}
the solution of (\ref{lll}) is calculated by
\begin{align}
&\mathcal{U}_{1(1)}=\left(\lambda\mathcal{F}\{\mathcal{Z}\}_{(1)}\mathcal{O}^{\neq 1}_{{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}}\right)\lambda\left((\mathcal{O}_{{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}}^{\neq 1}\right)^T\\
&\left(\mathcal{O}_{{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}}^{\neq 1}+\eta{I}\right)^{-1}
\end{align}
3) Solving $\mathcal U_t$, $\mathit{t}$=2...$\mathit{d}$, subproblem: Optimizing with respect to $\mathcal U_t$, $\mathit{t}$=2...$\mathit{d}$ is written as
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
&\min_{\mathcal{U}_{t}}\frac{1}{2} \left\|\mathcal{F}\{\mathcal{Z}\}_{(t)}-\mathcal{U}_{t(t)}(\mathcal{O}_{{\left(b_{1:d}; c_{1:d}\right)}}^{\neq t})^{T}\right\|_{F}^{2}\\
&+\frac{\lambda}{2}\left\|\mathcal{F}\{\mathcal{Y}\}_{(t)}-\mathcal{U}_{t(t)}(\mathcal{H}_{{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}}^{\neq t})^{T}\right\|_{F}^{2}+\frac{\eta}{2}\left\|\mathcal{U}_{t(t)}\right\|_{F}^{2}
\label{ttt}
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
the solution of (\ref{ttt}) is calculated by:
\begin{align}
\mathcal{U}_{t(t)}=
&\left(\mathcal{F}\{\mathcal{Z}\}_{(t)}\mathcal{O}_{{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}}^{\neq t}+\lambda\mathcal{F}\{\mathcal{Y}\}_{(t)}\mathcal{H}_{{\left(b_{1:d}; c_{1:d}\right)}}^{\neq t}\right)\\
&\left(\left(\mathcal{O}_{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}^{\neq t}\right)^T\mathcal{O}_{{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}}^{\neq t}+
\lambda(\mathcal{H}_{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}^{\neq t})^T\right)\\
&\left(\left(\mathcal{H}_{{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}}^{\neq t}+\eta {I}\right)^{-1}\right)
\end{align}
4)Solving $\mathcal U_{(d+1)}$ subproblem: Optimizing with respect to $\mathcal U_{(d+1)}$ is written as
\begin{align}
\min_{\mathcal U_{d+1}}\frac{1}{2} &\left\|\mathcal{F}\{\mathcal{Z}\}_{(d+1)}-\mathbf{R} \mathcal{U}_{d+1(d+1)}(\mathcal{O}_{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}^{\neq d+1})^{T}\right\|_{F}^{2} \\
&+\frac{\lambda}{2}\left\|\mathcal{F}\{\mathcal{Y}\}_{(d+1)}-\mathcal{U}_{d+1(d+1)}(\mathcal{H}_{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}^{\neq d+1})^{T}\right\|_{F}^{2} \\
&+\frac{\beta}{2}\operatorname{Tr}\left(\mathcal{U}_{d+1(d+1)}^{T}\right)\left(\mathbf{L_{S}}\mathcal{U}_{d+1(d+1)}\right)
\label{yyy}
\end{align}
By making the gradient zero, we have the following equation:
\begin{align}
&\mathbf{R}^{T}\mathbf{R}\mathcal{U}_{{d+1}_{(d+1)}} \left(\mathcal{O}_{{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}}^{\neq d+1}\right)^T\mathcal{O}_{{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}}^{\neq d+1}+\\&\lambda\mathcal{U}_{d+1(d+1)}\left(\mathcal{H}_{{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}}^{\neq{d+1}}\right)^T\mathcal{H}_{{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}}^{\neq{d+1}}+\beta\mathbf{L_S}\mathcal{U}_{d+1(d+1)}=\\&\mathbf{R}^{T}\mathcal{F}\{\mathcal{Z}\}_{(d+1)}\mathcal{O}_{{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}}^{\neq{d+1}}+\lambda\mathcal{F}\{\mathcal{Y}\}_{(d+1)}\mathcal{H}_{{\left(b_{1:d};c_{1:d}\right)}}^{\neq d+1}
\end{align}
The equation can be solved by using conjugate gradient method.\\
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{ll}
\hline
 {\bf{Alogorithm 1}} FCTN for HSI-SR\\
\hline
1:{\bf{Input:}} HR-MSI $\mathcal{Z}$, LR-HSI $\mathcal{Y}$,
parameters $\mathit{\mu}$, $\mathit{\lambda}$, $\mathit{\beta}$, $\sigma$.\\
2:{\bf{Initialization:}}\\
{F}\{{Z}\}=FCTN(${U}_{1},{U}_{2},\dots,{U}_{d+1}\times_{d+1}\bf{R}$)\\
{F}\{{Y}\}=FCTN($Q,{U}_{2},\ldots,{ U_{d+1}}$).\\
3:Computing the weight matrix ${\bf{W}}$ by (3).\\
4:{\bf{while}} $Iteration$ $\le maxiter$ \\
5:\quad{Update} $\mathcal{Q}$ by (7).\\
6:\quad{Update} $\mathcal U_1$ by (9).\\
7:\quad\bf{for} $\mathit{t}=2:{d}$\\
8:\quad\quad{ Update} $\mathcal U_t$ by (11).\\
9:\quad{\bf{end for}} \\
10:\quad{Update} ${\mathcal U_{d+1}}$ by (13)\\
11:\quad$Iteration=Iteration$+1.\\
12:{ \bf{end while}}\\
13:{\bf{Output}}:$\mathcal{X}$ = $\mathcal{IF}$ $\left \{FCTN( U_{1}, U_{2},..., U_{d+1}) \right\}$.\\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
After getting the latent core tensors, we apply the $\mathcal{IF}\left\{\right\}$ operation to rebound the target $\mathcal{X}$, where $\mathcal{IF}\left\{\right\}$ represent the reverse reconstruction of $\mathcal{F}\left\{\right\}$. Details of the algorithm are given in Algorithm 1.
\section{Experiments}
\subsection{Data Sets}
The first data set is the Chikusei data set captured by HeadWall's Hyperspec Visible and Near-Infrared, series C(VNIR-C) imaging sensor over Chikusei in Japan. The size of the original image is 2517 × 2355 × 128 covering the spectral range from 0.363 to 1.018 $\mu$m. A sub-image with a size of 240 × 240 × 128 is cropped as the reference image.

The second data set is the SanDiego data set which generated by the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) sensor in San Diego, CA, USA. After removing low SNR bands and water absorption bands, the number of the spectral bands is 186. In the experiments, we select the top-left part of size 200 × 200 × 186 as the reference image.

The last data set is the University of Pavia which was gained by the Reflective Optics System Imaging Spectrometer (ROSIS) in Pavia, Italy. The size of the image is 610 × 340 × 115 covering the spectrums from 0.43 to 0.86 $\mu$m. It contains 103 bands after removing the water vapor absorption bands. We select a sub-image with a size of 256 × 256 × 103 for the experiments.

