text:
Bill Whitaker reports on Americans wrongly accused of espionage-related crimes as the U.S. steps up the fight against Chinese theft of U.S. trade secrets and intellectual property
The following script is from "Collateral Damage" which aired on May 15, 2016. Bill Whitaker is the correspondent. Marc Lieberman, producer.
This past January on 60 Minutes, we reported a story about espionage, orchestrated by China, to rip off American trade secrets and intellectual property. The Justice Department considers it a national security emergency costing our economy hundreds of billions of dollars. Three years ago, the U.S. government launched a new strategy to fight back with more aggressive investigations and a greater number of prosecutions. We've discovered the dragnet isn't just catching Chinese spies, it's ensnaring a growing number of Americans who aren't spies at all.
Xiaoxing Xi: It was so urgent, the pounding was so urgent that I run here to open the door without even being fully dressed.
Xiaoxing Xi and Bill Whitaker CBS News
Last May, the FBI paid an early morning visit to scientist Xiaoxing Xi at his home in suburban Philadelphia.
Xiaoxing Xi: So I opened the door, and so I see a lot of people outside.
Bill Whitaker: They have on bulletproof vests?
Xiaoxing Xi: Yes, they did, yeah, and with guns.
Xi is chair of the Temple University physics department. But the FBI was convinced he was a spy, passing hi-tech American secrets to China. He was stunned when agents burst in and handcuffed him.
Xi: Bungled spy cases hurt fight to protect intellectual property
Bill Whitaker: Did you have any idea what was going on, why they were here?
Xiaoxing Xi: No. I had absolutely no idea. So, the very first thing that went through my mind was-- "This must be a mistake."
Xi couldn't believe this was happening to him in the U.S. He was born in China and raised during the Cultural Revolution, a time when families feared an unexpected knock on the door. His father was taken away to a forced labor camp. As an adult, Xi came to the U.S. to live and work in a free country.
Bill Whitaker: Why'd you become an American citizen?
Xiaoxing Xi: My children were born in this country. My home is in this country. My career is in this country. So it just feels natural that I should become a citizen.
Xi established himself as a world leader in the study of superconductors that could help improve MRIs. He managed nine government research projects and more than a million dollars in federal funding.
Bill Whitaker: So this is your lab?
Xiaoxing Xi: Yes. This is one--
Bill Whitaker: One of your labs.
Xiaoxing Xi:: --one of my labs. Yes.
The arrest had a swift impact. Temple told him to stay home. He was removed as the principal investigator of his own research.
Bill Whitaker: What's going through your mind?
Xiaoxing Xi: So I was saying to myself, they're going to put me in jail, and all of these things that I've been working for years-- was coming to an end.
Bill Whitaker: So tell me about the day you were arrested.
Sherry Chen: My life was turned upside down.
Sherry Chen and Bill Whitaker CBS News
Sherry Chen's life was also turned upside down when federal prosecutors suspected her of spying for China. She's been a U.S. citizen for 19 years and has devoted her career to public service, as a flood forecaster in the state of Missouri and, most recently, with the National Weather Service in Ohio.
Bill Whitaker: You were proud of your work?
Sherry Chen: Yeah, I do. I really put my heart into my work.
Chen showed us the award she won for helping to save the city of Cairo, Illinois, from record flooding in the spring of 2011. Armed with her forecast, the Army Corps of Engineers blew up a levee and rerouted floodwaters.
In custody as a spy for China
Bill Whitaker: What'd you feel about that when Cairo was spared?
Sherry Chen: I'm proud of that, my knowledge, my work could really protect the properties and saving people's lives.
But, three years later, Chen says FBI agents marched her out of her office in handcuffs.
Sherry Chen: I saw my coworkers all looking through the windows. And watched me being taken away.
Peter Zeidenberg: I think prosecutors are feeling pressure to bring these cases. I think investigators are excited about bringing cases that may be high profile.
Attorney Peter Zeidenberg is a former federal prosecutor who represents both Xiaoxing Xi and Sherry Chen. He believes both American citizens are collateral damage in the government's war against Chinese economic espionage.
Bill Whitaker: That fear of Chinese economic espionage, it's not unfounded.
Peter Zeidenberg CBS News
Peter Zeidenberg: No, I'm not suggesting that it is. What I'm suggesting is, notwithstanding that fact, before you put handcuffs on someone and take 'em away that you've gotta make sure that you've got your case together. And that the facts add up.
Bill Whitaker: And in these cases?
Peter Zeidenberg: The facts didn't add up.
Xiaoxing Xi faced a Justice Department narrative worthy of a spy thriller. Prosecutors accused him of collaborating with various government entities in China: of scheming for years to obtain revolutionary American technology, and emailing photos and blueprints of that technology to the Chinese, specifically this American-made device, called a pocket heater. It's used to make a superfine coating that maximizes the flow of electricity. In exchange, prosecutors said he would be showered with money, property and prestige in China.
Xiaoxing Xi: The very first words coming out of my mouth was, "That's absurd. That's really absurd."
Why? It turns out the device Xi was discussing with his Chinese academic counterparts wasn't a pocket heater. It was a completely different heating device that Xi was developing. He'd planned to share it in scientific publications. It was an earlier generation of this one.
Bill Whitaker: Is this in anyway similar to the pocket heater that-- we've been talking about?
Xiaoxing Xi: Not at all. It is very different from the pocket heater.
Bill Whitaker: So when it comes to the science, it sounds like the federal investigators flat out got it wrong?
Peter Zeidenberg: That's correct.
And then there's this: prosecutors alleged that Xi's collaboration with Chinese scientists was somehow sinister. In reality, it was mandated by one of his grants from the National Science Foundation.
Bill Whitaker: So your funding was dependent on your working with Chinese scientists?
Xiaoxing Xi: Yes, yes, yes, yes, absolutely.
B. Whitaker: So one arm of the government wants you to collaborate and the other arm of the government says it's a crime?
Xiaoxing Xi: Indeed, indeed. Yes.
Yet, he faced 80 years in prison.
Bill Whitaker: What was that like?
Xiaoxing Xi: It put a lot of stress and this daily stress sometimes become strikingly unbearable. So, I remember pleading with my family. "Let, let's, let's try not to fold. If we hold on, we have the truth. If we fold, we will have nothing."
Four months after Xi's arrest, his lawyer Peter Zeidenberg pointed out the inconsistencies to the U.S. Attorney's office in Philadelphia. Three weeks later, they dropped the case. Zeidenberg sees disturbing parallels with Sherry Chen's case.
Bill Whitaker: So how did she get in trouble?
Peter Zeidenberg: The story started when she went to China to visit her parents. She had a somewhat happenstance meeting with a former classmate of hers, a vice minister in the water ministry.
The vice minister asked Chen how the U.S. pays for dam repairs.
Bill Whitaker: Did you think there was anything, I don't know, secretive about that information?
Sherry Chen: It's never crossed my mind. It's not a secret.
When Chen got back to Ohio, she asked her boss for publicly available information, which she did send to her former classmate. She also searched this government database. Since she wasn't a regular user, Chen borrowed a password from her colleague. Sharing passwords was common in the office. She never sent information from the database to China but federal prosecutors charged Chen with illegally accessing and stealing restricted information.
Prosecutors also charged her with lying about the password. Chen initially denied that a colleague had emailed it to her but she remembered after investigators showed her the email. Her colleague, Ray Davis, initially forgot too.
Peter Zeidenberg: He wasn't charged with misremembering or failing to remember giving her the password. He only remembered it when they showed him the email and he said, literally, "Oh God, that was almost a year ago. I forgot all about that."
Bill Whitaker: Wasn't that Sherry's reaction as well?
Peter Zeidenberg: It was.
Bill Whitaker: Why the disparate reactions from the government?
Peter Zeidenberg: You know, the fact is Sherry Chen is a Chinese American and her colleague was Caucasian. And with Sherry, everything she did, they looked at as somehow nefarious or somehow corrupt.
Bill Whitaker: You say it was forgetfulness and they say it's a lie?
Sherry Chen: But to others it's normal. You can--forgetting something. For me, it's a crime.
Chen faced 40 years in prison for lying about the password and accessing the database. The week before the trial, Zeidenberg took his case to Carter Stewart, who was the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio. The next day, Stewart dropped the charges.
We found, since 2012, the Justice Department has won convictions in 14 cases related to Chinese economic espionage. It lost one case at trial. Charges were dropped against five Chinese-born scientists, all American citizens.
Xiaoxing Xi: The fact that they would suspect us stealing secret for China is very offensive. We're American.
More than 40 members of Congress have called on the Justice Department to conduct an independent investigation of whether Xi and Chen were targeted because of race.
The Justice Department wouldn't speak to us on camera but, in a statement, said: "... we investigate and prosecute individuals based on known or suspected criminal activities or threats to national security, not based on race, ethnicity or national origin." Chinese theft of American trade secrets is a real problem.
[Company Man Film: Excuse me, can I help you?]
[Company Man Film: Forgive us.]
The FBI made this video to alert agents, prosecutors, and the public. The agency says it's based on real events.
[Company Man Film: Go, go! FBI! FBI!]
[Speaker: There are a ton of ways the government can come at you.]
It's all having a chilling effect. Some of the most prominent Chinese-Americans are holding seminars around the country to caution scientists that activities they consider innocent could look like espionage.
[Speaker: If you're gonna take something and give it as part of a talk at Beijing University or something, you gotta think twice because some people might look at that as being nefarious.]
This past March, a year after her case was dropped, Sherry Chen was fired from her job for "untrustworthiness," "lack of candor," and other issues stemming from her criminal investigation.
Bill Whitaker: So why won't the National Weather Service give you your job back?
Sherry Chen: I don't know. I'm a dedicated worker. I didn't do anything wrong. And I love my job.
In an email, her employer said: "The facts fully support the action taken in this case." Chen has appealed.
After spending about $200,000 to clear his name, Xiaoxing Xi was welcomed back at Temple University though he'll no longer serve as chair of the physics department. He worries that lingering suspicions could jeopardize future government funding, the lifeblood of his work.
Bill Whitaker: Do you think the U.S. government owes you an apology?
Xiaoxing Xi: I do think so. I didn't do anything wrong but my family and myself had to go through this. I think we deserve some kind of apology. And, you know, it's not over, right. The scars from this traumatic experience is so deep that it's going to be with us for the rest of our life.
After its experience with Professor Xi and Sherry Chen, the Justice Department tightened up its oversight and made explicit that every espionage case must be approved and supervised by headquarters in Washington.


