text:
\section{Introduction}

The study of interacting many-electron systems  is profoundly important to many areas of science, including
condensed-matter physics and quantum chemistry.
Materials properties result from a delicate interplay of competing factors including
atomic geometry and structure, quantum mechanical delocalization of electrons from atoms,
the entanglement implied by quantum statistics, and electron-electron interaction.
Capturing such effects accurately is essential for understanding  properties, for predictive computations,
and for the realization of materials genome or materials-by-design initiatives, but requires a sufficiently accurate
solution of  the interacting electron problem.

Over the years, many approaches to the problem of solving the many-electron Schr\"{o}dinger equation have been formulated.
Density functional theory (DFT) obtains the ground state energy of the many-body system in terms of the solution of an auxiliary one electron
problem plus a self-consistency condition. DFT based methods have had enormous impact on materials science and condensed matter physics,
but the approaches become less reliable, or even break down, in the presence of strong electronic correlation effects including magnetic,
structural, conductive and superconductive phase transitions \cite{mott1949basis,mott1961transition,Mott_RMP_1968,Dagotto_RMP_1994,Georges_RMP_1996,Imada_RMP_1998,Lee_RMP_2006}.
Alternative approaches in terms of model systems such as the single-orbital Hubbard model have contributed very significantly to our
understanding of electronic correlation physics, but involve dramatic simplifications, including neglect of many of the terms in the
physical Coulomb interaction and truncation to a small fixed orbital basis, whose consequences are not fully understood.
The need to establish systematic approaches that are chemically realistic
and fundamentally many-body is thus intensely investigated.

A linear chain of hydrogen atoms
($N$ protons equispaced along a line, with $N$ electrons)  \cite{Hachmann_JCP_2006,Alsaidi2007,Sinitski_JCP_2010,Sorella_PRB_2011,Motta_PRX_2017}
embodies many central themes of modern condensed matter physics,
 while retaining a certain degree of computational tractability.
It features a periodic atomic potential, incorporates realistic Coulomb interactions, requires the construction of accurate and compact basis sets,
and yet maintains a connection with the fundamental Hubbard model which has been a hallmark of the theory of interacting fermions.

Here we deploy a combination of the most advanced and accurate many-body methods to investigate the ground-state phase diagram of the H chain.
Our methods have been benchmarked in a previous
collaborative effort to obtain the ground-state equation of state
\cite{Motta_PRX_2017}. In this work, we have introduced methodological advances
to compute properties beyond the total energy.
There have also been several previous
studies of this system \cite{Hachmann_JCP_2006,Alsaidi2007,Sinitski_JCP_2010,Sorella_PRB_2011}. However,
they were restricted either to
small basis sets or finite system sizes, which prevented a realistic
description of the H chain, or by their
accuracy and capabilities, which prevented reliable resolution of the
delicate scales and discovery of all the phases.
The synergistic application of complementary methods
distinguishes the present work
and allows us
to make robust predictions with a multi-messenger approach
in this challenging problem.

\section{Methods}

We consider a system of $N$ protons at fixed, equally spaced positions along a line, with $N$ electrons:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:ham1st}
\begin{split}
\hat H = &-\frac{1}{2} \, \sum_{i=1}^N \nabla^2_i + \sum_{i<j=1}^N \frac{1}{|{\bf
{r}}_i - {\bf{r}}_j|} \\
            &- \sum_{i,a=1}^N \frac{1}{|{\bf{r}}_i - {\bf{R}}_a|} + \sum_{a<b=1}^N \frac{1}{|{\bf{R}}_a - {\bf{R}}_b|} \,,\\
\end{split}
\end{equation}
where $({\bf{r}}_1 \dots {\bf{r}}_N)$ are the electron coordinates,
and ${\bf R}_a=aR {\bf e_z}$ is the coordinate of the $a$-th proton.
This Hamiltonian has been studied in finite basis or finite systems (or both) and has generated increasing interest \cite{Hachmann_JCP_2006,Sinitski_JCP_2010,Sorella_PRB_2011,Zhao_JCTC_2017,Kong_JP_2017,Zheng_FP_2018,ronca2017time}.
We use atomic units throughout, in which energies are measured in Hartrees ($me^4/\hbar^2$) and lengths in units of the Bohr radius $a_B=\hbar^2/(me^2)$.
In the thermodynamic limit (TDL) of infinite system size at zero temperature, which is our primary focus, our system is characterized by only one parameter,  $R$.

We access the ground-state properties using multiple first-principles many-body methods, including variational Monte Carlo (VMC),
standard and sliced-basis density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG, sb-DMRG) \cite{White_PRL_1992,white1999ab,sharma2012spin,Stoudenmire_PRL_2017},
auxiliary-field (AFQMC) \cite{Zhang_PRL_2003} and lattice-regularized diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) \cite{Casula_PRL_2005}.
For reference, independent-electron calculations are also performed, including restricted (RHF) and unrestricted (UHF) Hartree-Fock \cite{Szabo_book_1982}
and DFT \cite{Martin_book_2004}.
While it is not practically possible with any single method to simultaneously converge all aspects of the electronic structure calculations
(such as basis set limit, many-electron correlation, and thermodynamic limit) across different regimes of the ground-state phase diagram,
we draw our conclusions based on the convergence of multiple approaches to a consistent physical picture.

In this work, we introduce several technical advances which enabled the calculations on the hydrogen chain presented here.
Within AFQMC, we implemented techniques for the study of metal-insulator transitions
based on the modern theory of polarization, and the calculation of structure factors in
chemical simulations. A procedure was developed for generating basis sets for confined systems (as in the planes perpendicular to the chain)
from downfolded virtual Kohn-Sham orbitals \cite{Ma_PRL_2015}.
Within DMC, we have implemented a scheme for computing unbiased estimates of correlation functions and developed
basis sets for the short-$R$ regime, as well as a more efficient parametrization of the trial wave function ansatz.
 Within DMRG, we introduced new basis set techniques building on the idea of Gausslets \cite{White_PRB_2019},
and implemented the computation of entanglement entropy and dimerization in electronic density.
To approach the continuum
limit
for small values of $R$, we devised and extensively
compared basis sets
including planewaves, continuum coordinate-space, and problem-specific Gaussians with diffuse and polarized functions,
as well as the new basis sets mentioned above.
To approach the TDL in our numerical computations, we study increasingly long chains with open boundary conditions (OBC),
or supercells with periodic Born-von-Karman boundary conditions (PBC).
Further descriptions of our methods and discussions of technical advances and issues
can be found in the supplemental information (SI).

\section{Results}

In this section, we present our results as a function of $R$. We start by describing the large-$R$
regime, where we find that the chain features quasi-long-range antiferromagnetic correlations, followed by dimerization
in several properties, namely electronic density, kinetic energy and entanglement entropy as $R$ is reduced.
We then proceed to describe the short-$R$ regime, distinguished
by a metal-insulator transition occurring at a critical bondlength $R_{\mathrm{MIT}}$, so that the chain is insulating for $R > R_{\mathrm{MIT}}$ and metallic for $R<R_{\mathrm{MIT}}$.
We then discuss the physical properties of the metallic phase, and show that the MIT
arises from a self-doping mechanism.

\subsection{Large-$R$ regime}

\begin{figure}[t!]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.9\columnwidth]{fig1.jpg}
\caption{(color online) {\bf{Insulating phase -- antiferromagnetic correlations.}}
Main: correlation function $C_i$ at $R=3.6$, $2.8$, and $2.0\,\mathrm{a_B}$ (red circles, blue crosses, and orange triangles)
computed with DMRG for a chain of $N=50$ with OBC.
The oscillations, with wavelength $\lambda = 2R$, show AFM correlations.
Inset: oscillation amplitudes $C_{2i+1}-C_{2i}$ versus $i$ (log-log scale). Lines show the results of a linear fit.}
\label{fig:f1}
\end{figure}

\subsubsection{Antiferromagnetic correlations}

We begin our study of the H chain phase diagram at large proton-proton separation.
Here to a first approximation the system is a collection of isolated H atoms, each  with a single electron in the atomic $1s$ orbital.
This is very similar to the half-filled  Hubbard model in the large coupling ($U/t$) limit.
However the weakly bound nature of H$^-$ and its very diffuse orbitals can create excitons with strong binding in the H chain.

At large $R$, the correlations in the H chain can be characterized in terms of a spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ Heisenberg chain.
The Heisenberg chain is a critical system, with power-law decay of AFM spin-spin correlations,
$\langle \hat{\bf{S}}_0 \cdot \hat{\bf{S}}_i\rangle$.
In response to a local perturbation (such as a local magnetic field),
one observes local ordering (such as local N\'eel order) which decays as a power law in the distance from the perturbation.
To probe AFM correlations in the H chain, in Fig.~\ref{fig:f1}
we present the quantity $C_i = \langle \hat{n}_{0\uparrow} \hat{n}_{i\downarrow} \rangle -
\langle \hat{n}_{0\uparrow} \rangle \langle \hat{n}_{i\downarrow} \rangle$ computed with DMRG in the minimal (STO-6G) basis,
where $\hat{n}_{i \sigma}$ denotes the number of electrons occupying (orthogonalized) atomic orbital $i$ with spin polarization $\sigma$ along $z$.
$C_i$ oscillates with wavelength $\lambda = 2R$,
corresponding to the  N\'eel  vector of two sublattice antiferromagnetism; the wavevector may also be thought of as twice the Fermi
wave-vector $q = \frac{2\pi}{\lambda} = 2\,k_F^0$ of a paramagnetic 1D ideal Fermi gas of density $\rho = \frac{1}{R}$.

