1) Capital Float founded by Gaurav Hinduja and Sashank Rishyasringa: Bengaluru-based online lending platform for SMEs Capital Float secured $2.3 million led by Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services. The funds have been raised against the allotment of non-convertible debentures (NCDs).
2) HackerEarth founded by Sachin Gupta and Vivek Prakash: Bengaluru-based professional talent management startup HackerEarth secured $4.5 million in an equity financing round from US-based DHI Group Inc. along with BEENEXT, BEENOS, Digital Garage, BizReach, and Prime Venture Partners also participating in the round. The startup will deploy the raised funds to strengthen product team and for international expansion.
3) Lendingkart Group founded by Harshvardhan Lunia and Mukul Sachan: Ahmedabad-headquartered fintech startup Lendingkart Group secured $4.65 million in the form of non-convertible debentures from alternative asset management firm Anicut Capital. The company will utilize the freshly raised capital to strengthen lending operations of its subsidiary NBFC, Lendingkart Finance Limited.
4) Ninjacart founded by Thirukumaran Nagarajan, Vasudevan Chinnathambi, Kartheeswaran K K, Sachin Jose and Sharath Loganathan: Bengaluru-based B2B agri-marketing platform Ninjacart raised $5.5 million led by Accel Partners, Nandan Nilekani's NRJN Trust, Mistletoe, Qualcomm Ventures, and M&S Partners. The startup will use the newly raised funding to expand its team and invest in supply chain automation, technology and data science.
5) Clovia founded by Neha Kant, Pankaj Vermani, Suman Choudhry: Noida-based online lingerie retailer Clovia secured $4 million in an extended Series A funding round led by Singularity Ventures and former BCCL CEO Ravi Dhariwal. The raised funds will be deployed for marketing, expanding sales channels, and to boost product and technology development.
6) SafetyKart founded by Vikas Bagaria: Gurugram-based Redcliffe Capital invested an undisclosed amount in SafetyKart Retail against a 10% stake and its private label brand and product PeeSafe. With this deal, PeeSafe has also been moved to a newly founded entity Redcliffe Hygiene Pvt. Ltd.
7) Omnify founded by Manik Mehta and Kabandi Saikia: Bengaluru- and California-based SaaS platform for SMEs, Omnify raised $150K from Rajan Anandan (VP, Southeast Asia and India, Google), L.D Sharma (CEO, Shoogloo Group and MD, Optimise Media Group, India), and Saurabh Arora (founder and CEO, Airwoot). The round also saw participation from a few investors via LetsVenture's platform. The startup will use the infused funds to develop its technology for small businesses.
8) MergerWare founded by Dharmendra Singh: Software solutions provider for post-merger and acquisition integration MergerWare secured $100K from Philippe Bouchet, former Vice President at Schneider Electric. The company will utilize the new capital for global expansion plans.
9) Squad founded by Apurv Agrawal, Kanika Jain and Vikas Gulati: Delhi-based Squad (earlier known as SquadRun) raised $2.1 million funding led by Blume Ventures, Contrarian Capital, 91springboard, Emergent Ventures, Abstract Ventures, Anthill Ventures, Axilor Ventures, angel investors Gokul Rajaram (Product Engineering Lead at Square) and Shamik Sharma (Senior Technology Advisor at Myntra). The funds will be utilized to expand its technology, product, and data teams in India and the sales team in the US.
10) Emiza Inc founded by Ajay Rao and Rajesh Sharma: Supply chain management and logistics startup Emiza Inc raised $4.5 million in a funding round from US-based VC firm Mayfield. The round also saw participation from Nishant Rao, Global COO at Freshdesk & Chairman, IAMAI and Dileep Nath, MD Aaroha Pte. Ltd. The investment has been facilitated by Mayfield's India- focussed fund, Mayfield India II. The infused funds will be used by the startup to enhance its technological base and acquire talent for its senior leadership team.
11) Kiji Foods founded by Vaibhav Sinha: Bengaluru-based, tech-driven FMCG startup Kiji Foods secured an angel round of $470K from HealthcareMagic co-founders Kunal Sinha and Shekhar Sahu. The startup has launched its first product 'Fit-0-slim' in the market six months ago.
12) TinMen founded by Mukesh Manda: Hyderabad-based food delivery startup TinMen secured an undisclosed amount of funding from MAPE Advisory Group, Sify co-founder R Ramaraj and Corvus Ventures along with existing investors. The startup will deploy the funds for marketing, team-building, and expansion to other cities.
13) SportsFlashes founded by Raman Raheja: Delhi-based sports content app Sports Flashes raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Sushil Kumar, the wrestler and Olympic medalist and Sandeep Singh of Global Edusports Ventures. The startup will utilize the funds for marketing and expansion of operations.
14) ScoutMyTrip founded by Deepak Ananth and Vineet Rajan: ScoutMyTrip Pvt. Ltd, which runs road-trip planning startup ScoutMyTrip, secured an undisclosed amount in seed funding from co-working space and accelerator Z Nation Lab. The startup will deploy the funds to expand the team and develop sales and marketing strategies.
15) WeAreHolidays founded by Deepak Wadhwa, Harkirat Singh and Mohit Piplani: NCR-based holiday planning startup WeAreHolidays raised $7.7 million in its Series B round of funding from Urrshila Kerkar, founder and promoter of Cox & Kings, against 50% stake in the company. The funding will be deployed to relaunch WeAreHolidays' app on the Android and iOS and to develop the company's social media-driven approach to travel.
16) Simulanis founded by Raman Talwar: Delhi-based e-learning and skills development startup Simulanis raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Village Capital. A consortium of angel investors including Pawanjit Ahluwalia (Chairman, India Skills), Apurva Chamaria (VP and Head – Corporate Marketing, HCL Technologies) and Mridul Upreti (CEO, Segregated Funds Group – Jones Lang LaSalle) also contributed in the current funding round. The company will use the raised funds to expand its sales team in the pharma and automotive sector while exploring other domains such as industrial goods.


Jeff Gramm's book, Dear Chairman: Boardroom Battles and the Rise of Shareholder Activism, has been featured on the site before and we reviewed it here.
We wanted to let everyone know that Gramm has generously made the chapter about Third Point's Dan Loeb available for free. The chapter is entitled: Daniel Loeb and Hedge Fund Activism: The Shame Game. This was one of our favorite parts of the book so if you haven't read it yet, check it out.
You can download a .pdf copy of the free chapter on the book's website here.
And if you haven't already, definitely be sure to pick up a copy of Dear Chairman.


