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College Basketball Preview
Zags in the NBA
Gonzaga Women's Basketball
A Grip on Sports: Cougars' win is one of the most normal things that happened in the Pac-12 on Saturday
Sun., Nov. 13, 2022
By Vince Grippi vincegrippi55@yahoo.com
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Die Seahawks liegen mit 0:7 zurück. And we're watching. While writing this morning's column. Just call me Mr. Multitasker.
• Football should be popular in Germany. It is a game, after all, of dominating your opponent and land acquisition. Which is why it should come as no surprise the Hawks game with Tampa has filled to overflowing the stadium in Munich. Why the Bucs are dominating the line of scrimmage early, that's harder to understand.
But let's forget about that a moment and focus on Saturday.
The day of chaos. At least in the Pac-12.
Not in Pullman, unless you are referring to Washington State's second-half offense. Though chaos is not the word that comes to mind first. Stagnant is better. Undermanned. Injured. Unproductive.
Yes, it was. The 28 points Washington State scored in the first half – Nakia Watson accounted for three of the four touchdowns – held up because the Cougars have their best defense in years. One that can make a lead stand up. Not allow the dreaded term – you know the one – to come into play.
Sure, Arizona State scored three second half touchdowns. Should have been within seven at the end. But WSU came up big on three two-point conversion attempts and the margin finished 28-18.
With it comes the reward. Another bowl appearance. Seven consecutive non-COVID seasons. Enough to open Jon Wilner's eyes, that's for sure.
"But the Cougars maximize their resources as well as any team in the conference — and far better than most," he wrote this morning. "Their streak of seven consecutive bowl appearances covers three coaching tenures (Mike Leach, Nick Rolovich and Jake Dickert) and reflects administrative alignment of the highest order. President Kirk Schulz not only understands major college football but values the impact winning can have on the campus at large."
It was an understanding shared by Schulz's predecessor, Elson S. Floyd, as well. It's been expensive, but the Cougars are reaping the benefits. Yesterday, that meant finding a way to win over Arizona State with their B- game.
• If you are wondering, the Bucs are winning 14-0. There are 120 seconds left in the first half. It is hard to watch.
• The Pac-12's chances of playing in the CFP is down to one egg in the basket. And it's one of the eggs that turned rotten last summer. But, for now, every athletic director in need of a million dollars or so is rooting for USC to defeat UCLA, Notre Dame, whomever they play in the title game and then hope.
Oregon killed themselves with a mental mistake late, then got hosed by a typical Pac-12 officiating call – "hey, I couldn't see if the receiver was knocked out of bounds, so I'll assume he wasn't and throw a flag that kills any chance of Oregon tying the game" – that isn't reviewable, and lost a game it should have won.
But that wasn't even in the same bowl with UCLA, who lost at home to an Arizona team that wasn't able to stop California's impotent offense for goodness' sake. The Duck loss was at least understandable – Washington is 8-2, ranked and it's a rivalry game. The Bruins? It's a defeat that can't be explained rationally. And it not only ruined their season, but devalues the result next week against USC, no matter the outcome.
WSU: The Cougars' victory made them bowl eligible, sure, but it came at a price. They were already playing without their starting left tackle (and will be the rest of the season). Then they lost another starting offensive lineman to injury. Colton Clark covered those events as well as the game itself and the difference makers. … Jacob Thorpe has his thoughts on the game with this column and we had our thoughts on the broadcast with the TV Take. … The folks in the office took care of the recap with highlights. … James Snook has this photo gallery. … The Arizona State perspective is available as well. … The basketball team traveled to Boise State and lost 71-61. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college football, Wilner has his perspective on the chaotic Saturday. … The Washington 37-34 win was an upset, sure, but the Huskies have showed the ability behind Micheal Penix Jr. to score on most anyone. The Ducks' Bo Nix looked flustered for the first time since the Georgia loss. And the Huskies caused it. … Yes, Arizona is improved. Jayden de Laura has played a big part in that. But the Wildcats' defense has been sieve-like and the Bruins didn't dominate it as they should have in a 34-28 loss. … Oregon State dominated California on both sides of the ball in a 38-10 victory. The Beavers have cemented their spot in the conference's upper middle class. … Stanford and Cal have one thing left. They play each other. The Cardinal were boat-raced once again, this time by Utah. The Utes scored 42 consecutive points in the 42-7 victory. … In basketball news, Colorado faces Tennessee, which will be a challenge.
Gonzaga: Theo Lawson has a last look at the one-point victory over Michigan State. … The women showed their outside prowess in a rout of Southern Utah. Jim Allen was in the Kennel and has this game story. … Elsewhere in the WCC, the BYU women are struggling.
EWU: This is a lost season for the Eagles and not even a chance to challenge Montana in Missoula could change that. The Griz dominated Eastern 63-7. Dan Thompson has the game story. … Dan has a notebook as well. … We also wanted to share this basketball story from Friday. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Weber State dominated Idaho State. … Montana State ran over Cal Poly. … Northern Colorado upset Northern Arizona in Greeley 21-20.
Idaho: It was senior night in Moscow, But UC Davis ruined it with a dominating 44-26 victory. Peter Harriman has the story.
Whitworth: The Pirates' season ended with a 28-14 loss to George Fox. John Blanchette was at the Pine Bowl and has this story.
Preps: The football playoffs roll on with Gonzaga Prep rolling past Kamiakin 40-27. Dave Nichols has the coverage. … Dave has a roundup of the rest of Saturday's football as well as one on State soccer and volleyball.
Chiefs: The losing streak is over. Spokane handled Tri-City 7-3 at the Arena. Kevin Dudley has the coverage.
Seahawks: Yes, Seattle has a German player on their roster. He couldn't play this week though.
• It doesn't look as if the Hawks are going to win this week. They aren't getting much in the way of breaks and they are not helping themselves either. The third quarter is done and they trail 14-3. Until later …
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Top stories in Sports
'It's definitely a place he wanted to be.' Domantas Sabonis reacts to Lakers' acquisition of former Gonzaga standout Rui Hachimura
Updated: 'It's go time': Sacre offers thoughts on former Gonzaga star Rui Hachimura joining Lakers …
Updated: Rui off to Los Angeles: Wizards trade former first-round pick and Gonzaga standout Hachimura to Lakers …
Updated: Gonzaga slides eight spots to No. 14 in the Associated Press rankings …
Inside Gonzaga hoops: Jim Meehan and Richard Fox return for the weekly Zags Basketball Insiders Podcast …
Charges dropped against driver in golf cart crash that killed Spokane police officer
Lewis and Clark graduate accused of participating in violent Atlanta riot
Spokane developer Dick Vandervert, who envisioned prominent commercial spaces, thought 'big picture'
5 good questions to ask about Medicare Advantage Plans
Some seniors aren't sure where to start when choosing a Medicare health plan.


On 7th of september close to 100 Start-Ups presented their ideas at a new Start-Up exhibition, which was set up by Deutsche Telekom in Berlin. At the so called "Lange Nacht der Startups" (Long night of the Start-Ups) companies like hellofresh, modomoto, Path, reBuy, Sponsorpay and Über explained their solutions to more thant 2.000 visitors of the event.
While attending the event, visitors have been asked to choose their favorite Start-Up of the event. As a result abalo was voted to be the best Start-Up and won the so called "Customer Choice Award" of the Lange Nacht der Start-Ups and won a voucher for consulting services from KMPG worth €5.000.
On the picture you see Marius Sternberg and Thomas Skowronek, both KMPG handing over the voucher to Daniel Klarkowski, CEO of abalo Germany.


text:
Roll Call · Politics in Stereo
Capitol Invasion Marred Hope of "Peaceful Transfer of Power"
by Jacob Rubashkin January 14, 2021 · 11:19 AM EST
At the final presidential debate of 2016, moderator Chris Wallace asked then-candidate Donald Trump if he would commit to abide by "one of the prides of this country...the peaceful transition of power."
Trump responded, "I'll keep you in suspense, okay?"
More than four years later, after a violent mob invaded the Capitol, leaving five people dead in an unsuccessful attempt to stop Congress's ratification of the Electoral College count, we are faced with the question of whether we can call the transition between the Donald Trump and Joe Biden administrations a "peaceful transfer of power," even if inauguration goes on without incident.
If we have learned anything over the past couple months (or years, or longer), it is that words have consequences and should be used as precisely as possible. So it is important to decide what to call Jan. 6, 2021, as well as Jan. 20.
Was it a coup attempt? A riot? Was it, as an official Department of Defense document released several days later (and since removed from the internet) said, a "First Amendment protest?"
I reached out to two friends smarter than I am for guidance on this question. Isabel Hull is the John Stambaugh Professor Emerita of History at Cornell University, and her research focuses on international law, fascism, and political violence. Valerie Bunce is the Aaron Binenkorb Professor of International Studies and Professor of Government, also at Cornell University, and studies democratization and authoritarianism.…
Wrestling With the Mob
January 8, 2021 · 2:30 PM EST
2022 Senate Overview (January 8, 2021): Control is On the Line, Again
2022 Senate Overview (January 8, 2021): Alabama - Georgia
2022 Senate Overview (January 8, 2021): Hawaii - North Carolina
2022 Senate Overview (January 8, 2021): North Dakota - Wisconsin
Georgia Senate Runoffs: How Democrats Won
by Ryan Matsumoto January 8, 2021 · 2:25 PM EST
Vote Above Replacement: 2020 Presidential Election
by Bradley Wascher January 8, 2021 · 2:24 PM EST
Georgia Senate Runoffs: Paths to Victory for Both Parties
January 4, 2021 · 9:57 AM EST
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Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales provides nonpartisan analysis of campaigns for Senate, House, governor and president. It does not endorse candidates.
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Play audio sample
Imprint: Cornerstone Digital
Format: Audio Download
We Keep the Dead Close
A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence
Becky Cooper
Tr. Paperback
Apple Books Audible Google Play Kobo
A literary true-crime book about the 1969 case involving Jane Britton, an ambitious 23-year-old graduate student in Harvard's Archaeology Department, who was found bludgeoned to death in her Harvard University apartment.
_____________________________You have to remember, he reminded me, that Harvard is older than the U.S. government. You have to remember because Harvard doesn't let you forget.1969: the height of counterculture and the year universities would seek to curb the unruly spectacle of student protest; the winter that Harvard University would begin the tumultuous process of merging with Radcliffe, its all-female sister school; and the year that Jane Britton, an ambitious 23-year-old graduate student in Harvard's Anthropology Department and daughter of Radcliffe Vice President J. Boyd Britton, would be found bludgeoned to death in her Cambridge, Massachusetts apartment.Forty years later, Becky Cooper, a curious undergrad, will hear the first whispers of the story. In the first telling the body was nameless. The story was this: a Harvard student had had an affair with her professor, and the professor had murdered her in the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology because she'd threatened to talk about the affair. Though the rumour proves false, the story that unfolds, one that Cooper will follow for ten years, is even more complex: a tale of gender inequality in academia, a 'cowboy culture' among empowered male elites, the silencing effect of institutions, and our compulsion to rewrite the stories of female victims.WE KEEP THE DEAD CLOSE is a memoir of mirrors, misogyny and murder. It is at once a rumination on the violence and oppression that rules our revered institutions, a ghost story reflecting one young woman's past onto another's present, and a love story for a girl who was lost to history.
Becky Cooper is a former New Yorker writer, assistant to David Remnick, Adam Gopnik and D.T. Max, producer for the New Yorker Radio Hour. Currently, she is artist-in-residence at Harvard University, as well as Senior Fellow at Brandeis's Schuster Institute for Investigative Reporting. Her undergraduate thesis, a literary biography of David Foster Wallace, won Harvard's Hoopes Prize, the highest undergraduate award for research and writing. In 2013, she published Mapping Manhattan: A Love and Sometimes Hate Story in Maps by 75 New Yorkers (Abrams), which is currently in its fifth printing.
Tom O'Neill, Dan Piepenbring
The Last Days of John Lennon
Pure Narco
Jesse Fink, Luis Navia
John Douglas, Mark Olshaker
Unnatural Causes
Dr Richard Shepherd
The Secret Train Robber
Lee Sturley
Helter Skelter: Part Eight of the Shocking Manson Murders
Vincent Bugliosi
The Last Gangster
Charlie Richardson
The Train Robbers
Piers Paul Read
The Hitmen
Owen Conlon, Stephen Breen
Carl Weber's
C. N. Phillips
The Ultimate Evil
Maury Terry
Who Killed The King of Bagan?
Jame DiBiasio
The Nowhere City
AMORALMAN
Derek Delgaudio