text:
Biafra vs Mumu Don Do: the Rascality of Charly Boy
Charles Oputa a.k.a. Charly Boy, the Oguta-born
Charly Boy
entertainer and son of the late revered Justice of Supreme Court, Chukwudifu Oputa, was in the news recently. I dare say for the wrong reason, considering the possible consequences that his actions could have on his kinsmen, the Igbo.
On Monday, August 7, 2017, Charly Boy and Deji Adeyanju started protesting under the banner "Our Mumu Don Do and Resume or Resign." He and his supporters were asking Nigeria's President Mohammed Buhari to resume or resign. Buhari has been on medical tourism in London for more than 90 days for an undisclosed illness as at the time they started the protest. Their protest was largely conducted around "Unity" Fountain, Abuja. On Friday, August 11, 2017, a pro-Buhari mob attacked and chased Charly Boy away. A few days earlier during the first Mumu Don Do protest, Charly Boy was attacked by a combined team of Nigerian Police and a pro-Buhari mob and Charly boy collapsed after inhaling teargas from the police. Also, on Tuesday, August 15, 2017, Charly Boy was nearly lynched by a mob at Wuse market. The mob was said to have been made up of pro-Buhari protesters.
By Wednesday, August 16, 2017, it was déjà vu all over again,
a la the "Nzeogwu led Igbo coup," as a protest organized by Deji Adeyanju and Charly Boy was now being referred to in the press as the Charly Boy led protest just so that the Igbo would bear the consequences. The same day, Charly Boy whom the media now calls the leader of the protest, instead of the co-convener, announced that they've suspended their protest. According to media reports, he said they did this, because the government wanted to unleash hoodlums against them. He (Charly Boy) said they would announce their next line of action in due course. It's good that he has beaten a retreat, and
that Buhari is now back to the country he left 104 days ago. Buhari has even addressed Nigerians on Monday, August 21, 2017, in a speech most Nigerians have criticised as full of threats and lacking in unifying spirit, but which Charly Boy has hailed. On the protest, what Charly Boy did in the first place was insensitive and lacking in wisdom. While I condemn those who teargased him and those that tried to lynch him for exercising his right of peaceful protest guaranteed under the military baked Nigerian Constitution, I strongly believe that Charly Boy is old enough to know that even if his action was altruistic, it'll be misconstrued by those who think they own Nigeria. At a time there is a quit notice hanging on the heads of Nd'Igbo in the North, and anti-Igbo songs for genocide circulating there, what is needed from every Igbo is entreatment of the Igbo resident in the North, especially the core North, to return home.
I can understand the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB and their struggle. They're seeking for self-determination for the Igbo. In a country where they and their people are treated like serfs, and all manner of injustice is visited on them by those the British bequeathed the country to at independence, their quest for a separate country cannot be faulted. And as long as they remain peaceful, they'll continue to have the support of many Igbo people, especially the young people.
But what's Charly Boy fighting for? He's fighting for Buhari to resume or resign, and for the status quo to be maintained. He's not even fighting for the restructuring of the Nigerian state like his fellow Igbo one Nigeria advocates. He knows that Nigeria as currently configured is skewed against the Igbo. He glosses over the many injustices inherent in the Igbo experience in Nigeria. How many times has Charly Boy protested against the killing of the Igbo in the North or even the killing of his kinsmen in Oguta by Fulani herdsmen? Who remembers what Charly Boy did or said when Mrs. Bridget Agbahime was killed in Kano and her killers discharged and acquitted?
Charly Boy should know that when an Igbo does something that affects the Nigerian state, he/she is not viewed as an individual acting of his/her own conviction, but seen as acting on behalf of the Igbo. When Maj. Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu and his Yoruba and Hausa group wanted to bring to a halt the killings and destruction in the then Western Nigeria and Tivland through a military coup, they were fired by patriotic and nationalistic feelings. He never consulted Nd'Igbo. But the coup was branded an Igbo coup and the Igbo paid, and are still paying dearly for it. It didn't matter that a Maj. Adewale Ademoyega, a Yoruba, an Atom Kpera, a Tiv and Nigerians of other ethnic groups were part of the coup. It didn't even matter to other Nigerians that the beneficiary of the coup if it had succeeded was going to be Chief Obafemi Awolowo according to the plans of the plotters. One is sure that these hard facts are well known to Charly Boy. So, he should have thought through these facts before embarking on his now suspended protest.
Charly Boy embarked on a mission whose success as well as failure bodes ill for Nd'Igbo; it's heads, Igbo loses, and tails, Igbo loses. The average Hausa-Fulani man has got to find this dancing with the mumu charade to be more detestable than MASSOB or IPOB membership and activism. Because Charly Boy's mumu activism looks so bizarre, even to non-Hausa/Fulanis, it is also more likely to enrage and stir the Northern mob to violence and murder of Nd'Igbo. If Buhari resigns as a result of Charly Boy's misplaced patriotism/activism, Yoruba Osinbajo who stands to benefit therefrom considers himself to be Buhari's son and does not need help from an Igbo to assume his father's throne. Nd'igbo lose. Yet, here we have an Igbo man trying to start a fight between father and son. If Buhari resumes as they say he now has, his northern constituents stand to gain. Again, Nd'Igbo lose.
Nigeria as it's today does not require political correctness in expression or action. Igbo elites must know this. They should learn to speak truth to power on the marginalization of their people, which is fuelling agitation among their youths. And if they cannot because of their vested interest in one Nigeria, they should stay off issues that they know can endanger the collective interest of their people.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Cargojet Airways announced today the expansion of freighter service to Air Canada Cargo, through its commercial agreement, expanding their freighter service to Frankfurt effective November 19, 2016.
The new Air Canada Cargo flight, operated with a Cargojet B767-300 freighter, will depart on Saturdays to Frankfurt, Germany (FRA). This new flight will provide connectivity with flights already operating to/from Mexico City and to the recently expanded second frequency per week operated between Canada and Bogota, Colombia and Lima, Peru, which began in mid-October.
"The growth of our freighter service allows us to increase our global reach and leverage our substantial, growing international network" said Lise-Marie Turpin, Vice President, Air Canada Cargo.
"We are very pleased with the expansion of our services, as we grow our relationship with Air Canada Cargo," said Ajay K. Virmani, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cargojet.
"It allows us to continue to optimize our overall freighter aircraft utilization and to expand our range of air cargo services", he added.
Cargojet services 14 major city centers coast to coast, carrying approximately 1,300,000 pounds of cargo each business night.
Cargojet has a fleet of 22 aircraft consisting of B767-300ER, B767-200ER, B757-200ER and B727-200AF long range freighter aircraft.


text:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using Dapper;

namespace DapperSPMap
{
    internal class SprocMapperProvider : ISprocMapperProvider
    {
        private readonly Dictionary<Type, Dictionary<string, object>> _configuration =
            new Dictionary<Type, Dictionary<string, object>>();

        /// <summary>
        /// Creates a new named map for {TModel} that describres how to obtain <see cref="DynamicParameters"/> from it
        /// </summary>
        /// <typeparam name="TModel">any type to be mapped</typeparam>
        /// <param name="mapName">type-unique identifier of this map</param>
        /// <returns></returns>
        public ISprocMappingExpression<TModel> CreateMap<TModel>(string mapName)
        {
            var expr = new SprocMappingExpression<TModel>();

            if (!_configuration.ContainsKey(typeof (TModel)))
                _configuration.Add(typeof (TModel), new Dictionary<string, object>());

            _configuration[typeof (TModel)].Add(mapName, expr);

            return expr;
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Obtain single <see cref="DynamicParameters"/> object from provided {TModel} entity. The mapping used must be of single type.
        /// </summary>
        /// <typeparam name="TModel">item's type</typeparam>
        /// <param name="item">item to map into <see cref="DynamicParameters"/></param>
        /// <param name="mapName">mapping name used with <see cref="SprocMapper.CreateMap{TModel}"/> method</param>
        /// <returns>a single DynamicParameters object with parameters reflecting mapped item</returns>
        public DynamicParameters GetParameters<TModel>(TModel item, string mapName)
        {
            var expr = GetExpression<TModel>(mapName);

            return expr.GetParameters(item);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Obtain a collection of <see cref="DynamicParameters"/> objects from provided {TModel} IEnumerable. The mapping used must be of multi type.
        /// </summary>
        /// <typeparam name="TModel">items type</typeparam>
        /// <param name="items">items to map to <see cref="DynamicParameters"/></param>
        /// <param name="mapName">mapping name used with <see cref="SprocMapper.CreateMap{TModel}"/> method</param>
        /// <returns>Grouped and/or aggregated items data, mapped into <see cref="DynamicParameters"/> objects</returns>
        public IEnumerable<DynamicParameters> GetParameterSets<TModel>(IEnumerable<TModel> items, string mapName)
        {
            var expr = GetExpression<TModel>(mapName);

            return expr.GetParameterSets(items);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Retrieves named mapping expression for {TModel}, or throws if anything is wrong
        /// </summary>
        /// <typeparam name="TModel">type for which map is retrieved</typeparam>
        /// <param name="mapName">mapping name used with <see cref="SprocMapper.CreateMap{TModel}"/> method</param>
        /// <returns></returns>
        private ISprocMappingExpression<TModel> GetExpression<TModel>(string mapName)
        {
            if (!_configuration.ContainsKey(typeof (TModel)))
                throw new SprocMapperConfigurationException(string.Format("No maps for type {0} has been configured",
                    typeof (TModel).Name));

            if (!_configuration[typeof (TModel)].ContainsKey(mapName))
                throw new SprocMapperConfigurationException(
                    string.Format("For type {0} there is no mapping with a name of {1}", typeof (TModel).Name, mapName));

            var expr = _configuration[typeof (TModel)][mapName] as ISprocMappingExpression<TModel>;

            if (expr == null)
                throw new SprocMapperConfigurationException(
                    string.Format(
                        "Object under type {0}, map name {1} doesn't cast into ISprocMappingExpression<{0}> - this should not be possible!",
                        typeof (TModel).Name, mapName));

            expr.AssertConfigurationIsValid();
            return expr;
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Remove specified map for {TModel} type - if exists.
        /// </summary>
        /// <typeparam name="TModel"></typeparam>
        /// <param name="mapName"></param>
        public void RemoveMap<TModel>(string mapName)
        {
            if (!_configuration.ContainsKey(typeof (TModel))) return;

            if (!_configuration[typeof (TModel)].ContainsKey(mapName)) return;

            _configuration[typeof (TModel)].Remove(mapName);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Remove all models for specified {TModel}, if any
        /// </summary>
        /// <typeparam name="TModel"></typeparam>
        public void RemoveAllMaps<TModel>()
        {
            if (!_configuration.ContainsKey(typeof(TModel))) return;

