text:
\section{Introduction}
Many environmental random phenomena are spatially correlated, which
means that similar observed values in a domain are likely to occur
near one another than those far away. Random field (RF) models have
been widely investigated for analysis of this kind of data that
arise in epidemiology, climatology and many other disciplines. The
Gaussian random field (GRF) model is fairly well-accepted as a
custom working model, see
\citet{Gel1} for more detailed information. Despite such well-established theory, GRF models are
not always preferred in studies of empirical data that do not
conform to bell-shape distributions. In
other words, spatial responses usually exhibit substantial skewness
and/or extra kurtosis, which is particularly prevalent in
environmental applications.

One of standard and pragmatic approaches is to consider the
multivariate non-normal family of distributions to extend the GRF
model. In this regard, the specification of a distribution family
with particular behaviour for the finite-dimensional distributions
of a RF is a delicate issue, see \cite{Ma1} and \cite{Min}. Much progress has been made in the
general area of non-Gaussian RF models, such as elliptically
contoured RF models \citep{Ma2}, skew-Gaussian RF (SGRF)
models \citep{ZEL,Gent,Sch}, asymmetric Laplace RF models \citep{Lum}
and Tukey g-and-h RF models \citep{Xu2},
just to name a few recent contributions. These models are applied to
accommodate skewness and/or heavy-tailedness encountered in spatial
data. Even though these non-Gaussian models lead to desirable
modeling strategies, it is not guaranteed that they should always be
applicable. For example, their model structures can only induce
limited range of either but not both of positive or negative skewness.
Further, their model performances are hindered by constraints on the
parameters to ensure the existence of the moments.

When a spatial tactic is applied to extreme data, its attainable
degree of tail dependence must be characterized and quantified. This
is a big concern in dependence modeling
\citep{App,Dav2,Opt,Hus1,Mor,Wad2,Kru2,Hus2}. Max-stable RF models
are a useful tool to analyze spatial extremes and widely considered
to model the maxima observed at sites in a spatial domain, see
\cite{Dey} and the references therein for further details. Unfortunately,
these models assume that the marginal variables are asymptotically
dependent with dependence structure determined by rigid form taken
by the asymptotic results. Such an assumption is inappropriate for
real-world applications. Actually, fitting a misspecified model to
the data contributes to an incorrect estimation of probabilities of
extreme joint events. Practically speaking, the asymptotic arguments
as well as statistical inference for tail dependence analysis is
applicable as the number of independent replications from the
underlying field becomes large. On the other hand, some of these
models may be appropriate only on the local scale where observations
collected over a small number of spatial locations are assumed {\it
a priori} to be always dependent. Moreover, a general class of
models that induce asymmetric tail dependence at sub-asymptotic
and/or asymptotic levels have so far received little attention.
These issues motivate us to develop a variant of SGRF which
generates more sophisticated tail dependence structures for extremal
data or other heavy-tailed phenomena.

The current work is built on earlier study by \citet{Mah1}, who
employed a four-level hierarchical spatial model in terms of the
generalized skew-normal distribution (GSN) of \citet{Sah}, but here
the mixing components which incorporate the skewness is embedded in
the first stage of hierarchy, supporting plausible estimation
results. Besides, the ideas inspired by this author are here
extended to estimate the direction of skewness from data.
Because the accessible skewness under GSN distribution
is limited, we consider the scale-mixtures of this probability model to
induce an unlimited amount of the skewness. Outliers as well as
regions with inflated variances may be detected in the Gaussian
framework, by virtue of taking into account the scale mixtures of
GRF models \citep{Pal,Bu,Fag}. To model simultaneously
skewness and heaviness in tails, the GSN distributed RF model is
rescaled according to the suggested model of \citet{Pal} and is
reshaped in terms of a GRF model. The final step, i.e.
shape/skewness mixture formulation is employed to address the
challenge of skewness direction and magnitude identification in
spatial modeling.

We illustrate that our model is capable of describing
various amount of skewness and kurtosis ranging from mild to large.
We realize that not only all finite-dimensional distributions of the
proposed SGRF model are asymptotically independent but also at
finite levels different degrees of dependence are achievable.
Fortunately, the skewness parameters play the main role in this
respect so that the amount of skewness towards different directions
calibrates speed of convergence of the tail probability to the
asymptotically independent and/or dependent limits. We hope that
using the model with the aforementioned tail characteristics could
support sensible risk estimation of severe joint extreme events.
Moreover, the parametrization of the adopted distribution for a SGRF
is such that the second-order stationarity assumption is not
violated and its covariances vanish as the distances among spatial
locations go to infinity.

The article is organized as follows. In Section \ref{model1}, we introduce the GSN
distribution as a skew-normal model of interest.
Then in Section \ref{model2}, we discuss about the tail dependence properties, moments and stochastic
representation of the GSN distribution. The robustness of the proposed RF model is also
studied in Section \ref{model3}. Finally, conclusions based on the
results are given in Section \ref{conclu}.
\section{The GSN distribution}\label{model1}
One of the challenges for statistical procedures is to define skewed
distributions. In the large class of skew models
\citep[e.g.,][]{Az}, we restrict attention to the GSN family of
distributions. Reasons behind this are preservation of the
correlation structure under induced skewness, appealing generating
mechanisms and desirable fitting properties. Let
$\phi_n(\cdot;\bm\mu,\bm\Sigma)$
and $\Phi_n(\cdot;\bm\mu,\bm\Sigma)$ are the probability distribution function
(pdf) and cumulative
distribution function (cdf) of ${\rm N}_n(\bm\mu,\bm\Sigma)$,
respectively. Concerning its
definition, a n-dimensional random vector $\bm Z$ is said to have a
multivariate GSN distribution, denoted by ${\rm GSN}_n(\bm
\mu,\bm\Sigma,\bm\delta)$, if its pdf is of the form
\begin{align}\label{SSN}
f(\bm z)=2^n\phi_n(\bm z;\bm\mu,\bm\Sigma+\bm D^2)\Phi_n(\bm
D(\bm\Sigma+\bm D^2)^{-1}(\bm z-\bm\mu);\bm0,\bm\Delta),\quad \bm
z\in \mathbb{R}^n,
\end{align}
where $\bm\mu\in \mathbb{R}^n$, $\bm\Sigma\in \mathbb{R}^{n\times
n}$, $\bm\delta\in \mathbb{R}^n$, $\bm D={\rm diag}(\bm\delta)$, $\bm
D^2={\rm diag}(\delta_1^2,\ldots,\delta_n^2)$ and $\bm\Delta=\bm I_n-\bm
D(\bm\Sigma+\bm D^2)^{-1}\bm D$. Here, ${\rm diag}(\bm\eta)$ represents a diagonal matrix
with diagonal elements specified by the vector $\bm\eta$.
Note that for $\bm\delta=\bm 0_n$ where $\bm 0_n$ is a
$n\times 1$ vector of zeros, \eqref{SSN} reduces to the symmetric
${\rm N}_n(\bm\mu,\bm\Sigma)$ pdf, whereas for non-zero values of
$\bm\delta$, it produces a perturbed family of
${\rm N}_n(\bm\mu,\bm\Sigma)$ pdfs. If $\bm Z$ has pdf \eqref{SSN},
its moment generating function (mgf) is given implicitly by
\begin{align}
M_Z(\bm t)=2^n\exp\left(\bm t'\bm\mu+\frac{1}{2}\bm t'(\bm\Sigma+\bm
D^2)\bm t\right)\Phi_n(\bm D\bm t),\quad \bm t\in
\mathbb{R}^n,\label{mgfssn}
\end{align}
in which $\Phi_n(\cdot)$ is the cdf of ${\rm N}_n(\bm 0,\bm I_n)$. Let
$V_i\stackrel{\;\rm i.i.d.}{\sim}{\rm HN}_1(0,1)$
where ${\rm HN}_1$ represents univariate half standard normal distribution
and $\bm V=(V_1,\ldots,V_n)'$ be independent of $\bm W\sim{\rm N}_n(\bm 0,\bm\Sigma)$.
The GSN distribution as defined in \eqref{SSN} would
be stochastically represented as $\bm Z\stackrel{\,\rm d}{=}\bm\mu+\bm D\bm V+\bm W$
in which $\stackrel{\,\rm d}{=}$ means `as distributed'.

In the remaining part of this section, we discuss about the tail
probabilities of the GSN model. The tail dependence coefficient
(TDC) is a simple measure to quantify occurrences of the concurrent
extreme events; high level of TDC implies more probability of
simultaneous extreme events. We focus on the
upper tail of the GSN distribution; the lower tail properties can be
considered similarly. Let $\bm Z=(Z_1,Z_2)'$ be a two-dimensional
random vector. The upper tail dependence coefficient (UTDC) of a
random vector $\bm Z$ is defined by
\begin{align*}
\chi=\lim_{u\rightarrow 1^-}P[F_2(Z_2)>u|F_1(Z_1)>u],
\end{align*}
where $F_i(\cdot)$ for $i=1,2$ is the marginal cdf of $Z_i$.
The bivariate distribution family is said to be upper
tail dependent if $0<\chi\leq 1$ and upper tail independent if
$\chi=0$, in the case the limit exists. In particular, the
multivariate normal distribution cannot accommodate tail dependency
\citep{Col}. From \citet{Ber2} as well as the
references therein, we know that most of the multivariate
skew-normal distributions are asymptotically independent. Unfortunately,
the default version of the GSN distribution entirely lacks any flexibility in tail
dependence. Thereby, we investigate the tail probabilities of the
following bivariate GSN distribution
\begin{align}\label{biGSN}
{\rm GSN}_2\left(-\sqrt{\frac{2}{\pi}}\bm\Gamma^{1/2}\bm\delta, \bm\Gamma,\bm\Gamma^{1/2}\bm\delta
\right),
\end{align}
where $\bm\Gamma$ is an $2\times2$ correlation matrix, whose
off-diagonal elements are equal to $\rho$.
Since the tail dependence only depends on the tail behaviour of the random
variables, the GSN distributed random vector with zero mean vector
is designated in \eqref{biGSN}. The intuition behind
this specification is that the tail flexibility becomes possible in
some particular setting when
a shape-mixture extension of the GSN distribution is taken into consideration.
We study the tail property for the skew-normal model of interest in the following proposition.