In Fig.~\ref{fig:f1}, we further observe that the oscillations in $C_i$ decay with a power-law envelope, $C_i = C_0 i^{-\eta} \, (-1)^i$.
The decrease of $C_0$ with $R$ (see inset) indicates weakening of AFM as the bondlength is reduced. The power-law decay of the AFM correlation
is consistent with quasi long-range order in 1D.
The  fitted exponent of $\eta \simeq 1.11(1)$, likely affected by finite-size effects, is slightly higher than
the prediction from conformal field theory, which gives $\langle\mathbf{S}_i \cdot \mathbf{S}_0\rangle \propto (-1)^i \sqrt{\ln i}/i^\eta$,
with $\eta = 1$
for systems within the same universality class as the 1D Heisenberg chain  \cite{Affleck_JPA_1998,Affleck_Gepner_1989}.

\begin{figure}[!ht]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.9\columnwidth]{fig2.jpg}
\caption{(color online) {\bf{Insulating phase -- density dimerization.}}
(a) Top: electronic density $n(z)$ for $R=2.0\,\mathrm{a}_B$, with OBC.
Bottom: definition of the dimerization measure $\Delta_N$ for a system under OBC.
The gray vertical lines indicate how $n(z)$ is integrated along thin (width $\delta z=0.1\,\mathrm{a_B}$) slabs perpendicular
to the chain.
(b) Dependence of dimerization measure $\Delta_N$ on the number of atoms in the open chain, $N$, from AFQMC, sb-DMRG, VMC, and DMC.
$\Delta_N$ decays as a power-law, $\Delta_N \propto N^{-d}$ with exponent $d \simeq 0.5$
from correlated methods.
Results from HF are also shown for reference.
(c) Expectation value $h(z)$ of the kinetic energy operator (top) and von Neumann entropy $S_{vN}(z)$ (bottom)
from sb-DMRG, for a 10-atom chain with OBC, as a function of position $z$ along the chain axis for $R=3.6$ and $2.0\,\mathrm{a}_B$, respectively.
}
\label{fig:f2}
\end{figure}

\subsubsection{Dimerization}
We observe dimerization
as $R$ is reduced in the large $R$ regime.
With PBC, dimerization can be probed by density-density correlations.
With OBC, or with a local perturbation, density dimerization can be measured by
the electronic density, for example integrated along transverse slabs (i.e., over $x$ and $y$ for a finite $\delta z$),  $n(z)$.
The upper portion of Fig.~\ref{fig:f2}a shows $n(z)$ versus $z$, for a segment at the center of the chain under OBC, computed with AFQMC.
The density has maxima at the proton sites and minima half way between.
We define the dimerization measure for an $N$-atom chain, $\Delta_N$, by the difference between the two adjacent local minima of $n(z)$ in the center of chain
as illustrated in the lower portion of  Fig.~\ref{fig:f2}a.
When dimerization is present, we find that its amplitude increases as $R$ is decreased.

In Fig.~\ref{fig:f2}b we investigate the dimerization in the H chain at $R=2.0\,\mathrm{a}_B$, using
AFQMC, sb-DMRG, DMC, and VMC.
We find that, in the middle of the chain, dimerization decays
with chain length as $\Delta_N \propto N^{-d}$,
with exponents $d = 0.57(3)$, $0.563(4)$, $0.58(11)$ and $0.90(26)$
from AFQMC, sb-DMRG, DMC and VMC, respectively.
The subtle power-law physics of 1D correlated systems is not easy to capture accurately with numerical methods.
It is encouraging that
a quantitative agreement is seen
between our very different many-body methods.
HF is qualitatively incorrect here, giving either no order or true long-range order; DFT results are similar.

It is illuminating to relate the dimerization order observed in the
H chain to a kind of
dimerization order which appears in the Heisenberg model, as seen in nearest-neighbor spin correlations,
$\langle (\hat{\bf{S}}_0 \cdot \hat{\bf{S}}_1)
(\hat{\bf{S}}_i \cdot \hat{\bf{S}}_{i+1})\rangle$
under PBC.
In the case of OBC, the open ends act as a local perturbation
which couples to the dimerization, making odd-numbered bonds
stronger than even ones, with an amplitude that decays as a power
law away from the ends.
Criticality can thus be observed by studying the strength of the dimerization in the center of a chain as a function of $N$,
In the Heisenberg chain the dimerization profile as a function
of site index $i$ is described by $\Delta_N(i)\propto\left[N\sin(\pi i/N)\right]^{-d}$, where $d = 1/2$.
This is consistent with our observations for the H chain.
In the half-filled Hubbard model, we observe dimerization in the correlation function of the nearest-neighbor hopping,
i.e., the kinetic energy operator, $\hat{h}_i = \sum_\sigma \big( \hat{a}^\dagger_{i,\sigma} \hat{a}_{i+1,\sigma} + \mathrm{h.c.} \big)$.
As shown in the SI, the correlation function $H_i = \langle \hat{h}_0 (\hat{h}_i  - \hat{h}_{i+1}) \rangle$
is found to again display a power law behavior  $ (-1)^i i^{-\eta'}$, with  $\eta' \sim 0.57(8)$.

Dimerization manifests itself not only in the electron density, but also in other observables such as the kinetic energy and entanglement entropy.
Results for a 10-atom H chain are shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:f2}c from sb-DMRG, where the kinetic energy is measured
as hopping (integrated in $x$ and $y$) between slices, and the entanglement entropy is measured across planes that bisect a bond.
At  $R=2.0\,\mathrm{a_B}$,  where dimerization is consistently  observed in larger systems from the electronic density,
$S_{vN}(z)$ shows five entangled dimers (bottom of lower panel).
The entanglement exhibits a striking asymmetry on the two sides of each proton along the chain, with a strength discrepancy
much larger than in the electron density.

\begin{figure*}[t!]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{fig3.jpg}
\caption{
(color online) {\bf{Metal-insulator transition.}}
(a) Complex polarization measure as a function of $R$ from multiple methods,
identifying a MIT separating a region at smaller $R$ with
$|Z_N|=0$ from $|Z_N|>0$ at larger $R$.
$|Z_N|$ is plotted for $N=40$.
(b)
Magnetic phases from DFT-PBE, as indicated by $M_{tot}=\int{m(r) d^3r}/N$ and $M_{abs}=\int{\lvert m(r)\rvert d^3r}/N$,
where $m(r)$ is the magnetization of the simulation cell.
(c) Spin-density computed from DFT-PBE, shown along a plane containing the chain,
illustrating long-wavelength ferromagnetic domains at $R=0.9\,\mathrm{a}_B$.
}
\label{fig:f3}
\end{figure*}

\subsection{Short-$R$ regime}

\subsubsection{Insulator-to-metal transition}

Correlated electron materials often exhibit metal-insulator
transitions as parameters such as temperature, pressure or crystal
structure are varied \cite{Mott_RMP_1968,Imada_RMP_1998}.
From the
perspective of the 1D one-band Hubbard model which, as we have seen,
captures the universal aspects of the physics at large $R$ --- and more
generally from the perspective of one-band models with second-order
Umklapp processes, no MIT should occur here \cite{Lieb_PRL_1968}.
With multiple methods and multiple probes, we show below conclusive
evidence that a MIT occurs in the H chain, and provide a
characterization of the physical origin and properties of the
transition.

The concept of macroscopic localization
\cite{Resta_PRL_1999,Kohn_PR_1964,Sorella_PRB_2011} provides a direct wavefunction-based
characterization of system properties.
For periodic systems, one defines the complex polarization
$Z_N = \langle \Psi_N | e^{i \frac{2\pi}{L} \sum_i \hat{z}_i} | \Psi_N \rangle$, where
$|\Psi_N\rangle$ is the ground state of the $N$ electrons in a supercell of size $L=NR$ along the chain direction.
The electron localization length $\Lambda = \frac{\sqrt{D}}{2\pi \rho}$ is
related to the complex polarization by $D = - \lim_{N\to \infty} N \log |Z_N|^2$.
In localized systems, $Z\equiv \lim_{N\to\infty} |Z_N| = 1$, and $\Lambda$ is finite;
in metallic systems $Z = 0$, and $\Lambda \rightarrow \infty$.

In Fig.~\ref{fig:f3}a, we establish the MIT by computing $Z_N$ with
AFQMC, DMC and VMC.
(Additional support for a metal insulator transition
is provided by energy gaps as included in the SI.)
For small $R$, all methods give $Z_N$
equal to or statistically compatible with $0$ across a wide range of
system sizes $N$, indicating a metallic many-body ground state. For
large $R$, all methods yield a non-zero $Z_N$.
The many-body methods
point to a transition point located approximately at
$R_{\rm MIT} \sim 1.70(5)$\,$\mathrm{a_B}$.
While there is some uncertainty in the critical value, because of computational limitations,
it is remarkable that two methods working with completely different basis sets and projection algorithms
yield results in quantitative agreement.

In particular the
values of $|Z_N|$   in the insulating phase, which fall further from unity at smaller $R$,
are sensitive to finite-size effects.
At large $N$, we expect $|Z_N| = 1 - \tilde{g}(\xi/L)$ in the insulating phase,
where $\tilde{g}$ is a scaling function and $\xi$ the MIT correlation length.
The smooth decrease of $|Z_N|$
as $R_{\rm MIT}$ is approached suggests a second-order
transition (related to gap closure).
We further discuss finite-size corrections
and their implication on $\xi$ in the SI.

Before exploring the origin of the MIT, we briefly discuss magnetic correlations in the metallic phase.
The evolution of the magnetic moments within DFT
is shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:f3}b, and the
spin density at $R = 0.9\,\mathrm{a_B}$ is plotted in Fig.~\ref{fig:f3}c as a point of reference.
To account for spin correlations, the DFT solution breaks translational symmetry to create
antiferromagnetic domains of varying periods, often associated with very diffuse orbitals as seen in Fig.~\ref{fig:f3}c.
Of course, DFT observations are independent-electron
in nature (and somewhat functional-dependent, see SI).
In the many-body solution, in particular, translational symmetry is restored,
and two-body correlation functions are needed to probe magnetic correlations.