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\section{Latent structure of pieces and moves \label{sec:Latent-structure-of-chess}}

In this section, we analyze the latent structure of chess pieces and
moves using principal components analysis. We conduct the analysis
on two different datasets: one which contains legal moves and another
which contains expert moves. Aside from gaining qualitative insights
about chess, we also obtain our first vector representations.

\subsection{Principal component analysis (PCA)}

PCA is a method for linearly transforming data into a lower-dimensional
representation \cite{Gareth2013}. In particular, let data be represented
as the matrix $X\in\mathbb{R}^{n\times p}$ whose columns have zero
mean and unit variance. Each row of $X$ can be interpreted as a data
point with $p$ features. Then, PCA computes the transformation matrix
$C^{\star}\in\mathbb{R}^{p\times d}$ by solving the optimization
problem
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned} & \underset{C}{\text{minimize}} &  & \left\Vert X-XCC^{T}\right\Vert _{F}^{2}\\
 & \text{subject to} &  & C^{T}C=I
\end{aligned}
.\label{eq:pca-objective}
\end{equation}
Intuitively, $C^{\star}$ linearly transforms the data from a $p$-dimensional
space to a $d$-dimensional space in such a way that the inverse transformation
(i.e.\@ reconstruction) minimizes the Frobenius norm. The mapping
of $X$ into the $d$-dimensional space is given by $W=XC^{\star}$.
The importance of minimizing reconstruction error will be clear when
we quantitatively evaluate the embeddings obtained via PCA.

In order to apply PCA to chess, we need an appropriate way to represent
chess data as $X\in\mathbb{R}^{n\times p}$. Ideally, we would like
pieces with similar movement patterns to have similar low-dimensional
representations, so we represent each piece by its move counts. In
its simplest form, a chess move is specified via a source board location
that a piece is picked from and a target board location that the piece
is moved into. This formulation allows us to avoid specifying the
type of the moving piece or whether the target location already contained
another piece. There are $64$ board locations, thus all move counts
can be represented via a $4096$-dimensional vector, and since there
are $6$ piece types, we let $X\in\mathbb{R}^{6\times4096}$.

\subsection{Stockfish moves}

We generate the count matrix $X\in\mathbb{R}^{n\times p}$ by pitting
two Stockfish \cite{wiki:stockfish} engines against each other and
logging their moves. In order to investigate how pieces of the same
type are similar to or different from each other, we let each row
of $X$ correspond to a piece rather than a piece type. Hence, we
set $n$ to $16$, which is the number of white pieces.

We let the engines play against each other for $4{,}000{,}000$ turns,
resulting in $23{,}096$ games with an average length of $173$ turns.
White player wins $45\%$ of the time, black player wins $10\%$ of
the time, and a draw occurs $45\%$ of the time. We observe a high
percentage of draws because repeating the same move three times causes
a draw, and the black player frequently uses that strategy. We only
log moves by the white player from the games which the white player
won, yielding a total of $881{,}779$ moves, which we use to construct
the $X\in\mathbb{R}^{16\times4096}$ matrix. We then normalize each
row by its total counts, scale the columns to have zero mean and unit
variance, and apply PCA.

\begin{figure}
\centering{}\includegraphics[scale=0.45]{Component_1}\includegraphics[scale=0.45]{Component_2}\includegraphics[scale=0.45]{Component_3}\caption{\label{fig:pca-stockfish-boards}The top five moves associated with
the Stockfish loading vectors.}
\end{figure}

\begin{figure}
\begin{centering}
\includegraphics[scale=0.75]{pca_stockfish_moves_PC1_PC2}\includegraphics[scale=0.75]{pca_stockfish_moves_PC2_PC3}
\par\end{centering}
\begin{centering}
\caption{\label{fig:pca-stockfish}Principal component scores of chess pieces
(Stockfish moves). Left: the first principal component versus the
second. Right: the second principal component versus the third.}
\par\end{centering}
\end{figure}

We visualize the first three components in Figure \ref{fig:pca-stockfish}.
Each loading vector can be interpreted as a fundamental building block
of expert chess moves, and the principal component scores depict how
each piece can be described in terms of these building blocks. The
first five principal components explain $81.0\%$ of the variance
in the movement data, at which point adding more principal components
does not increase the explained variance by much. This is because,
as seen in Figure \ref{fig:pca-stockfish}, pieces of same type have
similar principal component scores, and they share the same loading
vectors to construct their movement patterns. This is surprising,
since PCA has no explicit information that these pieces belong to
the same type, and despite their similarities, individual pieces such
as pawns do have their own unique movement patterns within the $4096$-dimensional
movement space.

In figure \ref{fig:pca-stockfish-boards}, we display the highest
scored moves associated with the loading vectors. The third dimension
is the first dimension in which pieces of the same type, namely bishops,
are not clustered together with respect to their component scores.
In fact, the bishop which moves among black squares has a high component
score, and the bishop which moves among white squares has a low component
score.

These decompositions are helpful in uncovering fundamental movement
patterns and understanding the relationship between pieces with respect
to these patterns. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first
attempt to use machine learning to conduct such an analysis. In the
process, we have also obtained our first $d$-dimensional vector representations,
namely $W=XC^{\star}$.

\section{Position-dependent piece vectors}

In this section, we attempt to improve upon the vector representations
we have obtained so far. In particular, one potential issue is that
the piece vectors we constructed are constant with respect to chess
positions. For example, the vector representation of a pawn does not
vary based on the remaining pieces on the board. We propose a hash-based
method to address this issue. We also conduct our first quantitative
evaluation.

\subsection{Zobrist hashing}

Zobrist hashing \cite{Zobrist1970} is a method for constructing a
universal hash function that was originally developed for abstract
board games. It is typically used to build transposition tables which
prevent game agents from analyzing the same position more than once.

A natural way to generate position-dependent piece vectors is to modify
the construction of the count matrix $X\in\mathbb{R}^{n\times p}$.
Previously, each row of $X$ corresponded to a piece or piece type.
This time, we expand the rows to correspond to the Cartesian product
of pieces and hash buckets. The hash buckets partition the space of
all chess positions via Zobrist hashing. Thus, instead of generating
a unique vector representation for each piece, we generate it for
each piece given a hash bucket, where each bucket represents a random
collection of chess positions. In our experiments, we let the number
of hash buckets go up to $32{,}768$. Since there are $16$ pieces,
this yields the sparse count matrix $X\in\mathbb{R}^{524{,}288\times4096}$.

\subsection{Non-negative matrix factorization (NMF)}

In addition to expanding the count matrix, we also switch our matrix
factorization method from PCA to NMF \cite{Lee1999}. NMF is specified
by the optimization problem
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned} & \underset{W,H}{\text{minimize}} &  & \left\Vert X-WH\right\Vert _{F}^{2}\\
 & \text{subject to} &  & W\geq0,H\geq0
\end{aligned}
.\label{eq:nmf-objective}
\end{equation}
In the NMF objective \eqref{eq:nmf-objective}, $W\in\mathbb{R}^{n\times d}$
encodes the $d$-dimensional vector representations and $H\in\mathbb{R}^{d\times p}$
encodes the $p$-dimensional basis vectors. The corresponding matrices
in the PCA objective \eqref{eq:pca-objective} are $W\simeq XC$ and
$H\simeq C^{T}$, where $\simeq$ simply denotes a semantic (but not
a numeric) similarity.

We switch from PCA to NMF for a couple of reasons. First, even though
both PCA and NMF attempt to minimize the reconstruction error, the
positivity constraints of NMF are more flexible than the orthonormality
constraints of PCA. In fact, NMF yields lower reconstruction error
than PCA, and as we shall see below, reconstruction error plays an
important role in predicting chess moves. Second, NMF yields a different
set of vectors than PCA which are also worth investigating.