{\pro\label{pro1} The UTDC of the GSN distribution in \eqref{biGSN} is zero for
\begin{itemize}
\item[(a)]{$0\leq\delta_1\leq\delta_2$, $\delta_1,\delta_2<0$ and $\delta_1<0\leq\delta_2$.}
\item[(b)]{$0\leq\delta_2<\delta_1$ whenever
\begin{align*}
\delta_1<\sqrt{\frac{(1+\delta^2_2)(1+\rho)}{2\rho}-1}.
\end{align*}
}
\end{itemize}}
\textbf{Proof.} See \cite{Mah3} for a proof.\\
According to Proposition \ref{pro1} and its proof, the regular arguments do not entail the asymptotic independence for
$0\leq\delta_2<\delta_1$ with condition $\delta_1>\sqrt{(1+\delta^2_2)(1+\rho)/(2\rho)-1}$, and $\delta_2<0\leq\delta_1$.
\begin{figure*}[!t]
\vspace{0mm}
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[scale=0.9]{fig33.eps}
 \end{center}
 \caption{The dependence measure $\bar{\chi}(u)$ for the GSN distribution: the curves shown on first row correspond to $\rho=0.4$
 as well as specified values of the $\delta_i$. The second row accords with $\rho=0.8$.  The solid line in each panel corresponds to
 the normal distribution.}\label{utdGSN1}
\end{figure*}

Under the asymptotic independence, \citet{Col} recommended to
characterize the extremal dependence at finite upper levels by
\begin{align*}
\bar{\chi}(u)=\frac{2\ln(P[F_1(Z_1)>u])}{\ln(P[F_1(Z_1)>u,F_2(Z_2)>u])}-1,
\end{align*}
where $-1\leq \bar{\chi}(u)\leq 1$ for all $0\leq u\leq1$ and its
larger magnitudes correspond to stronger dependence.
\eqref{utdGSN1} illustrate how the tail
probabilities under the given GSN distribution in \eqref{biGSN}
varies with different values of the correlation parameter $\rho$
and various choices of the skewness
parameters $\delta_i$.

These figures reveal a large variety of tail behaviours with
different decay or increase rates. One can see that the sign change
of skewness parameters results in conflicting shapes of the curves such as
position of the curves relative to the Gaussian counterpart and
dense or sparse behaviour. Another remark is that the tail
probabilities of the GSN distribution in terms of $\bar{\chi}(u)$ is
not always an increasing function of the correlation parameter.
The special cases in these figures, in light of Proposition \ref{pro1}, are the ones with
$0\leq\delta_2<\delta_1$ and $\delta_2<0\leq\delta_1$
which indicates some evidence for asymptotic dependence.
Lastly, they manifestly exhibit positive extremal dependence while
the negative and near dependence is appeared to a lesser extent
under the current setting. Overall, these findings indicate that this version of
GSN distribution can induce tail
dependence at sub-asymptotic and/or asymptotic
levels.
The strength of dependence appears to vary with correlation as well as
separation of skewness parameters. Of course, the parameters value
$\delta_1=0$ and $\delta_2=0$ display null extremal dependence.
Notably, the tail probabilities
of all pairs of variables under the GSN distribution is not driven
by a single parameter like a multivariate t distribution whose UTDC
converges to the positive value for finite value of the degrees of
freedom parameter regardless of the correlation parameter \citep{Dem}.

The numerical integration is implemented using
the statistical software R \citep{Rcor}. The
computation of the $\bar{\chi}(\cdot)$ is restricted to the interval
$[\zeta,1-\zeta]$, where $\zeta$ is defined by machine precision,
about $10^{-9}$ on our machine.
\section{The GSN distributed random field}\label{model2}
A spatial RF model $\{Y(\bm s):\bm s\in
\mathcal{D}\subset\mathbb{R}^2\}$ is a collection of random
variables indexed via $\bm s\in \mathcal{D}$. If a finite set of
locations $\{\bm s_1,\ldots,\bm s_n\}\in\mathcal{D}$ is observed,
then the finite-dimensional distributions for each $n\geq1$ must
satisfy Kolmogorov's compatibility conditions.
Using the mgf in \eqref{mgfssn}, it can be shown that the
compatibility conditions are satisfied under the GSN finite-dimensional
distributions. Therefore, the GSN distributed RF is well-defined
\citep{Mah2}.

A key idea to link the GSN distribution and the spatial model is to
view $Y$ as follows
\begin{align}
Y(\bm s)=\mu(\bm s)+Z(\bm s)+\epsilon(\bm s),\label{SLM}
\end{align}
where $\mu(\bm s)$, $Z(\bm s)$ and $\epsilon(\bm s)$ being location
dependent mean function, a smooth-scale SGRF with
\begin{align*}
{\rm GSN}_n(\bm0,\bm\Sigma,\bm\delta)
\end{align*}
finite-dimensional distribution and an i.i.d. (independent and identically distributed)
GRF independent of $Z(\bm s)$ with mean zero and variance
$\tau^2$, respectively. The parameter $\tau^2$ is called nugget
effect in geostatistical context. Equivalently, let that $\{W(\bm
s): \bm s\in\mathbb{R}^2\}$ and $\{\delta(\bm s): \bm s\in\mathbb{
R}^2\}$ be two stationary GRF defined on $\mathbb{R}^2$ and assume
that $W(\bm s)$ and $\delta(\bm s)$ be independent, with components
having following means
\begin{align*}
{\rm E}[W(\bm s)]=0,\quad {\rm E}[\delta(\bm s)]=\gamma, \quad \bm
s\in\mathbb{R}^2,
\end{align*}
and covariances
\begin{align}
{\rm Cov}[W(\bm s),W(\bm s')]=\sigma^2\rho_w(||\bm s-\bm s'||),\quad
{\rm Cov}[\delta(\bm s),\delta(\bm s')]=\gamma^2\rho_\delta(||\bm s-\bm
s'||),\quad \bm s,\bm s'\in \mathbb{R}^2,\label{covDW}
\end{align}
where $||\bm s-\bm s'||$ is a Euclidean distance between two field
measurement locations $\bm s$ and $\bm s'$. Furthermore,
$\rho_w(\cdot)$ and $\rho_\delta(\cdot)$ in \eqref{covDW} are the
corresponding spatial correlation functions of $W(\bm s)$ and
$\delta(\bm s)$, respectively. Note that, under this formulation when
distance between spatial locations goes to the infinity, the
covariances of this SGRF vanish. One option for the
correlation function is the Mat$\acute{\textrm{e}}$rn family of the
correlation functions, given by
\begin{align}
\rho(||\bm s-\bm
s'||;\psi,\xi)=\frac{1}{2^{\xi-1}\Gamma(\xi)}\left(\frac{1}{\psi}||\bm
s-\bm s'||\right)^{\xi}\mathcal{K}_\xi\left(\frac{1}{\psi}||\bm
s-\bm s'||\right),\label{MAT}
\end{align}
where $\psi$ is a range parameter, $\Gamma(\cdot)$ is the gamma
function and $\mathcal{K}_\xi(\cdot)$ is the modified Bessel
function of the third kind of order $\xi>0$ \citep{St}. It depends
on a smoothness parameter $\xi$ which directly controls the mean
square differentiability of RF realizations. If $\xi>1$ then
Mat$\acute{\textrm{e}}$rn correlation functions are once mean square
differentiable, and if $\xi=3/2$, the correlation functions are of
the closed form $(1+||\bm s-\bm s'||/\psi)\exp(-||\bm s-\bm
s'||/\psi)$. Because parameters of the Mat$\acute{\textrm{e}}$rn
correlation function often being poorly
identified \citep{Zha}, we set $\xi=3/2$. Under this setting, the
range parameter $\psi$ is appeared out of the exponential term.
Accordingly, data may contribute more information on estimation of
$\psi$. Throughout the text, similar Mat$\acute{\textrm{e}}$rn correlation
function with $\xi=3/2$ is adopted for each of $\rho_w(\cdot)$ and
$\rho_\delta(\cdot)$ to ensure the existence of such GSN distributed RF model.