\subsubsection{Origin of the MIT and properties of the metallic phase}

It is theoretically established that the ground state of a one-band
model with commensurate filling is insulating.
Our calculations reveal that the MIT arises from
a self-doping mechanism in which the one-band picture breaks down.
We illustrate the basic idea in Fig.~\ref{fig:f4}a, using a band-theory based cartoon of the electronic structure.
The isolated H atom has multiple states, including the occupied $1s$ and excited states $2s$, $2p$, etc.
At large $R$ the bandwidths are small compared to the energy gaps, and a one-band approximation is reasonable.
As $R$ is decreased, the bands broaden,
band overlap occurs, and metallic behavior results.
Quantitative calculations involve a correlation problem that requires
treating interactions in a
multiband situation, effects that are entirely absent in the standard Hubbard model.

\begin{figure}[!ht]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.7\columnwidth]{fig4.jpg}
\caption{
(color online)
{\bf{Mechanism of the insulator-to-metal transition.}}
(a) Schematic illustration of the self-doping mechanism inducing a MIT in the H chain.
Dark green line: large $R$, no band overlap. Light green lines: small $R$, multiple bands crossing $\epsilon_F$.
(b) Structure factor of the spin-spin correlation function at  $R=0.9 \, \mathrm{a}_B$ and at $R=2.5\,\mathrm{a}_B$,
computed from AFQMC, DMC and DMRG. Wave-vectors $q$ are along the chain.
Vertical lines, as an aid to the eye, mark the kinks in $S(q)$  associated with the Fermi surfaces.
}
\label{fig:f4}
\end{figure}

We compute
the spin structure factor,
defined as $S(q) = \frac{1}{N} \, \langle \Psi | \hat{\rho}^\dagger_q \hat{\rho}^{\phantom{\dagger}}_q | \Psi \rangle$,
where $\hat{\rho}_q = \sum_i \hat{S}_{z,i} e^{i {\bf{q}}\cdot {\hat {\bf r}_i}}$ is the Fourier transform of the spin density at
${\bf q}=(0,0,q)$, with $\hat{S}_{z,i}$ and
${\hat {\bf r}_i}=({\hat x_i}, {\hat y_i},{\hat z_i})$ denoting the spin-$z$ and position operators of electron $i$, respectively.
The result
is shown in
Fig.~\ref{fig:f4}b.
At $R=2.5$  only one peak is seen at $q=2 k_F^0$, signaling power-law AFM order as discussed earlier.
To probe the nature of the metallic phase, we focus on a representative case of $R=0.9\,\mathrm{a_B}$,
away from the vicinity of the MIT transition.
$S(q)$ is shown from two different QMC calculations, in supercells of $N=48$ atoms
averaging over 11 twist angles, in addition to DMRG calculations in a
supercell of $N=24$ atoms. In a metallic system we expect peaks at
$q=2k_F$, where $k_F$ is one of the Fermi wavevectors of the system.
Two cusps are seen in each result at locations, $q_1$ and
$q_2$, in precise agreement among the different calculations.  We
interpret the larger wavevector as arising from the $2 k_F$ process in
the $1s$-dominated lower band. The position  $q_2=2\,(1-x)\,k_F^0$
 then gives  the doping $x$ of this band.
 In a  simple two-band picture,
 the lower wave vector is given by
$q_1=2x\,k_F^0/g$, where $g$ gives the degeneracy of the ``upper
band'' which is occupied.  At $R=0.9\,\mathrm{a_B}$, the locations of
$q_1$ and $q_2$ satisfy $g \, q_1+q_2 =\pi/R $ in all the results,
with $g=2$.
This is consistent with a doubly degenerate upper band (e.g. $2 p_{x,y}$),
although multiple bands strongly contribute to the DMRG $S(q)$, as we discuss below.

Within DFT one may characterize the metallic state by the nature of the occupied Kohn-Sham bands.
Here we use the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE) exchange-correlation functional in DFT calculations.
As $R$ decreases, DFT-PBE solutions indicate a band of mainly atomic $1s$ origin with a relatively large
(but not integer) occupancy and a Fermi level near $k_F^0$, and bands of mostly $2p_x$, $2p_y$
character (i.e. $\pi$ bands) becoming occupied, with Fermi levels near $0$.

We probe the many-body
metallic state by computing the one-body density matrix, which we then diagonalize.
Each eigenvalue gives the occupancy of the corresponding eigenstate (``natural orbital'', NO).
The occupancies computed by two methods
are shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:f5}a. For the $N=24$ supercell (red symbols),
a sharp transition is seen in orbital occupancy, reminiscent of a Fermi
surface. We label
the characters of each NO which, similar to Kohn-Sham orbitals, can be analyzed via the single-particle basis or projection onto
atomic orbitals.
In the $N=24$ system the last two
eigenvalues before the sharp drop (11$^{\rm th}$ and 12$^{\rm th}$ points from left, shown as filled symbols) are two-fold
degenerate, consistent with the notion that the metallic phase
corresponds to shifting electrons from $1s$-like to $2p_{x,y}$-like
orbitals.
However, the many-body results display variations in the
occupancy and the nature of the orbitals, as illustrated in
Fig.~\ref{fig:f5}b and c.
We find that the energy differences associated with different occupancies, such as $2s$
instead of or together with $2p$, are very small, on the scale of sub-mHa/atom,
and the precise energy ordering is
affected by boundary conditions, supercell sizes, basis sets, as well as the choice of the correlation algorithm.
This low energy scale is associated with the very diffuse nature of ``upper band'' NOs.

\begin{figure}[!ht]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.8\columnwidth]{fig5.jpg}
\caption{
(color online)
{\bf{Insight into the many-body metallic state.}}
(a) Occupancy of NOs,
obtained from the one-body density matrix of the many-body ground state
at $R=0.9\,\mathrm{a}_B$, from AFQMC (supercell with $N=24$ atoms, twist-averaged)
and sb-DMRG ($N=10$ atoms with hard-wall boundary).
The orbital characteristics are indicated, in each dataset, by the marker type.
(b,c) Contour plots illustrating the characters of representative occupied NOs (ordered high to low in $n_i$),
projected in a transverse plane slicing through an atom, at $R=0.9\,\mathrm{a_B}$ for
a $\mathrm{H}_{10}$ with OBC and hard-wall boundary, by sb-DMRG (b);
a $\mathrm{H}_{24}$ supercell from DMRG, at twists $k=0$, $0.1$ and $0.4$, respectively (c1,c2,c3).
}
\label{fig:f5}
\end{figure}

The occupation and nature of
these NOs shed
light onto magnetic correlations.
Electrons associated with the ``lower band'' are
bound to the chain axis, with a range similar to that of the atom.
$S(q)$ does not show a peak at $q_2$,
but only a kink, indicating short-range correlations from
these electrons.
The electrons in the ``upper bands'' are diffuse, with NOs
of transverse size $\sim 5 \, \mathrm{a_B}$ (see Fig.~\ref{fig:f5}b,c).
They display a tendency for magnetic ordering
driven by exchange, as indicated by the kink at $q_1$.  Their average
inter-particle separation along the chain,
$\xi \sim \pi/(2 q_1)$, is large (and becomes larger
as $R_{\rm MIT}$ is approached), with only a small number of electrons
in a large supercell.
These features make it challenging to determine
the precise behavior of the correlation over a sufficiently long
range, which is further magnified by the sensitivity of the nature of
the upper bands discussed earlier.
This picture suggests a fascinating
model of a quasi-one-dimensional electron wire
for probing both magnetic and
charge correlations under the effect of long-range Coulomb
interactions \cite{Schulz1993}.

\section{Conclusions and outlook}

While much has been understood about model systems, most notably the Hubbard model,
understanding correlated electron physics and reliably
performing predictive computations in real materials
remain a central challenge in
condensed matter physics and materials science.
Significant progress has been made from several fronts, for example with
the combination of DFT
and the $GW$ and Bethe-Salpeter equation formalisms \cite{GW-BSE-rmp2002,louie2006predicting,C7CS00049A},
approaches based on dynamical mean field theory \cite{Georges_RMP_1996, Marianetti06RMP,MillisNowadnick,ZinglGeorgesSr2RuO4},
as well as several of the methods included here.
In this paper we have focused on pushing state-of-the-art many-body ground-state methods
towards a comprehensive theory of correlated materials.
Individually, advances are made within each method to address the technical challenges for systematically accurate calculations
of correlated systems in the continuum and thermodynamic limit.
Collectively, with a combination of multiple methods, we are able to achieve a high level of robustness in our
characterization and predictions of the ground-state properties.

The hydrogen chain provides a good
compromise between physical/chemical realism and tractability,
We studied
the balance and competition between band structure, electron interaction and multi-orbital physics as a function of a single parameter, the inter-proton
distance $R$.
At large $R$, the system exhibits a Mott insulating phase with quasi long-range AFM order, and dimerization effects visible in the density, kinetic energy
and entanglement spectrum.
Upon decreasing $R$, it transitions via a self-doping mechanism into a metallic phase which  exhibits magnetic correlations.
At short bondlength the magnetic correlation is modulated by an incommensurate wavevector.
Near the MIT the occupancy of the ``higher band'' is very low and the size of the magnetic domain grows,
potentially allowing the possibility to develop global polarization.
We find that the higher natural orbitals
(occupied in the metallic phase and important as virtual excitations in the large $R$ insulating phase) have an extremely diffuse and occupation-dependent structure.
Thus, despite its apparent simplicity, the H chain embodies a surprisingly rich set of the major themes in contemporary quantum materials physics,
including metal-insulator transitions, magnetism, and intra- and inter-site electron correlation physics.

It is interesting to place our results in  historical context. The study of the MIT was pioneered by Nevill Mott.
In 1949 Mott noted \cite{mott1949basis} that many materials were insulating when band theory considerations indicated that they should be metallic. He argued that one should view the physics in terms of localized atomic-like orbitals   rather than plane waves and observed that in this picture  conductivity required moving an electron from one site to another, creating a particle-hole pair. He argued that this process could be blocked if the charging energy on a given lattice site was large enough to  prevent an additional electron from moving onto it. This physics is famously instantiated in the extensively studied Hubbard model \cite{Hubbard1963}, and our results in the large-$R$ regime are consistent with it.  In subsequent work  \cite{mott1961transition,Mott_RMP_1968} Mott noted that in the insulating phase the unscreened Coulomb interaction would bind the particle and hole to a neutral object, which would not conduct, whereas in a metal the self-consistent screening of the Coulomb interaction would lead to unbound pairs, so that the MIT occurs via a first-order process. Our results demonstrate a different route to the MIT: the H chain becomes metallic via a self-doping process which is (within our resolution) second-order. The carriers in the second band are both very delocalized and at very different $k$-points from the carriers in the dominantly occupied band, so that  excitonic effects are either absent or unobservably weak.  Our work underscores the importance of the interplay of correlation physics with the real materials effects of band crossing and electronic structure.

