text:
The Autotonic nervous system
Lesson 2. Comparative sizes of object
Nervous System:
The Autonomic Nervous System
Student Performance Objectives - for the lecture
1. Explain the aspects of body function regulated by the autonomic nervous system.
2. List and characterize the two major subdivisions of the ANS.
3. List the effects of each branch of the ANS on heart rate and cardiac output, respiratory rate and depth, coronary circulation, blood glucose level, and gastrointestinal peristalsis.
4. Define the terms dual innervation and antagonistic effects.
5. Explain what is meant by the terms thoacolumbar and craniosacral divisions of the ANS.
6. Explain how ANS motor neuron pathways compare with somatic nervous system pathways to skeletal muscle in terms of number of motor neurons involved.
7. Explain the difference between paravertebral, collateral and terminal ganglia.
8. Compare the lengths of preganglionic and postganglionic sympathetic and parasympathetic fibers.
9. Explain the terms: adrenergic fibers, and cholinergic fibers.
10. Explain why norepinephrine's effects on the body are longer lasting than those of acetylcholine.
11. Describe the similarities and differences between nicotinic and muscarinic receptors in the parasympathetic division of the ANS.
12. Describe the similarities and differences between alpha and beta adrenergic receptors in the sympathetic division of the ANS.
13. Describe the pathways by which ANS reflex circuits may be influenced by conscious, emotional states of being.
14. Compare skeletal and smooth muscle fibers in terms of size, arrangement of actin and myosin myofilaments, and metabolic source of ATP.
15. Define vasoconstriction and vasodilation.
16. Define peristalsis.
17. Compare the contractions of smooth and skeletal muscle fibers with regard to speed of contraction and relaxation, ability to contract when greatly stretched, energy required for a sustained contraction, and resistance to fatigue.
18. Explain the significance of the stress-relaxation response of smooth muscle.
19. Explain the role of hyperplasia in the enlargement of smooth muscle organs.
I. The Autonomic Nervous System
A. In General - The autonomic nervous system (ANS) regulates the body's internal environment. Through regulation of blood pressure, heart rate and strength, respiratory rate and depth, body temperature, and digestive processes, the reflexes of the ANS maintain homeostasis, that is, constant satisfactory conditions for the continuation of life. Although autonomic reflexes have both sensory and motor components, the ANS is technically defined as the motor portion of the reflexes that control the internal physiological mechanisms vital for our continued existence.
B. ANS Subdivisions - the ANS is subdivided into a sympathetic branch and a parasympathetic branch. The sympathetic branch is sometimes called the "fight or flight" branch of the ANS in that it prepares the organism to fight or run effectively from a dangerous or stressful situation. The parasympathetic branch is sometimes called the "relaxation response" branch of the ANS in that it is activated when we eat, when we are relaxed and when we put ourselves into a state that is generally called a "meditative state."
C. Effects of the ANS on Target Organs
1. When the sympathetic branch of the ANS (abbreviated SNS) is activated, the following are some of the major changes observed in the body. Could you have predicted each effectassuming that the overall action is to promote organismal survival under a time of stress?
a. Increased heart rate and force of contraction leading to
(1) Increased blood pressure.
(2) Increased stroke volume (more blood is pumped from the heart with each beat).
b. Increased coronary blood flow leading to improved cardiac performance.
c. Increased breathing rate and depth leading to improved CO2 release from the body and improved O2 intake into the body.
d. Increased sweating leading to the potential for greater cooling of the active body.
e. Increased blood glucose levels due to increased breakdown of liver glycogen which gives the muscles and brain a greater supply of energy from glucose breakdown.
f. Dilation of the pupils presumably to improve visibility in time of danger.
g. Increased blood flow to the skeletal muscles to maximize chances of success in battle or a successful escape from danger.
h. Decreased blood flow to the skin and digestive organs to allow a shunting of greater blood flow to the skeletal muscles.
i. Increased tendency of the blood to clot, presumably to enhance survival if there is injury.
j. Increased secretion of epinephrine from the adrenal gland which augments all the actions above.
k. Decreased contractions of the smooth muscles of the urinary bladder and the bowels leading to cessation of urination and defecation. In cases of overwhelming fear (e.g., imminent fear of death) the extremely high levels of norepinephrine released into the hypothalamus and amygdala release the central smooth muscle inhibition (GABA based) and the individual may uncontrollably urinate and defecate.
2. When the parasympathetic branch of the ANS (abbreviated PNS) is activated, the effects are basically the opposite of those listed above (antagonistic effects). Note that, with some exceptions, internal organs of the body have dual innervation - the organs are innervated by both sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve fibers. Whatever reaction (stimulation or inhibition) one fiber causes, the other induces the opposite reaction. [Some blood vessels, the adrenal gland, sweat glands and piloerector muscles -those attached to hairs in the skin- operate by sympathetic stimulation alone].
D. ANS Anatomy
1. Anatomical location of the systems: The sympathetic nervous system's neural pathways are through the spinal nerves of the thoracic and lumbar regions of the spinal cord (T1-L2). This is the reason the SNS is sometimes called the thoraco-lumbar division of the ANS. The parasympathetic nervous system's neural pathways are through cranial nerves III (originating in the midbrain), VII (originating in the pons), IX and X (both originating in the medulla oblongata), and the sacral region of the spinal cord (S2-S4). This is the reason the PNS is sometimes called the cranio-sacral division of the ANS.
2. ANS motor nerves: The pathway from the central nervous system to the target organs of the ANS is through 2 successive motor neurons - a preganglionic neuron and a postganglionic neuron. The preganglionic neuron travels from its origin in the brain or spinal cord to a ganglion (collection of cytons outside the CNS). The postganglionic neuron begins in and travels from the ganglion to the smooth muscle or gland being innervated.
3. Anatomical location of the ganglia
a. Sympathetic ganglia are located in two locations: in a connected chain of ganglia lateral to the vertebral column - called the sympathetic chain ganglia (also called paravertebral ganglia), and in a group of ganglia located on the anterior surface of three major abdominal blood vessels (aorta, superior mesenteric, and inferior mesenteric arteries), called the collateral ganglia. The ganglion on the aorta is called the celiac ganglion. Those on the superior and inferior mesenteric arteries are logically called superior and inferior mesenteric ganglia. Preganglionic sympathetic fibers originate from lateral horns of gray matter in the thoracic and lumbar regions of the spinal cord. Their axons travel to and synapse with postganglionic fibers in either the paravertebral or collateral ganglia.
b. Parasympathetic ganglia are not located near the vertebral column. They are located in ganglia near the target organs - called terminal ganglia.
4. Length of pre and postganglionic fibers in the ANS.
a. Sympathetic preganglionic fibers are short because of the close proximity of the ganglia to the vertebral column. Postganglionic sympathetic fibers are long because they must travel from the ganglia all the way to their target organs.
b. Parasympathetic preganglionic fibers are long because they must travel all the way from the brain or sacral region of the spinal cord to the terminal ganglia near the target organs. Theparasympathetic postganglionic fibers are short because they only need to travel a short distance from the terminal ganglia to the organ in question.
E. ANS Physiology
1. Neurotransmitters released from ANS motor neurons.
a. Sympathetic preganglionic fibers release acetylcholine (Ach) at their synapses in the ganglia. They are called cholinergic fibers because of their release of Ach. Sympathetic postganglionic fibers release mostly norepinephrine (NE) at their synapses in the smooth muscle of the target organs. They are called adrenergic fibers because of their release of NE.
