May 2012 saw the UK's biggest-ever celebration of dance.
The event featured here was at Burdett Coutts School in London SW1; meanwhile, Dance Events took place at all sorts of other locations – lidos, shopping centres, parks, palaces, schools, high streets and squares – in all dance styles, as part of the London 2012 Festival.
Info about Big Dance 2013 can be found at London Dance …you should be dancing yeah!
Guitar & Bass Strings Special Offer.
For a very limited time only!


Our podcast continues to be released weekly with content created with you in mind!
All our podcast episodes are available on our podcast website www.christianfinancialperspectives.com. You can listen to "Christian Financial Perspectives" anytime on any iPhone, Android, or smart phone while driving, exercising, cooking, or performing virtually any activity!
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Giving a midterm later today has me thinking about the future of higher education. On the one hand, when remembering my very best classes at Amherst College, I recall a well-delivered lecture as a real gem, to be savored over time, potentially life changing. On the other, the logistics of handling learning assessment metrics (such as exams) for large classes, in the era before the Internet, created very real limitations, even at an elite liberal arts school like Amherst.
My worries about for-profit distance education models principally center around the genericness of the industrial scale lecture. But there may well be new frontiers in learning assessment leveraged by technology that might be usefully appropriated here in the non-profit university world. Ideally (and this is dream-ware I realize), one would want a way to use strong AI (perhaps in the context of natural language processing) to assist human professors in the grading of exams that include essays, equations and other non-multiple-choice instruments–Exams that we might have given comfortably in a seminar class of 15, but that are currently impossible in a class of 100 students.
My favorite examination at Amherst, was in quantum chemistry–it was one week long and open book. All of the questions involved sophisticated mathematics at the very limit of my education. In fact, much of the required mathematics was taught to us by the course professor so that we could understand the chemistry! Our professor was available by phone during that week pretty much 24/7. It was an incredibly exhilarating experience to pass that exam and it was about as far removed from multiple choice as one could possibly get.
My goal would be for technology to drive us towards learning experiences and assessments like the above. If we could do something like that, then we might really revolutionize higher education.
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If you're a business owner, you know your company inside and out. From the salaries you give to the marketing expenditures you approve, you know where every cent and dollar goes. However, there are some costs that are less easily identifiable. Take for instance, your company's payroll processing costs. If your company is still relying on paper-based approval, your organization is using a system that's draining your company of labor, time, and money.
For starters, employees involved in payroll preparation would no longer need to seek timesheets from employees (or signatures from supervisors). A digital cloud-based system holds all employee punches, which supervisors and payroll staff can easily review, sign off, and approve right from their computer.
An automated time and attendance system automatically calculates employee worked time, eliminating human error entirely. Payroll personnel no longer have to contend with time card confusion, paperwork, and human error.
While handwritten timesheets are acceptable under the law, employees often approximate their recorded times when left to document their own attendance. Machine-recorded times are always accurate to the minute.
An automated time and attendance system guarantees accurate, complete time records,which are necessary in order to successfully pass a DOL audit or defend against labor law lawsuits.
In the long run, investing in an automated timekeeping system pays for itself in saved labor costs, human error costs, time theft, and potential compliance litigation costs. To start saving today, sign up for FingerCheck employee time clock software today!
Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+ for more interesting articles on payroll and time and attendance topics.


Use this feature to create an elliptical arc with indicated length and orientation of the major and minor axes, start and end angles, and center positions.
NOTE: If the start and end angles are equal, or if these angles differ by a multiple of 2 Pi, a closed ellipse is created.
Select Ellipse by Values from the Create>Conic submenu.
Enter the semimajor axis length. The semimajor axis is the line segment from one end position of the major axis to the center of the ellipse.
Enter the semiminor axis length. The semiminor axis is the line segment from one end point of the minor axis to the center of the ellipse.
Enter the angle value between the major axis and the construction view X axis.
Enter a start angle. The start angle is the angle between the major axis and a line joining the center and the start position. A CLOSED button will also be displayed on the Conversation bar. If selected, this will bypass the start angle and end angle, instead making a closed ellipse.
Enter an end angle. The end angle is the angle between the major axis and a line joining the center and the end position.
Indicate the center of the ellipse using one of the Position Menu options. The center is projected to the current construction plane, and creates the elliptical arc in the current construction view, at the current depth.


Harvard-alum startup Getaway rents custom-designed small-living units (aka 'tiny houses') two hours outside Boston and NYC.
How to save money on flights, hotels, and car rentals during summer travel season.
Scoring last-minute seats to this summer's premiere sporting event is easier than you think.
Don't worry too much about sharks—you're more likely to be killed by a falling coconut.
Spending is up more than ten percent, but only a third of Americans are confident they'll take days off at all.
You don't have to spend all summer hiding indoors.
Lyft is putting these kitted-out 1980s station wagons on the road for a very limited time only.
The takeaway from our beginner's guide to traveling with drones: practice, practice, practice.


text:
Julius von Gierke (* 5. März 1875 in Breslau als Julius Karl Otto Gierke; † 2. August 1960 in Göttingen) war ein deutscher Rechtswissenschaftler, der sich vorrangig mit Handels- und Versicherungsrecht befasste.

Leben
Julius Gierke war ein Sohn des später geadelten Rechtshistorikers Otto Gierke und dessen Frau Lili, Tochter des Verlegers Karl Friedrich Loening. Nach dem Besuch des Gymnasiums in Breslau und der Ritterakademie in Dom Brandenburg studierte er ab 1894 an der Universität Heidelberg, wo er 1894 in die Burschenschaft Allemannia eintrat, und ab 1896 an der Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin Rechtswissenschaften. Nach der Promotion 1898 in Berlin erfolgte 1901 seine Habilitation für Bürgerliches Recht an der Universität Göttingen.

Nach Tätigkeit als Privatdozent in Göttingen folgte er 1904 einem Ruf als außerordentlicher Professor an die Universität Königsberg (Nachfolge Rudolf His). Vier Jahre später erhielt er dort eine ordentliche Professur und war 1916/17 Rektor der Hochschule. Ab 1919 lehrte er an der Universität Halle (Nachfolge Paul Rehme) und wechselte schließlich 1925 nach Göttingen (Nachfolge Rudolf Müller-Erzbach).

Julius von Gierke galt als äußerst konservativ und wurde als Sohn des bedeutenden Juristen Otto von Gierke trotz seiner mütterlicherseits jüdischen Abstammung in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus relativ milde behandelt. Als "Altbeamter" konnte er zunächst nicht entlassen werden, verlor 1934 aber seine Mitgliedschaft in Prüfungsausschüssen. Gierke versuchte, sich den politischen Verhältnissen anzupassen, indem er die Weimarer Republik ablehnte und den Nationalsozialismus befürwortete. Schließlich musste er 1938 auf Druck des Ministeriums seine vorzeitige Emeritierung beantragen. Er blieb in Göttingen und konnte weiterhin publizieren.

Am 9. Mai 1945 wurde er vom Göttinger Nachkriegsrektor Rudolf Smend wieder zum Mitglied der Universität ernannt, wo er bis kurz vor seinem Tod lehrte.

Werk
Julius von Gierke prägte das Handelsrecht in entscheidenden Maße durch sein Lehrbuch "Handels- und Schiffahrtsrecht" mit. In der deutschen Tradition des 19. Jahrhunderts hinsichtlich seiner Auffassung von Aufgaben und Stellung des Handelsrechts im Rechtssystem stehend, verfasste er bedeutende Beiträge für die "Zeitschrift für das Gesamte Handelsrecht und Konkursrecht". Bereits 1907 gehörte er der Redaktion der Zeitschrift an und war von 1926 bis zu seinem Tode Mitherausgeber.

