text:
FDA Has Yet to Pinpoint Heparin Problem
Agency Finds Faults
With Chinese Supplier,
Isn't Able to Lay Blame
By Anna Wilde Mathews and Thomas M. Burton
Feb. 29, 2008 12:01 am ET
Food and Drug Administration inspectors found problems at a Chinese plant that made most of the active ingredient for Baxter International Inc.'s blood thinner heparin, but the agency still hasn't pinpointed a cause for hundreds of bad reactions in people who took the drug.
Among other findings, the FDA said investigators found lapses in the Changzhou, China, manufacturer's quality-control procedures and the way it assessed its own efforts to remove impurities from raw materials.
Still, "we do not at this point know that the problem with the heparin is linked to this [active pharmaceutical ingredient] supplier," said Deborah Autor, director of the FDA drug center's office of compliance.
Also yesterday, Baxter formally recalled a number of its heparin products, including multidose vials, single-dose vials and a solution called hep-lock that is used to flush out intravenous lines. All of the products drew their active pharmaceutical ingredient from the same source, Scientific Protein Laboratories LLC, of Waunakee, Wis., the co-owner of the Changzhou plant.
"Customers have been instructed to discontinue use and segregate the recalled product from the rest of their inventory," Baxter said. Another Baxter heparin product, with its active ingredient sourced elsewhere, will remain on the market.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


As we leave behind a year that was notable for its combination of natural and human disasters, no one can deny that we live in stressful times.
But stress is not equitably distributed, and neither are stress-related health outcomes. Individuals living below the poverty level have poorer mental health, are diagnosed with more chronic health conditions, and have shorter lifespans. Today, a white American can expect to live 3.5 years longer than a black American, and American men whose income is in the top 1 percent live almost 15 years longer than the poorest 1 percent.


Look for a Drug and Alcohol Treatment Program near me in Tell City, IN.
Drug Rehab Centers in Tell City, IN.
Somebody who has failed at remaining sober previously, after short-term stints of abstinence just to relapse sooner or later, can feel like a failure. They might believe that a lifetime of substance abuse along with the consequences they'll bear as a result of it is all they have to look forward to, which is truly no life whatsoever. This also affects family members and friends, who very well could have tried to help and confront the person previously to no avail. Everyone can feel hopeless and lost, if there isn't a solution that makes sense. Thankfully, you will find solutions which make sense and drug and alcohol rehab programs in Tell City, IN. which will help. Past efforts likely have failed because the appropriate answers weren't utilized. The best solutions can be found, and when this happens, family members can have a drug intervention in the event the individual requires that extra push to leave for alcohol and drug rehabilitation, as this works much better than a casual confrontation which often can backfire. Speak with a trained treatment counselor without delay to get a drug and alcohol intervention started straight away if this is the right step.
In virtually all cases, an inpatient or residential alcohol and drug rehab center in Tell City, Indiana which offers long-term rehab for several months is therefore the most practical answer. And while long-term programs will be more of a commitment not only time-wise but even financially most of the time, these are the programs which give an individual time and chance to handle anything which may compromise their ability to live a drug free life for the remainder of their lives. Some of these facilities even offer payment assistance if individuals don't have private medical insurance to fund rehab so there are always solutions available to help someone obtain the treatment they are worthy of.
Land Demographics, Tell City, IN.
Household and Income Statistics in: Tell City, IN.
Specialized in Spanish Speaking. Payment forms accepted: Self Payment, Medicaid, Medicare, State Financed Insurance, Private Insurance, Military Insurance, Sliding Scale Payment, Payment Assistance.
Located at 1443 9th Street Tell City, IN. 47586. The phone number is 812-547-7905.
Southern Hills Counseling Center Inc is located at 1443 9th Street Tell City, IN. 47586. This is a Drug and Alcohol Rehab, Outpatient Drug Rehab Program specializing in Adolescent Treatment, Dui/Dwi Offenders, Criminal Justice Clients, Assistance For Hearing Impaired. They accept Self Payment, Medicaid, Medicare, State Financed Insurance, Private Insurance, Military Insurance, Sliding Scale Payment, Payment Assistance.
The phone number is 812-547-7905.