b. Parasympathetic pre and postganglionic fibers release Ach at their synapses. All parasympathetic fibers are cholinergic because of their release of Ach.
2. General Effects of cholinergic and adrenergic fibers.
a. Cholinergic fibers have a generally rapid effect on the body because cholinesterase rapidly breaks Ach down in the synapse after it is released from synaptic vesicles.
b. Adrenergic fibers have a generally prolonged effect on the body because NE is either not broken down at all at the synapse or is broken down more slowly after its release from synaptic vesicles.
(1) Some NE diffuses away from the synapse and enters the blood stream where it mixes with epinephrine released from the adrenal glands and influences target organs for many minutes until it is broken down in the liver.
(2) Some NE is reabsorbed by the presynaptic membrane and either re-secreted or broken down by the enzyme monoamine oxidase (MAO).
(3) Some NE diffuses away from the synapse and is broken down by another enzyme, catechol-O-methly transferase (COMT).
3. ANS receptors
a. Cholinergic receptors are those to which Ach attaches in the synapse. There are two basic cholinergic receptors - nicotinic and muscarinic.
(1) Nicotinic receptors are the ones you learned about in the chapter on skeletal muscle. These are the receptors at neuromuscular junctions on the sarcolemma of skeletal muscle fibers to which Ach attaches ultimately resulting in skeletal muscle contraction. Nicotine receptors are also located in all sympathetic and parasympathetic ganglia, and the adrenal gland. All nicotinic receptors are stimulated by Ach.
(2) Muscarinic receptors are found on the cell membranes of smooth and cardiac muscle fibers, and on glands. Ach stimulates some muscarinic subclasses and inhibits others. You already know what happens in most organs - see part C, above.
b. Adrenergic receptors are those to which NE attaches in the target organs. There are two basic adrenergic receptors - alpha adrenergic receptors and beta adrenergic receptors. Each basic class has subclasses. NE binding to alpha receptors is usually excitatory; NE binding to beta receptors is usually inhibitory. The distribution of these receptor classes and subclasses on smooth and cardiac muscle and on glands determines NE's effect on these organs. Once again, you already know what happens in most organs - see part C, above.
F. Influences on the ANS
1. Preganglionic neurons of the ANS, whether in the brain or spinal cord, can be influenced by thoughts and emotions because nerve impulses can travel along conscious pathways in the cerebral cortex, and then pass to subconscious pathways in organs of the limbic system, like the hypothalamus, that stimulate or inhibit the basic ANS reflexes.
2. Another route for ANS influence is the reticular formation that extends throughout the brainstem and up into the diencephalon: descending pathways from the cerebral cortex and limbic system can influence the nuclei of cranial nerves III, VII, IX, and X that are embedded within the reticular formation and which mediate parasympathetic functions.
II. Smooth Muscle
A. In General, smooth muscle is a type of involuntary muscle located in the walls of the body's internal hollow organs like those in the digestive system (e.g., esophagus, stomach, small and large intestine), the urinary system (e.g., ureters, urinary bladder and urethra), the blood vessels (e.g., arteries, arterioles, veins, and venules), and the respiratory system (trachea, bronchi, and bronchioles).
B. Smooth muscle fibers possess the following characteristics:
1. They are small, spindle shaped, and do not possess the striations seen in skeletal muscle.
2. They generally have one nucleus (single-unit smooth muscle), although some forms of smooth muscle are multinucleate (multi-unit smooth muscle). Single unit smooth muscle fibers have few mitochondria; most of their energy comes from anaerobic metabolic pathways (e.g., glycolysis, or the breakdown of glucose to pyruvic and lactic acids.
3. Smooth muscle fibers are organized into longitudinal and circular sheets in organ walls. 4. Smooth muscle fibers only possess a thin connective tissue sheath - endomysium - whose connective tissue fibers (collagen and elastin) come from the smooth muscle cell itself, not fibroblasts.
5. Contractions of sheets of smooth muscles in the walls of the digestive system take the form of peristaltic waves, segmental (mixing) contractions, and, when required, antiperistalsis (for vomiting). In general, smooth muscle contraction and relaxation are significantly slower than those in skeletal muscle.
6. Contractions of smooth muscle sheets in the blood vessels are described as vasoconstriction and vasodilation. The smooth muscle sheets of the large arteries are the multi-unit type.
7. Typical neuromuscular junctions, as seen in skeletal muscle, are not observed in single unit smooth muscle- the smooth muscular nerve-muscle junctions have wider synaptic clefts and are called diffuse junctions. More typical neuromuscular junctions are observed in multi-unit smooth muscle of large arteries, and the walls of the trachea and bronchi.
8. Since the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) directly contacts the sarcolemma, there are no t-tubules in smooth muscle fibers. The release of calcium ions from the SR is the stimulus for the ATP-mediated interaction of actin and myosin myofilaments, as in skeletal muscle.
9. The myosin heads, that attach to and pull on actin, are found along the entire length of the myosin molecule which gives smooth muscle fibers excellent gripping power.
10. Actin and myosin are wrapped around each other like twisting 2 lengths of wire together. The actin and myosin spiral down the long axis of the smooth muscle fiber. This is a significantly different pattern than that seen in skeletal muscle which has more linearly arranged sarcomeres. An intracellular cytoskeleton of intermediate filaments and dense bodies takes the place of the Z-lines of skeletal muscle in anchoring the actin and myosin myofilaments to the smooth muscle's sarcolemma.
11. There is a fatigue-resistant locking mechanism that allows smooth muscle fibers, once contracted, to maintain their contraction with little expenditure of energy. This is of importance in the continual contraction required for blood vessel tone that manages our blood pressure for our entire lives. Such a mechanism is also important in the contraction of the uterus during childbirth where a certain degree of continuous pressure is required, without being interrupted by fatigue, for the expulsion of the fetus. The maintenance of tension in smooth muscle requires less than 1% of the energy that would be required by skeletal muscleattempting to accomplish the same task.
12. Gap junctions between adjacent smooth muscle fibers permits synchronized contractions of smooth muscle sheets which is required for peristaltic waves, uterine expulsion of a baby, urinary bladder expulsion of urine, and vasoconstriction or vasodilation.
13. As described in the ANS section of this unit, the sarcolemma possesses different receptor types that determine the response (excitation or inhibition) to acetyl choline or norepinephrine being released from postganglionic sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve fibers.
14. Although stretching promotes smooth muscular contraction, as in skeletal and cardiac mucle, smooth muscle's response to stretch includes a stress-relaxation response that permits organs like the stomach and urinary bladder to slowly fill-up before reaching a critical point where they are stimulated to contract and empty themselves.
15. If a skeletal muscle is stretched too much, it loses power because of the loss of overlap of actin and myosin in the sarcomeres. But the spiral arrangement of actin and myosin in smooth muscle fibers results in excellent contractile ability even under conditions of great distention. So a very stretched urinary bladder or uterus still contracts very effectively to push out its contents.
16. The enlargement of smooth muscle as in a pregnant uterus, involves hyperplasia (mitosis to produce additional cells) and not just hypertrophy (enlargement of cells without mitosis to produce additional cells).
Biomedical Terminology:Define each term:
adrenergic fiber
antagonistic effects
cholinergic fiber
cholinergic receptor
collateral ganglia
COMT
craniosacral division
dual innervation
hyperplasia
gap junctions
muscarinic receptor
nicotinic receptor
paravertebral ganglia
postganglionic neuron
preganglionic neuron
stress-relaxation response
sympathetic nervous system
terminal ganglia
thoracolumbar division
vasoconstriction
vasodilation
Practice Quiz


