This was previously published on Meeting of the Minds, and is reprinted with permission.
By now, I'm sure we're all familiar with the following statistics: according to the UN, by 2050 the world population is expected to rise to almost 10 billion people, with anywhere from 66 percent to 80 percent of those people clustering in urban areas. Meanwhile, the vast majority of those cities were built around expectations, patterns of living and technologies that predate the social and environmental awareness of the 20th century, let alone the concerns and challenges particular to the 21st. Add to this mix the fact that so many of the world's major cities are located along coastal waterways subject to the ravages of extreme weather and rising sea levels, and the situation facing contemporary urban planners can appear more dire now than at any point in our history.
If our present moment presents us with a seemingly insurmountable range of challenges, however, it also offers toolkits for addressing these challenges; technologies that allow us to understand, imagine, visualize and plan the future of cities by addressing the full complexity of contemporary urban life. The city of Rennes, in the Brittany region of France, is one of a growing number of cities seeking to make the best use of 3D visualization techniques to help address the significant challenges it faces.
A vibrant, welcoming city known as much for its heritage and historic sites as for its universities and research laboratories, Rennes has long been a magnet for tourists and new residents alike. The city's thriving tech sector – Rennes is second only to Paris as a center for French digital services and telecommunications companies – has fueled a consistently robust local job market, with the result that the local population has been rising steadily since 1999, and has been the second-fastest growing metropolitan area in France since 2014.
All of this growth has been of great social and economic benefit, but it has come at a time when those charged with the wellbeing of cities are more aware than ever that we have to build, work, live, and grow more sustainably if we are going to achieve the future we want for ourselves and our families.
In 2014, at the initial stages of the surge of new businesses and residents into the area, the French government united Rennes with 42 other towns and villages in the Ille-et-Vilaine department to create a new conurbation, Rennes Metropole. This new governmental framework was established to enable planners and city managers to better organize the development required to accommodate the growing population by centralizing planning tasks and procedures, providing a framework for coordinating regional strategic goals with local tactical responses, and allowing data to be gathered from a wide range of sources and shared collaboratively with all stakeholders.
Following the establishment of Rennes Metropole, the task facing the city's urban planners shifted dramatically. Overnight, planning staff had to expand their vision to consider the needs of a population that more than doubled to reach almost 430,000 people, and to coordinate new housing, commercial, and service spaces, transit, and open space over a territory of more than 270 square miles. Further contributing to the scale of the challenges facing the Metropole, regional leaders agreed to an aggressive set of measures intended to reduce per capita energy consumption and promote resilience and sustainability at the same time that they sought to add thousands of residential units, and hundreds of thousands of square feet of commercial space to the region every year.
Recognizing that traditional tools of urban planning and management were no longer sufficient to managing the complexities of regional development across the Metropole, leadership committed to bold new solution. They would commission the creation of a full-fidelity, data rich digital model of the city; a digital twin that would mirror the physical features of the territory and capture its processes in real time to provide leaders and planners, as well as businesses and residents, with a means to come together and understand the city as it is, and work together to shape the city of the future as they want it to be.
Modeling is nothing new to the practice of urban design, any more than the careful collection and tabulation of data is anything new to the practice of civic management. What makes the Virtual Rennes project distinct is the goal of bringing these elements together into the same referential – a single source for all knowledge about the city – where previously, data would be locked into the silos of departments and distributed across a range of often incompatible formats.
The use of a full-fidelity spatial model as the base for a common referential directly addresses the fact it can be difficult for one team to understand the implications of data collected by another (one of the most common difficulties that faces any attempt to bring together a wide range of territorial data for planning and management purposes), and does so in a way that can help identify and build consensus toward the most effective actions to take. The Rennes Metropole planning team uses the 3D virtual twin to envision the potential growth of the region, based on goals and targets set by leadership, optimize the systems and networks necessary to serve that new development, plan new urban services, communicate effectively with the public, and administer construction to minimize delays and negative effects.
While the Virtual Rennes model offers an immersive quality visualization of the current state of the city, it is most valuable to the management and planning teams of the Metropole as a tool for evaluating the potential effects of future development so that these can be best adapted to the region's long-term strategic plans and to the expectations and preferences of current residents. City planners run analyses of potential future development based on the policy proposals of political leaders in a model that captures not only the physical and material conditions of the current city, but which serves as a gateway to a host of related data sets. Information about transportation infrastructure, not merely the physical details of streets, bike paths and sidewalks but also performance data about the routes, timing and capacity of bus and light rail, provides crucial detail about the accessibility of new proposals and the potential impact of development on congestion. Layers of environmental data which not only display the contours of local terrain, but also provide graphic visualizations of flood potential due to both natural landforms as well as the effects of paved and landscaped surfaces, enable planners to make informed choices about how to organize new site work to promote safe and resilient development.
Bringing together static physical data about city resources with real-time data about the usage of those resources, mapped against a 3D representation of the Metropole's terrain enables new projects to be located where they can best enhance the experience of the city without the negative social and economic consequences of stressing or overloading public facilities. Visual representations of existing transportation infrastructure linked to graphic analysis of use and capacity – traffic congestion, travel times between vehicle intersections or bus and metro stops, open seats on busses and light rail trains – enables planners to prioritize new development along efficient and underutilized transport lines, while identifying routes where congestion and high service usage makes new development less desirable. Identifying the availability of local resources such as schools, parks, and commercial spaces gives developers a view of amenities that could be attractive to potential tenants and buyers, while having access within the model to real time data about class sizes and wait lists, available recreation programs and the schedules of local sports teams, and public comments and feedback about local shops and restaurants, can help developers to more precisely calibrate their proposals to best suit the local context and the needs of potential residents.
Beyond any particular visualization, simulation, or optimization task that could be enabled through the use of a centralized 3D referential, it is the role the digital twin can play in facilitating collaboration and communication across disciplinary boundaries and professional silos that represents the most significant advance of the Virtual Rennes project. Urban planning and civic management have long relied on a process of deciding on new development without input from the larger community, announcing those decisions, and then investing copious staff time trying to defend their decisions, scrambling to incorporate community feedback, and, in some cases, adapt their work to issues and conditions they were unaware of or unprepared for prior to their announcement.
These processes worked well enough for situations where residents felt they had little recourse to having their voices heard and their concerns addressed. The advent of the internet and widespread social media have long since brought those days to an end and ushered in a new era in which city managers generally, and planners, especially, seek to engage the broader community well in advance of potential new development and engage in dialog with them not only to hear their hopes and concerns, but also to invite them into the development process as a source of expertise in their own right. Projects that begin by bringing the community onboard early, and working closely with them throughout the course of development are more likely to be successful. By making the city as a whole a stakeholder in the project, planners and managers encourage the community to become invested in seeing a project realized and to work and contribute actively to bring that about.
In an age where misinformation and misunderstanding are widespread, trust and consensus are ever more difficult to build. One significant benefit of immersive 3D visualization is its immediacy – navigating the digital twin is simple and straightforward, it requires no special training to understand and no advanced knowledge to interpret. Immersive 3D visualization combines representational conventions that are broadly shared, thanks to the ubiquity of animation techniques commonly used by contemporary computer games and movies, with the immediacy of direct visual experience of urban form to make even the most complex ideas and projects readily understandable.
The urban digital twin as a collaborative platform offers city planners, managers, and public leaders with the most potent tool we have yet developed for planning the cities of the future. In the face of almost insurmountable complexity, 3D visualization allows us to see our cities as they are now, and to navigate smoothly across data captured at a wide variety of scales, while positioning us to use that understanding as a springboard for imagining what the future of those cities could be. The digital twin, with its immersive fidelity to the physical world overlaid against a deep pool of data about urban processes, enables coordination across disciplinary and professional boundaries and builds confidence and trust between professionals and the public by bringing everyone together in a common visual language to help all parties understand the functions of the city, explore potential new urban experiences, evaluate the efficacy of proposed solutions, and plan for new the future in a way that enables us to respond to and address questions we didn't previously know to ask.
Rebecca Lyn Cooper is a strategist and consultant on the trends, challenges and business processes of the urban planning and design disciplines for the Dassault Systemes 3DEXPERIENCity team, working with clients from university researchers to elected officials to help calibrate technical tools and software products to assist in their work addressing mobility, environmental, and energy challenges in urban and city-scaled contexts.


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Do We Sometimes Seek Out Abusive and Disappointing Relationships?
In the video below, Dr. Boyce Watkins and Nomalanga Mhlauli-Moses ask whether or not many African Americans are using the wrong formula to build their relationships.(The audio on my end has an echo but is still audible).
Originally posted at Your Black World.