PALOMINO VALLEY, Nev. — President Donald Trump's budget proposal calls for saving $10 million next year by selling wild horses captured throughout the U.S. West without the requirement that buyers guarantee the animals won't be resold for slaughter.
Wild-horse advocates say the change would gut nearly a half-century of protection for an icon of the American West and could send thousands of free-roaming mustangs to foreign slaughterhouses for processing as food.
They say the Trump administration is kowtowing to livestock interests who don't want the region's estimated 59,000 mustangs competing for precious forage across more than 40,000 square miles (103,600 square kilometers) of rangeland in 10 states managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
The budget proposal marks the latest skirmish in the decades-old controversy pitting ranchers and rural communities against groups that want to protect the horses from Colorado to California.
"This is simply a way to placate a very well-funded and vocal livestock lobby," Laura Leigh, president of the nonprofit protection group Wild Horse Education, said about the plan.
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association and other interests have been urging the BLM for years to allow sales of wild horses for slaughter to free up room in overcrowded government corrals for the capture of more animals.
Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama also grappled with the spiraling costs of managing the nearly 60,000 horses on the range and 45,000 others in U.S. holding pens and contracted private pastures.
Over the past eight years, the BLM's wild-horse budget has more than doubled — from $36.2 million in 2008 to $80.4 million in 2017.
Trump's proposal anticipates the $10 million savings would come through a reduction in the cost of containing and feeding the animals. The savings also would include cutbacks involving roundups and contraception programs.
The 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act allows older, unadoptable animals to be sold. But for years, Congress has approved budget language specifically outlawing the sale of any wild horses for slaughter.
A year ago, then-BLM Director Neil Kornze said the horses represented a $1 billion budget problem for his agency because it costs $50 million to round up and house every 10,000 horses over their lifetime.
Still, he said the agency had no intention of reversing the long-standing policy.
The BLM rounded up more than 7,000 horses in 2012, but only about 3,000 in each of the past two years due primarily to budget constraints.
As of March, the BLM estimated that more than half the horses roaming the range — 34,780 — were in Nevada. An additional 13,191 burros were on the range — about half in Arizona.
The BLM asserts that U.S. rangeland can sustain fewer than 27,000 horses and burros.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said Trump's budget proposal was shocking.
"Wild horses can and should be humanely managed on-range using simple fertility control, yet the BLM would rather make these innocent animals pay for draconian budget cuts with their very lives," ASPCA President Matt Bershadker said.
Suzanne Roy, executive director of the American Wild Horse Campaign, said the plan could put the horses on the brink of extinction.
"America can't be great if these national symbols of freedom are destroyed," she said.


I'm very excited to finally have this model finished. I have been working on and off on this project for quite some time now, trying out various ideas and trying to get the right parts for the conversion. There were times when I doubted my own ability to pull this off or struggled to get him to look the way I imagined him and more than once I set him aside to work on other projects.
I have always been inspired by the so-called Inq28 movement (aka 'Inquisimunda')* which has been around on forums for a while now and the 'Blanchitsu' series of articles in White Dwarf and Warhammer: Visions and wanted to make my own Inquisitorial warband in a similar spirit. Those of you who have been in the hobby a while may also recognise the other obvious inspiration for this piece: the 54mm Inquisitor Covenant model from 2001. This isn't an attempt to replicate the original model exactly but is rather done in a similar spirit.
Although I have been in the hobby for 20 years, converting and sculpting are two things that I have not really done much of over the years and so this project was an opportunity to try out new things and really push myself in those areas. This model is a fairly basic kitbash based around a Warhammer Chaos Sorcerer with a Space Marine torso. The hood is sculpted on with greenstuff.
The arms were a bit of a problem and show the difficulty I had in sourcing some of the parts. Originally I was planning on using Space Marine scout arms as they have sleeves rather than armour and the gloves are a close match for Covenant's gloves on the original model. However, I couldn't get them to look right holding a sword and so I tried him holding a shotgun but that didn't look right either. In the end I settled on a pair of Grey Knight arms with the stormbolter clipped away and replaced with a small shield. In game terms this will be some kind of force field generator. Initially, I was worried that this would make him look too much like a Space Marine but I think the paint job prevents that.
Below is a work-in-progress photo which should help you see which parts I've used.
The backpack is an old metal piece taken from a Space Wolf Scout. It works well and the scanner helps to balance the huge sword on the other side. I did toy with the idea of a shoulder-mounted MIU weapon like on Inquisitor Covenant but couldn't make this look convincing. However, I think the backpack helps to maintain the silhouette of the original model.
Once the basic shape of the model was established the rest was just adding details like a book, a holstered pistol and some pouches before painting. For the colour scheme I again followed the original model with black robes (highlighted up through Dark Reaper and Thunderhawk Blue) and red armour (shaded with purple and blue washes and glazed with reds). I then added a freehand Inquisition symbol like the one found on Covenant's trenchcoat. I think this really is the focal point for this model and stops the lower half looking too plain and boring.
One thing that I tried on this model was using gloss varnish over metalics. I think this works really well as it helps to harmonise the different colours used stops the matte effect that you can get from using washes and glazes over metallics. It also gives the metal a very shiny look. The sword blade is perhaps the best example of this.
Finally, I wanted to recreate the rusty orange bases seen on some of the original Inquisitor models. To do this I spread thin plastic glue over the base right up to the edges. I then stuck on a piece of textured plasticard and left this to dry with a book on top to ensure it dried flush to the base. When this was done I trimmed the plasticard to fit the base and filed the edges and filled any gaps with Milliput.
The base was painted Skrag Brown, washed with Reikland Fleshshade before being drybrushed Skrag Brown, Jokaero Orange and finally Chainmail. This gives a nice warm orange/brown look which is very different to any other bases I've done before. I also think it complements the red on the model nicely.
On a personal note, it was nice to spend time painting a single character model after weeks of painting large numbers of infantry at Warhammer World. During my time in Nottingham, I also converted a number of Imperial agents some of which will form his retinue and others who will be part of other warbands. I will cover these conversions in my next blog post.
As always, if you have any questions about how I went about painting the model or any other general comments I'd love to hear from you. Drop my a line below and I will try and get back to you.
*Edit – I have just been informed that Inq28 and Inquisimunda are two different games systems used for playing out battles between warbands. I will have to investigate further.
The motif on the robe turns it from something great into something sublime. Really great.
The robe really makes this piece. I agree with sho3box. It just gives him this wonderful feel of utter brutality and high station.
Oh man, that is really really nice! Love the conversion – great pose, and a cracking paint job to boot. Love it!
Bang tidy work here mate. I'm a big fan of INQ28, and this is exemplary. Where did you find that plasticard?
Thanks for the comments. It's great to hear so people being so positive about a model which really was a step out of my comfort zone.
I like his stance. Great job with the model mate especially the painting. I really like the highlighting you've done. 10 points to you!!
Superb work! I'm a massive Inquisitor fan and this piece is a great tribute to that epic game, well done sir!
Where did you get the checker plate from?
On the base? See my earlier comment.


The mission of 800-777-CLUB,Inc. is to represent the needs and support the growth of all Asian-Americans by providing benefits and opportunities to enhance their personal and professional lifestyles.
Marty Shih is the founder of 800-777-CLUB, Inc. A recent immigrant from Taiwan who arrived here with a mere $500 and limited English, Marty Shih realized his American dream and evidenced that America is indeed the land of opportunity. From a street flower stand, to one of the largest floral franchise chains, and now the largest Asian-American owned telecommunications company, Marty Shih has been successfully advancing and carrying on his entrepreneurial spirit and his philosophy of "Think Big, aim high, and have passion, have dreams" to everything he has done .
The Information Age is coming. Information will be leading the progress of the local and global economy.
Asian-Americans will represent a major purchasing power in the United States.
The company is committed to meet the needs of the Asian-American community with the highest quality products and services at the most affordable prices through channels of innovative technologies. Representing Asian-Americans since its inception, 800-777-CLUB, Inc. has been consolidating the power of Asian-Americans, striving to break through language and cultural barriers and unleash the potential of the Asian-American. Meanwhile, 800-777-CLUB, Inc. serves as an ambassador and functions as a catalyst in bridging the mainstream community and the Asian community for the well-being of the community as a whole. Products and services provided by 800-777-CLUB, Inc. and its affiliate include long-distance telephone services, telemarketing services, human resource management, financial services and insurance products, telecommunications equipment sales and services, international trade, database management, Internet services, and association membership services throughout the United States.
Through the years, 800-777-CLUB, Inc. has been recognized as a pioneering and visionary leader within the Asian business community especially as it pertains to the information and telecommunications industry. The Board of Directors promotes initiative, creativity, and innovation, and encourages employees and associates to think and act courageously without fear of the unknown. The management and employees of 800-777-CLUB, Inc. believe that to err is better than not to err; to risk is safer than not to risk. Marching ahead in the Information Age, 800-777-CLUB, Inc. will keep its business focus on bridging the east and the west, enhancing the lifestyle and quality of life for all Asians, and expanding the company with a diversified business development approach. Building upon its accomplishments, 800-777-CLUB, Inc. is now plotting out other ventures for the further growth and prosperity of the company and the community.