Experimentally, the physics we have described
could potentially be realized in ultracold atoms in optical lattices,
arrays of Rydberg atoms \cite{Lukin-Rydberg},
or perhaps with carbon nanotubes, in which carbon chains have been isolated \cite{Shi_nature_2016}.
Experimental realization would provide an
{\it{in silico}} insulator-to-metal transition,
which would be a significant contribution to the intensely investigated topic of metallicity in hydrogen \cite{wigner1935possibility,eremets2011conductive,azadi2017nature,Loubeyre2020}.
We also hope that our study will stimulate experimental research on the characterization of hydrogen at extreme density \cite{mao1989optical,loubeyre2002optical,PhysRevLett.114.105305,mazzola2014unexpectedly,Loubeyre2020},
in connection with the theoretical description of astrophysical bodies \cite{guillot2005interiors}
and the discovery and characterization of exotic magnetic phases in low-dimensional condensed matter systems \cite{dias2017observation,Loubeyre2020}.

More generally, our study establishes the H chain as an important model system
and demonstrates the power of the synergistic application of independent
numerical methodologies \cite{LeBlanc_PRX_2015,Motta_PRX_2017,Zheng_Science_2017}.
This mode of attack has the potential to address other challenging problems in condensed matter physics,
including the systematic investigation of real materials with immediate technological applications by first-principles
many-body methods.

\section*{Acknowledgments}

We thank T.~Giamarchi, N.~Marzari, A.~Rubio, and M.~van Schilfgaarde for helpful discussions.
This work was supported by the Simons Foundation as part of the Simons collaboration on the many-electron problem.
The Flatiron Institute is a division of the Simons Foundation.
Computations were carried out on facilities supported by the Scientific Computing Core at the Flatiron Institute (MM, HS)
and by the US Department of Energy, National Energy Research Scientific
Computing Center (ZHC, PH, MM, UR),
on the Pauling cluster at the California Institute of Technology (ZHC, PH, MM, UR)
and on the Storm and SciClone Clusters at the College of William and Mary (FM, MM).
MM acknowledges the IBM Research Cognitive Computing Cluster service for providing resources that have contributed
to the research results reported within this paper.
GKC acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation under Grant No. OAC 1931258.
FM acknowledges support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 11674027.
SS and CG acknowledge support from PRIN 2017BZPKSZ and computational resources from CINECA PRACE 2019204934.
SW, EMS, RS and NC acknowledge support from DOE under Grant DE-SC0008696 and Swiss National Science Foundation.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
Rammstein Confirmed To Return To Donington As Final Download Festival 2016 Headliners
Jamie Giberti
Till Cooking Flake: Standard Rammstein Sunday Night
It's the news that virtually all of Team Rock Sins was hoping for, with it having been rumoured for quite some time. Rammstein are headlining Download Festival 2016!!! The German industrial metal giants have been confirmed as the final headliners for next year's Download, headlining the event on the opening night, Friday June 10th. Rammstein join Black Sabbath who headline Saturday, and Iron Maiden who will close the event headlining on Sunday night, as the three headliners for Download 2016.
By the time it was formally announced this morning, it was something of a poorly kept secret (indeed the official Download Festival Twitter account may have accidentally let it slip at some point yesterday briefly), but the majority of fans won't mind at all. They'll just be happy that a band acclaimed as one of Download's best ever headliners are making their return.
Tickets for Download Festival 2016 go on sale at 9am on Friday (23rd of October 2015) on the official festival website www.downloadfestival.co.uk/tickets. A 5 day arena and camping ticket, for the full Download experience will cost £205 plus fees and postage, while a 3 day arena and camping ticket will cost £195 plus extras. Those who want the full 3 days in the arena can pay £170 plus fees, while individual day tickets for the festival will be £75 plus fees.
Can't wait to snap up your tickets on Friday? In the mean time, let's look back on the last time Rammstein were at Download. Our man on the ground on the day, Matt Hill, gave them an almighty review which you can read here. We can also all relive the magic (or see it for the first time if you weren't there) with the video of both Du Hast and Feuer Frei, which were filmed professionally and broadcast as part of Sky Arts Download highlights TV show:
Stay tuned to Rock Sins for more Download Festival line up announcements as the weeks and months progress!
Download Festival 2016
Features and Live Editor for Rock Sins. Co-founder of Rage PR. Forever juggling the worlds of journalism, PR, web development, SEO and photography.
Download Festival 2022 Add 70 Bands Including KoRn, Deftones, Megadeth & Funeral For A Friend
Download Festival 2021 Cancelled, Iron Maiden Replace System Of A Down for 2022
Black Sabbath Bassist, Geezer Butler, Re-releases Three Albums, on Vinyl for the First Time
AC/DC Gets The Rocksaws Jigsaw Puzzle Treatment
Rock Sins Weekly Playlist (6th April) – Trivium, Testament, Holding Absence and more
Rock Sins 2019 End Of Year Awards – Matt Mills
Rock Sins 2019 End Of Year Awards – Sam Savigny
Rock Sins 2019 End Of Year Awards – Jamie
Download Festival 2020 Announce First Bands Including Headliners KISS, Iron Maiden and System Of A Down
Rammstein Confirm Second 2020 UK Date With Show At Coventry's Ricoh Arena
Rammstein – Live At Stadium MK, Milton Keynes, 6th July
Video Of The Week (30th May) – Rammstein, Mayday Parade and More!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Encyclopedia > Fighter aircraft
A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for attacking other aircraft. Compare with bomber. Fighters are comparatively small, fast, and highly manoeuverable, and have been fitted with increasingly sophisticated tracking and weapons systems to find and shoot down other aircraft.
At one time, just before the opening of World War II, there were two types of fighters. Smaller single-engine planes were used as interceptors and day fighters, sometimes referred to as pursuit, while larger twin-engine designs were used as heavy fighters. The later role proved to be unworkable, or at least not enough effort was put into them to remain useful. They then found themselves being converted to an ever-growing list of secondary roles, including strike fighters, bomber destroyers and night fighters, where their two engines gave them the increased payload needed to fill these roles.
As the performance of aircraft engines improved, notably with the jet engine in the 1960s, the need for different designs gradually disappeared. First the interceptor, bomber destroyer and night fighter designs merged into a single aircraft class. Later advances in targeting systems and the ever-increasing payloads meant that modern fighters can carry a load as large as the biggest WWII bombers, eliminating many of the bomber and attack aircraft roles as well. Today there are typically only two general fighter designs, smaller planes which make up the backbone of most air forces, and larger designs that operate at longer distances, sometimes referred to as interdictors[?].
Fighter aircraft developed during World War I, when they were tasked with hunting down enemy reconnaissance aircraft and balloons. Engine power was so scarce that they were barely able to lift themselves, but by the end of the war they had become one of the primary designs in the inventory.
By the time of World War II fighter aircraft were extremely important. Control of the sky, or air superiority, had become a vital part of military doctrine, notably in the case of the blitzkrieg. The Luftwaffe's inability to destroy the British fighter squadrons made the seaborne invasion of Britain infeasible. As engine power grew, existing designs were increasingly used in other roles, with aircraft like the Republic P-47 and Hawker Typhoon becoming celibrated attack aircraft.
Messerschmitt developed the first operational jet fighter, the Me 262, proving to be significantly faster than conventional propeller-driven aircraft. In general terms these were untouchable as long as the pilot used the speed advantage. They could simply fly away from defending fighters, or in the hands of a more competent pilot, they could run down opposing fighters so quickly they simply didn't have time to get out of the way of its guns. They were little used, partly due to German fuel shortages. Moreover, their speed advantage was significantly negated by Hitler's insistence that they be used primarily as fighter bombers. Nevertheless the plane clearly pointed to the end of the propeller engine for fighters. Great Britain soon followed with their Gloster Meteor, and by the end of the war almost all work on piston powered fighters had ended.
In the 1950s, jet-engined fighter planes capable of supersonic flight were developed. Power remained low, and the designs were dedicated to specific roles. Any particular air force might deploy three or four designs, day fighters, night fighters, attack planes, etc.
By the 1960s these distinctions had continued to erode. One of the classic "multi-role" aircraft is the McDonnell F-4 Phantom II, which was used in practically every role. By the 1970s this evolution was largely complete. Current developments include reducing the radar visibility of fighters, techniques known as stealth[?], as well as increased range at supersonic speeds and better manoeuverability.
1 Historical overview
1.5 1953-present
1.5.1 Recently Introduced, Experimental and Proposed Future Designs
Aerial combat first evolved during World War I
French aviator Roland Garros became the first flying "ace" (a pilot who shoots down five or more enemy aircraft) when he affixed machine guns to his aircraft (Morane-Saulnier Type L) which fired through the propeller, although he used crude metal deflector plates (the bullets hit the propeller but were deflected aside) rather than interruptor gear[?]. Dutch aircraft designer Anthony Fokker developed the first interruptor for the machine gun, which prevents bullets from hitting the propeller of the aircraft.
Significant aircraft:
Nieuport[?]
Fokker: Fokker Dr.I, Fokker D.VII
S.P.A.D.[?], or "Spad[?]"
RAE SE5a[?]
De Havilland Mosquito
Messerschmitt Bf 110[?]
See also List of military aircraft of the Luftwaffe
Macchi C202[?]
Mitsubishi Zero
PZL P.7a[?]
PZL P.11c[?]
Mikoyan MiG-3[?]
Yakolev Yak-9[?]
Vought[?] F4U Corsair
Grumman F6F Hellcat[?]
Lockheed P-38 Lightning
Bell P-39 Airacobra[?]
Curtiss P-40
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
North American P-51 Mustang
Saab J21[?]
Many of these fighters would do over 400 m.p.h. in level flight, and were fast enough in a dive that they started encountering the effects of getting too close to the speed of sound, occasionally even to the point of breaking up in flight. Dive brakes were developed late in WW II to minimize these problems and restore control to the pilots.
Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star
Republic F-84 Thunderjet[?]
North American F-86 Sabre[?]
North American F-100 Super Sabre
Grumman Panther
Lockheed F-104 Starfighter
de Havilland Vampire[?]
Hawker Hunter[?]
Dassault MD 450[?]
Dassualt Mystere IVB[?]
Dassault MD 550 Mirage I[?]
Saab Tunnan[?]
Saab Lansen[?]
Saab Draken[?]
The first generation of production jet fighter planes had performance problems near sonic speed (similar to that of the latest piston engined fighters) until aeronautical engineer Richard Whitcomb discovered the "area rule" in 1952. Subsequent designs featured a "bottle-shaped" fuselage that improved performance. This would be an important distinction between early jet fighters (F-86, etc.) and later ones, like the F-5.
Avro CF-100[?]
Avro Arrow
Dassault Super Etendard[?]
Dassault Mirage F1[?]
Dassault Mirage 2000[?]
Dassault Rafale
F-5 Freedom Fighter
F/A-18 Hornet
Saab Viggen
English Electric Lightning
Hawker Siddeley Harrier
Soko J-1 Jastreb[?]
Soko J-22 Orao[?]
Recently Introduced, Experimental and Proposed Future Designs
F/A-22 Raptor
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
See also : Military aircraft list
... a passage for sperm. The external urethral sphincter is the skeletal muscle that allows voluntary control over urination. In the human female, the urethra is about ...