By assuming $T(\bm s)=V(\bm s)-\sqrt{2/\pi}$ and
$V(\bm s)\stackrel{\;\rm i.i.d.}{\sim}{\rm HN}_1(0,1)$, one can employ the
following representation of the spatial SGRF model
\begin{align}
Y(\bm s)=\mu(\bm s)+W(\bm s)+\delta(\bm s)T(\bm s)+\epsilon(\bm
s).\label{SSNM}
\end{align}

Several properties of SGRF in the GSN family could be deduced from
\eqref{SSNM}. Let us assume the case when the mean function is
constant: $\mu(\bm s)=\mu$ for all $\bm s\in\mathbb{R}^2$, then the
skewed field defined in \eqref{SSNM} is stationary with expectations
\begin{align*}
{\rm E}[Y(\bm s)]=\mu,\quad \bm s\in\mathbb{R}^2,
\end{align*}
variances
\begin{align*}
{\rm Var}[Y(\bm
s)]=\tau^2+\sigma^2+2\gamma^2\left(1-\frac{2}{\pi}\right),\quad \bm
s\in\mathbb{R}^2,
\end{align*}
and covariances
\begin{align*}
{\rm Cov}[Y(\bm s),Y(\bm s')]=\sigma^2{\rm \rho}_w(||\bm s-\bm
s'||),\quad \bm s,\bm s'\in\mathbb{R}^2.
\end{align*}
\section{Heavy-tailed construction of SGRF model}\label{model3}
In this section, we consider the scale mixture of the
GSN distributed RF model and discuss about its skewness and kurtosis.
Let $Y_i=Y(\bm s_i)$ denote the observation at spatial location
$\bm s_i$ and consider the data model
\begin{align}
Y_i=\bm X(\bm
s_i)'\bm\beta+\sigma\lambda_i^{-1/2}W_i+\gamma\lambda_i^{-1/2}\delta_i
T_i+\epsilon_i,\label{SGLG}
\end{align}
where $X(\bm s_i)$ is a $(p\times1)$ vector of known location
dependent covariates, $\bm\beta$ is a $(p\times1)$ vector of unknown
regression parameters, $\sigma>0$ is the scale parameter,
$\gamma\in\mathbb{R}$ is the asymmetry parameter and
the spatial random effect $W_i=W(\bm s_i)$ is independent of
$T_i=T(\bm s_i)$, follows a GRF model defined by
\begin{align*}
\bm W=(W_1,\ldots,W_n)'\sim {\rm N}_n(0,\bm H),
\end{align*}
where $\bm H$ is a correlation matrix describing the spatial
dependence, whose elements are given by \eqref{MAT} with $\xi=3/2$. The asymmetry
parameter, $\gamma$, controls the direction and magnitude of
skewness. It is worth recalling that negative values of $\gamma$
induce negative skewness, positive values generate positive
skewness, and $\gamma=0$ corresponds to symmetry. To allow altered
skewness mixing variable for each measurement location, by setting
$\delta_i=\delta(\bm s_i)$, we adopt the following GRF model for
$\delta(\cdot)$:
\begin{align*}
\bm\delta=(\delta_1,\ldots,\delta_n)'\sim{\rm N}_n(\bm 1_n,\bm H).
\end{align*}

Also an additional set of latent random variables,
$\lambda_i=\lambda(\bm s_i)>0$, is introduced here to deal with the presence of
outliers in the spatial responses. The scale mixing variables,
$\bm\lambda=(\lambda_1,\ldots,\lambda_n)'$, are assumed to be
spatially correlated to induce the mean square continuity. Hence,
$\bm\lambda$ on the logarithm scale can be modeled by a GRF model as
follows
\begin{align}
\ln(\bm\lambda)\sim{\rm N}_n\left(-\frac{\nu}{2}\bm 1_n,\nu\bm
H\right),\label{GLG}
\end{align}
where $\nu>0$ is the tail-weight parameter regulating the heaviness
in tails of the RF. When the spatial model is rescaled according to
the transformed GRF model in \eqref{GLG}, on average the resultant
finite-dimensional distribution is a GSN probability model with
inflated variance. While large values of the tail-weight parameter
has been found to provide heavier tails, the SGRF model corresponds
to the limiting case when $\nu$ tends toward zero. Additionally,
taking into account different correlation structures
entails little flexibility in comparison to the skewness
parameters. Therefore, we assume similar spatial correlation matrix
for $\lambda(\cdot)$ and $W(\cdot)$.
This assumption further can be assessed by analyzing real data sets
in terms of better prediction results.
\begin{figure*}[!t]
\vspace{0mm}
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[scale=0.8,angle=0]{fig5.eps}
 \end{center}
 \caption{Coefficients of skewness (first row) and kurtosis (second row) for the model in (\ref{SGLG}) with respect to various values of the parameters
 $\gamma$ and $\nu$.}\label{sk-ku}
\end{figure*}

Now, we compute the coefficient of skewness and kurtosis of
\eqref{SGLG}. Tedious but straightforward algebra proved that these
coefficients are given, respectively, by
\begin{align*}
{\rm
S}(Y)&=\frac{4\gamma^3\exp\left(\frac{15\nu}{8}\right)\left(\frac{4}{\pi}-1\right)\sqrt{\frac{2}{\pi}}}
{\left[\tau^2+\sigma^2\exp(\nu)+2\gamma^2\exp(\nu)\left(1-\frac{2}{\pi}\right)\right]^{3/2}},\\\\
{\rm
K}(Y)&=\frac{3\tau^4+3\sigma^4\exp(3\nu)+6\sigma^2\tau^2\exp(\nu)+12\sigma^2\gamma^2A_1+
12\tau^2\gamma^2A_2+10\gamma^4A_3}
{\left[\tau^2+\sigma^2\exp(\nu)+2\gamma^2\exp(\nu)\left(1-\frac{2}{\pi}\right)\right]^2},
\end{align*}
in which
\begin{align*}
A_1= \exp(3\nu)\left(1-\frac{2}{\pi}\right),\quad
A_2=\exp(\nu)\left(1-\frac{2}{\pi}\right),\quad
A_3=\exp(3\nu)\left(3-\frac{4}{\pi}-\frac{12}{\pi^2}\right).
\end{align*}
These measures are used to produce \eqref{sk-ku} which is
plotted by varying $\gamma$ for different values of the parameter
$\nu$ after assuming $\tau=1$ and $\sigma=1$, denoted by standard case. We do
not introduce these parameters into the assessments, because they have
minor impacts on skewness and kurtosis. Essentially, for fixed values
of $\gamma$ and $\nu$, ${\rm S}(Y)$, and ${\rm K}(Y)$ decrease for
increasing values of $\tau$ or $\sigma$. However, for large values
of $\tau$ or $\sigma$, the skewness and kurtosis coefficients have
similar patterns for greater values of $\gamma$ and $\nu$ than
the ones that were assumed in the standard case. It can be
examined when $\nu=0$, ${\rm S}(Y)$ varies in the interval
$(-1.41,1.41)$, while ${\rm K}(Y)$ takes values in the range
$(3,9.67)$. An aspect to be stressed right away is that the
parameter $\nu$ ($\gamma$) is not concerned with tail (skewness) of
the RF model merely. The addition of this extra parameter, $\nu$
($\gamma$), to allow for flexibility in the GRF supports the
skewness (tail) whose size expands with $\nu$ ($\gamma$).
Consequently, both of $\nu$ and $\gamma$ control the non-Gaussian
strength.
\section{Conclusions}\label{conclu}
We extend the methodology previously presented in the
literature to accurately incorporate size and direction
of the skewness into the RF model. An elegant consequence
is that the SGRF model with spatially varying skewness parameters do
a great job in capturing tail probabilities which are thought to
possess some degree of tail dependence.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