ANDREWES CH. Adventures among viruses; epidemic influenza. N Engl J Med. 1950 Feb 9;242(6):197–203. PubMed ; CHU CM, DAWSON IM, ELFORD. Robert Daniels. Richland County Executed: 01/03/1949. Harold Beach. Cuyahoga County Executed: 02/02/1949. John Thomas. Franklin County Executed. The crisis started on June 24, 1948, when Soviet forces blockaded rail, road, and The crisis ended on May 12, 1949, when Soviet forces lifted the blockade.


text:
#ifndef WEBRTC_MODULES_DESKTOP_CAPTURE_SHARED_MEMORY_H_
#define WEBRTC_MODULES_DESKTOP_CAPTURE_SHARED_MEMORY_H_

#include <stddef.h>

#if defined(WEBRTC_WIN)
#include <windows.h>
#endif

#include "webrtc/typedefs.h"
#include "webrtc/system_wrappers/interface/constructor_magic.h"

namespace webrtc {

// SharedMemory is a base class for shared memory. It stores all required
// parameters of the buffer, but doesn't have any logic to allocate or destroy
// the actual buffer. DesktopCapturer consumers that need to use shared memory
// for video frames must extend this class with creation and destruction logic
// specific for the target platform and then implement
// DesktopCapturer::Delegate::CreateSharedMemory() as appropriate.
class SharedMemory {
 public:
#if defined(WEBRTC_WIN)
  typedef HANDLE Handle;
  static const Handle kInvalidHandle;
#else
  typedef int Handle;
  static const Handle kInvalidHandle;
#endif

  void* data() const { return data_; }
  size_t size() const { return size_; }

  // Platform-specific handle of the buffer.
  Handle handle() const { return handle_; }

  // Integer identifier that can be used used by consumers of DesktopCapturer
  // interface to identify shared memory buffers it created.
  int id() const { return id_; }

  virtual ~SharedMemory() {}

 protected:
  SharedMemory(void* data, size_t size, Handle handle, int id);

  void* const data_;
  const size_t size_;
  const Handle handle_;
  const int id_;

 private:
  DISALLOW_COPY_AND_ASSIGN(SharedMemory);
};