text:
Two PhD Positions in Library and Information Science at Uppsala University
By Isto Huvila, 20 April, 2015
Uppsala University is an international research university focused on the development of science and education. Our most important assets are all the individuals who with their curiosity and their dedication makes Uppsala University one of Sweden's most exciting work places. Uppsala University has 41.000 students, 6,500 employees and a turnover of SEK 5,900 million.
At the Department of Archival Science, Library and Information Science, Museology and Cultural Heritage Studies (ALM) with a start date of 1 September 2015 at the earliest.
The PhD programme comprises four years of study in a funded doctoral studentship. Doctoral students are expected to pursue their studies full-time and to take an active part in the Department's activities. Departmental duties (typically teaching and administration) at a level of at most 20 per cent may be included in the post.
The PhD programme in Library and Information Science is regulated by the general study plan, which may be obtained online at: abm.uu.se > Forskning > Utbildning på forskarnivå.
Qualifications required: To be admitted to the PhD programme in Library and Information Science, applicants must fulfil basic and specific entry requirements. The basic requirement is a Master's degree, and the completion of required coursework totalling at least 240 ECTS credits, of which at least 60 ECTS credits must be at Master's level, or broadly equivalent knowledge or qualifications acquired in Sweden or abroad. Qualified applicants for a PhD studentship in Library and Information Science at Uppsala University will have a Master's degree in library and information science, archival science, museology and cultural heritage studies or other relevant main discipline, or will have acquired broadly equivalent knowledge or qualifications in some other educational system in Sweden or abroad. An applicant who prior to 1 July 2007 fulfilled the specific entry requirement for admission to the PhD programme, i.e. by holding a Magister degree in library and information science or possessing equivalent knowledge or qualifications acquired in some other educational system in Sweden or abroad, will also be considered qualified for admission to the PhD programme. For the current regulations, see Högskoleförordningen (University Regulations), Chapters 5 and 6 and Uppsala University's guidelines for PhD programmes: http://regler.uu.se/Listsida/?kategoriId=139
Application: Applications should be made on the online form on the Faculty's website http://www.histfilfak.uu.se, under Forskning/Forskarutbildning. The application should be accompanied by:
A brief CV
A certified copy of the relevant degree certificate, diploma supplement or equivalent
A research plan (see specification below)
Copies of the Master's/Magister thesis, and any other publications that the applicant wishes to have considered.
Research plan: The research plan should be max. six pages and should contain a tentative title for the dissertation, present the subject area and focus of the research, the research material, the theoretical frameworks and methods to be applied, an overview of earlier research on the subject (including any current or ongoing research) and a preliminary timetable for the four years the PhD programme comprises.
Admission: Successful applicants will be selected on the basis of their capacity to benefit from the PhD programme. Particular weight will also be given to the dissertation proposal.
Information: Requests for information will be answered by the Head of the Department for ALM, Ulrika Kjellman, ulrika.kjellman@abm.uu.se, tel.: 018-471 3386; the Director of PhD studies Kerstin Rydbeck, kerstin.rydbeck@abm.uu.se, tel.: 018-471 7978; and the Faculty's Director of Education Malin Sigvardson, malin.sigvardson@uadm.uu.se, tel.: 018-471 18.
We welcome your application by no later than 10 May 2015, UFV-PA 2015/934. Send it to Registrator, Uppsala universitet, Box 256, 751 06 Uppsala. NB: You will find an application form at http://www.histfilfak.uu.se/Forskning/Forskarutbildning/.
An extension until 10 June is available for those students who complete their Master's programme during the spring semester and who need to supplement their application with the Master's thesis. The Master's thesis should be sent to ulrika.kjellman@abm.uu.se.
More information at http://www.uu.se/en/about-uu/join-us/details/?positionId=63251
phdpositions


text:
The Information War
Filed Reports
Dispatches University
By The Editor Information War March 21, 2017
The Election Wasn't Stolen by Moscow
Will enough of our fellow citizens be exposed to the truth about the 2016 election and Moscow? Only if our side learns how to fight the information war. Here is Jonathan S. Tobin writing at National Review:
The assumption that WikiLeaks altered the outcome is still nonsense.
No matter how the White House tries to spin the testimony of FBI director James Comey to the House Intelligence Committee on Monday, the damage can't be denied. Though it merely confirmed what everyone already knew, Comey's statement that an investigation into possible collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign has been going on since last summer provides ammunition for the president's critics. Even more than Comey's willingness to add his voice to those officials who have dismissed the president's foolish tweets about the alleged wiretapping of Trump Tower, the FBI inquiry gives a measure of credence to the conspiracy theories about Russia that liberals have been using to undermine the president.
The probe may find absolutely nothing that justifies the suspicions. Indeed, given that the government sources that leaked the first information about surveillance of Trump-campaign figures to the New York Times admitted they had found no evidence to back up the charge of collusion, it is entirely likely that the FBI effort will eventually come up empty. But the existence of the probe is enough to cast a shadow over a presidency that is already floundering because of the president's self-inflicted wounds and the chaos engendered by the palace intrigue that has engulfed the White House.
But despite the seriousness of the administration's predicament, it is still worthwhile pointing out that one key element of the Democratic narrative about Trump and Russia is still utter nonsense. The notion that Russian efforts succeeded in stealing the presidential election from Hillary Clinton has no basis in fact.
Read more: National Review
Image credit: Night view of Moscow Kremlin and Moscow River in Moscow, Russia by Catarina Belova / Wikipedia.
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text:
Murder suspect arrested after standoff in North Augusta
by: Danielle Casalie, D.V. Wise
NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. (WJBF) – A murder suspect is now in custody after a standoff at a home in North Augusta.
Investigators say that they were attempting to serve a warrant for the suspect around 5:00 pm Wednesday evening on Millstone Lane in the Walnut Grove Neighborhood.
North Augusta Public Safety was asked to assist in the arrest by the Burke County's Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Marshall's Office.
Lt. Junior Johnson tells NewsChannel 6 that 20-year-old Jordan Perkins was taken into custody just after 11:15 p.m.
Perkins was wanted after a shooting that left one person dead at an illegal bar in Burke County.
A second suspect who has been identified as Jawuandre Kelly is still wanted in that case.
A $10,000 dollar reward is being offered in his arrest.
Anyone with information regarding Kelly's whereabouts is asked to contact the Burke County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigation Division at 706-554-6633 or the Sheriff's Office at 706-554-2133.
Stay tuned to NewsChannel 6 for more on this developing story.
WJBF Daily Headlines
Video released of Murdaugh interview after murders
Kemp wants to raise teacher salary by $2K or more
Ga. home daycare owner arrested for assaulting children
Two workers killed in Warren Co. mining accident
Kemp issues state of emergency over violent protests
Gold Cross to pull ambulances out of Richmond Co.


During our last hackathon, we wanted to make our playback to start faster. Before our playback starts to show something to the final users we do around 5 to 6 requests (counting some manifests) and our goal was to cut as much as we can.
The first step was very easy, we just inverted the code logic from the client side to the server side and then we injected the prepared player on the page.
Okay, that's nice but can we go further? Yes, how about to embed our manifests into our page?! It turns out that we can do that with the power of URL.createObjectURL, this API gives us an URL for a JS blob/object/file.
We thought we were done but then we came up with the idea of doing the same process for the first video segment, the page now will weight more but the player would almost play instantaneously.
By the way, our player is based on Clappr and this particular test was done with hls.js playback which does use the fetch API to get the video segments, fetching this created URL works just fine.
The animated gif you see at the start of the post was done without the segment on the page optimization. And we just ignored the possible side effects on the player ABR algorithm (that could think it has a high bandwidth due to the fast manifest fetch).
Finally, we can make it even faster using the MPEG Dash and its template timeline format, we can use shorter segments sizes and we can tune the ABR algorithm to be initially faster.
Update 1(10/16/2016): Anne Aaron presented the VMAF at the Demuxed 2016.
When working with videos, you should be focusing all your efforts on best quality of streaming, less bandwidth usage, and low latency in order to deliver the best experience for the users.
This is not an easy task. You often need to test different bitrates, encoder parameters, fine tune your CDN and even try new codecs. You usually run a process of testing a combination of configurations and codecs and check the final renditions with your naked eyes. This process doesn't scale, can't we just trust computers to check that?
bit rate (bitrate): is a measure often used in digital video, usually it is assumed the rate of bits per seconds, it is one of the many terms used in video streaming.
We were about to start a new hack day session here at Globo.com and since some of us learned how to measure the noise introduced when encoding and compressing images, we thought we could play with the stuff we learned by applying the methods to measure video quality.
We started by using the PSNR (peak signal-to-noise ratio) algorithm which can be defined in terms of the mean squared error (MSE) in decibel scale.
PSNR: is an engineering term for the ratio between the maximum possible power of a signal and the power of corrupting noise.
First, you calculate the MSE which is the average of the squares of the errors and then you normalize it to decibels.
For 3D signals (colored image), your MSE needs to sum all the means for each plane (ie: RGB, YUV and etc) and then divide by 3 (or 3 * MAX ^ 2).
To validate our idea, we downloaded videos (720p, h264) with the bitrate of 3400 kbps from distinct groups like News, Soap Opera and Sports. We called this group of videos the pivots or reference videos. After that, we generated some transrated versions of them with lower bitrates. We created 700 kbps, 900 kbps, 1300 kbps, 1900 kbps and 2800 kbps renditions for each reference video.
Heads Up! Typically the pivot video (most commonly referred to as reference video), uses a truly lossless compression, the bitrate for a YUV420p raw video should be 1280x720x1.5(given the YUV420 format)x24fps /1000 = 33177.6KBps, far more than what we used as reference (3400KBps).
We extracted 25 images for each video and calculate the PSNR comparing the pivot image with the modified ones. Finally, we calculate the mean. Just to help you understand the numbers below, a higher PSNR means that the image is more similar to the pivot.
We defined a PSNR of 38 (from our observations) as the ideal but then we noticed that the News group didn't meet the goal. When we plotted the News data in the graph we could see what happened.
The issue with the video from the News group is that they're a combination of different sources: External traffic camera with poor resolution, talking heads in a studio camera with good resolution and quality, some scenes with computer graphics (like the weather report) and others. We suspected that the News average was affected by those outliers but this kind of video is part of our reality.
We needed a better way to measure the quality perception so we searched for alternatives and we reached one of the Netflix's posts: an approach toward a practical perceptual video quality metric (VMAF). At first, we learned that PSNR does not consistently reflect human perception and that Netflix is creating ways to approach this with the VMAF model.
They created a dataset with several videos including videos that are not part of the Netflix library and put real people to grade it. They called this score of DMOS. Now they could compare how each algorithm scores against DMOS.
They realized that none of them were perfect even though they have some strength in certain situations. They adopted a machine-learning based model to design a metric that seeks to reflect human perception of video quality (a Support Vector Machine (SVM) regressor).
The Netflix approach is much wider than using PSNR alone. They take into account more features like motion, different resolutions and screens and they even allow you train the model with your own video dataset.
The best news (pun intended) is that the VMAF is FOSS by Netflix and you can use it now. The following commands can be executed in the terminal. Basically, with Docker installed, it installs the VMAF, downloads a video, transcodes it (using docker image of FFmpeg) to generate a comparable video and finally checks the VMAF score.
You saved around 1.89 MB (37%) and still got the VMAF score 94.
Using a composed solution like VMAF or VQM-VFD proved to be better than using a single metric, there are still issues to be solved but I think it's reasonable to use such algorithms plus A/B tests given the impractical scenario of hiring people to check video impairments.
A/B tests: For instance, you could use X% of your user base for Y days offering them the newest changes and see how much they would reject it.