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Christopher Cuong T. Nguyen, cofounder and CEO of Arimo, Inc., joined cohosts John Walls and George Gilbert (@ggilbert41) of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, during Spark Summit to discuss what his company is doing with Spark to create more effective and powerful work environments, along with the importance of keeping things accessible for all users.
Information and interactions
Nguyen, who described himself as "a very early adopter of Spark," was confident in his company's investment in Spark, saying, "If you are familiar with technology evolution, and then you understand architecture, and you have a sense of timing, then [an investment in Spark is] actually not a very risky bet."
He also provided a deeper look at their motivations for using Spark specifically. "The information asymmetry that we had looking at Spark is that we looked at a whole bunch of different compute architectures, specifically in memory, and … we knew that what had to happen is that you need to have what's called a distributed dataset that exists outside of the compute cycle," he said.
Nguyen added, "Spark is unique in that it has the concept of RDDs [Resilient Distributed Dataset], and RDDs exist whether there's compute cycle or not, and what we wanted to do was to build an interactive application on top of such a compute system, and you can't do that without having the distributed dataset. So that's one of the key things about the Spark architecture that we knew was necessary."
He continued to explain that the other key was timing and referred to Moore's Law in finding a viable point between evolution and affordability with memory.
Easy tuning
Nguyen continued by exploring some of Arimo's goals and ways of making its results available to customers.
"For the most part, when a data-scientist [adjusts hyper-parameters of algorithms], it's pretty much a manual process; it's a lot of guess-work based on experience," he explained. "And so, it turns out that takes a lot of time. The training itself is run by large-scale computing … but the choice of parameters … that, if there's a way to automate it, then that could save a lot of time and effort." Arimo's overarching goal is "intelligent augmentation … and what that means is that we augment human intelligence with machine intelligence in the enterprise." Nguyen said.
Worth for customers
Nguyen's next focus was to explicate the "two major human targets" of Arimo's product suite. "One is the business user, the other is the data scientist. … For the business user, we allow the business user to go to a web interface, a document (we call it a narrative), and type in a natural-language question … and have the answer come back within 10 seconds," he explained. "In order to answer that question, you need a lot of predictive models and the computing power and the data processing required to do that."
He continued, "But [for] the data-scientist … we provide ways to make the data centers a lot more productive, and we also work on deep-learning algorithms so that there are new ways that the data scientist can use, for example, time-series processing. The third value proposition that we give to the business user and the data scientist is the collaboration between these two. … The value to the enterprise is expressed, or is most leveraged, when these two have a common environment and express their unique skills." Describing the current structuring of question-answering software, particularly in regards to how it verifys input and identities as being what they truly are, Nguyen characterized it as "dumb" because "there's no learning behind it." What Arimo is aiming for is to change that by applying machine learning to machine learning itself."
Panasonic announced today that it has acquired Arimo Inc., a Mountain View, California-based leader in deep learning and behavioral artificial intelligence (AI) to leverage Arimo's data science expertise in solutions it provides to its B2B customers (including manufacturers) as well as in the housing business.
The following video presents Transferring Data with a Touch | #Panasonic LIVE@CEATEC 2016
"This communication module employs electric-field communication technology to achieve "thing-to-thing, human-to-human and human-to-thing" communication."
Panasonic Acquires Arimo, Deep Learning Innovator, to Accelerate the Growth of its AI/IoT-based Solution Businesses
Osaka, Japan – Panasonic Corporation today announced that it has acquired Arimo Inc., a Mountain View, California-based leader in deep learning and behavioral artificial intelligence (AI). Ranked among the ten most innovative companies in data science by Fast Company Magazine in 2016, Arimo is developing IoT-centric AI products for commercial and manufacturing applications, which is supports Big Data and Deep Learning applications. Through this acquisition, Panasonic plans to leverage Arimo's data science expertise in solutions it provides to its B2B customers (including manufacturers) as well as in the housing business.
Panasonic has developed the Panasonic Digital Platform, which aggregates and utilizes sensor data from factories, housing, cold-chain, and HVAC applications. By combining Arimo's strength in data science and especially predictive analytics, Panasonic plans to accelerate the growth of its AI/IoT-based solution business and further promote the company's digital transformation.
"The acquisition of Arimo provides Panasonic with a much-needed core data science element that will greatly reinforce our efforts to continue developing further sophisticated AI-based solutions for our B2B customers," said Yoshiyuki Miyabe, Panasonic Corporation Chief Technology Officer. "We are very pleased to have Arimo founder Christopher Nguyen and his team of data scientists join us in this mission."
【Profile of Arimo】
Company Name : Arimo Inc.
Address : 888 Villa St., Suite 400, Mountain View, CA 94041
Representative directors : Christopher Nguen and 3 others
Established : 2013
Business operations : Data analytics solution using deep learning
Panasonic Corporation is a worldwide leader in the development of diverse electronics technologies and solutions for customers in the consumer electronics, housing, automotive, and B2B businesses. Celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2018, the company has expanded globally and now operates 495 subsidiaries and 91 associated companies worldwide, recording consolidated net sales of 7.343 trillion yen for the year ended March 31, 2017. Committed to pursuing new value through innovation across divisional lines, the company uses its technologies to create a better life and a better world for its customers.
To learn more about Panasonic: http://www.panasonic.com/global
The following video presents Panasonic Smart Factory Solutions:
"posted on https://channel.panasonic.com on: Sep, 05, 2017 Panasonic's Smart Factory Solutions realize higher productivity using network technologies. Panasonic is improving the manufacturing process of electronic component mounting production lines, with Smart Factory Solutions centered on the integrated line management system "iLNB". In this video, we will introduce a case study of how a production line in the Philippines has become more efficient thanks to the introduction of iLNB. Product Info: Factory Automation https://industrial.panasonic.com/ww/p…"
a.i. artificial intelligence Christopher T. Nguyen Gabriel Pesek George Gilbert internet of things: iot John Walls panasonic Tushar Shanbhag yoshiyuki miyabe
Panasonic VARICAM LT Cinema 4K Camcorder: Firmware Update (Oct 5, 2017 JST) Provides Improvements
Lensbaby: Limited Edition Velvet Lenses & Twist Lens Gift Set for the "Risk-Taking Photographer"
Lenses • Panasonic
Panasonic Adds Budget-Friendly LUMIX S 14-28mm F4-5.6 MACRO Ultra Wide...
Cameras • Panasonic
Panasonic • Teasers
Firmware Updates • Panasonic
Panasonic LUMIX GH6 Firmware Update Ver.2.0 Now Available for Download
Leica • Lenses • Panasonic
LEICA DG SUMMILUX 9mm (18mm Equiv.) F1.7
Panasonic LUMIX GH6 Features New 25.2-MP 4/3 Sensor, Unlimited C4K/60P...
Panasonic Announces LUMIX S 35mm F1.8 For L-Mount
Panasonic GH5 II Firmware Update Ver.1.1 Enhances Performance and Usability
Panasonic BS1H Full-Frame Box-Style Mirrorless Cinema Camera Features 6K...
Contests • Panasonic
Panasonic Announces LUMIX 20th Commercial Video Award; Prize is the new...
Panasonic Introduces the LEICA DG VARIO-SUMMILUX 25-50mm / F1.7 ASPH. (H...
Panasonic Announces Full-Frame L-Mount LUMIX S 50mm F1.8
Panasonic Announces Development of LUMIX GH6 Micro Four Thirds Mirrorless...
Panasonic Announces LUMIX GH5 Mark II With Unlimited Live Streaming and...
Panasonic Firmware Updates Ver.2.0 for DC-GH5S, Ver.2.4 for DC-G9, and Ver...
Cameras • Panasonic • Teasers
Panasonic to Announce New GH Series Micro Four Thirds Mirrorless Cameras...
Panasonic Announces the LUMIX S 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 MACRO O.I.S. L-Mount...
Lenses • OM Digital Solutions • Panasonic
Micro Four Thirds Lenses Sold The Most in 2020 in Japan
Panasonic Announces LUMIX S 85mm F1.8 Portrait Lens for LUMIX S Series...
Panasonic To Release Firmware Updates for LUMIX S1H, S1R, S1, S5 and G100...
Panasonic LUMIX DC-BGH1 Box-Style Mirrorless Camera Aimed at Serious...
Panasonic Lumix S5 Mirrorless 4K Full Frame L-Mount Camera for Serious...
Panasonic Completes Transfer of Its Semiconductor Business –...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Who decides for Woocommerce, relies on an optimal performance of his shop, because this shop system is perfectly suited for the creation of your eCommerce pages. The slim architecture of the software ensures optimal accessibility and a fast structure of the site. WooCommerce is a plugin for the content management system WordPress, which was originally developed for the American market. An advantage of WooCommerce is the seamless and uncomplicated integration in WordPress and thanks to the corresponding extensions this shop system is also optimally adaptable for the German market. WooCommerce offers an enormous variety of functions. Whether for the sale of physical or digital goods – we create the perfect shop for you. You also have many options when it comes to shipping or payment options. In addition, you have complete control over your shop and can view and manage user accounts, stock quantities or invoices, among other things.
WooCommerce also allows you to develop your own extensions and adaptations. Thanks to a logical and user-friendly structure, Woocommerce is also absolutely convincing in the backend. Articles and orders can be easily managed. The creation of product variants, cross-selling, download articles and the integration of different payment methods are easy to implement, unlike in comparable shop systems. With the popular WordPress add-on, you have full control and don't have to worry that a hosted eCommerce platform could close your offering. Especially the broad adaptability and the possibility to develop your own extensions is one of the strengths of WooCommerce. For example, there are extensions for Google Analytics or for creating and managing affiliate partnerships. The possibilities of SEO optimization of a shop on Woocommerce are convincing and ensure competitiveness and good results in visibility.
Every online shop is different and requires the development of different functions. When creating the website, parameters such as target group, products and size of the shops should be taken into account. For the development of a customized WooCommerce solution you can create your own extensions. However, if you do not have experienced web developers in your team, this is often a great challenge. We have WooCommerce experts to help you create your perfect online store. The process starts with a comprehensive requirements analysis and consulting. This way you can be sure that in the end you will also receive the ideal product for you. Tell us about your goals, requirements and the details of your business, so that the creation of the individual extensions is best tailored to you. Many different designs and countless possibilities as well as our know-how make your shop unique. Choose from various features or customize existing extensions.
The development of a first solution is the next step on the way to the perfect WooCommerce site. This first draft will be adapted step by step in further steps several times until the optimal result is achieved. When the creation of your individual WooCommerce site is finished, you will of course receive further support. Initially, you can request help on how to operate the individual functions. Depending on the conditions, continuous maintenance and further support of your shop after creation is also no problem. If the demands on your site change, the development of new functions or the adaptation of existing parts is easily possible. Have we aroused your interest? We will be happy to advise you.


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Recall!
Return of the IRR
Author: Doug DePew
True story of the author's recall to active duty during Desert Storm.
There hadn't been a full-scale recall of the Individual Ready Reserves since the Korean War in January of 1991. With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, many people believed it would take World War III to trigger a recall of the IRR. Many people were wrong.
They came from cities and farms and towns in every corner of the country. With only a few days' notice, they quit their jobs, dropped out of college, kissed their girlfriends or wives, and got on planes to Atlanta, Georgia with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They had long hair, beards, and bad attitudes. They descended by the thousands on Fort Benning, Georgia, and they were not happy about it at all.
In this entertaining, true story, the author relates his own experiences as one of the twenty-thousand IRR recalls who were ordered back to active duty in support of Operation Desert Storm. In a story reminiscent of 'The Dirty Dozen' times ten thousand, the author takes you through the entire experience from beginning to end. He carries you along for the ride and explains exactly what it was like to be a recall. With the many IRR recalls over the last ten years of warfare, this first hand account could shed some light on how the current era of recalls began. (29,000 words +/-)
The author spent four years, one month, and seventeen days as an active duty US Army Infantryman. After his time in C 2/4 Infantry (Pershing), he spent the balance of his four year enlistment in the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado leaving active duty with an honorable discharge in 1990. He was recalled to active duty in support of Operation Desert Storm in 1991. After the Army, he spent an additional five years in the USNR as a Storekeeper and Master at Arms. He earned a BSEd in history from Southwest Missouri State University, taught public school, was a corrections officer, taught juvenile delinquents for the state, and now teaches in a prison for the federal government. He lives in the country in southwest Missouri with his wonderful wife.
The Thinking Man
Stephen Fernbach
A Chinese dog named Blessing 1
Elise SHI
Caledônia: exuberância, glamour e tragédias
Clébio Schuenck
АВСТРАЛИЙСКИЕ ИСТОРИИ
Kathy Gibson
QUEM VEI EMBORA FOI EU SEU MOÇO!


