text:
News-Tech
Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA)'s Shares Declining Today; Are Apple Inc. (AAPL) Electric Car Rumors the Reason?
Published on February 17, 2015 at 3:05 pm by Insider Monkey Staff in News,Tech
Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), well known for its Tesla Roadster, the first completely electric sports car and the Model S, a fully electric luxury sedan, has its shares declining this morning. What may be the cause? The Street article discussed in detail about the reasons behind the falling shares of Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA). According to Bloomberg reports, the reason is quite unexpected, which is that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is working on electric car that could be a great challenge to Tesla.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has hired many expert professionals from the auto industry for the development of its electric cars which could give a tough challenge to Tesla Motors Inc. Apple Inc.'s production of electric and hybrid cars would not only challenge Tesla but also other car company giants like Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) and General Motors Company (NYSE:GM).
"We rate Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA) a SELL. This is driven by a few notable weaknesses, which we believe should have a greater impact than any strengths and could make it more difficult for investors to achieve positive results compared to most of the stocks we cover. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its deteriorating net income, disappointing return on equity, weak operating cash flow, poor profit margins and feeble growth in its earnings per share," TheStreet Ratings team states on its website.
Key highlights of the Street's Ratings Team report on Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)'s performance are; Tesla's net income has decreased by 561.8% as compared to the same quarter during the previous year, declining from -$16.26 million to -$107.63 million. ROE has decreased as compared to its return on equity during the same quarter one year prior. Net operating cash flow has been decreased to -$86.40 million (166.58%) as compared to the same quarter one year ago. Its gross profit margin is currently lower than desirable, which is 34.46%, though Tesla has managed to increase its profit margin from the same period last year. A net profit margin of -11.25% has underperformed as compared to the industry average.
Is Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) a serious competitive threat to Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) or will it just build multiple prototypes for projects or ideas? If it enters into the electric car manufacturing business, it will surely be not an easy rival to beat. Even with very little experience in the field, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) still has its goodwill as its strength. It is the number one electronics company in the world when it comes to security and reliability, which are two main factors to be considered by any car company and are also demanded by its customers. Everyone would like to sit in a car which is reliable, secure and has an Apple logo on the hood, doors, or trunk (or all three).
Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) may not be performing well now, but is still the premier name in the automobile industry when it comes to electric cars. It should come back with some innovations and improvements in its cars regarding design and performance, which customers will prefer over the other brands and can also provide better customer service that no other brand has offered yet. It may be a little tougher for Tesla Motors Inc., but if any company is up for the challenge, we believe it is.
I Just Made 84% in 4 Days By Blindly Following This Hedge Fund
I just made 84% in 4 days by blindly imitating a hedge fund's stock pick. I will tell you how I pulled such a huge return in such a short time but let me first explain in this FREE REPORT why following hedge funds' stock picks is one of the smartest things you can do as an investor. We launched our quarterly newsletter 2.5 years ago and not one subscriber has, since, said "I lost money by EXACTLY following your stock picks". The reason is simple. You can beat index funds by creating a DREAM TEAM of hedge fund managers and investing in only their best ideas. I just made 84% in 4 days by blindly imitating one of these best ideas. CLICK HERE NOW for all the details.
General Motors Company (GM), MGM Resorts International (MGM), Citigroup Inc... Apple Inc. (AAPL), Micron Technology, Inc. (MU), Time Warner Inc (TWX): Big... Apple Inc. (AAPL) Hiring Zane Lowe to Push Beats? Apple Inc. (AAPL) Pay To Be Official Mode Of Payment Apple Inc. (AAPL): President Barack Obama Airs Support For Apple Watch And... How Apple Inc. (AAPL)'s Watch Will Boost The Company's Top Line...
Apple Inc (AAPL) Electric Car Ford Motor Company (F) General Motors Company (GM) NASDAQ:AAPL NASDAQ:TSLA Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA)


SSA Ruling 11-1p: Your rights being limited!
Social Security Adaministration (SSA) Ruling 11-1p revises SSA's policy of subsequent applications where if a prior application is at the Appeals Council level. SSA will no longer process a subsequent disability claim if you already have a claim under the same title and of the same type pending at the Appeals Council.
So Unfavorable Decision at the Hearing level, you must choose to appeal at Appeals Council OR file a new claim, not both as in the past. Now you have to choose either or except in strict circumstances. Generally, SSI Title XVI claims will lose out since the Appeals Council is typically a 1 year wait.
The strict exceptions require you to obtain permission from the Appeals Council to allow a subsequent claim based upon "new" evidence. This process has not been thoroughly explained as of December 2011.
After the Appeals Council you can still make new application if the claim is at Federal Court under SSR 11-1p.
Posted on Monday, December 5th, 2011 at 6:44 pm and filed under Social Security Law.


text:
Retributionists
Home / About / Archive
Chapter 27: Tracing his Finger through the Dirt
Story by Ray
←prev index next→
Rice sat in a deer stand with Pat. The stand was old, rotting, and made up of planks of wood that were nailed with rust to an aging tree. There was barely room enough for the two of them on the platform in the woods. Pat's legs had to hang off of one side, and Rice's off of the other. They were back to back, searching. Hunting. Rice missed hunting. Living in Manhattan for so long, there weren't many opportunities to track large game. Nothing larger than ants, anyways.
Pat was telling Rice a story. Or at least, that's what it seemed to be. Rice tried to listen. He tried to follow Pat's train of thought, but Rice's mind was elsewhere. Rice's mind was on the rifles.
This was the most recent time Rice had held a gun: Ruben had handed one to him, and one to Pat, and told them to go make trouble. The first time Rice held a gun was when he was young, very young, and his dad took him out to go shoot targets. But there was a middle time. A time in his twenties when he held a gun. Not fired it, but held it, and all of the weight of the shots that had been discharged from that evil barrel.
Rice tried to pay attention to Pat's story, but his mind was wandering. His mind wandered back to his own story—back to the story of Punks and anarchy and music. Back to that middle time when he had held a firearm.
There was a protest, started by his own band, Johnny Hick and the Fuckwits. The protest turned into a riot, and Rice found himself in jail, along with the members of what would turn out to be a much more successful band, Flashpoint Zero. That was always Rice's claim to fame, when he needed to impress: "I once shared a cell block with all four members of Flashpoint Zero. Let me tell you about it." It sounded impressive, saying it the way he did, but he was careful of when to use it. He didn't use it around anyone who really knew their music history. He didn't use it around anyone who knew the truth of what he was saying: "I was once an accomplice to genocide. I once listened, from the inside of a police station, as the singer of my own band committed murder after murder on the street just outside of my cell, until they weren't murders anymore, until it was a massacre. I listened to my best friend in the world sniping cops from a rooftop. I listened to him as he tried to murder Punk Rock. Let me tell you about it."
Rice tried to pay attention to Pat's story. It was a fine story. Really.
But he couldn't listen to it. Rice was thinking about what happened after the massacre: after he got out of jail, and after his band had broken up, and after the fourth member of his band had become the fourth member of Flashpoint Zero. After that. Rice was thinking about the massacre gun.
Johnny Hick had never left town. He had stayed, tucked away in the shadows, crashing on the bedroom floors of the Punk Rockers who hadn't heard the news yet, or worse, of those who had. He moved from host to host. And when he had burned La Meseta to the ground behind him, he met Rice on the outskirts, at an abandoned gas station in the desert, to deliver one last farewell to a genre. He had given Rice the gun. He had told him, "You carry this now. I'm done for a while. But you carry this."
Johnny Hick gave Punk Rock to Rice. Rice took it, and slung it over his shoulder, and saluted Johnny Hick. Johnny saluted back, and when they lowered their hands, it still wasn't quite time for Johnny to leave yet. The two sat down, Indian style, between the two rows of gas pumps.
"Where are you going after this?" Rice asked.
"Away," Johnny said. "Underground. You won't hear from me for a while." His voice was tired.
Rice nodded. He would miss Johnny's company, and that was why he didn't shoot the singer dead on the spot. Rice did want Johnny Hick to die: he'd never wanted to kill anyone more before in his life, and he would never have a better chance: the man was sitting in front of him, in the middle of nowhere, and he had handed him the weapon. Rice fiddled with the rifle, until it opened, and inside was a shiny brass round. He looked back up at Johnny and asked, straight up: "Do you want me to kill you?"
Johnny laughed, and looked down at the ground. Tracing his finger through the dirt, Johnny said, "No, Rice O'. I don't want you to kill me."
Rice had been Rice O' back then. They had all used different names. Joseph Epstein became Joey Low Action, and when it was all said and done and La Meseta was left in ashes, Joey became Joseph once more. Nathaniel Todd, upon becoming a Punk, had turned into Yote. That name never changed back. He stayed Yote; he would always stay Yote, until his deathbed, whether it was with Johnny Hick and the Fuckwits, or Flashpoint Zero, or some other band that Rice had never heard of. And Johnny Hick… Johnny Hick was always Johnny Hick. He'd never been anything else but Johnny Hick, nor could he ever be. He wasn't born, and he would never die, unless Rice shot him then and there at the gas station outside of La Meseta. And he wasn't going to do it. Not a chance. He was going to walk back into town with the rifle slung over his shoulder, and he was going to bury the rifle in his yard, like a seed, and then he was going to leave La Meseta too. Because once the seed was planted, he wouldn't need to do a thing at all; Johnny Hick had done all of the work already. He had moved from host to host, fertilizing the ideas in their heads—the idea of Revolution; the idea of him; the idea of a punk named Johnny Hick, who could never die, because nobody in the world had ever believed for a second that the Legend could be human.
Rice glared over at The Immortal.
"Tell me your name," Rice said.
Johnny Hick smiled, looked down at the ground, and shook his head.
Rice O' stood up, and he pumped the chamber closed, and the firing pin sat ready to punch a hole clean through Johnny Hick's skull. "Tell me your goddamn name!"
The Immortal frowned. He was sad, because once again, it was time for him to leave. He stood up. He put his back to Rice, and then he walked off, into the desert. Rice never saw him again. Ever.
In the deer stand, Pat had finished telling his story, and was waiting for input from Rice.
"Mother. Fucker."
He'd said it under his breath: his first swear in months. Pat didn't hear him, and didn't ask what he had said, and moved on to saying something else. But Rice had swore, because he was no longer Rice Henderson: he had never been Rice fucking Henderson. He was Rice O', and he was going to start living like it again: he was going to buy an electric guitar. He was going to shave his head on the sides, and spike it up down the center. He was going to get a face tattoo. And when everything was wrapped up with Ruben and Terry and the house in the woods, Rice was going to go back to La Meseta, and he was going to dig up a rifle. He was going to find Johnny Hick, if he could, and he was going to put an end to The Immortal: he was going to learn the secret of Johnny Hick's real name.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