To generate the LR-HSI, we spatially blur the reference image by averaging 8 × 8 disjoint spatial blocks and then downsample the blurred image by a factor of 8 in two spatial directions. Considering the different wavelength range and number of bands, we use different SRFs in different data sets. In the Chikusei data set, we generate the SRF by referring to Hysure\cite{simoes2014convex} method and obtain an eight-band HR-MSI. In the SanDiego data set, we generate the HR-MSI by averaging the bands of the reference image according to the SRF of IKONOS. In the University of Pavia data set, we use an IKONOS-like SRF to generate a four-band HR-MSI. In order to simulate the real fusion as much as possible, Gaussian noise is added to all the generated LR-HSI (SNR=25dB) and HR-MSI (SNR=25dB).
\begin{figure}[htpb]
\centering
{\includegraphics[width=2in]{44444.png}}
\caption{The PSNR curve as a function of ${\mathit{Iteration}}$ in SanDiego data set.
}
\label{fig_3}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[htpb]
\centering
{\includegraphics[width=2in]{jjj.png}}
\caption{The PSNR curve as a function of $\mathit{\mu}$ and $\mathit{\lambda}$ in SanDiego data set.
}
\label{fig_2}
\end{figure}
\subsection{Setting of Parameters and Quantitative Metrics}
In this section, we investigate effect of the parameters in the proposed method on SanDiego data set. Fig.1 and Fig.2 illustrate the PSNR results of proposed method as  a function of $Iteration$ and a function of $\mathit{\lambda}$, $\mathit{\mu}$. Then, we set $\lambda$=0.1, $\mu$=120, and $Iteration$=480. In our experiment, there is a widely optimal range for the choice of orders, and ranks. For the University of Pavia data set, we set the order as 5, the dimension size to [64 × 64 × 4 × 4 × 103]. For the rank, we set $r_{1,2}$ from 36 to 40, $r_{1,3}=r_{1,4}$=3, $r_{i,5}$=2 with $i$ from 1 to 5, $r_{2,3}$=9 and set $r_{2,4}=r_{3,4}$=4. For the Chikusei data set, the order is set to 5, the dimension size is [64 × 25 × 4 × 9 × 128]. For the rank, we set $r_{1,2}$ from 36 to 40,  $r_{1,3}=r_{1,4}$=3, $r_{i,5}$=2 where $i$ from 1 to 5, $r_{2,3}$ is set to 9 and $r_{2,4}$=$r_{3,4}$=4. For the Sandiego data set, we set the order as 4, the dimension size is [64 × 25 × 25 × 186]. For the rank, we set $r_{1,2}$ from 42 to 46, $r_{1,3}=r_{1,4}$=2,  $r_{2,3}$=8, $r_{2,4}=r_{3,4}$=5.