            _configuration.Remove(typeof (TModel));
        }

        public ISprocTypeMapExpression<TModel> CreateTypeMap<TModel>()
        {
            return new SprocTypeMapExpression<TModel>();
        }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
info@ukworkplacement.co.uk
The Structure of the Erasmus+ Programme
Key Action 1 – Mobility of Individuals
Key Action 2 – Co-operation for Innovation and Exchange of Good Practices
Key Action 3 – Support for Policy Reform
Work Placement & Internships
Host Family Information
Host Company Information
Socio-Cultural Programme
Providing EU Students with
Welcome to the UK Work Placement Website
UK Work Placement is one of the UK's leading training companies specialising in arranging and managing European mobility programmes.
UK Work Placement was created to help satisfy the growing demand for competent and dedicated service providers for programmes sponsored by the European Commission. We specialise in arranging work placements for trainees and students in companies across the length and breadth of the country.
UK Work Placement welcomes opportunities to develop new working relationships with organisations and entities from across Europe.
Our core business is centred on acting as Receiving Agents for Work Experience, Expert Exchanges and Cultural Discovery Programmes.
Each programme is designed individually, according to the needs of each partner, and usually includes a structured mix of both language and cultural discovery, ensuring that all programme participants gain the maximum benefit from their stay in the UK.
Our experienced team will work with you to develop a program that meets your objectives in terms of design, outcomes and budget. Your project and the well-being of participants is our highest priority.
Our offices are located in the commercial centre of Preston, a city of about 132,000 locals. Preston is situated on the north bank of the River Ribble and gained city status in 2002. Originally a market town, Preston is a cosmopolitan city full of life, hosting museums, the Guildhall and Charter Theatre and cinemas, extensive nightlife, and a range of sport activities. We are also home to the University of Central Lancashire.
Preston is in an ideal location to discover the UK with London only a little over 2 hours away by train to the South, Scotland a similar journey time to the North with the Lake District's hills and waterways a breathtaking place to visit at any time of the year.
Hard at work in class
Noyant group
Afternoon at the museum.
Our lovely students from Champigne
News from HR Magazine
UK Work Placement
Shereton House, 13 Ormskirk Road, Preston, PR1 2QP
Copyright 2015 © UK Work Placement Limited. Company Number: 9402733 . Responsive Website Designed by Pumpkin


text:
\section{\label{sec:intro}Introduction}
Axion-like particles (ALPs) are pseudo-scalar (spin 0) bosons with very light mass and weak coupling to standard model (SM) particles. They are proposed as an extension of physics beyond the standard model (BSM) \cite{svrcek2006axions,arvanitaki2010string}, similar to QCD axions that are proposed originally by Peccei and Quinn to solve the strong CP problem in QCD \cite{peccei1977constraints,peccei1977cp}.

In the presence of an external magnetic field, ALPs can couple to photons via two coupling vertices which leads to the photon-ALP oscillation effect in which the free photon and ALP state may convert into each other. In astrophysical environments, photon-ALP conversion drastically reduces the absorption of very high energy (VHE) photons by extragalactic background light (EBL) through pair production above 100 GeV. This increased transparency can modulate and enhance the observed $\gamma$-ray spectra of the TeV photons originating from higher redshift sources.  In addition to the modification of VHE $\gamma$-ray spectra, they are also considered as a potential dark matter (DM) candidate and thus may account for a significant fraction of cold dark matter in the Universe \cite{preskill1983cosmology,abbott1983cosmological,dine1983not,khlopov1999nonlinear,sikivie2010dark,marsh2016axion}.

Many studies have been performed in the lab, for instance CAST \cite{zioutas1999decommissioned, anastassopoulos2017new}, and using observations of $\gamma$-ray spectra from VHE sources \cite{de2007evidence,hooper2007detecting,simet2008milky,belikov2011no,de2011relevance,tavecchio2012evidence,tavecchio2015photons,meyer2013first,meyer2014detecting,galanti2022photon, meyer2017fermi,Majumdar:2017TQ,galanti2018behavior,galanti2018extragalactic,galanti2019blazar,berenji2016constraints,reesman2014probing,zhang2018new,liang2019constraints,long2020testing,kohri2017axion,libanov2020impact,bi2021axion,abramowski2013constraints,ajello2016search,guo2021implications,gautham2021reconciling,li2021limits} to set stringent constraints on ALP mass and coupling constant.

In this work, we investigate the implication of photon-ALP oscillation on the BL Lac-type blazar TXS 0506+056 \cite{massaro2009roma}. It was first discovered in 1983 as a radio source \cite{lawrence19835} and later by space missions, like Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) and Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope \cite{halpern2003redshifts, lamb1997point, abdo2010first}. It is located at a redshift of $z_{0}=0.3365$ \cite{paiano2018redshift}, which is about 1 GPc from the Earth. It is also the first-ever known source associated with sub-PeV neutrinos of astrophysical origin \cite{padovani2018dissecting}. On 2017 September 22, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory detected a very high energy $\sim$ 290 TeV muon neutrino coinciding with the direction of TXS 0506+056 \cite{icecube2018multimessenger}. Soon, follow up observations were performed at various energy bands like FERMI-LAT ($\gamma$-rays) \cite{tanaka2017astronomer}, NuSTAR (X-rays) \cite{2017ATel10845....1F}, Swift (X-rays, UV, optical) \cite{2017ATel10792....1E} including VHE $\gamma$-ray observations by many instruments like MAGIC \cite{2017ATel10817....1M}, H.E.S.S \cite{de2017hess}, HAWC \cite{martinez2017hawc} and VERITAS \cite{mukherjee2017veritas}. Thus, confirming the evidence of associated VHE $\gamma$-ray emissions from this blazar.

This paper is organized as follows. In Section \ref{sec:alpeffect}, we briefly describe the propagation of photon-ALP beam in an external magnetic field. Section \ref{sec:magmodel}, describes the various magnetic field models used for the analysis. In Section \ref{sec:method}, we discuss the methodology used for data fitting and predicting the expected $\gamma$-ray flux. In Section \ref{sec:datasel}, we describe the significance of the ALP effect in TXS 0506+056 and its Fermi-LAT analysis. In Section \ref{sec:resdis}, we discusses the result.

\section{\label{sec:alpeffect}Photon-ALP Oscillation and Propagation in Magnetic Fields}

The minimal interaction coupling $g_{a\gamma}$, between photons of energy $E'_\gamma$ and ALP, in the presence of an external magnetic field \textbf{B} and electric field \textbf{E} has been proposed in literatures \cite{raffelt1988mixing, de2011relevance}.

A polarized, monoenergetic photon beam propagating along the $\hat{\textbf{z}}$ direction in a cold plasma medium with homogeneous \textbf{B}-field along $\hat{\textbf{y}}$ axis, have the equation of motion,

\begin{equation}
\left(i\frac{d}{dz}+E^{'}_{\gamma}+\mathcal{M}_{0}\right) \psi(z) = 0 \,\Big|_{E'_\gamma \gg m_{a}}\, ,
\end{equation}
where $\mathcal{M}_{0}$ represents the photon-ALP mixing matrix.
On further simplifications like weak magnetic fields that neglect the QED vacuum polarization and Faraday rotation as $E'_\gamma$ is in high energies, the mixing matrix becomes,
\begin{equation}
\mathcal{M}_{0} =
\begin{pmatrix}
\Delta^{xx} & 0 & 0\\
0 & \Delta^{yy} & \Delta^{y}_{a\gamma} \\
0 & \Delta^{y}_{a\gamma} & \Delta^{zz}_{a}
\end{pmatrix}
\, ,
\end{equation}
where $
\Delta^{xx} = \Delta^{yy} = -\omega^{2}_{pl}/2E $ and $\omega^{2}_{pl}$ is the plasma frequency resulted from charge screening effect.
The propagation region of the photon-ALP beam is divided into N-sub regions. In each region, the probability for photon survival is calculated. Considering the initial beam state as
\begin{equation}
    \rho(0) = \frac{1}{2} \,diag.(1, 1, 0).
\end{equation}

The final photon survival probability can be written as:
\begin{equation}
\label{galp-prob}
    P_{\gamma\gamma} = Tr\left[(\rho_{11}+\rho_{22})T(s)\rho(0)T^{\dagger}(s))\right],
\end{equation}
where $\rho_{11}$ $=$ diag(1, 0, 0) and $\rho_{22}$ $=$ diag(0, 1, 0) denotes the polarization along the x and y-axis, and $T(s) = T(s_3)_{Gal} \times T(s_2)_{Ext} \times T(s_1)_{Source}$ is the whole propagation transfer matrix. Here, the sub-regions are: at the source, the extragalactic medium, and the Milky Way region

\section{\label{sec:magmodel}Magnetic field models}
In this section, we give a brief overview of the magnetic field models used in our calculation.
\subsection{Blazar jet region}
We consider the photon-ALP oscillation at the source in the presence of blazar jet magnetic field (BJMF). The magnetic field in the jet region of BL Lac objects can be modelled with a poloidal (along the jet axis, $B \propto r^{-2}$) and a toroidal (transverse to the jet axis, $B \propto r^{-1}$) components. At distances large enough from the central black hole, the toroidal component dominates over the poloidal and thus the latter can be neglected. We adopt the toroidal magnetic field strength $B^{jet}(r)$ given by \cite{begelman1984theory,ghisellini2009canonical}:
\begin{equation}
    B^{jet}(r) = B^{jet}_{0}\left(\frac{r}{r_{VHE}}\right)^{\eta}, \label{eq:bfieldjet}
\end{equation}
where $B^{jet}_{0}$ is the magnetic field strength at the core and $r_{VHE}$ is the distance between VHE $\gamma$-ray emitting region and the central black hole. We assume $r_{VHE} \sim R_{VHE}/\theta_{j}$, where $R_{VHE}$ is the blob radius of the VHE emitting region and $\theta_{j}$ is the angle between the jet axis and the line of sight.

Assuming equipartition between the magnetic field and particle energies, the electron density profile $n_{el}(r)$ can be modelled as a power law given by \cite{o2009magnetic}:
\begin{equation}
    n_{el}(r) = n_{0}\left(\frac{r}{r_{VHE}}\right)^{\xi}, \label{eq:eldensjet}
\end{equation}
where $n_{0}$ is the electron density at $r_{VHE}$. In Ref. \cite{davies2022relevance}, a more realistic model is provided which takes into account the fact that electron distribution is non-thermal in a relativistic AGN Jet.

The photon energy $E^{'}_{\gamma}$ in the jet frame is related to the lab-frame energy $E_{\gamma}$ by $E^{'}_{\gamma} = E_{\gamma}/\delta_{D}$, where $\delta_{D} = \left[\Gamma_{L}(1-\beta_{j}^{2}cos\theta_{j})\right]^{-1}$ is the Doppler factor with $\Gamma_{L}$ and $\beta_{j}$ as the bulk Lorentz and beta factor, respectively. We assume at $r>1$ kpc, the BJMF strength is negligible. Further details of the BJMF model can be found in Ref. \cite{tavecchio2015photons, galanti2019blazar}.

