text:
Supporting the South End Arts District
South End Alliance: The Arts and Enterprise District
Protect it, empower it, and it will blossom.
The South End Alliance is an alliance of business owners, artists, innovators, educators, workers, residents, commuters, and more, with an interest in the future of the South End. They are coming together in response to the City of Burlington's request for input on the draft PlanBTV 2015 planning document. With a focus on ecological consciousness, the arts, grassroots community activism, and large and small businesses, they are a diverse group striving for a future that protects the innovation, arts and industry of the Enterprise Zone* within the larger South End.
* The Enterprise Zone (27% of the South End) comprises the South End Arts District and is home to a crucial kind of cultural cross-pollination: a unique fusion of "makers" of all stripes, where vital connections are forged every day.
The South End Alliance is a rhizome-like resource for the sharing of voices, concerns, and ideas regarding city planning, specifically, the impending rezoning of Burlington's arts- and industry-oriented EZ as outlined by the City of Burlington's PlanBTV South End.
What is their vision?
The South End Alliance is advocating for a preserved and enhanced Enterprise District. This small (4%) of the city is home to 20% of the jobs and 92% of the industrial space for the city of Burlington. We believe a commitment to its preservation and empowerment for the future would create an even more exciting and innovative center for our city. We have a number of visions that could be combined and supported to create a truly unique area, focusing on qualities that are consistent with what was intended by the creation of the Enterprise District in the late 80s/early 90s. Instead of making the common mistake of destroying a Naturally Occuring Cultural District by converting industrial zoning to mixed use, Burlington has the opportunity to be on the cutting edge of sustainable city planning. Vermont is known for boldly going where other states do not and we believe this choice will make all the difference.
The district will become a 2030 energy district with goals for net zero by 2030.This area has two critical utilities – Burlington Electric Department and Vermont Energy Investment Corp/Efficiency Vermont both known for innovation and many others who would support such an investment in the future. Other New England states ahead of Vermont on creating 2030 Energy Districts are New Hampshire and Maine. Burlington's EZ is much better adapted for stepping into the future by testing out an Energy District rather than compromising this unique zone with "new urbanist" mixed-use housing complexes.
2. Transportation
The area becomes a model of enhanced regional collaboration to address Burlington's housing issues through transportation reform. Currently there is no real regional authority, and no one associated with the Burlington housing problem seems to be thinking about a regional inclusionary strategy. Public transportation is the glue that would tie this together, but in PlanBTV South End, it is mentioned only in passing as an inappropriate analysis (you can't compare Burlington to Portland OR, for example), or in an insufficient way (as in: there is a need for better bus scheduling).
The central issue of how better public transportation can both help empower the Enterprise Zone as well as help resolve the "affordable housing" problem is never given any weight. Imagine cool housing projects anywhere outside of the Enterprise Zone with improved bus service and/or parking garages with commuter rail. Public transportation can turn a whole number of issues on their heads if we think outside the limited vision of PlanBTV South End, and certainly if we stop glorifying the Champlain Parkway as any kind of solution. Instead of talking about building housing and other infill in the rail yard, we envision promoting the revival of the transportation railroad already planned by the stakeholders of the rail yard.
3. Ecological Design
With an emphasis on values and principles of ecological design, the area will embrace cutting edge approaches to storm water, watershed design, and preservation of green space and wildlife sanctuaries. Imagine roof-top gardens and community parks, re-greening and responsible clean-up of contaminated areas, connectivity between streets, homes, studios, and lake. Imagine a holistic approach that takes the future generations into consideration.
The area is home to both artists and makers and manufacturers. Imagine a center of training, making, building, creating and hands-on learning that educates a strong and diverse artisan and manufacturing workforce to both provide person power to existing business as well as create innovators of new business
When we place an emphasis on the area's innovation, incubation, entrepreneurship, business, artistry and craftpersonship, we can work to provide resources that allow this activity to flourish and go beyond the current parameters. Resources would include legal, professional, health care, insurance, patents, mechanization, and other support services, at reasonable rates to allow ordinary makers to take their work to the next level.. The district is home to hundreds of creative people and businesses. We envision this resource of creativity supported in all possible ways, both in avenues to expression as well as financial support..
6. Culture and History
The industrial history of the area, as well as the history of the rail yard, provide cultural opportunities to explore, exhibit, and educate on this colorful history, as well as on the continuation of that historic tradition into the present. Imagine a museum of industry that follows the early history of the Pine Street corridor from Lumiere to Maltex to the Bottling plant to the brush factory. What was made here and how? What is made here now and how is it related and different from what was made in the past? Such a museum would include examples of actual products and services that come from this industrious area. Imagine all new buildings in harmony with the aesthetic of the district, some made with re-used materials, all featuring public art; all sensitive to the history of the area.
8. Local business
Local business and manufacturing brings local dollars and local jobs. It enhances the economy in a sustainable Vermont-based way. Instead of replacing traditional Vermont craftsmanship and trades with technology, new technology can develop in tandem with a focus on preserving and enhancing the kinds of manufacturing that Vermont is famous for, increasing tourist interest in the South End and in Burlington.
9. Food hub
With the organically occurring food/beverage industry in the ED, with chocolate, cider, beer, bread, yogurt and bagels, the area becomes a hub for food production and a farm-to-product/farm-to-table supply line. With a central food processing center, along the lines of the food venture center, farmers would be supported with a direct line facility to food product producers. This kind of industry is perfect for Burlington.
10. Innovation
With an emphasis on enhancing and supporting creativity and maker activity, there is no telling where innovation could be expanded, whether artistic, inventive, entrepreneurial or handcrafted. Room to grow in organic ways is what we want most for the Enterprise District. As the former president of CEDO, Bruce Seifer says, the young innovators of today are the world savers of tomorrow. Our vision of the Arts and Enterprise District is a vision of an area that supports and protects all the creative potential for the city. Instead of altering the area with a large percentage of non-artist, non-manufacturing-related infill, imagine requiring that all new buildings have 50% affordable artist and manufacturing space (the current plan suggests 3-15%). Manufacturers in the South End complain about dis-incentives to industry such as high taxes. Imagine creating incentives to expand and sustain manufacturing in the South End as part of the Manufacturing Renaissance happening nationwide today!
When you compare the possibility that comes with a city-wide commitment to protecting the arts and industry of the Enterprise district to a frequently made mistake of allowing housing, which both hikes up market rates and consumes all available spaces for a higher profit use, we believe the road less traveled makes the most sense for Vermont.
Let's preserve the 4% area called the Enterprise District. Let's bolster, empower, and enhance it for a future that defies gentrification and is directed toward a vision of creativity, innovation and manufacturing.
Find out more about the ENTERPRISE ZONE
The ENTERPRISE ZONE (EZ) is part of the South End Zoning District and is shown in Burlington's Comprehensive Plan and Official City Map as making up 4% of the city in overall area. It also provided 20% of the jobs and 92% of the industrial space. It is currently protected by being zoned Industrial, and by excluding Residential land uses.
We disagree with the draft PlanBTV report which calls for changing the current Zoning to allow a different mix of uses, especially the call for Residential mix. From research in other cities, especially those who have changed their Industrial Zones to Mixed-use Zones and Combined Residential the loss of jobs and industry have been marked. Please see related articles under the RESEARCH link. The zoning change will easily transform Burlington into a bedroom community as jobs move to other parts of Chittenden County.
Also please see research and data by Amey Radcliffe re. interviews with residents and workers within the EZ under MYTHS.
Burlington Vermont – Zoning Maps and Districts
Sec. 4.4.3 – Enterprise Districts
(a) Purpose:
The 2 Enterprise districts as illustrated in Map 4.4.3-1 (see to the right)
1. The Light Manufacturing (E-LM) district is the primary commercial/industrial center of Burlington , and is intended primarily to accommodate enterprises engaged in the manufacturing, processing, distribution, creating, repairing, renovating, painting, cleaning, or assembling of goods, merchandise, or equipment without potential conflicts from interspersed r esidential uses. Other accessory commercial uses are allowed to support a wide range of services and employment opportunities. This district is intended to ensure that sufficient land area is appropriately designated within the city to provide an adequate and diversified economic base that will facilitate high – density job creation and retention. This district is primarily intended to provide for industrial uses suitable for location in areas of proximity to residential development. Development is intended to respect interspersed historic industrial buildings, and reflect the industrial aesthetic of the district's past. Parking is intended to be hidden within, behind, or to the side of structures.
See more at Zoning Districts and Maps – City of Burlington, Vermont
About the Alliance in their own Words:
We believe the Arts and Enterprise District should be protected and enhanced. Protecting it means prohibiting competing uses (housing and high-end infill). Empowering it means allowing manufacturing and innovation to thrive. In addition we believe some former restrictions that applied to the district should be reinstated and fine-tuned for the 21st century so that gentrification and commercialization are inhibited and community-driven priorities are fostered. Lastly and most importantly, we envision a simple paradigm shift away from status quo development-as-usual and toward responsible and innovative growth that is 1. grassroots and community-based, 2. slow and organic, 3. foregrounds artistry, making, and innovating as its central mission, 4. imagines creative, historically sensitive, trade-specific, and cultural education as integral, 5. takes the environment fully into account, both by setting modern efficiency standards and goals and protecting wild and green spaces, 6. revises an outmoded plan for a parkway that is not needed or wanted and instead invests in non-car transportation such as rail, monorail, shuttle, bike and walk infrastructure, and 7. is willing to boldly go where other cities have not.
Join in the Coversation on the South End Artist Talk Facebook Page!
Find out more information at southendalliance.org.