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


If you're a 'biker' that means this is your chance to head up to Friday the 13th in Port Dover.
Every Friday 13th tens of thousands of bikes, and hundreds of thousands of bikers from all over descend on Port Dover Ontario. One of the most important ingredients in making Friday the 13th in Port Dover such a successful event is the fact that everyone, regardless of #motorcycle brand or any other individual identifying feature, is welcome and feels welcome.
Started by a small group of Port Dover residents back in the 1980's, the informal ritual of gathering in this tiny town every time a Friday the 13th occurs has grown into the biggest tourism event of the region.
So, Ancaster, get your bikes out and head down Hwy 6 for this legendary event. If anyone wants to meet-up to to drive up together, you can comment below. We also welcome any feedback from those who have attended the event or plan to go.
Haven't had a chance to insure your #bike yet – Click here to get the best rate in town!


Oxford University has come a long way in their admissions process to ensure that today they accept applicants on academic merit alone.
Whilst we as a student body should take pride in the admissions process, it is clear that there is still a long way to go. Yes, Oxford only accepts the brightest. But do the brightest apply to Oxford? I can't answer definitively but I would argue no.
Investment in outreach and access has dramatically increased in recent years, with the University providing the most generous financial support package to those from the lowest socio-economic backgrounds of any university in the country. The recently published Outreach Database Report calculates that across last academic year 5,870 hours and 18 minutes were spent on outreach activity, amounting to delivery of 22 hours and 30 minutes of activity every working day of the year! This is an incredible number. Compared to other higher education institutions it is clear that we — colleges, the central Univer- sity, departments and students — put more time and resource into our outreach than just about any other university in the coun- try. We should celebrate this success.
However, it is clear that a lot more still needs to be done. It's true the greatest limiting factor to changing Oxford's mix of undergraduate students is attainment in schools. However, this fact should not stop us from investing in outreach and being part of the national movement fighting to ensure that educational success is not limited by socio-economic background. We need to broaden our view of outreach work to ensure that the brightest do apply. We can do this by evaluating the current activities we invest in to meet our outreach targets, ensuring that every penny we invest is effective and that our access activities are robust, measurable and targeted. We need to engage prospective students through targeted programmes, whether students are mature learners, BME, student parents or disabled. Only by engaging through targeted programmes can we ensure the message, that academic merit alone determines an Oxford place, is heard and that financial situation is not a barrier to studying here.
In October, OUSU signed up as a partner with Future First to encourage students to #gobackgiveback in their old schools. What's clear from the week, in which we signed up more students, staff and alumni than any other SU partner, is that we are engaged and committed to ensuring Oxford is an accessible University to which the brightest, irrespective of any other factors, apply. We are committed to meeting our access targets (http://goo.gl/XJ2miJ) and step by step I think we'll get there.


hornetball, smc4C and MattG911 like this.
Sorry, I can't hear you. Could you please speak up?
smc4C, goldmax and mc3456 like this.
How could Alfa not acknowledge this as a problem? Jeepers.
Well, $30 later and I'm back on the road...He also cleaned up the other side (left in pic) to check for cracks but it looks ok so far.
The exhaust was definitely more boomy when I started it up. Cant say I really notice any drone but I think I can hear a hair more transmission noise from the Powerflex insert. However, its not bad at all.


text:
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Brave new era in technology needs new ethics
Advances in technology pose difficult moral questions for humanity — and it is not clear who is responsible for providing answers
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Pablo Picasso once declared: "Computers are useless. They can only give you answers."
The Spanish artist's joke may have been true of the 20th century, when computers were for the most part souped-up calculating machines performing clearly prescribed functions. But the expansion of computing power in the early 21st century means that computers are now posing some of the most testing questions of our times. And it is not clear who is responsible for providing the answers.
Technological advances in artificial intelligence, biotechnology, nanotechnology, robotics and neuroscience — to name a few — have left policymakers, business people and consumers scrambling to understand their full social, economic and ethical implications.
Consider just three questions: first, is artificial intelligence, as Elon Musk believes, "potentially more dangerous than nukes"?
The idea of rogue robots destroying their creators has been a popular theme of science fiction for decades. But now some serious scientists, such as Stephen Hawking, and prominent tech entrepreneurs, including Mr Musk, who runs Tesla Motors and SpaceX, are expressing their concerns about this.
How can we ensure that AI is used for beneficent, rather than unethical, purposes? The prospect of super-intelligence capable of threatening human life still appears to be decades away, if it happens at all.
At the end of last year, Mr Musk, Peter Thiel and other Silicon Valley entrepreneurs committed $1bn to funding a new non-profit company, called OpenAI, with the aim that AI should remain "an extension of individual human wills".
"It's hard to fathom how much human-level AI could benefit society, and it's equally hard to imagine how much it could damage society if built or used incorrectly," OpenAI's founders wrote in a blog post.
Mr Musk has also donated $10m to the Future of Life Institute, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based organisation, which is studying the social and ethical dimensions of AI.
Of its mission the institute states: "Technology is giving life the potential to flourish like never before . . . or to self-destruct. Let's make a difference."
A second difficult question is how to build "ethical elasticity" into self-driving cars. For better or worse, human car drivers are infinitely flexible in evaluating the ethics of different situations — breaking "no overtaking" rules to give more space to cyclists, for example. But how should self-driving cars be programmed to react when confronted with a real crisis? Should you provide owners with adjustable ethical settings?
In a speech last year, Dieter Zetsche, chief executive of the German carmaker Daimler, asked how autonomous cars should behave "if an accident is really unavoidable and where the only choice is a collision with a small car or a large truck, driving into a ditch or into a wall, or risk sideswiping a mother with a stroller, or an 80-year-old grandmother?"
The Daimler and Benz Foundation has spent more than €1.5m since 2012 supporting a team of 20 scientists examining the social effects of autonomous driving and some of the ethical dilemmas that it raises.
Medications have the potential to change society in unexpected ways
Barbara Sahakian and Jamie Nicole LaBuzetta
Such questions have previously been the realm of moral philosophers, such as Professor Michael Sandel at Harvard, when discussing "is murder ever justified?" But now boardrooms — and car owners — may increasingly find themselves having to debate the merits of Immanuel Kant's categorical imperative versus the utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham.
Developments in healthcare also create new dilemmas. Should cognition-enhancing drugs be banned for casual users? In their book Bad Moves, the neurologists Barbara Sahakian and Jamie Nicole LaBuzetta highlight the ethical challenges of using smart drugs to boost academic performance.
Why, they ask, do we take such a dim view of athletes who use steroids to cheat in the Olympic Games but ignore students who use smart drugs to boost their performance when they are about to take university entrance exams?
Driverless cars pose worrying questions of life and death
Students at Duke University in North Carolina have pressed the authorities to amend the institution's academic honesty policy to consider "unauthorised use of prescription medication" as cheating. But few other universities, or employers, appear to have considered this dilemma.
"These medications have the potential to change society in dramatic and unexpected ways," say Sahakian and LaBuzetta in their book. "Now is the time to have informed discussion and debate of the ethics of these 'smart drugs' and the role they should play in our future society," they conclude.
Above all such gnarly questions looms a far bigger one: who is responsible for ensuring that the latest technological developments are not abused?
National governments and parliaments, preoccupied with far more pressing concerns such as fiscal austerity or refugee flows, rarely have the political bandwidth to consider such abstract challenges, still less to help set international standards or regulations.
As in so many other spheres, it seems inevitable that regulation will drag behind reality. Besides, what is to stop rogue nations from ignoring any international norms and putting gene editing or machine learning or cyber technologies to destructive uses?
Why it is hard to teach robots to choose wisely
University departments and think-tanks already play a useful role in disseminating knowledge and stimulating debate. But they are often dependent on funding from the private sector and are unlikely to come up with radical solutions that will seriously restrict their paymasters.
That largely leaves the tech companies to regulate themselves. Some are by far the best-placed organisations to understand the potential dangers of technology and to do something to counter them. Companies such as Google are forming ethics boards to help monitor their own activities in areas such as artificial intelligence.
But, as we saw in the run-up to the financial crisis of 2008, private sector institutions can often hide behind a narrow interpretation of the law.
Some banks also proved adept at exploiting international legal and regulatory arbitrage.
Pushing the law to the limit clearly corroded ethical standards and led to a number of abuses across the financial sector. By last summer, financial institutions had paid more than $235bn in fines for breaching regulations, according to data compiled by Reuters.
As one former banker says: "Not everything that is legal is ethical."
This is an issue that tech companies will have to confront if their own industry is not to suffer a regulatory whiplash in the future.
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text:
Brandon Long Honored with Mobility-Equipped Ford F-150
Wounded Warriors Family Support presented Brandon Long of St. Augustine, Florida, with a 2021 F150 XLT Ford mobility-equipped vehicle. Brandon was medically retired from the U.S. Marine Corps, where he served active duty from 2009-12. He was deployed to Afghanistan prior to a medical retirement.
Brandon was severely injured on December 21st of 2010, when he stepped on a 40-pound Improvised Explosive Device (IED), as he was conducting a foot patrol in preparations of moving their unit up North. He sustained traumatic bilateral amputation of his legs, lost the tip of his pinky on the left hand, a rock went in and up his leg into his chest and caused major damage to his intestines resulting in removal of 15 feet of his lower intestines, Traumatic Brain Damage (TBI), and hearing loss. Brandon was revived 8 times prior to his arrival to the United States and his family was told chances of his survival were extremely slim.
Ironically, Brandon's wife gave birth to their daughter, Claire, just 2 days after his accident so he was able to relearn skills while his daughter was learning them. Brandon was medically retired from the Marine Corp in September 2012. Brandon is very actively involved in his daughter's day-to-day activities in Taekwondo and Ballet. He enjoys taking her on adventures to teach her life skills and prepare her adulthood.
Wounded Warriors Family Support is an independent nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide support to the families of those who have been wounded, injured, or killed during combat operations. This organization is run by combat veterans for combat veterans. Rated a four-star nonprofit by Charity Navigator, Wounded Warriors Family Support aids veterans and their families in healing the wounds that medicine cannot.