Hong Sang-soo's Right Now, Wrong Then from South Korea took the Golden Leopard for best film and best actor prize for Jeong Jae-yeong. The relationship dramedy will also be screening at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival (September 10-20) and at the New York Film Festival (September 25-October 11).
Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Happy Hour shared the best actress award among its main cast (Tanaka Sachie, Kikuchi Hazuki, Mihara Maiko and Kawamura Rira. The Japanese film also won a special mention for the movie's script by Hamaguchi, Tadashi Nohara, and Tomoyuki Takahashi.
Outside the main competition, China's Kaili Blues won two prizes: Best Emerging Director (Bi Gan) and a Special Mention for the First Feature award.
The Locarno competition jury was made up of Nadav Lapid, Udo Kier, Daniela Michel, Jerry Schatzberg and Mun So-ri.


Over the past 18 months I've been heavily engaged in the campaign to secure a station at Woolwich as part of the Crossrail scheme.
Crossrail is widely recognised as essential to London's future transport network. Without this east-west rail route from Heathrow, through central London, to the Thames Gateway, the capital will grind to a halt within two decades. But Crossrail is a complex project with a hefty price tag – hence the lengthy delays while successive governments wrestle with the challenge of funding it.
After an abortive first try in the early 1990s, the parliamentary process, which is traditionally used to authorise major rail projects, is once again under way. The Crossrail select committee has been in session for almost a year now, hearing evidence on a range of issues. Among these, perhaps the most significant is the station at Woolwich. As a transport hub serving south-east London, and with huge potential to boost regeneration in Woolwich and development in the Thames Gateway, it was always seen as a key stop on the Crossrail route.
So it came as a shock when the government dropped Woolwich from the Crossrail bill. It did so purely to save money: the decision makes no sense in transport terms. It leaves only one Crossrail station south of the river – Abbey Wood, a suburban destination that cannot serve as a transport hub.
The cost of the Woolwich station, originally estimated at up to £400m, reflects the fact that it had to be built underground. Rather than exploring redesign and realignment options to reduce costs, the Department for Transport (DfT) simply decided to eliminate the station. They can't have anticipated the reaction of the south-east London community.
We've got used to such treatment – in the early 1990s we had to fight to secure the North Greenwich station on the Jubilee line, without which the regeneration of the Greenwich Peninsula would never have happened. A few years later, we got into campaign mode again to reverse a similarly short-sighted proposal to drop the Cutty Sark station on the Docklands Light Railway's Lewisham extension. Both stations are hugely successful and nobody would now dream of constructing either route without them.
Like the earlier campaigns, the case for Woolwich has won overwhelming support from local businesses and the community as well as the London Borough of Greenwich. It also convinced the select committee which, after listening to the evidence, unanimously concluded that Woolwich offered exceptional value for money and should be reinstated.
As the committee has a quasi-judicial role, it was expected that this recommendation would be implemented but the DfT refused, citing the cost of the station, now revised to £200m.
There followed a tense stand-off between the government and the committee, whose chairman, Alan Meale, rightly emphasised the serious constitutional implications of the government's behaviour. For a week, the committee suspended its sittings, thereby raising doubts about whether the Crossrail bill could complete its parliamentary passage.
This has now been resolved as a result of Douglas Alexander's agreement that the implications of the Woolwich station can be examined in more detail. Serious work is now being undertaken to explore opportunities to reduce the station's construction costs and attract offsetting development contributions. Both approaches look promising.
Although the station has to be underground, its depth can be reduced, saving significant costs, and its proximity to Canary Wharf provides the prospect of substantial station-related development. So when these studies have been completed around the turn of the year, it would be surprising if the case for the Woolwich station, which already enjoys a very favourable cost-benefit ratio, isn't even more persuasive.
But that still leaves the obvious question – will Crossrail itself survive? I have no doubt the same approach we adopted in promoting Woolwich station will help. There's an overwhelmingly strong argument in transport terms for Crossrail, which still needs to be articulated. At the same time, the rigorous reappraisal of costs, which has been going on under the supervision of Doug Oakervee, the chairman of Cross London Rail Links, should convince a sceptical treasury that Crossrail is necessary and affordable.
Archive search results for comments containing "Nick Raynsford"


We have a comprehensive, fresh and holistic approach that is more conducive to overall healing.
Dr. Jenna Weitzman, PT, PYT-C is committed to providing a holistic place for healing to the community of Santa Cruz. She had a vision to build upon the current quality of services opening up to an improved and proven method of holistic healing. Formerly just a physical therapy clinic, the space has had tremendous growth, expanding to include a full wellness studio and naturopathic office. The new wellness studio now offers a place for the public, current and former clients to come together in joy to celebrate life, heal, and grow. We have a vision to deliver the ultimate healing experience in order to keep our patients healthy and happy from within.
The body has an innate ability to heal itself. There are certain proven ways to help support this process and that is what we strive to do at Alliance Physical Therapy. You are in control of your healing journey and we are here to support you, offer guidance and expertise, and make healing an enjoyable experience.
Jenna Weitzman is a co-founding member and owner of Alliance Physical Therapy. Jenna brings a whole-hearted approach. Having spent her life studying the body in order to heal herself from a number of injuries and emotional traumas, Jenna appreciates the relationship between healing the mind, body, and soul. She has built her practice to reflect this and is deeply committed to helping those on a similar journey.
Jenna is currently completing a certification in medical therapeutic yoga. She has recently begun offering specialized yoga classes at Alliance Physical Therapy. Dr. Jenna tends to use a medical therapeutic yoga approach in her individual treatments, as well. She is also studying to become a Postural Specialist. In her free time, Jenna is learning to play various instruments including a set of crystal singing bowls, ukulele, hand drums, and her voice. Jenna believes that music is medicine and is working to incorporate sound healing into her practice as well. Jenna also leads regular meditation classes which you can find on the class schedule.


The Logis de Folle Blanche is a beautiful 16th century estate named after the variety of grape that made cognac famous. There, the Bossuet family gives you a chance to find out how pineau and cognac are made.
Free guided tasting tours of the distillery and cellars are led by the vintner.
66 medals over the last 37 years.


Three Remarkable 15th Anniversary Events!
Please note these three remarkable events to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. We hope you can watch or possibly attend one or more of these.
Thursday, August 25 from 7 to 9 p.m.
Colorado Public Television (CPT12) will air the world premiere of The Demolition of Truth – Psychologists Examine 9/11 on August 25 from 7 to 9 p.m.
The Demolition of Truth is a documentary film filled with factual testimony from scientists and engineers along with additional footage of the psychologists who appear at the end of Experts Speak Out. The film weaves the scientific evidence together with an examination of the psychological impact of 9/11, the phenomena that have kept us blinded to the truth, and initial steps toward healing.
A number of Colorado psychologists appear in the film including Dorothy Lorig, Marti Hopper, Fran Shure, and Bob Hopper.
CPT12 is the only PBS station in our nation that will show 9/11 Truth films, so mark your calendars!
The Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance marks the anniversary with its twelfth annual 9/11 Truth Film Festival: Exposing the Lie of the Century. Films shown will be Incontrovertible, 9/11: Decade of Deception, and The Demolition of Truth: Psychologists Examine 9/11. Esteemed guests will include the filmmakers along with Graeme McQueen, Peter Phillips (Project Censored), and Colorado's own John Meaders who appears in Incontrovertible.
Join Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth, the Lawyers Committee for 9/11 Inquiry, and other co-sponsors for Justice in Focus, a weekend symposium in New York City.
An outstanding lineup of speakers along with hundreds of researchers and activists will come together in the historic, 800-seat Great Hall of Cooper Union in New York City. They will discuss the state of ongoing efforts to expose the truth and obtain justice for the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 innocent victims and that continue to serve as the pretext for the Global War on Terror.
15th Anniversary, Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, Bob Hopper, Colorado Public Television, Dorothy Lorig, Film Festival, Fran Shure, Graeme MacQueen, John Meaders, Lawyers Committee for 9/11 Inquiry, Marti Hopper, Peter Phillips, Special Events. permalink.