We demonstrate how matrix reconstruction can be used to predict chess
moves from chess positions. As discussed, each row of $W\in\mathbb{R}^{n\times d}$
encodes a $d$-dimensional vector representation, denoted as $w_{i,j}^{T}\in\mathbb{R}^{1\times d}$,
that is associated with a white piece $i\in\left\{ 1,\ldots,16\right\} $
and a hash bucket $j$. Each hash bucket $j$ corresponds to a random
collection of chess positions. Let $w_{0,.}$ be the vector representation
for the special piece $0$ that is always assigned to the zero vector.
Let $s\in\mathcal{S}$ represent a chess position, which is a description
of the locations of all the pieces on a chess board. Let $f_{l}:\mathcal{S}\to\{0,...,16\}$
be a function that maps a chess position to one of the $17$ pieces
that can be located on board location $l\in\{1,...,64\}$, where $f_{l}\left(s\right)=i$
if board location $l$ contains a white piece $i$, and $f_{l}\left(s\right)=0$
if $l$ is empty or contains a black piece. Let $h:\mathcal{S}\to\mathcal{J}$
be the Zobrist hash function that maps a chess position to a hash
bucket. Then, given a chess position $s$, $y\left(s\right)=\sum_{j=1}^{64}H^{T}w_{f_{j}\left(s\right),h\left(s\right)}$
is the $4096$-dimensional prediction vector, and $\argmax_{_{i}}y\left(s\right)_{i}$
is the index of the predicted move.

The intuition behind this prediction is as follows. Each row of $X$,
denoted as $x_{i,j}^{T}\in\mathbb{R}^{1\times4096}$, represents the
number of times a white piece $i$ has been associated with a particular
move for chess positions in $\mathcal{S}_{j}=\left\{ s\in\mathcal{S}\mid h\left(s\right)=j\right\} $.
Since equation \ref{eq:nmf-objective} minimizes reconstruction error,
given a chess position $s$, $H^{T}w_{f_{j}\left(s\right),h\left(s\right)}\approx x_{f_{j}\left(s\right),h\left(s\right)}$.
Thus, $y\left(s\right)\approx\sum_{j=1}^{64}x_{f_{j}\left(s\right),h\left(s\right)}$
approximates the number of times a move has been selected for all
the chess positions that are hashed into bucket $j$.

\subsection{Quantitative evaluation}

In this subsection, we evaluate the accuracy of making move predictions
using matrix reconstruction and position-dependent piece vectors.
We split the Stockfish data, which consists of $881{,}779$ moves,
into $80\%$ train and $20\%$ test. We use the train data to generate
the count matrix $X\in\mathbb{R}^{524{,}288\times4096}$, apply NMF,
and obtain $W_{\text{train}}$ and $H_{\text{train}}$. We then iterate
over each chess position $s$ in test data, replace their bitboard
vectors with the relevant rows from $W_{\text{train}}$, and compute
$y\left(s\right)$.

\begin{figure}
\begin{centering}
\includegraphics[width=13cm,height=5cm]{Test_mca_alpha_10}\caption{\label{fig:nmf-test-mca}Test multiclass accuracy of matrix reconstruction
with position-dependent piece vectors. }
\par\end{centering}
\end{figure}

In figure \ref{fig:nmf-test-mca}, we display the multiclass accuracy
on held-out test data. As we increase the number of hash buckets,
the held-out accuracy improves. With $32768$ hash buckets, this method
predicts $8.8\%$ of Stockfish moves correctly, on a task with $4096$
classes.

\bibliographystyle{plain}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


Hua Hin Property developments is a website bought to you by Hua Hin Property Solutions. Featuring only the best off-plan, brand new development projects in the Hua Hin, Cha Am and Pranburi area. With a combined experience of over 20 years in the Hua Hin and Thailand Real Estate Market you won't find a more suitable and professional company to introduce you to only the finest new villa developments in the area. We work very closely with all the major developers and our website is kept fully up to date, please feel free to book your viewings with us anytime !
Why buy off-plan ? Not only are you buying your dream home in the Tropics here in Hua Hin but a brand new home, built to your own requirements and fully furnished to your own specific taste ! A villa built using all the most up to date techniques and standards with only the very best quality materials. All of the developments we represent are established companies with a long track record of building quality homes for our mostly Western based clientele who expect only the best for their money. Buying off-plan with a reputable developer also gives you the opportunity to spread your payments out during the build process meaning you don't have to come up with the cash all at once and are only paying the developer upon construction milestones. You are also buying into a brand new development where your investment is growing year in year out.


MarketPress plugin works by calculating the taxes based on shipping state, other than that I'm afraid, there isn't any other option to implement taxes based on different cities etc.
This would require custom coding, you can check the Jobs & Pros section if you are considering custom development. Please do note members found in the Jobs & Pros, are individuals, and doesn't have any affiliate with WPMU DEV.
Also I need to move my cart button down maybe 10 to 15 pixels to get out of my top header.
You can increase/decrease the percentage according to your specific needs. You can add the above CSS code, using Custom CSS box(if your theme offers), or either using a Child theme, or a plugin like Simple Custom CSS.
Please let us know if you still need any further assistance.
thanks for both responses. Have another question on the MarketPress plugin. I am offering subscriptions for monthly dog treat orders. I have set up subscriptions in stripe for each of these 9 offers and I have set products up in my Products in the plug in but I am unclear how to directly connect these product purchases to the subscriptions in stripe so customer is charged each month.


Vanessa White won't be in the I'm A Celeb jungle for long if her current levels of popularity are anything to go by.
Incredibly, The Saturdays singer has been backed by just three people to be crowned Queen of the Jungle.
Even more worryingly for Vanessa, those three bets at odds of 12/1 total just £3.
At the other end of the market, Jennie McAlpine is by far the most popular celeb.
Jennie – or Fiz from Coronation Street as she's better known – has seen her chances of winning cut into 4/1 from 8s. Of all the bets taken so far, 62% have been for the Corrie star.
She shares favouritism with soap rival Jamie Lomas, who is also a 4/1 shot for jungle glory.
YouTube sensation Jack Maynard comes next at 6/1 before Stanley Johnson, Shappi Khorsandi and Georgia Toffolo at 8/1.


Acid reflux, which can often cause heartburn, is a common problem. This is caused by a weak sphincter at the lower end of the oesophagus. Patients typically complain of heartburn, chest pain or even difficulty swallowing.
Acid in the lower oesophagus can damage the lining leading to further problems. Diagnosis is made with an endoscopy and can be treated with medicine to reduce acid. A proportion require surgery to treat acid reflux not amenable to medical management. In some cases the stomach has migrated through the diaphragm to lie in an abnormal position. This makes acid reflux more difficult to treat medically and surgery may be considered.
The surgery is performed laparoscopically and involves a hospital stay of up to 4 days.


I was wondering if anyone out there has an old Redfield Aurora?
Was also wondering on a few things that might be commone knowledge..
Wondering which lense maker these lenses are?
Also wondering if these are special lenses in anyway?
Also wondering why I can have over 1" of eye relief without any issues?
I have the Golden 5 Star 20-60X60mm, Aurora 20-60X60mm and 27-60X80mm Aurora(rare unit).
Have no idea of the len maker, do know they had an IER ocular option that would give about 1-1/12 inches eye relief. Coatings on the Aurora series were the best of their day.
If you want to get rid of one/both let me know.
Not positive about the spotters, but in the 70's a company called Plummer Precision Optics in Pennsburg, PA made some of the scope lenses. (Used to live ~0.5 mile from the factory, small unassuming place. Once in a while you could get one of the employees to get you a scope at cost.) They went under in the 90's, I believe, due to some very underhanded dealings with the US government on some tank sites if I recall correctly.
I have a 27-80x80mm Aurora model that I've had for years and unfortunantly have never used. I have the scope in brand new condition in the scope case as well as the tripod and the carrying case.
If anyone would be interested in making an offer, PM or post back.


In 2015 the National Mental Health Commission led the development of Equally Well in Australia to show a commitment to putting the health care of people living with mental illness on an equal footing with the rest of the population. The major aim of Equally Well is to improve the quality of life of people living with mental illness by providing equal access to quality health care.
By championing physical health as a priority, Equally Well ultimately aims to reduce the life expectancy gap that exists between people living with a mental illness and the general population.
The primary program objective for Equally Well is to facilitate the collaboration and coordination between and across sectors, including: governments, professional bodies, social and community services and other leaders in mental health to make the physical health of people living with mental illness a national priority. This includes the coordination of resources available from supporters.
1. Collaborative models of leadership in national cross-sector health initiatives. This research will examine the factors to success in leading a national health improvement initiative across a complex multi-sector leadership environment.
2. Developing a digital communication model that would integrate stakeholder needs for information and engagement. This project will examine the role of digital communication in developing community participation and engagement across and within sectors. Its primary focus will be in investigating the model's role in equipping and empowering people living with mental illness and their carers to advocate and be active partners in their recovery.
The National Mental Health Commission's expected outcome from the Equally Well initiative is that it will reduce the life expectancy gap that exists between people living with a mental illness and the general population.


text:
Home Our Diocese Buccini family accepts award at Catholic Charities tribute dinner
Buccini family accepts award at Catholic Charities tribute dinner
More than 350 people joined Bishop Malooly at the Chase Center on the Riverfront on April 11 to honor the Buccini family at the annual tribute dinner by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Wilmington.
Honorees were D. Robert and Bernadette Buccini and their sons, Rob and Chris, winners of the Msgr. Thomas J. Reese award. The award was created in 1989 in memory of Msgr. Reese, community activist and longtime director of Catholic Social Services, the forerunner of Catholic Charities, and recognizes exemplary individuals who have demonstrated a deep commitment to promoting and restoring the well-being of people – Catholic Charities' mission.
Bishop Malooly joins winners of the Msgr. Thomas J. Reese award, from left, D. Robert, Bernadette, Rob and Chris Buccini.
Bernadette and D. Robert, have together led the family business, the Edward J. De Seta Company Inc., since 1967. The business has grown into one of the largest heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) contractors and engineering firms in the mid-Atlantic. They are past members of the board of directors for the Ministry of Caring, St. Anthony of Padua Church, Padua Academy, Grand Opera House, St. Francis Hospital and numerous other philanthropic efforts. Rob and Chris's real estate investment and development company, The Buccini/Pollin Group, Inc., owns places in Wilmington such as the Hotel DuPont, former DuPont world headquarters buildings, WSFS Bank Center, I.M. Pei Building, and Queen Theater; and is a leader in redeveloping the Wilmington Riverfront with its Christina Landing, Justison Landing, Penn Cinema and Imax, and Westin Hotel projects.
Bishop Malooly thanked the Buccinis "for all you're doing now in addition to what you've already done for the city of Wilmington." He encouraged people to follow the Buccinis lead in supporting Catholic Charities.
"We ask that you continue to support all of the wonderful work on behalf of those that are vulnerable," the bishop said.
"We were born into a family of immigrants and our lives have been centered around the church," said Bernadette Buccini. "Faith, family and community. Those are the ideals we try to live by."
Annual Catholic Charities Tribute Dinner
buccini family
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These are pictures of a small signature quilt that I made last spring for a friend's retirement. Only 16 people returned blocks so I used plain pink blocks so that she could have more friends sign. And she did. A fun project.