}  // namespace webrtc

#endif  // WEBRTC_MODULES_DESKTOP_CAPTURE_SHARED_MEMORY_H_

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Mandan Municipal (Y19), North Dakota: Bids awarded for airport work
The Mandan Airport Authority awarded $5.7 million in contracts to resurface and relight its runway. Northern Improvement will do the construction work and Strata will replace the lights, said Mandan Airport Manager Jim Lawler.
The bids came in about $1.2 million higher than engineer estimates, Lawler said, but the Federal Aviation Administration has amended its grant offer to match the steeper costs. The FAA will pay for 90 percent of the project, the state Aeronautics Commission 5 percent of costs and the Mandan Airport will pay 5 percent of the costs.
The runway surface is 35 years old.
Work will involve replacing the asphalt with concrete.The 4,400-foot main runway serves 15,000 single-engine and light twin-engine plane takeoffs and landings per year.
Lawler said no dirt work will be done at the site this fall, but said the contractor may start stockpiling material in preparation. He said work could start after the ground thaws. Resurfacing work should be completed in October 2013.
The project will close the main runway for at least five months and all plane access to the airport for 30 days, he said. A grass runway will be open for most of the construction process.
The FAA moved the resurfacing project from 2016 to 2013.
Source: http://bismarcktribune.com
Labels: Airports, FAA, Runways
More Seaplanes in Sag Harbor, New York
By Kathryn G. Menu
For the first time in three years, the Village of Sag Harbor received a handful of complaints and issued one citation about seaplanes landing, taking off or taxiing near village beaches. At the same time, according to one seaplane charter service, Sag Harbor has never been a more popular destination and may eventually evolve into becoming a second hub for seaplanes flying into East Hampton from New York City.
"It's definitely been more of an issue this year," said Sag Harbor Village Harbor Master Bob Bori in an interview last week.
Bori noted one of the reasons he believes seaplane traffic, and complaints, have risen is because one company – Fly the Whale – actually installed a mooring in a pop up mooring field just outside of the village's jurisdiction.
While for the most part, Bori said seaplanes have complied with the village's ordinances, — which prohibit landings and takeoffs in the harbor management zone, 1500 feet from most villages beaches — he added the increase in seaplane traffic does come with concerns from a harbor master's perspective.
"Well, obviously, my biggest concern is safety," said Bori. "One of the days, a seaplane came in and it was Sunday afternoon and the kids were sailing at the Breakwater Yacht Club. The seaplane was taxiing right next to the kids in these small sailboats. I know these pilots know what they are doing, but God forbid there was a mechanical issue or something."
According to Sag Harbor Village Police Chief Thomas Fabiano, this year there have been four complaints logged with the police department through Bori about seaplanes. There were no complaints in either 2010 or 2011, said Chief Fabiano.
For Shaw Road resident John Parker, this summer has been unprecedented in the amount of seaplane traffic he has seen from his waterfront home. One afternoon, Parker and his wife, Joyce, were on their deck when a seaplane flew about 20 to 30 feet over his house, he said.
"We thought we were watching a plane crash," Parker said. "It just barely cleared the tree in front of our house and landed right near where I moor my boat."
From there, said Parker, the seaplane taxied to a yellow buoy, indicating a mooring set up in a mooring field outside of Sag Harbor's jurisdiction, arranged by the seaplane charter company, Fly the Whale.
Parker stressed that while aviation traffic has been a controversial subject on the East End, he is not someone who is opposed to air traffic. Parker was a captain in the air force and a JAG (Judge Advocate General) officer.
"I just want people to be aware of this before there is an accident," added Parker. "By the end of the summer, we were seeing two or three planes a day, easily."
He suggested one solution could be designating a seaplane landing zone, far from local beaches and other boats, perhaps near Barcelona Neck in East Hampton – a quick launch service boat ride to Sag Harbor.
Melissa Tomkiel, with Fly the Whale, said her pilots consider safety a top priority and the company arranged the mooring in a different color – yellow – so it would be unique and easy to see from the air.
Having the mooring enabled the three-year-old company to land in Sag Harbor in the event of an emergency, like this summer's plane crash, said Tomkiel, but also allows them to fly people to Sag Harbor from the East Hampton Airport.
"The reason we got a mooring this year is because there is an increase in demand for Sag Harbor, so we wanted some kind of infrastructure in place," said Tomkiel. "Our two seaplane captains are Sag Harbor residents, and we maintain a positive relationship with the village launch service."
Tomkiel added that Fly the Whale has not received any citations despite the complaints and that it is in the company's best interest to operate safely.
Particularly since, if demand for Sag Harbor service continues, Fly the Whale may start offering direct service from Manhattan to the village using that mooring, Tomkiel said.