This is as much a personal interest as a research endeavor. Since I was a child in 7th grade I found the market fascinating. I would look at the paper everyday and log in a notebook how AAPL, MSFT, and other stocks were doing. When online trading became common place I opened up a custodial account at 16 years old with the broker datek (now know as TDameritrade). I've been an active trader ever since.
On this page I will post my price predictions & the current value of the asset. Please note: All data and information is provided "as is" for personal informational purposes only, and is not intended for trading purposes or advice. Please consult your broker or financial representative to verify pricing before executing any trade.
A friend of mine showed me this widget when I was looking for intra-day DAX data (DAAX, DAXI), Hang Seng and other over seas intra-day market data. Enjoy!


Emphasizes critical sounds to give you an audio advantage.
Designed for everywhere your game, with superior sound, comfort, and style on all gaming platforms, including PC, PlayStation, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, VR and mobile via detachable 3.5mm cables.
With its lightweight construction, innovative suspension design, and athletic-inspired fabrics, Arctis is proven by Esports pros to stay comfortable over the longest gaming sessions.


How do rising global food prices impact upon people living in less economically developed countries?
In the UK, how have rising food prices affected food shopping habits?
During the last decade world food prices has risen considerably. A recent BBC news report highlights that the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) food price index is nearly 50% higher than it was in 2003 and the price of cereals is up eighty per cent in the same period. Cereals include wheat, corn and rice, which are staple foods for many people.
When food prices are high, the poor eat less or switch to lower quality foods, which can increase malnutrition. Between 130 million and 150 million people fell into poverty in the last two years due to high prices (Department for International Development). Over one billion people were living on less than $1 a day and over 900 million people were undernourished, even before the crises hit (data taken from the Millenium Project website).
Four plant species - wheat, maize, rice and potato - provide over half of the plant-based calories in the human diet and it has been the sudden and dramatic increase in the price of these products that has caused distress and in some cases, food riots, around the world.
Global food prices have been rising over the last three years; but in 2008 they spiralled considerably. Between 2007 and 2008 the average price of food rose by 56%, with wheat rising by 92% and rice, the staple of half the world, by 96% (article by economist Kaushik Basu BBC News).
The main losers have been poor people who live in cities in developing countries, who have faced higher prices for imported food on low incomes. The World Bank also warned that the high price of food could lead to developing countries missing international poverty targets. The recent dip in prices has provided some relief, but the FAO says 36 countries are still in need of external assistance because of continuing local high prices, crop failures or conflict. The main gainers have been farmers in rich and emerging market nations like the US, Brazil, Argentina, Canada and Australia, who are getting record prices for their harvests.
In the UK, where families spend about 20% of their income on food, compared to 60% to 80% in many poorer, less economically developed countries, there has been a noticeable change in many people's shopping habits. Changes have included less impulse buying, more shopping around for food bargains, and greater efforts to avoid food waste. The recent 'credit crunch' has also led to a notable decrease in sales of organic and fairtrade foods, which are often more expensive than non-organic and non-fairtrade products. This online article in the Telegraph discusses this downturn, whilst this report suggests that sales of organic foods have been more negatively affected by the credit crunch than sales of fairtrade products.
Download the prices spreadsheet which shows price changes for rice and wheat. Make a graph of this information and answer these questions: How sudden was the price change? How severe was the price change? What is the current trend?
It is a fact of life that the world price of basic farming commodities fluctuates over the years. This causes severe problems for farmers who are unsure whether or not they will get a price that covers their costs and gives them a profit. For consumers, there is an inevitable knock-on effect when wholesale food prices rise, then food prices in the shops rise also - sometimes suddenly and dramatically. The impact on consumers in developing countries is very different to that in the developed world.
Download The Impact of Changes in Food Prices worksheet. The aim of this exercise is to understand the impact of variable food prices both for a government and for the people who depend on the imported food. The worksheet provides you with a set of imaginary food price graphs. Your task is to answer a set of questions relating to this information from the perspective of a Minister for Food in a poor, less economically developed country.
Further detailed data is available in the prices spreadsheet.
Download The Causes of Changes in Food Prices worksheet. This exercise looks at some of the causes of changing food prices. You are asked to forecast whether prices will rise or fall or stay roughly the same. The aim is to develop an understanding of the principle of supply and demand and the extent to which these two things can be controlled by human actions.
In the UK, changes in food prices cause people to grumble but few people suffer hunger or malnutrition. In most cases, people buy less luxury food items, more of the cheaper 'basic' own-brand food items, shop around for deals, and eat out less in take-aways and restaurants.
Compare the benefits of 'shopping around' in different supermarkets by using the website My Supermarket to compare the cost of six food items listed in the worksheet how much can I save? What is the minimum total cost of these six items? Compare your totals as a class.
To conclude this activity, debate in class which luxury food items you would give up in order to save money. Give reasons for your choice.


text:
Q: Can't show an instance of an inherited Node class public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
    Figure figure = new Figure(50,50,100,100,400,400);
    GridPane pane = new GridPane();
    pane.getChildren().addAll(figure);

    Scene scene = new Scene(pane,500,700);

    primaryStage.setTitle("Main");
    primaryStage.setScene(scene);
    primaryStage.show();
}

public class Figure extends Node {
private Circle circle ;
private Line boldLine ;
private Line thinLine ;
private Line prepenLine ;

public Figure(int centerX, int centerY, int startX, int startY, int endX, int endY){
    Circle circle = new Circle(centerX,centerY,10);
    circle.setStroke(Color.GRAY);
    circle.setFill(Color.DARKGRAY);
   prepenLine = new Line(startX,startY,endX,endY);
}

Hi, I was trying to write a class to use my custom nodes like a combo of line and circle but an error keep occuring in show() statement.
I can't find what is wrong with the code. Any advice?
Edit: provided errors to make it more clear
Exception in thread "JavaFX Application Thread" java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException: Applications should not extend the Node class directly.
    at javafx.graphics/com.sun.javafx.scene.NodeHelper.getHelper(NodeHelper.java:78)
    at javafx.graphics/com.sun.javafx.scene.NodeHelper.transformsChanged(NodeHelper.java:121)
    at javafx.graphics/javafx.scene.Node.nodeResolvedOrientationInvalidated(Node.java:6540)
    at javafx.graphics/javafx.scene.Node.parentResolvedOrientationInvalidated(Node.java:6517)
 etc.

A: According to the documentation:

An application should not extend the Node class directly. Doing so may lead to an UnsupportedOperationException being thrown.

In fact, if I try to run your code, the stack trace explicitly says this too:
Exception in thread "JavaFX Application Thread" java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException: Applications should not extend the Node class directly.
    at javafx.graphics/com.sun.javafx.scene.NodeHelper.getHelper(NodeHelper.java:78)
    at javafx.graphics/com.sun.javafx.scene.NodeHelper.transformsChanged(NodeHelper.java:121)
    at javafx.graphics/javafx.scene.Node.nodeResolvedOrientationInvalidated(Node.java:6540)
    at javafx.graphics/javafx.scene.Node.parentResolvedOrientationInvalidated(Node.java:6517)
 etc. ...