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FROM ubuntu:14.04
MAINTAINER Tomo Masakura <tomo.masakura@gmail.com>

# Install packages and change locale.
RUN echo 'Acquire::http::proxy "http://192.168.0.9:3142/";' > /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/30proxy && apt-get update && apt-get install -y default-jdk openssh-server language-pack-ja-base && update-locale LANG=ja_JP.UTF-8 && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists /var/cache/apt /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/30proxy
RUN mkdir /var/run/sshd

# Create build agent account.
RUN adduser --disabled-password --gecos 'Jenkins slave build agent'  buildagent

EXPOSE 22

CMD /usr/sbin/sshd -D && tail -f /dev/null

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Luxury kitchen design company Grid Thirteen commissioned Float Glass Design to make this stunning Gilded Glass kitchen island for their showroom. The island was clad in 6mm flat glass that has been gilded in 23carat Moon Gold using a Verre eglomise technique. The hob and sink were templated and under mounted into the gilded glass countertop.


text:
// Copyright 2014 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
//
// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
// You may obtain a copy of the License at
//
//    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
//
// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
// limitations under the License.

package com.google.devtools.build.lib.rules.cpp;

import com.google.common.base.Preconditions;
import com.google.devtools.build.lib.rules.cpp.CcLinkParams.Builder;

/**
 * A cache of C link parameters.
 *
 *
The cache holds instances of {@link CcLinkParams} for combinations of
 * linkingStatically and linkShared. If a requested value is not available in
 * the cache, it is computed and then stored.
 *
 *
Typically this class is used on targets that may be linked in as C
 * libraries as in the following example:
 *
 *

 * class SomeTarget implements CcLinkParamsProvider {
 *   private final CcLinkParamsStore ccLinkParamsStore = new CcLinkParamsStore() {
 *     @Override
 *     protected void collect(CcLinkParams.Builder builder, boolean linkingStatically,
 *                            boolean linkShared) {
 *       builder.add[...]
 *     }
 *   };
 *
 *   @Override
 *   public CcLinkParams getCcLinkParams(boolean linkingStatically, boolean linkShared) {
 *     return ccLinkParamsStore.get(linkingStatically, linkShared);
 *   }
 * }
 *

 */
public abstract class CcLinkParamsStore {

  private CcLinkParams staticSharedParams;
  private CcLinkParams staticNoSharedParams;
  private CcLinkParams noStaticSharedParams;
  private CcLinkParams noStaticNoSharedParams;

  private CcLinkParams compute(boolean linkingStatically, boolean linkShared) {
    CcLinkParams.Builder builder = CcLinkParams.builder(linkingStatically, linkShared);
    collect(builder, linkingStatically, linkShared);
    return builder.build();
  }

  /**
   * Returns {@link CcLinkParams} for a combination of parameters.
   *
   *
The {@link CcLinkParams} instance is computed lazily and cached.
   */
  public synchronized CcLinkParams get(boolean linkingStatically, boolean linkShared) {
    CcLinkParams result = lookup(linkingStatically, linkShared);
    if (result == null) {
      result = compute(linkingStatically, linkShared);
      put(linkingStatically, linkShared, result);
    }
    return result;
  }

  private CcLinkParams lookup(boolean linkingStatically, boolean linkShared) {
    if (linkingStatically) {
      return linkShared ? staticSharedParams : staticNoSharedParams;
    } else {
      return linkShared ? noStaticSharedParams : noStaticNoSharedParams;
    }
  }

  private void put(boolean linkingStatically, boolean linkShared, CcLinkParams params) {
    Preconditions.checkNotNull(params);
    if (linkingStatically) {
      if (linkShared) {
        staticSharedParams = params;
      } else {
        staticNoSharedParams = params;
      }
    } else {
      if (linkShared) {
        noStaticSharedParams = params;
      } else {
        noStaticNoSharedParams = params;
      }
    }
  }

  /**
   * Hook for building the actual link params.
   *
   *
Users should override this method and call methods of the builder to
   * set up the actual CcLinkParams objects.
   *
   *
Implementations of this method must not fail or try to report errors on the
   * configured target.
   */
  protected abstract void collect(CcLinkParams.Builder builder, boolean linkingStatically,
                                  boolean linkShared);

  /**
   * An empty CcLinkParamStore.
   */
  public static final CcLinkParamsStore EMPTY = new CcLinkParamsStore() {

    @Override
    protected void collect(Builder builder, boolean linkingStatically, boolean linkShared) {}
  };

  /**
   * An implementation class for the CcLinkParamsStore.
   */
  public static final class CcLinkParamsStoreImpl extends CcLinkParamsStore {

    public CcLinkParamsStoreImpl(CcLinkParamsStore store) {
      super.staticSharedParams = store.get(true, true);
      super.staticNoSharedParams = store.get(true, false);
      super.noStaticSharedParams = store.get(false, true);
      super.noStaticNoSharedParams = store.get(false, false);
    }

    @Override
    protected void collect(Builder builder, boolean linkingStatically, boolean linkShared) {}
  }
}


During the 1970s prison rehabilitative efforts seemed to narrow to the point where trying to scare people straight was the most visible prison program in the country. At the same time, alternative visions of prison life found numerous venues for expression and distribution. The work of prison writers appeared in small distribution publications like the Fortune Society's Fortune News and Joseph Bruchac's Greenfield Review. Some found their work picked up by specialty houses like Dudley Randall's Broadside Press, major university presses, and even some trade publishers. Perhaps the greatest incubators and benefactors of prison culture during the 1970s, however, were the movements for cultural nationalism among African Americans and Latinos. To public policy officials, a program would be deemed useful if it reduced recidivism. To people who championed rehabilitation, resources and measurable outcomes could lead to the creation of education and therapeutic programs. To those who championed deterrence, programs like Scared Straight! that highlighted the fearsome qualities of prison life won the day. For prisoners who highlighted the racist underpinnings and impact of the criminal justice system, however, any program originating from state departments of correction or other state agencies was suspect. As notions of liberation and black and brown cultural nationalism achieved increasing currency, African American and Latino prisoners and their advocates turned away from deterrence or rehabilitation. Instead, liberation became the new touchstone for relevancy and the Black Arts movement the ascendant force in the culture of American prisons.
Publication information: Book title: America Is the Prison: Arts and Politics in Prison in the 1970s. Contributors: Lee Bernstein - Author. Publisher: University of North Carolina Press. Place of publication: Chapel Hill, NC. Publication year: 2010. Page number: 99.