We use four common quantitative metrics to evaluate the quality of the reconstructed image. We bring into the peak-signal-to-noise (PSNR) to evaluate the spatial recovery quality in each band. The spectral angle mapper (SAM) is used to quantify spectral information preservation. The relatively dimensionless global error in synthesis (ERGAS) shows a global quality of the recovery image. The $Q2^{N}$ can jointly quantify spectral and spatial distortions.
\begin{table}
\caption{QUALITY MEARSURE OF CHIKUSEI DATA SET}\label{TAB_2}
\centering
\begin{tabular}{c|l|l|l|l}
\hline
\hline
Algorithm& \multicolumn{1}{c|}{PSNR}& \multicolumn{1}{c|}{SAM} & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{ERGAS} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{${Q{2^N}}$} \\ \hline
FCTN      & \bf{36.38}& \bf{2.37}& \bf{1.70}&\bf{0.83}\\
CNMF      & 31.58&4.66&2.47& 0.68\\
LTMR      & 35.01& 2.9& 1.88&0.79\\
LTTR      & 30.15& 6.3& 3.47& 0.68\\
HCTR      & 34.94& 3.25 & 2.48 & 0.79\\
Hysure    & 33.58& 3.22& 1.91 & 0.77\\
NPTSR     & 32.08& 4.60& 2.59& 0.82\\
\hline
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
\begin{table}
\caption{QUALITY MEARSURE OF SANDIEGO DATA SET}
\label{TAB_3}
\centering
\begin{tabular}{c|l|l|l|l}
\hline
\hline
Algorithm & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{PSNR} & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{SAM} & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{ERGAS} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{${Q{2^N}}$} \\ \hline
FCTN      & \bf33.5& \bf2.91& \bf0.85 & \bf0.95  \\
CNMF      & 31.97& 4.72& 1.08 & 0.92  \\
LTMR      & 30.77 & 4.29& 1.20 & 0.92                    \\
LTTR      & 25.63& 7.72& 2.52  & 0.79                    \\
HCTR      & 30.52&3.18& 1.17& 0.92 \\
Hysure    & 28.99& 7.29& 2.13& 0.92                    \\
NPTSR     & 27.8& 5.7& 2.02& 0.88                    \\
\hline
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
\begin{table}
\caption{QUALITY MEARSURE OF UNIVERSITY OF PAVIA DATA SET}\label{TAB_1}
\centering
\begin{tabular}{l|l|l|l|l}
\hline
\hline
\multicolumn{1}{c|}{Algorithm} & PSNR  & SAM  & ERGAS & ${Q{2^N}}$  \\ \hline
FCTN       & 36.64& \bf4.26 & \bf1.24  & \bf0.80 \\
CNMF          & 34.41 & 5.42 & 1.52  & 0.77 \\
LTMR         & 31.49 & 8.6  & 2.56  & 0.69 \\
LTTR          & 30.15 & 6.3  & 3.47  & 0.67 \\
HCTR            & \bf36.70 & 4.45 & 1.34& 0.74 \\
Hysure        & 32.99 & 7.29 & 2.13  & 0.76 \\
NPTSR       & 32.98 & 5.99 & 1.88  & 0.79 \\
\hline
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
\subsection{Results and Visual Images}
In this section, we evaluate the performance of proposed approach by comparing with six methods. The six methods are CNMF\cite{yokoya2011coupled}, LTMR \cite{dian2019hyperspectral}, LTTR\cite{dian2019learning}, HCTR \cite{xu2020hyperspectral}, Hysure\cite{simoes2014convex}, NPTSR\cite{xu2019nonlocal}. The experiment results are shown in Tables I–III. Tables show the effects of all methods in four quantitative metrics and we marked best value as bold. Fig.\ref{fig_1} illustrates the fusion effect of the competing methods in different spectral bands. In the Chikusei, and SanDiego data sets, our proposed method achieved the best results. In the University of Pavia data set, our proposed method obtains the best results in the SAM, ERGAS, and $Q{2^N}$ quantitative metrics. The HCTR method is a relatively competitive method and gets the best effect in PSNR quantitative metric. Fig.\ref{fig_2} shows the reconstructed  images and the residual images. Observing the residual image, we can find that the error distribution is relatively smooth, proving that our method has a good performance in restoraton.
\section{Conclution}
In this paper, we propose the FCTN framework for HSI-SR. Compared to other methods, it is completely a novel method to deal with the high-order tensors. The FCTN framework showed its outstanding capability to adequately characterize the correlations between any two modes of tensors and was proved to be essentially transpositional invariable. Specifically, the FCTN framework consists of three steps. The first step is to transform the original data into high-order tensors. In the second step, we introduce the FCTN framework to solve the fusion problem of HR-MSI and LR-HSI. In the high-order tensor, some latent core tensors of HR-MSI and LR-HSI are shared. Finally, we use an alternating algorithm on FCTN framework. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method.
\begin{figure*}[htpb]
\centering
\subfloat[]{\includegraphics[width=2.2in]{777.png}}
\hfil
\subfloat[]{\includegraphics[width=2.2in]{888.png}}
\hfil
\subfloat[]{\includegraphics[width=2.2in]{999.png}}
\\
\caption{PSNR as a function of spectral band. (a) Chikusei data set. (b) SanDiego data set. (c) University of Pavia data set.}
\label{fig_1}
\end{figure*}
\begin{figure*}[!t]
\centering
{\includegraphics[width=0.9in]{1.PNG}}
\hfil
{\includegraphics[width=0.9in]{3.PNG}}
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{\includegraphics[width=0.9in]{6.PNG}}
\hfil
{\includegraphics[width=0.9in]{7.PNG}}
\hfil
{\includegraphics[width=0.9in]{8.PNG}}
\\
\subfloat[]{\includegraphics[width=0.95in]{9.PNG}}
\hfil
\subfloat[]{\includegraphics[width=0.95in]{2.PNG}}
\hfil
\subfloat[]{\includegraphics[width=0.95in]{10.PNG}}
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\subfloat[]{\includegraphics[width=0.95in]{12.PNG}}
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\subfloat[]{\includegraphics[width=0.95in]{11.PNG}}
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\subfloat[]{\includegraphics[width=0.95in]{13.PNG}}
\hfil
\subfloat[]{\includegraphics[width=0.95in]{14.PNG}}
\\
\caption{Visual quality comparison for reconstructed images of the Sandiego data set. First row: reconstruct images at band 40th. Second row: residual images between the reference and reconstruct images. (a) FCTN. (b) CNMF. (c) LTMR. (d) LTTR. (e) HCTR. (f) Hysure. (g) NPTSR.}
\end{figure*}
\bibliographystyle{IEEEtran}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
Fiber Optics Show the Sun in a Whole New Light
Emily Rector
While we consistently see the latest in astronomical observations disseminated across numerous news sites, the colossal technological leaps necessary to acquire these images often go unrecognized. While it's obvious we have come a long way from the early refracting telescopes of a few centuries ago, the capabilities provided by the integration of optical fibers are incredible, to say the least.
First used for astronomical study in the 1970's, optical fibers have significantly increased what is possible in spectrography. Scientists are now able to observe multiple objects concurrently using a single spectrograph. These fibers also provide exceedingly high resolution and greater versatility with cables that allow for separation between the observation instruments and telescope.
In fact, thanks to fiber optics, the New Jersey Institute of Technology's Big Bear Solar Observatory recently made groundbreaking advances in the observation of activity on the sun's surface. Previously, the observatory's view was somewhat limited in scope. Now, however, science and research teams can observe simultaneous occurrences like solar flares and coronal mass ejections taking place across a wide field of view. Formerly, these events would have been studied separately, a situation that made it quite difficult to understand the complex dynamics at work.
The NJIT utilizes what is known as a multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) device to record images. The device takes pictures at three different altitudes to produce a distortion free image. It also allows the observatory to receive images of the entirety of a 20,000-mile-wide sunspot. While it's taken the team over a decade to perfect the adaptive optics used, the results surely speak for themselves.
Fiberguide is a key supplier for optical fiber products such as IFU's, 2D array and custom v-groove assemblies.
Fiberguide Industries was selected to build the fiber-optic array for the GHOST (Gemini High-resolution Optical SpecTrograph) in the Gemini South telescope. The array uses cutting-edge construction techniques and Fiberguide's expertise in building high-quality, high-performance fiber optic subsystems. GHOST will provide two-object plus sky spectroscopy at full wavelength coverage from 363-950nm and resolutions from 50,000 to 75,000.
Each fiber will carry a fraction of the light coming from a stellar object to minimize losses due to atmospheric blurring. Parameters such as fiber optic pointing error and insertion loss are minimized by using proprietary Fiberguide construction techniques and the long history of Fiberguide's experience building these types of arrays for astronomy, security and data communications. The new instrument will allow for the efficient scanning of the night sky. Click here to learn more about Fiberguide's line of products.
Read more at fiberguide.com
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The funny little thing about blogging and Instagram is that you meet a lot of people online, get to peek inside of their homes and observe what inspires them but most of the time you will never get to meet them in person. Recently, I was lucky enough to meet Christina Thaisen at MK Design's annual Christmas workshop at Case Furniture in London. Founder of independent online shop Nabo, Christina has the most incredible home in London, filled with original danish designs, artwork, ceramics, lighting and textiles. Every single piece in her home is perfectly curated and functional - an ethos that spreads to the online shop that she runs.
A lot of the items in her home are actually pieces that she will sell on Nabo, so it's great news for any fans of her home and also great to see how they look in situ. I have already given all my family the link to Nabo for any Christmas presents they might want to get me because in all honesty, I love every single piece on the site.
Mette Duedahl is a Danish ceramic designer who graduated from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Design on Bornholm in 2011. Mette Duedahl originally trained as a photographer, but felt an element was lacking for her to convey aesthetics in the way she wanted. Nabo has some beautiful pieces from Mette, namely cups and plates in various colours. I am now the proud own of the eggshell bowl and mug. Prices from £20.
image courtesy of Mette Duedahl.
Meyer-Lavigne is a Danish design duo situated in the old meatpacking district in Copenhagen. Everything you will find in this shop is created by Kristine Meyer and Sabine Lavigne, and is made with our love for storytelling, humour and uniqueness. Nabo has the most beautiful little bowls in various patterns and colours. Prices from £30.
A visual artist and designer, Kristina works across art and design. She plays between light and shadow, colour, contrast, and a combination of various materials and textures. Geometric and organic shapes, patterns and tactile surfaces are some of the things that Kristina is inspired by and therefore strongly represented in her work. Her goaI is to make work that is an invitation to observe the world through shape, colour and surface.
Can you explain the concept behind Nabo and why you started it?
As most people I fell in love with the Scandinavian classics at a very young age. And I still love them. But at a point I started to think more about what made them classics. Wherever I looked design furniture stores more or less all sold the same furniture and I thought that was sad, because there're so many interesting new designers out there with great ideas, but rooted in the same principles as the classics.
As a Dane it's in my DNA to care about original design and creating homes that are meant to be lived in. My background is in design and retail so it felt natural for me to start NABO.
With NABO I aim to showcase the future heirlooms and showcase new designers and craftsmen. I want people to think more about what they bring into their homes and their life. By buying less but better products you create a home where the things you surround yourself with have meaning to you and furniture that last a lifetime. By looking towards new designers and craftsmen you get a home that is more unique and personal.
I wanted NABO to be a different take on the (Scandinavian) design shop - by supporting and promoting new talents, listen to their stories and encourage them to create so that together we shape the future of design.
How do you curate the items you have in the store?
All the products NABO has is store are rooted in the same principles; quality, function, timelessness and aesthetics. We don't shy away from being deeply rooted in the Scandinavian design tradition; where design has a function, where things are meant to be used, where a home has room for life, for having guests over and for kids to be kids.
What artists and brands are you loving right now?
I'm loving everything Matias Moellenbach creates - especially his Glass Lamp. I've been admiring Karin Blach Nielsen's ceramics for quite some time as well.
What would be the ideal pieces you would love to have in the store?
I'd love to add a range of furniture at some point, but it will be further down the line. Right now I'm focussing on sourcing original vintage furniture from Denmark on request but I'd love to stock contemporary pieces by new designers as well.
Despite having left Denmark, your home and style is still very much an extension of your Danish heritage. Do you find that hard to maintain living abroad?
No, not at all. I find that I almost live more Danishly now than I did when I lived in Copenhagen. Leaving Denmark has made me appreciate Scandinavian design and the Danish way of life much more.
I would describe my style as relaxed, boyish and classic when it comes to my home but also my wardrobe; I value craftsmanship and things that are made to last and I'm drawn towards neutral and dark colours, clean lines, natural materials.
Any blogs or Instagram accounts we should be following right now?


Michel Nicrosi is a partner in the firm's Business & Commercial Litigation Practice Group. Her practice focuses on preventive and litigation services for businesses and individuals in corporate and white collar criminal matters.
Ms. Nicrosi served as a federal prosecutor for more than 16 years. After graduating from The University of Alabama School of Law, she joined the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Ms. Nicrosi was appointed to the Department of Justice under the Attorney General's Honor Program, the Department's premier recruitment program. For several years, Ms. Nicrosi served as a trial attorney in the Southern Criminal Enforcement Section of the Tax Division, prosecuting white collar criminal cases with an emphasis on tax fraud and other financial crimes in several states throughout the country.
In 1995, Ms. Nicrosi transferred to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Alabama, where she continued to handle white collar cases involving fraud, public corruption, and cybercrime. From 1997–2001, she served as chief of the criminal division in the U.S. Attorney's Office. In this position, she was responsible for supervising criminal attorneys and managing criminal litigation for the judicial district. In 2006, Ms. Nicrosi successfully defended the former chief of staff to the governor of Alabama in the most significant public corruption trial in Alabama's history. A federal jury acquitted the former official on all charges, including RICO violations, mail and wire fraud, and obstruction of justice, after a nine-week trial.
In 2010, Ms. Nicrosi was a candidate for state attorney general in Alabama. She was the first woman to run for this position in Alabama's history. Her candidacy was endorsed by a number of major newspapers across the state.