Your Figure class really doesn't do anything anyway: it just creates some shapes (Circles and Lines), which are private (so inaccessible). Those shapes are never actually displayed by your Node class. There is no public API that allows you to determine how a node is painted.
You should probably subclass Region (or perhaps Pane), and add the shapes as child nodes:
public class Figure extends Region {

    private Circle circle ;
    private Line boldLine ;
    private Line thinLine ;
    private Line prepenLine ;

    public Figure(int centerX, int centerY, int startX, int startY, int endX, int endY){
        circle = new Circle(centerX,centerY,10);
        circle.setStroke(Color.GRAY);
        circle.setFill(Color.DARKGRAY);
        prepenLine = new Line(startX,startY,endX,endY);
        getChildren().addAll(circle, prepenLine);
    }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: Soft cosine distance between two vectors (Python) I am wondering if there is a good way to calculate the soft cosine distance between two vectors of numbers. So far, I have seen solutions for sentences, which however did not help me, unfortunately.
Say I have two vectors like this:
a = [0,.25,.25,0,.5]
b = [.5,.0,.0,0.25,.25]

Now, I know that the features in the vectors exhibit some degree of similarity among them. This is described via:
s = [[0,.67,.25,0.78,.53]
     [.53,0,.33,0.25,.25]
     [.45,.33,0,0.25,.25]
     [.85,.04,.11,0,0.25]
     [.95,.33,.44,0.25,0]]

So a and b are 1x5 vectors, and s is a 5x5 matrix, describing how similar the features in a and b are.
Now, I would like to calculate the soft cosine distance between a and b, but accounting for between-feature similarity. I found this formula, which should calculate what I need:
soft cosine formula
I already tried implementing it using numpy:
import numpy as np

soft_cosine = 1 - (np.dot(a,np.dot(s,b)) / (np.sqrt(np.dot(a,np.dot(s,b))) * np.sqrt(np.dot(a,np.dot(s,b)))))

It is supposed to produce a number between 0 and 1, with a higher number indicating a higher distance between a and b. However, I am running this on a larger dataframe with multiple vectors a and b, and for some it produces negative values. Clearly, I am doing something wrong.
Any help is greatly appreciated, and I am happy to clarify what need clarification!
Best,
Johannes

A: From what I see it may just be a formula error. Could you please try with mine ?
soft_cosine = a @ (s@b) / np.sqrt( (a @ (s@a) ) * (b @ (s@b) ) )

I use the @ operator (which is a shorthand for np.matmul on ndarrays), as I find it cleaner to write : it's just matrix multiplication, no matter if 1D or 2D. It is a simple way to compute a dot product between two 1D arrays, with less code than the usual np.dot function.

A: soft_cosine = 1 - (np.dot(a,np.dot(s,b)) / (np.sqrt(np.dot(a,np.dot(s,b))) * np.sqrt(np.dot(a,np.dot(s,b)))))
I think you need to change: the denominator has both "a" and both "b".
soft_cosine = 1 - (np.dot(a,np.dot(s,b)) / (np.sqrt(np.dot(a,np.dot(s,a))) * np.sqrt(np.dot(a,np.dot(s,b))))).


text:
Arriving in Sierra Leone and climbing Mount Bintumani
Our flight from Morocco landed in the early hours of the morning so we arrived in Sierra Leone in a somewhat peaceful daze. To get to Freetown from the airport you have to catch a ferry across the bay so on leaving the airport a van took us down a rough and bumpy track to a make shift wharf made from old yellow plastic containers strapped together with rope. Our ferry was a small and somewhat shabby looking enclosed capsule like boat docked to this bobbing yellow rig. Through the haze of my weariness I couldn't help marvelling that this was the common way to come to and from the International Airport. But the ferry ride was calm and in my sleep deprived state I felt completely at ease in the hands of our crew of young boys, they seemed no older than 16, who one by one dropped off to sleep on the floor and benches until there was just the driver left standing. At first the lights of Freetown across the bay seemed impossibly far away but we arrived just as the night sky glimpsed morning, the mist lightly lifting and phosphorescence in the wake of our boat.
From then on we were tucked under the wing of Dan and Ame, our friends from Australia who Damio will be taking over from as the volunteer program coordinator for the NGO Energy for Opportunity (EFO). Our drive to Makeni, where we will be living, was somewhat uneventful if you ignore the fact that the driver stopped to rotate the tyres on three occasions, and each time we were swarmed by curious children as well as adults trying to sell us bananas or peanuts that they carried in big platters on their heads.
The house we live in is very luxurious for Salone standards; we have a concrete floor, a well, solar power that can run low energy appliances, and toilets – luxurious even though they don't flush because we don't have running water.
Three days in and already tiring from a diet of rice with a sauce of cassava leaf, dried fish, chilli and plenty of red palm oil, we embarked on a mission to climb Mount Bintumani, West Africa's highest peak at 1,948m. This involved taking motorbikes from Kabala, a delightfully cool township in the mountains of the north of the country, to the village of Sinekoro further west, higher and heavenly cooler still. A five-hour ride on a bumpy, beaten up, steep and slippery track, two to each bike plus a pack and enough water for five days and four people, the going was rough but thankfully slow…ish… We arrived at a Village just before a river where we stopped to talk to the chief.
At each village you stop at in Sierra Leone, or if you are travelling on foot, each village you pass through, it is kosher that you meet the chief who will ask you a series of questions about where you are from where you are going and what it is that you are doing. We were informed that the river was too high to cross on bikes. So with porters instead of bikes and bitacola (a very bitter nut given as a gift to wish a safe journey) in our pockets as a gift from the chief, we crossed the river on a suspension bridge made of woven vines strung between two trees. We walked the rest of the 8km to Sinekoro.
En-route at all Villages we were met with what seemed like ever multiplying mobs of waving and excitedly screaming swollen bellied children and of course chiefs and other village officials. This made the 8km walk take us a good 6 hours. Finally we arrived at Sinekoro and with more chief and village negotiations and what seemed like hundreds of onlookers we organised porters for the trek up the mountain the next day and food and a place to stay for the night. I slept surprisingly well on the concrete floor of the school with a belly full of chicken and ground-nut (peanut) stew. The four of us paid about AU$5 between us and had a chicken killed and cooked in front of our eyes in a huge pot on the fire along with a pot of rice the size of a small bathtub. This fed all of us our bike riders our porters and about ten other village folk that for some complicated reason that I found difficult to work out were involved in us being there. I enjoyed sitting by the fire with the two women cooking, their babies strapped to their backs, elegantly moving amongst their work and picking the pots up straight from the fire with their bare hands. A small group of children gathered around us that within about half an hour turned into 30… they seemed to mysteriously multiply wherever you went.
The next day we woke early to begin our climb to Bintumani. The day began walking through fields of ground-nut with banana and red palm trees growing by their side. We then entered thick lowland scrub, with all sorts of plants I recognised as being weeds in Australia, many of them I remembered from my grandmas garden in Queensland. I began to fret that this barely penetrable path in the stifling heat represented the walk for the rest of the day, however with great relief we entered forested jungle and began to climb steep and steadily. At one point we came out upon a grassy hill, which we made our way across, the blades well above our heads, crippled by the heat, views of the mountain high above us. Soon again we were back in the relief of the tree cover and as we climbed it became cooler with every step. Our guides showed us, and we tasted, the bitterness of the bark from trees that were used for relieving headaches and stomach pains and from a distance we watched monkeys flying from tree to tree.
Finally we emerged again from the forest, but this time not into the heat like below. A gentle cool golden grassy alpine plain materialised through clouds rolling by at ground level. On the other side of this small piece of heaven we made our camp by a stream in the shade. The rest of the mountain before us and steep paths and cliffs behind us, it made for a scenic camp, with views of what had been and what was to come.
We lazed there for the afternoon, washing our clothes and ourselves because our sweaty stench attracted bees that came in the hundreds. That night we slept on the ground with our mosquito net above us. I slept cold and uncomfortable under my blanket waking before light feeling un-rested. Ame and I stayed behind that morning as the boys walked the last leg to the top of the mountain leaving in the just light of the early morning. We boiled water on the fire and lay in the sun. After lunch we started our descent making faster time not that the going was necessarily easier given the steep slippery nature of the path.
Back at Sinekoro it was like our last night there repeated. The swollen bellied children gathered again and we ate a meal cooked in enormous quantities on the fire. When we were finished Ame gave the last of our bowl to the children, which resulted in a sudden scramble that lasted 5 seconds and just as suddenly dissolved. If you had blinked you would not have known it happened except for the bowl left empty and spinning in a cloud of dust. I remembered our last night there where one of the cooks had rationed out handfuls of the leftovers to the eager children, now I understood why. As an aside, the swollen bellies of the children are apparently not so much a lack of food (there are bananas and oranges that practically grow wild) but a lack of protein.
The next day we made our return journey to Kabala, my body resented me for getting back on the bike and the trip was worse than the first… I never knew going down steep bumpy hills on a bike was harder than going up. I also kept wondering if the suspension had been shot or whether it was just me. But I was thankful for the breeze when we moved and the pretty views of mountains fields and villages we passed. We were all slightly surprised when we made it with stiff and aching bones back to Makeni by that night.
(All photos in Arriving in Sierra Leone and climbing Mount Bintumani are taken by D except the last one which is taken by Dan)
You are currently browsing the Sierra Leone category at the invisible cookbook.