At the beginning of ever two week cycle or at the first of the month in a thirty day cycle employees will look to their weekly schedule template to begin planning their day to day activities around the times they have to work. Conventional scheduling strategies utilize a forty hour week wherein each business day or week day is populated by a nine to five shift. Typically employees will be certain of their forthcoming schedules in these more traditional templates and the standardized nature of their work schedule allows them to plan personal activities well in advance. Weekends are seen as sacred things and that free short span of free time is often filled with personal errands that conflict with an employees ability to truly enjoy their weekly relaxation time.
A shift schedule template is a great way to simplify work rosters in large companies that employ people around the clock. Called a Shift Rota it saves companies time not to mention expensive mistakes that manual scheduling can lead to. Most people decide to abort manual scheduling in favor of a professional template only after their organization reaches a certain size and complexity. That makes sense. There are only so many ready-made shift schedule templates that can help with if there are only 3 people available. But it is still important to understand the basics of creating a work schedule template in order to leverage the productivity of your employees in the best possible way. Anybody can make a schedule chart in Excel.


text:
Hall of Famer Miller to coach NAIA Langston
Langston hires Cheryl Miller as coach
ESPN.com news services
Hall of Famer Cheryl Miller returned as a college basketball coach Wednesday, taking over at Langston University of the NAIA.
Miller, who starred as a player at USC, was also the school's coach from 1993-95, leading the Trojans to a 42-14 mark. She also was coach and general manager of the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury from 1997 to 2000, guiding the club to a 70-52 record and one Finals appearance (1998). She is currently a broadcaster for TNT.
Cheryl Miller presented brother Reggie at his Hall of Fame induction in 2012. Jim Rogash/Getty Images
"We want to take it [the program] to the next level, the national level," Miller said at her introductory news conference.
Miller, who was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009, was named the Naismith Player of the Year three times while playing for the Trojans (1982-86), helping the school win two national titles. She scored 3,018 points and was a four-time All-American as the Trojans went 112-20 during her playing career.
She also helped the U.S. women's national team win the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Games.
At USC, Miller's athletic director was Mike Garrett, who is now the AD at Langston.
"Coach Miller's credentials as a player and coach are unsurpassed in women's basketball. We are thrilled and honored to have her here wearing Lion blue on our courts," Garrett said in a statement. "Coach Miller has the skills and tools to lead our women's basketball team to domination in NAIA."
She is fellow Hall of Famer Reggie Miller's sister. She presented her brother at his 2012 induction.
Miller replaces David Johnson, who resigned after last season, in which Langston was 20-13, losing in the first round of the NAIA Championships to eventual champion Oklahoma City.


text:
Q: Accessibility and Text Resizing: Do I still need to use ems if I no longer support IE6? WCAG 2.0 says:

(1.4.4) Resize text: Except for captions and images of text, text can be resized without assistive technology up to 200 percent without loss of content or functionality. (Level AA)

And elaborates with:

The scaling of content is primarily a user agent responsibility.

and:

The author's responsibility is to create Web content that does not prevent the user agent from scaling the content effectively.

Internet Explorer's 'Text Size' option does not resize text coded with a pixel based font size. Therfore, to conform with the accessibility guidelines, we authours have traditionally avoided using pixel based font-sizes in CSS, opting for the more difficult em based font-sizes instead.
But since version 7, Internet Explorer has provided an alternative method to increase text size - the 'Zoom' option - which works with pixel-based font sizes.
Am I legally obliged to continue to support IE's Text Size feature when there is an alternative 'Zoom' feature in the browser settings?
WCAG 2 goes on to say:

If the author is using a technology whose user agents do not provide zoom support, the author is responsible to provide this type of functionality directly or to provide content that works with the type of functionality provided by the user agent.

Based in user stats, I no longer support IE6. Does this have any bearing on the answer? I no longer support IE 3 or Netscape 1 either for that matter, but these browsers seem less of an issue.

Thanks for the responses. Everything you say I agree with but i think the crux of my question has been lost so let be add some context.
I work on a large corporate site which has been around for more than a decade, has tens of thousands of pages, hundreds of CSS files of varying sizes (yes, we know) and font sizes set in pixels (again we know)
Pixel fonts mean the 'Text Size' browser setting in IE (even IE10) will not resize the text. As Robooneus rightly says ems will inherit the browser font size setting and are the better option, but pixels will not.
As a result, any user who needs bigger text in order to access our services, who is using any version of IE, will not be able to increase the font size using the 'text size' setting, but will be able to zoom the page if they have IE7 or above.
Am I legally obliged to continue to support IE's Text Size feature when there is an alternative 'Zoom' feature in the browser settings? For example, a user may be restricted to using an old browser such as IE6, or may not want to zoom the page beyond the size of the screen.

A: Will expand the comment a bit as an answer so we can maybe get some discussion on it for the question:
No, you probably shouldn't worry about using ems just to satisfy IE6. There is basically no reason to support this browser anymore unless you are building something targeted at a very specific user set. For example: business clients that require employees to use only IE6 on company computers.
At its latest, IE6 isn't even at half of a percent
However, you should be using ems anyway. They are more flexible and just make more sense. Chris Coyier explains it way better than I can here, so read on to find out: Why Ems? (CSS-Tricks)

EDIT:
In response to the edits/clarification that you have made, it seems like a question eithernot suited to stackoverflow (i.e. more legal than technical), or something which we don't quite have enough information to answer (likely both).
In terms of whether or not you are legally obliged to do so, that is likely something that requires even more context. I speak from a non-expert standpoint, but I would say that, at least in the US, you are (probably) not legally obliged to support a specific browser as a private business. If you are a government entity, that gets a little more complicated. If the company is based on (or perhaps even conducts a large amount of business in) another country, I can't really say much. It is probable that, in a majority of the EU countries (I can only really speak with any knowledge about Germany), the same would hold true.
If we assume the site is for a government entity or is heavily funded by the government (having said that for private entities you should not legally be obliged), the next question would be about what sort of service the company provides via the website. If it is something that you are legally obliged to allow all citizens easy access to, then you might need to worry. But, even then, I doubt there is really any issue as the service would also then be required to be accessible through a non-internet channel.
I am guessing that the question is more something like "For the website of a (large) private business, am I subject to claims of discrimination if I do not include this feature?" Or am I still missing the context? I would say that the answer is, pretty definitely, no. But I don't actually have a legally informed answer.
I hope anyone with more knowledge will edit or comment on this with more information.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Home Crypto News US is 'unquestionably' behind the curve on crypto ETFs, says Brian Brooks
US is 'unquestionably' behind the curve on crypto ETFs, says Brian Brooks
Bitfury CEO and former Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks has hinted the regulatory environment in the United States could drive many crypto firms outside the country, and has already stymied companies attempting to offer a variety of financial products.
Speaking at a Wednesday hearing on Digital Assets and the Future of Finance with the House Committee on Financial Services, congressperson Ted Budd said he feared the current policy of regulation by enforcement in the U.S. could "force the next generation of financial tech to be created outside of our country." Speaking on behalf of Bitfury, Brooks said:
"There are some products that are legal in other countries and are just not legal here," said Brooks. "One of the things that makes crypto risky is that consumers may not understand the difference between one token and another token, so they may want to diversify […] we don't allow that in the United States — we do allow it in Canada, we allow it in Germany, Singapore, Portugal and a number of other places." He added:
"If you're a developer of [exchange-traded funds], there's no fuzzy line, it's super clear: You cannot do that here, so you have to go abroad."
Bitfury CEO Brian Brooks addressing the House Committee on Financial Services on Wednesday
Brooks placed the lack of exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, in the U.S. on the Securities and Exchange Commission. Though the regulator has recently approved ETFs with exposure to Bitcoin (BTC) futures from investment managers ProShares and Valkyrie, it has yet to give the green light for BTC or other crypto ETFs. In contrast, many U.S. companies with operations in Canada have successfully applied with local regulators for ETFs with direct exposure to crypto.
Related: More than 40 digital currency ETFs await US regulatory approval
However, the former OCC head suggested the lack of approval of crypto investment products was more of a result of the United States' "fragmented approach to regulation," given the number of bodies overseeing banks, finance and now digital assets. Brooks proposed a solution in which traditional financial institutions would be treated in much the same way as crypto.
"When I hear people talk about the idea that we need one regulator for crypto, I would say we should first have one regulator for banks, but we have three of them," said Brooks. "The last thing we need to do is add another regulator to a system that's already got dozens of regulators.
"If I'm a crypto lending platform, I should probably be regulated by the FDIC. If I'm a crypto trading platform, I should probably be regulated by the CFTC and SEC, but somehow we treat crypto, because it's new, as different than everything else. I'm gonna argue that crypto is just a step function improvement in the system."
CEOs from Circle, FTX, Bitfury, Paxos, Stellar Development Foundation and Coinbase Inc. are currently fielding questions from U.S. lawmakers on the state of digital assets in the country. Cointelegraph reported earlier on Wednesday that House representatives have expressed concerns over token projects exerting centralized control over many users' assets.
Celebrities are embracing NFTs in a big way
BTC Proxy Lists on AscendEX – Press release Bitcoin News
Uzbekistan Warns Citizens to Avoid Unlicensed Cryptocurrency Exchanges – Exchanges Bitcoin News
Despite Drop To $47k, Coinbase Observes 31k Bitcoin Outflow. Bull Rally Still On?
Polkadot-based privacy project Manta Network raises $5.5M
Mixed Signals from Bitcoin: BTC Wraps Another Week between $30-$40K
Apple app store reportedly blocks Gnosis Safe wallet update for hosting NFTs
Why Grayscale Is Doubling Down On DeFi Bet With New Fund
Bitcoin is Primed for a Christmas Surprise – HERE'S WHY! [Crypto News]
India to regulate, not ban, crypto: Cabinet documents
Michael Saylor Hold Bitcoin Do Not Lend It
Poland Regulators Spread Warning Against Cryptocurrency Exchange Binance
Ethereum Topside Bias Vulnerable If It Breaks This Key Support
Analysts say Bitcoin price pullback and profit-taking at $50K 'was expected'
In-Depth Review Of El Salvador
NFTs Go Their Own Way
NFT: From Physical Objects to Authentication of Everything by Metaverse, Security Should Never Be Ignored
Forte closes $725M in Series B for its interoperable blockchain gaming platform » CryptoNinjas
Compound crisis averted? Securing exposed COMP could be just the start
Dydx Protocol Unlocks Airdrop Rewards; Users Get up to $50K – Bitcoin News