Announcing S87 - Vikaria (US East)!
Heroes of the realm! Soon the gates of S87, Vikaria will open! Join us on the 5th of May 10:00 AM EST / 07:00 AM PST / 15:00 AM GMT / 22:00 GMT+8 so you don't miss your chance at being among the first to take their place among the champions of this new server.


text:
Jezioro Słosineckie Wielkie – przepływowe jezioro lobeliowe Pojezierza Bytowskiego, w obrębie gminy Miastko. Ogólna powierzchnia akwenu jeziora wynosi 41,5 ha. Oprócz północnego brzegu linia brzegowa charakteryzuje się gęstym zalesieniem.

Jeziora na Pojezierzu Bytowskim
Jeziora w gminie Miastko
Jeziora polodowcowe

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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With his confidently delivered debut, Jacob Hawley stakes some claim to be a voice of a generation. He's a member of that minority on the comedy circuit: a young, working-class stand-up – albeit one who kicks against some of the preconceptions and realities of his social background.
With a masters theatre degree under his belt and proud liberal sensibilities, he's quite the Billy Elliot of comedy, as he fights against the prevailing wind of ruddy-faced petty nationalism in his Brexit-backing hometown of Stevenage and turning away from the lad culture he once embraced.
That said he'll talk quite openly about his ketamine use and inappropriate drunkenness as he shares tales of his shadier mates, showing that you can never quite take the Stevenage out of the boy. And although he doesn't want the working-class to be demonised, some of the stories acknowledge that sometimes ill-informed beliefs give some fodder for criticism.
The underlying idea of breaking free from social conditioning isn't entirely new – Russell Kane's Perrier-winning breakthrough show of 2010 being a prime example – but it's a very useful vantage point from which to mock the attitudes of both sides of the class divide.
While there's a lot of concealed skill in Hawley's delivery, his relative inexperience shows through in a style that's something of a mish-mash of other comics', yet to shake some of the too-common tropes of his generation. The clunky meta moments when he ponders within an act-out how it'll go when he later tells it on stage is a prime case in point and doesn't quite suit his usual astute conversational shtick.
Equally the writing doesn't always go beyond the superficial. On the tampon tax, for example, takes the usual approach that periods aren't a luxury, but he offers little beyond the campaign slogans. The same applies to the self-analysis. When he says he's a vegan but eats dairy and shellfish, it's to express shallow contempt for the poor molluscs rather than examining his own misuse of the label 'vegan'. He's definitely better at looking outwards than inwards.
Sometimes, too, he relaxes too much into a story – allowing a lot of evocative description but leaving long gaps between the punchlines.
Yet when he nails it – such as in his stand-out description of a St George's Day party in his hometown – he demonstrates an astute social nous with a well-crafted quip. His quick disillusionment with the supposed working-class hero who challenged the London Bridge terrorists is another excellently-told tale.
Hawley is a charismatic 27-year-old with a passion and a cause, and quite some performance chops (that 2:1 masters degree is coming in handy). Once he scratches deeper, and with more focus to his attitude, he could be a force to be reckoned with.


In three years, Pretty Gritty has cultivated a unique sound allowing them to open for such acts as Joe Newberry, Tim O'Brian, Tony Trischka, Chris Eldridge, Josh Gracin, Larry the Cable Guy, and Lake Street Dive at renowned places like Music & Spirits at A. Smith Bowman Distillery, Jammin Java, 8×10, Frederick Gone Country, the Virginia State Fair, and the Charm City Folk and Bluegrass Festival.
Pretty Gritty's debut album, featuring Keller Williams, won three IMC awards in 2012. Their outstanding live performance has earned them a reputation as a must-see musical act.
Now Blaine and Sarah have returned victorious from their first National Tour and are in the studio finishing up their new EP. This third recording project was made possible by their amazing fans and supporters via Kickstarter. Do yourself a favor, come experience Soulful Americana at its best.
Singer/songwriter/guitarist Robert Richter is an energetic performer creating music that blends different genres from folk to blues to rock to Celtic played with passion and energy as solo, duo or with his band. His newly released CD titled "Thick and Thin" features all original songs and guest appearances from talented singer/songwriters Marianne Flemming and Anna-Lisa Adams.
Richter's credits include appearing on Tom May's nationally syndicated radio program "River City Folk," carried on more than 250 NPR affiliates nationwide. In addition, his music was played on the "Bob Dylan Radio Hour" heard on the Sirius Satellite Network and on KUSF-FM in San Francisco. Recently Richter was filmed performing live as part of a documentary film produced by a German television network. The documentary filmed in Gold Beach, Oregon aired on German television in 2014. He has also performed on "Live at 7," seen on Portland's NBC affiliate KGW.
"Robert Richter is a charismatic entertainer that gives his all every time he performs and is a stellar musician." Morry Feldman, WQED-FM Pittsburgh, PA.
A live CD "A Change of Heart" was released in 2013. Richter also hosts a weekly radio program "Local Roots," featuring the music of NW Artists. The show can be heard on KMUZ-FM 88.5 in Salem, OR and streaming live online at KMUZ.org every Sunday at 7 pm. A new CD titled "Late Night Radio" is set for release in the fall of 2014.
Over Alders is the new rendering of local veteran musician, Jason Henderson Amare, and newcomer-to-the-scene, Tiffany Mericle, both formerly of the award-winning band HEMA. Moving away from their rock-and-roll past, the two envisioned compositions with a balance of storytelling lyricism, musical poetry, and unexpected dynamics.
Jason has been playing the Portland music scene off and on for nearly a decade, both in bands and as a singer/songwriter. Most recently, he was front-man to the band HEMA. After attending several shows, Tiffany soon learned many of the songs and began singing harmonies while in the audience. Soon, Tiffany was asked to come on stage and sing along; she eventually became the fifth member of the band, playing keyboard and singing backup vocals. When HEMA went on an indefinite hiatus, Jason and Tiff decided to keep singing together, and the new project was born.


All you have to do is ask! If you haven't made your reservation yet, call 407-WDW-MAGIC and make sure you ask for your desired combination.
If you have already made your reservation, call with your confirmation number and request it now.
Hope you get what you want and that you have a magical time!


text:
Cubs Rumors: Team should go after Pirates' Clayton Richard
By Jake Misener
Thanks to a unique clause in his contract, Pittsburgh Pirates left-hander Clayton Richard is sitting in an exclusive 72-hour window where he is available to other clubs.
The Chicago Cubs should get in on the action.
According to Nathan Baird of JCOnline, on Tuesday, his "upward mobility" clause went into effect – thus opening a three-day window where the league's other 29 clubs can make a run at the lefty.
"If any team agrees to put Richard on a big league roster, the Pirates must either promote Richard or trade him to the interested team. If none shows interest, Richard remains at Triple A."
The 31-year-old former Chicago White Sox hurler has not appeared in the big leagues since 2013, when he pitched to a 7.00-plus earned run average as a member of the San Diego Padres in 12 games, including 11 starts.
Since then, however, he's battled to stay on the mound. He's had AC joint and thoracic outlet syndrome surgeries, but this season appears to be back on the right track.
Making 10 starts, Richard has allowed three runs or less nine times. His cumulative work in the Minors this year includes 30 strikeouts to just 14 walks, complimenting a sterling 1.89 ERA.
His best season came back in 2010, when he won a career-high 14 games with the Padres. He pitched to a 3.75 ERA, which was backed up by his near-equal 3.81 FIP.
Some may argue that 2012 was a good year for Richard, but his 4.62 FIP and league-leading 31 home runs allowed suggest otherwise. To be fair, he did post a career-best 2.55 strikeout-to-walk ratio, though.
Richard is not a game-changer, but he's another low-risk, high-reward option for the Cubs to consider.
Richard represents another low-risk, high-upside opportunity for the Chicago Cubs' front office – which has time and time again capitalized with players looking to re-establish value in recent years.
It's no secret that the North Siders desperately need to shore up the starting rotation.
Apart from Jake Arrieta and Jason Hammel, consistency has been a major concern – even from southpaw Jon Lester, who was signed this offseason to provide leadership on a young staff.
Travis Wood opened the season in the Cubs rotation, but after initially struggling, was moved to the bullpen, where he has enjoyed a decent level of success.
That leaves left-hander Tsuyoshi Wada as the team's No. 5. starter – and he missed his last start with an injury, so his future, which was far from a sure thing prior to his being sidelined, remains murky.
If Richard is healthy, which he appears to be, the asking price for the former eighth-round pick shouldn't be overwhelming. Granted, he can hit the open market after the 2015 season, but if he stumbles with Chicago, the team can cut its losses and move on this winter.
However, if he shows that his work this year with Triple-A Indianapolis is no fluke, and continues to flourish under the tutelage of Cubs pitching coach Chris Bosio, he may call a new National League Central home for years to come.
Next: Cubs, Hendricks top Mets 1-0 in series opener