\subsection{Inter-cluster magnetic fields}

The inter-cluster medium (ICM) magnetic field, $B^{ICMF}$ can be modelled as,
\begin{equation}
    B^{ICMF}(r) = B_{0}^{ICMF} \left(\frac{n_{el}(r)}{n_{el}(r_{0})}\right)^{\eta},
\end{equation}
with $0.5\le\eta\le1.0$, where $B_{0}^{ICMF}$ and $n_{el}(r_{0})$ are the magnetic field strength and the electron density at the cluster center, respectively. The electron density distribution $n_{el}(r)$  at a distance $r$ from the cluster center is
\begin{equation}
    n_{el}(r) = n_{0}^{ICMF} \left(1 + \frac{r}{r_{core}}\right)^{\zeta},
\end{equation}
with $r_{core}$ as the core radius and $\zeta=-1$. The typical order of the electron density and the core radius are $\sim \mathcal{O}(10^{-3})$ cm$^{-3}$, and $\sim \mathcal{O}(100)$ kpc, respectively.

In a cluster rich environment, the turbulent magnetic field is of $\sim$ $\mathcal{O}$(1)$\mu$G \cite{carilli2002cluster,govoni2004magnetic,subramanian2006evolving}. Such cluster can have a significant effect on the conversion between photons and ALPs \cite{meyer2014detecting, wouters2012irregularity}.

\subsection{Extragalactic magnetic fields}
The actual strength of the extragalactic magnetic field on the cosmological scale $\sim \mathcal{O}$(1) Mpc, is still unknown but the current accepted limit is $\sim\mathcal{O}$(1) nG \cite{ade2016planck, pshirkov2016new}. In this work, we neglect this magnetic field and consider only the absorption effect due to EBL.

The optical depth of EBL attenuation can be written as \cite{belikov2011no}:
\begin{eqnarray}
    \tau (E_{\gamma},z_{0}) = c\,\int_{0}^{z_{0}} \frac{dz}{(1+z)H(z)} \, \int_{E_{th}}^{\infty} dE^{BG}_{\gamma} \, \frac{dn(z)}{dE^{BG}_{\gamma}} \, \nonumber \\ \times \, \tilde{\sigma}(E_{\gamma}, E^{BG}_{\gamma})\,,
\end{eqnarray}
with
\begin{eqnarray}
    \tilde{\sigma}(E_{\gamma}, E^{BG}_{\gamma}) = \int_{-1}^{1-\frac{2(m_ec^2)^2}{E^{BG}_{\gamma}E_{\gamma}}} \, dcos\theta \, \frac{(1-cos\theta)}{2} \, \nonumber \\ \times \, \sigma_{\gamma\gamma}(E_{\gamma}, E^{BG}_{\gamma},\theta) \, ,
\end{eqnarray}
and
\begin{equation}
    E_{th} = \frac{2(m_{e}c^{2})^{2}}{ E_{\gamma}(1-cos\theta)},
\end{equation}
where $z_{0}$ is the redshift of the source, $H(z)$ is the rate of Hubble expansion, $E_{th}$ is the threshold energy for pair production, $\frac{dn(z)}{dE^{BG}_{\gamma}}$ is the proper number density of the EBL, $\sigma_{\gamma\gamma}(E_{\gamma}, z, E^{BG}_{\gamma})$ is the pair production cross section, $\theta$ is the angle between the projectile and target photons, $E_{\gamma}$ is the projectile photon energy, and $E^{BG}_{\gamma}$ is the target background photon energy.

\subsection{Milky way region}
Finally, the effect of photon-ALP oscillation in the presence of a galactic magnetic field (GMF), having a large-scale regular and a small-scale random component is considered. Due to the smaller coherence length than the oscillation length, we neglect the random component in our analysis and consider only the regular GMF component model given in \cite{jansson2012new}, and the latest model can be found in \cite{Jansson_2012, adam2016planck}.

\section{\label{sec:method}Methodology}
The photon beam of the blazar can be considered as the intrinsic photons generated by the accelerated leptons or hadrons. In general, one can consider the intrinsic spectrum to follow the superexponential cut-off power law (SEPWL) to fit the observed data points under the null hypothesis,
\begin{equation}
    \Phi_{int}(E) = N_{0} \left(\frac{E}{E_{0}}\right)^{-\alpha} exp\left[-\left(\frac{E}{E_{cutoff}}\right)^\beta\right],
\end{equation}
where $E_{0}$ is taken to be 1 GeV, $N_{0}$, $\alpha$, $E_{cutoff}$, and $\beta$ are treated as free parameters. It is to be noted that we also test other forms of the intrinsic spectrum like exponential cut-off and log parabola. We find that the SEPWL, gives the smallest value of the best-fit $\chi^{2}$ under the null hypothesis.

We used an open-source python-based package \texttt{gammaALPs}\footnote{\url{https://gammaalps.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html}} \cite{Meyer:202199} to compute the photon-ALP oscillation probability $P^{ALP}_{\gamma\gamma}$ in different astrophysical environments as described in Section \ref{sec:magmodel}.
\begin{figure*}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=0.85\textwidth]{gamasurv.pdf}
    \caption{\label{fig:probalp_q}Final Photon survival probability for the TXS 0506+056 blazar for six typical sets of parameters. The dot-dashed line and the solid lines represent the photon survival probability without and with the ALP effect, respectively. The notation used to represent the parameters are m$_{neV}$ $\equiv$ m$_{a}$/1 neV and g$_{11}$ $\equiv$ g$_{a\gamma}$/10$^{-11}$ GeV$^{-1}$.}
\end{figure*}

The modulated $\gamma$-ray spectrum obtained after the photon-ALP oscillation is given by
\begin{equation}
    \Phi_{w ALP}(E) = P^{ALP}_{\gamma\gamma} \Phi_{int}(E)\,.
\end{equation}

In order to get the final model expected $\gamma$-ray spectrum observed in the detector, we must take into account their energy resolution. Considering the energy dispersion function $D(E_{t}, E^i_{\gamma}, E^j_{\gamma})$ to be a Gaussian with $\sigma$ being the energy resolution, the expected flux between energy bins $E^i_{\gamma}$ and $E^j_{\gamma}$ is given by \cite{guo2021implications}
\begin{equation}
    \Phi^{exp}(E_\gamma) = \frac{\int_{0}^{\infty} D(E_{t}, E^i_{\gamma}, E^j_{\gamma}) \, \Phi_{wALP}(E_{t}) \, dE_{t}}{E^i_{\gamma} - E^j_{\gamma}},
\end{equation}
where $E_{t}$ is the true energy of $\gamma$-rays. The energy resolution of FERMI-LAT and MAGIC are taken as $15\%$ \footnote{\url{https://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/data/analysis/documentation/Cicerone/Cicerone_Introduction/LAT_overview.html}} and $16\%$ \cite{aleksic2016major}, respectively.

One can obtain the best-fit photon-ALP oscillation probability by fitting the observed flux with the expected flux. We define $\chi^{2}$ as,
\begin{equation}
    \chi^{2} = \sum_{i}^{N_{bins}} \left(\frac{\Phi^{exp}_{i}(E_\gamma) - \phi^{obs}_{i}(E_\gamma)}{\sigma_{i}}\right)^{2} \, ,
\end{equation}
where $\phi^{obs}_{i}$ is the observed $\gamma$-ray flux, with $\sigma_{i}$ as the corresponding uncertainty. The best-fit $m_{a}$ and $g_{a\gamma}$ are calculated by minimizing the $\chi^{2}$.
\section{\label{sec:datasel}Significance of ALP effect in TXS 0506+056}

The first extra-galactic TeV-PeV neutrino source TXS 0506+056 is the best candidate to study high-energy radiation. The follow-up observations of IC170922-A show that the source has multi-wavelength emissions. Additionally, the source showed an excess of $13 \pm 5$ in the time window of 158 days, from 2014 September (MJD 56937.81) to 2015 March (MJD 57096.21), known as the neutrino flare phase \cite{icecube2018neutrino}. Recently, a $\sim$ 41 hr and $\sim 74$ hr observation of VHE ( $> 90$ GeV) events by Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov Telescopes (MAGIC) between 2017 September to 2018 December showed three activities \cite{ansoldi2018blazar, acciari2022investigating}. Hence, the blazar TXS 0560+056 would be the best probe to study the photon-ALP interaction from MeV to the sub-PeV range. We studied the VHE activity phases as well as the neutrino-flare phase of the source.

\subsection{Fermi-LAT analysis of TXS 0506+056}

We analysed the Fermi-LAT data for TXS 0506+056 in four phases:
\begin{itemize}
    \item \textbf{VHE Flare 1 :} 2017 September 04 (MJD 58000) to November 03 (MJD 58060).
    \item \textbf{VHE Quiescent :} 2017 November 04 (MJD 58061) to 2018 October 10 (MJD 58422).
    \item \textbf{VHE Flare 2 :} 2018 September 01 (MJD 58423) to 2019 January 02 (MJD 58485).
    \item \textbf{Neutrino Flare :} 2014 September (MJD 56937.81) to 2015 March (MJD 57096.21).
\end{itemize}

We select above mentioned time period of FERMI-LAT (Pass 8) processed data from Fermi Science Data Center (FSDC) \footnote{\label{foot:fermi}\url{https://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/data/access/}}. We choose the spacecraft files and the instrument response functions (IRFs) of P8R3\_SOURCE\_V2 to match the extracted data. We select the SOURCE event class (evclass=128 and evtype=3) in the energy range of 100 MeV to 300 GeV. The region of interest (ROI) is selected to be 2$^{\circ}$ centred on the target source. We consider all the 4FGL sources around 10$^{\circ}$ of the TXS 0506+056 as background sources together with pre-processed templates of Galactic diffuse emission, gll\_iem\_v08.fits , and the extragalactic isotropic diffuse emission, iso\_P8R3\_SOURCE\_V2\_v2.fits.

The likelihood analysis, spectral energy distribution (SED), and the light curve are obtained by using the python based fermipy package \footnote{\url{https://fermipy.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html}} \cite{2017ICRC...35..824W}.

\section{\label{sec:resdis}Results \& Discussions}
We calculated the photon-ALP oscillation probability for TXS0506+056 following section \ref{sec:method}.
\subsection{\label{sec:results1}VHE activity around IC170922-A}
In this section, we discuss the results obtained for VHE Flare 1, VHE Quiescent and VHE Flare 2 using the Fermi-LAT and MAGIC events. The VHE events observed by MAGIC are collected from \cite{ansoldi2018blazar, acciari2022investigating}. We used the modelling parameters for these phases as listed in \cite{acciari2022investigating}. The parameters used in the  BJMF model in \texttt{gammaALPs} package are listed in Table \ref{table:source_params}. Note that for this study, we have not considered ICMF model.