text:
Record closes in on Sun for third, successive month
FOR the third, successive month, the sales gap between Scotland's two best-selling daily newspapers has narrowed.
From the latest 'ABCs', consisting of the average net circulation figures for December, the gap between The Scottish Sun and the Daily Record had narrowed to 26,330. In November, it was 36,744, while, for October, it was 37,591.
The December ABCs reveal an average net circulation of 389,659 (down from an average 403,326 in November) for The Scottish Sun and 363,329 for the Daily Record (compared to 366,582 the previous month).
Meanwhile, the Sunday Mail continues to be the biggest-selling newspaper in Scotland, and its average was slightly up, from 460,009 in November to 460,051 last month. Its average for October was 466,073.
Average Net Circulation figures include free give-aways.
Said Mark Hollinshead, managing director of the Scottish Daily Record and Sunday Mail Ltd said: "The Daily Record has closed the gap on the 20p Sun for the third consecutive month.
"Readers who pay full price for their newspapers are more loyal and responsive to advertisers than promiscuous readers who are attracted by price discounting."
By Administrator · January 14, 2008 · Comments Off
« Kirsty Young already a BBC repeat?
Former MSP takes up comms post »


text:
package com.example.hsebastian.popularmoviesvol1.data;

/**
 * Created by hsebastian on 2/4/16.
 */
public class TestUriMatcher {
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Frigate bird - The males extend their throat pouches in a competition to get the females attention during mating season.
Post Office Barrel on Floreana. Sailers used it to leave letters that they hoped would be picked later by other sailers. Today tourists can leave addressed cards/letters there and hope another tourist from the city the mail is going to will take it with him and deliver it.
Mykonos -- Horse-drawn carriages ply the waterfront streets of the island.
Golf -- Chi Linh Star GC. Female workers do some grooming by hand.


Sanguine Sacrament ($0.15) Price History from major stores - Ixalan - MTGPrice.com Values for Ebay, Amazon and hobby stores!
Card Text: You gain twice X life. Put Sanguine Sacrament on the bottom of its owner's library.
Flavor Text: "As the sun sets to make way for dawn, so we turn to darkness to bring about the coming salvation."


One of GirlCrew's all time fave voices, fashion icons and all round top birds who we'd love to go for a pint with has finally returned after leaving us hanging since 2007. Yep, it has been that long since she released 'Overpowered' but Róisín Murphy is back with a corker of an album 'Hairless Toys'.
According to Murphy the choice of which songs to put where was straightforward. "To select just eight songs from the vast batch written last year required some pretty vigorous editing. The record could have been much longer but this seemed like just the right combination, and in fact the sequencing fell into place with more ease than any other album I've made." First track on the album is Gone Fishing which was inspired by the fabulous documentary film Paris is Burning about the ball culture in New York in the '80s. Watch it pronto if you haven't already.
The first time we clapped eyes on Ms Murphy's sleek bob and slick voice was on Channel 4's The White Room.
Sing it back was her Kylie 'Spinning Around' moment. A reference to this being a comeback and proper welcome to the mainstream more than the, uh, fact she spins around in the video.
What do you want for your next video,Róisín? I'd like it set in a northern soul club with a hot guy who can properly dance. And if that guy could be Paddy Considine and I get to snog him, that would be ace. The bit where she is singing in the ladies reminds us of 'More to Life than This' by Bjork.
First single off the new album. Instant classic.
Catchy as all hell. You'll suddenly think yeah, I'm going to make hats my thing after watching this. And have a sudden urge to open a caff that has disco lights. Or just go and shake your thang in one.
What have you been up to today? Yeah, just been doing the housework. Totally haven't been dancing around and spying on the neighbours. Dum de dum.
And here's your earworm for the day. RAMASES COLOSSUS.
A bit of early Moloko for you here. Clickety click, clickety click.
Róisín is doing a pretty exhaustive European tour starting round about now including both Electric Picnic and Bestival in September.