In order to be successful and competitive in today's business world, whether a small, medium or large firm, there must be a plan for the future. Change is our one constant in our world, and preparing for transitions is the responsibility of leaders. It is never too early to begin developing this plan for the future, and sooner is better than later. In addition to defining priorities, drafting clear expectations of your leadership, and developing a reasonable budget, a "talent management" program should be created, whose purpose is to meet the goals of a Succession Plan.
Set up solid priorities and goals for the organization. Use practical and efficient processes in order to accomplish these for successful outcomes.
Carefully select and train effective and experienced leaders, who are strong in motivation and are able to "walk the walk". Your leaders must be of high integrity and demonstrate good character traits to inspire others.
Begin identifying early potential successors, with a plan to groom and coach for the positions that best fit their strengths.
Your Talent Management process should include impartial yet effective instructors covering programs of strategic activities in order to expose candidates to experiences that will educate them, as well as encourage creative, out-of-the-box thinking. Also, look for those who know of and use appropriate resources.
A SUCCESSION PLAN is a process where the job descriptions/responsibilities of the key Executive Team (usually including all C-Level executives, as well as the President, and sometimes Senior Vice Presidents) is reviewed and determined if any areas should be adjusted, keeping potential replacements in mind when/if an executive leaves or is no longer with the organization. It is important to understand the organization's culture and priorities in order to note what tasks and routines need to be followed to keep the entity strong and successful for the future. The initial Succession Plan should be a MAP to replace the Key Executive Team. It is wise to use an impartial facilitator to partner with HR through this process.
Other factors involved with Succession Planning include A) Senior Leaders are expected to be involved; B) The Senior Leaders are responsible for growing future leaders of the organization; C) In order for the senior leaders to react responsibly, there needs to be Strategic Planning in place, including a healthy financial plan prepared; D) Leadership Competencies need to be identified (assessments) and used for selection and development; E) A pool of talent should be identified and developed for future needs.
A LONG-TERMED REPLACEMENT is occasionally needed if the illness, injury, or family catastrophe requires more time to manage – usually 4 to 6 months. In such a case, the Replacement definitely needs more experience and exposure to this position's responsibilities. In both the SHORT and LONG-TERMED REPLACEMENTS should have an Executive Coach to guide and advise them in order to avoid major glitches.
A FULL SUCCESSION PLAN usually includes multiple steps. Some of these may already be in place, i.e. a) a strategic plan with mission statements, b) once future executives are proposed, assessments are needed to identify gaps in skills, etc., c) after prospective executives are confirmed, a calendar or plan is designed for development, d) after coaching and training has begun/implemented, monitoring and evaluations are needed.
A time table should also be included in the Talent Management aspect of this process. As the Key Executive Team identifies upcoming leadership needs, those managing the training and development will need to be sure to have appropriate candidates prepared to step up.
There are some computerized Talent Management programs available, though this would need to be discussed in advance to see if it could be covered by the budget. Since a big part of this SUCCESSION Process is considered to be "human resource-driven", it is recommended that an outside source be the HR Partner administering this process. This helps with impartiality and avoids concern for unfair considerations.


Stay healthy – don't use rhino horn!
Members of NShape Fitness will be able to see eye-catching and informative standees about rhino horn every time they work out, thanks to a partnership between ENV and NShape.
The standees encourage people to stay healthy by doing exercise and eating well, instead of relying on unproven superstitions like the use of rhino horn. This is part of ENV's demand reduction campaign, which targets people who can afford to pay for first-class services, such as luxury gym memberships. Research has shown that this consumer group is one of the most likely to purchase rhino horn as a status symbol; ENV's campaign aims to stop this practice through public awareness and education.


text:
Q: Jensen's formula Let $D$ denote the unit open disk in $\Bbb C$. Let $f$ be an analytic function defined in $D$, and suppose $f(0) \neq 0$, $|f(z)| \leq 1 (z \in D)$. If $z_1,z_2,...$ are the zeros of $f$ in $D$, I want to show that $ \sum _k (1- |z_k|) \leq - \ln f(0)$.
I think Jensen's formula seems useful, which asserts that:
For $0 \leq R <1$, $\sum _{|z_k| \leq R} \ln (\frac{R}{|z_k|}) = \frac{1}{2 \pi} \int _0 ^{2 \pi} \ln |f(Re^{i \theta})| d \theta - \ln |f(0)| $.
But I don't see how to apply this. Any hints?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


In recent years, Detroit has not only seen a boom in restaurants but also the rise of craft cocktail culture.
Sandy Levine, owner of The Oakland Art Novelty Co. in Ferndale, Mich., and Chartreuse Kitchen and Cocktails in Detroit's Midtown district, says with the explosion in creativity and experimentation, quality is crucial.
There's been a lot of talk about hospitality, but Joe Robinson, director of beverage and hospitality at new Detroit hot spot Standby, says that's the name of the game.
To find out what will be trending this year in cocktails, we asked Kwiatkowski, Levine, Robinson, and other cocktail experts around Detroit for what to watch out for in 2016.
While the experts we talked to all had their own opinions on top spirits, one thing is for sure: It's not clear booze.
"We see the popularity of brown spirits, specifically scotch and bourbon to continue," says Jared Chorney, food and beverage director at The Townsend in Birmingham, Mich.
Robinson says good tequila and mezcal will be popular this year.
Whiskey is showing no signs of slowing down, says Travis Fourmont, cocktail ambassador at Great Lakes Wine and Spirits.
At the bar, the customer may be the focus, but they're also getting savvier.
"I've had a couple people talk to me recently with such knowledge of the geekiest stuff only a bartender would know about, and come to find out, they're a teacher, or a med student or something," says Robinson.
In Detroit, tiki bar The Bad Luck is another upcoming establishment from Kwiatkowski. "Partner and head bartender Yani Frye will be focusing on experiential and experimental drinks. This means an elevation of concept and presentation, which should be a fun and interesting process," Kwiatkowski says.
Forget simple syrups and homemade bitters. "The ingredient I hear discussed by bartenders in deep dark corners is aloe. There is already experimentation happening in pockets," Britsky says.


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Chrysler to launch Pacer variant of 300
Limited-edition Pacer headlines Chrysler 300 push, revives revered Valiant nameplate
By: BYRON MATHIOUDAKIS
CHRYSLER will launch a limited-run Pacer variant of the 300 large sedan in the second half of this year – exactly 50 years after the nameplate first donned a performance version of the Australian-made VF Valiant in 1969.
While stopping short of confirming the name, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) Australia president and chief executive Steve Zanlunghi did reveal that the move to revive a long-dormant badge from the company's back catalogue reflects Chrysler's continuing commitment to the 300 while providing Australian sedan buyers with an affordable, sporty option.
"Stay tuned for some news, because we're looking to revive a storied nameplate here from our Australian heritage," he told GoAuto at the launch of the Jeep JL Wrangler range in Tasmania last week.
"We're going to do a variant for the 300 off our Australian history. You can go back and see who's having their 50th anniversary. So, there's a 50th anniversary Chrysler 300 coming.
"With the Chrysler brand, we are trying to bring back a limited-edition run that we will see in the third or fourth quarter, which will be a special edition, to celebrate the anniversary of a certain Chrysler version of a car that was built at the Adelaide plant."
While refusing to comment on pricing and specification details of the upcoming 300 Pacer – including whether the badge would be used on the standard 210kW/340Nm 3.6-litre V6 or just be limited to the 350kW/637Nm 5.7-litre V8 – Mr Zanlunghi did say the move is an opportunity for the 300 to fill a gap in the market as well in the hearts of many Australians left by the demise of the Australian-made Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon.
"We started talking about it one day because we own that space now due to Australian manufacturing going away – and we won the police contract – so thought about what can we do to grow it," he said.
"We've got the Australian history, we have the Chrysler by Chrysler, we've got the Valiant and Pacer, the plant's still there, and there's a 50th anniversary, so we thought, 'What could we do?'
"And there are a lot of diehard Chrysler fans out there. We get a lot of emails we see when we post something on social media, there are a lot of positive comments, so why not?"
With the New South Wales police now using the high-performance 300 SRT, Mr Zanlunghi added that there is still plenty of life left in affordable large rear-drive sedans, and in the existing 300 in particular, and that isn't going to change any time soon.
"Australia is the only E-segment mainstream sedan with a V8," he said. "There is no end date to announce. We won the police contract in New South Wales for pursuit vehicles, which are the 300 SRT Cores."
The existing Chrysler 300 is the second-generation sedan to use the rear-drive LX platform, which is loosely based on Mercedes-Benz components, with the front end derived from an earlier S-Class iteration and the rear axle sourced from the W212 E-Class.
Launched soon after the VF Valiant range landed in 1969, the Pacer was Chrysler Australia's six-cylinder performance proposition against its mainly V8 opponents from Ford and Holden, employing the famous 225 cubic-inch (3.7-litre) 'Slant Six' inline six-cylinder engine, until the VG-series surfaced in May 1970 with the all-new Hemi 245 cubic-inch (4.0-litre) unit.
For the completely redesigned VH Pacer of 1971, the engine grew to a 265 cubic inches (4.3 litres), making it the fastest locally made mainstream four-door sedans for nearly 20 years. Production ceased in April 1973 with the arrival of the VJ series.
For more information about this and other cars contact the Irelands Sales Team
Note: Irelands purchases this syndicated editorial service from GoAutoMedia to keep its customers informed on the latest product news relating to the brands it sells. Therefore any vehicle prices in this story are the recommended price before various statutory and delivery charges. These prices are published by GoAutoMedia in accordance with ACCC regulations relating to automotive media and pricing services.
Irelands, as a supplier of vehicles, has available to customers the full and relevant vehicle pricing details that include all additional statutory and delivery charges relating to each customer as required by ACCC regulations.
Irelands