According to Sag Harbor Village attorney Fred W. Thiele, Jr., outside of the harbor management area, where Fly the Whale has its mooring, Sag Harbor Village has no jurisdiction. Regardless, he said the Sag Harbor Village Board of Trustees will discuss the issue at its October 9 meeting at 6 p.m.
Story: http://sagharboronline.com
Labels: Aircraft, Airplanes
Cape Air Cessna 402C, N771EA: "This is flying!!" Departure: Boston -- Landing: Martha's Vineyard (KMVY), Massachusetts
Labels: Airlines, Airplanes, Airports, Cessna, Pilots
Tracy Municipal (KTCY), California: Lawyer seeks answers to airport issues
Tracy Municipal Airport (KTCY), California
Glenn Moore/Tracy Press
by Jon Mendelson
A local lawyer is looking for answers regarding the source of a lingering problem with the main runway at Tracy Municipal Airport.
On Tuesday, Sept. 18, attorney Steve Nicolau addressed the City Council and requested an investigation regarding a paving job on the airport's main runway that pilots and an earlier inquiry determined was poorly done.
He alleges the city was alerted to defects in the paving the same year the work was started, but that nothing was done until after the warranty on the work had expired.
Nicolau is seeking answers about what happened and who was responsible.
"We are now looking at the very real possibility of more taxpayer money being spent to correct problems that should've been corrected on the contractor's dime, not ours," he told the council during Tuesday's public comment session.
In 2007, the city contracted with California Pavement Maintenance Inc. to repave the airport's main runway, which runs northwest to southeast. Ninety percent of the nearly $598,000 cost was picked up by the Federal Aviation Administration, according to previous Press reports, while 8 percent came from the state and 2 percent came from the city.
The contract between the city and CPM, a copy of which was provided to the Press by Nicolau this week, stipulated that the city had one year after the work's completion to identify any work that was inadequate.
The work was acknowledged as completed Feb. 5, 2008, according to a document signed by Mayor Brent Ives, and the city released CPM in a document dated Feb. 11, 2010.
However, an email provided by Nicolau that was sent by airport coordinator Bruce Ludeman to then-Parks and Recreation Director Rod Buchanan suggests that people at the airport identified problems before the work was accepted as finished.
"I have voiced our concerns in recent weeks about the quality of the work being performed at Tracy Municipal Airport," states Ludeman's email, dated Sept. 13, 2007. "… In summary: There are huge areas of the airport that need further application of material to 'glue' down the loose aggregate, and a solution needs to be found to make sure that we don't continue to have paint coming loose and lifting up the underlying slurry mixture. … We have an uneven crumbling slurry layer that is also being pulled apart by the paint."
City Manager Leon Churchill acknowledged Nicolau's concerns later in the week.
"I think we had some project management issues at the time that, if we had the chance, we would do differently and do better," he said Wednesday, Sept. 18.
Problems with the pavement at the airport continue to be reported.
Several pilots told the Press in February 2011 that loose bits of the resurfaced runway were damaging propellers and posed a safety risk to pilots.
Donald Huag, aviation safety officer for the California Department of Transportation Division of Aeronautics, penned a letter dated Feb. 28, 2011, documenting the "progressive disintegration of the slurry seal layer" at the Tracy airport, according to a previous Press report.
John Favors, the president of the Tracy Airport Association, said this week that the repaving in 2007 also shortened the main runway from its designated 4,002 feet to 3,996 feet.
The difference of 6 feet is huge, he said, because many insurance companies only cover planes to touch down on runways longer than 4,000 feet.
Favors said the result is that many jet-turbine planes no longer land at the airport, putting a dent in fuel sales and prompting a hike in Tracy's typically cheaper-than-average fuel prices.
"When we had the 4,000-foot runway, … we had a lot of jet traffic," Favors said. "There was always a line at the gas pumps. Now, there's nothing."
Churchill said city staff has received clear direction from the City Council to ensure that the runway's length is restored to longer than 4,000 feet and that the quality of the surface is improved.
"The next part of this issue is we need to make it right," he said. "We're going to make it right."
Churchill said the city is seeking a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration that would largely pay for the Tracy airport's runway to be repaved. He said the city's chance of landing the grant was "pretty good."
Churchill added that even if the 2007 slurry job had been perfect, the lifespan of such a seal is only about five years.
Story and comments: http://www.tracypress.com
Labels: Airports, Runways
Beechcraft 95-C55 Baron, N265Q: Accident occurred September 20, 2012 in Gulf of Mexico
http://registry.faa.gov/N265Q
NTSB Identification: CEN12LA652
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Thursday, September 20, 2012 in Gulf of Mexico, GM