If a cover letter includes information about the company and the applicant uses that cover letter to share how the company information affects the individual an employer is going to be impressed. For example one may write in their cover letter that the company has produced product A and B for Y amount of years. Then the Intern can relay their experience with the product and why they want to support a company who makes it. A cover letter which demonstrates personality and creativity is more likely to be noticed than one who simply states "I would like this Intern. I am qualified because..." in so many words. An Intern cover letter also has to show an applicant s attitude and communication skills. If a cover letter reflects a well thought out structure and an innovative approach then the proof of a potential Intern s qualifications are in the pudding! One of the aspects a cover letter usually lacks especially for an Intern is being straight forward. In the past people have been encouraged not to come across as too forward.


text:
Q: How do I classify new text using a classification model built in a different project? In the first project I have trained and pickled a classification model that uses bag of words with 2500 features, but in this new project I want to actually classify new text.
How do I classify new text?
This is what I'm doing:
import pickle

# pickled TfidfVectorizer(max_features=2500)
vectorizer_in = open("vectorizer.pkl", "rb")
vectorizer = pickle.load(vectorizer_in)

# pickled RandomForestClassifier(n_estimators = 200, criterion = 'gini', class_weight="balanced")
classifier_in = open("classifier.pkl", "rb")
classifier = pickle.load(classifier_in)

# import libraries to clean the text
import re
import nltk
nltk.download('stopwords')
from nltk.corpus import stopwords
from nltk.stem import SnowballStemmer
stemmer = SnowballStemmer('italian')
stopwords_set = set(stopwords.words('italian'))

# clean the input string
def cleanRow(row):
    row = re.sub('[\n|\r]', ' ', row)
    # regex here ...
    row = row.split()
    row = [stemmer.stem(word) for word in row if not word in stopwords_set]
    row = ' '.join(row)
    return row

def classify(summary, description):
    corpus = cleanRow(summary + " " + description)
    X_test = vectorizer.fit_transform([corpus]).toarray()
    print(vectorizer.get_feature_names()) # ['cas', 'computer', 'cos', 'funzion', 'part', 'pc', 'pi', 'tav']
    y_pred = classifier.predict(X_test)
    # TODO map y_pred to the right label
    return y_pred

out = classify("il computer non parte", "Stavo facendo cose a caso e non mi funziona più il pc.")
print(out)

This is the error generated:

X has 8 features per sample; expecting 2500

Indeed
vectorizer.get_feature_names()
# ['cas', 'computer', 'cos', 'funzion', 'part', 'pc', 'pi', 'tav']

but I want the original feature labels in the same order of when the model was created and trained.
Should I pickle the original array of features and by hand rebuild a new bag of words table for the new text that I want to classify?

A: As said in the comment: "in a classify function, you have to use vectorizer.transform and not fit_transform".
Using
X_test = vectorizer.transform([corpus]).toarray()

solves the problem, as it isn't fitting the model again, but only creating the term matrix as input of the classification.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Archive activities
projects and CULTURAL EXCHANGE
ARP project
cultural exchanges
ARCHIVE Luigi di Sarro
critical anthology
drawing and graphic
texts, notes and drafts
SEGNI. Photographs, drawings and sculptures by Luigi Di Sarro, curated by Carlotta Sylos Calò. 11 October- 14 November 2018 MLAC – Museo Laboratorio di Arte Contemporanea, Rome
In the fortieth anniversary of the death of Luigi Di Sarro, the exhibition organized by the MLAC with Centro Di Sarro offers a glimpse of the production of Luigi Di Sarro between the 1960s and the 1970s, highlighting the transversal nature of his approach to techniques and materials and his characteristic conception of the "sign" as a generative element of shapes and spaces, without a real caesura between abstraction and figuration, evident both in graphic and pictorial work, and in photography and sculpture.
Di Sarro, avid experimenter in his artistic activity, has practiced drawing, painting, engraving, sculpture, photography and performance, focusing in particular on themes related to the body, movement, light and abstraction capacity of the sign and the geometric figures. Di Sarro died only thirty-seven years old, killed for a fatal misunderstanding in the tense climate of the years of lead in Rome, on February 24, 1979; he left a vast artistic production (paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, graphics, projects, notes, aphorisms). Works by Luigi Di Sarro are in several Italian and foreign public collections (including GNAM, MACRO, Palazzo Braschi and the National Institute for Graphic Design in Rome, Pompidou Center in Paris).</p>
Active since 1987, the Museo Laboratorio di Arte Contemporanea-MLAC, directed by Prof. Claudio Zambianchi, has been proposed since the beginning as a meeting place between the university and the contemporary cultural world, distinguishing itself for its vocation to research and training. Among the initiatives that have animated the program for thirty years, there are exhibitions, conferences, round tables, book presentations, festivals, video reviews and musical proposals, which aim at first hand to put in contact the most lively artistic and cultural realities of the moment with the students and scholars of the University, often coming to involve them actively. In the same way, the will to open up to the city is strong, involving all citizens through the proposal of a very varied program.
Exhibitions and events promoted and organized by the MLAC take place in the spaces set aside in 1985 by the La Sapienza University of Rome, at the Rettorato Building, in the heart of the University City.
www.museolaboratorioartecontemporanea.it
On the occasion of organizing and carrying out the exhibition the MLAC offers a possibility of internship to students who have an interest in deepening in the field the craft of the historian and art critic in all facets. The internship foresees, in fact, an active commitment both during the preparation stage, with the possibility of working in close contact with the curators, and during the opening period of the exhibition, managing the guided tours, the reception of visitors and, last but not least , all the work related to the promotion of the exhibition, learning to manage the various online communication channels, from the blog to the main social networks.
SEGNI disegni e fotografie di Luigi Di Sarro, curated by Carlotta Sylos Calò – Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Warsaw (2018, May 30th-June 28th) and Krakow (2018, July 6th-September 6th)
The celebrations on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the death of Luigi Di Sarro go on with a series of events in Italy and abroad and the aim of spreading and deepening a multifaceted artistic production that is still considered highly topical today.
The tribute to Luigi Di Sarro, an artist active in the Sixties and Seventies – a period that is now being brought to the attention of the critics for the innovative pushes into contemporary art – wants to highlight his strong experimental vocation. An attitude and a need on the part of the artist who proceeded experimenting in all the fields and in all the expressive techniques with which he worked (besides photography, painting, drawing, sculpture and graphics). Italo Zannier writes in an essay on Di Sarro's photographic research: […] but what is experimentation if not the result initiated by an idea? They are also the imprecise 'photodynamics' of Bragaglia as the 'strobophotographies', the 'luminographies', the 'chronophotographies', the "corporal" sequences of Luigi Di Sarro. These images are first of all results, not "trials", as the "experiments" would be like. Experimentation is in fact implicit in doing and we do not know where it leads and when it will complete, if it will end; and woe, however, if we were to conclude, because every phase of it is already a result. […] Luigi Di Sarro – photographer, has realized his visual rite with an extraordinary expressive happiness, even lucid and dense but of irony, dramatic also, disturbing […]. (in I. Zannier, Luigi Di Sarro) Discovering Photography, 2001.)
In addition to the material kept in the Historical Archive dedicated to the artist, two substantial collections of photographic works are kept at the National Gallery of Modern Art and the National Institute for Graphics in Rome. Moreover, in 2009, some of the artist's photographic works were acquired in the collection, and consequently also exhibited, in Paris by the Pompidou Center. The acquisition was curated by Quentin Bajac.
The ongoing archiving of the amount of work that the artist has left allows today to deepen and connect many issues, in the immediate not obvious. Numerous so far are the scholars who wrote about Di Sarro, who have studied a large part of his production, and many more are still under study. The occasion of the anniversary is to be a new and prolific opportunity to analyze a work that is increasingly revealed as a broad theorem argued in many directions, as if it were an encyclopedic atlas.
The exhibition SEGNI disegni e fotografie di Luigi Di Sarro curated by Carlotta Sylos Calò for the spaces of the Italian Institute of Culture in Warsaw and Krakow, in Poland, is one of the many possible research about the links that Di Sarro studied and experimented. In the premises of IIC Warsaw are exposed some series of experimental photographs, a group of drawings and some etchings produced at the turn of the '60s and' 70s.
Di Sarro's research, writes the curator in the catalog published by the italian Institute of Culture: "became radicalized in terms of his experimental approach – dictated in part by his dual profession, given that Di Sarro is not only an artist but also a physician – and matured in terms of his irreverent use of materials (netting, bitumen, iron rods, brushes, pencils, photography) that could bring out particular evocations in the forms he created. In this context, the sign in particular took on an extraordinary power to generate forms and spaces, still (but now more consciously) without any real caesura between abstraction and figuration, thanks to the enduringly transversal nature of his approach to techniques".
Following the show and opening at IIC CRACOVIA (July 6th-September 6th 2018) pictures.
Following the Opening at IIC Warsaw (30 May-28 June 2018) pictures.
Centro di Documentazione della Ricerca Artistica Contemporanea Luigi Di Sarro
Via Paolo Emilio 28 - 00192 Roma
info@centroluigidisarro.it
Associazione culturale costituita con atto notarile registrato a Roma il 6/10/1981
Iscritta all'Albo delle Associazioni del Comune di Roma – Municipio I Centro
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Why "Dazed and Confused" Transcends The Stoner Stereotype
Neil Bonner
The Sundance Film Festival is exhibiting a lot of great stuff this year - but the most exciting event is a look back at a stone-cold classic. The venerable festival is showing Dazed and Confused with live commentary from director Richard Linklater and fellow writer/director Jason Reitman.
Dazed occupies a unique place in the stoner movie pantheon. So many of these movies emphasize the stoner part; they're best enjoyed through a screen of blunt smoke, as they're designed to be accessories to the high, much like roach clips and Domino's pizza.
But Dazed and Confused is a film first, and a damn good one at that: It's the only canonical stoner movie in the Criterion Collection, and Quentin Tarantino named it as one of his top twelve films in a Sight and Sound poll. So why does Dazed and Confused endure as other films of its ilk fade?
The Filmmaking
Fun fact: Richard Linklater founded the Austin Film Society in 1985, screening movies from auteurs like Kubrick, Pasolini and Godard that wouldn't have otherwise played in the Texas capital. He and his team plastered the city with amazing flyers like this. Linklater's deep love of film permeates every frame of Dazed and Confused. The opening scene, for example, is a small masterpiece of editing, giving the audiences a brief glimpse of the main characters and social groups before the school day begins.
By the time the bell rings, the viewer has been transported back to 1976 - the clothes, the cars, and the music are all just right. Speaking of which…
Dazed and Confused has, arguably, the greatest soundtrack of all time. It's wall-to-wall 70s rock hits - everything from Aerosmith to ZZ Top. On the strength of this movie alone, an argument could be made for Foghat's "Slow Ride" being the greatest song of all time.
Dazed is the kind of movie where everyone has their favorite line. Often these lines belong to Matthew McConaughey (because of course they do), but personally, I'm a fan of ur-stoner Slater's pronunciation of "okay".
The Nostalgia
I don't mean the nostalgia of reboots and re-imaginings and comic book adaptations, the kind that impels you to pour more money into a thing you enjoyed when you were a kid. This is something far more special, and difficult to achieve. It's the reason why I relate so much to the movie, even though it takes place twelve years before I was born. Linklater himself explains this factor best. At a 20th anniversary celebration of the film, he said:
The drama is so low-key in Dazed. I don't remember teenage being that dramatic. I remember just trying to go with the flow, socialize, fit in and be cool. The stakes were really low. To get Aerosmith tickets or not? That's a big thing. It was really rare when the star-crossed lovers from the opposite side of the tracks and the girl gets pregnant and there's a car crash and somebody dies. That didn't really happen much. But riding around and trying to look for something to do with the music cranked up, now that happened a lot!
Exactly. Linklater and his cast tap into a universal feeling of youth, of being suddenly aware of the amazing possibilities and unexpected routes your life can take, even though you don't know quite how to get there. So you find things - rock and roll, weed, making out, hanging out with your nerdy friends - that make the mundane feel epic. It's a feeling, I would argue, that never really goes away. As long as people are dazed and confused by life, the film endures.
Or, to paraphrase Wooderson: We keep getting older, Dazed and Confused stays the same age. All right, all right, all right.
PS: Linklater is finishing up a "spiritual sequel" to Dazed called Everybody Wants Some. It's set to be released on April 16, 2016.
Lil Nas X and Pete Buttigieg Almost Came Together on an 'Old Town Road' Remix
A Guide to Bringing Weed to Osheaga - One of Canada's Biggest Music Festivals
Michael Moore Doubles Down on Using Weed to Beat Trump in 2020