text:
Reinventing paper packaging
Paper is not only the largest global packaging sector but is also behind some of the most pioneering innovations today. Elisabeth Fischer profiles technologies such as paper-based RFID tags, moulded paper and barrier solutions against cardboard oil migration that are leading the way towards a sustainable packaging movement in the years to come.
Paper-based packaging materials are behind some of the most ground-breaking developments in the industry today. Flexible packaging paper such as wraps, bags and pouches offer better barrier protection, higher tear and burst strength, exceptional print surfaces and are ideal for food and industrial packaging.
Also new packaging shapes and structures with paper as the main compound, such as moulded-fibre paper bottles and alternatives to plastic clamshells, are finding more and more users.
"RFID-enabled packaging is expected to gain significant consumer confidence regarding the safety of products."
High-performance packaging such as active and smart papers with embedded chemicals and sensors, along with other anti-counterfeiting traits, are also opening up new opportunities in medical, pharmaceutical and healthcare packaging.
Paper and paper-based packaging is the largest sector in the worldwide market for packaging, accounting for more than 40% of the worldwide market, valued at $429bn in 2009 according to figures from Pike Research.
With the sustainable and green movement also breaking through in packaging, paper-based materials have shown increasing popularity among processors, retailers and end-customers.
Here, Packaging Gateway rounds up some of the most innovative and sustainable alternatives to synthetic or petroleum-based packaging existing today.
Moulded paper
The US-based Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) considers moulded paper, made from recycled paperboard and newsprint, as one of the most sustainable packaging materials available today. Used in the form of protective packaging or as food service trays, beverage carriers, end caps, plates, bowls and clamshell containers, moulded pulp is also much less expensive than expanded polystyrene (EPS), vacuumed formed PET and PET, corrugation and foams.
"Moulded paper containers are lighter and stronger than conventional pulp containers, have a smoother finish and are moisture resistant," said Enviro Pulp commercial director Fuad Khan at the Packaging Innovation fair in London in early October.
The company is one of the main producers of moulded paper packaging worldwide. "As they are produced from recycled paperboard and can be recycled again after their use they are one of the most sustainable products on the market today."
The newest form of moulded pulp available as thin-walled products is thermoformed fibre. The process uses 'cure-in-the-mould' technology that produces well-defined, smooth surfaced moulded pulp products.
After being formed, the materials are captured in heating forming mould, which presses and densifies the products before being dried in a heated oven.
The containers usually have the appearance of plastic material and are usually used for point-of-purchase packaging and applications where high definition and appearance are of prime importance.
Smart paper with RFID technology
Radio frequency identification (RFID) enabled packaging is expected to gain significant consumer confidence in coming years. Especially in the case of meat and pharmaceutical products it can improve traceability throughout the supply chain and improve the safety of products.
In 2009, international paper and packaging group and manufacturer of corrugating packaging Mondi presented its 'intelligent box', equipped with an RFID tag at case-level.
"Instead of taking 500 years to decompose, the paper casing can be recycled up to five times or disposed of on a compost heap."
According to the company, customers benefit from time and cost saving benefits, which include improved stock management, accurate and real-time tracking of deliveries and streamlined warehouse operations.
Global paper-based packaging manufacturer International Paper is also set to concentrate on RFID technology in the future. At the beginning of September it announced its collaboration with IT-solutions firm Globe Ranger to leverage the RFID technology iMotion Edgeware platform for their paper-based containers, in order to boost supply chain solutions development.
On a whole different level, paper packaging manufacturer Walki is producing antennas for passive RFID tags from paper. Using a new environmentally friendly method of manufacturing patterned laminates, the company hopes to have opened up a whole new market area for paper-based materials.
"Antennas were traditionally made in a wet, chemical-based process. We have a new method which does not involve liquids," explained Walki vice president of sales and marketing, technical products Tuomo Wall in the company's customer magazine Cover Stories in June 2011. "This means that we can use sustainable materials such as paper."
The green bottle
The UK start-up company Green Bottle has developed and introduced the paper milk bottle – one of the most innovate solutions made out of moulded paper. Plastic milk bottles are mostly made from high density polyethylene (HDPE) and require an estimated 500 years to decompose in landfill.
Also laminated cardboard cartons used as containers for milk and other non-carbonated drinks pose environmental problems because they are produced with plastic coatings, which are extremely slow to biodegrade, or aluminium elements that prevent disposal into general recycling schemes.
The bottle consists of a paper shell and a thin inner plastic liner that prevents the liquid from contaminating the outer paper. The price and production speed are comparable to plastic bottles. The paper casing can be recycled up to five times or disposed of on a compost heap where it takes five weeks to decompose. The inner liner takes up less than 0.5% of the space of a plastic bottle if dumped in a landfill and is therefore a greener alternative to the 15 million plastic bottles used in Britain every day.
The bottle is currently available in some 15 Asda stores but is set to roll out nation-wide with the supermarket chain later in 2011. According to the company, it can not only be used for milk, but also for juices, smoothies, yoghurt drinks, squashes and concentrates, water, shampoos, hand creams, liquid detergents and engine oils.
Barrier solutions against mineral oil migration
In the wake of a public turmoil about the detection of alarming levels of mineral oil residues from recycled cardboard packaging into food in March 2011, leading chemical company BASF introduced a variety of barrier solutions which prevent mineral residues from migrating from cardboard packaging into food.
A series of studies by the Zurich Food Safety Authority, which has also detected the toxic migration of mineral oils into dry food, confirmed the barrier functionality of the solutions.
The tested products include the polyamide Ultramid, used for applications such as oxygen-barrier, robust multilayer packaging systems that keep meat and cheese fresh. Applied to cardboard packaging, it can be used as a barrier coating as well as an inner packaging component for bag-in-bag systems.
The second solution is the specially developed water-based acrylate dispersion Epotal A 816 for paper and cardboard coatings, which have been shown to have very good barrier properties against mineral oils. They are also effective barriers against native fats, oils and flavourings.
Evico FS Paper is a biodegradable plastic and the third product tested in the studies. It can be used for manufacturing coatings for both cardboard and biodegradable film packaging systems and complies with the European standard EN 13432 for compostable packaging. It therefore not only offers an alternative to plastic packaging but also another way to dispose paper and cardboard packaging in addition to recycling.
Waterproof paper pallets
"Moulded paper, made from recycled paperboard and newsprint, is considered one of the most sustainable packaging materials."
Protective packaging manufacturer Pregis Hexacomb, currently in the process of being taken over by Boise, has recently introduced the latest generation of paper-based, honeycomb pallet solutions with a special feature: the feet of the pallets are moisture-resistant.
Made of 100% recycled kraft paper (linerboard) and water-based adhesives, laminated with a polyethylene film that does not impact the recycling process after usage, the pallets can be used in wet environments during shipping and in production plants.
Hexacomb president Jeff Kellar said at the launch in May that the paper-based pallets are a great alternative to wood or plastic pallets as they not only meet rigorous performance requirements but are also more cost-effective and do not require pesticide or fungicide treatments.
Moreover, the pallets provide the same level of performance as their wooden and plastic relatives: each pallet can handle static loads of up to 2,700kg and weigh at the same time around 360kg less than for instance wood pallets. Pregis Hexacomb also emphasises their smooth surface as no nails are required, the improved sanitation and cleanliness, the elimination of costly pallet exchange and the environmental advantage.
Wider Opportunities for a Compostable Paper Bag - Packaging Seize+Adapt Concept
Wider Opportunities for a Lightweight Plastic Bottle - Packaging Seize+Adapt Concept
Augmented Reality (AR) in Packaging - Thematic Research
Ecommerce in Packaging - Thematic Research
Mondi Plc
Pike Research LLC
Walki Gmbh
Sustainable Packaging Coalition
How the fashion industry is tackling sustainable packaging
Vegware's vision for a compostable circular economy


Sandi MacIver and I are teaming up again today to bring you some card ideas for the Making Spirits Bright stamp set from Stampin' Up! So once you take a peek at my project, be sure to stop by her blog for more great ideas with this stamp set.
My card design was inspired by the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 240.
I started by adhering a panel from the Trim the Tree DSP stack to a panel of Cherry Cobbler card stock with SNAIL. I adhered the layered panel to a Pistachio Pudding card base with Stampin' Dimensionals. Then I cut three narrow strips from a different sheet of the Trim the Tree DSP and I adhered them with a thin bead of Multipurpose Liquid Glue.
I stamped the image from the Making Spirits Bright stamp set in StazOn Jet Black Ink on a Whisper White panel. I colored the image with my Garden Green, Pistachio Pudding, Cherry Cobbler and Crisp Cantaloupe Stampin' Write Markers and I cut the image out with a Circles Collection Framelits Die.
I adhered the die cut image with SNAIL to a 2-1/2″ Circle punched from Cherry Cobbler card stock. Then I adhered the layered circles to the card front with Stampin' Dimensionals.
I finished the card front by adhering two Rhinestone Basic Jewels and a Garden Green Candy Dot (from the Regals Candy Dots pack).
For the inside of the card, I stamped the sentiment from the Making Spirits Bright stamp set in Garden Green ink and the holly image from the Holiday Invitation photopolymer stamp set in Pistachio Pudding ink on a Whisper White panel. I adhered a strip of the leftover Trim the Tree DSP to complete the inside.
Now that you've seen my project, click over to Sandi's blog to check our her fantastic creation!
Use this hostess code when you order and receive a free gift from me! If your order is over $150, please do not use this code, but you'll still get the free gift. The free gift for October is your choice of any item valued up to $8.95 in either the 2014-15 Annual Catalog or the 2014 Holiday Catalog!
Click here to see the Weekly Deals from Stampin' Up! in my online store. The Weekly Deals are only while supplies last and only available at these great prices through October 20.
This entry was posted in Holiday/Christmas, Quick and tagged Amy Koenders, Atlanta, Atlanta GA, card making, card making supplies, CAS, christmas, Demonstrator, Duluth GA, Georgia, hand made card, Johns Creek, Making Spirits Bright, stamp with amy, stamp with amy k, Stampin Up, stampin up atlanta, stampin up blog, stampin' up amy. Bookmark the permalink.
That drink looks delicious! I love the mix of papers and sequins too. Fantastic take on the sketch this week. Thanks so much for joining us at SSSC!
Festive and fun for the holidays!
Makes we want to celebrate… right now!
Amy, this is such a cute card and relatively easy to make! The perfect card for those "special" friends!!!


A good way to avoid any dental concerns that might arise while on vacation is to go to your dentist before you leave the country. A quick check up can tell you if there are any small issues that need to be taken care of now, so that you will feel no discomfort later on. This is especially important if you have or have had gum disease, have a partially protruding wisdom tooth, or are going away for an extended amount of time. If you are traveling to a lesser-developed country it is important to get immunized against Hepatitis B because often times dentists there will not be vaccinated. This will require a process beginning at least 6 months before you travel so make sure to speak to your dentist.
While on vacation and sitting on the beach you are ordering countless margaritas and daiquiris – very sugary drinks that contribute to tooth decay and other oral health concerns. Make sure to limit these, you want to enjoy yourself, but do not do it at the expense of your health down the line. Have fun, but keep the drinks at a minimum. This is especially important for the younger generations going away, especially the spring breakers – running around drunk on sugary drinks can make your teeth weak, and if you fall there is a greater chance a tooth will chip. If you are still within the borders of the USA, go online and use a dentist directory to find a local dentist near you – simple and easy! But if you are in another country you want to try to avoid seeing a dentist you know nothing about and might not be able to find online.
Use dental floss to make sure that there is no food or debris stuck in between your teeth. Sometimes pressure from these may cause your tooth to ache.
DO NOT put any aspirin or other painkiller medicine on your tooth or gums. It may burn your gum tissue.
If the pain still persists call a dentist.
First rinse your mouth with warm water and clean the area in your mouth.
With a cold compress put slight pressure on the area so that the swelling is kept down.
Put slight pressure on the area with a cold compress to keep the swelling down.
Go to a dentist or an emergency room at a hospital.
Someone knock your tooth out?
Hold your tooth by the crown and rinse the root if it is dirty. Make sure to NOT scrub it so that you do not remove any tissue fragments that may be attached.
According to the ADA (American Dental Association) you should check to see if you could hold the tooth back in its socket. If you cannot, put the tooth in a cup of milk and get to a dentist ASAP!
Now that you are well informed, go and enjoy your vacation. In no time at all we will all be basking in the sunlight and enjoying summer. The kids will be out of schools, professors in class more lenient, and everyone is in a much happier mood! So enjoy all the holidays and spring break, because it is only the beginning of good things to come.
Thanks for Sharing nice information this blog. I am very impressed your blog. your information is very important for me.
Many things must be taken in consideration for finding best and reliable dentist. References help out people to find best dentist in the area.
I really like your information. I will definitely discuss about it with my friends and dentist Redondo Beach. This information is very useful for me. Thank you!
This article is very informative. Specially to those people who have dental problems. Keep on posting important and fruitful articles.
This is a great blog. Full of important information. Thank you for sharing those helpful advices and tips. I can share this with my friends and family. Great job.