In behavioural finance, time preference (or "discounting") pertains to how large a premium a consumer will place on enjoyment nearer in time over more remote enjoyment.
There is no absolute distinction that separates "high" and "low" time preference, only comparisons with others either individually or in aggregate. Someone with a high time preference is focused substantially on his well-being in the present and the immediate future relative to the average person, while someone with low time preference places more emphasis than average on their well-being in the further future.
Time preferences are captured mathematically in the discount function. The higher the time preference, the higher the discount placed on returns receivable or costs payable in the future.
The time preference that an individual exhibits at any given moment is determined by both their personal preferences and external circumstances. Thus, if one "prefers" to save his money but cannot do so in the present, he is still considered to have a low time preference. One of the factors that may determine an individual's time preference is how long that individual has lived. An older individual may have a lower time preference (relative to what he had earlier in life) due to a higher income and to the fact that he has had more time to acquire durable commodities (such as a college education or a house).
The time preference theory of interest is an attempt to explain interest through the demand for accelerated satisfaction. This is particularly important in microeconomics.
In the neoclassical theory of interest due to Irving Fisher, the interest rate determines the relative price of present and future consumption. Time preference, in conjunction with relative levels of present and future consumption, determines the marginal rate of substitution between present and future consumption. These two rates must necessarily be equal, and this equilibrium is brought about by the relative prices of present and future consumption.
In Neoclassical economics the rate of time preference is usually taken as a parameter in an individual's utility function which captures the trade off between consumption today and consumption in the future, and is thus exogenous and subjective. It is also the underlying determinant of the real rate of interest. The rate of return on investment is generally seen as return on capital, with the real rate of interest equal to the marginal product of capital at any point in time. Arbitrage, in turn, implies that the return on capital is equalized with the interest rate on financial assets (adjusting for factors such as inflation and risk). Consumers, who are facing a choice between consumption and saving, respond to the difference between the market interest rate and their own subjective rate of time preference ("impatience") and increase or decrease their current consumption according to this difference. This changes the amount of funds available for investment and capital accumulation, as in for example the Ramsey growth model. In the long run steady state, consumption's share in a person's income is constant, which pins down the rate of interest as equal to the rate of time preference, with the marginal product of capital adjusting to ensure this equality holds. It is important to note that in this view, it is not that people discount the future because they can receive positive interest rates on their savings. Rather, the causality goes in the opposite direction; interest rates must be positive in order to induce impatient individuals to forgo current consumptions in favor of future.
In his book Capital and Interest, the Austrian economist Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk built upon the time-preference ideas of Carl Menger, insisting that there is always a difference in value between present goods and future goods of equal quality, quantity, and form. Furthermore, the value of future goods diminishes as the length of time necessary for their completion increases.
Böhm-Bawerk cited three reasons for this difference in value. First of all, in a growing economy, the supply of goods will always be larger in the future than it is in the present. Secondly, people have a tendency to underestimate their future needs due to carelessness and shortsightedness. Finally entrepreneurs would rather initiate production with goods presently available, instead of waiting for future goods and delaying production.
By contrast, George Reisman says that time preference arises because of the possibility of being less able (say through injury or the effects of aging) or totally unable (through substantial incapacitation or death) to enjoy the use of goods in the future. The further into the future someone considers, the less likely it is that this someone will be able to enjoy the goods as much as they can be enjoyed now. The root of time-preference in Reisman's view is an internal risk premium that is specific to the owner of the goods, in contrast to an external risk premium that is demanded when the owner invests them in a production process or lends them to another. He then points out that the scarcity of capital combined with the uncertainties he raises, means that time preference is unavoidable and hence a minimum rate of return on that capital (such as in interest and normal profit) is always going to be required by suppliers of capital.
Reisman, G, (1998) "Capitalism: A treatise on economics", Jameson Books, Ottawa. ISBN 0-915463-73-3. Full book is available online.


For our drill on Thursday 10/4 Company 59 traveled to West Chester to use their burn building, joining us was Company 66.
Crews rotated working on 1st due Engine Company and 1st due Truck Company duties. Engine Companies we're tasked with locating and extinguishing fires on two different floors, while the truck crews performed primary searches on all 3 floors. Junior firefighters from both companies worked on ground ladders as well as other outside duties. Between the two companies 30 firefighters were in attendance. Thanks to Bethel for joining us and well as our burn representive from West Chester.


Bonamici Challenges DeVos on Student Rights, For-Profit Colleges - Duration: 5 minutes, 14 seconds.
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Bonamici at Sea Change Hearing - Duration: 5 minutes, 36 seconds.
Bonamici at Hearing on The State of Climate Science and Why It Matters - Duration: 4 minutes, 43 seconds.
Bonamici Calls for Shutdown to End on House Floor - Duration: 2 minutes, 47 seconds.
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Bonamici Demands Families be Reunited, Offers to Volunteer at HHS - Duration: 3 minutes, 12 seconds.


text:
Q: Orientation in 3D space I have several inputs: F (go forward), R (turn right), L (turn left), U ("turn up"), D ("turn down"), < ("fall on left side"), > ("fall on right side").
And imagine that on the start I am standing at point (0, 0, 0) where right is X axes, up is Y axes and forward is Z axes (so direction vector would be (0, 0, 1)). I want user to be able to write command like "FFRFFLFLF" and then print right position in 3D space.
For example: commands "FFLFRF<'FRFUFF". Will give me this (I print position after every command):

*

*(0, 0, 1)

*(0, 0, 2)

*(0, 0, 2)

*(-1, 0, 2)

*(-1, 0, 2)

*(-1, 0, 3)

*(-1, 0, 3)

*(-1, 0, 4)

*(-1, 0, 4)

*(-1, 1, 4)

*(-1, 1, 4)

*(-2, 1, 4)

*(-3, 1, 4)

I ran into problem when I wanted to represent rotation and movement for the given direction. My first approach was to write all possible rotations and directions that could happen. Of course that is not very good approach since it would end up with really ugly code with a lot of repetition.
My question is: What would be best approach for this exact problem? I read about rotation matrices but I am confused how to use them in this exact problem. Can you give me solution or any  hint or advice? Thank you.


text:
\section{Introduction}

The motion of polymer molecules along channels is essential for many physical, chemical, biological and industrial processes, such as DNA and RNA transport across nuclear pores, viral infection, gene therapy and protein translocation via cellular membranes. \cite{lodish_book,meller_review} Recent experimental advances, that allowed to investigate the translocation of polymers with a single-molecule precision,\cite{kasianowicz96,henrickson00,meller00,meller01,meller02,sauer-budge03,bates03,mathe04,wang04,storm05,storm_storm,heng05,mathe05,mathe06,butler06,keyser06,murphy07,dekker_review} stimulated multiple theoretical and numerical studies of transport across the nanopores.\cite{sung96,lubensky99,muthukumar99,muthukumar02,ambjornsson02,slonkina03,flomenbom03,metzler03,kafri04,lakatos05,bundschuh05,chuang01,chern01,zandi03,milchev04,rabin05,muthukumar06,matysiak06,kotsev06,wolterink06,dubbeldam07} However, our understanding of fundamental processes underlying the translocation phenomena is still quite limited.

Most of experimental studies of polymer translocation are performed using $\alpha$-hemolysin pores embedded in  lipid bilayer membranes.\cite{kasianowicz96,henrickson00,meller00,meller01,meller02,sauer-budge03,bates03,mathe04,mathe05,mathe06,butler06,murphy07} Although protein channels provide a convenient method of investigation of the polymer transport, there are several limitations in application of this approach. Because the protein channels are slowly diffusing along  membranes, the time of experimental measurments is typically limited. In addition, $\alpha$-hemolysin are stable only for specific ranges of voltages, temperatures, PH and concentrations of different chemical compounds. To overcome these problems, artificial solid-state nanopores with controlled pore size and stability for wide range of external conditions have been developed and successfully applied for studying polymer translocation.\cite{storm05,storm_storm,heng05,keyser06,dekker_review}

In a typical translocation experiment the polymer is driven through the nanopore by external electric field that helps it to overcome the entropic barrier.\cite{meller_review} Because the diameter of narrow part of $\alpha$-hemolysin is less than 2 nm, only single-stranded DNA and RNA molecules can thread through these protein channels. At large voltages it was shown that the translocation time $\tau$ is proportional to the size of the polymer $N$, i.e., $\tau \simeq N$.\cite{meller_review} The experimental observations for the systems with  synthetic nanopores are rather different.\cite{storm05,storm_storm,heng05,keyser06,dekker_review} The most reliable data  currently can be obtained for solid-state pores with diameters ranging from 5 to 15 nm, that allow translocation of double-stranded DNA molecules, although smaller diameter channels have also been utilized.\cite{heng05} Because the diameter of solid-state pores is relatively large, it was observed recently\cite{storm05} that the polymer can move through the pore not only in the linear fashion but also in different folded states. In addition, the translocation time at large external fields scales as $\tau \simeq N^{\alpha}$ with $\alpha=1.27 \pm 0.03$.\cite{storm05,storm_storm} It was suggested that this behavior can be explained by hydrodynamic drag on the segments of the polymer outside of the pore.\cite{storm_storm} Although the motion of folded polymers through the nanopores has been observed experimentally,\cite{storm05} the theoretical description of this phenomenon is not available.

In this paper we investigate the translocation dynamics of polymers with folds using simple discrete stochastic models. We  analyze how the presence of folding configurations affects the overall translocation dynamics and scaling properties. Our theoretical method is an extension of the approach developed recently for analyzing the translocation of inhomogeneous polymers.\cite{kotsev06} The paper is organized as follows. The details of the model are given in Sec. II, the results of theoretical calculations are presented and discussed in Sec. III, and Sec. IV provides a summary and conclusions for our theoretical approach.