Figure \ref{fig:probalp_q} shows the photon survival probability as a result of EBL and ALP effect for several typical sets of m$_{neV}$ $\equiv$ m$_{a}$/1 neV and g$_{11}$ $\equiv$ g$_{a\gamma}$/10$^{-11}$ GeV$^{-1}$.
\begin{table}[h!]
\begin{ruledtabular}
\caption{\label{table:source_params}Summary of the BJMF model parameters in the quiescent and flaring states of TXS0506+056 taken from Ref. \cite{acciari2022investigating}.}
\begin{tabular}{c c c}
 \textbf{Parameter Name} & \textbf{Quiescent} & \textbf{Flaring}  \\
 \hline
 R.A.(J2000) & 05 09 25 (hh mm ss) & "\\
 Dec.(J2000) & +05 42 09 (dd mm ss) & "\\
 z & 0.337 & " \\
$\theta_{view}$ [deg] & 0.8 & " \\
 $\delta$ & 40 & " \\
 $\Gamma$ & 22 & "  \\
 $B^{Jet}_{0}$ [G] & 1 & "  \\
 $n^{Jet}_{0}$ [cm$^{-3}$] & $10^{3}$ & 520 \\
 $r_{VHE}$ [pc] & 10 & "\\
 $R^{'}_{blob}$ [$10^{16}$ cm] & 1.1 & "\\
 $\eta$ & -1 & " \\
 $\xi$ & -2 & " \\
 $\gamma_{e,min}$ & 800 & " \\
 $\gamma_{e,max}$ & $10^{4}$ & $2 \times 10^{4}$ \\
\end{tabular}
\end{ruledtabular}
\end{table}
Figure \ref{fig:chi2dist} shows the distribution of $\chi^{2}_{ALP}$ in the $m_{neV}-g_{11}$ parameter space for all three VHE activity phases. In Table \ref{table:bestfitsum}, we summarize the best-fit $\chi^{2}_{w/o ALP}$ and $\chi^{2}_{ALP}$ values along with the $m_{neV}-g_{11}$ parameters obtained under the null and ALP hypothesis. And to summarize, we show the $\gamma$-ray flux for the best-fit $\chi^{2}$ values along with the final photon survival probability in figure \ref{fig:sedplots}.
\begin{table}
\begin{ruledtabular}
\caption{\label{table:bestfitsum}Summary of the best-fit $\chi^{2}$ values and ALP parameters under the null and ALP effect hypothesis for all the phases.}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c}
 Phase & \textbf{$\chi^{2}_{w/o ALP}$} & \textbf{$\chi^{2}_{ALP}$} & $m_{neV}$ & $g_{11}$   \\
 \hline
VHE Flare 1 & 4.67 & 3.43 & 17.78 & 35.48\\
VHE Quiescent & 2.94 & 6.12 & 11.22 & 94.41\\
VHE Flare 2 & 3.36 & 5.75 & 1.99 & 14.12\\
\hline
Neutrino Flare 2014 & 4.67 & 3.43 & 4.47 & 39.81
\end{tabular}
\end{ruledtabular}
\end{table}
\begin{figure*}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{chi2_params.pdf}
    \caption{\label{fig:chi2dist}Distribution of $\chi^{2}_{ALP}$ in the $m_{neV}$-$g_{11}$ parameter space for all three phases. The "$\star$" symbol in black represents the best-fit parameter point. The black horizontal line represents the upper limit set by the CAST experiment of g$_{a\gamma} <$ 6.6$\times$10$^{-11}$ GeV$^{-1}$ \cite{cast2017new}.}
\end{figure*}

\begin{figure*}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{IC_gamma_exp.pdf}
    \caption{\label{fig:sedplots}Top panel: Best-fit $\gamma$-ray spectra of TXS 0506+056 for all three VHE phases. The dotted black and the solid magenta lines represent the spectra under the null and ALP hypothesis. The corresponding best-fit $\chi^{2}$ values are listed in Table \ref{table:bestfitsum}. The experimental data are from Fermi-LAT \footnote{see footnote \ref{foot:fermi}} and MAGIC \cite{acciari2022investigating}. The dot-dashed red line represents the intrinsic $\gamma$-rays and the dashed red line represents the flux expected by considering the ALP effect (see text). The sensitivity of LHAASO for one-year exposure is shown by green dash-dot-dot line. Bottom panel: Final photon survival probability for best-fit $\chi^{2}_{ALP}$ parameter values under the ALP hypothesis.}
\end{figure*}

Extending the best-fit survival probability to sub-PeV energy, we can estimate the residual photon flux of the observed neutrino's counterpart. Assuming IC170922-A resulted from proton-proton interaction, as calculated in \cite{banik2019describing}, the counterpart $\gamma$-rays is \cite{kelner2008energy},
\begin{equation}
    \left(E^{2}_{\gamma}.\frac{dN_{\gamma}}{dE_{\gamma}}\right) = \frac{2}{3}\left(E^{2}_{\nu}.\frac{dN_{\nu}}{dE_{\nu}}\right) \, , \label{eq:nugamspect}
\end{equation}
where $E_{\gamma}\approx 2E_{\nu}$ is the energy of the photons produced from $\pi^{0}$ decay. Subsequently, these VHE photons attenuate by interacting with the synchrotron and synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) resulting from relativistic electrons.

The fraction of VHE photons that can escape from the blob is estimated as in \cite{2013ApJ...768...54B},
 \begin{equation}
  \mathcal{F}^{esc}_{\gamma\gamma} = \frac{1-\exp{(-\tau_{\gamma\gamma}(\epsilon^{\prime}_{\gamma})})}{\tau_{\gamma\gamma}} \, , \label{eq:escfrac}
\end{equation}
where the optical depth due to this interaction is,
 \begin{equation}
  \tau_{\gamma\gamma}(\epsilon^{\prime}_{\gamma}) = R^{\prime}_{blob} \int_{\epsilon_{thr}} \sigma_{\gamma\gamma}(\epsilon^{\prime}_{\gamma}, \epsilon^{\prime}_{k}) \, n^{\prime}_{k}(\epsilon^{\prime}_{k}) \, d\epsilon^{\prime}_{k} \, ,
\end{equation}
with $n^{\prime}_{k}(\epsilon^{\prime}_{k})$ being the number density of the photons of energy $\epsilon^{\prime}_{k}$ (in $m_{e}c^{2}$) in the comoving frame,
 \begin{equation}
    n^{\prime}_{k}(\epsilon^{\prime}_{k}) = \frac{2 D_{L}^2}{c R^{\prime2}_{blob}\delta^{2}\Gamma^{2}_{k}} \, \frac{F_{k}(\epsilon_{k})}{m_{e}c^{2}\epsilon^{\prime2}_{k}} \, ,
\end{equation}
where $\sigma_{\gamma\gamma}$ is the pair production cross section \cite{aharonian2008formation}, $R^{'}_{blob}$ is the radius of the blob,  $D^{2}_{L}$ is the luminosity distance of the source, $c$ is the velocity of light, $\delta$ is the Doppler factor, $\Gamma_{k}$ is the bulk Lorentz factor, $m_{e}$ is the mass of the electron, and $F_{k}(\epsilon_{k})$ is the photon flux in the observer frame.

Hence, the intrinsic $\gamma$-ray spectrum can be obtained by multiplying the escape fraction to Equation \ref{eq:nugamspect} and is shown by a dot-dashed line in the top panel of Figure \ref{fig:sedplots}. This flux generally gets exhausted due to interaction with the EBL. On multiplying the intrinsic flux with the photon-ALP oscillation probability, the photon flux gets lower but not exhausted. The $\gamma$-ray due to the ALP effect at the sub-PeV energy is shown with a dashed line (red) line. We show also the differential sensitivity of LHAASO for one-year exposure by dash-dot-dot line (green) for comparison \cite{vernetto2016gamma}.

\subsection{\label{sec:results2} Neutrino Flare (2014-2015)}
We also investigated the ALP effect for the neutrino flare phase of the blazar TXS 0506+056. For the neutrino flare, there are no VHE observations, hence we calculated the best fit oscillation probability using only the Fermi-LAT events and following the method as in section \ref{sec:method}. The survived $\gamma$-rays are shown with the cross-hatched region while the intrinsic photon flux is shown with the vertical-hatched lines in figure \ref{fig:icga14}. Interestingly, the survival photon with ALP effect comes out to be above the one-year detection sensitivity of LHAASO \cite{vernetto2016gamma}.
\begin{figure*}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=0.9\textwidth]{IC_gamma_2014.pdf}
    \caption{\label{fig:icga14}Left panel: Best-fit $\gamma$-ray flux for the neutrino flare 2014 under the null and ALP hypothesis. The vertical-hatched region represents the intrinsic flux and the cross-hatched region represents the flux after considering the ALP effect. Right panel: Final photon survival probability for best-fit $\chi^{2}_{ALP}$ parameter values under the ALP hypothesis.}
\end{figure*}

\begin{acknowledgments}
The authors would like to thank Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) Grant No. SRG/2020/001932 for the support.
\end{acknowledgments}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
Q: Why am I unable to run a PySide GUI in a spawned child process? I'm attempting to run a PySide GUI in a spawned child process, but it keeps exiting with exitcode 11 (segfault). This simplified test code works fine if run_gui is called directly, but fails if it's run inside a child process:
# std lib imports
import time
import sys
from multiprocessing import Process

# third party imports
from PySide.QtGui import QApplication, QMainWindow

def run_gui():
    app = QApplication([])
    w = QMainWindow()
    w.show()
    w.raise_()
    sys.exit(app.exec_())

def main():
    gui_proc = Process(target=run_gui)
    #gui_proc.daemon = True # this doesn't seem to matter
    gui_proc.start()
    while True:
        if not gui_proc.is_alive():
            if gui_proc.exitcode != 0:
                print 'GUI exited with code {}'.format(gui_proc.exitcode)
            else:
                print 'GUI exited cleanly.'
            break
        time.sleep(1)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    ## GUI in main process:
    #run_gui()
    ## GUI in child process:
    main()

Is there a way around this? I'm not sure how to debug what's causing the segfault.
The reason I'm interested in doing this is so that I can restart the GUI if it crashes unexpectedly, all the while keeping a couple daemon processes running (one for disk access and another for interacting with instruments).
Edit: I just tried another test script (below) using QCoreApplication and no GUI, and I see the same problem. Apparently PySide just won't run in a child process.
# std lib imports
import time
import sys
from multiprocessing import Process

# third party imports
from PySide.QtCore import QCoreApplication, QTimer

def quit():
    print "Quiting..."
    sys.exit()

def run():
    app = QCoreApplication([])
    timer = QTimer()
    timer.timeout.connect(quit)
    timer.start(1000)
    print "Starting..."
    sys.exit(app.exec_())

def main():
    proc = Process(target=run)
    #proc.daemon = True # this doesn't seem to matter
    proc.start()
    while True:
        if not proc.is_alive():
            print 'Process exited with code {}'.format(proc.exitcode)
            break
        time.sleep(1)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    ## GUI in main process:
    #run()
    ## GUI in child process:
    main()

A: I have had similar issues,
I chose to rearrange my code, so that data collection and analysis is running in process it self.
This was, I got a very simple Gui thread and plotting thread. If the gui for some reason stalled, I would still be able to sample my data "in time"
I don't like the Phrase

so that I can restart the GUI if it crashes unexpectedly

Basically if your gui crashes, you should fix the problem and not do a workaround.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Admission to the College is granted only for the semester of acceptance.
If a student does not register for the semester of acceptance, he or she must file for reactivation of the application before registering for subsequent semesters.
Each applicant is encouraged to visit the College for a personal interview.