text:
You are here: Home1 / Volume-9 Issue-6, March 20212 / F5364039621
Fluctuation Effect of Reservoir Water Level on the Seepage of Earth-Fill Dam
Runi Asmaranto1, Dian Sisinggih2, Ridho Nur Aziz Rastanto3
1R. Asmaranto, Associate professor, Department of Water Resources Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia.
2D. Sisinggih, Department of Water Resources Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia.
3R.N.A Rastanto, Undergraduate Program on the Department of Water Resources, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Brawijaya, Indonesia.
Manuscript received on February 06, 2021. | Revised Manuscript received on February 10, 2021. | Manuscript published on March 30, 2021. | PP: 11-19 | Volume-9 Issue-6, March 2021. | Retrieval Number: 100.1/ijrte.F5364039621 | DOI: 10.35940/ijrte.F5364.039621
Abstract: Lots of dam failures are the result of uncontrolled seepage. The collapse of the Situ Gintung Dam in Tangerang, Banten-Indonesia in 2009 due to heavy rains caused the dam structure to collapse. This is due to increased pore water pressure in the landfill. To anticipate collapse due to uncontrolled seepage, it is necessary to monitor it based on the behavior of changes in rainfall and reservoir water levels. Seepage within the dam body is often monitored using instrumentation tools such as standpipe piezometer (standpipe piezometer) or electric piezometer. But often the piezometer cannot work properly because it is clogged, so it cannot monitor the condition of the seepage. Other instrumentations such as V-Notch are also used to measure seepage discharge. This study aims to determine the behavior of changes in the reservoir water level caused by changes in rainfall and its effect on body seepage of the earth-fill Type dam. By knowing the phenomenon of the behavior of the relationship between reservoir water infiltration and rainfall, it will obtain information on rainfall that endangers the dam which will affect the downstream. In this study, a case study of the Selorejo Dam was taken which has a large enough reservoir capacity of about 31 million m3 which is included in the Brantas River Basin. The results showed that 5 piezometers devices were damaged (SL 1, SL 2, SL 4, SL 6, and SL 7) where they could not read the phreatic water level properly, and 2 piezometers were less sensitive to reading fluctuations in reservoir water levels. namely SL 10 and SL 11 which showed R2 values of 29.78% and 39.4%, respectively. While the maximum seepage discharge is recorded at 1474 liters/minute, this is still below the critical discharge of 1630 liters/minute allowed for this dam, but this needs to be a concern, especially the discharge from toe drain from the left side seepage and C-area which is the leakage from the left support pedestal also contributes a larger discharge than other observation points.
Keywords: Ngancar reservoir, erosion and sedimentation.
A59660510121 E5255019521


Especially helpful if you've been consuming too much alcohol, smoke and or high cholesterol foods, over the past few weeks or months and have not got round to giving your liver & gallbladder a good cleansing detox... if that's you... then this bundle is exactly what you need.
Get ready for the loo!
Get ready for some bowel movement! the green powder I find is best mixed in a bottle by shaking and sipped throughout the day. The positive benefits I've found using these products is my urine is clearer and skin is radiating just a bit, so overall happy.


Are you having a roleplaying game this Halloween? Do you simply love dice?
This is a papercraft for your last minute Halloween decorations!
You can also hang the pumpkin by cutting a little pinhole at the top.
Get the PDF from Instructables or at this link and print it on a standard A4 sheet of paper.
It is suggested to use heavy paper and a color printer, to get a nice solid papercraft dice.
If your printer says the image is too large, select the option "fit to page".
Step 2: Now... Let's Do It!
1) Cut the image without damaging the little flaps.
2) Cut the pinhole at side n.2 if you need to hang your Halloween Pumpkin d20, and insert a cotton string, then tie a knot in the side of the sheet that is not printed.
3) Follow the instructions and attach the flaps to the sides, in this order: 1, 16, 17,19, 4, 12, 8.
Step 3: Your Halloween Pumpkin D20 Is Ready!
If you are interested in more dice project, in about two weeks I will be launching a Kickstarter campaign for the new edition of my limited edition Constellation Dice. If you like it and want to build it yourself, take a look at my other tutorials.
If you prefer to get one of the last few remaining from last year, or to help me manufacture the brand new ones, subscribe to my website www.giolasar.com to be notified of the launch... and get all the early bird special offers!


How do I allow users to invite other users to join?
Particularly when Jiglu is used as a collaboration system between different organisations it may be useful to allow users to invite others to join in.
How do I invite a new user to join multiple groups?
Preselecting groups that a user will be joined to when they are invited to register to use the system.
How do I new users approved by an administrator but skip the approval for certain domains?
Using the user workflow settings it is possible to have new user registrations subject to approval by an administrator.
What you'll need to gather before you configure a new Jiglu system.
How do I add extra information to users' profiles?
Every Jiglu user gets a basic profile, which you can view by going to the Users section and selecting their name.


10/21/10 ASHLAND, OH -- Ashland University's Human Trafficking Awareness Group, accompanied by the Ashland Center for Nonviolence, will show the film, "Children of War," on Nov. 1 at 7 and 9 p.m. in the Hawkins-Conard Student Center Auditorium. This event is free and open to the general public.
The independent documentary focuses on the lives of former child soldiers. Having been abducted from their homes and schools and forced to become fighters by the Lord's Resistance Army - a quasi-religious militia led by self-proclaimed prophet and war criminal Joseph Kony - the children confront and break through years of brutal abuse, extreme religious ideology and participation in war crimes. Forcing children to fight is a growing, worldwide phenomenon throughout third-world countries.
Filmed inside northern Uganda over a period of three years, "Children of War" follows the unique journey of a group of former child soldiers as they undergo a process of trauma therapy and emotional healing while in a rehabilitation center. As these counselors guide the children through a series of private, one-on-one counseling sessions, the children begin to open up and confess their participation in particular battle and atrocities with the Lord's Resistance Army, as well as discover the steps they must take to recover and begin a new life.
As the counselors in the Center directly address these challenges and selflessly guide the children forward into new lives, "Children of War" illuminates a powerful story of forgiveness, hope and finally, homecoming in the aftermath of war.
One audience testimony stated, "What a powerful story of love, compassion and forgiveness. The artistic beauty of this film somehow manages not to distract from making a very personal connection. After seeing the film I could not help but think of how war has touched us all. I am not sure if we will ever see a time without war in the world and that is why I feel this film is so important. This film shows the healing process necessary for our survival in the aftermath of war."
Producer and director Bryan Single has experience with other documentaries. In 2004, he directed and produced for the first time when he created, "Shadows of the Sun." His work also includes "Big River Man," (2009 Sundance Award for Excellence in Cinematography), "Students of Consequence" and "God In America."
For more information about the film go to www.childrenofwarfilm.com<http://www.childrenofwarfilm.com>.


text:
Motor Vehicle, Tax Collector's Offices Consolidating in New Ocoee Facility
You are here: Home>You are here: In the News>Motor Vehicle, Tax Collector's Offices Consolidating in New Ocoee Facility
Two motor vehicle offices in west Orlando and Orange County are closing and consolidating with a new, large Tax Collector's facility in Ocoee, county officials said Tuesday.
The restructuring is closing the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles branch on West Colonial Drive near John Young Parkway, which has been there for more than three decades. The building's last day is today.
"After 34 years in the same branch office, it's time for an upgrade," Tax Collector Scott Randolph said in a statement.
The other DMV office closing is in Winter Garden. That office will close Thursday, February 7.
The new, consolidated facility will open in the West Oaks Mall between Dillard's and the AMC theater January 16. It merges the two motor vehicle offices with the Tax Collector's call center and a mail processing center and will be the largest motor vehicle office in the state, the statement said.
To help those who may visit the closed locations, the Florida Licensing on Wheels mobile licensing office will be at the West Colonial Drive and Winter Garden sites temporarily. The FLOW bus provides limited driver's license, state ID and vehicle registration services.
The restructuring will increase the number of employees serving the public by 60 percent and will create more than 20 jobs, the tax collector said.
Source: Spectrum News 13
Tax collector's office moving to West Oaks Mall Two Orange County Tax Collector Branches, Call Center and Mail Processing Center to Relocate to West Oaks Mall in Ocoee as Part of Yearlong Office Restructuring


The Cayman Islands recently implemented legislation which will have serious implications for charities operating in the Islands.
The Non-Profit Organisations Law, 2016 (the Law) is part of the Cayman Islands implementation of Financial Action Task Force recommendations to facilitate the investigation and enforcement of anti-money laundering and terrorism financing.� The Law will also give the public access to certain information about charities through the establishment of a new register, the Non-Profit Organisations Register.
Although the Law will have an administrative impact on the entities that come within its scope, the changes are to be welcomed as bringing a robust governance structure to an important sector in the Cayman Islands' life and economy.
This basically means that if you have a charity that operates in the Cayman Islands by raising money from the public, it is likely that your organisation will be caught by the new rules.� It would be fair to replace the acronym "NPO" with the word "charity".� Many religious organisations may also be considered to be NPOs for the purposes of the Law.
How does the Law affect NPOs?
Firstly, and most importantly, an NPO cannot solicit contributions from the public unless it is registered with the Registrar of Non-Profit Organisations (the Registrar).� This means that information about the NPO and its management team will become publically available and available to law enforcement agencies.
Secondly, the NPO must make annual returns and keep financial statements.� This may therefore increase the administrative burden on some charities or religious organisations.
Finally, for some organisations, it may mean making changes to their constitutional documents in order to comply with the minimum requirements for NPOs under the Law.
how those contributions have been applied.
Controllers of NPOs are trustees, directors, partners or the persons responsible for the management of unincorporated associations.
Applications for registration are submitted to the Registrar who, as a matter of law, must accept or reject it within 30 days.� This is therefore intended to be much quicker than the previous system under s80 of the Companies Law (2013 Revision) (As Amended) which meant that application had to be made for Cabinet approval.
NPOs must file annual returns within six months of the end of their financial years.� The annual return is a statutory form which again is available from the General Registry.
All NPOs must now keep financial statements that record, among other things, all sums raised through fundraising, all money received and expended, records of assets and liabilities and various non-monetary transactions.� Where an NPO has an annual income of over KY $250,000 and it remits more than 30% of that income outside of the Cayman Islands, it must have its financial statements reviewed in accordance with international standards.
As a minimum, the Law requires that the NPO's constitutional documents indicate (i) that its assets and income will be applied exclusively in the furtherance of its purposes, and (ii) prohibit the distribution of assets or income to the NPO's Controllers unless such a distribution is to compensate that person for services rendered.� If the NPO's constitution does not already meet these requirements, it will have to be changed before it can be registered.
There are administrative penalties for failing to comply with the Law and these are levied against the NPO's Controllers.
Existing NPOs have until 31 January 2018 to register and the registration fee of KY $300 will be waived until 31 July 2018.