text:
Australia less competitive on global stage: Shell
November 28, 2013 Newss11_admin Vicky Validakis
Shell has again flagged that the high cost of doing business in Australia is affecting the nation's competitiveness, urging the federal government to step in.
"Costs in terms of productivity, labour availability, these are clearly issues that persist — that is one of the reasons we are here," Shell's project and technology director Matthias Bichsel said.
Speaking to The Australian from the Innovation Open House conference in Canberra, Bichsel said that with a growing number of newly discovered oil and gas reserves being tapped in lower cost countries like the US and east Africa, Australia needed to address a number of issues to ensure it remained competitive on the global stage.
"We heard from a bunch of ambassadors today and one said that the cost to do a government tender here can be three times as high as the rest of the world," he said.
"That's the area where there are opportunities to simplify, take costs out and speed up the process."
Shell Australian chairman Andrew Smith said first steps by the Abbot government to remove duplications associated with the approvals process was being welcomed by the sector.
"The challenge is going to be to get it done, but we're off to a good start," he said.
Bichsel said the company was content with its Australian portfolio of projects including the Prelude floating LNG project, the Sunrise LNG project and the Chevron-operated Wheatstone project.
"With the opportunities that we see in Australia, we are very pleased with what we have," he said.
The company said it was not expecting cost-blowouts from the projects, but did not see any projects that hadn't yet received a final investment decision to come on line before 2020.
"Together with (50 per cent partner) PetroChina, we are really looking for what are the best collaboration opportunities on the downstream and upstream sides, so we can use some of the infrastructure that has been built and some of the expertise to get the best value," the company said.
"It requires a level of confidence we don't have today. We need to work harder on it."
This all but confirms earlier reports that the Arrow LNG project could be put on hold until cost structure issues are ironed out.
Earlier this year the LNG industry warned $150 billion worth of investment in Australia could be lost if the high cost of building major projects is not fixed within eighteen months.
Last week the International Energy Agency downgraded long-term Australian LNG export forecasts because of the high costs associated with projects under construction.
About seven million tonnes of LNG a year from the IEA's 2035 estimate was downgraded.
"The (cost) increases threaten to hold back plans for additional export projects, especially as there are large investment needs elsewhere in the mining and energy sector," the IEA said.
"Commitments to new resource developments in Australia have slowed markedly over the last year or so and the prospects of another round of major Australian LNG projects will depend heavily on how costs evolve, on the deployment of new, potentially less costly technologies such as floating LNG and on competition from other regions, notably North America."
The US shale boom is also expected to cause the Australian LNG market problems, with analysts suggesting Asian buyers are holding off on LNG contracts, awaiting the cheaper alternative of shale gas.
Total's director of gas and power, Philippe Sauquet, stated that the market can't agree on a price as it waits for shale, which is expected to be cheaper than LNG.
"A lot of projects today are still on the shelf because they have not succeeded in interesting long-term buyers," he told the Financial Times.
"Clearly there is a risk [they] won't get built."
High costs threaten to stall LNG plant investment
Shell's world-first floating LNG plant coming together in leaps and bounds
Explainer: what is floating liquefied natural gas?
Shell floats massive FLNG Prelude hull [Pictures]
← Decline in construction, growth in production, BREE report says Global uranium supply deficit bodes well for Wiluna project: Toro Energy →