Wow, another year is almost under wraps! A huge thank you to all of our volunteers, parents, guardians and community members for everything you've done this past year to help our students become better versions of themselves. While they don't always like to admit it, they follow our example and the Elysian community does a great job showing them the way.
I know it's a bit early for this information but I'm gone for the summer after today, so here's my reminder to everyone to take a look at our website for updates. Currently, the new calendar has been published and can be downloaded in pdf format or viewed via the calendar app of your choice, the school schedule is on the left side, supply lists are published and will be at the local stores whenever they put out school supplies and we're taking new student registrations for anyone new to our district.
All parents: Don't forget to opt in to our school messenger texts. If you're not sure if you have or not, send a text message to 68453 with the word YES in the body of the message. We communicate mostly through our blog, text & the PTO FB page. I'd encourage you to sign up for our blog posts too….any time we post, they are delivered to your inbox in the early evening. The link is on our website.
Elementary Class lists can be viewed at the open house. Please do not call the office before the open house for this information. Due to fluctuations in enrollment, the class lists can change several times before the Open House. Hint: If you've signed up for text messages, we will send this information to you.
Middle School: schedules are complete for all current students. Students and parents can use their (PowerSchool) PS log in info to view them. If you've misplaced your PS info, unfortunately, you'll have to wait until the paper schedules are distributed at the Open House (it's noted on there). Please do not call the office before the open house for this information. Hint: If you've signed up for text messages, we will send this information to you.
6th graders – you'll have a locker this year, so don't forget to pick up some things to help you organize like magnets, sticky notes, pencil cups, shelves, etc.
This entry was posted in General Info on June 8, 2018 by elysianschool.


Enjoy 30% off for Christmas Collection. The Patent Collection is dressed up and ready to go. Shop their perfect Christmas Collection. Mince Pies, Dog walks, Family Dinners, Christmas jumpers, Gingerbread men, good deeds, Miracle on 34th Street, flannel pyjamas, and finding the perfect present.
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When installed in a 3/8" air line with 50 PSI or less the air passing through the Ionix will help eliminate the static charge on a surface to be painted. The reduction or elimination of this static charge will cause less dust retention and less dust attraction by the item being painted.
NOTE: Everything in picture is included.
This is the only product of it's kind that we've seen. We've tested it on plastic bumpers and found it to work quite well.