\section{Our Model}

We consider a motion of the single polymer molecule with $N$ monomers across the membrane pore as shown in Fig. 1. It is assumed that the polymer can translocate as a linear chain or in the configuration with a single fold, and during the translocation the length of the folded segment is constant. Experimental results indicate that the  transport of polymers with multiple folds (more than one) is negligible, at least for currently used solid-state nanopores,\cite{storm05} and we neglect this possibility. Each monomer has an effective charge $q$, and the polymer is driven through the nanopore by external electrostatic field $V$. To describe the part of the polymer in the folded state  we introduce a parameter $A$ ($0 \le A \le 0.5$) that specifies that the number of monomers in the folded segment to be 2$AN$: see Fig. 1. When $A=0$ the linear unfolded chain moves across the pore, while for $A=0.5$ the whole polymer molecule is in the folded state (folded at the middle of the chain). We also assume that the length of the nanopore is small so that only one (for the linear chains) or two (for the folded segments) monomers can be found inside the channel. This approximation is valid for the polymers with contour length much larger than the nanopore length. However, it was shown earlier that the effect of the nanopore length is important for translocation processes,\cite{meller_review,meller01,slonkina03} and it can be easily incorporated in our theoretical approach. In experiments\cite{meller_review,dekker_review} the external voltages are typically large, then as soon as the polymer enters the pore it has a very low probability of escaping back. That is why in this paper we neglect the exit back processes for translocating polymers.\cite{kotsev06}

When the polymer with folds moves across the membrane, first the folded segment translocates and then the linear part goes through the nanopore (see Fig. 1). Let us define $P_{k}(t)$ as a probability to have $k$ translocation events at time $t$. It is important to note that the parameter $k$ is generally different from the number of translocated monomers.  When the folded segment moves through the pore, at each translocation event two monomers are moved across the membrane, forward or backward. For linear segment during each event only one monomer is moved through the channel. Then the dynamics of the system is described by a master equation,
\begin{equation}\label{master}
\frac{dP_{k}(t)}{dt}=u_{k-1}P_{k-1}(t)+w_{k+1}P_{k+1}(t)-(u_{k}+w_{k}) P_{k}(t),
\end{equation}
where parameters $u_{k}$  and $w_{k}$ specify the transition rates to move the polymer molecule by one translocation event in the forward or backward direction, respectively.  These rates are related by  detailed balance conditions,
\begin{equation}\label{detailed_balance}
\frac{u_{k}} {w_{k+1}}=\exp[-\beta(F_{k+1}-F_{k})]=\exp[-\beta \Delta F_{k}],
\end{equation}
with $F_{k}$ corresponding to a free energy of the polymer  after $k$ successful forward translocation events (the number of translocated monomers can be larger), and $\beta=1/k_{B}T$.

The free energy of the polymer during the translocation process can be written as a sum of two terms, entropic and electrostatic,
\begin{equation}
F_{k}=F_{k,entr} +F_{k,elec}.
\end{equation}
However, theoretical calculations\cite{muthukumar99,slonkina03,kotsev06} show that the entropic contribution is much weaker than the electrostatic free energy at large external electric fields used in experiments,\cite{meller01,storm05} and it will be neglected in our theoretical calculations. The folded segments of the polymer molecule contribute even less into the entropic free energy, supporting the validity of this approximation. Because the translocating polymer consists of two blocks, folded and linear, the free energy will be different depending on what segment is currently in the pore,
\begin{equation}\label{free_energy1}
F_{k}=\left\{ \begin{array}{cc}
              -2kqV, & \mbox{ for } k <NA; \\
              -kqV -qVAN, & \mbox{ for } k >NA.
              \end{array} \right.
\end{equation}

In order to calculate the dynamic properties of translocating polymers we should have explicit expressions for the transition rates $u_{k}$ and $w_{k}$. However, the detailed balance conditions  (\ref{detailed_balance}) provide us only the ratio of these rates. By introducing a parameter $\theta$ ($0 \le \theta \le 1$), that specifies the distribution of free energy difference between the forward and backward transitions, the rates can be written in the following form,
\begin{equation}\label{wk}
u_{k}= D_{k} \exp[-\beta \theta \Delta F_k ], \quad w_{k+1}=  D_{k+1} \exp[\beta (1-\theta) \Delta F_k)],
\end{equation}
where $D_{k}$ corresponds to transition rates when $\Delta F_{k} =0$. Because the polymer molecule interacts stronger with the nanopore when the folded segment translocates through the membrane we assume that
\begin{equation}
D_{k}=\left\{ \begin{array}{cc}
              BD, & \mbox{ for } k <NA; \\
              D, & \mbox{ for } k >NA.
              \end{array} \right.
\end{equation}
The parameter $B$ measures relative interaction strength  with the pore for the folded and linear segments. One can expect that the narrower the diameter of the nanopore, the stronger deviation of $B$ from unity. Then, utilizing the expressions for the free energy (\ref{free_energy1}), the translocation rates for the folded segment are
\begin{equation}\label{wkfold}
u_{k}=B\exp[\beta \theta 2qV], \quad w_{k+1}=B\exp[\beta (\theta -1) 2qV],  \mbox{ for } k <NA,
\end{equation}
while for the linear part the corresponding equations are given by
\begin{equation}\label{wkstraight}
u_{k}=\exp[\beta \theta qV], \quad w_{k+1}=\exp[\beta (\theta -1) qV],  \mbox{ for } k >NA,
\end{equation}

In experiments the translocation of the polymer is associated with current blockages of other ions in the system, and it is described by translocation times $\tau$. In our theoretical approach these times are associated with  mean first-passage times to cross the channel,\cite{kotsev06} and they can be calculated explicitly for different sets of parameters. The mean first-passage time  generally depends on the parameters $A$, $B$, the external voltage $V$ and the size of the polymer $N$. For the discrete stochastic model described by Eq. (\ref{master}), the standard expression for the mean first-passage time yields \cite{vanKampen,pury03}
\begin{equation}\label{t_discret}
\tau=\sum_{k=1}^{M} \frac{1}{u_k} +  \sum_{k=1}^{M -1}\frac{1}{u_k}\sum_{i=k+1}^{M} \prod_{j=k+1}^{i} \frac{w_j}{u_j},
\end{equation}
where $M = N(1-A)$ is the translocation distance for the polymer with folded configurations, and it gives the maximal value for the parameter $k$.

\section{Results and Discussion}

The explicit expression for the translocation times through the nanopore can be obtained  by substituting  Eqs. (\ref{wkstraight}) and (\ref{wkfold}) into the general expression (\ref{t_discret}),
\begin{eqnarray}\label{polymer_discrete}
\tau&=&  \frac {NA \exp (-2\theta \beta qV)}{ B \left(1-\exp(-2\beta qV)\right)} +\frac{N(1-2A)\exp(-\theta\beta qV)}{\left(1-\exp(-\beta qV)\right)}\nonumber \\
&+&\frac {\exp \left(-(1+\theta )\beta qV\right)\left[\exp \left( -N(1-2A) \beta qV \right)-1 \right]}{\left( 1-\exp(-\beta qV) \right)^2} \nonumber \\
&+&\frac{\exp \left(-(2\theta + 1)\beta qV\right) \left[1+\exp\left(-\beta qVN \right)-\exp\left(-2\beta qVNA \right)- \exp\left(-(1-2A)\beta qVN \right)\right] }{ B \left(1-\exp(-\beta qV)\right)\left(1-\exp(-2\beta qV)\right)} \nonumber \\
&+&\frac{\exp \left(-2(1+\theta )\beta qV\right) \left[\exp (-2NA\beta qV) - 1\right]}{B\left(1-\exp(-2 \beta qV) \right)^2}.
\end{eqnarray}
The translocation time of the linear polymer without folds ($A=0$) is given by a simpler expression,
\begin{equation}\label{straight_discrete}
\tau_{0} = \frac{N \exp(-\theta \beta qV)}{1-\exp(-\beta qV) }+\frac{\exp \left(-(1+\theta) \beta qV \right)\left[\exp (-N\beta qV)-1 \right]} {\left(1-\exp(-\beta qV) \right)^2},\end{equation}
while the passage time for the fully folded polymer ($A=0.5$) can be written as
\begin{equation}\label{folded}
\tau_{f} = \frac {0.5N \exp (-2\theta \beta qV) }{ B\left(1-\exp(-2\beta qV)\right)} + \frac {\exp \left(-2(1+\theta)\beta qV\right) \left[\exp(-N\beta qV)-1 \right] }{ B\left( 1-\exp(-2 \beta qV) \right)^2}.
\end{equation}
Since we consider the motion of uniformly charged polymers, then it can be assumed that any monomer has equal probability to be captured by the nanopore. Then the probability for the polymer to be found in one of $N$ possible  configurations is the same. Averaging out over this uniform distribution, i.e., integrating  over the variable $0 \le A \le 0.5$, leads us to the mean passage time through the nanopore for the given polymer size $N$,
\begin{eqnarray}\label{average_discrete}
\langle \tau \rangle &=&\frac {N \exp(-2 \theta \beta qV)} {4B (1-\exp(-2\beta qV))}+  \frac{N \exp\left(-\theta \beta qV \right)}{2(1-\exp(-\beta qV))} \nonumber \\
&+&\frac {\exp \left(-(1+\theta  )\beta qV\right) \left[1- \exp (- \beta qVN) - \beta qVN \right]}{\beta qVN \left(1-\exp(-\beta qV) \right)^2}   \nonumber \\
&+&\frac {\exp \left(-2(1+\theta)\beta qV\right)\left[1- \exp (- \beta qVN) - \beta qVN \right] }{B \beta qVN \left( 1-\exp(-2\beta qV) \right)^2} \nonumber \\
&+&\frac {\exp \left(-(1+2\theta)\beta qV\right) \left[1+\exp(-\beta qVN) +\frac{2}{\beta qVN}\left(\exp\left(-\beta qVN \right)-1\right)\right]}{B\left(1-\exp(-\beta qV) \right)\left( 1-\exp(-2\beta qV) \right)}.
\end{eqnarray}
Experimental measurements of the capture position along the polymer chain  in solid-state nanopore translocations\cite{storm05} support the assumption of the uniform distribution of fold locations. However, at experimental conditions linear (unfolded) configurations appear 10 times more frequently, and for large DNA the fully folded configuration ($A=0.5$) is also twice more probable. This last observation can be explained by a tendency of DNA to make circular molecules.\cite{storm05} Our theoretical approach can easily takes into account these more realistic distributions of the folding configuration in the polymer translocation.