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Frieze Writer's Prize 2014: Call for submissions
Frieze Writer's Prize, an annual international award to discover and promote new art critics, is now open for entries. The winner will be commissioned to write a review for frieze and will be awarded 2,000 GBP.
This year, the prize will be judged by Amy Sherlock, reviews editor of frieze, Vivian Sky Rehberg, a contributing editor of frieze based in Rotterdam, and the British novelist and literary critic Ned Beauman.
–Entries must be submitted in English, but may be translated (this must be acknowledged).
–Entrants must be over 18 years of age.
–Entrants may have previously had a maximum of three pieces of writing on art published.
–The closing date for entries is 21 July, 2014
Ned Beauman is a British novelist and literary critic. His debut novel Boxer, Beetle (2010) was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and The Teleportation Accident (2012) was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize. In 2013, he was included in the Granta magazine list of 20 Best Young Writers.
Vivian Sky Rehberg is a freelance critic and contributing editor of frieze. She is also course director of the MFA programme at the Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam.
Amy Sherlock is reviews editor at frieze.
Aspiring art critics are invited to submit one unpublished review of a recent contemporary art exhibition, which should be 700 words in length.
Entries should be emailed as a word attachment to writersprize@frieze.com.
Zenith Artist in Residence program Kuwait / Hungary
The Lumen Prize Exhibition
Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten / De Ateliers: Call for ...
Filed Under: Call for Enries / Artists

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
This week Germany broke another one of its self-made principles by voting to send heavy weaponry to Ukraine. Some rejoiced, some were outraged. Take a look at the House's View to find out how all of this reflects on Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Otherwise, we bring you an exclusive leak from the Commission about what the EU has up its sleeve regarding drones, some intel about Germany's most high-profile Shyster, and how Germany's efforts on reducing energy dependency are going. We wish you a wonderful start to your weekend and happy reading!
Schröder Lost in Russification
The former Chancellor of Germany and Nord Stream's chairman of the Shareholders' Committee Gerhard Schröder has made waves in Germany and beyond with a New York Times article published late last week. In it, he expressed no regret for pursuing a policy of seeking closer trade relations with Russia, even though this policy choice has left Germany deeply reliant on Russian gas. When asked, Schröder said: "I don't do mea culpa".
Schröder was instrumental in the building of Nord Stream pipelines that now deliver gas directly from Russia to Germany, thus circumventing alternative land-based pipelines travelling through eastern Europe. While he was still Chancellor, the contracts to construct Nord Stream were signed and Nord Stream 2 was built as he chaired the Shareholders' Committee of Nord Stream.
In the interview, Schröder refused to comply with now frequent calls from within and outside of Germany to distance himself from Putin, arguing that such a move would make ending the war more difficult. He also expressed his determination to remain on all his board seats of Russian energy companies, which are deeply intertwined with the Russian state.
Now pressure is further mounting on Schröder's party the SPD to kick him out. In a recent German poll, 64% spoke out in favor of an expulsion from the party. Schröder already relinquished his honorary citizenship in Hannover to avoid being stripped of the honor and he lost his membership at soccer club Borussia Dortmund for his refusal to condemn Putin's actions. Money does seem to make the world go around…
Germany's Road to Energy Independence
Germany's traffic light coalition has been making sweeping moves to decrease their energy dependence as quickly as possible, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In the past weeks, Robert Habeck, the Minister of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), has been travelling globally to secure oil and gas alternatives, particularly in the form of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG). His stops included Brussels, Washington, the UAE and Qatar, as he tries to balance his Green party's ambition to free itself from fossil fuels with the stark reality that Germany is heavily reliant on oil and gas. He also needed to do away with the moral ambitions (common in his party) of not financially supporting questionable regimes, particularly in the Middle East. Habeck himself acknowledged, "moral purchases in the fossil fuel sector don't really exist".
In any case, Germany's new strategy is starting to bear fruits. Habeck announced on Wednesday that 35% of German gas imports now come from Russia, down from 55% in February. This news came shortly after another announcement that Germany is "very, very" close to reaching independence from Russian oil, although Habeck later clarified that it will still take some time. While independence from Russian oil now seems feasible, the reliance on Russian gas will remain until at least 2024. The German government's ambition is likely related to the latest moves from Moscow: on Wednesday, Russia stopped sending gas to Poland and Bulgaria after they refused to pay for the gas in Russian roubles (interestingly, Germany has notfaced the same consequences after refusing to pay in roubles). Habeck warned that a sudden halt of Russian gas would trigger a recession. Therefore, it appears that Germany still has a long road to travel until it achieves energy independence from Russia.
Future of Mobility: EU Looks Towards the Sky
According to the EU, (civilian) drones are the future. While it may sound a bit like science fiction, the EU is firmly convinced that drones, whether for delivery, person transport, inspections, or any other conceivable use-case, will become an integral part of life for EU citizens. Where are we getting this from? Well, this week we got our hands on a leaked 23-page report from the Commission outlining the recommendations for a "Drone Strategy 2.0." This strategy, which is a legislative package planned for Q4 2022, will set the foundation for the EU's drone economy to take off. If the EU manages to turn its "lofty" plans into reality, drones could bring in an additional 15 billion euros annually for the EU's GDP. How do they plan to do this?
The first piece to the puzzle is convincing the public that drones are friends, not foes. This means showing people the positive use-cases drones could provide, like delivering a defibrillator before an ambulance arrives, saving baby deer from being mowed over during harvesting season, or guiding firefighting effortsduring large-scale blaze. The second step is creating a regulatory environment that invites innovative companies to set up shop in Europe. One example: simplifying application and approval procedures for automated flights. Third, setting up targeted funding to support emerging companies financially. Setting up infrastructure for a functioning drone economy can be expensive, so if the Commission covers some of the costs, companies would feel more inclined to bring their businesses to Europe… if you build it, they will come. Finally, given that many theoretical concepts in unmanned aviation still need to be tried in practice: testing, testing and more testing. This industry is still relatively nascent, and the EU can capitalize on learning lessons before any other country does. So, if you're interested in unmanned aviation, feel free to ping us, and we'd be happy to share some more insights (and maybe even the report) with you.
THE HOUSE'S VIEW: Pressure, Tanks, and U-Turns: Germany's Delivery of Heavy Weaponry
The Saga
This Thursday, the German Bundestag, in a historical vote of 586 to 100, decided to send heavy weapons (anti-aircraft systems, armored vehicles) to Ukraine, and to set up provisions for sending the same type of equipment to eastern NATO allies. This vote in favor of delivering this heavy weaponry is, again, a monumental shift in German foreign policy. Even though every member of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's party in the Bundestag, the SPD, voted for the motion, until a few days ago Scholz and his party were resolute about not going that extra step. The reasoning: fears that delivering heavier weapons would be crossing a red line and bring Russia's wrath against Germany and its allies. Why did they change their mind? What does this mean for the German government? Let's dive in, shall we?
Doing Opposition Correctly
Right off the bat, let's get one thing out of the way: this positional change from the SPD to deliver heavy weaponry was not born out of moral convictions. It was pressure that made it all but impossible for the German government to decide any other way. The earliest and most outspoken pressure came from CDU/CSU (Merkel's former party) who played their role as the opposition party in the Bundestag perfectly. Friedrich Merz, the CDU's chairman and parliamentary group leader has been a bit of a firebrand in the Bundestag. He very cleverly submitted a motion for the delivery of heavy weaponry. Clever because he forced the governing coalition parties into taking a clear stance. And, at the same time (and I'm sure this isn't at all intentional…) his own and his party's political image is boosted. He opened the door for an intense debate on the topic, and many politicians, particularly from the coalition partners FDP and Greens, were more than happy to step through it.
The Coalition Pressure Cooker
Unsurprisingly, when the FDP had its national party congress last week, Ukraine was the topic du jour. With varying degrees of harshness, different high-ranking members of the party lamented Scholz and the SPD in general for not going to bat for Ukraine during this crisis. For example, the Chairwoman for the young liberals (youth arm of the FDP) Franziska Brandmann criticized how the Chancellor "doesn't dare to say the word tank," while FDP vice-chancellor Wolfgang Kubicki was "disgusted" by how SPD members were presenting themselves to the world. Party Chairman Christian Lindner then slightly softened the tone by agreeing with his party that heavy weapons are needed, but he and his party completely support the Chancellor. Even the Greens, who are traditionally a pacifist party, have abandoned their previous positions against weapons deliveries. Earlier this week, Green Party Chairman Omid Nouripour announced the traffic light coalition would present a motion in the Bundestag to deliver heavy weaponry. On that same day, SPD-Chairwoman Saskia Esken stated the complete opposite, that tank deliveries were not even up for debate. Three days later, Nouripour's words became a reality and Olaf Scholz's party was left looking foolish.
The House's View: C'mon, Mr. Scholz
Just this morning (Friday), an opinion poll showed that 45 percent of (German) respondents are unhappy with Olaf Scholz's actions in the ongoing war. And honestly, I can understand the frustration. For someone who ran an election with the genius PR slogan "those who order leadership, will get it [with me]," Olaf Scholz has really dropped the ball on communication these past few weeks. Time and time again, Scholz has missed valuable opportunities to shape the public narrative in his favor. Take a video posted on Twitter on Thursday for example (in German with English subtitles). In this video, Vice-Chancellor and Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Protection Robert Habeck (Greens) got in front of a camera and talked directly to the German people for 4 minutes and 21 seconds. He explained exactly why he and his party (and the government as a whole) would be voting for the delivery of heavy weaponry. He told an emotional, personal story about his visit to Ukraine last year, and the individuals he met who might or might not still be alive now. He spoke openly about how this decision was weighing on his mind, but ultimately he felt it was the right one. While watching the video, I thought two things: "that is leadership done right" and "why the hell isn't Scholz in front of that camera?" While I understand that effective governing is not about the optics, some form of communication would go a long way. Rather, we get radio silence from Scholz. He seems to have no qualms with letting the narrative about himself be controlled by others. As Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz has a platform to speak and defend his and his party's decision, so my advice: c'mon Mr. Scholz, use it.
The Sky is the Limit: Inflation in Germany is breaking records, reaching the highest rate since 1981. Consumer prices are now 7.4% higher than in the same month last year.
Slovenia leans Left: Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša's party suffered a serious defeat on past Sunday's parliamentary election. The newly formed left-leaning party "The Freedom Movement" won 40 of the 90 seats in parliament, and now the question on everyone's mind is: can Janša form a governing coalition nonetheless?
EU Ramp-up against Foreign Subsidies: The Committee on International Trade has adopted a draft law, which allows the EU Commission to investigate and counteract market-distorting foreign subsidies that are given to companies which want to acquire EU businesses or take part in EU public procurement.
Sacrificing with Resolve
Well, you cannot fight perception: Germany's image as a brother in arms is destroyed for at least one generation. It will not matter that Germany delivers weaponry in a comparable range, that it harms Russia in more impactful ways than other economies, or that it commits to significantly more financial help than others. It also will not matter that Germany consequently plays its globally-suggested subordinate role in avoiding any kind of initiative and resolve if it comes to military solutions of conflicts. We will not be trusted. I can only imagine what the international reactions will be when Germany will again be in the spotlight of a bold deal during a financial or economic crisis (and it will), like
As you could read from Mats in The House's View, the German government continues to be divided on the current crisis. This further perpetuates the image of a country that flip-flopped around when common solutions to common threats demand a vanguard leadership beyond domestic interests. But wait, who judges us here? The French almost voted Marine Le Pen who promised to put a stop to the French-German cooperation on many fields on the grounds of obvious "strategic differences". The Brits, the Hungarians, the Polish, the Americans and many other "partners" have their well-known stories of putting their nation first. These approaches clearly did not help in creating anything that would solve the stalemate of, say, "Non-Europe".
In what strategic mind, for example, will the insane costs of upholding 26 independent armies in the EU help to keep our cities safe? But beware! The mere mentioning of a future where one nation plans coherently along the reality of its dependence on its neighbors in a specific field, as uncontested matter of fact in many sectors, is seen as naïve EU-fanatic dream at the same time. My question: how far did that national interest thing take us during the past financial-, the refugee-, or climate crisis? How about in the creation of the "most competitive region of the world" or for ANY common challenge of our "sovereign" nations?
Ironically, when pursuing its national interest in securing a strong economy (and so on) for its citizens, Germany will be left with only one option for proving its international haters wrong: To give up the actual naivety of propelling a purely national narrative that would exist without sacrifices and follow through with any kind of initiative with resolve.