A friend of Jolly Wally's was taking a stroll in a colorful garden when he spotted an old mustang pull up the road. He took a deep breath and wished that he could have one. A few months later, he received news that his great Uncle had passed away in the neighboring country and left him a vintage mustang. His wish was fulfilled and he was happy. For the next three months he drove around in his new car until it started to fall apart. Tired of having to fix it, he sold it and bought himself a motorbike, one he had always wanted. He rode his bike to work and to everywhere. Months went by and he began feeling restless again. He wondered if it were the lack of love and a partner that was causing him to be unhappy and restless. So he began dating again. Initially, his dates made him happy but the feeling of restlessness kept returning, like a reminder. Blaming it on the city he lived in, he decided to go on an extended trip. The travel excited him and he forgot about his restlessness. For the next few months, as he visited new cities and towns, he felt happy to meet new people and try different things but soonafter, he began missing home, his family and friends. He missed sleeping on his own bed and being in his room. So he cut his trip short and returned home and to the restlessness.
Joy is the feeling you have when you offer help to someone without an ulterior motive. Some might say you did have a motive and that is to feel joy. Perhaps… but if the motive is to feel joy, I would encourage you to keep doing it and bringing yourself joy.
Offer to others. (Note I did not use the term, give). There is no true joy like offering help to someone in need. Be mindful of the feeling of joy versus elating your ego. If you are someone who uses the term, "I did this… I helped… I gave… I lent… and so because of me…" then you will not find joy in helping others but will look for pride instead. It is unfortunate that many who help others resort to pride over joy. You will feel joy when you offer help to someone for the sake of helping them, and when you believe that the Universe is helping them through you. And be thankful to the Universe for choosing you to be the tool. Giving you the opportunity to feel joy.
Pursue your life's purpose. Some of us are lucky to have found our passion. Some are still looking for theirs. Some pursue their passion, as hobbies while others as their profession. If you pursue your passion, try using it to positively impact the lives of others. The feeling you will get from doing so, is immense joy. It will also help you realise your life's true purpose, just like that friend of Jolly Wally.
A great book to help you find your true purpose is, 'What you're really meant to do, by Robert Kaplan.
When you use your passion for the greater good of humans, animals or plants, then you have aligned with the planet's energy. This does not mean that you will not go through some challenges, that too is part of your journey.
A key universal rule in all this, is to remain humble and be thankful to the Universe for letting you offer help to others and not letting your pride get in the way of your joy.


Wasn't there a report during the last Aero India, that Karnataka government has stated it cannot manage Aero India in the city? I thought i read it somewhere.
I was expecting it to be moved to Goa. Guess like Defence Expo, this will also be moving to different cities in coming years.
Too bad to hear about AI planning to move out of Bangalore. Bangalore was considered the Aerospace Capital of India. Why Lucknow? Kinda odd choice...good for folks in that part of India (& for locals). If the move of venue happens then I guess, I will be not be attending AI 2019 at least. Will depend on good defence journos along with Vishal & other BRF members for photos & scoops.
There was an attempt to move it to Goa last time when Parrikar was the RM, didn't happen, but he was successful in moving only the DefExpo. Now with a new RM they are splitting the pie between UP and TN: DefExpo moves to TN from Delhi, now AeroIndia moves to Lucknow; the two defence corridors are in UP and TN. I see the news of AMCA being assembled in TN in the same vain.
Strangely, the reality is almost the opposite with an aircraft starting life in the wind tunnel, despite aerodynamics being the most predictable facet of modern aircraft development.
2. At least two of the following components must be already available off-the-shelf: sensors/engines/airframe (note that former two can be replaced in upgrades).
3. Invest a large amount in a short development time. However terrifying this figure may be, it is guaranteed to be less than the 25 years it currently takes a frontline aircraft to go from concept to operational service. 10 years is not unreasonable. Do not let the requirement be altered during development.
4. Three simple metrics should dominate the design process: power-to-weight/reliability/range, however wonderful the weapons systems promise to be they will benefit from these inherent advantages.
5. Plan who will pay for upgrades in the future.
6. Small factories (of the lowest possible tech) close to all component assemblies (to make this work it must be made clear that the cost savings outweigh the political advantages of multi-state collaboration).
7. The A variant will have insufficient fuel, electrical and processing power for upgrade, this is normal, but plan how it will be rectified in the B or C model.
India's AERO INDIA show will likely be held over three months early in October-November this year, instead of the expected February 2019. The most dramatic change, however, as reported earlier by Livefist, is that the show shifts out of its traditional home in Yelahanka in Bengaluru to the Bakshi Ka Talab air force base in Lucknow in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. A decision to the effect is likely to be made today by the Indian Ministry of Defence, confirming speculation that has swirled for weeks.
Why Lucknow of all places? It could have been Hindon, Kalaikunda, Ambala, Chenna, Goa, Mumbai or any number of places. Why and how was Lucknow chosen?
UP defense corridor is coming up, may be in lieu of that.
It will be interesting to see what kind of revenue AI will pull up due to change of location. Will they still charge INR 2500 (?) for business tickets? Businesses will still send reps to AI but I do expect a dip in attendance. Also, a lot of civilians working with HAL, CSIR, DRDO labs in BLR would attend on business days with passes...I think this was done way back to promote participation when the show was younger & not so well known. Most of the above crowd won't be flying to Lucknow now...anyways, I do hope that people in Lucknow enjoy AI & its treats.
PR for the CM .Frankly this moving the Aero- India show will prove detrimental in the long run.It will never gain the same status as Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, Dubai and MAKS which are permanent venues.
There must be a permanent venue and BLR is the best as it is the HQ of Indian aerospace and IT.The south is getting shafted becos a non- BJP govt. is in power in the state? It will take half a century to set up anything equivalent to the BLR aerospace industry which also has the ISRO HQ there than anywhere in the north. Rushing the show to October will also see fewer firang participation as OEMs require usually a year to plan ahead, get their own babu clearances, etc. Anyway I've other fish to fry in Oct. and won't be there for sure.
The Defexpo should preferably be held at a port where visitors can visit warships as at Langkawi.The land warfare expo could be held at Delhi .Sadly the historic Pragati Maidan pavilions have been asininely demolished- I was there in '72 for the first Asia-72 Expo, and the naval expo at Goa, the most attractive venue which is full of hotels, etc. geared up for large numbers of visitors.
Since the CVRDE is at Avadi,during alternative years the Land expo could be at Chennai.Chennai is unsuitable for a combined land/ naval expo because of the inability to visit warships. It would not have happened at Chennai if the DM wasn't from the same state.
Venues should be permanent and selected based upon infrastructure, local defence industry and ease of access for visitors from abroad and within India.
Paris and Farnborough alternate each year.Other than Aero- India, the land and naval expos could be held in similar fashion.
Kashi wrote: Why Lucknow of all places? It could have been Hindon, Kalaikunda, Ambala, Chenna, Goa, Mumbai or any number of places. Why and how was Lucknow chosen?
All of these other airport are active air bases with critical combat sqn. , where foreigners are not permitted. (mumbai airport not possible because that airports civil raffic cant be stopped for 10 hrs for 3 days).
Bakshi ka talab per my memory does not base any combat squadron, thus can accept public events including temporary visits by foreigners.
FYI the previous venue in Blore also does to not host combat sqns, thus ok for air show.
I say a very absurd assertion. As an aside BLR logistic and organization is crap.
Eqpt and people that need to be moved for airshow has NOTHING to do with distance it has to travel. Very illogical argument imho.
It's a Q of investment and ROI. Yes India is not a rich country yet. As Shiv uvaacha: if my aunty had balls she would be my uncle.
TN doesn't exactly have a BJP government, and it is further South than Bangalore, wasn't the DefExpo held there recently?
I too am baffled by the seeming shifting of Aero India to Lucknow, but Philip's ranting is absolutely ridiculous. As bad as his constant pedalling of Roosi maal.
Issue if that the AI doesn't seem to be moving to a better place. If it was, nobody would be up in arms.
There's no place better than Bangalore for AI in my opinion. Why meddle with something that is not broke?
Ideally we would have air shows across the country like the US does. And not just a once in two years show in the South.
I think all this discussion about moving AI started because Karnataka Govt under the great Siddu had written to defense ministry saying the AI was a huge logistic nightmare and cannot be handled effectively.
Though I do not agree with the supposed advancement of the dates.
The date has to be brought forward, else everyone would be cooking in UP's heat in Feb.
nam wrote: The date has to be brought forward, else everyone would be cooking in UP's heat in Feb.
Not heat saar,but before the fog sets in.
Found this on Battle Machines Facebook page posting.
India has its own RC-135esque aircraft. These were ex-Air India aircraft converted by Israel for this role. They now have new built Global 5000s also modified by Israel. Reportedly they want another platform for the SIGINT role.
kvraghav wrote: I think all this discussion about moving AI started because Karnataka Govt under the great Siddu had written to defense ministry saying the AI was a huge logistic nightmare and cannot be handled effectively.
Is there any source for this? It sounds too stupid even for a nincompoop to do.
Ranting...! Even the Karnataka BJP politicos are asking for it to remain at BLR.this shifting is all to do with the coming elections, not a logical decision in my opinion, and in such indecent haste, without enough time to prepare for it, it will be a big flop.Why brought forward to Oct?There is speculation that the 2019 elections may be brought forward by a couple of months and als hectic electioneering across the country at that time making it a big distraction.UP is the most critical state anx the promise of a defence corridor good for PR.
However, as far as aerospace is concerned BLR is the clear capital of Indian aerospace.Only an ignoramus will deny this fact. There are so many supporting Ddefence labs and pvt. entities too apart from other DPSUs in the state and neighbouring states.Thete is not a snowflakes chance in hell that Lucknow will ever replace BLR.This is one huge mistake. to hold Aero- India here. A land / security defexpo could've been held in Lucknow as has been the case with such expos at Delhi.
The same one which Pak has. Good to get our fingers on it.
I have more gastronomical reason. Time for Aero India to Taste Lucknowi Kulfi, Chaat, Kebab after Bengaluru Idli, Dosa, Sambar.
Jokes apart, the world needs to see that there is Aerospace Industry - Lucknow, Kanpur - in so called Backward Part of India and fire up an industrial revolution there.
In addition, the whole campaign of 'North Indians' being tax bums and 'spoiling Bengaluru' didn't help either. Well, let Aero India act as Catalyst for Net New Industries in North India.
Robbing Bangalore to pay Lucknow?
Air Marshal BK Pandey (retd.).Indian Express.
" It's a death knell for Aero India.A disaster in the making.When I heard about this shift my immediate question was , is there a new defence minister from UP being appointed?"
"When Manohar Parikar was appointed he moved DefExpo to Goa.Then when Nirmala Sitharaman was appointed she took DefExpo to Tamil Nadu.This is a politically- driven exercise to prop up ( UP CM )Adityanath with the forthcoming elections in mind, and also to snub ( Karnataka CM) Kumaraswamy.But in all this you are damaging the national intetest.It should've been a professional not political decision."
In 2017 more than 750 global and desi majors participated in AI.109 nations sent ministerial/ secretary level delegations.150, 000 business visitors and over 300, 000 general visitors attended.BLR's hospitality industry recorded over 500 cr. in revenue.Transport operators, eateries, etc. benefited, why there is so much heartburn about the shift.International exhibitors are also concerned as they plan months in advance.
As I stated, to help Lucknow hold the Land Expo there, the Maritime Expo at Goa as it also has an excellent hospitality industry and the excellent Goa shipyard which is building a lot of warships and other vessels for the IN and CG.Aero-India has carved a name for itself at BLR for over 2 decades and is the largest show in Asia.Moving it to Lucknow reminds me of a character in our history, one MBTq, who shifted the capital from Delhi!
i am sure a state capital has enough resources to host 5000 delegates for 5 days.
the 300,000 general visitors most of them are unpaid passes obtained by drdo / hal staff who crowd the whole venue esp on last day(airshows).
let the public of other cities also enjoy the airshow.
our event is not big on business deals , business deals are done in delhi.
Aerko-India is NOT a revolving tamasha for the public to enjoy.Any circus can do the trivk.This is a serious professional exposition where both Indian and foreign majors display their wares to an international marketplace. It is primarily meant for business visitors and a forum to do aerospace business.
The bulk of Indian aerospace is BLR based and moving both pavilions and representatives from the various BLR based labs, etc. is going to be a huge task.By the same tamasha argument, that other parts of the country must get their jollies too, then even the Republic Day celebrations should rotate from state capital to capital.Why should only Delhiwallahs, babudom and north Indians benefit each year.If the PM is of the opinion, then he could've given the Independence Day speech not from the Red Fort but from Golconda Fort, Mehrangarh or Amber fort , Gwalior Fort, Fort William Calcutta or Fort St.
George for example! I am sure that the Thackeray clan would be delighted if the PM gave his speech at Flora Fountain- in the Fort ,or Shivaji Park Mumbai!
This would be truly democratic in the best spirit of our federal constitution.
I agree with you that Republic day and other national events can be celebrated in various state capitals. Not an issue. But at the same time, there is no comparison between the two. Airshow is an event which can be done any place with facilities to do so.
If the above is correct, then all the talk of shifting Aero India to Lucknow was just that...talk.
venue.Will be there next year hopefully.
So after all the rhona dhona about AI in UP, its where it always was. Can folks here now see through the media agenda to create a whole lot of gas about nothing?