The results of theoretical calculations for the relative translocation times $\tau/\tau_{0}$ as a function of the length of the folded segment $A$ are shown in Fig. 2. When the motion of the folded segment is significantly hindered due to large interactions with the nanopore ($B=0.01$ in Fig. 2a), the polymers with  folded states generally spend more time in the pore than the unfolded molecules. It is interesting to note a non-monotonous behavior of translocation times for relative small polymer sizes and weak external fields ($N=10, \beta qV=0.1$ in Fig. 2a). This can be explained by considering the details of the translocation process for the folded and linear configurations. The folded segment of the molecule moves slower than the linear part, however the translocation distance $M$ decreases with increasing $A$, $M=N(1-A)$. Thus for $A$ close to 0.5 the polymer with folded configurations lowers its translocation time. The increase in the polymer size $N$ and/or the increase in the external voltage washes out this effect (see Fig. 2a). For  large voltages the folded polymer can even spend less time in the channel. If the polymer interacts weakly with the nanopore ($B=1$ in Fig. 2b) the folded polymers always  translocates faster than the linear chains because of the decrease in the translocation distance.

The effect of interactions between the polymer and the nanopore on translocation dynamics is shown in Fig. 3. The increase in the parameter $B$, that corresponds to the lowering the interaction with the channel, accelerates the dynamics of the polymers with folded configurations, as expected. The results in Fig. 3 indicate that for any fixed value of the parameter $A$ there is a critical value of interaction  strength $B^{*}$ that describes two different translocation dynamic behaviors. For $B<B^{*}$ the linear chain is the fastest polymer configuration, while for $B>B^{*}$ the folded polymer translocates faster. The value of the parameter $B^{*}$ for given $A$ can be found from the equation $\tau(A)=\tau_{0}$. Specifically, for the fully folded configurations ($A=0.5$) the critical parameter can be derived from Eqs. (\ref{straight_discrete}) and (\ref{folded}), yielding
\begin{equation}\label{criticalB}
B^{*}=\frac{\frac {0.5N \exp (-2\theta \beta qV) }{\left(1-\exp(-2\beta qV)\right)} + \frac {\exp \left(-2(1+\theta)\beta qV\right) \left[\exp(-N\beta qV)-1 \right] }{\left( 1-\exp(-2 \beta qV) \right)^2}}{\frac{N \exp(-\theta \beta qV)}{1-\exp(-\beta qV) }+\frac{\exp \left(-(1+\theta) \beta qV \right)\left[\exp (-N\beta qV)-1 \right]} {\left(1-\exp(-\beta qV) \right)^2}}.
\end{equation}

The value of the critical interaction depends on the size of the polymers and external voltages, as illustrated in Fig. 4. In the limit of $N \gg 1$ the dependence of $B^{*}$ on the polymer's size disappears, and the expression (\ref{criticalB}) simplifies into
\begin{equation}
B^{*} \simeq \frac{0.5 \exp(-\theta \beta qV)}{1+ \exp(-\beta qV)}.
\end{equation}
Then, in this limit, for $\theta=0.5$ we  calculate that $B^{*} \simeq 0.22$ for $\beta qV=1$, and $B^{*} \simeq =0.003$ and $B^{*} \simeq 0.25$ for $\beta qV=10$ and 0.1, respectively. As shown in Fig. 4a, the value for the critical interaction already saturates for $N>40$. The critical interaction is also independent of the polymer size in the limit of large external fields (see Fig. 4b), when $B^{*} \simeq 0.5 \exp(-\theta \beta qV)$. The size dependence effectively disappears for $\beta qV >2$ (for $\theta=0.5$).

Our theoretical predictions can be compared with experimental observations of translocation dynamics  for DNA molecules of sizes 11.5 kbp and 48.5 kbp.\cite{storm05} In this experiments the translocation times for linear and fully folded polymers have been measured. Since the sizes of DNA molecules are large, we can use Eqs.  (\ref{straight_discrete}) and (\ref{folded}) for determination of the relative interaction strength between DNA and the solid-state nanopore,
\begin{equation}\label{Bexp}
B_{exp}=\frac{(\tau_{0}/\tau_{f})\exp(-\theta \beta qV)}{1+ \exp(-\beta qV)}.
\end{equation}
The experiments indicate that $ \tau_{0}/\tau_{f}$ is approximately equal to $2.04 \pm 0.12$ for the DNA  with the length of 11.5 kbp, while  $ \tau_{0}/\tau_{f} \approx 2. 18 \pm 0.10$ for the DNA molecule with the length of 48.5 kbp.\cite{storm05} The fact that this ratio is almost the same for both  polymers is in agreement with our theoretical predictions because both molecular sizes are large. The experiments have been performed at $V=120$ mv. However, it is difficult to evaluate  the effective charge $q$ because of possible electrostatic screening and condensation effects.\cite{rabin05,keyser06} We estimate that $1 \le \beta qV \le 10$.  Then from Eq. (\ref{Bexp}) one can calculate the value of the parameter $B$ that characterizes the interaction between the DNA molecule and the nanopore. Our calculations (for $\theta=0.5$) yield the estimate of  $0.01 < B < 0.20$, suggesting that there is an interaction that slows the translocation of the folded part of the molecule. However this interaction is weak enough so that the folded polymers translocation time is similar to the linear chain at this external voltage, in agreement with experimental observations.\cite{storm05} Eq. (\ref{Bexp}) also implies that by measuring the effective interactions for different voltages it is  possible, in principle, to estimate the value of the effective charge.

Experiments on polymer translocation can measure the scaling properties of translocating polymers. It was found\cite{meller_review,meller01,storm05} that the passage time has a power-law dependence, $\tau \propto N^{\alpha}$, with an exponent $\alpha=1$ for the translocation across $\alpha$-hemolysin, and this observation agreed with some theoretical predictions.\cite{muthukumar99,slonkina03} However, surprisingly, for the transport across the solid-state nanopores the exponent was found to be different, $\alpha=1.27$.\cite{storm05} It was argued theoretically that the hydrodynamic drag on the sections of the polymer outside of the nanopore can explain this result.\cite{storm_storm} One could also suggest that the presence of the folded configurations might  change the polymer scaling properties.  Our theoretical method allows us to test this possibility. A dependence of the relative mean translocation time (averaged over all folding configurations) as a function of the polymer size $N$ for different interactions between the polymer and the nanopore is presented in Fig. 5. Because the function $\langle \tau \rangle /\tau_{0}$ is independent of the polymer size at large $N$, we conclude that folded configurations do not affect the scaling properties.

\section{Summary and Conclusions}

We developed a simple discrete stochastic model to describe the translocation of polymers with folded configurations. This approach allowed us to obtain exact analytical expressions for translocation times as functions of the length of the folded segments,  interaction between the polymer and the nanopore, the polymer size and the external electric field. It is shown that for large interactions that significantly slow  down the motion of the folded segments, the linear chains move faster, although the dependence on the folded fraction is non-monotonous for not very large polymers and external fields. If the interaction is weak, the folded polymers always translocate faster than the linear unfolded polymers, and this effect is even stronger for large external voltages. Our theoretical analysis predicts that there is a critical interaction that separates two translocation regimes, depending on which  linear or folded configurations are the fastest. This critical interaction generally depends on the length of the polymer molecule and the external voltage, although at large $N$ and/or large $V$ the critical parameter becomes independent of the polymer size. Also, theoretical calculations support the arguments that the existence of folded configurations does not change the scaling properties of the polymers. These theoretical observations are explained by analyzing the translocation distances and speeds for different polymer configurations. Our theoretical results are utilized for the description of experiments on translocation of polymers with folded configurations.

Presented theoretical description of the translocation of polymers with folded configurations is based on the oversimplified model. To develop a more realistic approach to this complex problem several important properties should be accounted for. First of all, the entropic free energy contributions must be included. However, it is unlikely that qualitative predictions obtained in this work would change in this case because for the realistic systems the entropic contributions are relatively weak.\cite{muthukumar99,slonkina03,kotsev06} Much more serious is the fact that the translocation in this work  is viewed as Markov process without memory  that can be described by ordinary master equations. Recent theoretical and computation studies of polymer translocation\cite{wolterink06,dubbeldam07} suggest that memory effects play important role in translocation, at least for low external force regimes. It is possible that this non-Markovian behavior can be taken into account by considering continuous-time random walks approach with generalized master equations.\cite{kolomeisky00} However, this problem deserves a more careful investigation. Also, our theoretical method does not take into account the sequence dependence and hydrodynamic effects. It will be interesting to investigate further the translocation of polymer molecules with folded segments by experimental and theoretical methods.

\section*{Acknowledgments}

The authors would like to acknowledge the support from the Welch Foundation (Grant No. C-1559), the U.S. National Science Foundation (Grants No. CHE-0237105 and ECCS-0708765). A.B.K. is also grateful to C. Clementi, M. Pasquali and D. Panja for valuable discussions.


text:
Q: What is meant by the path an integral integrates over? I have some questions about what the path an integral integrates over actually means.
I can one understand one interpretation of what is meant by $L$ in the following line integral.
$$ \Delta U = -\int_{\vec{s} \in L} \vec{F} \cdot \mathrm{d} \vec{s} $$
Clearly, $L$ is not a set of points because than the integral giving the expression for moving up from the surface of the earth to a point in the sky would be the same as moving from the point in the sky to the surface of the earth (instead of being the negation.)
One can rephrase the expression in terms of time as:
$$ \Delta U = -\int^b_a \vec{F} \cdot \frac{\mathrm{d} \vec{s}}{\mathrm{d} t} \, \mathrm{d} t $$
Under this interpretation L is a path travelled by the variable over time or a function of time to position.
However, I don't really understand how one can do the same thing for multiple integrals.
For a volume integral like:
$$ \int_{\vec{s} \in C} f\left(\vec{s}\right) \, \mathrm{d} C $$
I don't really understand how one would I lift the problem to time.
I think $C$ ends up being a function of time to a set of points but I'm not sure how to work with this to construct the proper integral.

A: The first integral features a path that is some vector valued function
$$
s(t) : I \subseteq \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}^3
$$
The second version is how you would actually evaluate it.
The third one I do not understand. I would expect the summation of volume elements in case of a volume integral.