Bereits seit seiner Examensarbeit befasste sich von Gierke mit dem Versicherungsrecht. In seinem Werk "Versicherungsrecht" (1937–1947) legte er die Erkenntnisse seiner grundlegenden Mitarbeit an diesem Rechtsgebiet in Deutschland dar. Mehr als fünfzig Jahre zählte er zu den angesehensten Wissenschaftlern in diesem Fach.

Literatur

 Anikó Szabó: Vertreibung, Rückkehr, Wiedergutmachung. Göttinger Hochschullehrer im Schatten des Nationalsozialismus, mit einer biographischen Dokumentation der entlassenen und verfolgten Hochschullehrer: Universität Göttingen – TH Braunschweig – TH Hannover – Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover (= Veröffentlichungen des Arbeitskreises Geschichte des Landes Niedersachsen (nach 1945). Band 15; Teil von: Anne-Frank-Shoah-Bibliothek). Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2000, ISBN 3-89244-381-5 (Zugleich Dissertation an der Universität Hannover 1998).

Weblinks

 Julius von Gierke. Rektorate, Reden. In: Rektoratsreden im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert – Online-Bibliographie. Historische Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften

Einzelnachweise

Wirtschaftsrechtler (20. Jahrhundert)
Hochschullehrer (Albertus-Universität Königsberg)
Hochschullehrer (Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg)
Hochschullehrer (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen)
Rektor (Albertus-Universität Königsberg)
Absolvent der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Burschenschafter (19. Jahrhundert)
Deutscher
Geboren 1875
Gestorben 1960
Mann
Privatrechtler (20. Jahrhundert)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Every person has to pay taxes; the only tax in the tax code that can significantly be reduced or eliminated, with the help of an estate planning attorney, is the estate tax. A credit shelter trust is a way to take full advantage of your state estate and federal estate tax exemptions. Although such trusts may appear needless unless you are a multi-millionaire, there are still reasons for those of more modest means to do this kind of planning, and some of the main reasons are Medicaid avoidance and Medicaid planning and estate tax avoidance.
A Credit Shelter Trust can shield funds in trust from creditors.
A Credit Shelter Trust may be a viable tool in Medicaid Planning for In Home Care Medicaid and Long Term Chronic Care Nursing Home Medicaid Planning.
A Credit Shelter Trust can protect children's inheritance if the surviving spouse remarries.
A Credit Shelter Trust helps avoid administrative headaches.
With estate planning that is currently done you are usually grandfathered in, with regards to today's laws (just in case the laws change in the future). Taking care of your estate planning today could protect your estate from the uncertainty of governmental policy changes in the future, we never know what Congress will do about the estate tax down the road.
By now you should certainly be use to paying taxes during your lifetime, but without proper estate planning you may also be taxed even after you die. Moreover, it's possible for your whole estate that you leave behind to be taxed not once, but twice!
The first $5.34 million (in 2014) of an estate is exempt from federal estate taxes, so theoretically a husband and wife would have no federal estate tax if their estate is less than $10.68 million. The estate tax is also "portable" between spouses. This means that if the first spouse to die does not use all of his or her $5.34 million exemption, the estate of the surviving spouse may use it (provided the surviving spouse makes an "election" on the first spouse's estate tax return).
However, if one spouse dies and leaves everything to the surviving spouse, the surviving spouse may have an estate that is greater than $5.34 million plus whatever is left over from the deceased spouse's exemption, or an estate that is higher than the applicable threshold in his or her state (assuming the home state of the estate has an estate or inheritance tax). When the surviving spouse dies, any part of the estate over that threshold will be subject to federal estate tax and state of domicile estate tax. In other words, without proper planning the exemption of the first spouse to die is lost. The way to preserve both spouses' exemptions has been to create a "credit shelter trust" (also called an A/B or bypass trust). Work with a reputable estate planning and elder law firm to make sure that that your credit shelter trust is structured correctly. The attorneys at Rubinstein, Zeh & Associates are not only trained in handling simple credit shelter trust for estate administration under the current state estate tax laws and federal estate tax laws, will and probate administration matters, we take care of complex will and living trust estate tax matters in Nassau County, Suffolk County, Queens County, Bronx, Westchester, Richmond County, Manhattan and Brooklyn Kings County New York.
Many states have an estate or inheritance tax and the thresholds are usually far lower than the current federal one. Let's say that a couple lives in State Y, which has retained an estate tax on all estates over $1 million (this is the state's exemption). Looking at just the federal exemption of $5.34 million and the ability for the first spouse to die to transfer his or her unused credit to the other spouse, it would appear that the couple would have no tax issues if their estate is under $10.68 million. However, if the first spouse on his death passes everything to the surviving spouse, she may end up with an estate well over the state's $1 million threshold and be subject to a substantial state tax upon her own death. In effect, the couple has lost the state's "unified credit" of the first spouse to pass away.
Standard estate tax planning is to split an estate that is over the prevailing state or federal exemption amount between spouses and for each spouse to execute a trust to "shelter" the first exemption amount in the estate of the first spouse to pass away. While the terms of such kinds of trusts vary for each and every family's specific assets and situations, they generally provide that the trust income will be paid to the surviving spouse and the trust principal will be available at the discretion of the trustee if needed by the surviving spouse. Since the surviving spouse does not control distributions of principal, the trust funds will not be included in his/her estate at his/her death and will not be subject to tax. This way, in State Y the couple can protect up to $10.68 million from estate taxation while still making the entire estate available to the surviving spouse if needed.
The rising federal estate tax exemption means that many older trusts drawn up for married couples contain outdated estate-splitting provisions that may cost them dearly in lost state taxes or lost federal estate taxes, or both. Couples would do well to have their revocable trusts that contain credit shelter provisions reviewed by a competent estate and elder law attorney. The lawyers at Rubinstein, Zeh and Associates are there for you and your family.
Death and taxes may be unavoidable, but there are ways to make them less burdensome to your loved ones. Thoughtful estate planning in the form of a credit-shelter trust can help alleviate those burdens.
A credit shelter trust is a type of marital deduction trust (also called a marital trust), along with the QTIP trust and the Life Estate with Power of Appointment. Any marital deduction trust is designed to make optimal use of the marital deduction provided by federal estate tax laws, which allow property passing from a decedent to a surviving spouse to be transferred tax-free.
QTIP is short for Qualified Terminable Interest Property Trust. The concept of a "QTIP trust" only exists for federal gift and estate tax purposes, and from a state law perspective, such a trust does not differ from any other trust except that it must meet the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code. States which levy an estate tax may also recognize the trust.
For example, if a Mom gives $75,000 to Dad, this would be a gift to a spouse, exempt from the gift and estate tax. However, if Dad were to give the $75,000 to his son, this would be included for gift and estate tax purposes. However, Dad can place this $75,000 in a QTIP trust which will make payments of money to Mom during her life, and have the money in the trust pass to their Son when Mom dies. This is treated as a marital gift to Mom, exempt from the gift and estate tax, to the extent of any property received. The amount passing to their Son upon the death of Mom will be included in Mom's estate for estate tax consideration.
A credit-shelter trust (also known as an A-B trust, a bypass trust, or an exemption equivalent trust) is a way for you to pass on your estate and to avoid estate taxes. Under a credit-shelter trust, your surviving heirs would not receive your property (which would then be subject to an estate tax). Instead, your heirs would receive an interest in the trust itself.
A credit shelter trust is particularly useful for spouses whose estates would exceed the exemptible amount allowed for estate taxes. By leaving property to each other in a credit shelter trust, couples avoid having the same property taxed twice. Typically, the estate would be taxed once on the death of the first spouse (who leaves the estate to the surviving spouse), and then taxed again on the death of the surviving spouse.
However, if the property were not held in a "bypass" trust at the time of the first spouse's death, the property would pass to the surviving spouse as surviving joint tenant and thus would not be subject to taxation. Specifically, under a credit shelter / bypass trust, each spouse has a document that creates a trust to be established after the death of the first spouse. It is important that each spouse have a document naming the other spouse as the beneficiary because of the uncertainty of who will die first. Thus, in a bypass trust, instead of joint ownership (or tenancy by the entirety), the husband and wife would divide their assets so they each have a separate "taxable" estate. This is known as an AB trust. Under an AB trust, when the first spouse dies, the trust is split into two separate trusts: Trust A will contain the property of the first spouse to die, and Trust B will hold the property of the surviving spouse. When the first spouse dies, the property in Trust A goes to named beneficiaries. However, the surviving spouse usually retains the right to use the property for life. When the surviving spouse dies, the property in Trust B passes to the beneficiaries. Importantly, the Trust B property is not considered part of the second spouse's estate for estate tax purposes. It "bypasses" the survivor's estate at his or her death. Even though the assets in the bypass trust are "taxed" for estate tax purposes at the first spouse's death, no tax is due because of that spouse's exemption. And if the first spouse had an estate whose value exceeds the exemption amount, the surplus may be left to the surviving spouse tax-free under the marital deduction.
We are dedicated to your success, so contact us today. Speak with one of our knowledgeable Long Island will and estate tax planning, credit shelter trust estate planning, living trust estate administration and or litigation attorneys today from wherever you are in New York in Nassau and Suffolk, Brooklyn, Kings and Queens Counties, on Long Island and all New York City boroughs including Bronx, Westchester, Richmond County, and Manhattan.
Get Help With Your Estate Plan Now be prepared for your loved ones with the proper estate plan. Avoid costly mistakes with state estate tax and federal estate tax by speaking with an attorney from the law offices of Rubinstein, Zeh and Associates.