text:
Motoring Industry Calls for Rethink over Plug-In Grant Cuts
The Government seems somewhat short-sighted in aiming towards new cars on our roads having ultra-low emissions
Last week the Government announced it was tightening its purse strings when it comes to motorists going green. As of November 10th, you'll only be granted £3,500 in government funds off a pure EV, that's £1,000 less than what you'd get right now.
The OLEV scheme has always been used as an incentive, to bring zero and low emission vehicles into the realm of affordability for average Joe motorist. It effectively nullified the premium price of EV's and bought them in line with range-topping diesels.
Suddenly a VW e-Golf costs £28k not £33k. While it's still a lot of money, you might consider it instead of a GTD as it now falls within your budget. The grant is a superb way to incentivise people who normally wouldn't dream of going electric. That goes for plug-in hybrids too. Sadly, they've got an even worse deal.
These new changes mean that vehicles emitting less than 50g/km of CO₂ with a zero-emission range of 10-69 miles aren't eligible for any funding. The same goes for cars that produce 50-75 g/km of CO₂ and can drive at least 20 miles on battery power. That means all plug-in hybrids lose their £2,500 grant; these cars are arguably the stepping stone before the eventual switch to full-blown EV's. This loss will no doubt impact plug-in hybrid sales in a big way.
Although these cuts will happen at precisely 23:59 on November 9th there's ultimately going to be an order race with people bringing forward the purchase of their next car to take advantage of the current higher grant rate.
To counter this predicted surge, the Government have set secretive limits during the 'transition period' that only they know of. If demand is that great and the limits are reached then the new grant rate will take effect the next working day, sneaky.
OLEV have released some figures showing that since the announcement there have been roughly 1,064 PHEV's and EV's ordered every single day. Compare that to the whole of last year, and the average sales for both pale in comparison at just 329 per day. That's over three times as many being sold in the previous week alone.
If you already have a car ordered and the dealer has filed the correct OLEV paperwork, you'll get the grant. However, your vehicle must be delivered within nine months of the order being submitted.
Another relief is that the EVHS or Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme which pays £500 towards a charger being installed at your home isn't changing.
It also doesn't hit you if you're planning to purchase a plug-in van, taxi or motorbike.
Sadly the cuts mean there will be fewer greener vehicles on our road, which is terrible for everyone. It seems somewhat short-sighted by the Government, especially when they're aiming towards their target of over half the new cars on our roads being ultra-low emission by 2030. This 'Road to Zero' doctrine was only launched in July this year.
It's also started to worry the industry that this is a slippery slope to the ending of the grant altogether, which would be disastrous for both manufacturers and the countries CO2 reduction targets. As the Society of Motor Manufacturers commented, Denmark removed a similar scheme and EV sales dropped by a massive 73% the following year.
While it's clear the Government don't have endless amounts of our money to keep dishing out, some things are a worthy cause. The OLEV grant changes people's minds and opens their purchasing decision to consider that plug-in hybrid, or to go fully electric. Without it, low emission vehicles will just become an overpriced white elephant that languishes at the back of the showroom gathering dust.
It's possible a U-turn will happen in the future, or instead of eating humble pie the Government will come out with a new-fangled grant that differs ever so slightly to the original so that they don't look as though they're backtracking. Fingers crossed they have a big rethink on this one.
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Article Author Adam Tudor-Lane
posted Thu, 18 Oct 2018
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
A powerful hybrid approach to select top single-nucleotide polymorphisms for genome-wide association study
Jian Wang1 &
Sanjay Shete1
Genome-wide association (GWA) study has recently become a powerful approach for detecting genetic variants for common diseases without prior knowledge of the variant's location or function. Generally, in GWA studies, the most significant single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with top-ranked p values are selected in stage one, with follow-up in stage two. The value of selecting SNPs based on statistically significant p values is obvious. However, when minor allele frequencies (MAFs) are relatively low, less-significant p values can still correspond to higher odds ratios (ORs), which might be more useful for prediction of disease status. Therefore, if SNPs are selected using an approach based only on significant p values, some important genetic variants might be missed. We proposed a hybrid approach for selecting candidate SNPs from the discovery stage of GWA study, based on both p values and ORs, and conducted a simulation study to demonstrate the performance of our approach.
The simulation results showed that our hybrid ranking approach was more powerful than the existing ranked p value approach for identifying relatively less-common SNPs. Meanwhile, the type I error probabilities of the hybrid approach is well-controlled at the end of the second stage of the two-stage GWA study.
In GWA studies, SNPs should be considered for inclusion based not only on ranked p values but also on ranked ORs.
Genome-wide association (GWA) study has recently become a powerful approach for detecting genetic variants for common diseases without prior knowledge of the variant's location or function [1–4]. Currently, almost all the GWA studies are conducted in two stages: certain numbers (10-50) of the most significant single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with top-ranked p values are selected in stage one, and follow-up is performed in stage two.
This two-stage approach has been widely used and has successfully identified SNPs with novel susceptibility for different complex diseases such as lung [5–7], prostate [8–11], and breast cancers [12–15]; glioma [16, 17]; and type 2 diabetes [18–24]. The published GWA studies showed that in different studies, different numbers of the most significant SNPs were selected at stage one for follow-up. For example, in the GWA study of lung cancer, 10 top-ranked SNPs were selected in stage one [5], whereas in the GWA study of type 2 diabetes, 59 SNPs were selected in stage one [21]. While the p value can indicate when the association of an SNP with a disease is statistically significant, it does not consider the associated odds ratio (OR). The rationale for using OR as a selection criterion is that when minor allele frequencies (MAFs) of causal SNPs are relatively low, much less-significant p values would be observed, even if they could correspond to higher ORs, which might be more useful for prediction of disease status; nevertheless, the less significant p value may limit the inclusion of these significant variants in a replication study. Therefore, selecting a certain number of significant SNPs only based on p values might overlook some important genetic variants that could have an even greater effect on the disease causation.
In this paper, we proposed a hybrid approach for selecting candidate SNPs from stage one of a GWA study that is based on both ranked p values and ranked ORs. Based on simulation studies, the power comparison results showed that our hybrid ranking approach was more powerful than the existing ranked p value approach for identifying relatively less-common SNPs. We performed additional simulation studies to investigate the type I error probabilities of the proposed hybrid approach, and found that the type I errors are well-controlled at the end of second stage of the two-stage GWA study.
For the hybrid approach proposed in this paper, ORs are considered in addition to p values when selecting SNPs in stage one. For stage one, we selected a set of SNPs: half were selected based on ranked p values, and the other half were selected based on ranked ORs.
To demonstrate the increased power of our proposed hybrid approach, we performed a simulation study. We assumed two independent disease-causing loci: D1 and D2. At locus D1, we set the MAF at 10%, and at locus D2, the MAF was set at 40%. Furthermore, we assumed that there were two marker loci, M1 and M2, which were associated with two disease-causing loci, D1 and D2, respectively. MAFs of markers M1 and M2 were also set at 10% and 40%, respectively. The disease loci and their corresponding marker loci were assumed to be in high linkage disequilibrium (LD, r2= 0.8). For all the SNPs, we used (0, 1, 2) to denote the three genotypes, where the values corresponded to the number of copies of the deleterious allele. This coding assumed an additive model, but different coding for representing a dominant or recessive model could have also been used. Our proposed hybrid approach was not restricted to an additive model. We defined a categorical random variable, Y = (0, 1), to indicate the case-control status: 0 represented individuals in the controls and 1 represented individuals in the cases. We used the logistic model defined below to simulate data.
Logit ( P ( Y = 1 ) ) = β 0 + β 1 D 1 + β 2 D 2 .
For the purpose of our study, we chose different ORs for different loci. At locus D1, the OR was set as 1.8 ( β1 = 0.5878), and at locus D2, the OR was set as 1.5 ( β2 = 0.4055). β0 was fixed as a constant 2. Since the markers M1 and M2 were not directly associated with the disease of interest, they were not included in the logistic model for simulation. The specific parameters for simulation studies are listed in Table 1.
Table 1 Parameters for Simulation under Alternative Hypothesis
In stage one, we first simulated genotypes for the disease-causing loci D1 and D2 for each individual. Given the dataset of realizations of SNPs D1 and D2, we randomly generated a disease status for each individual using the logistic model above. Then, conditioned on data of D1, genotypes for marker locus M1 were simulated using the r2value of 0.8. Similarly, genotypes for marker M2 were simulated conditioned on data of D2 with the same r2value. Because the markers M1 and M2 were in high LD with the disease loci D1 and D2, respectively, they were also associated with the simulated disease. In this way, we simulated a large amount of data for the population of interest and then randomly sampled 1,000 disease-related cases along with 1,000 normal controls from this population. In this study, unless otherwise specified, we employed logistic regression to obtain ORs and used Wald's test to assess significance.
To investigate the power for each SNP to be selected in stage one and followed up in stage two, we generated 1,000,000 replicates of a single SNP under the null hypothesis of no association between the SNP and the disease, each replicate with 1,000 cases and 1,000 controls. To mimic realistic patterns of LD, we applied a forward-time population simulation software program (genomeSIMLA) to generate the 1,000,000 unassociated SNPs [25]. We used information about markers on human chromosome 2, including rs numbers, allele frequencies, recombination fractions, and positions, to seed the initial population. The initial population was then advanced through 1,000 generations of mating to create a pool of individuals. The case and control status for individuals was assigned based on a penetrance function assuming one disease-causal SNP. We then randomly permuted the case-control statuses of individuals to break the association between the SNP and disease of interest. Therefore, all the SNPs simulated were unassociated with the disease of interest. The p values and ORs of all simulated markers were evaluated using PLINK [26]. For the purpose of our simulation, we considered markers with a range of MAFs (10%~40%) that covered the MAFs defined for the disease loci. The p values and ORs obtained under the null hypothesis were used to determine the thresholds for selecting SNPs in stage one. We studied different selections of 10, 20, 30, and 40 SNPs in stage one to follow up on in stage two. Basically, we ranked the 1,000,000 SNPs with respect to p values as well as OR values. If investigators decided to select the top 20 SNPs in stage one using the existing ranked p-value approach, the top 20th-ranked p value out of the 1,000,000 p values would be the threshold for selection, and the SNPs in stage one with more significant p values than the threshold would be forwarded to stage two. Using our proposed hybrid approach, two thresholds for selection were considered. One threshold was the top 10th-ranked p value, and the other was the top 10th-ranked OR value. In order to take into account potential overlapping of the sets of top 10 p-value-based SNPs and top 10 OR-based SNPs, we would first pick SNPs based on p value threshold and then pick additional SNPs based on the OR threshold. The SNPs we selected in stage one either had more significant p values than the p value threshold or had larger OR values than the OR threshold. The reason for selecting 10 OR-based SNPs and 10 p-value-based SNPs was to have the same number (20) of total top SNPs carried over to stage two.
Further, we investigated what percentage of the SNPs could reach a genome-wide threshold for declaring significance. Therefore, for each replicate selected in stage one, we simulated independently another 1,000 cases and 1,000 controls using the same simulation approach and the same parameters. We then employed a joint analysis using fixed indicators for stages one and two, as joint analysis of two stages is efficient and always results in increased power to detect genetic variants [27]. For each pair of corresponding replicates from stages one and two, data from both stages were pooled into one data set. We assumed that the data from different stages were from possibly different sites. Therefore, in order to control for the possible confounding effects of sites, we used (1, 2) to denote the indicator for each stage, with 1 representing stage one and 2 representing stage two. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was applied to the SNP and the stage indicator, and the significance was estimated using Wald's test. All results were based on 1,000 replicates.
We performed additional simulations to examine the type I error probabilities of the proposed hybrid approach under the null hypothesis of no association between SNPs and disease. We assumed that there were two marker loci, M1 and M2, that were not associated with the disease of interest, with MAFs similar to that used in the power studies. We applied the same software, genomeSIMLA [25], to generate the unassociated SNPs. We initialized the population with small ranges of MAFs. We simulated 10,000,000 replicates each with 1,000 cases and 1,000 controls. The case-control status was assigned at random, independent of the markers, so that markers were unassociated with the disease status. As in the power comparison studies, the same sets of p values and ORs of 1,000,000 replicates of a single SNP under the null hypothesis were employed to determine the thresholds for selecting SNPs in stage one to follow up. Similarly, for each replicate selected in stage one, we independently simulated another replicate using the same simulation approach and same parameters and performed a joint analysis using data from both stages.