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Posted by jwdineline in Home, Wining & Dining Videos.
How about a juicy Malbec with that thick steak, podner?
"Savor Wine and Food with Jim White" has the perfect blend from Mendoza's storied Don Miguel Gascon winery. Meet winemaker Ernesto Bajda who explains the difference high-altitude vineyards makes in crafting his delicious wines from Argentina.


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Low-temperature growth of polycrystalline Si and Ge films by ultraviolet laser photodissociation of silane and germane
R. W. Andreatta, C. C. Abele, J. F. Osmundsen, James Gary Eden, D. Lubben, J. E. Greene
Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering
Polycrystalline Si and Ge films have been grown on amorphous SiO 2 substrates (average Tsubstrate <120°C) by the photodissociation of SiH4/N2 or GeH4/He mixtures, respectively, using pulsed ArF (193 nm) and KrF (248 nm) excimer lasers. For both Si and Ge, the film growth rate exhibited a strong dependence on laser wavelength and beam intensity I, where 1≲I≤20 MW cm -2. As-deposited films exhibited average grain sizes of up to 0.5 μm and the grains were equiaxed with a random orientation. Ge films doped with ∼1020 cm-3 Al were obtained by the simultaneous photodissociation of Al(CH3)3 and GeH4.
Applied Physics Letters
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.93001
ultraviolet lasers
silanes
Andreatta, R. W., Abele, C. C., Osmundsen, J. F., Eden, J. G., Lubben, D., & Greene, J. E. (1982). Low-temperature growth of polycrystalline Si and Ge films by ultraviolet laser photodissociation of silane and germane. Applied Physics Letters, 40(2), 183-185. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.93001
Low-temperature growth of polycrystalline Si and Ge films by ultraviolet laser photodissociation of silane and germane. / Andreatta, R. W.; Abele, C. C.; Osmundsen, J. F.; Eden, James Gary; Lubben, D.; Greene, J. E.
In: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 40, No. 2, 01.12.1982, p. 183-185.
Andreatta, RW, Abele, CC, Osmundsen, JF, Eden, JG, Lubben, D & Greene, JE 1982, 'Low-temperature growth of polycrystalline Si and Ge films by ultraviolet laser photodissociation of silane and germane', Applied Physics Letters, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 183-185. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.93001
Andreatta RW, Abele CC, Osmundsen JF, Eden JG, Lubben D, Greene JE. Low-temperature growth of polycrystalline Si and Ge films by ultraviolet laser photodissociation of silane and germane. Applied Physics Letters. 1982 Dec 1;40(2):183-185. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.93001
Andreatta, R. W. ; Abele, C. C. ; Osmundsen, J. F. ; Eden, James Gary ; Lubben, D. ; Greene, J. E. / Low-temperature growth of polycrystalline Si and Ge films by ultraviolet laser photodissociation of silane and germane. In: Applied Physics Letters. 1982 ; Vol. 40, No. 2. pp. 183-185.
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AB - Polycrystalline Si and Ge films have been grown on amorphous SiO 2 substrates (average Tsubstrate <120°C) by the photodissociation of SiH4/N2 or GeH4/He mixtures, respectively, using pulsed ArF (193 nm) and KrF (248 nm) excimer lasers. For both Si and Ge, the film growth rate exhibited a strong dependence on laser wavelength and beam intensity I, where 1≲I≤20 MW cm -2. As-deposited films exhibited average grain sizes of up to 0.5 μm and the grains were equiaxed with a random orientation. Ge films doped with ∼1020 cm-3 Al were obtained by the simultaneous photodissociation of Al(CH3)3 and GeH4.
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10.1063/1.93001