text:
Marching ahead…
Barun Kumar Nayak
P. D. Hinduja National Hospital and Medical Research Centre, Veer Savarkar Marg, Mahim, Mumbai - 400 016, India
Date of Web Publication 17-Feb-2009
P. D. Hinduja National Hospital and Medical Research Centre, Veer Savarkar Marg, Mahim, Mumbai - 400 016
Nayak BK. Marching ahead…. Indian J Ophthalmol 2009;57:89-90
Nayak BK. Marching ahead…. Indian J Ophthalmol [serial online] 2009 [cited 2021 Jan 16];57:89-90. Available from: https://www.ijo.in/text.asp?2009/57/2/89/45499
A year has elapsed since the status of Indian Journal of Ophthalmology (IJO) was presented in its editorial. [1] As I sit back again to take stock of the situation, I feel happy and satisfied with the progress of IJO.
The increase in frequency of publication from four to six issues per year, which was started in 2007, was comfortably maintained in 2008, as well. This proves beyond doubt that the publication of six issues of IJO in a year is easily sustainable. We could accommodate a total of 166 articles for publication in the year 2008. The percentage of accepted articles stands at 34% which has remained unchanged. This indicates that there is no extra pressure to increase the acceptance rate to fill in the extra space created by the increase in frequency of the publication. Fortunately, the extra cost of the same has been well absorbed by our sound financial standing.
Uploading the full text of old issues has made further progress. Only eight issues are yet to be uploaded on our website due to nonavailability of these issues (1985/Vol.33/Iss.6, 1986/Vol.34/Iss2/3/4/5/6, and 1987/Vol.35/Iss.5/6) in the editorial office. If any member/reader is in possession of these issues, please contact the editorial office and help us complete the archives of the IJO.
Many new features have been added on our website www.ijo.in. The most noticeable of these is the translation of the full text to more than 40 foreign languages at the press of a button. This has increased the reach of the articles published in IJO. The number of visitors to this site from all over the word has gone up to 2500 per day [Figure 1].
IJO has been included in the PubMed Central, which is the open access electronic National Medical Library, USA. This will further increase the already rising trend of citations of the articles published in the IJO [Figure 2].
The quality of any journal is dependent on the quality and involvement of its reviewers. The total number of reviewers has increased markedly with an increase in international reviewers as well [Figure 3]. The performance statistics of our reviewers show improvement on a year-to-year basis.
A total of 482 manuscripts were submitted in the year 2008 [Figure 4]. Up to the year 2008, we had 1419 researchers who registered themselves as authors in the IJO, and out of these, 334 have submitted their manuscripts with 30 of them having submitted more than one article. Out of the total submissions, 158 manuscripts have been submitted from out of India (33%). This figure was 27% in 2007. The percentage of original articles from out of India was 53% in 2008 as against 36% in 2007.
The manuscript submission and processing is being effectively managed online at www.journalonweb.com/ijo, which is clearly reflected in the constant improvement of the statistics related to the manuscript handling as shown in [Table 1]. The average time taken by a reviewer has come down to 18.45 days in 2008 from 40.01 days in 2005. Similarly, the time taken by the editor for decision/revision has been reduced to 7.20 days in 2008 from 48.25 days in 2005.
The initiative taken by the editorial office for conducting the Research Methodology Workshop has been continued in the year 2008 as well. The fourth workshop was successfully conducted at Bangalore in November 2008.
To facilitate research and scientific writing in the country, the editorial office of the IJO has started an innovative service. The editorial office has decided to provide the full text of any paid article to the All India Ophthalmological Society (AIOS) members. Any needy researcher/author can write to the editorial office for further details. The full text obtained may be used only for personal research and study and not for any commercial purpose.
The overwhelming response of the authors and reviewers coupled with the smooth functioning of the editorial office, will see a steep rise in the impact factor of IJO which has been included in the "Science Citation Index Expanded" since January 2008. [2] Subsequent inclusion in the PubMed Central will help in the rapid increase in the value of the articles published in the IJO. [3]
Nayak BK. The journey continues ……and so we evolve. Indian J Ophthalmol 2008;56:1-2.
Nayak BK. The enigma of impact factor. Indian J Ophthalmol 2006;54:225-6.
Nayak BK. Why should you publish in the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology? Indian J Ophthalmol 2008;56:451-2.
[Figure 1], [Figure 2], [Figure 3], [Figure 4]
1 Editorial: Constantly marching forward...
Nayak, B.K.
Indian Journal of Ophthalmology. 2010; 58(2): 99-100
Nayak BK


text:
Florida students again showing progress on "nation's report card"
After a brief stall, Florida students and teachers are again making nationally notable gains on a closely watched test.
Released Thursday, the latest results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, better known as "the nation's report card," show Florida students making solid growth between 2011 and 2013 on three of four tests that are used to compare achievement from state to state.
The NAEP reading and math tests are given every other year to representative samples of fourth- and eighth-graders in all 50 states.
Fueled by the performance of low-income and minority students, Florida was one of only four states that made statistically significant score gains on both the eighth-grade reading and eighth-grade math tests. It was also one of only seven states that showed a statistically significant increase in the percentage of students scoring at or above the basic level on fourth-grade reading, with a jump from 71 to 75 percent. (See charts below for the Florida and U.S. trend lines.)
The improved scores are "an example of what can be accomplished when we focus on what is important," Florida Education Commissioner Pam Stewart said in a written statement.
The latest results will have academic repercussions in the Sunshine State, a national leader in ed reform for more than a decade, and, maybe, political and legal ones. For embattled ed reformers, they bring a sigh of relief. For critics, they bring more evidence, despite oft-repeated arguments, that Florida public schools continue to improve faster than schools just about anywhere.
Here's the context:
Between the late 1990s and 2009, Florida was arguably the national pacesetter on NAEP progress, moving from the bottom tier of states on all four core tests to the middle tier or better on three of them. It is impossible to sort out which factors led to rising trend lines, but Florida's escape from the national cellar coincided with the sweeping policy changes ushered in by former Gov. Jeb Bush. Generally, the changes stressed higher standards, expanded school choice and top-down regulatory accountability. More specifically, they included school grades, private school vouchers, third-grade retention and an intense focus on literacy in early grades. Over the second half of that span, Florida also modestly shrunk class sizes and rolled out a popular, voluntary pre-kindergarten program, both prompted by voter-approved amendments to the state constitution.
Then came 2011.
Trend lines dipped. Critics pounced. And a decade's worth of gains, already overlooked by most of the Florida press, were subsequently buried under headlines about school grading snafus, a revolving door in the education commissioner's office and, most recently, attacks on Common Core.
Like the previous gains, the latest ones were amped by the performance of students who typically struggle the most. In fourth-grade reading, test scores for Florida Hispanic students rose five points while the national average went up two. In eighth-grade reading, Florida's black students gained six points while their national counterparts moved up two. In eighth-grade math, Florida's disabled students saw a five-point increase, while disabled students nationally dropped a point.
Florida showed the least progress in fourth-grade math. Scores rose by two points, but it was not enough to be considered statistically significant. The percentage of students scoring at basic or above also remained unchanged, at 84 percent, though the percentage at proficient or above rose from 37 to 41 percent.
In Florida, especially, test scores mean a lot.
The new numbers will give reformers new leverage. They could play a role in next year's governor's race. They could even wind up in court. They might matter politically if Republican Gov. Rick Scott continues to more-or-less stick with the Bush vision of ed reform, and if probable Democratic nominee Charlie Crist, who once did likewise, attempts to draw bigger contrasts. They matter legally given a high-profile lawsuit, led by the Orlando-based parents group Fund Education Now, that charges the state with failing to provide high-quality schools.
More immediately, the results will spark questions about why. Coincidentally or not, Florida's NAEP scores hit that 2011 snag during some of the deepest funding cuts in decades. And coincidentally or not, the latest numbers synch with upgraded academic standards and tougher state tests, introduced a few years ago, that state education officials see as a bridge between older standards and Common Core.
Nationally, NAEP scores rose modestly: 1 point in fourth-grade math, fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math; two points in eighth-grade reading.
In a written statement, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan called the results "encouraging but modest." Despite them, he added, "U.S. students are still well behind their peers in top-performing nations."
On the fourth-grade tests, seven states showed statistically significant gains in reading, 14 in math.
On the eighth-grade tests, 12 showed gains in reading and five in math.
Only Tennessee showed gains on all four tests.
Press releases: Florida Department of Education. Foundation for Florida's Future.
Other coverage: Tampa Bay Times, Education Week, Washington Post, New York Times, Politics K-12 blog, StateImpact Florida, Jay P. Greene's Blog, Hechinger Report, Fort Myers News Press, Pensacola News Journal, Orlando Sentinel, Richard Whitmire.
redefinED contributors Ron Matus and Patrick R. Gibbons contributed to this report. This post is a work in progress. Check back for updates.
Education Politics, General, Testing and Accountability
Charlie Crist, Florida and NAEP, Fund Education Now, NAEP, Rick Scott
reimaginED staff
Chris Guerrieri
First no mention of the class size but say I go, you know I have had it all wrong, Bush's reforms really do work, then why has the state done so many things to kneecap teachers? No more tenure, which was really work protections that teachers got after years of quality service, the three percent pension theft, teachers are some of the lowest paid around, merit pay etc etc etc.
if Florida is an has been on the cutting edge like you say then why has it treated its teachers so shabbily?
Patrick R. Gibbons
Class size reduction did occur and it may have contributed to Florida's gains (that reform was mentioned in the article above). However, researchers have long known that class-size reduction is an expensive and ineffective way to improve student achievement (class sizes have been dramatically reduced since the 50s and each additional reduction produces fewer and fewer benefits to students at a higher and higher cost). It is also questionable as to whether class size reduction contributed to Florida's gains over the last decade as cited by a Harvard study in 2010: http://educationnext.org/floridas-class-size-amendment-did-it-help-students-learn/
In July 2012 then ed commissioner Gerard Robinson told me the class size amendment and Florida's other reforms were equally important.
http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2012/07/florida-ed-commissioner-says-gary.html
You know who loves the class size amendment? teachers, parents and students and it is beyond the pale to say failing 3rd graders helped but smaller classes didn't.
And the Harvard study shows that resources have alternative uses other than class size reduction and that these alternative uses can produce the same or better results.
It is not beyond the pale to say class size reduction had little to no impact when that is what the research shows. People liking X and X having a real measurable impact are two different things.
It is a good thing science is not a popularity contest.
I took my lunch 37 minutes and I looked at the Harvard piece and to be honest I feel like they write those things with the purpose of giving sound bites and putting regular folks to sleep, so I looked for reviews and found several that were critical of its methodology and findings. So yes science is not a popularity contest but maybe we should look beyond that which backs up our per-conceived belief. Just wondering and I know it is off topic whats your take on climate change, i find the right often has no problem ignoring that science.
At the end of the day study after study says smaller classes work and all the Harvard study really says when you get past the science speak and minutia is maybe other things might have worked better.
Study after study shows that class size reduction is far less effective than expending those resources in other ways: http://hanushek.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/publications/class%20size.ppi6_.revised.pdf
Class size reduction activists essentially make the argument that we either reduce class sizes or the money vanishes into thin air and we do nothing with it. Economists understand that resources always have alternative uses. When measuring the impact of alternative uses, researches find bigger impacts on student achievement when the money is used on something other than smaller class sizes. This is likely due to another economic concept: diminishing rates of return on the investment.
As far as climate change is concerned it is real and humans are having an impact. Scientific facts and the solutions for addressing the concerns raised by those facts are two very different things. That is something people on the right and left sometimes forget.
I guess the argument can be made that resources can be better spent in other ways but here in Florida, the class size didn't replace resources allocated to education instead It added extra resources to education.
Are you suggesting the Florida legislature was just about to give an extra 20 billion to our schools for them to use as they please?
It is unlikely the legislature would have done anything extra without the amendment.
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Vari-Flo Jetters have been used on dairy farms for more than two decades. The versatile range is built to withstand the toughest farm conditions – six robust jetter designs are easy and quick to use, the interchangeable back plates allow for limitless installation possibilities. They cover all liner types currently available. Joined together by 12 screws, the moulded pieces can be replaced or upgraded. All feature a variable-flow, non-return valve to make sure all clusters wash correctly. All Vari-Flo Jetters have mounting options for 33mm or 50mm lines, with hose-mount options and flip over covers available.
Manufactured to FDA standards, the Daviesway jetter range is made of premium quality, high-impact and corrosive resistant materials.