Table 2 lists the resulting medians of negative logarithm to base 10 of the p values and ORs based on 1,000 replicates generated in stage one. The medians of OR estimators for the disease-causing loci D1 and D2 were 1.8016 and 1.4973, respectively, which had good agreement with the ORs used to generate the data sets (1.8 and 1.5). The results for D1 and D2 were only reported for comparison purposes. In real GWA studies, the causal SNPs might not be genotyped. Most of the real markers studied are probably in LD with the causal SNPs and, therefore, are associated with the disease of interest, such as the markers M1 and M2 in our simulation study. In stage two, we assumed that D1 and D2 were not observed, and therefore, we focused only on the study of two markers. The associated markers generally show lower ORs than those of the actual causal SNPs because of the imperfect LD (r2= 0.8). Therefore, it is not surprising to see that the medians of the OR estimators of markers M1 and M2 were smaller than the medians of the corresponding disease loci. As discussed previously, when MAFs of disease-causing SNPs are relatively low, p values would be less significant, even if the corresponding ORs are much higher. This situation applies to the following case. Marker M1 (MAF = 10%) was associated with a higher OR (OR = 1.6777) but with a less-significant p value (-Log10 of p value = 4.9597); whereas M2 (MAF = 40%) had a lower OR (OR = 1.4323) but a much more significant p value (-Log10 of p value = 7.1542). Therefore, ranking SNPs based only on p values will have less power for marker M1 to be included in stage two, even though it has a higher OR and is potentially more useful for making predictions of disease status.
Table 2 Medians of Significance and Odds Ratios in Stage One Based on 1,000 Replicates
Power comparisons
We reported the powers for each SNP to be selected in stage one in Table 3. We considered ranges of SNPs selected in stage one (10 to 40). The results in Table 3 are grouped into two panels with respect to two different ranking approaches. For example, if an investigator decided to select 20 SNPs (2nd row in Table 3) in stage one using the existing ranked p-value approach, marker M1 would be selected for follow-up in 579 out of 1,000 replicates, and marker M2 would be selected in 909 out of 1,000 replicates; power to select marker M1 would be 57.9%, and power to select marker M2 would be 90.9%. However, using our hybrid approach of selecting top SNPs (10 SNPs based on ranked p values and 10 based on ranked ORs) resulted in powers of 89.9% and 87.0% for selecting markers M1 and M2, respectively. Compared with the existing ranked p-value approach, our proposed hybrid approach was more powerful for selecting marker M1, without losing much power for selecting M2, in stage one. Considering the above example, power gain for selecting marker M1 was 32.0%, whereas power loss for selecting marker M2 was only 3.9%.
Table 3 Power to Select Top Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms in Stage One for Replication Based on 1,000 Replicates
Even though our approach increased power to select marker M1 for follow-up in stage two, we wanted to test what percentage of these SNPs could reach a genome-wide threshold for declaring significance. Therefore, for each replicate selected in stage one, we simulated independently another 1,000 cases and 1,000 controls using the same simulation approach and the same parameters. We then employed a joint analysis using fixed indicators for stages one and two (see Methods section). The power comparisons and medians of ORs for the joint analysis are shown in Table 4. The results are arranged into two panels according to use of the existing p-value-based ranking approach and use of our proposed hybrid ranking approach. The p values and ORs were estimated based on the joint analysis from both stages.
Table 4 Median Odds Ratios and Powers in Joint Analysis (Stage One and Stage Two Combined)
As expected, all of the p values from the joint analysis were much more significant than those from stage one. We used a genome-wide threshold p value of 1.7 × 10-7[27] for declaring the significance of the SNPs. Our proposed hybrid approach for GWA study gained considerable power for marker M1 over that of the existing ranked p-value approach. For instance, when the number of selections in stage one was 20, the observed powers were 56.3% and 90.9% for selecting markers M1 and M2, respectively, using the existing ranked p-value approach; when our proposed hybrid approach was used, however, the observed powers were 80.0% and 87.0% for selecting M1 and M2, respectively. Even when 40 SNPs were selected for follow-up, we still observed a 20.6% increase in power for selecting marker M1 with loss of about 2% power for selecting marker M2.
In addition, we also investigated power of selecting both markers loci (M1 and M2) simultaneously. The power results are reported in Table 5, which are organized into two panels with respect to stage one and joint analysis. In the joint analysis, the powers for selecting both markers were decided by the genome-wide significance as before. The results in Table 5 showed that the hybrid ranking approach has higher power to select both markers M1 and M2. For example, if 20 SNPs were selected in stage one, the observed powers for selecting both markers were 52.3% and 78.2%, respectively, for using the p-value-based approach and the hybrid approach. In joint analysis, the observed powers for selecting both markers were 50.5% and 70.4% for the two different ranking approaches, respectively, and the proposed hybrid approach gained 19.9% increase in power.
Table 5 Power to Select Both SNPs (M1 and M2) in Stage One and in Joint Analysis (Stage One and Stage Two Combined)
Type I error estimate
Based on 10,000,000 replicates for each marker locus, we first estimated the percentages of replicates of unassociated SNPs selected for follow-up in stage two. If 10 SNPs were selected in stage one, using the hybrid approach, marker M1 would be selected for follow-up in 4,365 of 10,000,000 replicates, and marker M2 would be selected in 58 of 10,000,000 replicates. When the standard ranked p-value approach was applied, marker M1 would be selected for follow-up in 143 of 10,000,000 replicates and marker M2 would be selected in 111 of 10,000,000 replicates. If 20, 30, and 40 SNPs were selected in stage one, using the hybrid approach, marker M1 would be selected for follow-up in 5,823, 6,736, and 7,803 replicates, respectively, and marker M2 would be selected in 111, 227 and 250 replicates, respectively. Using the standard ranked p-value-based approach, marker M1 would be selected for follow-up in 292, 401 and 511 replicates, respectively, and marker M2 would be selected in 250, 362 and 468 replicates, respectively. However, importantly, after performing the joint analysis, we found that none of the replicates that have been moved forward to the second stage could satisfy the genome-wide threshold p value of 1.7 × 10-7 for declaring significance, using either our approach or the standard approach. If we increased the threshold p value for declaring significance to 10-5, one replicate of marker M1 would be significant on the basis of both the hybrid and ranked p-value approaches. Therefore, we can conclude that the type I error rates of the proposed hybrid approach were well controlled at the end of the experiment (stage two).
In this paper, we proposed a hybrid approach to rank and select SNPs in stage one of a GWA study -- ORs are considered in addition to p values. The results from the simulation study show that the hybrid approach has an increased power for identifying the less-common genetic variants. Meanwhile, we concluded through simulation studies that the type I error rates of the hybrid approach are controlled at the end of the experiment.
In our study, we selected half of the candidate SNPs on the basis of ranked p values and the other half on the basis of ranked ORs. In reality, one could select the same or different numbers of candidate SNPs based on ranked p values and ranked ORs. For example, one could select the ranked-p-value-based SNPs using the common GWA study threshold (e.g., p value < 10-5) but select the ranked-OR-based SNPs using a less significant threshold (e.g., p value < 10-3) for follow-up in stage two. It should be noted that while ranking SNPs based on ORs, both risk and protective effect SNPs should be considered. In our study, we did not have knowledge about whether extremely large or extremely small effect size is more important; therefore, we reversed ORs corresponding to protective effect SNPs before ranking all the ORs (for ranking purposes only). In our simulation studies, we considered a range of MAFs of 10%~40%. A GWA study with 1,000 cases and 1,000 controls has adequate power to detect the SNPs with an MAF of 10% or higher. To detect variants with smaller MAFs, such as less than 5%, a larger sample size will be needed. The impact of the true OR, average LD and MAF on the power of a GWA study to detect susceptibility SNP markers is discussed in Park et al. [28]. Furthermore, these authors also provide sample sizes required for GWA studies to identify associations.
One may argue that using the ranked p values within the rare variants and ranked p values within the common variants to select candidate SNPs would lead to similar results. The obvious deficiency of this approach is the difficulty in defining a boundary for separating rare and common variants. Furthermore, even if one could define a threshold for rare and common variants (say 10%), among the set of rare (or common) variants, there will still be relatively rare variants and relatively common variants. Therefore, when only selecting top SNPs based on the ranked p values within rare variants, one may still be more likely to select the SNPs that are relatively common in the rare variants set, but miss the SNPs that are relatively rare in the rare variants set. For example, if defining SNPs with MAFs < 10% as rare variants and using the ranked p values within rare variants set, one might not be able to capture the SNP with MAF = 3% but OR = 2.5 in stage one (but select the SNP with MAF = 9% but OR = 1.5, for example), even though the OR value represents a very significant association between this SNP and the disease of interest. We had considered such an approach to our simulated data, where we defined SNPs with MAF = 10% as rare variants and SNPs with MAF = 40% as common variants. The powers for selecting both rare and common variants did not increase, however, and were almost identical to those obtained using the standard ranked-p-value approach (data not shown).
It is well known that large ORs usually correspond to rare variants, and significant p values correspond to common variants, regardless of whether or not the variants are associated with the disease of interest. In our simulation study, we actually found that this is the case, and this can further verify the rationale of our hybrid approach. Figure 1 shows the relationship between p values and ORs based on 1,500,000 null SNPs (no association with disease), where 500,000 SNPs were simulated using MAF = 6.45%, 500,000 SNPs were simulated using MAF = 10%, and 500,000 SNPs were simulated using MAF = 40%. We observed that, at the same p value levels, SNPs with MAF = 6.45% always have the largest ORs; while at the same OR levels, SNPs with MAF = 40% always have the most significant p values. In addition to the simulation study, we also investigated the expected test statistics of association tests, as well as the corresponding p values, under the alternative hypothesis. Figures 2 and 3 show the graphs of the expected test statistics and the p values, respectively, as the functions of ORs and MAFs, given a fixed sample size. The details of the expected test statistics and the assumptions are described in the Appendix. We observed that, for this specific example, when MAF = 0.4 and OR = 1.5, the expected test statistic was 4.1733 and the corresponding negative logarithm to base 10 of p value was 4.5044; when MAF = 0.1 and OR = 1.8, the expected test statistic was 2.6813 and the corresponding negative logarithm to base 10 of p value was 2.1312. Therefore, using the ranked p values approach with a threshold of 10-4, the SNP with OR = 1.8 and MAF = 0.1 would not be included in the further analysis, although it has a higher effect size; however, with the use of the hybrid ranking approach, this SNP would have a greater chance of being included in the next stage.
Odds Ratios versus p Values Based on 1,500,000 Simulated Non-Disease-Related SNPs.
The Expected Test Statistics E( T ) under the Alternative Hypothesis as a Function of Minor Allele Frequencies (MAFs, ρ ) and Odds Ratios (ORs, exp ( β )) given a Fixed Sample Size n = 2000. The expected test statistics under the alternative hypothesis were estimated using Equation (1), where we used σ = 4.6, n = 2000, and assumed an additive underlying genetic model. We observed that, when MAF = 0.4 and OR = 1.5, E(T) = 4.1733; when MAF = 0.1 and OR = 1.8, E(T) = 2.6813.
The Negative Logarithm to Base 10 of p Values under the Alternative Hypothesis as a Function of Minor Allele Frequencies (MAFs, ρ ) and Odds Ratios (ORs, exp ( β )) given a Fixed Sample Size n = 2000. The negative logarithm to base 10 of p values is corresponding to the expected test statistics in Figure 2 under the alternative hypothesis. We observed that, when MAF = 0.4 and OR = 1.5, -log10 of p value = 4.5044; when MAF = 0.1 and OR = 1.8, -log10 of p value = 2.1312.
Currently, ranked p value is used as a criterion for selecting common variants, but from Figures 1, 2, and 3, we can conclude that ranked OR should be used as an additional criterion for selecting less-common variants. These two approaches are complementary, and therefore, a hybrid approach using both ranked p value and ranked OR should be more powerful for selecting rare variants. It should be noted that the type I error is controlled in the joint analysis because the SNPs selected in stage one with the use of our hybrid ranking approach are not final, and they have to meet the GWA significance (1.7 × 10-7) in joint analysis. The results from the simulation studies confirmed this statement.
We proposed a hybrid approach for selecting candidate SNPs from the discovery stage of GWA study, based on both p values and ORs, and conducted a simulation study to demonstrate the performance of our approach. The power comparison results show that our hybrid ranking approach is more powerful than the existing ranked p value approach for identifying relatively less-common SNPs. Therefore, GWA studies should consider including SNPs based not only on ranked p values but also on ranked ORs. Furthermore, with the rapid development of sequencing techniques, much denser SNP chips with more low-MAF SNPs may be available in the near future. With these improved technologies, our hybrid ranking approach for selecting top SNPs offers a promising direction for future research in GWA studies.
Without loss of generality, we considered a simple linear regression model:
y i = β x i , i = 1 , ... n .
The hypothesis we are interested in testing is H0: β = 0 versus H1: β ≠ 0. The estimate β ∧ has the estimate variance s 2 / ∑ x i 2 , where s is its estimated standard deviation. Therefore, we can obtain the test statistics T as follows:
T = β ∧ × ∑ x i 2 / s .
Under the null hypothesis H0, T follows a t-distribution with υ = n-2 degrees of freedom, and if β ≠ 0, T has a noncentral t-distribution with υ = n-2 degrees of freedom and non-centrality parameter μ = β ∑ x i 2 / σ [29]. The expected value of the noncentral t-distribution test statistics is
E ( T ) = μ υ / 2 Γ ( ( υ − 1 ) / 2 ) Γ ( υ / 2 ) , υ > 1 ,
Where Γ (·) is the gamma function. In order to draw the graphs of the expected test statistics and the corresponding p values, we used σ = 4.6 and n = 2000, and assumed an additive genetic model. Therefore, in the above equation, the degree of freedom is υ = n-2 = 1998, and the non-centrality parameter is μ = log ( O R ) n × ( 2 ( ρ 2 + ρ ) ) / 4.6 , where ρ is the MAF, and OR is odds ratio.
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We appreciate the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful and constructive comments. This work was supported by National Institutes of Health [grant number 1R01CA131324].
Department of Epidemiology, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
Jian Wang
& Sanjay Shete
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Correspondence to Sanjay Shete.
JW performed the simulation studies and drafted the manuscript. SS conceptualized the study, provided advice and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Wang, J., Shete, S. A powerful hybrid approach to select top single-nucleotide polymorphisms for genome-wide association study. BMC Genet 12, 3 (2011) doi:10.1186/1471-2156-12-3
Rare Variant
Joint Analysis
Causal SNPs
Propose Hybrid Approach