text:
Citazioni e frasi celebri
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"It is no easy task for a state any more than for a man to become reconciled to insignificance"
— Theodor Mommsen, The History of Rome - Volume 3, Context: It is no easy task for a state any more than for a man to become reconciled to insignificance; it is the duty and right of the ruler either to renounce his authority, or by the display of an imposing material superiority to compel the ruled to resignation. Vol. 3, pg. 21, translated by W.P. Dickson
Theodor Mommsen1
storico, numismatico e giurista tedesco 1817 - 1903
Citazioni simili
"I know it may seem small and insignificant, but it's not about what it is, it's about what it can become. That's not a seed, any more than you're just a boy."
— Dr. Seuss American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books 1904 - 1991
"Once a year, she remembers that she is insignificant. Then she forgets agains, because more than she is insignificant, she is forgetful."
— Dave Eggers, How the Water Feels to the Fishes
"I do not know any reading more easy, more fascinating, more delightful than a catalogue."
— Anatole France, book The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard
The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard (1881), La Bûche [The Log] (December 24, 1849)
"Your task will not be an easy one."
— Dwight D. Eisenhower American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961) 1890 - 1969
1940s, Context: Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world. Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely. But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory! I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory! Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking. Order of the Day (2 June 1944), a message to troops before the Normandy landings http://www.3ad.com/history/wwll/feature.pages/d.day.letters.htm, reported in Franklin Watts, Voices of History (1945), p. 260
"It is easy at any moment to surrender a large fortune; to build one up is a difficult and an arduous task."
— Livy Roman historian -59 - 17 a.C.
History of Rome, Book XXIV, sec. 22
"Every entering mind-mass excites all related mind-masses and this excitation is the more powerful the more insignificant the diversity of their inner states"
— Bernhard Riemann German mathematician 1826 - 1866
Gesammelte Mathematische Werke (1876), quality
"It is a more rational belief that man may become a brute than that a brute may become a man;"
— David Brewster British astronomer and mathematician 1781 - 1868
The facts and fancies of Mr. Darwin (1862), Context: It is a more rational belief that man may become a brute than that a brute may become a man; and it is an easier faith that plants and animals may dwindle down into an elemental atom, than that this atom should embrace in its organization, and evolve, all the noble forms of vegetable, animal, and intellectual life.
"The task counts more than the one who does it."
— Lloyd Alexander, The Chronicles of Prydain
The Chronicles of Prydain (1964–1968), Book I: The Book of Three (1964), Chapter 2
"It is no accident that the photographer becomes a photographer any more than the lion tamer becomes a lion tamer."
— Dorothea Lange American photojournalist 1895 - 1965
"It is so easy for a woman to become what the man she loves believes her to be"
— Edith Wharton, book The House of Mirth
"She is carrying herself through the day, and it's not an easy task."
— David Levithan, book Every Day
"Life at any time can become difficult: life at any time can become easy. It all depends upon how one adjusts oneself to life."
— Morarji Desai Former Indian Finance Minister, Freedom Fighters, Former prime minister 1896 - 1995
As quoted in Change your Body - Is your Body Acidic or Alkaline? http://books.google.co.in/books?id=n4iZAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT44 (2014) by Monica Wright, and Matt Thom, p. 44
"I'm much more interested in becoming a good man than in becoming a good actor."
— Joshua Jackson Canadian actor 1978
Context: I'm unfettered by the world, which is a very unique place to be at my age. I'll have to eventually choose what these next few years will be about, but I'm not in a rush. Besides, my personal life is much more important to me than my professional life and my self-worth isn't based on whether or not I act. I love acting, but I'm also looking into the great wide-open at this as-yet unpainted mural that will be my life. Whether or not it involves the movie business I'm not sure. I'm much more interested in becoming a good man than in becoming a good actor. As quoted in the article "Joshing Around" in Movieline magazine (November 1999)
"All truths wait in all things,
They neither hasten their own delivery nor resist it,
They do not need the obstetric forceps of the surgeon,
The insignificant is as big to me as any,
(What is less or more than a touch)…"
— Walt Whitman American poet, essayist and journalist 1819 - 1892
"When the church takes affairs of the state more seriously than they do Jesus, Pax Romana becomes its gospel and the president becomes the Son of God."
— Shane Claiborne, Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals
"What is holy, what is sacred? I reply that human happiness is holy, human rights are holy. The body and soul of man — these are sacred. The liberty of man is of far more importance than any book; the rights of man, more sacred than any religion — than any Scriptures, whether inspired or not."
— Robert G. Ingersoll Union United States Army officer 1833 - 1899
The trial of Charles B. Reynolds for blasphemy (1887), Context: Gentlemen, you can never make me believe — no statute can ever convince me, that there is any infinite Being in this universe who hates an honest man. It is impossible to satisfy me that there is any God, or can be any God, who holds in abhorrence a soul that has the courage to express his thought. Neither can the whole world convince me that any man should be punished, either in this world or in the next, for being candid with his fellow-men. If you send men to the penitentiary for speaking their thoughts, for endeavoring to enlighten their fellows, then the penitentiary will become a place of honor, and the victim will step from it — not stained, not disgraced, but clad in robes of glory. Let us take one more step. What is holy, what is sacred? I reply that human happiness is holy, human rights are holy. The body and soul of man — these are sacred. The liberty of man is of far more importance than any book; the rights of man, more sacred than any religion — than any Scriptures, whether inspired or not. What we want is the truth, and does any one suppose that all of the truth is confined in one book — that the mysteries of the whole world are explained by one volume? All that is — all that conveys information to man — all that has been produced by the past — all that now exists — should be considered by an intelligent man. All the known truths of this world — all the philosophy, all the poems, all the pictures, all the statues, all the entrancing music — the prattle of babes, the lullaby of mothers, the words of honest men, the trumpet calls to duty — all these make up the bible of the world — everything that is noble and true and free, you will find in this great book. If we wish to be true to ourselves, — if we wish to benefit our fellow-men — if we wish to live honorable lives — we will give to every other human being every right that we claim for ourselves.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
package com.hmsonline.trident.cql;