Being an entrepreneur is amazing: you're in total control of your time, your work, your schedule. It's also incredibly hard work at first, as you juggle a variety of roles — accountant, marketer, CEO, customer service… You are literally doing everything to get your business up and running.
The first year or two are like this. You handle everything because you want to save money, save time, make sure it's done right. And the clients start showing up. But at some point, it gets to be too much.
Your business can't grow if you're not willing to.
You have a choice: continue to do it all yourself or start to delegate. For some people, staying small is ideal. But if your business dreams are big, you need to get the right people on your team.
1. Get yourself a virtual assistant. Delegate research, social media management, other small tasks. Get it off your plate and free up time for more important work.
2. Hire someone to clean for you. This one changed my world. I had been spending at least 30 minutes cleaning every day, and I wasn't really getting things clean — I didn't have time. Hiring a personal assistant to clean and take care of some other household items meant more brain power with those tasks off my mind.
3. Make sure your website is working for you. I know the DIY website is big, and when you're just getting started, it's important just to get your website up. But when you're ready to grow, you need a team to rely on — a designer and a developer — so you can focus on creating more content, programs, and opportunities.
Start focusing on your genius work. Delegate the rest.
P.S. If you are just starting a business, you can still have a stylish website. Check out these pre-made WordPress themes.


text:
Harding coach passes on Raiders' tradition to nephew
John Vargo
jvargo@tribtoday.com
Tribune Chronicle / John Vargo Warren G. Harding coach Steve Arnold, right, poses with his nephew, Brandon, a sophomore on the WGH football team. Brandon is in his first year as a Raiders football player, a sport his father, David, played for WGH, the University of Michigan and in the NFL.
WARREN — Steve Arnold remembers the early August inter-squad scrimmage. He's seen plenty before, but never from this perspective.
His 6-foot-2, 155-pound sophomore nephew, Brandon, strapped on the helmet for the Warren G. Harding Raiders.
Trepidation? Sure, he had a little. This was his player, but he was an uncle as well.
Brandon's teammates Simahjay Warfield and Bill McCready converged on the first-year player with a devastating hit.
"His face mask was kind of crooked," said Steve, the WGH football coach.
No worries, uncle Steve. He can handle the hits.
"It wasn't as bad as I thought," Brandon said. "It didn't really hurt. Kind of surprised me a little bit. It's not bad, just contact."
See, not so bad after all.
Brandon, who plays baseball for the Raiders and can be seen showing off his skills at Cene Park in Struthers during the offseason, wears No. 15. It was the same number his father, David, wore at the University of Michigan.
David and Brandon had a father-son discussion three months ago. This one was about football, not the birds and the bees.
Playing on Friday nights? There's no pressure and never was from David. He just wanted him to try the sport that brought David so much joy and a couple of years in the NFL in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Talent? David saw it when he was an assistant coach at Kentucky Wesleyan in Owensboro, Ky., an NCAA Division II school. Brandon used to follow his father in practices, review video and analyze. This is no ordinary first-year player.
Brandon, who is trying out at quarterback for the Raiders and could play cornerback, threw the ball to current Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Keelan Cole.
"Keelan always said, 'Coach Arnold, your son can throw. He's got hands,' " David said.
Potential? There's some there, but don't think for one minute his last name gives Brandon a free pass on this WGH team. David expects nothing less. It might be tougher since it is uncle Steve, just like the other coaches.
"Steve may get on him and Brandon may get mad, but he knows it's in his best interest," David said.
It's a first for Steve, who hasn't coached a relative either while he was the Raiders basketball coach or in football.
"It's kind of a fine line," Steve said. "I'm on him, but I try to let his position coaches handle it. I have to treat him like the other players as well whether it's good or bad.
"I'm navigating my way through this."
No different than uncle Steve is his coach. The learning never stops. He wants him to be a good person and be a student of the game.
There's no talking back, plenty of discipline and he must be coachable.
"I want to go out there, do my best, give it my all and play my role," Brandon said.
Merle Carter was Brandon's grandmother and Steve and David's mother. She passed away three years go.
Brandon playing football? If she were alive, you'd have one nervous grandmother. Carter didn't want Brandon to play. She felt the same when David Jr. played as well.
Her love of her grandsons wouldn't have kept her away from practices and games at Mollenkopf Stadium.
The pain of losing a mother or grandmother? It never goes away. The pain can lies within a soul for a lifetime. Steve and Brandon had to hold back their emotions.
Now she looks down from heaven as one of the Raiders biggest fans.
"She would be here watching him play," Steve said. "She would cheering him on and telling me, 'Don't you let my baby get hurt.' I would say, 'Ma, he's OK.' "
David is coaching at Bethany (W. Va.) College. He's a defensive coordinator, assistant head coach and secondary coach. Plenty of roles and time away from Warren. Brandon lives with his mother, Kim Warren, who David said does a great job raising their son.
David would like to be there more often, but he and Brandon talk over the phone.
The team's recent scrimmage against Solon featured many NCAA Division I prospects.
"He said, 'Dad, I ran somebody over and I got hit by somebody,' he did not see. He said, 'Dad it didn't hurt and I got up,' " David said. "I said, 'Brandon, that's the No. 1 thing that you got up.' I was kind of happy for him that he took a big hit, bounced up and said it didn't hurt.
"That was my biggest fear, how he would react to a big hit for the first time in his life, really?"
Brandon must have Carter, his guardian angel, protecting him.
Girls basketball ¯ West Branch 34, Chippewa 29 ¯ Girard 48, Badger 28 ¯ Bristol at Garfield ¯ Columbiana ...
Indians cruise past Badger
¯ GIRARD 48, BADGER 28: VERNON — Emily Fitzgerald scored 13 of her game-high 16 points in the second and third ...
Unexpected surge
Ohio coaches honor Fitch coach Steiner
Teammates say prolific scorer is 'pretty modest'
Prep scoreboard
Boys basketball SATURDAY'S SCORES Area games ¯ Poland 47, Neshannock, Pa. 40 ¯ Cardinal Mooney 60, ...