text:
Why Bloodstained Was Delayed to 2018
IGN caught up with Koji Igarashi to discuss Bloodstained's delay, and how it affects the fate of the Wii U port.
byIgn Staff
Posted Oct. 7, 2016, 8:28 a.m.
At the start of September, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, a new Metroidvania game funded through Kickstarter last year, was delayed to 2018. Director Koji Igarashi, most famously known for his work as the creator of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, said he needed additional developer support in order to complete the game and reach his quality standards. Earlier today, Iga announced that he's partnering with 505 Games. The publisher is the newest partner in the saga to create Bloodstained. The record-setting campaign pulled in over $5.5 million USD and became the highest funded game project in the crowdfunding site's history.
Bloodstained reunites key creators, like artist Ayami Kojima and composer Michiru Yamane, from the Castlevania series to work on its spiritual successor, but it's also a chance for Iga to return to a genre he loves. IGN caught with him during Tokyo Game Show to talk about the game's delay, why he needs more resources to finish it, the undecided fate of the Wii U port, and more.
On the Delay and Working With Inti Creates
Iga cited two big reasons for Bloodstained's delay to 2018. The first one that, with any Kickstarter campaign, a developer starts off with what the basic game is and a release date based off that. Stretch goals, expanding content, are added not all of them are planned from day one. "Some of those are planned on the fly after you see how many backers continue to flow," Iga said. "[Stretch goals] are always discussed with the R&D side to make sure that the price is realistic for what you're making, because if you don't do that, then you get stuck in a situation where you can't make money and can't finish the game, and I can't do that."
"However, you get more money, you can create more content with the Kickstarter campaign, but you can't push the date back during the campaign," Iga said. "So you're able to adjust scope and you're able to adjust budget, but you're not able to adjust the timeline. That, in and of itself, is kind of broken as a system."
"The second that we started to hit so many stretch goals, it became more than one standard team could make. So unless we made this 100-person team size then there's no way we were going to be able to finish it by the original date."
The second reason for Bloodstained's delay is something Iga takes personally: the high quality of a game he wants to make. "As we started building up the game and showing it to some of the backers, we had a very high quality bar. The graphics were good. Better than a traditional Iga-vania game that I've made in the past," he explained. "And once you start setting the bar that way, you start to focus on that and say it has to be that high level. It has to be high quality. And you get yourself in a situation where you're writing checks that you can't necessarily cash based on the time that you have"
It was either drop the quality bar one notch in order to get it out sooner, or be satisfied with the quality and continue to make sure it was going to be maintained...
"It was either drop the quality bar one notch in order to get it out sooner, or it was to be satisfied with the quality and continue to make sure it was going to be maintained throughout the project. At the end of the day, I want to go with the quality. This is important to me," Iga said.
Bloodstained originally started as a collaboration between Igarashi's company, Artplay, and developer Inti Creates, the company behind Azure Striker Gunvolt and the ill-fated Mighty No. 9, which released a few months ago to awful reviews. We asked Iga if some of his issues with Bloodstained's quality falls on Inti Creates. Prior to the interview, Iga showed IGN a section from the opening area of his new game, and he references it in his answer.
"If you look at what you saw here, that's some of Inti, and some of us. But if you looked at the demo that out at E3 that everybody liked, that was Inti's quality bar that they put forward and made. They are able to come out with high quality," Iga explained. "However, to your point, one of the issues is that their style of building on a game, while it does tend to come up with high quality when they spend the time on it, they don't necessarily have the true understanding of how to procedurally use the best tools in Unreal. Without being able to use those, you can't create the game in the most efficient manner that you need to."
"While we were working together to make sure it had everything in it, it was quite clear that we needed to bring in another team that is able to take that procedural know-how to be able to take something, copy it, use some random generation to populate an area in a more computer-driven way rather than people doing it all by hand," he said. "Without doing that, just the sheer size of what we're trying to create would never be done on time. So bringing in someone to help like that is definitely necessary to make sure that we're going to make the game at the right quality, but also hitting this new timeline."
Iga acknowledged that once a new studio comes on board, Inti Creates role in making Bloodstained will be reduced because they aren't making the procedural pieces of the game. We asked IGA why procedural generation using Unreal to create the backdrops of Bloodstained was so important to him. "Yeah, we're trying to be modern, and if there's an official way to do something better than you should probably do it," Iga explained. "Just thinking about the sheer size of what this game is, trying to go in and do everything by hand would obviously create - it would be beautiful, but it would create lots of delays and things like that."
"Finding the right balance between using some technology to help you but also still making sure you're also controlling the art side of it, that's sort of what we, through our studying and evaluations, come to realize. We need to do that to get to the goal." Iga told IGN a new development partner hadn't been selected at the time of this interview. He and the team had limited the decision to a few options and were very close.
On the Wii U Port of Bloodstained
"Yeah, it's a very complicated problem," Iga said. "The reality is this: As timelines move on, certain pieces of hardware become irrelevant. Sometimes new pieces of hardware come out that make you think about what is the right strategy. And as a creator, usually you want to make stuff for the new hardware. That's the reality."
"However, this was a game that was backed by people, and we made promises to listen to them. They're the people that gave us life so to speak. Any sort of change that we do or are considering that goes outside the scope of the promises we've made must be done with lots of explanation, must be done with lots of care, and must be done with lots of back and forth with them to see what options we have. We must listen to them at the end of the day, and we have made promises."
Concept art of the castle entrance in Bloodstained.
"Unfortunately, some of those don't make as much sense anymore as they did before, and that's also reality. So you're in a very difficult position, and at the end of the day, if you're going to go in one certain direction, you want to make sure that you have support from them," he explained.
"But so far we've, I think, been incredibly transparent through all the things that have happened with our backers, and they have been very supportive. So I'm hoping that if there is going to be a difficult decision some day, and we don't know, that we're able to have that conversation. If they say they don't get it, well that's where we're at. And if they say they do get it, well then, we'll be able to do things that are maybe more interesting. We'll see.
On IGA's Hopes for Bloodstained Running on PlayStation 4 Pro in 4K with HDR
"Yeah, 4K...that's a lot," Iga said. "We tried to create assets that played well in 4K. You know, at four times the amount. Everyone on the team would die. But, I'm curious if you put this through a 4K up-res filter or whatever, with the HDR, how it's going to pop, how it's going to look. I have no idea. It may look very crappy, like you've just expanded a lower res model, but it may also look good because it's a 2.5D side-scrolling. Who knows."
"Honestly, we want to try and get this at least 60 frames. That's the goal, but if by going with the pro we can get 120 frames, or something like that...so, basically, if it can give us a boost in framerate in boost and smoothness, animation smoothness, that could be pretty nice."
Jose Otero is an Editor at IGN and host of Nintendo Voice Chat. You can follow him on Twitter.
Platforms: Pc, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PS Vita, Wii U, Pc, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Switch Performance Patch Finally Now Available
Bloodstained Developers Give an Update on Highly Requested Nintendo Switch Patch
Bloodstained's Switch Port: Examining the Problems
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Review


11 Steps in buying a house. By Michael Mata 5 Oct 2018. SHARE. Owning your own home is a great dream. But don't be fooled. It will require you to make some major sacrifices and finding a home requires discipline and effort, not to mention cash. But with some determination, you can get on the road to buying a home of your dreams. Here are 11 basic steps in buying a house . Step 1 - Determine... In Western Australia all buyers purchase a property via a method known as 'Offer and Acceptance'. Beware: If you put an offer on a house in Perth and it's accepted then you're committed to complete the purchase unless the seller doesn't meet a condition.
Perth is an exciting, energetic city and has a lot to offer the 1.9 population currently residing the capital of Western Australia. The city itself embraces a relaxed lifestyle, evolving around the outdoors. how to draw a pretty flower for beginners Median house price: $385,000? Based on CoreLogic September 2017 quarter data Close At sub $400,000 and just 10 kilometres from the Perth CBD, Ms Conisbee said Nollamara was a very attractive destination for first home buyers.
Perth house prices have only increased by 2.3 per cent in the past 10 years. The median price of a home is currently $472,200 - the second cheapest city in which to buy a home behind Hobart, which how to cancel twitch prime australia While house hunting can be fun, the process can be frustrating if you keep missing out on the perfect property. To make finding and securing your dream home simpler, do your research.
If you are buying house Perth or will be looking at buying house Perth in the future then the chances are you will need to organise a home loan. So if you are looking to buy a house Perth and would like your own personal mortgage consultant to guide you through the process and discuss show the options you have complete the enquiry form below now.
With interest rates now at record lows and property prices still relatively affordable in many parts of the state, now is a great time to buy an investment property in Western Australia, and especially Perth Perth, TAS Perth, WA.
Perth is an exciting, energetic city and has a lot to offer the 1.9 population currently residing the capital of Western Australia. The city itself embraces a relaxed lifestyle, evolving around the outdoors.
Buying in Perth or Western Australia for the first time In order to ensure more equitable representation and favourable outcomes for themselves, more Perth property buyers are appointing their own independent buyer's advocate.
In Western Australia all buyers purchase a property via a method known as 'Offer and Acceptance'. Beware: If you put an offer on a house in Perth and it's accepted then you're committed to complete the purchase unless the seller doesn't meet a condition.


Despite being called weird and experimental The 1975 has shattered the status quo when it comes to music. They steer clear from the typical pop tunes and conventional lyrics. Which is rare and a bit of a risk these days.
In "A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships" this album really emphasizes the times we are living in. In my opinion this album truly represents 2018 and what millennials face today.
I love how they use the same song as the opening to each album. Even though the arrangements are different. I love hearing that consistency in lyrics.
Catchy toon but it's taking me a while to really like it. One thing I want to point out is that music is very subjective. So, just because I may not like a song doesn't mean it's horrible or not worth listening to. You might love a song that I don't and that's perfectly fine, as a matter of fact that's awesome.
Within the first 5 seconds of listening to this song I was obsessed with it. This is one of my favorite songs from the album (and probably one of my most played songs of the year for me). It's a very catchy, upbeat song that'll guarantee to put anyone (or at least most people) in a good mood.
The first couple of seconds, the little melody reminds me of Sleeping At Last (the band/artist) and I LOVE IT. Anytime The 1975 has a lengthy instrumental part in their songs it's absolutely beautiful. The first half of Menswear is one of my favorites. So I was very happy to hear this track. Absolutely beautiful.
I know a lot of people love this track. But it didn't grab me like the previous songs I've mentioned.
A nice slow and simple song. Not my top favorite but it's still a nice listen.
I really enjoyed this song, it's one of my favorites. The lyrics and the whole sound is very chill and I love it. Not to mention the music video is good, love the dancing in it.
A very unique song. I know Matty wanted to use autotune because it resembles the early days of SoundCloud in the U.S. I thought this song was okay, kinda catchy but it takes some time to get used to it.
This song reminds me of the movie "Her". I think this song would've fit perfectly in the film. Hands down, this is one of the most unique songs in the album since the voice is made to sound like a robot. This song is a perfect reminder how people are addicted to the internet these days, which is scary, and also how normal it is.
Another slow song like, Be My Mistake, except this is about him wanting to know what his girl is thinking. Not one of my favorites but still a nice song to listen to.
This, to me, sounds like a classic The 1975 song. The whole song is catchy and fun. When I found out what the lyrics meant, like most of the songs from The 1975, I was surprised. But nonetheless it's a very addicting song and one of my favorites.
A slow song about a woman who was in rehab with Matty. I think it's very thoughtful how he uses his experiences and the people he knows to tell different stories. When it comes to honesty, The 1975 doesn't shy away from it. They express their struggles and even the struggles of others, and that's something that I admire about this band.
Love the slow jazzy aspect to this song. This is a beautiful love song and definitely one of my favs.
Now this is my top favorite slow song from this album. What do you do after a breakup but you still have feelings for that person? Yup, this song expresses that. Love Matty's raw vocals and the piano melody in this song.
Not one of my favorites. It just feels a bit dark for me. In case you haven't noticed I'm into upbeat, sweet, happy songs. But I know many people, especially young people probably love and resonate with this song. Like I've said before, just because I don't like a particular song doesn't mean it's a horrible song. Everyone relates and enjoys different things and that's what makes us humans.
I'm proud that this band doesn't shy away from heavy topics and issues society faces today. They ask the tough questions and share their deepest troubles. Whether someone is a fan of The 1975 or not, I'm sure there's at least one song in this album they can love.
Just like their previous albums, I didn't love every single song (I think it's very rare to love all the songs in any album), but there are some winning tunes for me and I'm sure you'll find some you'll enjoy too.
Congrats George and Matty for putting together this wonderful album.