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You are here: Home / Archives for Laurel Lynch
Dancing on the Green
"Ooh that feels so good!" The speaker was not involved in a semi-pornographic film. She was a teenager watching a filmed pas de deux at a summer dance festival years ago. Others shushed her; this was art! Indoctrinated, did they even notice that the male dancer, hoisting his partner overhead, had placed one hand on her crotch? Please be forbearing when I tell you that this memory edged into my … [Read more...]
The Worlds of Mark Morris
Mark Morris can be a playful fellow, and for his latest work, Sport, he collaborated with a playful musician, who was no longer living. Erik Satie wrote his Sports et Divertissements in 1914 (an unfortunate date) and published it, updated, in 1923. His original little book consisted of an introduction and the scores of twenty piano pieces under a minute in length, illustrations of each by Charles … [Read more...]
The Unslaked Fires of Love
The White Light Festival presents Layla and Majnun, directed and choreographed by Mark Morris. How many poets have compared love to a flame and passion to a consuming fire— love that can obsess you, drive you mad? In the ancient tale of Layla and Majnun, the hero was born with another name; "majnun" labels him as one losing his mind over love for Layla, and, ironically it is that madness … [Read more...]
Dancing with Lou Harrison
June 30, 2017 by Deborah Jowitt
The Mark Morris Dance Group celebrates the centennial of composer Lou Harrison's birth. In 1991, the composer Lou Harrison wrote a piece for gamelan and harp and called it In Honor of the Divine Mr. Handel. On June 28, 2017, in Tanglewood's Seiji Ozawa Hall, the Mark Morris Dance Group premiered a work, Numerator, set to Harrison's Varied Trio for violin, piano,and percussion. The title of … [Read more...]
Operas That Dance
The Brooklyn Academy of Music presents Mark Morris: Two Operas, March 15 through 19. On the last day of July, 2013, I saw and heard an unforgettable performance in Tanglewood's Seiji Ozawa Hall. Mark Morris had directed Benjamin Britten's Curlew River for a cast of Tanglewood Fellows and paired it with his 1989 visualization of Henry Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas, performed by the Mark … [Read more...]
India in New York
November 8, 2016 by Deborah Jowitt
Mark Morris curates "Sounds of India" for Lincoln Center's White Light Festival. Mark Morris has made many trips to India, beginning in 1981. I've only gone in my dreams. My fascination with the country's dance styles came from seeing New York performances by visiting companies, dipping into epics like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, treating my dance history students to videos and master … [Read more...]
Dancing with Music
The Mark Morris Dance Group performs in its own Brooklyn space. Music often takes Mark Morris in directions I couldn't have anticipated, as the programs for his company's season at the Mark Morris Dance Center make clear. Only occasionally does a score's history enter the picture, and, if it does, it enters with an enigmatic twist. His 2005 Cargo is set to Darius Milhaud's La Création du … [Read more...]
Come Spring!
April 28, 2015 by Deborah Jowitt
The Mark Morris Dance Group performs at BAM. Was it George Balanchine who said he wanted us to see the music and hear the dancing when we were watching his ballets? Maybe he said only the first part of that. Mark Morris, I think, hopes for something similar when we see his choreography—not meaning that we should hear feet hit the floor, but that the dancers carry the music in their bodies, … [Read more...]
Two Brits and Mark
The Mark Morris Dance Group and Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Festival performs operas by Benjamin Britten and Henry Purcell. Mark Morris has journeyed into music in other ways beside making dances to compositions he loves. He has conducted orchestras, directed and choreographed operas. Two works presented in Tanglewood's airy, wooden Seiji Ozawa Hall reveal his sensitivity to music in … [Read more...]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
kundoy/Moment/GettyImages
How to Give Ideas for English 10th Class Project Work
Jeffery Keilholtz - Updated May 10, 2019
Creative High School Project Ideas
Tenth grade is a tough academic year for many students. While ninth grade acts as an introduction period to high school and 11th and 12th grade students receive the luxury of being upper classmen, 10th graders work to adjust to the rigors of advanced work -- especially language and literary work -- and busy schedules. Keeping 10th graders stimulated requires creative thinking and hands-on learning. Giving positive ideas for 10th grade English class projects is a beneficial way to keep kids stimulated and enjoying their academic journey.
Apply reading assignments to real world politcal issues. Assign texts that deal with socially conscious matters. For example, have students read "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair. This book focuses on a fictional town at the beginning of the 20th century where immigrants butcher and pack meat under excruciating conditions. Have students explore the importance of regulatory agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration. Detail how the ideas in the book go hand-in-hand with the agency and how "The Jungle" was a landmark novel that helped lead to the founding of the FDA.
Foster distance-learning relationships between local high school students and students in different parts of the country. Read texts such as "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry. Books and plays, such as this one, focus on personal and social themes concerning race, community and economics. Ask students to communicate with students from a variety of different parts of the country who are reading the same text or texts -- students in major cities and rural areas. Encourage students to discuss what the themes in the text mean to them, given where they live and attend school. Have students share thoughts and ideas with their distance-learning counterparts and present their findings to the class.
Organize students into small groups, and have each group make a video to explore, for example, the plays of William Shakespeare. Have students read a play and demonstrate the themes of the play and what happens between characters by acting out a scene from the play with their own interpretation. Alternatively, ask students to summarize the play in a 3- to 5-minute video. This project offers students a hands-on learning experience by combining their own creative thinking and reasoning with classic literature.
Fun Ways to Teach a Plot to Second-Graders
Sixth Grade Social Studies Projects
How to Teach English to Class 1 Students
Ideas for Elementary School Assemblies
Middle School Fun Fridays Activities
How to Learn English Through Theater
High School Spanish Projects
How to Teach Culture in ESL Classes
Fermilab: High School Project Ideas
Jeffery Keilholtz began writing in 2002. He has worked professionally in the humanities and social sciences and is an expert in dramatic arts and professional politics. Keilholtz is published in publications such as Raw Story and Z-Magazine, and also pens political commentary under a pseudonym, Maryann Mann. He holds a dual Associate of Arts in psychology and sociology from Frederick Community College.


text:
Q: How to create an interface to interact with service methods from activity I want to create an interface which will interact with an already running Service from the Activity in foreground.
viz, if there is a service called  MyService  running in background and I want to use the methods defined in the service from an activity called  MyActivity then how will I do it.

A: There are several possibilities for an activity to communicate with a service and vice versa.

*

*LocalBroadcast receiver that is provided by Android framework , v4 support library also provided.

*AIDL for services in a different process

*Handler and ResultReceiver or Messenger
To get details implementation visit following links :
http://www.vogella.com/tutorials/AndroidServices/article.html
http://developer.android.com/guide/components/services.html

A: You need to make your service bindable. or more specifically something like this LocalService taken from the android guide.

A: The above answers are pretty apt ....but if you are bent on interfaces then... below is how one can do using interfaces ...but a better and more preferred way is described here
Create a Interface with a function as below:
public interface OnChangeListener {

    void onChange();
}

then in your service :
private OnChangeListener changeListener;

public void setChangeListener(OnChangeListener changeListener) {
    this.changeListener = changeListener;
}

Some where in your service :
changeListener.onChange();

then from your Activity do this :
MyService.getInstance(this)
                    .setChangeListener(new OnChangeListener() {
                        @Override
                        public void onChange() {
                            // do something here
                        }
                    });

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


My scrapbook page is here!
Inks, stencils, inks, stamps…. love how the background turned out.
I hope my layout will provide you with some inspiration to participate in our January challenge — Fireworks (Use a lot of Glitter and Bling) (Hero Arts Products Required!) This challenge runs though the end the month. You have a chance to win a $25.00 gift card to the a2z Scrapbooking Store.
Categories: Handmade Cards | Tags: page, scrap, scrapbook, taru | Permalink.


text:
Justia Patents Drew V. Speer Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications
Patents by Inventor Drew V. Speer
Drew V. Speer has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
ZEOLITE IN PACKAGING FILM
Abstract: An article of manufacture includes an oxygen scavenger and a zeolite. The article can be in the form of e.g. a film or sealing compound. A package can be made from the article for containing an oxygen-sensitive article such as food. The zeolite reduces migration of odor causing by-products of the oxygen scavenging process. A method of making an article of manufacture having reduced migration of by-products of an oxygen scavenging reaction includes providing an article including an oxygen scavenger and a zeolite; and exposing the article to actinic radiation.
Filed: May 7, 1998
Inventors: THOMAS A. BLINKA, FRANK B. EDWARDS, NATHANAEL R. MIRANDA, DREW V. SPEER, JEFFREY A. THOMAS
Oxygen scavenging composition with improved properties and method of using same
Abstract: A composition capable of scavenging oxygen composed of (i) a copolymer of, at least, ethylene and a strained, cyclic alkylene, preferably cyclopentene; (ii) a transition metal catalyst; (iii) preferably, a photoinitiator; and (iv) optionally, a polymeric diluent.
Filed: July 9, 1999
Date of Patent: July 3, 2001
Assignee: Cryovac, Inc.
Inventors: Donald A. Bansleben, Slawomir Opuszko, Drew V. Speer
Abstract: An article of manufacture includes an oxygen scavenger and a zeolite. The article can be in the form of e.g. a film or sealing compound. A package can be made from the article for containing an oxygen-sensitive article such as food. The zeolite reduces migration of odor causing by-products of the oxygen scavenging process. A method of making an article of manufacture having reduced migration of byproducts of an oxygen scavenging reaction includes providing an article including an oxygen scavenger and a zeolite; and exposing the article to actinic radiation.
Filed: March 7, 1997
Assignee: W. R. Grace & Co.-Conn.
Packaging articles suitable for scavenging oxygen
Abstract: An article useful for packaging oxygen-sensitive products is disclosed. The article is a single or multi-layer article capable of enveloping the oxygen sensitive product. The article has at least one layer which contains a composition composed of an ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbon polymer and a transition metal salt. The layer is capable of scavenging oxygen at a rate of at least 1 cc oxygen per square meter per day and has a capacity of at least 250 cc oxygen per square meter per mil thickness of the layer.
Filed: December 6, 1995
Date of Patent: December 23, 1997
Inventors: Drew V. Speer, William P. Roberts, Charles R. Morgan, Cynthia L. Ebner
Method of detecting the permeability of an object to oxygen
Abstract: A method of detecting the permeability of an article to oxygen is disclosed. A fluorescent redox indicator, preferably riboflavin, is dispersed in a carrier and placed on an impermeable substrate. The article to be measured is placed adjacent to the carrier. Residual oxygen is removed, the redox indicator is photoreduced, the article and carrier are exposed to oxygen, and the indicator is exposed to UV light.
Inventors: Thomas A. Blinka, Christopher Bull, Charles R. Barmore, Drew V. Speer
Multilayer structure for a package for scavenging oxygen
Abstract: Products and film structures using the oxygen scavengers, are disclosed. Such products demonstrate enhanced shelf stability of foodstuffs and reduced sensitivity to humidity and temperature changes.
Inventors: Drew V. Speer, Charles R. Morgan, William P. Roberts, Andrew W. VanPutte
Methods and compositions for oxygen scavenging by a rigid semi-rigid article
Abstract: A method of initiating oxygen scavenging by rigid or semi-rigid articles which comprise oxidizable organic compounds and transition metal catalysts is disclosed. The method comprises initiating scavenging by exposing the composition, etc., to radiation. The radiation exposure is preferably electron beam or ultraviolet light and is preferably used on oxygen scavenging compositions which comprise a substituted or unsubstituted ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbon and a transition metal catalyst. Inclusion of a photoinitiator or antioxidant in the scavenging composition is also preferred to facilitate and/or control the composition's scavenging properties. The method can be used for initiating scavenging in packaging layers or articles for oxygen sensitive products such as food and beverage.
Date of Patent: March 12, 1996
Assignee: W.R. Grace & Co.-Conn.
Inventors: Drew V. Speer, William P. Roberts, Charles R. Morgan
Methods and compositions for oxygen scavenging
Abstract: A method of initiating oxygen scavenging by compositions which comprise oxidizable organic compounds and transition metal catalysts is disclosed. The method comprises initiating scavenging by exposing the composition, etc., to radiation. The radiation exposure is preferably electron beam or ultraviolet light and is preferably used on oxygen scavenging compositions which comprise a substituted or unsubstituted ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbon and a transition metal catalyst. Inclusion of a photoinitiator or antioxidant in the scavenging composition is also preferred to facilitate and/or control the composition's scavenging properties. The method can be used for initiating scavenging in packaging layers or articles for oxygen sensitive products such as food and beverage.
Filed: April 7, 1993
Compositions, articles and methods for scavenging oxygen which have improved physical properties
Abstract: A composition for scavenging oxygen is disclosed. The composition comprises an ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbon polymer which has 0.01-1.0 equivalents of carbon-carbon double bonds per 100 g of polymer and a transition metal catalyst and can be incorporated into various types of layers. The composition has an elongation-at-break of at least 20% and retains at least 50% of its original tensile strength after oxygen scavenging has occurred.
Filed: October 1, 1992
Inventors: Drew V. Speer, Charles R. Morgan, William P. Roberts, Ram K. Ramesh
Compositions, articles & methods for scavenging oxygen
Abstract: A composition for scavenging oxygen is disclosed. The composition comprises an ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbon and a transition metal catalyst and can be incorporated into various types of layers. It is preferable that the composition be incorporated into layers of multilayered articles used for packaging oxygen-sensitive products such as food products.
Date of Patent: May 18, 1993