import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils;
import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;

import com.datastax.driver.core.Cluster;
import com.datastax.driver.core.ConsistencyLevel;
import com.datastax.driver.core.ProtocolOptions;
import com.datastax.driver.core.QueryOptions;

public class ConstructorConfiguredCqlClientFactory extends CqlClientFactory {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
    private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ConstructorConfiguredCqlClientFactory.class);
    private String[] hosts;
    private String clusterName = null;
    private ConsistencyLevel clusterConsistencyLevel= null;
    private ConsistencyLevel serialConsistencyLevel = null;

    protected static Cluster cluster;
    private final ProtocolOptions.Compression compression;

    public ConstructorConfiguredCqlClientFactory(String hosts) {
        this(hosts, null, ConsistencyLevel.QUORUM, QueryOptions.DEFAULT_SERIAL_CONSISTENCY_LEVEL, ProtocolOptions.Compression.NONE);
    }

    public ConstructorConfiguredCqlClientFactory(String hosts, ConsistencyLevel clusterConsistency) {
        this(hosts, null, clusterConsistency, QueryOptions.DEFAULT_SERIAL_CONSISTENCY_LEVEL, ProtocolOptions.Compression.NONE);
    }

    public ConstructorConfiguredCqlClientFactory(String hosts, String clusterName, ConsistencyLevel clusterConsistency,
                            ConsistencyLevel conditionalUpdateConsistency, ProtocolOptions.Compression compression) {
        this.hosts = hosts.split(",");
        this.clusterConsistencyLevel = clusterConsistency;
        if (conditionalUpdateConsistency != null){
            this.serialConsistencyLevel = conditionalUpdateConsistency;
        }
        if (clusterName != null) {
            this.clusterName = clusterName;
        }
        this.compression = compression;
    }

    public Cluster.Builder getClusterBuilder() {

        final List<InetSocketAddress> sockets = new ArrayList<InetSocketAddress>();
        for (String host : hosts) {
            if(StringUtils.contains(host, ":")) {
                String hostParts [] = StringUtils.split(host, ":");
                sockets.add(new InetSocketAddress(hostParts[0], Integer.valueOf(hostParts[1])));
                LOG.debug("Connecting to [" + host + "] with port [" + hostParts[1] + "]");
            } else {
                sockets.add(new InetSocketAddress(host, ProtocolOptions.DEFAULT_PORT));
                LOG.debug("Connecting to [" + host + "] with port [" + ProtocolOptions.DEFAULT_PORT + "]");
            }
        }

        Cluster.Builder builder = Cluster.builder().addContactPointsWithPorts(sockets).withCompression(compression);
        QueryOptions queryOptions = new QueryOptions();
        queryOptions.setConsistencyLevel(clusterConsistencyLevel);
        queryOptions.setSerialConsistencyLevel(serialConsistencyLevel);
        builder = builder.withQueryOptions(queryOptions);

        if (StringUtils.isNotEmpty(clusterName)) {
            builder = builder.withClusterName(clusterName);
        }

        return builder;