text:
Driving For Perfection: Bugatti Centodieci
The creation of each 10 examples of the coachbuilt Bugatti Centodieci is one defined by perfection. Having undergone thousands of hours of testing of every single component, the Centodieci is meticulously assembled with millimetre precision at the Bugatti Atelier in Molsheim. But before it is delivered to its custodian, it must be given the seal of approval by the most experienced of Bugatti test drivers, Steve Jenny, who upholds a reputation for accepting nothing but the best.
Steve pays attention to the smallest detail, familiar with each intricate characteristic of every modern Bugatti. He has driven more than 350,000 kilometres in the Veyron, Chiron, Divo and Centodieci, as well as the one-of-one La Voiture Noire, and it's his job to ensure that every single one of them feels exactly like a Bugatti, free from imperfections. Each car, whether one-off or few-off like Centodieci, must follow the same demanding procedure to ensure it will adhere to extremely precise criteria that Bugatti demands before delivering a car to a customer.
Despite sharing a powertrain with the Chiron Super Sport – the iconic 8.0-litre W16 engine producing 1,600 PS – Bugatti's engineers worked extensively to perfect the Centodieci's handling to produce a unique dynamic experience that blends incomparable comfort and unrivalled performance. With only 10 cars ever set to exist, Steve's experience of driving around 800 different Bugatti vehicles is crucial in allowing him to quickly dial into how the Centodieci should feel.
Having been finished in 'EB110 Argent' paint, and with its interior meticulously hand-assembled in the Molsheim Atelier, Steve takes the utmost care to ensure its finish remains perfect. Before setting off, the body of the car as well as the seats are carefully protected by the Atelier team. The Centodieci is about to be subjected to one of the most intense pre-delivery inspections in the automotive world.
His drives through the countryside around the home of Bugatti in Molsheim normally take around five hours, covering at least 300 km on a variety of different roads and surfaces. Set routes are defined by adjusting to the season and no matter the weather conditions, allowing Steve to consistently judge the attributes of a car. Taking in twisting mountain roads, carving through the famous Route des Vins d'Alsace, fringed by vineyards, taking to the autoroute and crawling through typical Alsatian villages, the drive is designed to replicate all conditions that a customer may encounter, assessing Centodieci's character throughout.
For this coachbuilt few-off car, taking inspiration from the Bugatti EB110 Super Sport, the W16 engine is located underneath an EB110-style glass sheet, as opposed to mostly uncovered as it is in the Chiron. With the engine isolated in this way, Centodieci has a different aural signature from Chiron Super Sport and Steve must ensure it is consistent across each of these 10 cars.
During the test drive, he will check not only the personality of Centodieci but also for any almost-imperceptible discrepancies, only obvious to someone with Steve's deep knowledge of Bugatti. The amount that noise from the road and suspension is isolated from the cabin or even the subtle sounds of flexing leather and carbon fibre that change with the temperature and humidity. Each must pass the high standards required by Bugatti.
This work is taken to its extremes on the closed runway of a local airport. Centodieci accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.4 seconds to a top speed of 380 km/h. High-speed slaloms, emergency lane changes ('Handling' mode) and the emergency braking are all tested in complete safety to ensure that even at these speeds, and subjected to intense conditions, Centodieci is honed until flawless. Dynamically perfect in every way, and completely safe and stable for customers.
At points on his drive, he will also be checking the various material finishes and bespoke touches applied to each Centodieci. Bugatti developed custom shapes, parts, and workmanship processes for this car, and as with all coachbuilt models, the key elements of the interior were differentiated for the Centodieci. These include precise leather quilting in the interior, which creates a chessboard effect and is designed to look uniform and composed.
His sense of the exacting standards set by Bugatti is so acute that even if any material feels rougher than it should if the buttons, switches and handles don't feel or look as they should, he will return to the Atelier to identify, explain and correct the issues with his colleagues. Everything is measured and analyzed, delivered to extremely precise tolerances with zero room for interpretation.
Only once a long list of stringent Bugatti criteria has been fulfilled is a car deemed ready for its next stage with the Atelier team. The filter in the gearbox is changed, the final set of wheels is fitted, any imperfections are corrected or parts replaced if needed, and the car is taken on one final test drive of around 50 km, with each car having covered a minimum of 350 km before it is delivered to the customer. Then this few-off work of automotive art, a homage to 110 years of Bugatti history and the culmination of engineering and design excellence, leaves Molsheim.
Steve Jenny, Bugatti Test Driver, said: "There is no compromise in the creation of a Bugatti, especially one as rare and unique as the Centodieci. Since only 10 will ever be created, the opportunities to drive such an extraordinary car are so rare that we must redouble our attention during the final drive. Ensuring consistent perfection across each Centodieci, and every Bugatti is extremely important. If we encounter any issues we will not be swayed by deadlines or timing; the car will not be delivered until we are confident it is perfect in every single detail. It's what has come to define the Bugatti brand, and it's what our customers expect."
Just ten examples of the Bugatti Centodieci are being hand-built in the Molsheim Atelier. At a unit price of eight million Euros, it was sold out before its unveiling in 2019.
Tags: Bugatti, Bugatti Centodieci, cars, Molsheim, Steve Jenny
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other discussions (10)
An Open Letter to the Reddit Community(self)
116k points116k points116k points submitted 6 years ago * by kn0thing[A] 50 2& 3 more
After two weeks abroad, I was looking forward to returning to the U.S. this weekend, but as I got off the plane at LAX on Sunday, I wasn't sure what country I was coming back to.
President Trump's recent executive order is not only potentially unconstitutional, but deeply un-American. We are a nation of immigrants, after all. In the tech world, we often talk about a startup's "unfair advantage" that allows it to beat competitors. Welcoming immigrants and refugees has been our country's unfair advantage, and coming from an immigrant family has been mine as an entrepreneur.
As many of you know, I am the son of an undocumented immigrant from Germany and the great grandson of refugees who fled the Armenian Genocide.
A little over a century ago, a Turkish soldier decided my great grandfather was too young to kill after cutting down his parents in front of him; instead of turning the sword on the boy, the soldier sent him to an orphanage. Many Armenians, including my great grandmother, found sanctuary in Aleppo, Syria—before the two reconnected and found their way to Ellis Island. Thankfully they weren't retained, rather they found this message:
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
My great grandfather didn't speak much English, but he worked hard, and was able to get a job at Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company in Binghamton, NY. That was his family's golden door. And though he and my great grandmother had four children, all born in the U.S., immigration continued to reshape their family, generation after generation. The one son they had—my grandfather (here's his AMA)—volunteered to serve in the Second World War and married a French-Armenian immigrant. And my mother, a native of Hamburg, Germany, decided to leave her friends, family, and education behind after falling in love with my father, who was born in San Francisco.
She got a student visa, came to the U.S. and then worked as an au pair, uprooting her entire life for love in a foreign land. She overstayed her visa. She should have left, but she didn't. After she and my father married, she received a green card, which she kept for over a decade until she became a citizen. I grew up speaking German, but she insisted I focus on my English in order to be successful. She eventually got her citizenship and I'll never forget her swearing in ceremony.
If you've never seen people taking the pledge of allegiance for the first time as U.S. Citizens, it will move you: a room full of people who can really appreciate what I was lucky enough to grow up with, simply by being born in Brooklyn. It thrills me to write reference letters for enterprising founders who are looking to get visas to start their companies here, to create value and jobs for these United States.
My forebears were brave refugees who found a home in this country. I've always been proud to live in a country that said yes to these shell-shocked immigrants from a strange land, that created a path for a woman who wanted only to work hard and start a family here.
Without them, there's no me, and there's no Reddit. We are Americans. Let's not forget that we've thrived as a nation because we've been a beacon for the courageous—the tired, the poor, the tempest-tossed.
Right now, Lady Liberty's lamp is dimming, which is why it's more important than ever that we speak out and show up to support all those for whom it shines—past, present, and future. I ask you to do this however you see fit, whether it's calling your representative (this works, it's how we defeated SOPA + PIPA), marching in protest, donating to the ACLU, or voting, of course, and not just for Presidential elections.
Our platform, like our country, thrives the more people and communities we have within it. Reddit, Inc. will continue to welcome all citizens of the world to our digital community and our office.
And for all of you American redditors who are immigrants, children of immigrants, or children's children of immigrants, we invite you to share your family's story in the comments.
Roboticsammy -4 points-3 points-2 points 6 years ago
Keyword: Legal
glasgow015 0 points1 point2 points 6 years ago
Refugees are legal immigrants. People turned away this weekend were perfectly legal. I don't think we should demonize undocumented immigrants either but if you are referring to what happened this weekend or basically any story in this thread then you are talking about legal immigration.
Roboticsammy 1 point2 points3 points 6 years ago
True, but look at Sweden as an example. Refugees are coming in. Most are males in there 20's. Rapes have skyrocketed. Look at Cologne. Taking in swathes of people isn't the smartest thing to do, but it may be the most "ethical" thing to do.
Well, first of all I would actually encourage you to go to some of these places. My wife is Swedish I have spent significant amounts of time living in a largely Muslim suburb of Stockholm and a lot of what you are saying is hysteria generated by irresponsible reactionary media. The overwhelming majority of immigrants and refugees in Sweden are perfectly responsible and good citizens the rate of sexual assault is actually going down in Sweden and saw no real change in the previous 10 years which was the height of migration. Obviously we have to be responsible with who we let in and we have to help people adjust and deal with shared trauma. If you just spent 5 years watching everyone you ever know or loved being blown to pieces and mutilated you might need some level of support as well.
I mean I am an EMT so I've seen a bit of that myself, bub. But my opinion still stands about letting people in.
Edit: Also been to Europe.
Juicy_Brucesky 2 points3 points4 points 6 years ago
love how this is getting downvoted lol even though it's perfectly reasonable
Roboticsammy -1 points0 points1 point 6 years ago
I don't think I'm wrong, and I'm not an Alt Right person. Im sort of right since i definitely wouldn't like to be labelled a progressive with the current events about them unfolding.
iheartanalingus -4 points-3 points-2 points 6 years ago
Who cares if they were legal or illegal?
suhjin 6 points7 points8 points 6 years ago
''Who cares if they were legal or illegal?''
Literally every single country on earth, America under obama also deported thousands of illegals. It's about having borders not if you like them or not. Not all trespassers are bad people, but they're there illegally so it doesnt matter.
I mean I do. I'm fairly sure a lot of people do. Everyone has to go through the system. Just cause they're from a different country doesn't mean they don't have to follow the rules. If they want to be here, they gotta abide by the laws. Your judgement just gets clouded by the image of a starving washed up young child on the shores of a beach when in reality it's usually an able bodied 20 year old male coming from a country that isn't war torn.
Edit: If you (and by you I mean the people complaining about Trump's decisions) don't like what Trump is doing, maybe you guys should have voted. 50% of the U.S. voted. You made your bed, so now you gotta sleep in it.