Ginger is used in various forms of traditional and different medicines. Ginger is used in proper digestion, reduces nausea and it also helps in fighting the flu and common cold. It's also used as fresh, dried, powdered, or as an oil or juice, and is sometimes used in processed foods, and cosmetics also. It is a common used ingredient in food recipes.


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Q: Display single row for each group in a data.table Assume I have a data.table with a grouping variable (Group) and a few other columns.
DT <- data.table(Group=rep(1:10, each=5), x=rnorm(50), y=rep(runif(10), each=5), z=rep(rnorm(10), each=5))

I'm interested in just getting e.g. the first row for each Group variable, so the desired output would be something like
Group        x        y        z
    1  -0.9331   0.4765  -0.3284
    2   0.3902   0.3514   1.7344
    3  -0.7205   0.8793   0.0246

And so on. Ultimately, I'm interested in the y column (which should have one value per Group), but I would like to see also the Group and z columns. I know I can do something like
DT[, .(unique(y), unique(z)), by=Group]

But is there a way to just get all columns?


Ready for some more grammar? Good.
This time we're going to look at count and non-count nouns. Remember that nouns are people, places, or things.
Count nouns can be counted, which means you can also make them plural. Remember that plural means more than one. For example, the word "teacher." Can you count teachers? Of course – one teacher, two teachers, three teachers, four teachers. The noun "teacher," then, is a count noun.
Non-count nouns can't be counted, and they're almost always singular. Remember that singular means one. For example, the word "air." Can you count air? Of course not – we never say one air, two airs, three airs, etc. So "air" is a non-count noun.