Six people were killed in the attack. All but Christina-Taylor Green died at the scene of the shooting.
Christina-Taylor Green, 9, of Tucson. Green was accompanied to the meeting by a neighbor. Green died at University Medical Center. Born on September 11, 2001, she had appeared in the book Faces of Hope: Babies Born on 9/11 (page 41). She was the daughter of Los Angeles Dodgers scout John Green and Roxanna Green, the granddaughter of former Major League Baseball player and manager Dallas Green and second cousin to actress Sophia Bush. She was in third grade and had recently been elected to the student council at Mesa Verde Elementary School.
Dorothy "Dot" Morris, 76. A retired secretary from Oro Valley. Her husband George survived two gunshot wounds while attempting to shield her.
John Roll, 63. Roll was the chief judge for the U.S. District Court for Arizona. Roll was a native of Pennsylvania and a 1969 graduate of the University of Arizona. He began his legal career as a bailiff in Pima County Superior Court and in 1980 joined the office of the U.S. Attorney. He was appointed to the Arizona Appeals Court in 1987 until he was named to the federal bench by President George H. W. Bush in 1991. He had served as presiding judge since 2006.
Phyllis Schneck, 79. Homemaker from Tucson.
Dorwin Stoddard, 76. Stoddard was a retired construction worker. He was shot in the head while shielding his wife Mavy from the gunman. She spoke with him for 10 minutes before he died of his injuries.
Gabriel "Gabe" Zimmerman, 30. Zimmerman worked on Giffords's staff as a community outreach director. Zimmerman had been a member of Giffords' staff since 2006. He was a native of Tucson and had completed a master's of social work at Arizona State University and a bachelor's of sociology at UC Santa Cruz. He was engaged to be married.
RIP. So many lives destroyed needlessly.
1.Gabrielle Giffords, U.S. Representative from Arizona.
2.Bill Badger, 74. A retired colonel of the Army National Guard whose head was grazed by a bullet, moments before subduing the suspect.
3.Ron Barber, 65. Deputy director for Giffords and former Pima County program manager, who was shot in the cheek and in the leg, severing an artery.
4.Eric Fuller, 63. A military veteran and retired limousine driver, hit in the leg and back by bullet fragments.
5.Susan Hileman, 58. Shot in the leg, hip, abdomen and chest while accompanying Christina-Taylor Green.
6.George Morris, a retired Marine and former airline pilot, survived two gunshot wounds while trying to shield his wife Dorothy, who died.
7.Mary Reed, who attended with her family, was shot in the back and both arms while shielding her 17-year-old daughter against a wall.
8.Pam Simon, staffer for Giffords.
9.Mavy Stoddard, shot in the leg three times while shielded by her husband Dorwin. She and her husband had dated in grade school, reconnected after their respective spouses of 40 years died, and got married.
A hope for a fast recovery, both physical and mental, to all these innocent victims.
It's nice to finally hear the names and stories of the other victims, too. What an awful tragedy.


text:
Masterpiece Cakeshop: US Troops Used as Tool for Homosexual Agenda. Again.
6 December 2017 JD
The US military — generally considered the organization that defends the rights of Americans — is being used by activists in an attempt to restrict the rights of Americans.
Hidden within the Supreme Court oral arguments during Masterpiece Cakeshop v Colorado Civil Rights Commission yesterday was the siren call, yet again, that homosexual rights outweigh all others — because of the US military [emphasis added]:
Most military bases, [Justice Sotomayor] noted, are in isolated parts of the United States, many of which are predominantly Christian. That means, she said, that there might only be one or two bakers to provide cakes for same-sex weddings – and a couple could be out of luck if all the available bakers cite religious beliefs as a reason to refuse to make a cake.
"We can't legislate civility and rudeness," she concluded, but we can legislate behavior."
What gall.
Justice Sotomayor was citing a brief filed by Outserve-SLDN, AVER, and AMPA — all activist groups who advocate homosexuality within the US military. Their claim, in essence, is that service and product providers must be required to support or celebrate their sexual behavior — because, if they weren't required to, LGBT US troops might not be able to find a provider who would support them. (Unanswered was the question why, if the LGBT lifestyle choice is so "normal," popular, and accepted today, the LGBT community even needs this kind of governmental protection.)
That argument is bunk on many levels.
For one thing, it's not the US government's job to legislate, dictate, or otherwise police a local civilian community to make sure members of the military have access to bakers, butchers, and candlestick makers. Name a community in the US today in which the US government has mandated that the local municipality provide goods or services — on specific terms — just to "support the troops." You can't. It doesn't happen. To imply that it does — and that homosexuals would therefore suffer if they lost access to such fiction — is disingenuous. It's a made up "tragedy" that does nothing more than try to create an emotional reaction about "the troops". It makes members of the US military little more than ideological pawns in a game whose aim is to advance the normalization and forced acceptability of a certain type of sexual behavior.
The brief, and Sotomayor's questioning, failed to consider an equally plausible scenario: What if the "one or two bakers" in the community were members of that same military community? What if they, too, were stationed in a remote location with limited opportunities — and now their opportunity was denied because they were required by the government, in contradiction with their religious beliefs, to support the homosexual lifestyle? Does that make their emotional appeal outweigh the passionate plea of homosexuals?
Finally, it is troubling to hear supposed advocates for the US military — and, disturbingly, a sitting Supreme Court justice — so willing to trade liberty for social "security."
Think about it: Masterpiece Cakeshop is being told what to believe (even to the extent of being required by the State of Colorado to train their employees that their religious beliefs are wrong). The owners of the bakery have their core religious and free speech liberties at stake. By contrast, those supporting the homosexual agenda have no such liberties at stake. There is no right — constitutional or otherwise — that requires one citizen to provide unqualified goods or services to another. (There is also no legal "right" to not be embarrassed, another of the claims in the Masterpiece case.)
Homosexual activists and those that support them would have the US government take away one citizen's liberty not to secure another's liberty, but simply to make another feel better.
In what world would that be considered consistent with American values?
Regardless, the argument proposed by LGBT activists is fiction. The bakery's customers had options — there were other bakeries more than willing to provide them a wedding cake, and even Masterpiece was willing to provide them other kinds of cakes. By contrast, the bakery has no options. It is required to alter its exercise of its liberties, or it must close.
Those supporting the homosexual agenda discovered several years ago that the US military — with its noble reputation of virtue and honor — is an ideal tool to advance its ideological goals. Using "the troops" puts a pitiable face on the "persecution" of someone who is selflessly and sacrificially serving their country — and suffering just because of "who they are" — or, more accurately, because of their chosen sexual behavior. This latest effort was simply another attempt to use the military to advance a political agenda.
Ironically, the US military — generally considered the organization that defends the rights of Americans — is being used by activists in an attempt to restrict the rights of Americans. For at least one Supreme Court justice, the ruse seems to have worked.
Both sides of the case have heralded it as a watershed moment in the modern conflict between religious liberty and sexual liberty — and there, they're right. And the impact to America — and to its military — could be significant.
After all, if the US government can require a civilian baker to create a cake over his religious objections, just think what the US government can do for a member of the US military — over his religious objections.
With reference to the Religion Clause.
tagged with american military partner association, ampa, christian, Constitution, dadt, Government, homosexual, masterpiece cakeshop, Military, outserve, Public Expression, Religion, religious freedom, sldn, sonia sotomayor, transgender
6 December 2017 9:18 pm
No offense JD, but why do you define LGBT as only "sexual behavior"? These folks are warm blooded americans that want the same rights as everyone else. Why are we discriminating "services" from anyone willing to pay for the service, regardless of race, color, creed, sex or lifestyle? It's kinda like saying "religious beliefs" trump all others, how fair or right is this in america, the land of the FREE and home of the brave?
What if a business discriminated services because the person was a christian, catholic, jewish or jedi? Will this lead us to being "chipped" and "scanned" and if it beeps the wrong way at the next bakery or where ever we go in the future, will the US version of a muṭawwiʿūn come and take us for 50 lashings?
Yes, my reply may sound flippant, but really, how far are we going to go with any discrimination of americans? All we seems to be doing is alienating people.
@watchtower
…from anyone willing to pay for the service…
Why do you think this is something new? As an example, pick a random T-shirt printing service and they'll probably have a statement somewhere saying they reserve the right to decline certain orders. Here's one from the relatively popular VistaPrint:
Vistaprint reserves the right, in Vistaprint's sole discretion, to refuse to accept any content provided by you to Vistaprint or to process any order at any time and for any reason.
So why is it acceptable for Vistaprint to discriminate, but not Masterpiece Cakeshop?
Remember, the "service" denied here was only a wedding cake. Masterpiece had previously served, and said they would always serve, members of the LGBT community.
…like saying "religious beliefs" trump all others…
All other what? Remember, there are no competing rights here. The government is prohibited from prohibiting the free exercise of religion and abridging free speech — says so right in the Constitution. But that is precisely what the state of Colorado has done. By contrast, there is no right to a cake; there is no right to not be offended or embarrassed; there is no right to be "served" in an establishment of your choice. Only one party's rights were infringed here.
…because the person was a christian, catholic, jewish or jedi?
Why shouldn't they? Why not let the marketplace and the competition of free ideas prevail? The Christian faith doesn't require the government to protect it from other citizens.
…"chipped" and "scanned"
You appear to be conflating actions by private citizens with actions by the government. If you want to start talking about the government being discriminatory, that's a separate issue.
…far are we going to go with any discrimination of americans?
Why do you need the government to protect you from another person's ideas? Are people really that sensitive and weak-minded? If you think a business discriminates, then don't patronize them. If their discrimination really is a problem for society, the business will fail. If it doesn't fail, that says more about society than it does the business.
Donalbain
7 December 2017 3:50 am
Vistaprint reserve the right not to serve specific items, not to refuse to serve certain classes of people. But it is good to see you finally come out as opposed to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
@Donalbain
specific items, not…certain classes of people
That's the same thing as Masterpiece. Thanks for confirming the point.
Nope. There was no discussion about the actual cake. Just the people buying it. You lied again.
Though I serve everyone who comes into my shop, like many other creative professionals, I don't create custom designs for events or messages that conflict with my conscience. I don't create cakes that celebrate Halloween, promote sexual or anti-American themes, or disparage people, including individuals who identify as LGBT. For me, it's never about the person making the request. It's about the message the person wants the cake to communicate.
"I am here at the Supreme Court today because I respectfully declined to create a custom cake that would celebrate a view of marriage in direct conflict with my faith's core teachings on marriage. I offered to sell the two gentlemen suing me anything else in my shop or to design a cake for them for another occasion.
It is a matter of public record that Masterpiece Cakeshop has expressed a willingness to serve LGBT individuals. It is also public that they declined to use their 'baked art' to celebate same-sex marriage, just as they decline to do the same for Halloween, disparaging speech, etc.
You're entitled to be wrong, of course. Don't let the facts get in the way of your feelings.
So. No discussion about the actual cake. Just that he won't sell wedding cake (which he sells normally) to gay people.
Biola Bob
6 December 2017 10:35 pm
@Watchtower – a gay coffee shop owner has already discriminated against Christians and asked them to leave when he saw a pamphlet they were passing out in the area but not in his coffee shop. Guess what, they are not suing him for his discrimination.
Freedom Fighter
7 December 2017 11:34 am
If only there were some powerful organization, dedicated to defending American civil liberties, who could weigh in on this issue. Wait a minute…well lookie there!
https://www.aclu.org/other/freedom-expression-arts-and-entertainment


After giving a midnight deadline to the Seahawks, Russell Wilson is staying in Seattle, signing a record-breaking 4-year extension worth $140 million. Wilson is now the highest paid player in the NFL. His deal also comes with a $65 million signing bonus.
Do you think Seattle made a good decision shelling out that much money to keep Wilson?


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