Stunning Townhouse. Stunning near new two storey townhouse, 3 bedrooms, ensuite, private balcony off main bedroom, large living area with 3rd toilet off laundry, screened, air conditioned, fans, double lock up garage with remote control, close to schools, shops and transport. Tenant is responsible for all fees for all service connections. Body Corporate By Laws Apply.


Welcome back to Stacked High. Halloween is just around the corner. (Okay, three months around the corner, but you know what I mean.) So in honor of one of my favorite holidays, I'm excited to offer you my newest Occult-tober offering, Blood Ties.
Blood Ties is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iBooks, Smashwords, and other fine e-retailers.
With one week left before the fifth book in the Legionnaire series, The Centinela Gambit, goes live, there's still time to purchase it for 25% off the cover price of $3.99. The Centinela Gambit will be released on August 2, 2018.
The Centinela Gambit is available at Amazon.


text:
<?php if ( ! defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access allowed');
class Profile extends Admin_Controller {

	var $method_config;
	function __construct()
	{
		parent::__construct();
		$this->load->model(array('Member_model'));
		$this->load->helper(array('global'));

		$this->method_config['upload'] = array(
										'thumb'=>array('upload_size'=>1024,'upload_file_type'=>'jpg|png|gif','upload_path'=>'uploadfile/user','upload_url'=>'/uploadfile/user/'),
										);
	}

	function change_pwd()
	{
		$datainfo = $this->Member_model->get_one(array('user_id'=>$this->user_id));
		if(!$datainfo)$this->Member_model('系统错误',base_url('/member/manage/logout'));
		if(isset($_POST['password1'])) {

			$password1 =  isset($_POST['password1'])?$_POST['password1']:exit(json_encode(array('status'=>false,'tips'=>'旧密码不能为空')));

			$password2 =  isset($_POST['password2'])?$_POST['password2']:exit(json_encode(array('status'=>false,'tips'=>'新密码不能为空')));
			$password3 =  isset($_POST['password3'])?$_POST['password3']:exit(json_encode(array('status'=>false,'tips'=>'新密码不能为空')));

			if(trim($password2)=="")exit(json_encode(array('status'=>false,'tips'=>'新密码不能为空')));

			if($password2!=$password3)exit(json_encode(array('status'=>false,'tips'=>'两次密码不一致')));

			$password1 = md5(md5($password1.$datainfo['encrypt']));
			$c= $this->Member_model->count(array('user_id'=>$this->user_id,'password'=>$password1));
			if(intval($c)!=1)exit(json_encode(array('status'=>false,'tips'=>'旧密码错误')));

			$password2 = md5(md5($password2.$datainfo['encrypt']));
			$status=$this->Member_model->update(array('password'=>$password2),array('user_id'=>$this->user_id));
			if($status)
			{
				$this->session->sess_destroy();
				exit(json_encode(array('status'=>true,'tips'=>'密码修改成功,请重新登录')));
			}else
			{
				exit(json_encode(array('status'=>false,'tips'=>'密码修改失败')));
			}
		}else
		$this->view('change_pwd',array('datainfo'=>$datainfo,'require_js'=>true));
	}

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


With winter's strange weather, we're likely in for a stormy summer. Following are a few tips for after the storm. Whenever a storm hits and massive tree damage occurs, an arborist can easily be overwhelmed. The local and national media often blanket TV and newspapers with images of trees down all over the area. Scenes of power lines on the ground with limbs covering them, tree pieces laying on cars and homes, or roads that are impassible from all the debris can make any arborist want to immediately spring into action. We all know that we can help with the cleanup effort, but depending on the size of our crews, you can only be in so many places at once.
The majority of any storm damage may be from silver maples that have lingering leaves and weaker wood. Oaks are another type of tree that can usually have a hard hit.
Storms always keep arborists busy. Snow, heavy rain, ice and high winds damage trees, and we as professionals should be ready to cleanup requested damage. We strive to always have a plan in mind and try not to lose focus. Our phone may ring off the hook immediately following a storm and make sure we return each and every call as soon as possible. Hometown Tree Experts strive to provide every client or potential client with a reasonable quote and timeframe as to when we could arrange to come out and assess job. Realizing that most of the clients requesting service that are contacting us that this has been a major event in their daily routine, so strive to provide also compassion and concern. This is what sets Hometown Tree Experts apart as professionals. After a storm strikes, there are often many unscrupulous "contractors" who take advantage of your situation. They provide shoddy work, gouging prices, and are sometimes not even capable of completing your requested project. By applying our professional standards to the tasks at hand after a storm, we do professional arboriculture a big service and present the public with the correct image of what being an arborist is all about. Remember that when the general public sees you in the field doing great work with great results your company image shines.
Hometown is very proud of our hard working crew and you would find that they would work safely, professionally and intelligently. For many people, when a disaster strikes a tree around their home, that this may be the only time they would call upon a tree service. We would take the time to educate our clients about the need for tree care and how damage may be averted in the future. We never hope for a disaster, but they inevitably arise and would be ready to respond.
Hometown Tree Experts is extremely excited to announce at this time that we are now have earned our 3-year Residential/Commercial Accreditation in accordance with Tree Care Company Accreditation standards put forth by the Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA), America's oldest and most respected tree care trade association. Looking forward to providing you with your next tree care service request.


~ For Windows 7 there's Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate.
~ Windows	8/8.1	comes	in Home, Professional and Enterprise.
~ Windows 10 comes in Home, Pro, Enterprise and more.
Generally speaking, you'll only want Professional, Pro or Enterprise for business purposes.
As you probably know, XP support from Microsoft has expired. Without support, XP is more vulnerable every day. Support for Vista will end soon, so don't buy a used Vista.
Windows loves RAM (random access memory). At a minimum get 4GB of RAM; more is better. RAM is relatively inexpensive and it's better to load up now. 64-bit PCs can utilize more than 4GB of RAM, so go for 6GB, 8GB or 16GB of RAM.
For an impressive chart of the various operating system RAM/ physical memory limits, click here.
I prefer Intel i5 & i7 CPUs over the others, but most anything is fine for everyday use.
Don't worry about the hard drive size, it'll be HUGE. More than you'll need. Unless you want to keep a copy of every movie ever made (OK, I exaggerate).
Most any computer that you purchase -- with the above statements in mind -- will run circles around your current computer. Any of the current crop of CPU's (AMD or Intel) are fine. Did I say the new computer will be much, much faster?
If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to contact.


Hanneke Dannhauser is an obstacle course racer and fitness fanatic. She describes herself as "an ordinary person who realised the power of trusting in her Creator and never giving up".
South African obstacle course racing (OCR) athlete Hanneke Dannhauser was one of the heroes who competed alongside fans in the 2017 Toyota Fortuner 4×4 Challenge. Leisure Wheels spoke to her about the experience, and about her love affair with OCR.
Hanneke Dannhauser doesn't do easy. When others are ready to give up, she's really just warming up.
You need look no further for evidence of this than the fact that she once completed a race on a fractured ankle. Hanneke had fallen on an obstacle and injured her ankle, but didn't give up. She literally crossed the finish line on her hands.
She is renowned for her grit, which came in handy during the 2017 Toyota Fortuner 4×4 Challenge. Joining Mountain biking champion Bianca Haw, Dakar winner Giniel de Villiers, Springbok rugby player Oupa Mohoje, she competed in a series of challenges in Knysna at the end of 2017. Leisure Wheels spoke to her about the experience.
First off, could you describe what OCR is?
In my opinion, obstacle course racing is the best sport ever invented. You transform a typical trail run into something far more exciting with the addition of a few challenging manmade obstacles. The result is a challenging trail run along a beautiful route. You are challenged both physically and mentally. And, wow, you feel so good when you finish a race! It is so rewarding.
How did you get involved with OCR?
I didn't know of OCR's existence until a friend told me about it early in 2014 and urged me to give it a try. I did, and immediately fell in love with it. I tried my very first race in March 2014.
How did your involvement with Toyota SA come about?
These days, Toyota SA is the main title sponsor of the local 'Toyota Warrior' race series. So, they knew about me because of this connection, and asked me to join the Fortuner Challenge campaign based on it.
What was the Toyota Fortuner 4×4 Challenge like? What were some of the highlights?
The challenge was so much fun. It started with a draw for our partners and then the fun began.
There were several tasks that we had to complete, and some of these challenges were very tricky. We had to do compass reading on Garmin Finix5 watches, and cook a meal with just a handful of ingredients. There was also a tough challenge that involved a vehicle and five planks: the tyres weren't allowed to touch the ground, so we had to shift the planks and drive over those. It was quite a mind-bender. Then there was speed golf, mountain biking, kayaking and another driving challenge involving a blindfold. My favourite, quite obviously, was an obstacle race. This really was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I will treasure it forever.
I am a personal trainer. I have a small functional-obstacle gym in Reitz, where I help people live a healthier, happier life.
Have you always been into fitness? Have you competed in any other sports?
I played netball at school, and continued with the sport a bit after school. I've always loved a challenge, playing volleyball and touch rugby with the guys. I've always been interested in anything outdoorsy.
Where, when and in what did you first learn to drive?
I grew up on a farm and learnt to drive very early, sitting on my dad's lap while ploughing the fields.
Have you owned and driven any 4x4s?
Does a tractor count? No, I hadn't driven an SUV prior to the Fortuner 4×4 Challenge, but after that experience I would definitely recommend it.
What would you describe as your greatest adventure to date?
There are so many, it feels if my whole live has been one big adventure. One of my greatest adventures, though, was the Bear Grylls Ultimate Survival Race. I was fortunate enough to go to London for the race in 2015, and it was a wonderful experience.
What has been your most memorable OCR experience?
Definitely a race I did in 2014. I broke my ankle falling during a race and still – by the grace of God – managed to finish the race. Through this I discovered that quitting is not an option. You can do just about anything if you put your mind to it and know where your strength comes from.
What has been your greatest achievement in OCR so far?
I managed to win 17 local Warrior races, and also won the national title two years in a row. I won the World Champion Short Course in 2015, where I also received the 'Best of the Best' trophy in Cincinnati, Ohio.
I Love South Africa. We have so many places to see and things to do locally. I especially love the bushveld, and regularly go to Arathusa Safari Lodge in Sabi Sand. Abroad, I just love Canada, especially the Blue Mountains region.
Competition closed: Level up and win a Toyota Fortuner!