Abstract: A microparticle sorting device that automatically and accurately adjusts the positions of a fluid stream and a collection container is provided. The microparticle sorting device including a pair of deflecting plates that face each other with a passage area of a fluid stream therebetween, a camera that captures the image of the fluid stream, and a fluid stream detection light source that emits light parallel to a direction in which the deflecting plates face each other and that is movable in a direction perpendicular to the fluid stream and the light is provided. In the microparticle sorting device, the collection container that receives the fluid stream is mounted so as to be movable in the direction perpendicular to the fluid stream and the light.
Abstract: A method of removing dust from granular polysilicon includes introducing a stream of granular polysilicon, dispersing the longitudinal stream of granular polysilicon by redirecting the stream into a radially outward flow having a circular pattern, and introducing a counter flow of gas in an opposite direction to that of the longitudinal stream of granular polysilicon to contact the radially outward flow to separate the dust from the granular polysilicon.
Abstract: An apparatus, and method of use, for reducing the operable width of the inclined slide of a gravity fed sorting machine includes an upper section for reducing the flow rate into the slide and for directing the reduced flow to the operable portion of the slide and a lower section for delimiting the operable portion of the slide. The upper section includes a body proximate the gravity fed sorting machine and which is connected to a product flow rate adjustment assembly and a partition so the product flow into the slide may be controlled and the flow of materials directed to the operable portion of the lower section, which includes a slide width control guide to limit the operable width of the inclined slide.
Abstract: A counting and portioning system which counts discrete articles that conform to predetermined specifications into lots having a predetermined number of articles or a target volume. The system includes at least one portioning bin positioned to receive articles from a conveyor. The at least one bin has at least first and second outlet gates for emptying articles into separate respective first and second locations. A scanner detects and maintains a count of articles that are received in the at least one portioning bin and fall within the predetermined specification. The detector unit generates an out-of-specification signal when an article or group of articles received in the at least one portioning bin falls outside the predetermined specification. A control unit causes the first outlet gate to open when the count or volume of articles is equal to the predetermined number and causes the second outlet gate to open in response to receipt of an out-of-specification signal.
Abstract: A reciprocating rod of the ejector is borne in a non-sliding state by permanent magnets on the reciprocating rod and permanent magnets surrounding the reciprocating rod. The reciprocating rod linearly projects out and retracts by the reciprocating components which cause the reciprocating rod to reciprocate by the driving signals from the driver circuit. A slanted surface is provided at the foremost end of the reciprocating rod. When the granular objects to be ejected flow-in continuously, the projecting-out action takes place correspondingly with the leading granular object to be ejected and, after the following granular object(s) to be ejected has been ejected, the retracting action takes place.
Abstract: A waste container throw-in system of a building, comprises a container holder for holding a waste container therein, a handcart for carrying the container holder thereon, a vertical conveyor tube vertically provided in the building, a waste throw-in apparatus including a frame structure and miscellaneous actuators, an inserting tube inserted in the vertical conveyor tube and a central control system for controlling the waste throw-in apparatus. When a collector carries the handcart to the waste throw-in apparatus and couples therewith, the container holder is lifted up from the handcart and moved in the horizontal direction toward the vertical conveyor tube with the help of the actuators. Then, the inserting tube is removed from the vertical conveyor tube and instead thereof the container holder is inserted in the vertical conveyor tube, whereby the waste container is thrown into the vertical conveyor tube.
Abstract: An apparatus for optically sorting small objects such as beans has an annular analysis head with an opening through which the objects fall. Three sets of optical fibers are positioned around the analysis head opening. A first set receives radiant light reflected from the falling objects. This reflected light is digitized and input to a comparator where the reflected light is compared to a reference value and a determination as to the quality of the object is made based on color. The second set of fibers is connected to an infrared light source and transmits a curtain of light across the opening, intercepting the travel of the objects. The third set of fibers receives the infrared light and is connected to a light detector which detects when objects pass through the curtain of light. The curtain of light is preferably wider than the objects. The light detector outputs a signal having peaks caused by the widest portions of objects passing through the light curtain.
Abstract: A system to separate and store trash which has been segregated into various categories for use in a multi-floor building. The system has a vertical waste chute with at least one access door to the chute located at each floor of the building. The chute has an upper and lower portion and two paths therethrough. The first path permits vertical disposal of the trash and the second path is angled to the first to permit designated trash to follow a different pathway for disposal. The system further includes a diverter located adjacent the lower portion of the chute for diverting the path of the trash placed into the chute from a first location containing a plurality of trash receptacles located on a platform to a second location having at least one trash receptacle, such as a trash compactor. The system also includes a receptacle mover to move a selected trash receptacle beneath the chute to receive a particular category of trash deposited into the chute.
Abstract: A sorting machine for separating substandard items from a continuous stream of products is disclosed wherein the ejector that removes the detected substandard items includes an ejector finger and an actuator. The ejector finger includes a flexible elongate base member fixedly attached with respect to the product stream and a contactor normally withdrawn from the product stream when standard products are in the stream and for entering the product stream to eject a detected substandard item. The actuator flexes the flexible elongate base member to move the ejector contactor so that it enters the product stream for ejecting each detected substandard item. The flexible elongate base member make the ejector more resistant to wear from environmental conditions. A flexible sorting machine ejector mounting mechanism is also disclosed which removes costly mounting mechanisms.
Abstract: In a machine for sorting food pieces such as potatoes the pieces are dropped one at a time through scanned laser beams that sequentially scan over its surface on all sides. Detectors measure laser light reflected from the food as the beam scans over the surface; variations indicate bad spots. To determine when the beam is not shining directly onto the food piece, a ribbon-like direct light detector is circumferentially deployed about the test zone. The reflected light is changed to electric signals and is analyzed by the microprocessor to decide if the food piece is to be deflected by an air jet. When the direct-light detector registers an un-interrupted laser beam, the microprocessor ignores the reflected light signals; that is, the direct light signal gates the reflected light signal. The reflected-light detector may be a bundle of up to 50 optical fibers having the fiber ends regularly disposed about the ring, so as to detect the light intensity at various evenly-spaced angles around the test zone.
Abstract: A ferrous metal separator for use with a screw extruder utilizes an assembly of bar magnets (A) carried by a frame member (B) for reception by horizontal plastic tubes (C) which are also secured in an assembly by a skimmer plate (D) and a base member (E) for receiving the magnets for positioning and removal as a unitary apparatus from a feeding passageway of a screw extruder for removing tramp metal.
Abstract: A sorter for sorting transversely-spaced articles moving along a direction of travel employs an array of fluid nozzles aligned transversely to the direction of travel for separating some of the articles from others, according to differences in their physical characteristics, by selectively directing respective streams of fluid toward some of the articles to deflect them from the direction of travel. The nozzles are arranged in a substantially linear transverse alignment relative to the direction of travel, each nozzle being connected to a respective selectively operable fluid supply valve. The valves are arranged in a nonlinear array in a common plane extending generally in the direction of alignment of the nozzles, and are connected to the respective nozzles by flexible tubes of equal length which interface the nonlinear array of valves with the linear transverse array of nozzles. The tubes are embedded in a hardened polymeric material which also forms the nozzles.
Assignee: Allen Fruit Co., Inc.
Abstract: A high rise recycling system for a multi-story building comprises a vertical chute extending from the bottom to top floor, discharge openings on each floor, a rotatable chute at the lower end to discharge garbage into a compactor and to discharge recyclable glass, paper, aluminum and plastic into a selective discharge assembly which selectively discharges each of the separate items into respective containers for such separate items. A control circuit having control switches on each floor controls operation of the selective discharge assembly. A power circuit drives a conveyor belt which carries the recyclable items through the selective discharge assembly to their respective discharge outlets for deposit into their respective containers.
Abstract: An apparatus and method are disclosed for determining the integrity of coated fuel particles via acoustic characterization. Particle supply means (4) drops the nuclear fuel particles (2) individually onto the face (6) of a transducer (8). The generated signal which is indicative of the integrity of the coating on the dropped particle is analyzed with analyzing means (26, 28, 30) for discriminating between a flawed and an unflawed particle.
Abstract: In a method and apparatus for grading objects according to their size, the objects are advanced along a broad, flat and divided conveyer path. Image data relating to the size of respective objects is obtained with the aid of a camera scanning against a light source. At the correct moment in time, control signals are transmitted to finger groups, preferably four, which function to guide ten or more objects simultaneously in mutually different directions, in accordance with the respective sizes of the objects. In one embodiment, the lowest fingers are replaced with triangular-shaped guidance blocks. A large number of objects can be sorted gently and effectively from the transport path into mutually different, individually selective sizes.
Abstract: Apparatus (1) for removing detected tramp material (TM) in a flow of material (M) moving along a primary flow path (P). The tramp material is deflected into one of two deflection paths (P1, P2) which are located of opposite sides of the material flow path. A scoop (29) is responsive to the detection of tramp material to deflect it into one of the deflection paths. The scoop is transported over rails (45, 47) between the deflection paths and across the primary flow path by a carriage (43) driven by a penumatic cylinder and rope and pulley unit (65). An actuator unit (91) repositions the scoop after each traversal of the flow path so it can deflect tramp material on its next traverse of the primary flow path.
Abstract: A method for removing elongated contaminants of polymeric material from a contaminated stream containing pellets and the elongated contaminants, wherein the contaminated stream is passed through an enclosure containing a fixed support member having finger-like projections for snagging the elongated contaminants while allowing the pellets to pass through the enclosure.
Abstract: Particles are fed for sorting by a radial distributor having an upper surface on which the particles gradually spread arcuately and are displaced radially outwardly, by for example vibration of the distributor, to a lip of the upper surface where they define one or more curved arrays as the fall over the lip. As they fall in free flight trajectory paths the particles present a curved array one particle deep to a separating device arranged to sort the particles according to the degree they possess a particular characteristic.
Abstract: Selection means is provided for particles following a free flight trajectory path, those particles having a preselected characteristic, such as fluorescence under x-ray bombardment, being detected and a signal being transmitted on such detection to electrostatic charging means to locally ionize the atmosphere and thereby charge the detected particle as it passes through the locally ionized atmosphere, the charged particle being deflected from its free flight trajectory path by an electric field. Non-detected and uncharged particles continue in the free flight trajectory path. Particles may be detected in a path having lateral spread by providing detecting means and electrostatic charging means which are together responsive to particles in respective portions of the path.
Assignee: CRA Exploration Pty. Ltd.
Abstract: Apparatus for sorting ore rocks in which rocks are fed in stream past detector to measure characteristic selected as basis for sorting and into free flight trajectory from which selected individual rocks are deflected according to measure of said characteristic for those rocks. Apparatus is characterized by rock feed means comprising pair of movable elements having surfaces defining upwardly facing nip and which move downwardly at nip to grip rocks and accelerate them downwardly into free flight such that the free flight trajectory is substantially vertical.The movable elements may be a pair of horizontal rollers having resiliently deformable peripheral surfaces or a pair of flexible endless belts arranged in loops having upper parts defining the nip and, below the nip, adjacent downwardly extending runs between which the rocks are gripped and moved downwardly for some distance below the nip before being projected into vertical free flight.
Abstract: Inspection apparatus comprising a transparent or translucent tubular member having at least a frusto-conical portion, illuminating elements disposed externally of the tubular member for producing an illuminated zone within the frusto-conical portion, and a viewing arrangement disposed externally of the tubular member and arranged to view objects passing through the illuminated zone in the frusto-conical portion so as to respond to the value of a property of said objects, the tubular member reflecting substantially no light from the illuminated zone onto the viewing arrangement.
Abstract: An optical scanner for light detection and color ratiometric measuring for use in apparatus to sort small particles such as seed and beans which are projected or propelled through the scanner at relatively high speeds to be scanned on all sides by a narrow light plane and viewed by a plurality of photoelectric devices. Several lamps are used in conjunction with cylindrical lenses to produce a substantially uniform collimated light plane perpendicular to the path of the particles. The lamps and lenses are interspersed with the photoelectric devices such that light reflected from the portion of the particle being scanned is detected by the photoelectric devices which are responsive to selected wavelengths and which responses are separately fed to an external electronic circuit for processing according to spectral responses such that said responses can be measured individually or compared with each other to determine certain color characteristics of the particle being scanned.
Abstract: An apparatus of the type in which relatively small and fragile articles such as shelled peanuts move along a given path is disclosed herein along with an assembly for decelerating movement of the articles along a particular section of the path. The section selected is one into which the articles initially enter while in flight but at a downward angle towards an article support surface. A first arrangement of elongated, flexible flaps is provided for intercepting at least some of the articles as the latter first enter this path section in order to slow them down before they reach the support surface. A second flap arrangement is located behind the first arrangement and serves to intercept all of the articles including those which have and have not been intercepted by the first arrangement, again to slow the articles down before they reach the support surface. A third flap arrangement is provided behind the second arrangement for slowing the articles once the latter have reached the article support surface.
Abstract: A sorting apparatus wherein a plurality of first and second electrical color signals from a predetermined number of viewer elements is utilized to generate classification signals functionally related to the ratio of the color signals from each viewer and an ejector associated with each viewer is actuated if a comparison of each ratio classification signal with predetermined references indicates an unacceptably colored product or foreign object is characterized by a foreign object ejector arrangement being operable if the ratio classification signal falls within a predetermined defined range of signal values. A threshold network actuates the foreign object ejector arrangement only if an article is detected within the field of view of the viewer elements. Circuitry to present a substitute classification signal within the predetermined range of signal values if the electrical color signals are of equal value is provided.