From pop culture to news, we're all interested in what's currently trending, and the world of HR recruitment is no different. Emerging technologies, tools, and processes are changing the recruitment paradigm and forcing us to reevaluate our strategies. We all want to keep up, but changing strategies every two seconds can be in and of itself a bad strategy.
Jumping on the bandwagon just because something is trending is never the best way to go. When evaluating trends, think about whether the new approach meets your specific recruiting needs. Taking the time to really evaluate the latest developments so you can apply the ones that best fit will help you stay ahead of the recruitment game and secure the top talent your company needs to be successful.
'>Social Talent Networks. With the expansion of social media, companies are using platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to promote their brands and create a talent network where they can engage with potential candidates, as well as fans, employees, and even customers. These viral service communities connect many people to your brand and can effectively attract job-seekers.
'>Applicant Tracking Systems. Tedious though they once were, applicant tracking systems are quickly becoming easier to use and more valuable to both recruiters and candidates. Emerging ATSs that can manage the entire recruitment process are excellent data platforms for all of your recruiting and analysis needs. Through ATSs, recruiters can now do more, from conducting pre-employment testing to filtering candidates, as well as combining biometric data and proprietary algorithms to better match candidates to jobs.
'>Division of Labor. Companies are looking for more highly specialized skills in their candidates, and they've taken their search global. The competition for top talent among companies has led some to divide the talent acquisition responsibilities between recruiters, who are specialized exclusively in identifying, pursuing, and assessing potential candidates, and hiring managers, who are primarily responsible for the hiring process and work with recruiters on talent sourcing.
'>Video Resumes and Interviews. Video allows candidates to present themselves more thoroughly than any paper resume can. Through a video resume, candidates can showcase their personality much more clearly, plus they can prove that they're able to work with technology and understand its potential. For recruiters, video can cut down on the time and cost associated with recruiting by allowing them to pre-screen candidates instead of spending time on the phone or in a face-to-face interview.
'>Improved Candidate Experience. Job seekers have to jump through a lot of hoops these days to land a job. If candidates find it nearly impossible to apply for a job on your career website, or if they never hear back from a hiring manager or are treated poorly during their interview process, it reflects badly on your company. Hands-on management that improves the candidate experience has become paramount to acquiring top talent.
'>Get Mobile. Smartphones are changing the recruiting game and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Failing to have a mobile-friendly website with a full-on career page, including job applications that are easy to read and fill out on a smartphone, is basically recruitment suicide. Mobile recruitment solutions can facilitate and speed up recruitment, and are more visible to the increasing number of candidates who use their smartphones to search for jobs.
'>Assessment Science. Pre-employment assessment tests help recruiters determine which candidates have the necessary skills, knowledge, behavior, and the best cultural fit. Based on scientific studies, these tests are usually engineered using I-O psychology to assess the skills needed for each job. The increased use of pre-hiring assessment tests proves that they're a useful tool and validates the trend's skyrocketing popularity.
Analyze your recruitment process in detail, and determine whether any of these trends could help you do better. You may already be implementing some to an extent, but maybe the time has come to expand your efforts or combine them with other strategies. Remember, improving the recruitment process will help your company outperform its peers and excel in your market.
Have you incorporated any of these emerging trends into your recruitment strategy? Which ones do you think are game-changers, and which are more likely to fizzle out?
Do HR Executives Need to Think Like CMOs? Human Resources Goes Mobile Are Your Job Ads Inadvertently Driving Women Candidates Away? FYI: Holacracy is a Thing!
I agree with what you said about changing strategies according to emerging technologies, tools, and processes – it is indeed a bad strategy in itself. Success is not about keeping up with trends, but about adopting and adapting these trends to the needs of your organization.
Of course, the latest developments and emerging trends are always appealing and tempting, but not all of them will meet your specific needs. However, the ones listed in your article are definitely worth attention.
I enjoyed your article very much, especially the part about candidate experience. Unfortunately, there are still many recruiters who don't pay any attention to the fact that recruiting is really a two-way street. Sure, recruiters are paid by customers, not clients, but I strongly believe that the ones who don't invest in building relationships with candidates are bound to fail at some point.