A FATAL MIDNIGHT PLUNGE ON THE NEW YORK CENTRAL.
Albany, April 19. -- The Western express on the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, due in this city at 2 o'clock A. M., ran into a landslide at a bend in the road about midway between East Creek and St. Johnsville last night. The earth became loose last evening and slid down, covering all four tracks for a distance of 120 feet to a depth of from four to six feet. The midnight express came thundering along at the usual rate of speed. East Creek was passed on time, 11:45 o'clock, and the first indication of any trouble was the severe shock felt through the train by the engine plunging inito the mass of clay and dirt. The engine then lunged sideways, broke from her couplings, and rolled down the embankment into the swollen Mohawk River.
Seven of the eight cars were deraiiled. EDWARD KENNAR, the engineer, was instantly killed, and EUGENE WILEY, the fireman, had a leg broken. KENNAR had been employed by the road for 30 years, and was considered one of its most faithful attaches. He resided in West Albany, and leaves a widow and a daughter aged 20 years.
Utica, N. Y., April 19. -- Wrecking trains with large gangs of men were sent to the scene of the wreck near St. Johnsville as soon as possible after the accident, and by 9 A. M. track No. 3, the west-bound freight track, was clear. The fast Chicago and St. Louis express, No. 5, from New York, due in Utica at 12:30 A. M., was the first to come west, reaching here at 9:35. An east-bound engine running light, and following the wrecked train, brought the sleepers and drawing room car, with such passengers as desired to return, to Little Falls as soon as the derailed cars were placed on the track. Superintendent PRIEST subsequently took such passengers as desired to connect for New York back to the landslide, which had in the meantime been made passable for pedestrians, and they were transferred to train No. 29, coming west, which then returned to Albany. The only passenger injured was GEORGE VAN ALLEN, of Oneida, and his wounds are not serious.
Great credit is given to Conductor DOXTATER, of the wrecked train, for his successful efforts to stop express train No. 5, from the east, which was done within seven car lengths of the landslide. Engineer KENNAR'S last words were: "Boys, flag the trains."


text:
Defence hits hurdle in Lowmans gun cache case
Updated: 28 Apr 2017 - 08:10AM
Randy Shallow, left, and Freikesha Douglas are being tried in connection with the guns and ammunition. (iWN photos)
The defence in the case in which a Lowmans Bay couple is charged with possession of a number of guns and ammunition, wants the police to provide a weapons expert to testify on their behalf.
The prosecution has already called a weapons expert in the person of Sergeant Julian Cain, who examined the weapons.
The defence cross examined that expert.
The defence should have begun presenting its case at the Serious Offences Court on Wednesday.
However, defence counsel Grant Connell told the court that the defence has encountered a hurdle to get an expert from overseas because of the cost of doing so.
He told Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne-Matthias, who is presiding, that he has asked the Commissioner of Police to provide a weapons expert.
Connell further told the court that he has suggested that the police chief permit Corporal Gibson to appear on behalf of the defence or alternatively, a weapons expert who has retired from the Police Force.
Connell told the court that in light of these challenges, he was not ready proceed and asked for an adjournment.
The chief magistrate gave the defence until next Tuesday, May 2, to get its house in order.
The defence counsel further told the court that he must make it aware that the defence might seek its assistance in getting certain witnesses before the court.
iWitness News understands that Connell would also like to get to testify on behalf of the defence, one of the media workers who attended a press conference in January at which the weapons were displayed.
Lowmans Hill couple, Randy Shallow and Freikesha Douglas, are being tried for possession of three firearms, including a submachine gun (SMG), three magazines, and a number of rounds of ammunitions.
They were each charged that on Jan. 18, 2017 at Lowmans Hill, they:
had in their possession one Glock 9mm pistol without a licence;
had in their possession one .38 revolver without a licence;
had in their possession a prohibited weapon, to wit one submachine gun without a licence;
had in their possession a component of a prohibited weapon, to wit, a magazine of an AK-47;
had in their possession one round of 7.62 ammunition without a licence;
had in their possession one round of .38 ammunition without a licence;
had in their possession 42 rounds of 9mm ammunition without a licence;
and had in their possession 14 rounds of .40mm ammunition without a licence.
The Crown is alleging that police found the items at the couple's home during a Jan. 18, 2017 raid.
Connell has argued that the firearms before the court are not the ones that police displayed at a Jan. 18 press conference, and are, therefore, not the ones that police claim they recovered during the raid.
The defence has been made to present its case after the court on April 3 rejected its no case submission.


text:
5Cs in the News
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caribbeanclimate
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Home » News » Gary Allen | Climate-proofing media a priority for region
Gary Allen | Climate-proofing media a priority for region
Request for Proposals -Comprehensive Vulnerability and Needs Assessment and Feasibility Study in The Bahamas
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The following is an address from Gary Allen, president of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU), delivered at the opening ceremony of the CBU Annual General Assembly on Monday.
Tomorrow (Tuesday), the CBU's Assembly will take place under the theme:"Building Resilience to Climate Change: Business, Technology and Content Options for Caribbean Media."
This theme resonates in our land of wood and water; which is often hit by drought, floods, hurricanes and earthquakes.
The CBU expresses thanks to our partner, the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), with whom we have designed sessions in which we hope you will participate tomorrow.
The catastrophic hurricane season of September 2017 was an unwelcomed reminder of our vulnerabilities. The public interest media who are members of our Union have always recognised and shouldered our responsibility to provide life-saving information to mitigate and assist with recovery from natural and other hazards which may result in disaster.
But little attention has been paid to the media's own vulnerability to the added risks of climate change. And as we believe you will be convinced during tomorrow's session, climate-proofing our media must be a priority for the region.
I submit to you that, in the absence of indigenous media – which we as broadcasters are, committed to our peoples' interest, if we fail, the region will suffer serious consequences without us.
We only have to think back to the fact that leaders of their countries had to turn to us/broadcasters to speak to their people and keep them calm before and after catastrophic events.
When it was social to be making fun of people's adversity and confusing populations in distress, with incredulous content pulled from elsewhere in the World and labelled as being from one of our Caribbean territories in distress, with the shoe on our foot, we knew it was not funny.
We only have to recall that it was the indigenous, the credible and the reliable public interest broadcasters that were relied upon to restore credibility.
That is why we at the CBU were pleased last year to work with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the BBC in delivering broadcasting equipment to those affected in Anguilla, Dominica and the Turks and Caicos Islands in the wake of their hurricane impact – to restore reliable broadcasting.
Strengthen crucial institutions like CaribVision
Over the past year, the challenges of our industry have affected all of us who are dependent on declining broadcast and print advertising revenues. However, I must take time to note our ongoing concern for the challenges of CaribVision- the regional and Diaspora channel operated by our partially owned subsidiary company, the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
The channel continues to struggle, in spite of it having a strong contribution of regional content and being accessed in more than 30 territories in the region as well as in global Diaspora communities.
After a decade and a half of intensive efforts, it has not been able to find a viable and sustainable business model, largely we believe, because it has been treated as separate from the other regional integration institutions.
In spite of its reach and the value of the North American, the Diaspora and the regional tourism markets, Caribvision still does not get even the rounding errors in the tens of millions of US Tourism dollars spent by our governments, to woo prospective visitors to our region…choosing instead to spend heavily with foreign media, ONLY.
It is our view that together we have to strengthen our crucial institutions, if as a region we are to be stronger.
We take note that our leaders of the Caribbean Community have again recommitted themselves to a more progressive and deliberate integration movement.
We remind our leaders, represented here by none other than the current Chairman of CARICOM, PM Andrew Holness that the disconnect and the challenges between policy determination, implementation and acceptance, in the integration movement, often have to do with little or no consistent communication being in place and the lack of information on which one has a basis to make proper decisions.
CaribVision is the closest we have to a regional public service broadcaster and it deserves better support.
We daresay Prime Minister, that without a healthy, reliable and credible media environment in the region, there is insufficient information, on which our people need to base their decisions and understanding of regional business, education, disaster management, national security, justice and other imperatives for the region.
Chairman, you all know that we are at a time of tremendous change for our industry from analogue to digital terrestrial television broadcasting. Some of our members have started the process while others are struggling to start.
This will certainly be a matter discussed again in our Assembly. We again call on our regulators and policy makers to collaborate where we can in the region and to take deliberate steps to ensure that indigenous broadcasters are allowed to transition in a manner that retains their viability and competitiveness – one that allows them to enter the full range of media and communications services that the new broadcast technologies allow. Traditional broadcasters must be allowed to be licensed to use digital formats that will make them players in the Internet, cable, telephony and television services.
While that is done, we appeal for the authorities to ensure that all countries in our region take steps for the prevention of analogue television waste material being dumped on our markets and that our people are sufficiently informed and educated about the various aspects of this significant set of changes.
If you permit me, Chairman, we must also draw attention to the concern we have had in Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago with draft legislation aimed at putting necessary laws in place for Data Protection.
We will deliberate upon some of these issues in our conference, but must make it clear that (we) will not yield our editorial independence; we will not reveal sources to any source and we will not accept a law that will fine or imprison publishers for not meeting Data Protection Laws that breach the fundamentals of a free media and the right of the people to hold authorities accountable.
Credit: The Gleaner
Tags: Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU), Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), drought, EARTHQUAKES, floods, Gary Allen, Hurricanes
By caribbeanclimate in News on August 16, 2018 .
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PRESS RELEASE – (City of Belmopan, Belize; December 14, 2020.) – Seven of the fourteen CARICOM Member States which are parties to the Paris Agreement…
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Working in an industrial laboratory has empowered a De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) student to learn something new every day.
Olivia Watson, who is studying BSc Forensic Science, is picking up invaluable skills and knowledge as part of her 12-month work placement at the world-renowned BARD Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge.
The third-year student is full of praise for everything she is learning as she knows it will prepare her for her future career.
She is working within the specialist area of analytical chemistry in the Quality Department, where her day-to-day responsibilities include stability testing a wide range of pharmaceutical products using the latest analytical techniques.
Olivia, 20, said: "The placement at BARD has allowed me to get a feel for life within the pharmaceutical industry, while applying the skills and knowledge I have gained from my time at DMU so far.
"The Forensic Science course at DMU covers such a massive breadth of knowledge, so the placement at BARD has allowed me to gain more in-depth understanding and experience within the more specific area of analytical chemistry.
"I have learnt many new analytical techniques, as well as learning how to work within an industrial lab and more importantly within a team.
BARD Pharmaceuticals was founded in 1966 and is known for its work in producing and supplying a range of medicines in a variety of therapy areas, including pain and respiratory medicine, to over 40 countries worldwide.
Olivia said: "As a result of my placement, I have been able to achieve my goal of working in an industrial lab.
Olivia, who is from the Peak District, was offered the year's placement after impressing bosses during a vigorous selection process. She submitted her CV and cover letter, and then attended an assessment centre and an interview.
Olivia is looking forward to returning to DMU to complete the final year of her degree. She says she has some 'amazing memories' of her time at DMU, especially in her role as Social Secretary for DMU hockey, including winning the league with the women's first team and getting the opportunity to play in the cup final.
Work placements are offered across many courses as part of #DMUworks as many employers prefer to recruit graduates with industry experience. Placements include mandatory placements to undertake a professional qualification, or voluntary opportunities to complete a 12-month placement between a student's second and third year of study.