Last year, about 90 percent of the 60 students in first grade were able to bring their reading abilities up to a first grade level, thanks to a pilot program of the Literacy Intervention program.
Plainville School District's Director of Curriculum Linda Van Wagenen said the program is geared towards helping the students who are below their grade level in literacy enhance their skills so that they can catch up and be at the reading level they are supposed to be at by the time they reach third grade.
"The goal of this program is to get these students to their grade level within an 18 to 24 week period," Van Wagenen said.
The pilot program proved to be successful last year, and because of a $30,000 Early Literacy grant from the Liberty Bank Foundation, the program can now continue for the next three years.
"Our mission for the foundation is to support preventative programs for low and moderate income residents," Liberty Bank Executive Director Sue Murphy said.
This coming school year, thanks to the grant, Van Wagenen said the program will be able to expand to students in kindergarten and first grade. Students are tested in the first few weeks of the school year, she said, and then school officials are able to find out where students need extra help regarding literacy.
"We want all of our students reading at grade level by the time they leave third grade," Van Wagenen said, adding the grant from the Liberty Bank Foundation allows the program to move along a little faster by allowing more students to participate. She said she hopes to be able to increase the reach of the program to between 100 and 120 students in three elementary schools.
The program uses the district's literacy resource teachers, and does not require new positions. The literacy resource teachers are using books that are geared to the student's reading skills. Then, Van Wagenen said the teachers will use a series of activities to allow the students to practice the skills they are learning. The students are also allowed to keep the books they use, so they can read at home to their families. Students are organized in groups of three or four for their literacy sessions.
Murphy said she has researched early literacy and said she has found students who are at a lower reading level than their peers haven't had the opportunity to learn or practice at home. She added that these students who are unable to improve their reading skills may eventually drop out of school.
Van Wagenen added studies have shown that students who leave eighth grade not being at their grade level in literacy are more apt to drop out.
"We learn to read so we can read to learn," Van Wagenen said, adding that as students get older, learning relies on reading.
Murphy said this is the first year of the Early Literacy Grant Program, which focuses on helping programs geared towards closing the achievement gaps. She said it is a three-year program because the foundation knows "you can't just flip a switch" to improve test scores and reading levels. She said the bank plans to be involved in the programs it has supported. They measure the results and keep track of the program's progress.
"Hopefully we will see some models (the districts that were awarded grants) are using that really work and help implement them into some other schools," she said.
School Superintendent Jeffrey Kitching said the program wouldn't be able to move forward without Liberty Bank, which has kept involved in the community.
The employees of Liberty Bank are provided with four paid days off that can be put towards volunteering, Liberty's Murphy said. "We really believe in having our people involved in the community," she added.
The Literacy Intervention program will begin at all three elementary schools within the first few weeks of this coming school year.


I'm incredibly proud of what our team has achieved. The future is going to be very exciting!
David is an eternal optimist and a born communicator. He would have made a fantastic hostage negotiator, had he not chosen to indulge his passion for demystifying law and assuaging the fears of fretful clients.
He realised his powers at a young age, assuaging the concerns of his mates when taking on the challenge of restoring a 1952 Ford Prefect as a 15 year old.
While studying at the 'fun' University, David worked as an ice cream stick maker, fixer of beer crates, and pea truck driver, giving him some memorable work stories.
After graduating from Otago, more interesting work stories were in the making while working as a litigator in private practice for 5 years, before moving in-house to head up the legal functions in three very different government organisations.
While working in government David indulged his passion for learning by completing a Master of Laws with first class honours.
Next was a move back into private practice as a barrister, shortly after which David teamed up with Software guru Steve Marriott and the wonderful story of ComplyWith began.
David is as passionate about mountain biking today as when he started over 30 years ago, despite some spectacular 'spills'.


My work is mostly improvisational. When I step back and look at what I've made, it's not until that moment that I know what the piece means. I am at a loss for words to express how I am impacted by each of my creations. Every individual will draw their own conclusions when they see my sculptures for the first time.
Packer, Janie (2017) "Untitled," be Still: Vol. 2 , Article 25.


text:
Best Pocket Parks of NYC
This year, otsoNY plans to update the Location Maps and add two additional maps to include Brooklyn and Manhattan's Central Park. One person who knows a lot about the various parks and public spaces in New York City is freelance writer Rosemary O'Brien, who has recently published a book called BEST Pocket Parks of NYC; a comprehensive guide for adventurous travellers which goes above and beyond the realms of mainstream guide books. This paperback takes the reader on a journey around Manhattan's parks and public spaces that lend themselves to stopping and relaxing for a while before you go on with your day. BEST Pocket Parks of NYC is the first of several guides planned that will give the reader interesting information and history along with the location of pocket parks and public spaces in several U.S. cities as well as locations in Europe and is available from Amazon.com and CreateSpace, with an electronic version for the Kindle expected to be available in early February.
otsoNY caught up with Rosemary to ask her about the project. "I began looking into whether it would be a good idea for a book in January 2011 and began research online in the spring and then on foot during the summer," explained Rosemary. "When I saw there were over 520 on the city's list, I started Googling the images and visiting them in person. I went into the city about twice per month, but had to limit it to good weather and had to work around my family's schedule to a degree. When I attended an entrepreneurship program for military family members in February of 2013, I realized I had not just one book, but an entire company of many books. I have since scaled the original idea down to the best pocket parks rather than all 230 that have seating and perhaps greenery and other aesthetic amenties such as art work or waterfalls. The sites I've chosen are in good settings with seating, greenery and something that makes it interesting or comfortable such as a waterfall or maybe sits father back from the street such as Greenacre Park or One East River Place."
Asked why she decided to take on the project, Rosemary replied, "I began my work life as an actress in New York City. I attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, did summer stock and cruise ships, and always loved these little spaces even though they were not as cleaned up as many of them are now. I thought it was great how they just popped out as places to sit for a moment while I ran from audition to job to school. Even as I published novels and worked as a freelance writer, I thought they were something I should write about someday because I loved them. One book was what I intended, as I've said, but now I find there are a few cities throughout the country, in Canada and in the U.K. that are working to spruce up their green spaces and to create pocket parks for their communities. London has a pocket parks program going on where applicants receive grant money to make a pocket park out of land that currently sits and is a blight on the neighbourhood. So as you see, it's suddenly turned into a business." Rosemary added, "My next project will be on the West Coast somewhere like LA or San Diego just so it's not so East Coast-centric. I'll fill in with other cities and London as I progress."
(Rosemary O'Brien)
One of Rosemary's favourite places is Worldwide Plaza. "If you enter from the Eighth Avenue entrance of the building, and following the entrance around to the back," explains Rosemary. "You're treated to a spectacular space in the middle of all of those buildings. I also like One East River Place on East 72nd Street. I first discovered that over the summer, a beautiful time to find it, too. It's at the extreme East of 72nd, tucked in with a wrought iron gate in front and a waterfall in the back. If you head a little farther down, there is seating overlooking the FDR Drive and the East River. It's an amazing area that many New Yorkers don't notice if they don't go out and explore their city."
(Worldwide Plaza)
During the early 1980s, Rosemary lived in Queens and for a short time in the village near to NYU. "I love New York City," smiled Rosemary. "That is part of the reason I came up with this project. It allowed me a lot of time in the city while I did site visits and other research. Even staying in touch with the city online is worth the effort. It's the greatest city in the world, and I love to watch any films set in NYC. One of my favourites is 'The Godfather'. It shows the NYC that was a bit rough back when I first started going there to see Broadway shows or to attend auditions. It's gotten much cleaner and a lot less seedy now, but I still love the scenes. 'Moonstruck' and 'You've Got Mail' are another two films that have wonderful scenes of two of my favourite areas of the city; Little Italy and UWS. I love going to the San Genaro Festival down in Little Italy whenever I can manage a trip there during that time. The Upper West Side is actually the area in which I hope to retire one day. It's near the park, Lincoln Center and just has a cool vibe in general."
(East River Place)
B: www.rosemaryobrien.net
W: www.PocketParksPublishing.com
F: www.facebook.com
T: www.twitter.com