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Flos Gatto Table Lamp
$805 Non-Member
$724.50 Member
Member discount applies, but other discounts do not apply.
Item# 5351-801193
Shipping surcharge of $50.00
Special Order: Please allow 7-10 business days for shipping per item.
Soft, sweet, and at home atop your table, Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni's lamp emits a warm, diffused glow instead of a purr. "Cat" in Italian, it's created through the Castiglioni's "cocoon" process: an internal steel structure is sprayed with a soft, translucent resin. The substantial (22" high) lamp makes an eye-catching accent for a credenza, large end table, or even the floor. Made in Italy. Both the designers and the manufacturer, Flos, are represented in MoMA's collection. Designed by Achille Castiglioni for FLOS.
Born in Milan in 1918, Achille Castiglioni is an internationally acknowledged master of Italian design. During his 52-year career, he designed and collaborated on nearly 150 design objects, from lamps to cameras to car seats. His work is known for combining simplicity with fun, along with close attention to how objects are used in real life. In 1997, MoMA launched the first individual retrospective of his work with the exhibition Achille Castiglioni: Design! Prior to that, his designs were featured in numerous exhibitions at the Museum, including The Modern Movement in Italy: Architecture and Design (1954) and Recent Acquisitions: Design (1967-8 and 1970-1). Castiglioni's work has had a significant impact on the history of the applied arts and has taught generations about good design.
• 71" cord.
• Requires one 60W A-19 medium frosted incandescent bulb (included).
22h x 17.3"diam.
Cocoon resin, Steel
Special shipping charge of $50.00
Shipping Method: Front Door Delivery
In response to COVID-19 we are not able to provide deliveries inside customer homes. Deliveries will be left at the doorstep.
Born in Milan in 1918, Achille Castiglioni is an internationally acknowledged master of Italian design whose work is represented in MoMA's collection. During his 52-year career, he designed and collaborated on nearly 150 design objects, from lamps to cameras to car seats. His work is known for combining simplicity with fun, along with close attention to how objects are used in real life. In 1997, MoMA launched the first individual retrospective of his work with the exhibition Achille Castiglioni: Design! Prior to that, his designs were featured in numerous exhibitions at the Museum, including The Modern Movement in Italy: Architecture and Design (1954) and Recent Acquisitions: Design (1967-8 and 1970-1). Castiglioni's work has had a significant impact on the history of the applied arts and has taught generations about good design.