There is a lot going on in David Rabe's Good for Otto, a play about the trials and tribulations of treating mental illness. Fourteen actors and, at least as many, theatergoers seated on stage is a lot to process. In fact too much to process.
Set somewhere in northwest Connecticut, Dr. Michaels (Ed Harris) and Evangeline Ryder (Amy Madigan) are therapists at a mental health facility working with an assortment of patients suffering from an assortment of mental illnesses. A senior citizen won't who get out of bed, PTSD, suicide, abandonment, hoarding, to name a few. But the person that seems in most need of head shrinking is the head shrink, Dr. Michaels. He's approaching retirement, yet he is still dealing with his mother's suicide which occurred when he was nine years old. Some therapy happens in real time and some is in his imagination. Interspersed with everyone's angst are musical numbers from early last century. (I'm still trying to figure out the relevance of these musical interludes). Mr. Rabe adds another plot line towards the end of the play when he introduces another new character – bureaucrat from an insurance company who doesn't care about the patients' well-being just the bottom line. There is enough material for many, many plays in Good for Otto. I'm as exhausted writing about this play as I was sitting through the three hour running time.


If you wish to avoid bed bugs, you need to approach the problems from different angles. The issue is that bed bugs are more common than people like to think; we can find bed bugs in hotels and motels (even the 5-star rated ones), movie theaters, restaurants, metros, airplanes, buses and even in churches. Big cities like Chicago and New York are facing an epidemic and pest control companies here get hundreds of calls weekly for tackling the problem. People are even worried about going to offices as many a co-worker has bed bugs at home. Let us study some tips to tackle and prevent bed bugs from coming into your home.
Bed bugs at the office-what to do when someone at work has bed bugs?
Bed bugs can easily enter your home from your workplace. Naturally, we cannot screen all employees and most employees or co-workers will not disclose that they have bed bugs owing to the shame and social stigma attached to bed bugs. If someone at work has bed bugs, they will not tell you owing to it being a direct implication of not maintaining cleanliness at home. However, education of employees is must to solve the problem. If we citizens want to make our cities bed-bug free, then we need to understand that we all have a collective responsibility.
As a part of addressing this problem, many organizations are now making it compulsory for employees to watch presentation on bed bugs on government websites. Here they can learn the steps they can take to eliminate bed bugs at home.
Secondly, you must carefully observe bed bug tell-tale signs. Many coworkers with bed bugs might appear sleep deprived. Some of them may have welts on their arms, neck, face etc and might also be itchy. All these signs indicate that they could have a bug issue. Talk to the concerned employee. Make her/him understand that this is a common issue and nothing to be embarrassed about. Direct them to the resources on this site to help them tackle the problem and also prevent bringing bugs to office. Maintain confidentiality so as to not embarrass the employee/coworker further.
If you have noticed bed bugs at your workplace, you need to determine the extent of infestation.
Watch out for signs like discarded exoskeleton, red stains on chairs and upholstered areas, and an almond-like smell.
Get an assessment done by an exterminator company. If you have seen a stray bed bug, it is likely that the problem will soon multiply. An exterminator is trained to check hiding places which bed bugs love. They can also give you a detailed report as to which employee's cubicle has bugs and the one responsible for bringing bugs into the office.
In some cases, the exterminator may recommend bringing in sniffer dogs that are trained to detect bug activity.
They may also recommend the right treatment to tackle the problem.
If you have bed bugs in office chairs and office cubicles, you will need to place all infested items in a safe temporary area. Remove all files, books, computers and other electronics and keep them away for the duration of the treatment is. Place discs and artwork, frames, and other office merchandise in Ziploc or plastic bags.
Have the complete area vacuumed and cleaned thoroughly. Get office maintenance staff on board. Ask the exterminators to educate the maintenance personnel for further cleanliness.
Temporarily relocate employees to other areas but make sure that they do not infest the temporary areas as well. Screen the clothing, files and all personal items as far as possible to ensure that is not the case.
It can be a tricky matter when dealing with someone who brings bed bugs to the workplace. Discretely leave a note for the employee and instruct him/her to have their home treated. If despite this warning you still see bed bugs, you may want to report the matter to your HR department.
Hotel rooms are massive breeding grounds for bed bugs. We have already covered ways to prevent brining bed bugs home from hotel rooms. Do check out the article here. To summarize the points: avoid placing your luggage on the bed-place it in bathrooms since bugs usually avoid these areas. Inspect the room, bed, frames, paintings, outlets etc thoroughly. Watch out for tell-tale bug signs like rust colored stains, discarded or molten skin, and sweet odor. If these signs are present, demand another room or better still, get a refund and check into another hotel.
If you find a bed bug in places like churches and restaurants, bring it to the attention of the personnel in charge. If possible, show them proof. Tell them to treat the premises as soon as possible. If possible, direct them to a good exterminator who can treat the area with pesticides. As far as possible, avoid visiting these facilities until they have had them treated by exterminators.
Bed bugs are common in public places and workplaces. But with a little vigilance, education and observation, we can take steps to avoid bringing them into our homes.