    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Jul 15, 2011 Issue
AFP Journal Club
The Story Behind the Study
Usefulness of Procalcitonin Measurement in Reducing Antibiotic Use and Identifying Serious Bacterial Illness
This is a corrected version of the AFP Journal Club that appeared in print.
MARK A. GRABER, MD, FACEP, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa
ROBERT DACHS, MD, FAAFP, Ellis Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program, Schenectady, New York
ANDREA DARBY-STEWART, MD, Scottsdale Healthcare Family Medicine Residency, Scottsdale, Arizona
Am Fam Physician. 2011 Jul 15;84(2):177-179.
Related letter: Clarification Regarding Epidemiologic Concepts
From left: Dr. Mark Graber, Dr. Andrea Darby-Stewart, and Dr. Robert Dachs
In AFP Journal Club, three presenters review an interesting journal article in a conversational manner. These articles involve "hot topics" that affect family physicians or "bust" commonly held medical myths. The presenters give their opinions about the clinical value of the individual study discussed. The opinions reflect the views of the presenters, not those of AFP or the AAFP.
Manzano S, Bailey B, Girodias JB, Galetto-Lacour A, Cousineau J, Delvin E. Impact of procalcitonin on the management of children aged 1 to 36 months presenting with fever without source: a randomized controlled trial. Am J Emerg Med. 2010;28(6):647–653.
Procalcitonin is a precursor to calcitonin that is elevated only in the presence of a bacterial infection. Measurement of procalcitonin is being pushed as a way to determine the presence or absence of bacterial infection and, therefore, as a way to reduce antibiotic use. But, how well does it work in the patients family physicians see? Why are the results of this study not as convincingly positive as the results of other studies?
What does this article say?
Mark: This was a study of 457 consecutive patients one to 36 months of age in the emergency department. Patients had a rectal temperature of greater than 100.4˚F (38˚C); had no source of infection found on history and physical examination; and had urinalysis, complete blood count, and blood and urine cultures performed. All patients had procalcitonin measurements, and based on randomization, some of the results were available to the attending physician and some were not. Physicians could order other tests (e.g., chest radiography, spinal tap), admit the patient, or treat the patient with antibiotics at their discretion. Overall, 17 parents refused to allow their child to participate, and 28 children in each group could not have blood drawn or had a blood sample that was lost on the way to the laboratory.
The primary end point was the difference in antibiotic prescribing between the group that had procalcitonin levels available to the attending physician and the group that did not, excluding those patients with diagnosed serious bacterial infection or neutropenia following workup in the emergency department. From the perspective of our discussion, a more important outcome was the ability of procalcitonin measurement to predict serious bacterial illness.
Serious bacterial illness or neutropenia was diagnosed in 72 of 384 patients (19 percent). There were 158 children without serious bacterial illness or neutropenia in the group that had procalcitonin levels available to the physician and 154 in the group that did not. Of these "healthy" patients, 9 percent of patients in the group with available procalcitonin levels received antibiotics versus 10 percent in the group without available levels (no significant difference). However, had the physicians provided treatment based on the procalcitonin level (greater than 0.5 ng per mL), it would have increased unnecessary antibiotic use by 24 percent (95% confidence interval, 15 to 33).
An important secondary outcome is that a procalcitonin level greater than 0.5 ng per mL was only 77 percent sensitive and 64 percent specific for serious bacterial illness based on other test results (e.g., culture, chest radiography).
Should we believe this study?
Mark: Yes. Having the procalcitonin measurement available did not change antibiotic prescribing in this group of physicians. If the procalcitonin measurement had guided prescribing, it would have resulted in more antibiotic use rather than less.
Yet, procalcitonin measurement has been shown to do a pretty good job of differentiating between bacterial and viral disease in patients admitted to the hospital with pneumonia or meningitis.1,2 Why, then, wasn't it useful in this group of outpatients? There are three answers. First, the characteristics of a test depend on the prevalence of disease in the population. For example, if you do HIV screening in nuns, it is likely you will get more false-positive results than true-positive results. If you do HIV screening in intravenous drug users in sub-Saharan Africa, you will get more true-positive results than false-positive results. [ corrected] To state this succinctly, the positive predictive value of a test changes depending on the prevalence of disease in the population in which it is used.
Andrea: Second, there is spectrum bias in many studies of procalcitonin measurement. This study looked at patients in an emergency department. Most of the patients weren't very sick and didn't have a serious bacterial illness. So, the sensitivity of the procalcitonin measurement was lower (the patients are on the less severe spectrum of serious bacterial illness and thus can be expected to have lower procalcitonin levels).
Now, if we did a study of procalcitonin measurement in children with bacterial illness in an intensive care unit, it would likely be closer to 100 percent sensitive for serious bacterial illness—the patients would be sicker and the procalcitonin level would be higher. This is why procalcitonin measurement is useful for differentiating bacterial from viral illness in patients with meningitis, for example.
Bob: You can't blindly test patients and expect the tests to perform as they do in the literature. For example, if you obtain abdominal computed tomography in 100 patients in whom you are not sure what is going on ("fishing"), you will get a false-positive result for appendicitis, whereas if you obtain computed tomography in 100 patients with fever, elevated white blood cell count, and three days of tenderness at McBurney point, you will get a true-positive result. As Mark pointed out, the characteristics of a test depend on the prevalence and severity of disease in the group to whom it is applied. If you perform tests in a "no-risk" patient, you will most likely get false-positive results. This is what has occurred with the d-dimer test and pulmonary embolism, leading to more computed tomography scans with the attendant risk.
Mark: The third reason that procalcitonin measurement has performed well in some studies is because the study authors figure out an optimal "positive" cutoff retrospectively. They look at their data and decide what to use as positive and negative cutoffs for a lab test. The test will never perform this well in another population because the authors have optimized the cutoff for their study. So, anytime you see a cutoff that was calculated for a particular study, you can know it doesn't apply generally. A tip-off is that there is usually a receiver operating characteristic curve that helps to find the optimal sensitivity and specificity.
Legend has it that receiver operating characteristic curves were first devised in Britain during World War II. Some radar operators never missed a German air attack, but also called attacks when there was a flock of birds (very sensitive, not specific), and some radar operators missed German air attacks, but were almost always correct when they did call them (very specific, not sensitive).
Bob: In this study, they used a standard definition of a positive procalcitonin measurement (greater than 0.5 ng per mL). This is another reason procalcitonin measurement didn't perform well. They could have made the procalcitonin measurement more sensitive by, for example, reducing the positive result to 0.4 ng per mL. However, this also would have led to more false-positive results (lower specificity).
What should the family physician do?
Andrea: When you look at a study, make sure that the population is the same as your patient population. Characteristics of a test, such as sensitivity and specificity, will differ if the population is different than your own.
If you see a cutoff calculated for a study, realize that the test will never work that well again. The second group you test it on will always be different than the original group in some characteristic.
Bob: Don't use procalcitonin measurement for febrile infants in your office. Although it works well for very sick patients (e.g., those with meningitis or hospitalized with pneumonia), it doesn't work so well in typical infants who have a fever without a source. In fact, other studies have found similar or lower sensitivities in outpatient populations.3–5
Mark: To be fair, not all outpatient studies are negative. But, many do a post hoc analysis. For example, one study of procalcitonin measurement in febrile infants (which claims to be positive) found a sensitivity of 95 percent, but a specificity of only 25 percent.6 However, the study authors used a cutoff of 0.2 ng per mL determined post hoc to make the results look good. This translates into a 75 percent false-positive rate, which is hardly what you want when you are trying to avoid antibiotics.
Procalcitonin measurement is not good at differentiating bacterial from viral illness in outpatient febrile infants. It is in sicker inpatients, but these patients will likely be treated with antibiotics anyway, based on their degree of illness, while awaiting more definitive tests, such as culture. Procalcitonin measurement is neither 100 percent sensitive nor 100 percent specific, even in inpatients. The results of procalcitonin measurement should be used as only one part of your decision-making process.
Our take on the use of procalcitonin measurement is that it is not yet ready for prime time. Others may disagree.
EBM Points
The prevalence of a disease in a population changes the characteristics of a test (e.g., sensitivity, specificity).
Spectrum bias occurs when the group (in whom you are doing a test, for example) is either sicker or not as sick as the patients you see in your office. You cannot apply a test standardized in an inpatient population to your outpatient population (or vice versa) and expect it to have the same sensitivity and specificity.
In studies of tests (e.g., procalcitonin measurement), post hoc cutoff values are often selected to maximize the sensitivity and specificity of a test. The test will not perform as well in another group of patients. Receiver operating characteristic curves are used to figure out the optimal sensitivity vs. specificity.
Only positive studies get press. You likely have heard (or will hear) how great procalcitonin measurement is, but you have been told only part of the story.
Address correspondence to Mark A. Graber, MD, FACEP, at mark-graber@uiowa.edu. Reprints are not available from the authors.
1. Dubos F, Korczowski B, Aygun DA, et al. Serum procalcitonin level and other biological markers to distinguish between bacterial and aseptic meningitis in children: a European multicenter case cohort study. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2008;162(12):1157–1163....
2. Schuetz P, Christ-Crain M, Thomann R, et al. Effect of procalcitonin-based guidelines vs standard guidelines on antibiotic use in lower respiratory tract infections: the ProHOSP randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2009;302(10):1059–1066.
3. Andreola B, Bressan S, Callegaro S, Liverani A, Plebani M, Da Dalt L. Procalcitonin and C-reactive protein as diagnostic markers of bacterial infections in febrile infants and children in the emergency department. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2007;26(8):672–677.
4. Oshita H, Sakurai J, Kamitsuna M. Usefulness of semi-quantitative procalcitonin test in respiratory medical practice [in Japanese]. Rinsho Byori. 2010;58(7):670–675.
5. Holm A, Pedersen SS, Nexoe J, et al. Procalcitonin versus C-reactive protein for predicting pneumonia in adults with lower respiratory tract infection in primary care. Br J Gen Pract. 2007;57(540):555–560.
6. Maniaci V, Dauber A, Weiss S, Nylen E, Becker KL, Bachur R. Procalcitonin in young febrile infants for the detection of serious bacterial infections. Pediatrics. 2008;122(4):701–710.
A collection of AFP Journal Club published in AFP is available at https://www.aafp.org/afp/jc.
For more information on evidence-based medicine (EBM) terms, see the EBM Toolkit at https://www.aafp.org/afp/ebmtoolkit.
If you conduct a journal club and would like to know the next article that will be discussed, please e-mail afpjournal@georgetown.edu with " AFP Journal Club notification" in the subject line.
Infectious Disease, Bacterial
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text:
The Nuggets responded in a big way to their head coach calling them out
(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
BY JERRY SCHEMMEL
At least on this night, there didn't seem to be any Denver Nuggets players worrying about where they were going out after the game.
After an embarrassing and demoralizing loss two nights earlier, in Los Angeles against the Clippers, when the Nuggets let a 25-point lead get away, their coach was not too happy. Michael Malone publicly ripped into the team, questioning their commitment to trying to win basketball games.
"I think today's NBA player, they are worrying about where they are going out tonight," the Nuggets head coach said.
Malone suggested his players were more concerned with their social lives than their high paying jobs. Ouch!
But an interesting thing happened two nights later. Just 48 hours later, at home against the Portland Trailblazers, the Nuggets could not have looked any different. All the things they did wrong in Los Angeles, they did right Thursday night at Ball Arena, in cruising to 140-108 win. And making a statement about commitment in the process.
Nikola Jokic did not have his superstar offensive output – 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. But he didn't play at all in the fourth quarter. That's how good the Nuggets were in this one. They didn't even need the league MVP.
Will Barton was outstanding, finishing with a team-high 21 points. The bench was as good as it has been all season, producing a staggering 66 points. Of course, when Malone can sit Jokic and other starters for whole quarters, the bench is going to get big minutes.
The Nuggets hit 21 three-pointers on Thursday, after struggling so badly from beyond the arc on Tuesday. Bones Hyland had five of them by himself. And it wasn't all bombs away. The Nuggets had 58 points in the paint.
The impressive win was summed up beautifully by Jokic.
"That was spectacular," the MVP said.
Adding to the spectacular was the fact the team earlier that day had learned that the Bol Bol trade had been voided by Detroit after Denver's forward had failed his physical.
My how things can turn around so quickly in the NBA. Especially with the Denver Nuggets. After one of its very worst games of the season, the team bounced back with one of it's best.
A statement was thereby made. And no questioning of commitment by the coach this time.
Jerry Schemmel
The NBA schedule makers aren't doing the Nuggets any favors
With three games in four nights, including another back-to-back to end the stretch, a loss to the Jazz was predictable if not inevitable
Chad Andrus
The Nuggets and Jazz appear to be on a collision course in the playoffs
On paper, Utah has dominated Denver this season, but a showdown in the first round of the playoffs could have a very different look for the Nuggets
Rachel Vigil
The Fan's Nuggets Fast Break: Will MPJ make a return this season?
DenverFan.com's Rachel Vigil and James Merilatt discuss a possible return for young Nuggets start Michael Porter Jr. this season and more
The Nuggets have the key ingredient to make a championship run
Throughout NBA history, there has been one constant about championship teams, an element that the Nuggets should have for years to come
Nikola Jokic is on pace to shatter three all-time Nuggets records
The Joker is on pace to supplant Alex English and Dan Issel atop some impressive lists, but there are too marks that might be beyond his reach
With the deck stacked against them, are the Nuggets at a breaking point?
Between injuries and COVID protocols, the Nuggets have been forced to play a lot of hodgepodge lineups, leading to disjointed basketball