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Leporinus maculatus är en fiskart som beskrevs av Müller och Troschel, 1844. Leporinus maculatus ingår i släktet Leporinus och familjen Anostomidae. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Externa länkar

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maculatus

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Happy New Year 2018! As I write this, from our new "headquarters" in Northwest Ohio, it is 4 degrees outside. I am not kidding. It is C-O-L-D. To be fair, the Safer Cold Weather Responses issue has been in the Volume IV editorial calendar since before March of 2017. At the time, however, I had no idea I would be writing from a place with snow on the ground, where cold weather injuries and rescues take place for months every fall and winter.
In this issue, we take on the cold with articles from Brian Duff, Old Man Winter and What to Do About Him, Bob Twoney, Dressing for Cold Weather Search and Rescue Operations, and Robert Avsec, Training Day: Firefighter training exercises for the ice rescue novice. Hypothermia resources and avalanche training information are our focus of At the Resource.
It's a new year, so we are introducing some new regular features. The first one is, At the Ready Thought Leadership. Each monthly column, penned by Retired Battalion Chief Robert Avsec, will have a timely topic of conversation for Fire and EMS leaders. In this issue, Welcome to At the Ready Thought Leadership! Provides the goals for this new column.
Winter still has a few more months to go. So, stay inside, pour a hot cup of coffee, and enjoy the issue. Wishing you all a great start to 2018. We will be here with you, committed to keeping you At the Ready.


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Millionaire Posing as Poor Invites Girl of His Dreams to Shabby Old House and Proposes to Her — Story of the Day
By Manuela Cardiga
https://news.amomama.com/284326-millionaire-posing-poor-invites-girl-his.html
A millionaire tests his girlfriend by inviting her home to a very old dilapidated house and proposing she marry him.
Andrew Hardy had spent his childhood in an unhappy home. His mother had married his father for his money, and once she'd given birth to Andrew, she'd considered her duty done.
Andrew had seen his father's sadness and knew that he truly loved a woman who cared nothing for him and lived only for luxury and status. Andrew was determined that he'd never marry a gold digger. His life was going to be very different.
Andrew decided that old house was the perfect setting for his proposal | Source: Shutterstock.com
Andrew had gone to university in England and then gone on to do his post-graduate degree in Australia, so when he came home, he had few ties to the community, except his father and his grandmother.
As for his mother, she had long since divorced his father and remarried, and had never contacted her son. So Andrew was a new guy in town, and nobody knew that he was the son of Danton Hardy, the only heir to Hardy Industries, and that's how he liked it.
"Dad," Andrew said to his father. "I was thinking...How about I start working at the company?"
Danton was delighted. "I'd love that!" he cried. "You can start as vice-president of marketing..."
Andrew wanted to find a girl who'd love him for himself | Source: Unsplash
But Andrew was shaking his head. "No!" he said. "I want to start at the bottom, work my way up, and I don't want people to know I'm the boss's son. Hire me as an intern in the marketing department."
Danton frowned. "Are you sure? The pay isn't great!"
Andrew grinned. "That's OK! I can still live at home, can't I?" Danton laughed and said, of course, he could.
Andrew went out and got himself a modest second-hand car and a wardrobe to match an intern's salary. He started working at his dad's company and he loved it. He made friends with many of his co-workers, and especially with his fellow intern, a sweet girl named Cynthia, who quickly became his best friend.
Andrew got himself an old car | Source: Unsplash
Then one day, Andrew was out jogging and he ran past a Starbucks. There was a girl coming out and she didn't see Andrew and ran right into him. The inevitable happened and her coffee flew through the air and splashed Andrew.
"Oh my God," the girl gasped. "I'm so sorry!"
"That's OK," Andrew said, and then his mouth fell open. She was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.
The girl looked worried. "Are you OK?" she asked.
He got a job as an intern at his father's company | Source: Unsplash
And Andrew kept staring and said, "You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, please have coffee with me?" The girl, whose name was Linda, started laughing. She had coffee with Andrew and soon they started dating.
Andrew was head over heels in love with Linda and he was sure she was the One. He told his grandmother as much, but his grandmother frowned. "Sweetheart, a pretty face doesn't guarantee a good heart," she said.
"Gran," Andrew protested. "Linda thinks I'm an intern at Hardy Industries, she doesn't know who I am!"
"Andrew," the grandmother said quietly. "You don't know who she is either!"
Andrew bought Linda a cup of coffee and they started dating | Source: Unsplash
Andrew thought about it a lot and even talked to Cynthia about Linda. "I went to high school with Linda," Cynthia exclaimed. "She's beautiful...and ambitious."
"So am I," said Andrew crossly, and Cynthia didn't say another word. She could see that Andrew was infatuated with Linda, but she knew her old classmate very well. Linda would never settle for a poor intern!
The most precious quality in a friend is kindness and honesty.
Andrew made a plan. He went shopping for a stunning five-carat diamond and rented a shabby old house in a poor but respected neighborhood, then he called Linda and told her he had a surprise for her.
Andrew drove Linda to the old house and led her inside. He'd lit a hundred candles in the dining room and scattered rose petals on the floor, the perfect setting for a romantic proposal.
Cynthia wanted to warn Andrew about Linda | Source: Unsplash
But even as Andrew was kneeling at her feet, Linda was looking around in disgust. The candles and the rose petals couldn't disguise the shabbiness of the furniture...
Then Andrew took out his beautiful ring and presented it to Linda. "Linda," he said, "I love you, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you be my wife?"
Linda was staring at Andrew in disbelief. "Marry you? Are you serious?"
Andrew was glowing with love. "Dead serious," he smiled.
Andrew proposed to Linda in the old house | Source: Unsplash
Linda laughed. "You think this..." she gestured with her hand, "this rat hole is where a girl like me belongs? Be serious! I thought you realized. We were having fun, Andrew, that's all!"
"Listen, Linda," Andrew said, getting to his feet, "I know you deserve better..."
"Yes, I do! And the ring!" she scoffed. "What is that? The biggest zirconia you could find? It's tatty, just like you! When I get married, it's going to be to a man of means, you understand?" And she turned and walked out, leaving Andrew shattered.
The next days, Cynthia could see that there was something wrong with Andrew. He no longer smiled and joked, he lost weight and he looked heartbroken. "Andrew," she said gently. "She's not worth it."
"I thought you realized. We were having fun, Andrew, that's all!" | Source: Unsplash
"What?" asked Andrew. "What do you mean?"
"Linda," Cynthia explained. "I should have told you, but you were so in love...You see, Linda always boasted in high school that she was going to marry rich. I knew she was leading you on..."
"Shut up!" Andrew screamed. "I don't want to hear you. You think you are my friend? You don't even know me!" Cynthia turned deadly pale and walked out of the office. As soon as she was gone, Andrew regretted his outburst.
He phoned Cynthia but she didn't pick up. He sent her text messages but she didn't answer. On his way to work the next morning, Andrew bought a huge bouquet of flowers for Cynthia but when he got to the office she wasn't there.
Andrew was devastated when he realized he'd hurt Cynthia | Source: Unsplash
Andrew asked his office supervisor where Cynthia was, and he told her she had asked to be transferred to another department. The young man was devastated. He had hurt his one true friend over a gold digger!
As the weeks passed, he missed Cynthia more and more. He remembered the fun they'd had together, and how sweet and kind Cynthia was. He decided to win his friend back.
He knocked on Cynthia's door and waited nervously until she opened it. "I'm sorry," he said. "Please, Cynthia, forgive me. Be my friend again."
Rich Man Kicks Out Homeless Lady Claiming to Be His Child, Next Day She Shows up in His Office — Story of the Day
Woman Accidentally Finds Blueprint of Her Cottage, Then Notices Its Center Circled in Red — Story of the Day
At Funeral, Man Lays Late Friend's Phone on Coffin, Then Widow Gets Call from Deceased's Number — Story of the Day
Andrew apologized to Cynthia | Source: Unsplash
Cynthia shook her head. "No Andrew, I can't. You see, when you started seeing Linda I realized I was in love with you..." But before she could say another word, Andrew had thrown his arms around her and was kissing her.
Things worked out the way they always do when two good hearts find each other, and a year later, Andrew and Cynthia were married.
Linda got a bit of a shock when she saw the headlines over her morning coffee, "Hardy Industry Heir Marries in Romantic Ceremony," next to a photo of Andrew and Cynthia kissing. She had missed out on her shot at a millionaire...
Linda read all about their romantic wedding in the newspapers | Source: Pexels
Greed and a cold heart are bad counselors. Linda could have married a wealthy man who adored her, but her gold-digging instincts led her to reject him because she thought he was poor.
The most precious quality in a friend is kindness and honesty. Andrew learned to value Cynthia's good heart and kindness more than Linda's beauty.
Share this story with your friends. It might brighten their day and inspire them.
If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about an unemployed single mother of two who receives a special gift from the Christmas Angel.
This account is inspired by our reader's story and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone's life. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com


WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION This workshop focuses on possibilities within a work of fiction—what are the possibilities and limitations found in choices of narrative point of view, syntax, time, memory, story structure, sentences, omission, openings, closure, objects, dialogue, and a narrative's leaps and speed. What could be brought to the page and what should be left out of obvious sight so that a reader is willingly captured, ready to enter an essential fiction? How do we clear away obvious ways of sounding on the page in order to uncover necessary voices? What are our essential and necessary stories? How do we witness and render the physical world on the page?
This is a generative workshop. Students should be ready to write all week and come away with new drafts and beginnings.
September 22,-Putney Vermont, Next Stage Arts, in conversation with Chard deNiord.