Dutch painter, with Poelenburgh the leading pioneer of the taste for Italianate landscapes in the Netherlands. Breenbergh spent most of the 1620s in Italy and thereafter worked in Amsterdam. His style as a painter is very similar to Poelenburgh s, his biblical and mythological characters set in well-balanced views of the Roman Campagna, often complete with classical ruins. His drawings are much fresher and bolder, and have often passed under the name of Claude, as is the case with two examples in Christ Church, Oxford. Late in his career Breenbergh turned to figure painting.
See more details about "Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath"
See more details about "Joseph Selling Wheat to the People"
See more details about "The Preaching of St John the Baptist"
See more details about "Ruins of the City Walls, near Porta S Paolo, Rome"


text:
Methods for objectively assessing clinical masticatory performance: protocol for a systematic review
Per Elgestad Stjernfeldt1,2,
Inger Wårdh2,3,
Mats Trulsson4,
Gerd Faxén Irving5 &
Anne-Marie Boström2,6,7,8
Chewing and masticatory function constitutes one of the most important oral health factors that affect quality of life, especially in older individuals. Little consensus currently exists regarding ways to objectively assess clinical masticatory performance (in this context, performance refers an individual's objective ability to mix or comminute food bolus). That said, many methods were developed to assess masticatory performance. Consequently, systematic review of the literature would be of great value when it comes to identifying various methods for objectively assessing clinical masticatory performance and for evaluating these methods.
This study protocol describes a systematic review that intends to (i) identify methods to objectively assess clinical masticatory performance and (ii) evaluate psychometric properties (such as validity and reliability) of the identified methods. A systematic literature search is required to do so in these sources: MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (embase.com), Web of Science Core Collection (Thomson Reuters), Cochrane (Wiley), and Cinahl (Ebsco).
Inclusion criteria: studies in scientific, full-text articles; development articles; validation articles; studies of the general adult population, ages ≥18. Exclusion criteria: topics and article types that cover interview methods and self-reported questionnaires; methods/instruments that measure subjective masticatory performance; qualitative studies and case studies; opinion and editorial pieces; animal studies; studies of humans with severe oral health complications.
This systematic review will result in a comprehensive assessment of various methods designed to objectively measure clinical masticatory performance. This systematic review will rate these methods, assess their reliability and validity, and identify one or more methods that can be recommended for use in clinical and scientific environments. From what is currently known, no systematic evaluation of various methods for objectively assessing clinical masticatory performance has been published.
An increasing number of older individuals retain dentition throughout life. Many have gone through oral rehabilitation with various dental constructions—often with the purpose of securing relevant chewing and masticatory function that has been shown to be one of the most important oral health factors associated with the quality of life in older individuals [1,2,3].
Many clinical assessment methods were developed to assess masticatory performance, for example, color-changing chewing gums, sieving comminuted food or artificial food, optical scanning of masticated particles, or measuring release of dye when chewing food [4]. Currently, there are many different methods used to clinically assess masticatory performance objectively (here, performance refers to someone's objective ability to mix or comminute food bolus) [4]. For practitioners and researchers, it would be interesting to find out if these methods could be used to evaluate masticatory ability—before dental treatment. For research studies that develop and test interventions—to enhance masticatory performance—need exists for reliable, valid methods that objectively evaluate clinical masticatory performance.
The most common approach to evaluating masticatory performance has been to sieve comminuted food and determine the degree of food breakdown [4,5,6,7,8,9]. Food or artificial food is chewed with a predetermined number of chewing cycles. Food particles are then sieved, and particle size is analyzed. These comminution tests differ somewhat, although the general methodology is similar. For example, one study indicated that a multiple sieve method was more reliable in determining masticatory performance than a single sieve method [9]. Edlund et al. developed a masticatory efficiency index that could be used in these types of comminution tests, but it also required five separate test sessions to be reliable [10]. Optical scanning of chewed food particles was used in comminution studies—in lieu of sieving [11]. Comminution tests were used to evaluate masticatory performance after implant treatments or to assess masticatory performance in patients with conventional dentures [12, 13].
Another common masticatory performance assessment method involves mixing ability tests. One study indicated that a mixing ability test discriminates better (between groups of individuals with compromised masticatory performance) than comminution tests [14]. In another study, two colored chewing gums were used as test food. Determining the degree of mixing of the two colors assessed mixing ability. Optical/scanning methods or visual inspection enable the assessment [12]. Multicolored paraffin wax, which is mixed during chewing, can be used as test food for determining masticatory performance; this method demonstrated validity and reliability in individuals with normal and compromised dentition [15, 16].
While comminution and mixing tests are common methods when quantifying masticatory performance, others were also developed. Some studies used color-changing chewing gums [17, 18]; here, color change was assessed with a colorimeter [17] or spectrophotometer [18] and was used as a way of quantifying masticatory performance.
While most of these tests were used in laboratory studies, no established method for evaluating a patient's objective masticatory performance is available within clinical practice, and the clinician must rely on masticatory performance assessments via oral status appraisals, existing dentition, or patients' subjective experiences. The Eichner index, which is used to classify occluding contacts, was validated as a method in relation to masticatory performance [19].
The term masticatory function was used for objective and subjective measurements [4]. In this study protocol, we use masticatory performance, because this term relates more to the objective aspects of mastication [4], and it has been adopted in clinical studies [20,21,22].
Our scoping reviews identified two reviews that were published in this field. Oliveira et al. presented a review of various methods used for evaluation of masticatory performance in patients with conventional complete dentures [23]. Fifty-two articles were analyzed, and Oliveira et al. concluded that despite the wide variety of methodologies, sieve methods are considered to be the golden standard for evaluating complete dentures wearers' masticatory ability. A second systematic review synthesized available knowledge of distal-extension removable dental prosthesis in individuals with shortened dental arches and its effects on masticatory performance [24]. Four studies provided data on comminution, three on mixing ability, and one on both tests. The authors concluded that distal-extension removable dental prostheses—in subjects with shortened dental arches—partially compensate for reduced masticatory performance. But note that these reviews did not evaluate methodological quality of the studies of various clinical assessment methods used to determine masticatory function. Our scoping reviews of the literature showed that no systematic evaluation of varying methods used to assess objective clinical masticatory performance was published. So it would be of great value to conduct at systematic review that leads to identifying various methods of measuring objective masticatory performance and evaluating psychometric properties of identified methods so that practitioners can:
Monitor masticatory performance objectively before treatment
Assess whether treatment is indicated
Restore masticatory performance
Evaluate objective masticatory performance after treatment
Primary objectives are to:
– Identify methods for objectively assessing clinical masticatory performance
– Evaluate psychometric properties (such as validity and reliability) of the identified methods
Secondary objectives are to:
– Compare measurement properties of the identified methods
– Identify any types of reported adverse events in development or validation of methods in the selected studies
Protocol/registration
The Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Protocol (PRISMA-P) guidelines are to be used for documenting review results [25]. Additional file 1 displays the PRISMA-P checklist. The protocol was registered in the PROSPERO database (Ref: CRD42016037700).
Studies will be included in this systematic review if they are reported in scientific, full-text articles. Study designs must describe development of methods that objectively assess clinical masticatory performance in adult individuals (development article) or evaluate measurement properties of methods that objectively assess clinical masticatory performance in adult individuals (validation article).
There will be no restrictions regarding type of:
Time frame for completing assessments such as before, during, or after dental procedures
Settings in which assessments were conducted
This systematic review will include studies of the general adult population, ages ≥18
These topics and article types will be excluded from this systematic review: interview methods and self-reported questionnaires; methods/instruments that subjectively measure masticatory performance; qualitative studies and case studies; opinion and editorial pieces; animal studies; and studies of humans with severe oral health complications, for example, oral cancer, malocclusions, and trauma (these patient groups represent special dental conditions, problems, and treatments).
If a study is unavailable in full-text, then the abstract will be excluded.
Methods for objectively assessing clinical masticatory performance
In this systematic review, clinical masticatory performance is considered a method that assesses an individual's ability to mix or comminute food/artificial food bolus.
Outcomes from this systematic review will be lists/tables/descriptions of:
Methods for objectively assessing clinical masticatory performance (i.e., articles that report development or validation studies on these types of methods)
Measurement properties described in the identified methods (i.e., the articles must have reported measurement properties for the method that was developed and validated)
Adverse events that occurred during method development or validation
Scientific articles published in English only will be selected for this systematic review. A list of possible relevant titles in other languages will be provided in an appendix.
These databases will be searched from their inception up to January 2017: MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (embase.com), Web of Science Core Collection (Thomson Reuters), Cochrane (Wiley), and Cinahl (Ebsco). To complete our searches in the databases, the Google Scholar search engine will be used to search potential databases such as university databases and conference proceedings, among others, for articles. If only abstracts are identified, then authors will be contacted to obtain full-text articles.
The reference lists of included articles or relevant reviews identified in the search will be manually screened. Experts and investigators in the field will be contacted to obtain information on ongoing or unidentified studies.
The overall search strategy was developed with librarians at Karolinska Institute's university library. The staff at this library has extensive expertise and experience in developing search strategies for systematic reviews. Library staff will also conduct the literature search.
Search strategies will be developed for each database, with appropriate terms from controlled vocabulary (e.g., MeSH in MEDLINE and Emtree in Embase). Main terms will be mastication, bite force, chewing gum, and deglutition—combined with different terms for measurement properties. Along with the terms from MeSH and Emtree, a broad range of current free-text terms will be used. The free-text terms will, if appropriate, be truncated and/or combined with proximity operators.
A further search will be done with the names of the methods found in the original search. These names will be combined with AND—with the requirements for the target population and measurement properties.
Additional file 2 shows the search strategy in more detail.
All citations will be imported into the EndNote (version X7.5) reference program. The library staff will save the electronic searches, and summaries of the searches will be printed to capture results of the searches for the protocol records.
The EndNote reference manager software will be used during the study selection. After the initial search, obvious duplicates will be removed using the reference manager software. One reviewer will perform this procedure. Two independent reviewers will assess remaining titles and abstracts eligibility. If a title or abstract is not enough to determine eligibility, then the full-text article will be obtained.
Full-text articles will be obtained from the remaining eligible abstracts. Two reviewers will independently judge each article for eligibility. If the information in the full-text article is not enough to determine eligibility, then authors will be contacted to obtain missing information. Discussions between the two reviewers will resolve any disagreement. If agreement is not reached, then a third reviewer will decide whether the article will be included. The reasons for excluding an article will be documented. Two team members will independently screen the references lists of the all included articles for any additional relevant studies.
All review team members will receive training in using EndNote and the data extraction forms before procedures in each phase (e.g., screening, eligibility, inclusion, and data extraction) during the systematic review. Training sessions will be organized for calibrating assessments among members. Regular team meetings will be held to discuss issues—to adhere to criteria in each phase. Several abstracts and articles will be pilot tested to ensure agreement and clarify decisions among reviewers.
Two reviewers will implement data extraction for the included articles by using standardized data extraction forms developed for this study (one for development studies and one for validation studies; see Additional file 3). If consensus is not reached, a third reviewer will decide the outcome.
Data from included articles will be summarized in standardized data extraction forms that will contain this information: First author, year of publication, title, journal (or type of publication), country of study, study purpose(s), study design, study sample, description of method to objectively assess clinical masticatory performance, and adverse events.