Announcement I have been out of the shop due to a very unexpected surgery that kept me from my lathe and studio for more than two and a half years. My health has improved, and I'm back in the studio again and will be posting new items as completed. Over my recovery time I have been able to keep working with new artists and teaching woodturners. I will post some of their items in my shop, please also take a look at their pieces. Thank you for your continued support.
I have been out of the shop due to a very unexpected surgery that kept me from my lathe and studio for more than two and a half years. My health has improved, and I'm back in the studio again and will be posting new items as completed. Over my recovery time I have been able to keep working with new artists and teaching woodturners. I will post some of their items in my shop, please also take a look at their pieces. Thank you for your continued support.
Handmade, woodturned, ambrosia maple with bark inclusion kaleidoscope, 4.5" dia. x 9" tall.


ancient name of the Dardanelles.
I think that Xerxes, in the matter of the Hellespont, did wisely and well.
These two young people lived in towns on opposite sides of the Hellespont.
Did not Leander swim over the Hellespont in a tempest to get to his mistress?
He´ro.Maiden loved by Leander, who swam the Hellespont to visit her, 111-117.
Naval battle of the Hellespont, and defeat of Gainas the barbarian; who was despatched in Thrace.


We are committed to giving you the best volunteering experience possible.
Every volunteer role is different but they all make a difference to people affected by Parkinson's in some way.
Depending on which role you choose, you might also develop valuable job skills and gain career experience.
We will support you throughout your time volunteering with Parkinson's UK. This includes a volunteer induction telling you what you need to know.


Does the upside potential outweigh the risks of investing in China?
Editor's Note: This is part 3 in a multi-part series. Part 1 can be found here. Part 2 can be found here.
On the day last week when the Dow crept into positive territory for the year (then up by 0.8%) the Wall Street Journal reported that the Shanghai Composite Index closed up 79.4% for the year. (Both decimal points are in the correct place.) Investor sentiment appears to be predicting that China's recent growth is sustainable.
In 2 recent articles dated June 10, 2009 and July 10, 2009 respectively, Anthony Chan, Asian Sovereign Strategist, Global Economic Research of AllianceBernstein, concurred. He expressed the firm's opinion that even if the current investment-led recovery in the Chinese economy -- a large part of which is in the development of infrastructure ($130 billion for 2009 alone, 60% already spent at the end of June) -- loses momentum in late 2009, the economy will continue to be spurred by recently introduced government policies intended to tap Chinese households' high level of precautionary savings, thus substantially increasing consumer spending and the further development of the residential housing market.
Based on what I observed, this is a dubious proposition. In my most recent article on the Chinese economy, I erroneously reported that China plans to build 7 tunnels under the Yangtze River, connecting Shanghai and Huangpu. Actually, the tunnels will be under the Huangpu River. More importantly, recourse to the July 7 2009 edition of the Shanghai Daily reflects that the number of new tunnels to be constructed will be "at least 9."
"At a more complex level, the market may not yet fully understand and appreciate China's underlying growth potential and dynamics in the context of the economic reform and restructuring that has taken place over the past 30 years and which has been unprecedented in terms of scale, breadth, and speed. Arguably, China -- with a huge population which is experiencing a massive shift in demographic and income profiles -- is only halfway through its urbanization and industrialization process. In our view, there will be many more 'green shoots' of economic restructuring in China which will result in significant capital accumulation, improved productivity, and economic growth, and these will compensate for any loss in growth caused by policy mistakes or sectoral imbalances."
"[T]here is broad evidence to show that consumerism in China is alive and well. This includes double-digit growth in cosmetic and jewelry sales and in purchases in electronic/video products, clothing, and footwear. Residential property sales surged a huge 49% year-on-year in May, which has triggered a similar pace of growth in the sale of furniture and home decoration materials. The sale of motor vehicles has picked up remarkably to an average of 30% year-on-year in April-May from 3.6% in the first quarter of 2009. Moreover, consumption of services has remained strong, including a 23% year-on-year increase in mobile phone subscriptions in March and a 15% year-on-year rise in passenger air traffic during the first quarter."


In an effort to avert a first-ever default on U.S. obligations, President Barack Obama and Republican congressional leaders reached an agreement Sunday night on a compromise to permit vital U.S. borrowing by the Treasury in exchange for more than $2 trillion in long-term spending cuts, reports the Huffington Post. The Senate and House are expected to vote for passage today, although there is dissatisfaction on all fronts.
The president will be authorized to increase the debt limit by at least $2.1 trillion, eliminating the need for another increase until 2013. Details include: The first cuts will come in at nearly $1 trillion, including savings of $350 billion from the Base Defense Budget, which will be trimmed based off a review of overall U.S. national security policy; A bipartisan committee with enhanced procedural authority will be responsible for pinpointing $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction from both entitlements and tax reform, as well as other spending programs; The committee will have to report by November 23, 2011, and Congress will be required to vote on Committee recommendations by December 23, 2011. The trigger mechanism -- should the committee's recommendations not be acted upon -- will be mandatory spending cuts. Those cuts, which will begin in January 2013, will be split 50/50 between domestic and defense spending. Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries and "low-income programs" would be exempted from those cuts.
Automatic cuts — the enforcement mechanisms at the heart of the talks — would fall on programs important to both Republicans (defense cuts) and Democrats (health spending). Any potential Medicare cutbacks would affect providers, not beneficaries.
President Obama said he wanted more revenues from eliminating tax subsidies for corporations and by raising tax rates for Americans making more than $200,000. He said he would push for the special committee to make those changes.
U.S. stock futures surged on news of the agreement, sparking a global relief rally in equities, reports the Wall Street Journal. About 90 minutes before the opening bell, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures shot 153 points higher to 12,241. The Dow suffered its biggest weekly point loss last week since May 2010 as investors fretted that time for a debt deal was running out. Standard & Poor's 500-stock index futures ran up 16 points to 1,304 and Nasdaq 100 futures hiked up 26 points to 2,385. edict stock moves after the opening bell. Meanwhile gold futures slid below $1,621 an ounce, falling from a record on Friday, as the debt-ceiling deal led money to flow out of safe-haven assets, crude-oil futures rallied to near $97 an ounce, and the U.S. dollar fell against both the euro and the yen.
Bottom line, there's no doubt the disfunction displayed by our elected leaders has tarnished our reputation abroad. And, the agreement if passed does not decisively remove the threat that the nation's AAA credit rating could be downgraded, an action that would raise borrowing costs across the board, and the prospect of further cuts ahead will cut short any celebrating.