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Activist Group Believes Disney Has "Lost Its Way" and Pushes for Board Changes
There have recently been some big shake-ups when it comes to Disney leadership, but one group is pushing for even more changes, and their claims have started a proxy fight with Disney's Board of Directors.
The Trian Partners have nominated Nelson Peltz to be elected to Disney's Board of Directors, but the current board does not endorse Peltz. So what exactly does Peltz want, and why doesn't Disney want him on the Board? Let's dig in.
According to Business Wire, "Trian Partners L.P. and Trian Partners Parallel Fund I, L.P., wholly owned subsidiaries of Trian Fund Management, L.P., along with other entities affiliated with Nelson Peltz (collectively, the "Trian Group"), have nominated Nelson Peltz for election as director at the Annual Meeting in opposition to the nominees recommended by the Board, and brought a proposal to amend Disney's Bylaws."
©Trian Partners
In response, the Disney Board stated that they do NOT endorse the Peltz and "recommends that shareholders not support" him either and "instead vote FOR all the Company's nominees."
Who Is Nelson Peltz?
Peltz and the Trian Partners group have long been interested in The Walt Disney Company and have commented on many of the company's decisions. Peltz has met with Disney executives and Board members several times (CNBC). According to CNBC, "The activist firm said it owns about 9.4 million shares valued at approximately $900 million, which it first accumulated a few months ago."
©CNBC
Peltz was reportedly opposed to the return of Bob Iger as the company's CEO.
What Do Peltz and the Trian Partners Want?
So why does Peltz want a seat on the Board? The Trian group has commented that they believe Disney "lost its way, resulting in a rapid deterioration in its financial performance." Peltz's main complaints about the company revolve around Disney's decision to acquire Fox back in 2019 and "poor corporate governance."
Disney acquired Fox in 2019, paying about $71 billion for the acquisition. According to Peltz, "Fox hurt this company. Fox took the dividend away. Fox turned what was once a pristine balance sheet into a mess."
Another area where Disney struggles is streaming, and the Trian group pointed out that the company's strategy has resulted in problems with profitability, despite the fact that Disney is "reaching similar revenues as Netflix and having a significant IP advantage." The firm accused Disney of "overearning at its theme parks to subsidize streaming losses," which it calls a "lack of cost discipline."
Peltz has stated that Disney needs to make a decision: they should get out of streaming entirely or buy all of Hulu. Peltz stated, "They must buy Hulu, that unfortunately means the company will have a debt load going forward for several years." Disney owns two-thirds of Hulu already, and to own the entirety of the streaming service they would have to buy the remaining third from Comcast.
©Hulu
The Trian group stated that Disney has lately experienced "poor corporate governance," which resulted in "failed succession planning" and "over-the-top compensation practices."
Despite the fact that Peltz reportedly opposed the return of Bob Iger as the company's CEO, the Trian group has said that they "don't want to replace Iger, but rather work with him to ensure a successful CEO transition within the next two years." That issue of succession is one of the most pressing issues the Board is facing right now.
Peltz reportedly said that another reason he'd like to be on the board is "so he can get access to internal numbers and tell other members if they're missing out on opportunities." He said, "I don't need to overwhelm [the Board]. I don't need more than one person on the board."
In short, Peltz has seen several areas where he thinks Disney could improve, and he wants a say in Disney's decision-making moving forward.
How Is Disney Responding?
Disney isn't supportive of Peltz joining the Board of Directors and has urged shareholders to vote for the Board's current nominees instead. The Board also announced on Wednesday that Mark Parker would become the new Chairman of the Board following Susan Arnold's exit after the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Parker will also lead a committee that is focused on finding a successor for Bob Iger once the CEO leaves.
©Disney | Walt Disney Company Headquarters
According to CNBC, some "people close to Disney" have said that Disney has previously offered Peltz the opportunity to "enter into an information-sharing pact under a nondisclosure agreement" and to meet with Disney executives and the board regularly. Peltz was not offered the ability to sit in on the board meetings, though. So it's clear that Disney finds Peltz's contributions valuable, but the Board does not seem to want him to have voting privileges.
©The New York Times
Disney has also defended its recent financial decisions, stating that the company "has had a long-term track record of financial and creative success" and has "built on the ability to leverage its rich intellectual property and unparalleled storytelling across its many businesses, from theatrical, streaming, and linear broadcast to parks and resorts."
Disney hasn't announced when the next meeting of shareholders will take place, but we'll watch for more updates on this developing situation. Stay tuned to DFB for all the latest Disney news!
Click here to learn 4 important secrets about the Iger-Chapek conflict.
The post Activist Group Believes Disney Has "Lost Its Way" and Pushes for Board Changes first appeared on the disney food blog.
source https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2023/01/12/activist-group-believes-disney-has-lost-its-way-and-pushes-for-board-changes/


Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas has no doubt that he will be ready to represent Spain when the World Cup starts next month.
The 23-year-old has not played since suffering a cracked bone in his fibula during the Gunners' Champions League quarter-final first-leg clash against Barcelona on March 31.
Fabregas has been in his homeland recovering from the injury and believes he is on course to be able to feature in the Euro 2008 winners' opening World Cup group match against Switzerland on June 16.
He said:"I am pleased to say that my recovery from a cracked fibula is on schedule. I have started jogging for the first time and it looks as if I will begin running again properly on Sunday.
"I am happy with how things are going and now I just have to be patient, making sure I come back as strongly as I can. On May 24, I will join up with the Spanish national team and should be able to join in a bit when we play Saudi Arabia five days later.
"The timing is looking good for the World Cup but I am sad not to have played a part in the end of Arsenal's season."


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The Future of War, Peace, and Military Science Fiction
Military science fiction doesn't have to just be about space battles and glory. It can examine why we, as a culture, choose to make war—and how we can change.
By Elizabeth Bonesteel
I didn't sit down one day and decide to write military science fiction. I sat down to write a specific story, and it fell naturally into a military framework. This is undoubtedly due to my early media exposure. The U.S. space program was born from explicitly military objectives, and in the 1960s and 1970s, much of popular science fiction relied on military elements.
There's also the fact that nearly every society in human history has had some sort of standing military. It's an accepted truth: Any society of sufficient size will have—will require—some kind of armed forces. (It's interesting how this is a tacit admission that, when push comes to shove, humans are always going to fail at compromise.) Given that I choose to write a future based on the world we're in today, it makes sense that I'd include a military structure as part of that universe.
But that's not really why I do it.
I'm not from a military family, but both my parents are. Both of my grandfathers were in the US Army, although both were retired by the time I was born. I grew up hearing stories of being moved around a lot, of the long periods of time spent without fathers, of the often awkward process of adapting to the change when their fathers came home. I grew up recognizing the non-military consequences of a military career.
And I was fortunate enough to know both of my grandfathers for a little while. One was often forbidding, but at the same time, he would tell jokes both sharp and deeply silly with a mischievous gleam in his eye. The other was sly and charming, and taught us how to play blackjack and do magic tricks. They were, to me, simultaneously bigger than life and palpably human.
I don't see much of either man in our cultural archetypes of soldiers. The way soldiers tend to be painted by the media is strangely one-dimensional, and often bland: The Hero. The Coward. The Redeemed. The Damaged. Broad strokes, used for broad reporting. Anything more nuanced is relegated to "human interest" and often ignored.
It's difficult, in this age when the United States has been at constant war for a generation, not to see this as a kind of othering, a way to sanitize our military, and distance our larger culture from the decision to perpetuate military conflict. We've managed, since Vietnam, to acknowledge that soldiers should not be scapegoated for the orders they follow. But by turning them into featureless cogs in uniform, we've somehow lost touch with the fact that we are sending people—our friends, our family, ourselves—into situations that cannot, by definition, ever be civilized.
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Tom Cruise in "Edge of Tomorrow," based on the Japanese military science fiction novel "All You Need is Kill," by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. Still from "Edge of Tomorrow" via Warner Bros.
And paradoxically, when we define soldiers as bigger than life, it makes it easier for us to point fingers if something goes wrong. They're trained. They should know better. It can't possibly be our fault.
It is our fault. It's always our fault. War is a choice. But the more we blunt our perception of the people we send to do this work, the easier it is for us to abdicate responsibility for how serious the decision really is.
Fiction of all types is a game of what-ifs. Military science fiction takes a particular angle: What if this was what a futuristic military force looked like? What if this is what it was used for? What is it like for the soldiers themselves? Even the most jingoistic military science fiction puts the reader in the mind of a soldier, and that in itself is a humanizing act.
But I think more than humanizing the soldiers themselves, military science fiction has a role to play in illuminating why we choose war. As with all speculative fiction, the power lies in being able to set up an impossible scenario, and ask concrete questions about it. Government and military can be structured in any way at all, or even be at odds with each other—weapons are, after all, a uniquely dispassionate way of upsetting the balance of power. Add to this a government with complex motives for choosing to deploy their defenses, and you can examine our current society through an infinite number of lenses.
One of the most powerful pieces of military science fiction I've ever read is Lois McMaster Bujold's Shards of Honor—a book in which the military campaign is laid out clearly, even as the rest of the story misdirects us into ignoring it. In that novel, thousands of soldiers die—and those deaths were clearly part of what was likely the only solution to the problem that had developed. The reveal is a brutal moment, because we have come to care about the individuals involved—we know them as people, not archetypes. The message is not at all pro-war, but neither is it explicitly anti. If anything, it makes the reader think: How might they have prevented the need for all of this?
That the question remains unanswered is critical. War is not the enemy so much as thoughtlessness. If we are to risk people's lives, we have a responsibility to understand exactly what we're doing. Every single time.
I've always felt that fiction's main responsibility is to be entertaining. That means good character and good conflict, and some form of resolution at the end. But if military science fiction has a purpose beyond that, I believe it's to make us think about why we perpetuate the long-standing, culture-spanning traditions of military buildup and conflict. Societies fall apart when they start carving off specialized chunks of themselves, taking credit for the good deeds and pointing fingers for the bad. Military science fiction can show us the worst consequences of war on auto-pilot. And it can also make us remember that we're all people, our soldiers included, and we have the power to do better.
Remnants of Trust
Elizabeth Bonesteel began making up stories at the age of five, in an attempt to battle insomnia. Thanks to a family connection to the space program, she has been reading science fiction since she was a child. She currently lives in central Massachusetts with her husband, her daughter, and various cats.
She is the author of the Central Corps series, which currently contains two military science fiction novels: The Cold Between (#1) and Remnants of Trust (#2).
Published on 03 Jan 2017