Outcomes and prioritization (measurement properties of identified methods)
The predefined quality criteria for rating the measurement properties of instruments and methods recommended by the consensus-based standards for the selection of the health measurement instruments (COSMIN) group will be used to assess the measurement properties of the different methods [26]. The predefined criteria are in Additional file 4 [26].
The criteria relate to these measurement properties and aspects of measurement properties: reliability (internal consistency, measurement errors, reliability), validity (content validity, structural validity, hypothesis testing), and responsiveness. Also, under consideration will be whether development of any methods included in the systematic review was based on an a priori conceptual framework/model. Two independent reviewers will assess the measurement properties for each method. If consensus is not reached, a third reviewer will decide the outcome.
Quality assessment of individual studies
The COSMIN Checklist will be used to evaluate the methodological quality of the included studies [26]. This assessment is done to avoid including development or validation articles of methods that are of low methodological quality.
Four domains are distinguished in the COSMIN Checklist: ratings of the rigor of the reliability, validity, responsiveness, and interpretability with related measurement properties and aspects of measurement properties. Additional file 5 lists these properties. For each of the measurement properties, the COSMIN Checklist consists of 5 to 18 items that cover methodological standards. In addition, each item can be scored on a four-point scale (i.e., poor, fair, good, excellent). Taking the lowest rating for each item in one box, an overall score is obtained for each measurement properties separately [26].
A final report will be developed; it will summarize the identified methods to facilitate objective assessment of masticatory performance. A table of characteristics for each method will be included. Analysis of the findings will be a process of narrative synthesis to summarize evidence on the measurement properties of the identified methods. First, the methodological quality of the studies will be assessed using the COSMIN Checklist. This process will generate a separate rating for each of the measurement properties, where estimated in each study. Second, the estimated measurement properties of the methods will be assessed against the established criteria of measurement properties (see Additional file 4).
Meta-biases
Meta-bias refers to the biased selection of research findings and covers reporting bias and publication bias. Reporting bias, such as not reporting findings as stated in previous published study protocol, is mainly a concern in articles that report RCT studies and other trials. In development and validation studies, there is no tradition of publishing study protocols before starting data collection in the research study. So this systematic review cannot search for study protocols. The first author will be contacted for articles in which we lack important data or information for conducting our systematic review.
Confidence in cumulative estimate
The scoring system for the COSMIN Checklist will be used to summarize the confidence in cumulative estimate in this review [26]. This scoring system is similar to the GRADE system that is used for synthesizing evidence from clinical trials [27]. The resulting level of evidence for the measurement properties of each method will be classified as per criteria in Additional file 6.
Differences between the protocol and the review
If criteria or other methods must be changed during review implementation, then all differences will be reported between published protocol and the review. The rationale for each type of change of methods will be documented.
The objective of this systematic review is to conduct a comprehensive assessment of different methods designed to objectively assess clinical masticatory performance. This systematic review will rate these methods, assess their measurement properties, and identify one or more methods that can be recommended for use in clinical or scientific environments. From what is known to us, no systematic evaluation of different methods used to objectively assess clinical masticatory performance has been published.
Poor oral status affects nutritional status and quality of life and leads to impaired function [28, 29]. If the treatment goal of dental practitioner is to restore oral function, then surely masticatory performance would be one of those aspects to consider. This would be of value for all individuals with compromised dentitions—especially older individuals. Recent research has pointed to the relation between cognitive and chewing functions [30]—a factor that makes it very important to find valid, reliable methods to objectively assess clinical masticatory performance.
The strength in this systematic review will be use of the COSMIN Checklist to assess measurement properties of the identified methods and methodological quality of included studies [26]. The COSMIN Checklist was developed for health status questionnaires. But this checklist has been used in several systematic reviews for evaluating methods such as performance-based measures to assess physical function in hip and knee osteoarthritis [31] multicomponent tools to assess frailty in older adults [32] and functional assessments of older adults at risk of activity and participation limitations [33]. Availability of the university library of Karolinska Institute and its qualified staff is another strength.
One limitation for this review is that it will include articles published in English only. Possible relevant titles for identified articles in other languages will be provided in a list. Identification of methods published in other languages is not expected, and financial resources are unavailable for translation of potential articles. If a seemingly important article in a language other than English is found, then the author(s) will be contacted and a version or information in English will be requested.
Two of the authors have earlier experience in reading and searching for eligible articles for systematic reviews, and all authors will be trained in this work—with the library staff—before the systematic review starts.
Akademiskt centrum för äldretandvård, Academic Center for Geriatric Dentistry
COSMIN:
Consensus-based standards for the selection of the health measurement instruments
Strömberg E, Holmèn A, Hagman-Gustafsson ML, Gabre P, Wårdh I. Oral health-related quality-of-life in homebound elderly dependent on moderate and substantial supportive care for daily living. Acta Odontol Scand. 2013;71(3-4):771–7.
Locker D, Matear D, Stephens M, Jokovic A. Oral health-related quality of life of a population of medically compromised elderly people. Community Dent Health. 2002;19(2):90–7.
Guarnizo-Herreño CC, Tsakos G, Sheiham A, Watt RG. Oral health and welfare state regimes: a cross-national analysis of European countries. Eur J Oral Sci. 2013;121(3 Pt 1):169–75.
van der Bilt A. Assessment of mastication with implications for oral rehabilitation: a review. J Oral Rehabil. 2011;38:754–80.
Lucas PW, Luke DA. Methods for analyzing the breakdown of food in human mastication. Arch Oral Biol. 1983;28:813–9.
Olthoff LW, van der Bilt A, Bosman F, Kleizen HH. Distribution of particle sizes in food comminuted by human mastication. Arch Oral Biol. 1984;29:899–903.
Slagter AP, Bosman F, van der Bilt A. Comminution of two artificial test food by dentate and endentulous subjects. J Oral Rehabil. 1993;20:159–76.
Shi CS, Ouyang G, Guo TW. Comparison of food particle distribution masticated by subjects wearing complete dentures and with natural teeth. J Oral Rehabil. 1990;17:611–5.
van der Bilt A, Fontijn-Tekamp FA. Comparison of single and multiple sieve methods for the determination of masticatory performance. Arch Oral Biol. 2004;49:193–8.
Edlund J, Lamm CJ. Masticatory efficiency. J Oral Rehabil. 1980;7:123–30.
van der Bilt A, van der Glas HW, Mowlana F, Heath MR. A comparison between sieving and optical scanning for the determination of particle size distributions obtained by mastication in man. Arch Oral Biol. 1993;38:159–62.
Geertman ME, Slagter AP, van Waas MAJ, Kalk W. Comminution of food with mandibula rimplant-retained overdentures. J Dent Res. 1994;73:1858–64.
Fontijn-Tekamp FA, Slagter AP, van der Bilt A, van't Hofm MA, Witter DJ, Kalk W, et al. Biting and chewing in overdentures, full dentures, and natural dentitions. J Dent Res. 2000;79:1519–24.
Speksnijder CM, Abbink JH, van der Glas HW, Jansen NG, van de Bilt A. Mixing ability test compared with a comminution test in persons with normal and compromised masticatory performance. Eur J Oral Sci. 2009;117:580–6.
Sato H, Fueki K, Sueda S, Sato S, Shiozaki T, Kato M. A new and simple method for evaluating masticatory function using newly developed artificial test food. J Oral Rehabil. 2003;30:68–73.
Sato S, Fueki K, Sato H, Sueda S, Shiozaki T, Kato M. Validity and reliability of a newly developed method for evaluating masticatory function using discriminant analysis. J Oral Rehabil. 2003;30:146–51.
Hama Y, Kanazawa M, Minakuchi S, Uchida T, Sasaki Y. Reliability and validity of a quantitative color scale to evaluate masticatory performance using color-changeable chewing gum. J Med Dent Sci. 2014;61(1):1–6.
Hayakawa I, Watanabe I, Hirano S, Nagao M, Seki T. A simple method for evaluation masticatory performance using a color-changeable gum. Int J Prosthodont. 1998;11:173–6.
Ikebe K, Matsuda K, Murai S, Maeda Y, Nokubi T. Validation of the Eichner index in relation to occlusal force and masticatory performance. Int J Prosthodont. 2010;23(6):521–4.
Tarkowska A, Katzer L, Ahlers MO. Assessment of masticatory performance by means of a color-changeable chewing gum. J Prosthodont Res. 2016. doi:10.1016/j.jpor.2016.04.004. [Epub ahead of print].
Trein MP, Mundstock KS, Maciel L, Rachor J, Gameiro GH. Pain, masticatory performance and swallowing threshold in orthodontic patients. Dental Press J Orthod. 2013;18(6):117–23.
Gameiro GH, Schultz C, Trein MP, Mundstock KS, Weidlich P, Goularte JF. Association among pain, masticatory performance, and proinflammatory cytokines in crevicular fluid during orthodontic treatment. Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop. 2015;148(6):967–73.
Oliveira NM, Shaddox LM, Toda C, Paleari AG, Pero AC, Compagnoni MA. Methods for evaluation of masticatory efficiency in conventional complete denture wearers: a systematized review. Oral Health Dent Manag. 2014;13(3):757–62.
Liang S, Zhang Q, Witter DJ, Wanga Y, Creugers NHJ. Effects of removable dental prostheses onmasticatory performance of subjects with shortened dental arches: a systematic review. J Dent. 2015;43:1185–94.
Moher D, Shamseer L, Clarke M, Ghersi D, Liberati A, Petticrew M, Shekelle P, Stewart LA, PRISMA-P Group. Preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis protocols (PRISMA-P) 2015 statement. Syst Rev. 2015;4:1. doi:10.1186/2046-4053-4-1.
Mokkink LB, Terwee CB, Patrick DL, Alonso J, Stratford PW, Knol DL, Bouter LM, de Vet HCW. The COSMIN checklist for assessing the methodological quality of studies on measurement properties of health status measurement instruments: an international Delphi study. Qual Life Res. 2010;19:539–49.
Schünemann HJ, Oxman AD, Brozek J, Glasziou P, Bossuyt P, Chang S, Muti P, Jaeschke R, Guyatt GH. GRADE: assessing the quality of evidence for diagnostic recommendations. Evid Based Med. 2008;13(6):162–3.
Smith PA, Entwisthle VA, Nuttall N. Patients' experiences with partial dentures: a qualitative study. Gerodontology. 2005;22:187–92.
Trulsson U, Engstrand P, Berggren U, Nannmark U, Brånemark P-I. Edentulousness and oral rehabilitation: experiences from the patients' perspective. Eur J Oral Sci. 2002;110:417–24.
Lexomboon D, Trulsson M, Wårdh I, Parker MG. Chewing ability and tooth loss: association with cognitive impairment in an elderly population study. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2012;60(10):1951–6.
Dobson F, Hinman RS, Hall M, Terwee CB, Roos EM, Bennell KL. Measurement properties of performance-based measures to assess physical function in hip and knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2012;20(12):1548–62.
Sutton JL, Gould RL, Daley S, Coulson MC, Ward EV, Butler AM, Nunn SP, Howard RJ. Psychometric properties of multicomponent tools designed to assess frailty in older adults: a systematic review. BMC Geriatr. 2016;16:55.
Wales K, Clemson L, Lannin N, Cameron I. Functional assessments used by occupational therapists with older adults at risk of activity and participation limitations: a systematic review. PLoS One. 2016;11:2.
We would like to thank Judy Petersen Ph.D. for her help with the English text editing of this manuscript.
This study protocol, and subsequent systematic review, is a part of a Ph.D. project. Funding is provided by the public dental care in Stockholm, Sweden (Folktandvården Stockholms län AB). Future planned clinical studies will be built on patient-related data from this organization, which is the corresponding author's employer.
Published manuscripts
PES, AMB, IW, GFI, and MT have made substantial contribution to the conception and design of this study protocol. The systematic review was conceptualized by AMB, PES, GFI, and IW. MT and PSE reviewed previous published work in the field. AMB assisted with the methodology. PES and AMB wrote the final manuscript. All authors reviewed and approved the manuscript.
Not applicable for this study.
Dental Clinic of Medical Dental Care at Stockholms Sjukhem, Mariebergsgatan 22B, 112 19, Stockholm, Sweden
Per Elgestad Stjernfeldt
Akademiskt Centrum för Äldretandvård, Academic Center for Geriatric Dentistry, Stockholm, Sweden
Per Elgestad Stjernfeldt, Inger Wårdh & Anne-Marie Boström
Department of Dental Medicine, Division of Gerodontics, Karolinska Institute, Box 4064, 14104, Huddinge, Sweden
Inger Wårdh
Department of Dental Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Box 4064, 14104, Huddinge, Sweden
Mats Trulsson
Department of Neurobiology, Care Science and Society, Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Karolinska Institute, Blickagången 6/Hälsovägen 7, 14157, Huddinge, Sweden
Gerd Faxén Irving
Department of Neurobiology, Care Science and Society, Division of Nursing, Karolinska Institute, Box 23300, 141 83, Huddinge, Sweden
Anne-Marie Boström
Department of Geriatric Medicine, Danderyd Hospital, SLSO, 182 87, Danderyd, Sweden
Department of Nursing, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Haugesund, Norway
Correspondence to Per Elgestad Stjernfeldt.
The PRISMA-P checklist. (DOCX 34 kb)
Search strategy for databases in MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (embase.com), Web of Science Core Collection, Cochrane (Wiley), and Cinahl (Ebsco). (PDF 97 kb)
Data extraction form. (DOCX 17 kb)
Definitions of measurement properties. (DOCX 16 kb)
COSMIN checklist domains. (DOCX 14 kb)
Levels of evidence for the quality of the measurement property. (DOCX 13 kb)
Elgestad Stjernfeldt, P., Wårdh, I., Trulsson, M. et al. Methods for objectively assessing clinical masticatory performance: protocol for a systematic review. Syst Rev 6, 20 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-016-0403-5
Masticatory performance
Study protocol
Compromised dentition