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text:
LEGO® Friends Leveraging Competitive Advantage Case Solution
1735 548 Words (3 Pages) Michael Mazzeo, Greg Merkley Kellogg School of Management : KEL736
LEGO friends was introduced to cater to the innate differences that exist between boys and girls. Girls seem to like brighter and friendlier colors, whereas boys were not that choosy. Girls were slow builders and accompanied their building with storytelling, imaging the characters to be themselves.
Case Analysis for LEGO® Friends Leveraging Competitive Advantage
1. The strategies that TLG adopted to combat the decline in sales in 2004 started with the change in leadership. The new CEO that was appointed was from outside the family. He introduced a three-phase strategy, with the focus on survival. During the survival phase, he made layoffs, reducing 2000 jobs and negotiated with labor unions, to reduce expenditure. Moreover, he sold the theme park business to Blackstone, closed the software division and introduced licensing for video games production. Information technology was also outsourced to IBM. He reduced the design elements of the LEGO kits to 4000 unique elements, which further reduced manufacturing costs.
2. The strategies seem to be successful because firstly, a new set of eyes was driving the company; hence he was viewing things differently rather than as was done previously through family members. Secondly, as per exhibit 6, there was a sharp dip in the profit after tax in 2004, after which this figure seemed to rise steadily, which meant there was a control on costs. If the net sales figure is seen, that also depicts a gradual but steady rise, which meant the company was also improving in sales. Moreover, with a centralized distribution center in Prague, and the consolidation of TLG's logistics providers, the supply chain of the company was more streamlined and resulted in a 30% cost reduction in operations.


Since 2000, the Donor Sibling Registry (DSR) has connected more than 14,000 donor-conceived individuals with their donors and half-siblings. We've helped them to create and explore these new familial relationships and to better understand their ancestry and learn about their medical backgrounds. The DSR has also helped to eliminate much of the stigma associated with being a gamete donor or donor-conceived person. Behind the scenes, the DSR's research, education, and counseling service have provided the momentum for the establishment of positive reforms in the egg-donation and sperm-banking industries around the world.
We ask: 'What is in the best interests of the child to be born?' Our many research surveys, which reach thousands of donors, parents and donor offspring, have helped to answer this fundamental question. We are interested in the views of all those involved, particularly regarding medical issues, donor anonymity, and connecting with donor relatives. For almost 10 years, the DSR has partnered with researchers and universities around the world, including Cambridge in the UK, to publish more than two dozen peer-reviewed research papers on parents, donors, offspring, and their family members.
In the US, the donor-conception industry is largely unregulated, and there is wide variation in egg- and sperm-bank policies and procedures. Problems often arise as a result of lack of consistency around medical testing, health history follow-up, sharing and updating medical information, openness and transparency, and record-keeping and communication. The DSR has more than 53,000 members in 105 countries around the world, and US sperm banks ship to many countries, so this lack of oversight and regulation is of concern to donor families around the world.
Many of these issues are not unique to the donor conception industry. The US Federal Government has already acknowledged the importance of quality medical electronic record-keeping (HITECH Act), enacted the Patients' Bill of Rights (ACA), and highlighted the importance of testing for communicable diseases and screening for family health history. However, these federal regulations don't address the complexities within the donor-conception industry, and there remains a great need for more oversight and regulation of sperm banks and egg-donation clinics.
They need only look across the pond for a model of how this can be achieved – the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has been doing an excellent job of regulating the donor-conception industry for many years. Such a regulatory body is desperately needed in the US to improve medical and psychological outcomes of donor-conceived children. Recipients and donors should be fully educated and informed when making the decision to either conceive a child or donate sperm.
There are many complexities associated with creating a regulatory body. Effective policy change must involve all stakeholders – not only the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) and the FDA, but also the Donor Sibling Registry, cryobanks, parents, donors, and donor-conceived people themselves.
We invite everyone to add their comments or personal stories to our petition to highlight the importance of oversight and regulation of the reproductive-medicine industry. We hope that mental-health professionals and academics will also give their perspectives on the importance of donor-conceived people having access to their medical records, ancestry, and first-degree genetic relatives.
You can submit your comments on the petition here.


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text:
Q: draw CDF by reading values from file : matplotlib I need to draw cdf of integer values read from a file. I am following the example here. I am not sure how I can normalize the data for pdf and then compute cdf.
import numpy as np
from pylab import *

with open ("D:/input_file.txt", "r+") as f:
    data = f.readlines()
    X = [int(line.strip()) for line in data]
    Y  = exp([-x**2 for x in X])  # is this correct?

    # Normalize the data to a proper PDF
    Y /= ... # not sure what to write here

    # Compute the CDF
    CY = ... # not sure what to write here

    # Plot both
    plot(X,Y)
    plot(X,CY,'r--')

    show()

A: I can propose an answer, where you determine probability density function (PDF) and cumulative distribution function (CDF) using NumPy.
import numpy as np
# -----------------
data = [88,93,184,91,107,170,88,107,167,90];
# -----------------
# get PDF:
ydata,xdata = np.histogram(data,bins=np.size(data),normed=True);
# ----------------
# get CDF:
cdf = np.cumsum(ydata*np.diff(xdata));
# -----------------
print 'Sum:',np.sum(ydata*np.diff(xdata))