Politics is the practice and theory of influencing other people. More narrowly, it refers to achieving and exercising positions of governance — organised control over a human community, particularly a state. Furthermore, politics is the study or practice of the distribution of power and resources within a given community (a usually hierarchically organised population) as well as the interrelationship(s) between communities.A television show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on television, other than a commercial, channel ident, trailer, or any other segment of content not serving as attraction for viewership. It may be a single production, or more commonly, a series of related productions.


If I ask you this question, you will directly tell me that one service can access the other service with the IP address and the port number of that service.
YES! you are correct. But keep this in mind that this approach (using ip address and port number) has following limitations.
It is not practical to know the IP address and port number of each microservice as there are multiple microservices available. Assume that there are hundred of microservices available. In this case, do you think that it is practical to know the ip address and port number of each service? It is not right?
How do we overcome above problems and move forward?
The solution is "Service Registration and Discovery".
What are the implementation for the Service Registration and Discovery?
What is Eureka Server? How it works?
Eureka Server is an implementation for the "Service Registration and Discovery" pattern. Eureka Server keeps a track of registered microsevices and therefore It is known as registry of microservices (that are related to the application).
Each microservice should register with Eureka server by providing their details such as host name, ip address, port, and health indicators etc… Then the Eureka service will register each microservice with unique identifier known as serviceId. The other services can use this serviceId to access the particular service.
The Eureka server will maintain a list of registered microservices with their provided details. Eureka server expects continuos ping messages (known as heartbeats) from the registered microservices to verify they are alive (up and running). If any service fails to send the heartbeat (ping message) continuously, it will be considered as a dead service and will be removed from the registry. Therefore Eureka server will maintain only a registry of up and running microservices.
On the other hand, the microservices can register themselves as service discover clients with Eureka Server. The Eureka Server will allow the discover clients (microservices) to look up the other registered services and fetch their information. If any service needs to communicate with any other service, it can register with the Eureka server as a discover client and fetch the information of the targeted service (server address and port number etc…). In this way, microservices can communicate with each other without maintaining the IP addresses and port numbers manually.
Lets do some codings …..
The full source related to this article can be found at GitHub.
First we will set up the Eureka server. Eureka Server is just another Spring Boot Application which has the Spring Cloud Netflix Eureka in its classpath dependencies.
Therefore create a spring boot application with Eureka dependency.
This is the Eureka server application and it is a spring cloud managed service. Therefore it has the similar nature as other microservices. In microservice architecture, every microservice(spring cloud service) should be registered themselves with Eureka server to make them discoverable (through Eureka server). Since this is the Eureka server, it does not need to register. So we have disabled the registration as follows. Otherwise the Eureka server will register with itself.
On the other hand, Eureka server does not need to fetch the information of the registered services from itself (from the registry available on itself). So we have disable that feature too.
Go to the source directory of the Eureka server application and execute the folllowing command to run the application.
The application will be up and run on port 8761 as configured.
You can see that Eureka server does not have any registered services (No instances available). Lets create a sample service and register it with Eureka server.
Here we are going to create a simple application with few REST endpoints. We will register this application in the Eureka server as a Eureka Discoverable Client.
Create another spring boot application with following dependencies.
Note: here i am just adding only the selected source code. If you want to refer the full source code, please clone it from GitHub.
After creating the project, your pom.xml should contains the following dependencies.
Why the Actuator dependency is added here?
@EnableDiscoveryClient annotation has been added in the main spring boot configuration class to make the service as a Discoverable client.
Sometimes you might have noticed that @EnableEurekaClient has been used instead of @EnableDiscoveryClient annotation. Lets look at their difference.
@EnableDiscoveryClient annotation can work with any Discovery Client implementations which implements in your project ( Eureka, Consul, Zookeeper ) . You can also use @EnableEurekaClient annotation but it works only with Eureka Discovery Client implementation.
@EnableDiscoveryClient lives in spring-cloud-commons and picks the implementation on the classpath. @EnableEurekaClient lives in spring-cloud-netflix and only works for Eureka.
The service will be registered in the Eureka Server with name "student-service". The other registered services will use this name as the service-id to access this service.
This is the URL of the Eureka deployment. You have to mention location of the Eureka Server by using defaultZone property. With leaseRenewalIntervalInSeconds you can change the Registration time. Registration takes up to 30 s because that is the default client refresh time (It is recommend not to change leaseRenewalIntervalInSeconds and use the default value which is 30 sec).
The service can be up and run with following command.
Then the service will be up and run on the port 8098 of your local machine. If you look at the StudentController.java, you can find more REST endpoints. Lets check whether the service is up and running with following endpoint.
Is Application Registered in Eureka?
Now it is time to check whether the application is really registered in Eureka server. Lets open the Eureka admin panel (http://localhost:8761/) check whether it is already registered.
You can see that it is registered with name "STUDENT-SERVICE" and listed under the list of "Instances currently registered with Eureka".
"student-service" is the name provided by the spring application with property spring.application.name in application.properties.
In this article, we explored how to use the Eureka server for "Service Registration and Discovery". We have created two spring applications (services). One is for Eureka server and the other one is for representing the real application (student-service). student-service has been registered in the Eureka server a s discoverable client. This allows the other services to discover the service through Eureka server.
Wonderful article explained well and in detailed.