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Prior to 1 July 2015, many solicitors in Scotland, and potentially some clients too, will have felt the challenge at times of getting corporate deals over the line and validly signed in Scotland. It was previously thought by many in Scotland that "wet ink" signatures of all parties were required on the same copy of a contract, resulting in agreed form contracts being prepared ahead of completion (and sent round each party to sign independently) or large completion meetings being scheduled to allow all parties to sign at the same time.
With the coming into force of the Legal Writings (Counterparts and Delivery) (Scotland) Act 2015 (the "2015 Act") on 1 July 2015, there is now certainty that contracts can validly be signed in counterpart in Scotland. This is something solicitors south of the border have been able to do for some time, often to the envy of those to the north. Counterpart signature is where the parties to an agreement sign separate physical copies of the same document. The counterpart agreement is treated as a single signed document, comprised of each counterpart in its entirety or one counterpart in its entirety to which a signature page for each party has been attached. Parties should note that when signing a document in Scotland, it is necessary to sign the whole document and not merely the signature page and the introduction of counterparts will not change this approach.
Where a document has been signed in counterpart, the fall-back position under the 2015 Act is that the contract is effective from the date all counterparts have been delivered. Delivery of counterparts is possible by either:
each party delivering a signed counterpart to all other parties; or
a nominee being appointed to receive counterparts from all parties and deal with onward delivery of the counterparts to all parties (and in practice this is likely to be a solicitor for one of the parties).
Delivery of documents can take place by traditional means (post or hand delivery) or, with the introduction of the 2015 Act, by electronic means (including email, scanned attachment, fax, memory stick etc). This applies whether or not a document is signed in counterpart (so will apply to all legal documents where delivery is required).
Where parties do not intend to use the fall-back position, and have agreed on a later date for the contract to come into effect, it will need to be clear from looking at the document when the effective date is intended to be. With that in mind, it might be useful to adopt the same approach as English lawyers, dating the agreement on the front cover.
Finally, parties should note that where a document requires to be registered (for example in the Land Register of Scotland), such registration will still require all "wet ink" signatures to be on the same version. It is possible to sign in counterpart, but the agreement should be made up of one counterpart with all original copies of the signature pages attached. It is also recommended that where such a document is signed in counterpart, a counterpart clause is included within the contract.
The new legislation brings Scotland in line with the rest of the UK and aims to make executing contracts in Scotland much easier and far quicker. It does not prevent the more traditional method of signing from taking place and parties can, if they choose, still opt to have completion meetings to sign the documents at the same time. There is now, however, a less cumbersome, and a less costly, process for execution, providing greater flexibility to those involved and hopefully encouraging companies to do business in Scotland.
Ruth Weir
Solicitor – Corporate & Commercial
www.blackadders.co.uk
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The newspaper reported that Trump appeared "unflinchingly firm" on his desire for the $5 billion. In an interview with The Washington Post published on Tuesday evening, however, Trump appeared to leave the door open to finding a different solution if he can't convince Democrats to support the funding.
On Wednesday, outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan, speaking after a closed-door meeting with the GOP caucus, pinned responsibility largely on Senate Democrats.
Ryan would not say how the House would bridge the gap between the $1.6 billion that Democrats have proposed for border security and the President's requested $5 billion for border wall funding.
Two other Republican House leaders, Reps. Steve Scalise and Kevin McCarthy, expressed support on Tuesday for the $5 billion that Trump requested, which they said he was adamant about getting.


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News • Public Affairs
Council Committee Approves $3M In Public Safety Investments Despite Opposition To More Police Funding
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Katrina Pross
Jill Sheridan/WFYI
Wednesday night, the City-County Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee approved allocating funding to the police department for new technology to better track crime and hold officers accountable. The move received criticism from the public.
The committee's discussion was part of a proposal introduced earlier this week, which would allocate more than $3 million in funding to various parts of the criminal justice system, including the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and the city's Office of Public Health and Safety. Committee members unanimously passed the proposal, which will be sent back to the full City-County Council for final approval at its meeting on July 12.
"This is a good day and I fully support this," said Councillor Jared Evans (D-District 22) at the meeting.
The proposal was met with pushback from members of the public, who in-person and via online comments, asked the committee to not approve funding for the police department. About 10 community members spoke in person and 17 pages of online comments were read. Most of the online public comments were similar, ending with the statement, "Indy needs care, not cops."
The funding would support new technology to track where crime is happening in the city, creating more reliable data that will show patterns and trends. The current technology is said to be outdated, and doesn't automatically cross reference an incident with other crimes that occur.
The tool could help officers avoid profiling an entire neighborhood and instead focus on the exact area where crimes are occuring.
Another form of new technology would allow the police department to better track officer behavior. For example, if an officer uses their taser many times in a short period of time or repeatedly interacts with an individual unnecessarily, their conduct will be flagged and reviewed.
The funding would also support the hiring of a chief data officer, who would oversee the newly collected data.
"It is abundantly clear that we have a violence problem in our city … and therefore we must confront our localized issues with local solutions," IMPD Assistant Chief Chris Bailey said during the meeting.
The proposal would allocate funding to the city's Office of Public Health and Safety as well. The office's director Lauren Rodriguez said at the meeting the money would go toward addressing mental health, domestic violence and juvenile justice. It would also support staffing at the recently opened Assessment and Intervention Center, which helps offenders who are facing obstacles like mental health and homlessness.
Some Republican members of the committee voiced concerns about the proposal. Councillor Paul Annee (R-District 23) said that he wished he and members of his caucus had been briefed about the efforts earlier and had the opportunity to collaborate
"I don't know how we're going to move forward in our city if we're not bringing all of the people to the table, I find that very disappointing," Annee said.
Tags:anti-violenceIndianapolis City-County CouncilIndianapolis Metropolitan Police DepartmentPublic Safety
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Public Affairs / January 19, 2022
Juvenile justice reform bill that prohibits children under 12 from being detained advances
A bill that targets multiple areas of juvenile justice reform passed a committee vote Wednesday.
Senate Republican crime bill package targeting Marion County advances
A package of bills introduced by Indiana Senate Republicans that aim to reduce violent crime passed a committee vote Tuesday.
Solar farm planned at site of former Muncie auto factory
City officials reached a deal last year to buy the factory site and targeted it for solar farm development.
@ The Point