text:
EU Court annuls EU freezing orders on Iranian bank – and Wikileaks again
Bank Mellat v Council of the European Union (supported by EU Commission), EU General Court, 29 January 2013 read judgment
In October 2009, Bank Mellat, an Iranian bank, was effectively excluded from the UK financial market by an Order made by the Treasury, on the basis that it had or might provide banking services to those involved in Iran's nuclear effort. The Bank challenged the Order, and the challenge failed in the Court of Appeal, albeit with a dissent from Elias LJ: see Rosalind English's post and read judgment. The Bank's appeal to the Supreme Court is due to be heard in March 2013; it raises some fascinating issues about common law unfairness, Article 6, and the right to property under A1P1 , given that the Bank was not told of the intention to make the Order prior to its making.
The current case concerns an EU set of measures initiated in 2010, which led to the freezing the Bank's assets on essentially the same grounds, namely involvement with the Iranian nuclear effort. And the EU General Court (i.e. the first instance court) has just annulled the measures – for lack of reasons, lack of respect for the rights of the defence, and for manifest error. So keep an eye on these two parallel cases, in the Supreme Court and in the EU Court of Justice on appeal from this decision.
The EU Council and Commission ran, with the greatest respect to them, an extraordinary preliminary point. The Bank sought to rely on fundamental rights protections and guarantees. Oh no, said the EU, it cannot do that, because the Bank is an emanation of a foreign non-EU state. The EU institutions relied on two connected non-sequiturs before the Court, in their claims that this mattered
(1) Governments cannot go to Strasbourg as victims, ergo they cannot complain of rights abuses in EU Courts and
(2) Governments guarantee rights in their own territories, and therefore cannot complain of infringements elsewhere.
So if this were right, it would follow that even if the EU had ridden roughshod in freezing the Bank's assets, the Bank could do or say nothing about it. Fortunately, not least for the rule of law, the General Court had little time for this argument.
Now to the points of substance. At [49] the Court summarised the purpose of giving reasons in EU law:
first, to provide the person concerned with sufficient information to make it possible to determine whether the measure is well founded or whether it is vitiated by an error which may permit its validity to be contested before the Courts of the European Union and, secondly, to enable the latter to review the lawfulness of that measure. The obligation to state reasons therefore constitutes an essential principle of European Union law which may be derogated from only for compelling reasons. The statement of reasons must therefore in principle be notified to the person concerned at the same time as the act adversely affecting him, for failure to state the reasons cannot be remedied by the fact that the person concerned learns the reasons for the act during the proceedings before the Courts of the European Union (see, to that effect, Case T-390/08 Bank Melli Iran v Council [2009] ECR II-3967, paragraph 80 and case-law cited).
The reasons in fact given by the Council were pretty bald. To give two examples, they stated that the Bank "engages in a pattern of conduct with supports and facilitates Iran's nuclear and ballistic missiles programme" without saying what conduct was being referred to; and they said that the Bank had facilitated the movement of millions of dollars for the nuclear programme, without identifying the transactions in question. In short, in these and other respects, the Council provided no evidence to the Bank to which the Bank could sensibly respond.
Errors of substance were also made. One reason originally given was that the Bank was a state-owned bank. This was wrong. It was a merger of 10 private banks; the Iranian Government exercises voting rights over 20% of the shares in the Bank – according to the evidence in the UK proceedings. As the Court indicated, this error suggested that no checking of the information provided to the EU had been carried out. Allegations were made that the Bank acted for the Iranian Atomic Energy Agency, but even some time later in these proceedings, the Council could produce no evidence or information in support of this allegation. In this regard there are certain similarities between this case and the Fulmen case on which I posted in March 2012
What led to the making of the Order? The Bank made its view clear at [98], though this was not accepted by the Court. Diplomatic cables which had been Wikleaked showed that member states were subject to pressure from the US Government to ensure that these measures were adopted. This , said the Bank, cast doubt on the lawfulness of the measures and the procedures underlying them. The Court said it did not follow that the Council which adopted the measures was affected by any pressure exerted on member states.
As I have said, it is highly likely that this case will go further in Europe. But it stands as a salutary reminder that decisions such as these capable of paralysing a major economic institution cannot be taken on somebody's say-so. The EU has to provide evidence and proper reasons to justify its action.
Robert Wastell from 1 Crown Office Row is junior counsel for HM Treasury in the forthcoming Supreme Court hearing. He played no part in the writing of this post.
One More ! The Court has ruled against the Council in another case involving 'Bank Saderat'
The Court said the Council has failed to provide sufficient evidence that 'Bank Saderat' was involved in the Iranian nuclear program.
Curious to know how the EU is going to deal with all these cases.
@Frack: there is another post related to this case. You should move your comment to this on: http://ukhumanrightsblog.com/2012/03/22/reasons-and-evidence-in-europe
Thank you David for this post! This is making the case clear for the layman that I am.
As you mentioned there are some similarities with Cases T-439/10 and T-440/10 in which there has been a new development since the Council decided to appeal the judgment of the General Court. That's also what is likely to happen with the case of 'Bank Mellat'.
What I understand of their arguments is that the appellant believes the court is not entitled to demand that the Council adduce evidence of its allegations!
Has the appellant any chance to succeed before the court? If so, does it mean that under cover of confidentiality, no authority is empowered to control the Council's decisions? Isn't it a violation of article 6 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights with regard to the right to a fair trial and to an effective remedy? What about the presumption of innocence for natural persons such as Mr. Mahmoudian who is by the way a French citizen?
Would you be so kind as to help me clarify this case?


The onboarding process is the last stage of the recruitment process and gives the new employee and your company an opportunity to start off on the right foot. The onboarding should go beyond orientation to align, integrate and transition a new employee into their role. Working with the 4S Agency to protect your recruitment investment will lead to increased job satisfaction and a faster time to productivity.
A review of your talent acquisition process can lead to a better pool of candidates and increased retention by optimizing your team's know-how in choosing the right fit for the right role. The 4S Agency can find efficiencies and improve your screening, selection and onboarding processes in order to ensure your talent acquisition process is effective for everyone.
System and business requirements should be clearly defined, documented and communicated in order for technology to be utilized the way it was intended. The 4S Agency can help your organization from business requirements to implementation to set your team, vendors and internal partners up for success when implementing ATS and HRIS technologies.
Job descriptions, interview guides and selection requirements are just some of the tools your hiring and recruiting staff need to deliver the best talent selection. The 4S Agency can develop all or some of these tools to ensure your team is set up for success. Additionally, we can assist in high volume recruitment strategies for expansions and seasonal hiring.
Copyright © 2019 The 4S Agency - All Rights Reserved.


text:
Nikalyte partners with Wasatch Photonics to advance application of SERS
Nikalyte Ltd. and Wasatch Photonics are pleased to announce a partnership to facilitate evaluation and testing of a novel SERS substrate for trace detection of materials, with applications in narcotics, food safety, pharmaceuticals, environmental, and biological analysis.
Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) is a specialized form of Raman spectroscopy in which the analyte of interest interacts with gold or silver nanostructures to significantly enhance the Raman signal. It enables Raman spectroscopy, a technique most often used for the identification of bulk materials, to be applied to the detection of trace quantities of potentially harmful or biologically relevant compounds.
Nikalyte Ltd., a leading supplier of nanoparticle coating equipment and services, has developed a new form of substrate for SERS analysis. It incorporates the ease of use of a solid SERS substrate with the reproducibility of liquid SERS at a cost-effective price point, thus overcoming previous limitations to widespread use of the SERS technique.
Conventional wet-deposited SERS substrates offer convenient sample preparation in that they employ an absorbent pad mounted to a microscope slide, but often display significant spatial inhomogeneities, resulting in low signal reproducibility. SERS using colloidal gold nanoparticles in aqueous solution, in contrast, yield very reproducible signals, but require handling of solutions that is not conducive to field use by non-experts.
The Nikalyte SERS substrate approach is unique in that it utilizes gold nanoparticles generated and deposited in vacuum, ensuring that they are ultra-pure and highly uniformly distributed. As no chemicals are used in the synthesis of the nanoparticles, the SERS substrates are free of contamination, delivering superior sensitivity and specificity. The novel SERS substrate is available for less than £10 at test quantities, and can be scaled for volume use.
Together, Nikalyte and Wasatch Photonics are evaluating the performance of these new SERS substrates for use in a variety of relevant applications. Wasatch Photonics is a leading manufacturer of high sensitivity, field-portable Raman spectrometers at wavelengths spanning 248-1064 nm, and as such, is well-positioned to evaluate the performance of the SERS substrates. To date, the use of 785 nm and 830 nm excitation has been assessed for trace detection of a representative drug analyte, demonstrating a 1000x increase in the limit of detection using the Nikalyte SERS substrates. The results of this study are published on the Wasatch Photonics website here. Future work will focus on improving the limit of detection further, and on studies of other analytes relevant for promising SERS applications.
"Surface enhanced Raman is an exciting and rapidly growing field. We are very excited to be working with Wasatch Photonics to evaluate and develop our SERS technology and to push the limits of what current SERS sensors can offer," said Dr Vicky Broadley, Nikalyte Sales and Marketing Director.
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A sole proprietorship and an LLC are two different types of business entities. A sole proprietorship is merely an alter ego of an individual, so business income and expenses are recorded on the individual's personal income tax return. Debts and assets that are accumulated by the sole proprietor in the course of operations are his personal responsibility, even if he uses a trade name to run the proprietorship. Conversely, an LLC is an independent legal entity that operates like a separate individual. Debts and assets that are in the LLC's name belong to the entity.
Since the sole proprietor owns the assets of his business in his own name, he can choose to transfer those assets to a startup LLC. He has the option to treat the transfer as an equity contribution that establishes his ownership interest in the company or as a sale or a lease. If he treats the transfer as a sale or a lease, he must establish the amount of money the LLC will pay him for the transfer. The owner can defer payment by the LLC until the company has sufficient cash flow and can even charge the LLC interest for this convenience.
An LLC cannot as easily assume the debt as the assets of a sole proprietorship. Debt that was acquired during the operation of the sole proprietorship is really the personal debt of the owner. If he fails to pay, the creditor can come after the owner's personal belongings, such as his house. Debt that an LLC owns belongs to the company as an independent legal entity. The owners of the LLC are not personally liable for company debt, in most instances. Most creditors will not allow a sole proprietor to transfer the debt into the name of the LLC because it limits their ability to collect on the debt to just what the LLC owns. Alternatively, you can ask the creditor to add the company to the debt agreement as an additional responsible party or co-signer. In this way, the company can pay the debt, but if it fails to pay, the creditor can still proceed against the owner of the sole proprietorship personally.
Transfers of assets and debts into an LLC impacts the owner's ownership interest in the company. Asset transfers that are treated as equity contributions increase the percentage of the owner's interest in the company. Outside debt that belongs to the owner personally can be paid by the LLC as a loan from the company to the owner to be recouped from future profits or paid back by the owner with or without interest. These transfers are recorded in the owner's capital account, which keeps a running tally of the owner's equity in the company and any money he has to pay back.
Transferring assets and debts from a sole proprietorship to an LLC can have significant tax consequences. In effect, the sole proprietor is disposing of personal assets and must record a gain or a loss on his personal income tax return. Likewise, the assumption of debt by the LLC can be considered income to the owner. It is important to check the tax consequences of transfers before completing the transactions.


Encased in a sleek package, including a wide 2.4-inch screen, full QWERTY keypad and navigation track-pad, the BlackBerry Curve 9360 is ideal for efficient mobile communications. The new smartphone is also equipped with essential smartphone features such a 5-megapixel camera with flash, video recorder and Wi-Fi connectivity for voice and data for a premium smartphone experience. The next generation BlackBerry Curve smartphone delivers the world's best mobile communications and social experiences with the latest release of BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger) pre-loaded and now extends the real time BBM experience to a range of other apps, such as Foursquare, allowing users to easily interact with each other from within the 'BBM connected' app.
still waiting for the 9900 on ATT!
I own four BB, bought them few months ago for me and family, since then this has been by far the worst experience we had in the history of smartphones, i guess you made this phone so smart that all it can do is make our life miserable, we have change the square mouse about four times to each one of our phones and we have not been able to use them steady for more than 7 days. Last night i was going 80 mph, open the window and the rest you can imagine, i think i was really satisfied and realize that since I coulldnt use it anyway what t h… Just toss this pieace of garbage….. I really apreciate the experience you have provided us, thanks,I will be trying the iphone next, and will dedicate whatever life i have to comment over this POS.