Exclusive Song Premiere: Intervals — "The Escape"
Today, GuitarWorld.com presents the exclusive premiere of "The Escape," the second single off Intervals' debut album, A Voice Within.
Pre-orders are now available at districtlines.com. Fans who pre-order the album are automatically entered to win a signed guitar from Jackson.
Intervals are on tour with Protest The Hero, Tesseract and the Safety Fire in Europe and have a major North American tour announcement coming soon. Stay tuned!
For more about Intervals, check out their official website and Facebook page.


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The General Board discussed risks and vulnerabilities in the financial system. Macroeconomic activity remains subdued across the European Union. The environment of low nominal growth makes cross-sectoral attempts to delever more difficult and represents a key challenge to financial stability. This challenge exists against a backdrop of weak bank profitability, tendencies to increased leverage in the non-bank sector, and re-emerging sovereign debt sustainability concerns.
Market expectations for future long-term interest rates have shifted downwards over 2014. An extended period of low interest rates could have side effects for financial stability risks, as asset valuations are more likely to become stretched and subject to sudden spikes in volatility in the context of a global search for yield. These vulnerabilities underscore the importance of further enhancing the framework for macro-prudential analysis of the non-bank sector, and developing macro-prudential tools in this area.
The General Board took note of the results of the EBA 2014 EU-wide stress test, which confirm the overall resilience of EU banks. The ESRB welcomes the detailed disclosure of bank-by-bank outcomes, which provides unparalleled transparency into EU banks' balance sheets. Looking forward, the ESRB intends to improve understanding of possible macro-financial feedback loops owing to banks' dynamic responses (second round effects) to the adverse macro-economic scenario.
The EIOPA 2014 EU-wide stress test has also identified the challenge faced by the EU insurance sector in two different macroeconomic scenarios of high asset price volatility (core module) and of prolonged low interest rates (low yield module). It shows that a significant part of the EU insurance sector is vulnerable to these scenarios and that the sector needs to press on with its preparations for Solvency II. Looking forward, the ESRB is considering the systemic facets of the insurance industry.
The General Board considered progress made in the implementation of EMIR requirements regarding, among other things, central counterparties (CCPs). EMIR has improved the regulation and supervision of European financial market infrastructures and introduced mandatory clearing for OTC derivatives, which the ESRB supports. The General Board also discussed the outlook and potential risks induced by the increasingly competitive environment in which CCPs operate in the EU and globally. Future stress tests, along with the necessary establishment of recovery and resolution frameworks, will play a crucial role in addressing macro-prudential concerns regarding the systemic importance of CCPs.
The General Board approved the report on the regulatory treatment of sovereign exposures. The report provides an overview of the current regulatory framework for sovereign and government-related exposures, the specific risks, and the scale of banks' and insurers' exposures to sovereigns. It explores a wide range of policy options to address these risks, and therefore represents – also in the context of international regulatory reform – an input for further policy discussion. The report will be published towards the end of January 2015.
The General Board discussed the macro-prudential implications of the number and scale of misconduct cases at EU banks. Misconduct imposes costs on society and should be prevented. Systemic risks may arise owing to a negative impact on confidence in the financial sector and a withdrawal from markets by banks, compounded by high and uncertain costs related to misconduct. The General Board has agreed to take additional steps to address these potential systemic effects by proposing the inclusion of the misconduct risks in future bank stress tests and an improvement of cooperation in international fora such as the FSB and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.
The General Board also decided to publish a call for expressions of interest for 12 external experts to be appointed as members of the Advisory Scientific Committee of the ESRB. The call will be published in early January in the Official Journal of the European Union and on the ESRB's website. In addition, the ESRB has established an annual prize for research on systemic risk in memory of Ieke van den Burg. Details of the prize are available on the ESRB's website.
The ESRB will publish the tenth issue of the risk dashboard on 5 January 2015. The risk dashboard is a set of quantitative and qualitative indicators of systemic risk in the EU financial system. The new dashboard will be available on the ESRB's website and in the ECB's Statistical Data Warehouse.
Lastly, the General Board elected Governor Luis Linde as new member of the ESRB Steering Committee. He replaces Ignazio Visco, Governor of Banca d'Italia, whose term of office on the Steering Committee has come to an end.
For media enquiries, please call William Lelieveldt on +49 69 1344 7316.


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Time to celebrate - the delivery of the 200th HondaJet
Download: Printable PDF Date: 16 Dec 2021 18:09 (UTC) categories:
Country: United States Aircraft: Airplanes
Honda Aircraft Company has marked a major milestone of delivering the 200th HondaJet. Honda Aircraft Company began its first deliveries of the HondaJet soon after the clean-sheet aircraft received its Type Certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in December 2015. In May 2018, the company introduced the HondaJet Elite, with an extended range of 1,437 nm, new avionics features, and new styling. In May 2021, the company announced new upgrades to the design with the HondaJet Elite S, which increased the aircraft's maximum takeoff weight by 200 lbs. and added new avionics features to further expand operational capability and reduce pilot workload to maximize safety.
The company also announced that the HondaJet Elite S was recently honored with the 2021 Top Flight Award presented by Aviation International News (AIN) in the New Business Jet category. The 2021 Top Flight Awards recognize individuals, organizations, and technologies for excellence, innovation, and service in business aviation and its related disciplines. The HondaJet has been certified in over 13 countries, with total flight hours of over 98,000.
"Since 2017, the HondaJet has been the most delivered aircraft in its class, and we continue to see high demand for the aircraft, thanks to its unmatched performance, comfort, efficiency and innovative design," said Honda Aircraft Company's President and CEO Michimasa Fujino. "The delivery of the 200th HondaJet is a reflection of its superior capabilities and reliability, as well as the extraordinary customer support of our team members. We will remain committed to our customers by ensuring that the HondaJet Elite S continues to set a new standard in business aviation."
The HondaJet Elite S is the fastest, farthest and highest-flying plane in its class. The HondaJet Elite S incorporates Honda Aircraft's many technological innovations, including the unique Over-The-Wing Engine Mount (OTWEM) configuration, Natural Laminar Flow (NLF) nose and wing, and composite fuselage. The aircraft is also powered by the GE Honda Aero Engines HF120. All of these advancements contribute to the aircraft's superior performance, unparalleled efficiency and maximized fuselage space, making the aircraft's cabin the largest in its class. The HondaJet Elite S cabin features a full service galley, a private lavatory with optional belted seat and an industry first Bongiovi sound system. The aircraft sets the standard in safety and human-machine interface technology with an ergonomically designed cockpit and highly customized Garmin® G3000 avionics suite.
Honda Aircraft continues to be committed to improving lives through personal mobility, while living in a sustainable society. The HondaJet Elite S remains significantly more fuel efficient and emits less greenhouse gases than all other similarly sized twin-engine business jets. Certified for single pilot operations, the HondaJet Elite S continues to live up to the company's reputation for superior performance, efficiency, quality, and value.
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SIAEC signs line maintenance and in-field services agreement with Rolls-Royce
SIAEC has signed a 10-year agreement with Rolls-Royce PLC to provide line maintenance and in-field services for Rolls-Royce Trent 7000, 1000, 900, 800, 700, 500 and XWB engines. SIAEC will provid...
Lockheed Martin Ventures leads series A funding round for Electra.aero
Electra announced that it has received an investment in its Series A funding round from Lockheed Martin Ventures. The funding will support Electra's plans to begin flight testing a full-scale...
SEVENAIR ACADEMY - year 2021 in review and first inauguration of 2022
SEVENAIR ACADEMY comes to review the activity of the past year, as usual. 2021 was still a year full of challenges, impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions imposed by the...