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Slow down, move over for tow trucks, which are part of emergency responders: Opinion
AAA tow operators respond to more than 30 million calls for help each year, working on roadside shoulders that are frequently no wider than four feet.
Slow down, move over for tow trucks, which are part of emergency responders: Opinion AAA tow operators respond to more than 30 million calls for help each year, working on roadside shoulders that are frequently no wider than four feet. Check out this story on delawareonline.com: https://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/contributors/2019/11/25/slow-down-move-over-tow-trucks-which-part-emergency-responders/4269963002/
Ken Grant, Guest columnist Published 5:00 a.m. ET Nov. 25, 2019
Since 2007, Delaware has a law requiring drivers to slow down and move over for emergency vehicles, from first responders to tow truck operators, to keep the men and women who are assisting others safe.
Slow Down, Move Over laws are designed to save the lives of our police officers, emergency response workers, and tow truck operators by providing an extra barrier of safety for them as they work along the side of the road.
The law requires drivers approaching one of these vehicles stopped along the highway to move over a lane, when possible.
If the driver is unable to safely change lanes, the law requires the driver to slow to a reasonable and prudent speed that is safe for existing conditions while passing the emergency or service vehicle.
Ken Grant is the public and government affairs manager for AAA Mid-Atlantic in Delaware. (Photo: AAA MID-ATLANTIC)
Since 2007, AAA has been a vocal advocate for the passage of Slow Down, Move Over laws, working tirelessly across the country, to save lives. As of 2017, all 50 states now have the law on the books, including protection for tow truck operators.
Despite having the laws, we unfortunately are still losing law enforcement officers, tow truck operators and others as they conduct business on the roadways. Motor vehicle-related incidents are consistently the leading cause of work-related fatalities in the United States.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, transportation-related incidents are consistently the most common fatal occupational event. Compounding the issue, more than 70 percent of Americans have not heard of move-over laws, according to a national poll by Mason Dixon Polling & Research, sponsored by the National Safety Commission.
AAA tow operators respond to more than 30 million calls for help each year, working on roadside shoulders that are frequently no wider than four feet. An average of 23 tow operators are killed at the roadside every year, with one service provider on average being killed on the job at the roadside every other week.
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Emergency roadside assistance is at the heart of AAA's traffic safety mission. Yet, the men and women who help AAA members when they are in need put their lives on the line every day. This is true of all tow truck drivers who come to the aid of a disabled motorist and of police officers who put their lives in jeopardy while protecting the public and trying to keep our roads safe.
Because we are still losing lives on the road, AAA is recommitting our efforts to increase awareness of and support for Slow Down Move Over laws. In the coming weeks, you will see increased messaging in social and traditional media channels.
As millions take to the roadways this upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, law enforcement officers, tow truck operators and roadside workers will be putting themselves at risk to keep the rest of us safe. AAA expects to rescue more than 368,000 motorists this Thanksgiving weekend.
To ensure the safety of everyone, motorists can obey the rules of the road this holiday season by avoiding distractions and observing posted speed limits.
Remember whether there is a police officer, ambulance, fire truck or someone fixing a tire or towing a vehicle on the side of the road, slow down, move away and change lanes to create safe space around them. Their lives are on your shoulders.
— Ken Grant is the public and government affairs manager for AAA Mid-Atlantic in Delaware.
November political cartoons from the USA TODAY Network
The cartoonist's homepage, clarionledger.com/opinion Marshall Ramsey, The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger
The cartoonist's homepage, courier-journal.com/opinion Marc Murphy, The (Louisville) Courier-Journal
Though rain is forecast, wind gusts along with the fires is a worry. The cartoonist's homepage, citizen-times.com/voices-views David Cohen, Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times
The cartoonist's homepage, indystar.com/opinion/varvel Gary Varvel, The Indianapolis Star
The cartoonist's homepage, greenvilleonline.com/opinion/roger-harvell-cartoons Roger Harvell, The Greenville (S.C.) News
The cartoonist's homepage, knoxnews.com/opinion/charlie-daniel Charlie Daniel, Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel
At least we're united in post-Thanksgiving shopping. The late-night comics talk Black Friday and Cyber Monday, usat.ly/2gCo38A. USA TODAY
The cartoonist's homepage, pnj.com/opinion Andy Marlette, Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal
The cartoonist's homepage, greenvilleonline.com/opinion Roger Harvell, The Greenville (S.C.) News
The cartoonist's homepage, azcentral.com/opinions/benson Steve Benson, The Arizona Republic
The cartoonist's homepage, news-press.com/opinion Doug MacGregor, The (Fort Myers, Fla.) News-Press
The cartoonist's homepage, citizen-times.com/voices-views David Cohen, Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times
The cartoonist's homepage, freep.com/opinion/mike-thompson Mike Thompson, Detroit Free Press
Trump and his terrible, no good, very bad picks. The late-night comics on the president-elect's administrative choices, usat.ly/2fzV2ZJ USA TODAY
Originally published in 2010. The cartoonist's homepage, clarionledger.com/opinion Marshall Ramsey, The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger
Originally published in November 2014. The cartoonist's homepage, freep.com/opinion/mike-thompson Mike Thompson, Detroit Free Press
The cartoonist's homepage, jconline.com/opinion Dave Sattler, (Lafayette, Ind.) Journal and Courier
Originally published in 2010. The cartoonist's homepage, indystar.com/opinion/varvel Gary Varvel, The Indianapolis Star
The cartoonist''s homepage, pnj.com/opinion Andy Marlette, Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal
Originally published in 2015. The cartoonist's homepage, pnj.com/opinion Andy Marlette, Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal
Originally published in 2009. The cartoonist's homepage, courier-journal.com/opinion Marc Murphy, The (Louisville) Courier-Journal
Originally published in 2009; we have 30 shopping days until Christmas in 2016. The cartoonist's homepage now is dustincomics.com Jeff Parker, Florida Today
Thanksgiving travel and other tortures. The late-night comics riff on the best times to travel, Black Friday shopping and other tips, usat.ly/2fs7cDZ USA TODAY
Originally published in 2015. The cartoonist's homepage, citizen-times.com/voices-views David Cohen, Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times
Originally published in 2006. The cartoonist's homepage, azcentral.com/opinions/benson Steve Benson, The Arizona Republic
President-elect settles, then tweets. That $25M payout on Donald Trump's fraud cases? Distract everybody from it with a few tweets, usat.ly/2fC9NsU USA TODAY
Still scratching our heads, late-night comics examine the election of Trump, the week after and his staff picks, usat.ly/2fiZk4v USA TODAY
Need a new way to cope with Trump? Move to Denver! Denver is the first city where voters have given a thumbs up to making pot a side dish — sort of, usat.ly/2foNMxB USA TODAY
All politics, no Trump. A Trump-free look at all the other guys and gals that you've seen this election season, usat.ly/2eKunL2 USA TODAY
Originally published in July 2012. The cartoonist's homepage, greenvilleonline.com/opinion Roger Harvell, The Greenville (S.C.) News
Originally published in August 2014. The cartoonist's homepage, indystar.com/opinion/varvel Gary Varvel, The Indianapolis Star
Originally published in April 2014. The cartoonist's homepage, azcentral.com/opinions/benson Steve Benson, The Arizona Republic
Originally published in December 2012. The cartoonist's homepage, clarionledger.com/opinion Marshall Ramsey, The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger
Originally published in November 2013. The cartoonist's homepage, indystar.com/opinion/varvel Gary Varvel, The Indianapolis Star
Originally published in April 2012. The cartoonist''s homepage, pnj.com/opinion Andy Marlette, Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal
Originally published in November 2013. The cartoonist's homepage, courier-journal.com/opinion Marc Murphy, The (Louisville) Courier-Journal
Originally published in 2010. The cartoonist's previous homepage, newsleader.com/opinions Jim McCloskey, The (Staunton, Va.) News Leader
Originally published in February 2010. The cartoonist's homepage, citizen-times.com/voices-views David Cohen, Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times
Originally published in 2012. The cartoonist's homepage is now dustincomics.com Jeff Parker, Florida Today
Originally published in July 2012. The cartoonist's homepage, freep.com/opinion/mike-thompson Mike Thompson, Detroit Free Press
Originally published in December 2009. The cartoonist's homepage, news-press.com/opinion Doug MacGregor, The (Fort Myers, Fla.) News-Pres
Originally published in 2009. The cartoonist''s homepage is now dustincomics.com Jeff Parker, Florida Today
The Trump team's rocky transition. The team's tensions are said to be as brutal as a knife fight, usat.ly/2eGulEc USA TODAY
Just elected and already skipping out on White House? President-elect Donald Trump is considering living in the White House only part time and may spend weekends at the more posh Trump Tower, usat.ly/2f1ubWf USA TODAY
Richard Burr is a GOP senator from North Carolina. The cartoonist's homepage, citizen-times.com/voices-views David Cohen, Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times
Trump supporter Phil Bryant is governor of Mississippi. The cartoonist's homepage, clarionledger.com/opinion Marshall Ramsey, The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger
The fallout of a Trump election. Take a look at jokes on the fallout of Donald Trump's election win, usat.ly/2frvuOW USA TODAY
And the presidential transition begins. On Thursday, President-elect Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, visited the White House and started a new season of late-night cracks, usat.ly/2fKvw32 USA TODAY
Originally published after Veterans Day 2010. The cartoonist's homepage, citizen-times.com/voices-views David Cohen, Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times
Originally published in 2010. The cartoonist's homepage, news-press.com/opinion Doug MacGregor, The (Fort Myers, Fla) News-Press
Originally published in 2010. The cartoonist's homepage, greenvilleonline.com/opinion Roger Harvell, The Greenville (S.C.) News
It's almost over. Who needs a Xanax? Some voters have vowed to move to Canada depending on the results of Tuesday's election. Others say maybe the old tradition of getting drunk before voting should be brought back, usat.ly/2fdlbhn USA TODAY
It's the FBI all over again. The late-night comics on the latest FBI scandal and pre-election jitters, usat.ly/2fvXrDO USA TODAY
Rocker Ted Nugent stumped Nov. 6, 2016, for Donald Trump in Michigan. Originally published in November 2012. The cartoonist's homepage, freep.com/opinion/mike-thompson Mike Thompson, Detroit Free Press
Congratulations, Cubs! The late-night comics celebrate Chicago's victory, usat.ly/2fLwUVs USA TODAY
Less than a week before Election Day. Are you packed? The late-night comics tell us what to expect, usat.ly/2eUWF4B USA TODAY
Originally published in October 2015. The cartoonist's homepage, citizen-times.com/voices-views David Cohen, Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times
That new, old, October surprise, email, sexting scandal. That new, old, October surprise, email, sexting scandal, usat.ly/2eY6L20 USA TODAY
Congressional setbacks. The late-night comics on the latest political news, including the do-nothing Congress and SCOTUS slowdown, usat.ly/2f4Pk0z USA TODAY
The cartoonist's homepage, citizen-times.com/voices-views. David Cohen, Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times
Steve Benson, The Arizona Republic Election 2016
Gary Varvel, The Indianapolis Star Election 2016
Oct. 18, 2016 Gary Varvel, The Indianapolis Star, Creators Syndicate
Read or Share this story: https://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/contributors/2019/11/25/slow-down-move-over-tow-trucks-which-part-emergency-responders/4269963002/
Best thing DuPont Co. ever did: Bring quality people to Delaware (opinion)
Make no mistake: Nelly Jordan's comment was anti-Semitic: Opinion
Letters: State should audit all schools; Suleimani was killer
Letters: The trouble with 202; dying-in-aid bill; Iran
Tony Allen is the right man to lead DSU, create partnerships: Opinion
Letter: State should protect Good Samaritans in active shooter situations


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Q: Merge two field into One with only new items I have two tables which both contain  'pipe separated values'
e.g:
Table 1:
 DataField_A

 item 1|item 2|item 3|etc.....