Beyond the Horizon follows Ensign Maya Davis during humanity's first interstellar exploration. When you first sat down to write this story, did you know where you were going, or did the twists come as you were writing?
Both / all of the above. Before I start writing a book, I always have a premise in mind. I usually have a good idea about how the novel will start and end. I pretty much know where I want to go because I have a high-level plan for the themes I want to explore in a given book series. However, even though I'm pretty clear on the beginning, end, and a handful of scenes in between, I don't often know how I'm going to connect the dots until I'm in the act of writing.
For example, in Beyond the Horizon, I knew I wanted to use some clever aspects of time travel to drive and resolve some of the conflicts in the book. However, it actually wasn't until the second or third draft that I came up with Maya's clever realizations that help save the day. The rough draft of the story had a number of unresolved plot issues.
Maya gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore interstellar space while her aunt Brooke suffers with inner turmoil regarding her past. What were the morals you were trying to capture while creating your characters?
One of the fundamental tenants of my writing is to craft conflicts that pit morally-ambiguous agenda vs. morally-ambiguous agenda. I don't write about good vs. evil because, in my opinion, that's not representative of real life. Plus, good vs. evil is too black-and-white–too straightforward. Writing about the gray areas of life yield much more dynamic conflict.
One of the specific questions that underlies the theme of the books in the Beyond Saga is do the ends justify the means? It's not a new dilemma, but it's one that shall never have an easy answer.
The one thing that matters to Brooke as much as her career or flying is her niece, Maya. Thus, Brooke will stop at nothing to rescue her niece even though she has to take some morally questionable actions to accomplish that goal.
As for the Vril, the surreptitious terrorist organization manipulating things behind the scenes, they seek to ultimately save the human race. It's not only a noble goal but a critical one. However, if the Vril intend to sacrifice another intelligent race to save mankind, is that taking things too far? Do humans deserve to survive any more than any other race? The catch phrase for the novel, "Extinction or genocide . . . us or them?" encapsulates this question.
In the face of all the moral ambiguity, Maya embodies the not-so ambiguous side of right. Shielded from the darker sides of society all her life by her Aunt Brooke, she believes in the good in people. She's optimistic and excited about the future. The rest of the Beyond Saga is about her illusions being shattered. She has to find a balance between her optimism and doing what's necessary when morally questionable acts are required for survival.
One thing I really enjoyed about this novel was the effort you put into describing the technological advancements. They were all interesting, ingenious, and well described. What was your favorite tech to write for and what was the inspiration?
There are quite a few pieces of fun yet plausible tech in the Beyond Saga. One of the reasons I write science fiction is because real possibilities for the real future are what get me excited.
For now, I'll pick the wave gun. The handheld tool/weapon is definitely a next gen type of device. Powered by an antimatter battery, it's capable of destabilizing/shattering matter at the molecular level, using sonic levitation to make things float, causing objects to spontaneously combust, and much more. The gun gets its namesake from how it uses different wave effects (sound waves, gravity waves, electromagnetic waves, etc.) to achieve its results.
The wave gun helps Maya out of some sticky situations in book 2, Beyond the Horizon. In book 3, Beyond Yesterday, the gun gains even greater significance because of what its capabilities could've been used for by aliens in Earth's past.
Where does book three, Beyond Yesterday, in the Beyond Saga take readers?
Beyond Yesterday picks up ten years after the events of Beyond the Horizon. After Maya earns a promotion to captain, she takes command of the space-time vessel Yesterday and travels 200,000 years into the past to learn the origins of the piece of ancient human technology she found on an alien world (in book 2). Meanwhile, the consequences of Brooke's spark (drug) use finally catch up to her. And the level of conflict between the two women reaches new heights as they take opposing approaches to the dilemma in the book.
Ensign Maya Davis has had her sights set on the captaincy of a starship since she launched her first toy rocket into Earth orbit as a child. After four years of study at the new Interstellar Expeditionary Force Academy, Maya achieves her lifelong dream of exploring the stars. She earns a commission aboard humanity's first deep space exploration vessel, New Horizons.
Not long after New Horizons departs the solar system, sabotage cripples the ship killing a third of the crew and stranding the expedition light years from home under the siege of hostile forces. Only junior officers are left to command the ship. Without knowing who she can trust, Maya must risk her life to get the crew home and prevent the genocide of the very exospecies New Horizons set out to contact.
Forty-two-year-old civilian flight instructor Brooke Davis, Maya's aunt and former UN Aerospace Defense pilot, receives a disturbing visit from a covert operative. The visit prompts Brooke to head to the Martian south polar ocean, where she learns how a secret society known as The Vril manipulated the current political and social climate into being. She also uncovers the society's nefarious agenda regarding New Horizons' voyage. With time running out, Brooke races to save her niece light years away.