This very sturdy and durable plastic post is 39" in length with 9 numbered lugs designed for virtually all animal types. These posts work well for all Turbo, Polywire and tape up to .5". The unique twist 'n lock system guarantees a simple and secure attachment.


At Oak Floors Online we believe in providing our readers with valuable information that can help you make informed decisions when deciding on the right oak flooring for your home or place of work. We have created a series of eBooks around the subject of Buying Your Oak Floor to arm you with everything you need to know before making an investment purchase.
We asked the question, you told us what you want…..
Oak Floors Online have been supplying quality solid and engineered oak flooring since 2007 and our mission is simple; to supply a high quality product at a cost-effective price for consumers and trade alike.
Our team of experts have combined over 40 years combined experience in the industry with the product knowledge to match.
This month we are delighted to publish the next eBook, Buying Your Oak Floor – Get The Right Look – Width And Thicknesses.
You can download the eBook by simply clicking here.
Next month we will be publishing the next eBook in the series which gives you all the information you need to understand the different finishes of oak flooring available from Oak Floors Online.


Greetings after the cockpit! While on my routine test route this morning (Chinatown, the National Mall, Union Station) I got the bright idea to see how the handicapped ramp up to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum would handle the FENX 4.0. Surprisingly, the attempt turned out quite well – not to mention how giddy I was at the thought of actually going inside the Museum with the FENX 4.0. Unfortunately I haven't attempted that, yet. (It might happen tomorrow morning actually). My dad has the genius idea of me making a donation to the museum – driving in, making the donation, and then leaving – if they don't let me in. We'll see. I'd love to get a picture of me with the FENX 4.0 and Spaceship One actually. I still marvel at people's reactions, at least the ones I pay attention to when I can afford a split second of not concentrating of driving the machine. It was a good test run, I am still looking at a solid three hours running time on a charge, probably more actually. More tomorrow after I try and get into the building.
I spend a lot of time in the FENX 4.0; my mornings/early afternoons on the weekends are generally reserved for field testing the range of the FENX 4.0, seeing how far I can take it, trying to negotiate it's limits and trying to push the envelope a little bit each time I take it out for a spin. As often happens while I am out driving/testing, I meet people interested in the FENX 4 who often ask questions about it. Sometimes I will meet people who actually have a real need for the FENX 4 or something like it.


Learn how to play the traditional South Asian board game, carrom! Somewhat of a mix between shuffleboard, and pool, this unique and incredibly popular game is played all across Asia in countries like India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Participate in our "After Dark" tournament and challenge your friends and others to see who will be crowned champion of the night and win a prize!
Using "Model Magic," design, mold, and decorate your own Indian elephant. Revered as an important animal in Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist culture, the elephant signifies fertility, strength, and wisdom; even the historical Buddha's mother herself dreamt of an elephant right before he was born. Then take your elephant home and bring auspiciousness into your life!
Rangoli are intricate designs put on floors in courtyards or other significant sites in a home or public place that are made of colored sand, flour, rice, or even flowers. They are meant to ward off evil and invite and welcome Hindu deities into the space. Using actual stencils from India, make your own rangoli to brighten up your home!
Decorate your own paper doll with Indian accessories, jewelry, and fashion. Choose from a wide range of clothing each with different styles and appearances as well as their own unique historical and cultural significance and role. Show your creative side while you see how art beautifully interacts with culture.
Enjoy authentic Indian chai tea as you sample some delicious spiced nuts made by Ayurvedic nutritionist and practitioner Sapna Punjabi-Gupta. Learn about the qualities and benefits of these tasty snacks with a short lecture about them, and take pleasure in an opportunity to view a traditional Indian tea set, tray, and cart. Also, taste authentic Indian biscuits, called "Parle-G", commonly served with tea.
The Taj Mahal is widely recognized as the jewel of Muslim art in India and is considered one of the architectural masterpieces of the world! Take a photo on a custom backdrop commemorating your fantasy visit there.
Located in Dallas, the Nruthya Shakti Dance Academy teaches students traditional Indian folk dances as well as more contemporary forms and fusion. Characterized by graceful movements and incredible finesse, Indian dance is a unique blend of different cultures, histories, and arts. Enjoy this beautiful display as they perform two different segments of popular Indian dance styles.
Visit the newly re-opened and larger location of our Lotus Shop and enjoy champagne from 6 pm to 9 pm as you browse the wide variety of art materials, books, décor, fashion accessories, gifts, kid's items, and more. Also, don't forget to check out the exquisite collection of beautiful jewelry by Mona Jain for sale exclusively at the Lotus Shop!


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Qiagen NV (QGEN): Hedge Funds Are Bearish and Insiders Are Undecided, What Should You Do?
Published on September 17, 2013 at 7:27 pm by Amin Lalani in News
What's a smart Qiagen NV (NASDAQ:QGEN) investor to do?
To many market players, hedge funds are viewed as delayed, old investment vehicles of a period lost to current times. Although there are more than 8,000 hedge funds trading currently, this site looks at the top tier of this group, close to 525 funds. Analysts calculate that this group has its hands on the majority of the hedge fund industry's total capital, and by keeping an eye on their highest performing investments, we've determined a number of investment strategies that have historically outpaced the S&P 500. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points a year for a decade in our back tests, and since we've started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outperformed the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (see all of our picks from August).
Just as crucial, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to analyze the investments you're interested in. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of motivations for a bullish insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if shareholders understand where to look (learn more here).
Furthermore, it's important to discuss the newest info about Qiagen NV (NASDAQ:QGEN).
How are hedge funds trading Qiagen NV (NASDAQ:QGEN)?
At Q2's end, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -15% from the first quarter. With hedge funds' capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.
When using filings from the hedgies we track, Platinum Asset Management, managed by Kerr Neilson, holds the biggest position in Qiagen NV (NASDAQ:QGEN). Platinum Asset Management has a $47 million position in the stock, comprising 0.9% of its 13F portfolio. On Platinum Asset Management's heels is Noam Gottesman of GLG Partners, with a $20.3 million position; 0.8% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining peers with similar optimism include Donald Chiboucis's Columbus Circle Investors, Jim Simons's Renaissance Technologies and Jacob Gottlieb's Visium Asset Management.
As Qiagen NV (NASDAQ:QGEN) has experienced a fall in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it's safe to say that there was a specific group of money managers who sold off their entire stakes at the end of the second quarter. Intriguingly, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell's Arrowstreet Capital cut the biggest investment of the 450+ funds we track, totaling an estimated $3 million in stock. Ken Griffin's fund, Citadel Investment Group, also said goodbye to its stock, about $2.4 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds at the end of the second quarter.
How are insiders trading Qiagen NV (NASDAQ:QGEN)?
Legal insider trading, particularly when it's bullish, is at its handiest when the company in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Qiagen NV (NASDAQ:QGEN) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We'll also review the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Qiagen NV (NASDAQ:QGEN). These stocks are National Technical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTSC), National Research Corporation (NASDAQ:NRCI), Forrester Research, Inc. (NASDAQ:FORR), Acacia Research Corporation (NASDAQ:ACTG), and Myriad Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MYGN). This group of stocks are in the research services industry and their market caps are similar to QGEN's market cap.
Acacia Research Corporation (ACTG)Arrowstreet CapitalBruce ClarkeCitadel Investment GroupColumbus Circle InvestorsDonald ChiboucisForrester Research Inc (FORR)GLG PartnersJacob GottliebJim SimonsJohn CampbellKen GriffinKerr NeilsonMyriad Genetics Inc (MYGN)NASDAQ:ACTGNASDAQ:FORRNASDAQ:MYGNNASDAQ:NRCINASDAQ:NTSCNASDAQ:QGENNational Research Corporation (NRCI)National Technical Systems Inc. (NTSC)NewsfeedNoam GottesmanPeter RathjensPlatinum Asset ManagementQiagen NV (QGEN)Renaissance TechnologiesVisium Asset ManagementShow more...Show less
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I did my Phd with Victoria University on Little Penguins. I measured metal concentrations in blood, feathers and faeces of penguins from the urban colony at St Kilda, as well as more remote places like Phillip Island and Notch Island. I found that Little Penguins have a great potential to be accurate bioindicators for the health of Port Phillip Bay. Previous to my PhD, I studied fur seal foraging ecology and diet composition at LaTrobe University. Basically, I washed seal pooh, somebody has got to do that :-) Currently, I am working with community groups, industry and all levels of government to find ways to effectively reduce plastic pollution impacts on the environment, as well as furthering my research as an adjunct fellow with Victoria University.
Annett Finger has been a guest on 1 episode.