Table 2:
 DataField_A

 item 7|item 5|item 3|etc.....

I need to merge Table 2 into table 1 such that Table 2 contains all items across both tables.
Doing this pro-grammatically would be a simple matter of looping through each item in table 2 and adding to table 1 if it does not exist in table 1.
How can this be done in SQL as a stored procedure?

A: I've used a parsing function (the example I'm using comes from here) to parse the string in Table1. Then I use that function in a CTE to find missing elements in Table2 and merge the data.
/* Helper function to parse delimited string */
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[fnParseStringTSQL] (@string NVARCHAR(MAX),@separator NCHAR(1))
RETURNS @parsedString TABLE (string NVARCHAR(MAX))
AS
BEGIN
   DECLARE @position int
   SET @position = 1
   SET @string = @string + @separator
   WHILE charindex(@separator,@string,@position) <> 0
      BEGIN
         INSERT into @parsedString
         SELECT substring(@string, @position, charindex(@separator,@string,@position) - @position)
         SET @position = charindex(@separator,@string,@position) + 1
      END
     RETURN
END
go

/* Set up some sample data */
declare @Table1 table (
    id int,
    DataField_1A varchar(500)
)

declare @Table2 table (
    id int,
    DataField_2A varchar(500)
)

insert into @Table1
    (id, DataField_1A)
    select 1, 'item 1|item 2|item 3'
    union
    select 2, 'item A|item B|item C|item D|item Z'

insert into @Table2
    (id, DataField_2A)
    select 1, 'item 7|item 5|item 3'
    union
    select 2, 'item A|item Y|item Z'

/* data before the update */
select * from @Table2

/* boolean to ensure loop executes at least once */
declare @FirstLoop bit
set @FirstLoop = 1

/* Do the updates */
while (@FirstLoop = 1 or @@ROWCOUNT <> 0) begin
    set @FirstLoop = 0

    ;with cteMissingItems as (
    select t2.id, p.string
        from @Table2 t2
            inner join @Table1 t1
                on t2.id = t1.id
            cross apply dbo.fnParseStringTSQL(t1.DataField_1A,'|') p
        where charindex(p.string, t2.DataField_2A) = 0
    )
    update t2
        set t2.DataField_2A = t2.DataField_2A + '|' + mi.string
        from @Table2 t2
            inner join cteMissingItems mi
                on t2.id = mi.id
end /* while */

/* Prove the update worked */
select * from @Table2

/* Clean up */
drop function dbo.fnParseStringTSQL

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


This classic and amazing time saver complements any meal or side! Drizzle over bread, pasta or vegetables for cooking or finishing. Use to start a stir-fry, sauce or drizzle in your favourite comfort food, like mashed potatoes! Pair with our Sicilian Lemon White Balsamic for a caesar salad dressing!


text:
First Look: Honda's Self-Driving Car
Honda demoed its autonomous vehicle technology at an abandoned weapons station in California.
By Tom Brant
June 2, 2016 7:00AM EST
CONCORD, Calif.—Except for the scurrying of jackrabbits and leaves rustling in the hot breeze, it was deathly quiet among the abandoned buildings and empty bunkers of a 5,000-acre former military weapons storage facility here yesterday morning.
Suddenly, a black Acura RLX roared into view just as a Honda engineer appeared seemingly out of nowhere to cross the street right in front of the sedan. But the Acura abruptly stopped, despite the fact that the driver had his hands in the air and his feet nowhere near the brake pedal. Annoyed, the jackrabbits scurried away.
So began a rare public demonstration of self-driving car technology from Honda, an automaker that has kept relatively quiet about its autonomous vehicle ambitions compared to Toyota and Google.
But Honda is serious about driverless cars: its testbed is packed with cameras, sensors, and AI algorithms. To put them through their paces, the company transformed part of the abandoned weapons facility here into a model city, where it can simulate pretty much any urban traffic fiasco in a controlled environment.
The car first uses radar and lasers to detect potential road obstacles. Its cameras then scan the objects to determine whether they're pedestrians, cars, or, say, a jackrabbit. That information is sent for processing to several GPUs and CPUs inside the car, which tell the motor, brakes, and steering how best to avoid the obstacle.
After the engineer safely crossed the road (yes, there's an actual answer to "why did the Honda engineer cross the road?"), the car drove to the end of the block, stopped at a stop sign, activated its turn signal, waited for yet another engineer to cross at the crosswalk, and made a right turn.
On the next block, it was presented with a more difficult obstacle: a mannequin set up in the middle of the road, which obviously refused to move. The Acura somewhat clumsily swerved to avoid it without slowing down in what looked like a close call, but the mannequin escaped unscathed. After two more turns, the car returned to its starting point, having successfully completed the quarter-mile test course.
Yet the demonstration left one big question unanswered (two if you're curious about what the ride quality is like with a couple GPUs behind the wheel): Why hasn't the general public seen the sensor-laden Acura in their neighborhoods? Google, for instance, has famously tested its self-driving technology on public roads, shrugging off a few embarrassing collisions along the way.
Honda said it does have a license to test its autonomous RLX on public roads in California. But as the company's chief R&D engineer Jim Keller put it, "we need all the testing facilities we can get."
"There's much that can be gleaned from testing on public roads," he said, but it's often more practical to teach AI algorithms with repeated testing in controlled situations.
That's why the decommissioned weapons station, dubbed "GoMentum" by the local transit agency that manages it, is the perfect spot. Its derelict road signs and dilapidated pavement, numerous intersections, railroad crossings, and tunnels mirror the state of the modern American road network.
Eventually, GoMentum will be transformed into housing developments, parks, and schools. For now, the Contra Costa Transportation Authority is extolling its retro advantages to any automaker that will listen. Honda has been testing there for nine months, following Mercedes-Benz's decision to pull out of the project.
Acura's New Self-Driving Car to Hit the Test Track
It's also testing at sites in Japan and Michigan, and the fruits of its labor are already available to average motorists in the form of Honda Sensing and AcuraWatch. They include features like lane-departure warnings, adaptive cruise control, and the upcoming Traffic Jam Assist, which Keller said will be available later this year and help avoid rear-end collisions in stop-and-go congestion.
As for fully autonomous driving, its commercial availability will depend as much on regulatory reform as it will on engineering prowess. Along the way, Honda appears committed to ensuring that no jackrabbits, engineers, or mannequins are harmed in the making of its self-driving car.
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Tom Brant Senior Analyst, Hardware
Tom tests and reviews laptops, peripherals, and much more at PC Labs in New York City. He previously covered the consumer tech beat as a news reporter for PCMag in San Francisco, where he rode in several self-driving cars and witnessed the rise and fall of a few startups. Before that, he occasionally dunked waterproof hard drives in glasses of wate... See Full Bio
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text:
Introducing The Ulysse Nardin Skeleton X Magma Watch
BY DHANANJAY PATHAK
Ulysse Nardin is well-known for its sophisticated marine-inspired watches but there is also an experimental side to the brand which has led to the creation of idiosyncratic pieces such as the wild and aggressive looking freak. During SIHH 2019,Ulysse Nardin introduced two new distinctive pieces; The Freak X, an accessible and more wearable version of the Freak and the Skeleton X, a watch with an open worked dial. Now the brand is introducing a sportier fiery red version of the Skeleton X called the Skeleton X Magma.
The most striking aspect of the Skeleton X Magma is its sporty black and red case. Constructed using a combination of carbon fibre and red marbled epoxy resin the case bears a unique visual identity and evokes the look of hot magma found underneath the earth's crust. As it is based upon the Skeleton X the case still measures a healthy 43mm but should sit comfortably on the wrist because of the relatively short lug structure. There are sapphire windows on both the front and the back and the case is water resistant to 50 meters.
Complementing the peculiar case is a highly skeletonized dial which has been crafted to give a great view of the movement that powers this watch. The covered section of the dial consists of applied hour markings which are a combination of Roman numerals at 3 and 9 and faceted three-dimensional markings for the rest of the positions which includes elongated rectangular indexes that form an 'X' supported by a rectangular frame at the center. All applied elements have been rendered in red and black in continuation with the Magma theme of the watch. Time can be read using the nicely proportioned handset which has also been filled with luminous paint to aid low light visibility.
A Fortnight ReviewArticles
A Fortnight Review: A. Lange & Söhne Odysseus Watch
The watch is powered by the in-house hand-wound skeletonized caliber UN-371. The movement features a silicon balance wheel, operates at a frequency of 3 Hz and offers a power reserve of 96 hours.
The Ulysse Nardin Skeleton X Magma is another bold and daring watch which showcases the brands increasing hold on the genre of non-conventional timepieces. The watch would come attached to a black leather strap and would retail at a price of USD 25,000.
Visit Ulysse Nardin here.
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