As we had mentioned in our previous post regarding the draft of Monitoring of Telephony traffic, PTA has denied the fact that it will intercept traffic, in fact it wants to calculate, evaluate and analyze the amount of traffic flowing in and out of the telecom networks.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has not formed, nor does it intend to form any regulations to monitor telecom traffic including phones calls, e-mails and text messages.
Denying news reports detailing PTA's plans to monitor all telecommunication traffic, a PTA spokesman said monitoring cyber and telecom traffic was never the PTA's mandate. Hence, the question of curbing freedom of expression does not arise in this particular case, he said. The spokesman said the PTA, in its efforts to curb illegal telecommunication traffic (grey traffic) coming into Pakistan from abroad, had installed state-of-the-art filters.
These filters account for all inbound telecom traffic, ensuring that only authorised means are being used for data transfer, billing verification and assuring the quality of service as required under law. During the past few months, PTA has seized a number of illegal exchanges and apprehended several individuals, including foreigners, involved in illegal telecommunications activities, which were causing billions of rupees in losses to the national exchequer, the spokesman said. These arrests might have fuelled the stories in the media about the monitoring of telecommunication traffic by the PTA, he added.
han yar us k funny msg k baghair to koi maza nai,but dekho sala phir bhi ni samajhta.


text:
package rx.internal.operators;

import java.util.ArrayDeque;
import java.util.Deque;

import rx.Observable.Operator;
import rx.Subscriber;

/**
 * Bypasses a specified number of elements at the end of an observable sequence.
 */
public class OperatorSkipLast<T> implements Operator<T, T> {

    final int count;

    public OperatorSkipLast(int count) {
        if (count < 0) {
            throw new IndexOutOfBoundsException("count could not be negative");
        }
        this.count = count;
    }

    @Override
    public Subscriber<? super T> call(final Subscriber<? super T> subscriber) {
        return new Subscriber<T>(subscriber) {

            private final NotificationLite<T> on = NotificationLite.instance();

            /**
             * Store the last count elements until now.
             */
            private final Deque<Object> deque = new ArrayDeque<Object>();

            @Override
            public void onCompleted() {
                subscriber.onCompleted();
            }

            @Override
            public void onError(Throwable e) {
                subscriber.onError(e);
            }

            @Override
            public void onNext(T value) {
                if (count == 0) {
                    // If count == 0, we do not need to put value into deque
                    // and remove it at once. We can emit the value
                    // directly.
                    subscriber.onNext(value);
                    return;
                }
                if (deque.size() == count) {
                    subscriber.onNext(on.getValue(deque.removeFirst()));
                } else {
                    request(1);
                }
                deque.offerLast(on.next(value));
            }

        };
    }

}