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Docol
Articles Key factors that will determine future car usage
7 key factors that will determine future car usage
What will car usage — and, more broadly speaking, "mobility" — look like in 2030? We look at some key factors that will influence car ownership, car sharing, and the elusive promise of autonomous vehicles. Plus, what lasting effects will COVID-19 have on future mobility?
Mobility defined by vehicle autonomy
The idea of autonomous vehicles has captured many people's imagination: They would love to have a digital chauffeur so they could truly multitask as they move about.
Hold that thought while you do a web search on the term "driving while sleeping." Your search will return numerous news articles and even videos. So, it's understandable that many consumers think that autonomous vehicles (AVs) are already here — and will be everywhere soon.
The names of features on current car models don't help: for example "Autopilot" and "Full Self-Driving Capability," are, to quote the carmaker's manual, "…intended for use with a fully attentive driver, who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over at any moment."
In other words, the cars in the "driving while sleeping" articles have Level 3 Vehicle Autonomy: limited self-driving under less complex environments, such as highways. They are not Level 4 (full self-driving under certain conditions) or Level 5 (full self-driving under all conditions: the vehicle has no steering wheel).
The technical challenges for full self-driving Level 5 vehicles are well-known. The biggest challenge is the ability to accurately see all relevant surroundings and obstacles — even under adverse weather or road conditions — and reacting safely.
But there are also major societal/regulatory challenges, like defining "safe and reasonable reactions." Amnon Shashua, the CEO of Mobileye, notes that driverless cars have to make a trade-off between safety and usefulness: "I can be completely safe if I don't drive or if I drive very slowly," he says, "but then I'm not useful, and society will not want those vehicles on the road."
Nonetheless, autonomous vehicles are slowly rolling out, but not in the ways that consumers may think. Level 4 or 5 vehicles are currently expensive — their economics can most readily be justified if the AVs replace the most expensive part of driving: professional drivers.
So Waymo is running driverless local people shuttles and delivery vans in limited areas ("geo-fenced") in Arizona, which is typically free of adverse weather. Volkswagen Group, Intel's Mobileye, and Champion Motors have announced plans to commercialize Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) with self-driving electric vehicles ("robo-taxis") in Israel by 2022. Israel (also a sunny climate) is a small country, making creating the highly detailed maps required by AVs more manageable.
What will consumers see (and really appreciate) in vehicle autonomy in the next 5 years? Many more drivers will experience Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, which are Vehicle Autonomy Levels 1 and 2 features, such as automatic emergency braking, "smart" cruise control, and lane keeping assist. As Amnon Shashua of Mobileye points out, "Some safety regulators around the world have already started to include Level 1 and Level 2 technology as a prerequisite for a vehicle to achieve a 4- or 5-star safety rating."
But no one can say with any certainty when the ultimate in vehicle autonomy, Level 5, will become widely available for robo-taxis and, further down the road, for personal luxury cars.
Mobility defined by age group
Teenagers and young adults have radically different mindsets about car ownership than generations before: they are unwilling to pay the cost of buying and repairing automobiles — and frequently unable to afford the required auto insurance. Many of these potential drivers aren't even getting their driver licenses.
These young mobility users are often content to ride-share, share cars, do short-term car rental when necessary, use public transportation, or — perhaps their favorite — use personal transportation whenever possible: e-scooters, skateboards, bicycles, etc.
Mobility defined by large cities
In most megacities, it's more trouble to own a car than not to. Parking is the key issue — paid parking frequently costs more than all the other car expenses. With air pollution and traffic gridlock making cities "unlivable" every rush hour, cities are becoming bolder in restricting cars. At the same time, they are increasing pedestrian-only corridors (or streets reserved for only pedestrians, buses, and "for-hire" vehicles). "Surge pricing" — that is charging vehicles to enter high-density areas at certain times — is growing, as megacities carefully monitor the rollout of these programs in other megacities.
As an alternative to private cars, traditional non-car-ownership mobility (buses, trains, subways, for-hire cars) will need to expand and improve their connectivity. For example, cities are looking into making for-hire cars services aggregate their riders, so instead of having four Ubers on the same street — each carrying one passenger — mandated software aggregates the riders into one Uber carrying four passengers to adjacent designations.
Mobility defined by commutes
Obviously, the more frequently someone drives longer distances, the more likely they are to own (or lease) their car rather than to share one. With battery electric vehicles (BEVs) extending their distance range, speeding up their charging times, and reaching price parity with internal combustion engine cars by 2025, those long-distance drivers will increasingly go electric in leased BEVs. (Currently, leasing BEVs can be more attractive than buying due to limited battery life.)
Consumers are quickly learning the advantages of BEVs over ICE cars: very low maintenance costs, low fuel costs, outstanding handling and acceleration even in economy models, no tailpipe emissions, and the possibility for carbon-free mobility (if recharged electricity is from renewable sources). When current households own both an ICE and a BEV, the first choice for any given drive is 70% BEV vs. 30% ICE.
Mobility defined by personal desires
"Everyone want to drive their own car" has been, especially in the United States, a mantra since Henry Ford rolled out the Model T in 1908. That's clearly not the case anymore.
Aside from driving frequency and commute logistics, some other factors influencing the choice to own or share a car (including ride-sourcing, aka ride-sharing) include:
Availability and convenience of shared cars.
Cleanliness of shared cars.
Personal mindset: Is your car a statement about you, accessorized accordingly? Or are you a "just get me from point A to B" person?
Finally, people's circumstances change. A die-hard "car guy or gal" can experience a lifestyle change — like a move, a new disability, or a desire to simplify — that forces them to rethink the key question: Do I want a car, or just the mobility that cars provide?
Mobility defined by governments
There's a lot we cannot accurately predict about the next ten years in mobility, but there are a few things that appear to be undeniable:
Safety: Vehicles, and cars in particular, will continue to become safer as national governments and international agencies will persistently raise their safety standards. And why not? Car designers have proven themselves up to the challenge, as their design tools, such as crash simulations, become ever more powerful and accurate. And even widespread Level 5 Vehicle Autonomy will probably never negate the need (or desire) for inherently safer car designs, with passive safety systems seen as a key redundancy to the AV's active safety systems.
Lightweighting: Lowering tailpipe emissions or raising BEV efficiency/range will continue to require light yet strong automotive materials.
Sustainability: The means for determining embedded CO2 in automobile materials will soon by standardized by the European Union, making "apples-to-apples" Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) the norm for the automotive industry. Governments will incentivize or penalize car OEMs and/or buyers accordingly.
Automakers will then compete based on the least "CO2-intensive" car designs. Car shoppers will use window stickers and websites to determine the total embedded CO2 for each car. Manufacturers of automotive materials will either "decarbonize" (reduce the embedded CO2) in their materials or suffer the market consequences. The nimble suppliers will innovate — thriving by working more closely than ever with carmakers.
Mobility defined by COVID-19
Many believe that COVID-19 is the most profound global event ever. (And while the 1918 Spanish Flu struck many countries and had an enormous death toll, the world was much less interconnected than it is now.) What will pandemics like COVID-19 mean, long-term, for the mobility industry?
Will large numbers of people continue to work remotely from home?
Will people shun public transportation in favor of cars — or personal transportation (e.g., e-scooters)?
Will the interior of shared cars be designed for fast, simple sanitizing? Will the surfaces be made from antiviral materials?
Will HEPA-quality HVAC systems deliver "personal air supply" to each passenger, be they in a car, bus, train or airplane? Will they include disinfectant-fogging operation between each passenger use?
Will "for-hire" drivers require that they take your temperature before you get into their car? That you also wear a mask and gloves? And, in turn, will the driver need to prove that the vehicle was sanitized prior to you stepping into it?
Will buses, train cars, airplanes, etc. have new "dividers" to keep people apart?
Will new apps tell you how many passengers are on the next bus, subway train, etc.?
Will discretionary travel ever return to pre-COVID-19 levels as long as epidemics are active anywhere in the world?
And finally, COVID-19 will continue to cause disruptions to car sales for however long it takes to discover and make effective therapeutics, vaccines and/or antibody tests — or for countries to adapt highly effective social (physical) distancing practices combined with testing and tracing.
But long-term, COVID-19 and other future respiratory pandemics might actually speed-up mobility's transition to alternatives to the internal combustion engine. With a significant portion of the world's population emerging from these illnesses with compromised respiratory systems, governments will design their economic stimulus packages to include the promotion of non-polluting mobility. The "Electrify Everything" movement will gather momentum and prove to be surprisingly energy efficient and extremely "doable" right now, using existing technology in exciting new combinations, such as micro-grids and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capabilities.
The world will never be the same again after COVID-19 – and it is everyone's job to make that, ultimately, a positive statement.
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text:
Q: In Octave is there function like any() but for rows instead of columns? In octave the built in function any() will return 1 if any element of the vector is nonzero.
so for a matrix
1 0 0

0 0 0

0 1 0

it will return [1,1,0]
is there a function that will return the same but for the rows, instead of the column eg. return
1

0

1

I know I could do this with a rotation and then using the any() function, but I'm worried it will increase the time complexity.
Is there a built in function for this?