I am using Numpy method histogram, which will give me the PDF and then I will calculate CDF from PDF.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Jon Gries
Birthday: 17 June 1957, Glendale, California, USA
Birth Name: Jonathan Francis Gries
Jon Gries was born on June 17, 1957 in Glendale, California, USA as Jonathan Francis Gries. He is an actor, known for Taken (2008), Napoleon Dynamite (2004) and Men in Black (1997).
(On Get Shorty) I was probably the 250th person they saw for that. They saw Matthew McConaughey, Ste Show more (On Get Shorty) I was probably the 250th person they saw for that. They saw Matthew McConaughey, Steve Buscemi, a lot of people. Getting it was kind of an anomaly. It's very difficult being nobody and getting a part in a movie like that. My personal feeling is that what I did in the audition didn't translate on film, and part of that was Barry Sonnenfeld's insecurity. There was so much dialogue, so he thought everything should be sped up. He kept saying, "Make it faster," and I think it lost something. When we had the cast and crew screening, there wasn't a peep from the audience. Barry was sweating profusely. He thought everyone hated it. I walked out of there thinking it was gonna be a big flop. Of course, seeing it now, I think it worked just fine, and we were all being too hard on it. Hide
On Napoleon Dynamite (2004): The fun of this kind of experience, which I think, unfortunately, a lot Show more On Napoleon Dynamite (2004): The fun of this kind of experience, which I think, unfortunately, a lot of people in the film industry miss, is really the adventure of making a movie that is being nurtured almost like a child and having to go through a channel where there are not millions of hands kind of massaging it to the screen. Hide
On his definition of success: It's not about the money. It's not about the prestige or being recogni Show more On his definition of success: It's not about the money. It's not about the prestige or being recognized. It's about doing work that you really think has integrity. Hide
Jon Gries's FILMOGRAPHY
as Actor (84)
Kill Me Again
CSI: NY - Season 9
ER - Season 13
Martin - Season 1
Hawaii Five-0 - Season 2
Chicago Hope - Season 2
The Monster Squad
Beverly Hills 90210 - Season 5
Americons
Criminal Minds - Season 9
Quantum Leap - Season 3
Supernatural - Season 5
All About the Money
Jon Gries'S roles
John D. Lee
Dope Dealer
Martin Creaser
Desperate Man
Mr. Tod
Flash McGrath
FBI Agent Killbourne
Bill Shepard
Brice Graham
Det. Tony Montoya
Roger Linus
Lazlo Hollyfeld
Shawn McDermott
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Super juices are all the rage. From London to L.A., the power of fruit is being hailed as the new miracle cure for better skin and of course, promoting that healthy lifestyle too. So should we all go Californian and invest in blenders right away?
What are the benefits of super juices for my skin?
Antioxidants are molecules that eliminate harmful free-radicals present in the body. Free-radicals damage healthy cells, causing damage to our skin and the immune system. Fighting free radicals thus helps combat inflammation and breakouts.
Which juices and antioxidants help with acne treatment?
"The three main antioxidants contained in food that are crucial for healthy, glowing skin and helping to fight acne are vitamin C, vitamin A and vitamin E" says Dr Michelle Braude.
Vitamin C is an essential antioxidant that promotes healing, growth and tissue repair within the body. It's also essential in the production of collagen, a protein that creates new skin and maintains its structure, thus encouraging skin regeneration. Try juicing oranges, grapefruit, kiwis, blueberries, pomegranate, mango, papaya, and red and yellow peppers.
Vitamin A is perfect to boost the immune system, preventing breakouts and inflammation associated with acne. It's found in sweet potatoes, carrots, dried apricots, mango, spinach and kale. As for vitamin E, it keeps the skin young, smooth and free of cellular damage. Avocados, almonds, peanuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, salmon and olive oil are all great sources of vitamin E. Delicious, nutritious and good for the skin, it looks like the blenders and juicers are in!


A medium-large, dark-winged, pink-legged gull breeding in the Canadian High Arctic and wintering mainly along the N. American Pacific Coast. Bill relatively slender and parallel edged with moderate gonydeal expansion. Adult has pale gray upperparts (Kodak 5-6) with slaty blackish wingtips (typically with white mirrors or mirror-tongues on P9-P10, distinct white tongue-tips on P6-P8) and, in basic plumage, extensive dusky mottling and streaking on head and neck. Juvenile medium-dark brown overall with blackish brown wing-tips and tail, pale inner webs to outer primaries. PA1 variable, starting Nov.-Apr. Subsequent ages variable in appearance. All ages have pink legs, often bright; adult eyes brownish to pale lemon, orbital ring purplish pink.
Most likely to be confused with American Herring Gull, hybrid Glaucous-winged x American Herring and Glaucous-winged x Western gulls, and dark-winged Kumlien's Gulls. Adult Thayer's distinguished from American Herring Gull by average smaller size and more slender bill, eye color (rarely staring pale lemon like Herring), purplish pink orbital ring, slightly darker upperparts, and wingtip pattern: wingtips are slaty blackish (versus black) mainly on the outer webs so underwing looks silvery gray (not as extensively black as Herring) with blackish restricted to subterminal bands on the outer primaries; wingtips also have more-extensive white than typical of Herring Gulls in the West. Hybrids, however, can show these Thayer's Gull plumage characters and are best identified by structure (especially bill size and shape). Dark-winged Kumlien's Gull similar to Thayer's Gull: Note that Kumlien's averages paler gray above with slaty gray versus slaty blackish wingtips. See Similar Species Section for more detailed identification criteria and separation from various hybrid combinations, all of which are larger and bigger billed than Thayer's.
First-cycle Thayer's Gull identified by size and structure (especially bill), blackish brown to dark brown outer primaries with dark outer webs and pale inner webs. Thayer's plumage characters can be shown by hybrids, however, so note size and structure relative to other gulls. Distinguished from Glaucous-winged and most Kumlien's Gulls by dark brown primaries contrastingly darker than rest of upperparts, at least in fresh plumage. See Similar Species section for details.
2001] but critical studies on the breeding grounds are still needed.
Breeds n. Canada, winters w. N. America. Vagrants reported from Japan and w. Europe.
Breeding. Breeds (June-Aug.) in Arctic Canada from Banks Is. and s. Victoria Is. east to Southampton Is., Ellesmere Is., Devon Is., and e.-cen. Baffin Is., and on Arctic coast of Keewatin; has also bred nw. Greenland.
Nonbreeding. Southbound fall movement evident in sw. Hudson Bay and s. Yukon by early Aug. (peak movements early-mid-Sept.), in se. Alaska by late Aug. (peak movements mid-late Sept.). Uncommon fall migrant (mainly Aug.-Sept.) along Arctic coast of Alaska west to Point Barrow and casual in Bering Sea. On Pacific Coast, arrival in the Northwest may be as early as late Aug., but mostly mid-Oct. – Nov. In coastal Calif., a few arrive mid-late Oct., most during Nov. A juvenile reported from Salton Sea, 29 Sept.,[ Patten et al. 2003] if correct, would be remarkable. In interior East and Great Lakes region, first fall arrivals typically mid-Oct., more often late Oct.-early Nov., exceptionally late Sept. From n. interior regions (for example, Prairie Provinces) most birds depart by late Nov. Migration route to Pacific Coast from Arctic breeding grounds unclear, perhaps a direct overland flight through Yukon and B.C. at high elevation.
Locally fairly common in winter (mainly Oct./Nov.-Mar./Apr.) from se. Alaska south along coast (fewer to inland valleys and reservoirs) to cen. Calif., rarely north to s. coastal Alaska (Kodiak Is.), rarely to uncommonly (mainly Dec.-Mar.) south to Baja Calif., casually to Baja Calif. Sur. Casual (late Sept.-May mostly fall) in cen. and e. Aleutians. Small numbers also winter Salton Sea and n. Gulf of Calif., Mex.; casual in the Southwest. Bare in Great Basin, Great Plains. and Mid-west, especially Great Lakes region (where more numerous on w. lakes; for example. outnumbers Kumlien's more than 3:1 on Indiana lakefront[Brock 1997]), but also on lower Ohio and Miss. rivers and nearby large lakes. Rare to very rare south to Gulf of Mex. coast in Tex., casually south to n. Tamaulipas, Mex. [Gee & Edwards 2000] and east to Fla. Very rare to casual along Atlantic Coast of N. America (mainly Nov./Dec.-Mar.), with perhaps most records from Mid-Atlantic region, but also reported north to Nfld.[ Peters & Burleigh 1951]; south to Fla.
Spring movement evident in U.S. by Feb.: most depart wintering areas during Mar.-early Apr.; some remain into late Apr., very few into May. At least in some years, thousands of birds stage early-mid-May in se. Alaska (around Juneau), presumably before a direct overland flight to Arctic coast. [Tobish 1996] Common on SW. Hudson Bay late May-mid-June (some nonbreeders remain through summer). First arrivals on breeding grounds mid-late May, most not until June. Casual in winter range June – Aug., with exceptional summer records as far south as s. Calif. And Fla.