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text:
My Kind of Girl
Buddhadeva Bose
Title: My Kind of Girl
Author: Buddhadeva Bose
Written: 1951 (Eng. 2009)
Original in: Bengali
Availability: My Kind of Girl - US
My Kind of Girl - UK
My Kind of Girl - Canada
My Kind of Girl - India
La fille de nos rêves - France
Das Mädchen meines Herzens - Deutschland
La ragazza del mio cuore - Italia
La mujer de mi vida - España
Translated by Arunava Sinha
B : has some period/cultural charm, but a bit thin
Hindustan Times . 5/4/2009 Indrajit Hazra
NZZ . 9/2/2011 Claudia Kramatschek
The Observer . 12/11/2011 Helen Zaltzman
The Telegraph (Calcutta) . 15/5/2009 Somak Ghoshal
TLS . 1/6/2012 Rosinka Chaudhuri
"Bose�s remarkable talent of throwing his characters� voices and at the same time inhabiting their skin is on full display in this slim, moving book." - Indrajit Hazra, Hindustan Times
"Das Mädchen meines Herzens -- im umfangreichen Gesamtwerk des Autors eher eine elegante Fingerübung -- hatte insofern im Kontext seiner Entstehungszeit mehr Ecken und Kanten, als es heutigen Lesern angesichts der geschliffenen Sprache und der ausgewogenen Komposition erscheinen mag." - Claudia Kramatschek, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
"Perhaps nuances have been lost in the translation, for the four narrators seem much of a muchness: rather dreary men taking a passive role in their stories, even when they are placed at the centre of them. The conceit for the piece is redolent of a Turgenev story, but where he would have wrought a quietly devastating sketch of romantic disappointment, these tales are plodding rather than wistful in tone, and populated with indistinguishable characters." - Helen Zaltzman, The Observer
"As translations go, this is an admirable effort, though it never quite manages to do full justice to the innate elegance of Bose�s original. (...) The design is familiar, going back to the great European story-cycles of Boccaccio and Chaucer, but sharpened by that extra edge of sophistication Bose invariably managed to bring into his best work." - Somak Ghoshal, The Telegraph (Calcutta)
"That My Kind of Girl -- a classic modernist tale of four passengers stranded in a railway-station waiting room at night, recounting stories of lost loves -- is engrossing is thanks not only to Sinha's abilities, but to the quality of Bose's narrative, which, unlike his earlier, Calcutta-based masterpiece, Tithidore (1949), inhabits a lighter, more Maupassant-like manner instead." - Rosinka Chaudhuri, Times Literary Supplement
My Kind of Girl finds four middle-aged men, all with some Bengali connection, stranded at Tundla railway station (near Agra, in the heart of India). A derailment has stopped all train traffic, and they're stuck in the first-class waiting room for the night. A couple -- "clearly newlyweds" -- look into the waiting room, but don't venture further -- and the men are inspired by the lovers' obvious love for one another to reflect on romance past.
"Ultimately only the memory remains, nothing else", one observes, and in My Kind of Girl each of the four relates a memory. As one of them -- a writer -- notes:
There's no one who has never liked someone. What happened afterwards is not the point, the liking is what counts. Maybe it's memory, too, that counts. Some kind of memory ...
The four stories offer a variety of takes on love, and one of them is even the relatively happy story of how one of the travelers came to marry his wife, with whom he has led a happy life. The others, however, are tinged much more with regret and failures.
The first isn't even a personal story, as the teller instead recounts a friend's tale, a man -- "let's call him Makhanlal" -- who doesn't marry the neighbor-girl. The first in his family to earn a university degree, Makhanlal's parents -- led by his loud and opinionated mother -- try to marry him off to the girl, but are turned away by her professor father. But while Makhanlal and his family's fortunes improve, as he is successful at his work, the professor and his family find themselves in increasingly dire straits. Makhanlal, who is very passive regarding his private life, unwilling and unable to take much initiative, does finally take a step to set things right -- but his charity also makes it impossible for there to be anything between him and the girl next door.
The second story is one of young love: "back at that distant age of seventeen, Pakhi had loved me". The encounters between the narrator and this Pakhi are few and limited, however; nothing comes of it -- but the narrator also meets her again several times over the years, describing the changed circumstances and the lingering feelings as they get on with their separate lives.
In the third story a doctor describes how came to marry a woman named Bina -- though when he first met her she was desperately in love with a friend of his, and after that her family tried to set her up with any number of other eligible bachelors before she finally settled on the doctor.
The writer in this group tells the fourth story, from his youth, when he and two of his closest friends all had a crush on a girl they referred to as Mona Lisa. They help the family when the girl has typhoid, but despite their attachment to her there is, of course, no future for all of them together.
Set in a time of changing mores, where it is sometimes possible for a man and woman to walk or talk in relative privacy but where behavior is still closely monitored, love here doesn't so much flourish as briefly bubble. Bina is the exception, admitting to her passion for a man (who won't reciprocate it); it is also Bina who protests how her well-meaning parents go about trying to choose her mate. Her sister thinks it's simple:
"Why don't you tell us what kind of person you want -- we'll look."
Bina said, "Are you telling me it's like an outfit or a shoe that you can order at a shop ?"
It's also Bina who seems to have fared best among the love-interests, the doctor acknowledging that despite how they came to be married, "life with Bina had turned out to be perfectly happy." When last seen, the other women are not doing nearly so well.
The various episodes take place between the mid-1920s and the Second World War (the book itself was first published in 1951), and the picture of Bengali society is of those times: My Kind of Girl is very much a period piece (or pieces), and often feels rather quaint. Charmingly so, certainly, but still. The stories -- and the framing device, of the four men who meet and then go their separate ways -- are also a bit thin in the telling, Bose not fleshing out nearly as much as he could have. In part this is surely on purpose: one obvious thing in all the tales is all that's left unspoken, and the difficulty of (straightforward) communication is certainly behind how much of this turns out. Still, one longs for these accounts to go into greater detail.
My Kind of Girl is a distinctly small-scale entertainment, and quite appealing as such; it does, however, leave one wishing for more.
- M.A.Orthofer, 4 August 2010
My Kind of Girl:
Archipelago Books publicity page
Random House India publicity page
Ullstein publicity page
in lieu of a field guide
KGB Bar Lit Magazine
The Mookse and the Gripes
A Novel Source
Neue Zürcher Zeitung (German)
Oye ! Times
RainTaxi
Rose Tinted Glasses
The Telegraph (Calcutta)
Trendylicious
See Index of Indian literature
Other books from Archipelago Books under review
Bengali author Buddhadeva Bose (বুদ্ধদেব বসু) lived 1908 to 1974.