Getting regular, quality sleep is one of the best things a person can do for their health—both physical and mental. For light sleepers, even the most minor outside noises can mean a restless night. Running a white noise machine can minimize those disturbances, but for many people that may not be an option, like those whose partner might be bothered by the noise, or frequent travelers who can't lug an external machine around. Situations like these are why Bose created the Sleepbuds noise-masking earbuds. Designed to be compact and comfortable enough to be worn all night, the Bose Sleepbuds are like a personal white noise machine that lulls you to sleep every night without affecting anyone around you.
Later this month, we're teaming up with Bose to give you a chance to experience the Sleepbuds in person. On Saturday, October 20th, reps from Bose will be on hand to answer questions and give demonstrations of the Sleepbuds to anyone who'd like to try them out. Stop by the store, pop in a pair of Bose Sleepbuds, lay your head down on a pillow and experience for yourself how they mask unwanted noises.


Telenor Group announced that it is working closely with Google to make it easier for Telenor's subscribers to manage their mobile data usage and price plans.
Through the new Mobile Data Plan functionality in Android, Telenor subscribers can manage their mobile data plans and receive relevant alerts when the user experience may be impacted by for instance low data balance.
With Mobile Data Plan directly from Android, customers can manage their mobile plans, receive useful notifications such as when they need to update their data plan, and also see and purchase relevant offers tailored to their mobile usage, all directly from Android, without having to install an app.
Telenor Group companies dtac in Thailand and Digi in Malaysia are the first telcos in the world to launch the feature. Currently in pilot stage, the feature will now gradually be rolled out to dtac and Digi subscribers in Thailand and Malaysia who have Android OS 4.0 or newer. It will be extended to Telenor Group's mobile operations in other countries in the future.
In 2016, Telenor and Google collaborated on a Mobile Data Plan API, which alerted Telenor customers in Thailand and Malaysia when reaching the end of their data quota while watching content in the YouTube app, and enabled them to easily buy data directly from within the app user interface. The new feature is an expansion of this effort, and now enables customers to manage price plans from their carrier directly from Android settings rather than within a specific app.
This will provide our customers who use Android devices with a better experience in managing their mobile data usage, more personalized offers, and the option to receive alerts enabling easy data purchases in the moment when needed. It will reduce data anxiety and increase transparency.
Mobile carriers play a critical role in delivering great experiences to people through their networks and services. We're excited to see Mobile Data Plan roll out and give Telenor's customers a simple way to manage their mobile data directly within Android.


The V900 is the fastest prop-driven E-flite airplane yet! Right out of the box it can reach top speeds of 120+ MPH on 4S, and even 100+ MPH on 3S, without the need for upgrades or prop changes. It's easy to look good and to fly fast with the V900!


Making money with a photo can be very profitable if you know where to go and know what to look for. Selling digital photos is very easy because now all you have to do is upload them to your computer and then put them online. With a couple of clicks with your mouse you can start selling your photographs to people online and here are a few tips that can help you out to make a little more money.
Many sites have a free registry for those people who wish to sell you photos. Resister to as many as you can because the more you sing up at the more other people will take a look at your work and you will get a buyer quicker also.
Make sure you take a look at the terms and payment method of the registration site. You will want to know how and when you are getting paid for your photos. Every site is different so do not be afraid to take a closer look at the terms before you just sign up.
Under any circumstances you should sell a photo of someone else without their permission. You can get in big trouble and then people will not buy pictures from you due to the complications with not getting permission from the person you are photographing.
You also want to go through your pictures before you submit them to these directories to make sure that your pictures are quality and not some blurred picture that no one can see what it is. This will make you loose a lot of money if you want to sell pictures like that.
If you follow these tips they can bring you a little more money just by doing a few things that you probably already doing. Also by submitting your picture for the right category is a good tip also. The right category can bring you some more money.


Operators are beginning to disclose more on the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale. You can read more and discuss your lease rates and drilling activity at Mineral Rights Forum's Tuscaloosa Marine Shale Group.
Denbury Resoureces didn't give us too much guidance, but did announce that Encana is their new partner in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale.
Well, the only update we can have is that our partner is EnCana. But that has not to release any well results until they're ready. Well, we can't really release any well results.
Devon Energy recently completed drilling a test well. The company will test its Tuscaloosa Marine Shale core samples before going forward with a horizontal well in the play.
We're also moving forward with the testing of our new venture plays. These include the Tuscaloosa, the Niobrara, the Mississippi Lime in Oklahoma, the Ohio Utica, and the A1 Carbonate and Utica in Michigan.
And finally, in the Tuscaloosa Shale play located along the Louisiana and Mississippi border, we recently completed drilling, coring and logging operations on our first well, the Lane 64-1. This is a vertical well that we drilled to obtain data. The rig has now moved up depth to the Beech Grove 68 1H (sic) [ 68H-1 ] where we plan to gather additional core and log data before drilling the lateral and completing it as our first horizontal in the Tuscaloosa.
Goodrich Petroleum has added to its acreage position and will continue to acquire leases until the company commences exploration operations in 2012.
The Company has increased its investment in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale trend, and now owns approximately 79,000 net acres in the play at an average purchase price of$175 per acre. The Company anticipates commencement of exploration and development operations on the acreage in 2012.


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Q: Relay to control the power rail on a PCI adapter I am trying to find a relay which will control the 12V power rail of a PCIe adapter so I can cycle power to a device during testing.  The relay should be normally closed.  I plan to control the relay using a GPIO from a Raspberry Pi so the signal should be 3.3V.  I have tried looking digikey and narrowing down the search criteria, but I can't seem to find one.  If one doesn't exist, what would it take to create a switch using components (i.e., MOSFETs).  Thanks.

A: A solid state relay rated for mains voltage will use a triac internally, so it will drop 2V, won't work for your 12V application. Also it is likely not to turn on at all.
Just use a PMOS as a high side switch. Pick a PMOS with proper RdsON rating according to your current for low voltage drop, and GND needs to be connected on both sides of course. Schematic example:

Or you can use a high side switch like this one.

A:
I would use an N channel MOSFET connected as shown and a relay with a coil rating of 12 volt. +Vdd will be the 12 volt connection. Vcc will be your 3.3 volt logic supply.
Choose a MOSFET that has low enough gate threshold voltage to suit your 3.3 volt logic signals. A \$V_{GS(Threshold)}\$ of under 2 volts should be sufficient.
If the logic level is 1 then the relay activates and open circuits the normally closed contact.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Fern & Roby Audio is excited for RMAF!
We'll be showing our Montrose Turntables & Unipivot Tonearms along with the new Maverick Phono Pre-Amplifier, and the fine folks from Voxativ will be presenting their incredible loudspeakers. Come find us in room #4009.
The 13th Annual Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (RMAF) is the largest consumer audio and home entertainment show in the United States, and will feature over 160 exhibit spaces representing more than 400 companies from North and South America, Europe, Australia and Asia.