A: Octave's "any" function has an optional dimension argument. Set it to 2 to work along the second dimension.
any(m, 2)


The Xperia Z, launched a mere 8 months ago, rightly drew as many brickbats as it did bouquets – it was a sharp-edged glass slab with an unremarkable display, an easily-muffled speaker and an underperforming camera. And here's the new Z1 to put all that right – credit to Sony in that it largely succeeds, with only a few of the Z's original annoyances remaining.
The Z1 is still an over-tall slab, but there's now an aluminium frame to both add class and also provide some rounded corners, these don't dig into the palms quite as much as they did on the Z. There are still huge bezels top and and bottom, not helped by the use of on-screen virtual Android controls, meaning that in almost all applications, content only starts a full inch above the bottom of the phone.
Sony would no doubt argue that this is to provide a way for the user to hold the phone more securely without triggering unwanted touchscreen actions, but the result is a phone which is 144mm long/tall – it's not completely unmanageable, but there are going to have to be some standout features elsewhere to create a reason for choosing the Xperia Z1 over some of its competitors, not least the massive-selling Galaxy S4.
There are, thankfully, now less of the tiresome waterproof flaps – the most used, the headphone socket, is now waterproofed on the inside. Of the remaining three, for microUSB/charging, microSD and microSIM, they all have to be kept behind flaps still, the first for charging and safety reasons and the latter two to look neater – you wouldn't want your card and SIM to be showing, of course. On other devices, the latter two are rarely accessed and are hidden beneath a battery cover, but the Z1 is an iPhone-like sealed design (sadly), so there isn't that option.
On the left side are two metal contacts – these are for a magnetic charging dock that sits on your desk and which saves you having to open the microUSB charging port cover at all. Which should help avoid hassle and reduce wear and tear – and therefore make the waterproofing more reliable. I'm a huge fan of desk docks, having used one on the Galaxy Nexus for a couple of years – just plonk the phone in and you're charging, a dozen times a day, with no hassle, so it's great to see this option here.
The silly over-sized, circular power button is now a lot more discreet, though its styling still looks out of place amidst the otherwise sleek straight edges, and the Z's disappointing camera has been significantly beefed up with a larger sensor – of which more later.
The power button is smaller and more discreet….
You may remember the insane speaker positioning on the 'Z', on the bottom right side, where it would be muffled every time the phone is held? That's fixed too, the speaker now outputs sound through a small opening in the bottom face. As usual with Sony phone speakers, the output is good, though not in the same class as that from (e.g.) the HTC One, Apple iPhone 5 and Nokia Lumia 920. With such a focus on multimedia in the Z1, it's perhaps surprising not to see stereo speakers – as it is, you'll have to get used to sound coming from the right hand side only when watching videos.
Audio quality via wired or Bluetooth headphones is fantastic, Sony is really switched on here with good attention to detail, and there are the apt-x codecs covered for the A2DP profile on Bluetooth.
The huge black slab that is the Z1… 'Resplendent' in factory fitted plastic protectors, front and back….
Still curious here is the use of factory-fitted front and back plastic screen protectors – I just don't understand these. Surely they're more scratchable than the Gorilla Glass underneath? They just add a somewhat clammy feel to what should otherwise be cold glass and they also attract fingerprints and dust far more. You cannot keep the Xperia Z1 in a pocket, or it'll come out looking like the shot below every time. Sony – don't bother with the dust-attracting plastic protectors, next time, eh?
By the way, if you're very careful with a razor blade, it's apparently possible to remove them, but I couldn't possibly endorse this experiment!
The 5" screen itself was one of the weakest areas of the 'Z' and it's better here – you don't have to view it absolutely head-on and the blacks are… a bit closer to black. We've been spoiled a bit by the super displays on Samsung's top Galaxies, Nokia's CBD affairs on the Lumias and HTC and iPhone and… oh heck, everything else north of about £300 (SIM free) – which is why it's still a little disappointing that Sony's using display tech that's apparently from 2009.
There's 'X Reality for Mobile', a way of boosting colours and contrast in software when viewing photos or videos but this shouldn't be needed at all. Sony, just put in a better screen in the first place! It's 1080p and very crisp, but I'd rather have blacker blacks and better viewing angles and I suspect I'm not alone.
Once things get going, into the Android experience and day to day operation, the Z1 shines though – it's Sony's Xperia UI and a known quantity, though with the slight tweak here in a slide out Android 4.3-style panel of options in the app launcher, shown below. Don't be too fooled though, since it's just Android 4.2.2 under the hood. No doubt Sony will issue an update to v4.3 "as soon as possible". So that's err… Christmas if you're lucky.
The user interface and general functions are admirably fast, helped by a genuinely cutting edge Snapdragon 800 running at 2.2 GHz under the hood, along with 2GB of RAM. Wow, that's my desktop PC spec only a handful of years ago! Battery life is good too, the Z1 easily made it through the day, as you'd expect from a 3000mAh battery.
Customising homescreens is as easy as picking the sort of addition/tweaking – here I'm trying out various 'themes', a Sony addition to the platform.
Over and above the usual Android application set, there's Sony's own set of media shops, with Sony Select, Video Unlimited, Music Unlimited, PlayStation Mobile, and so on, plus promo apps like Xperia Lounge and Xperia Privilege. It's a slightly bewildering set of extras in that there's so much duplication with Google's own Play Store offerings – Sony is hoping that new users start off in their siloed content stores and never leave, but I wish the company would stick to just making the hardware.
Buying Movies in Sony's Video Unlimited Store… To be fair, the prices are the same as in the Google Play Store, but I'd have more peace of mind for future re-downloads with Google's generic version….
I get that each manufacturer is trying to make a little extra money from content on their platform, but any short term gain (and there can't be that much profit after all the hassle of running the stores and arranging the licenses) will surely be outweighed by customer confusion, dissatisfaction and brand damage once users realise that the content they've been buying could have been sourced elsewhere for less money and with less hassle when switching between devices.
There's also the viewer-only part of the third party OfficeSuite (with in-app options to purchase editing capabilities), though this is somewhat redundant now that the full (rival) Quickoffice suite has been released as freeware by Google… Plus the usual TrackID music track recognition utility, the rather pointless McAfee Security (just stick to the Play Store folks) and the trivial photo effects utility Pixlr Express.
Sadly, only the viewer part of OfficeSuite has been licensed… I'd suggest users install Google's own free Quickoffice suite instead?
Smart Connect has been seen before in Sony devices and attempts to action the appropriate system functions and apps when certain events occur, e.g. plugging in headphones or your charger. A nice idea and worth investigating.
Plenty for new users to explore, though – and plenty for Android old-hands to have to delete or side step, equally!
So – why should anyone plump for the Xperia Z1 over the current 2013 competition? Certainly not for the form factor, it's more cumbersome and more fragile (if dropped) than the HTC One and Galaxy S4, plus there's the rather annoying dust issue, as mentioned above. But the Z1 is faster, if web browsing is your bread and butter, plus there's a potential clincher in… the camera.
With a 1/2.3" sensor and f/2.0 aperture, the Z1's camera already looks like leading the Android pack – the bulbous Galaxy S4 Zoom aside. But there's more – there's 20MP native resolution and a dedicated BIONZ image processor, outputting an oversampled 8MP shot for the user in pretty much the same way as Nokia's 808 and Lumia 1020 PureView devices do. Plus you can zoom in, by almost 2x without losing any genuine pixel detail.
In theory then, the Z1 is walking in Nokia's PureView shoes, and, in good light, it does exactly that, putting out rather splendid shots with small amounts of tasteful zoom here and there. However, the sensor used is inherently far noisier than it should be and even copious amounts of noise reduction can't stop low light and flash-lit shots turning into noisy, blurry messes. See the photo samples and their central crops here for an idea of quality.
Low light extreme crop from 20MP shot, look at the character of the noise from the sensor!
Clearly something's not right – I can't believe the hardware is this bad, so hopefully a firmware update from Sony can fix whatever low level bug is causing this sort of noise.
While your Nokia Lumia 1020-owning friend may lack a native Instagram client, but he gets the crystal clear shot shown below. They're worlds apart and, now that 'flat' capacitors are available for driving Xenon bulbs – as in the 1020 – Sony hasn't really got any excuse for missing such a flash out.
Lumia 1020 Xenon-lit party 'moving subject' party mock-up shot… note how much crisper the snap is. Xenon FTW!
Video capture is excellent, though don't put too much store in the claimed Nokia-like PureView zoom. Zooming is controlled using the volume up/down buttons and the sensitivity is such that you're either fully zoomed out or right on the lossless zoom limit with one short press. Sony needs to make this control around ten times less sensitive, so that users can do arty zooming during capture without such drastic changes. It's also easy to zoom beyond the 'lossless' stage, i.e. into traditional digital zoom territory, with detail being made up by the software and with ugly artefacts evident in the footage.
Stay zoomed out and simply shoot and results are good though, with nice clear audio capture. There's a 'SteadyShot' digital stabilisation system that helps if you're shooting a fixed scene but which – as is typical of this type of system – introduces 'tearing' frame changes when you start to move to any degree (e.g. walking or panning).
You may have seen Sony releasing the QX10 and QX100 'lens cameras', these are pitched as companions to the likes of the Z1 but I really can't see the point, when these extras don't have any flash at all and arguably don't bring much more to the table – except lag and JPG-moving and charging hassles. If photos are that important to you, then just buy a camera phone with a better camera in the first place like the Lumia 1020, or stay with Android, get a cheap Nexus device plus a proper standalone camera!
The Z1 in hand – fast and competent Android, but it's a sizeable chunk of metal, plastic and glass!
Sony is iterating fast and may well get there with its Xperia line, but the Z1, despite a host of improvements and things to admire, isn't quite the Android champion it desperately wants to be.
Thanks to Clove Technology for providing the review device.


The US sanctions against Iran have cut the global economic corridors for the Western Asian country. And the latest victims of this ongoing political mishap are students. According to the Guardian, hundreds of Iranians students in the United Kingdom have been denied banking services. As a result, they are falling behind their payment dues, including their tuition fees. 23-year old Parsa Sadat, a law student at the University of Reading, for instance, has been told to either go to Iran and bring money in cash or face expulsion from his course….