Probable Cause Approval Date: 11/06/2013
Aircraft: BEECH 95-C55, registration: N265Q
Injuries: 2 Minor.
NTSB investigators may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
While on a cross-country flight, the pilot detected smoke in the cockpit. He attempted to identify the source of the smoke but was not successful. When the pilot saw flames behind the cockpit panel, he descended and ditched the airplane in the water. The pilot and passengers got out of the airplane and the airplane sank. Due to the depth of the water at the accident location, the airplane was not recovered. Without recovery of the airplane's wreckage, further examination was not possible, and the source of the fire could not be determined.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:
An in-flight fire, which resulted in the airplane's forced landing in water. The source of the fire could not be determined because the airplane wreckage was not recovered.
On September 20, 2012, about 1545 central daylight time, a Beech 95-C55 airplane, N265Q, ditched into the Gulf of Mexico waters. The commercial pilot and one passenger sustained minor injuries. The airplane sank in deep water and was not recovered. The airplane was registered to and operated by Government Auctions Online LLC, Henderson, Nevada, under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which operated on an instrument flight rules flight plan. The flight originated from the Baytown Airport (KHPY), Baytown, Texas, about 1400, and was destined to the Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport (KSRQ), Sarasota, Florida.
According to the pilot's statement provided to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), while the pilot was en route to his destination, when he detected smoke in the cockpit. In an attempt to troubleshoot the smoke, the pilot turned off the master switch. Due to reduced visibility, the pilot vented the smoke by opening the cabin door and pilot's storm window. The pilot and passenger saw flames through a gap between the cockpit panel and glare shield. The pilot activated the emergency locator beacon as he descended to ditch the airplane in the water. After ditching the airplane, the pilot and passenger exited the airplane, donned personal floatation devices, and were rescued by the United States Coast Guard.
Due to the accident location, the airplane was not recovered for an examination. Despite multiple attempts, the pilot did not complete an NTSB Form 6120. Information was not available to determine if previous maintenance issues were present. A review of the FAA Service Difficulty Reporting database did not reveal any entries for the accident airplane. Without recovery of the airplane's wreckage, an examination was not possible and the source of the fire could not be determined.
Accident occurred Thursday, September 20, 2012 in Gulf of Mexico
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On September 20, 2012, about 1545 central daylight time, a Beech 95-C55 airplane, ditched into the Gulf of Mexico waters. The commercial pilot and one passenger sustained minor injuries. The airplane sank in deep water and was not recovered. The airplane was registered to and operated by Government Auctions Online LLC, Henderson, Nevada, under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which operated on an instrument flight plan. The flight originated from the Baytown Airport (KHPY), Baytown, Texas, about 1400, and was destined to the Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport, Sarasota, Florida.
According to initial statements collected by the Federal Aviation Administration, the pilot was en route to his destination, when he detected smoke in the cockpit. The pilot attempted to troubleshoot the smoke, and saw a fire behind the cockpit panel. The pilot then elected to ditch the airplane in the water.
NEW ORLEANS – Two Texas men are lucky to be alive after their plane crash landed in the Gulf of Mexico east of South Pass Thursday.
The Coast Guard rescued the men from the water near the mouth of the Mississippi River.
According to the Coast Guard, the men, identified as Theodore Wright and Raymond Fosdick were spotted floating in the water after a Guard helicopter was dispatched to the area.
The men were hoisted out of the water and taken to the Belle Chasse Naval Air Station.
The aircraft was flying from Baytown, Texas to Sarasota, Florida when its emergency beacon alerted.
Wright declined medical attention, Fosdick was taken to a west bank medical center for treatment. The cause of the crash is under investigation.
Luanda – Public air transport company explains retention of its plane in Portugal
Luanda – The state-owned Angolan Airlines (TAAG) last Thursday here informed that one of its planes had been retained for some hours in Portugal's Sá Carneiro Airport, in Porto City, due to a seizure lawsuit filed at the court of Vila Nova de Gaia.
On a communiqué that ANGOP had access to, TAAG explains that the seizure lawsuit was filed by the Portuguese citizen Manuel Lapas Correia, against the Republic of Angola.
The aircraft, a 777-200ER Boeing, with the plate D2-TEF, landed in the mentioned airport at 06.38 pm and was retained until 11.15 pm, after TAAG accepted to give the bail that was determined by the court.
Meanwhile, the Angolan flag carrier's aeroplane has already returned to Luanda.
TAAG also states on the note that the seizure lawsuit is illegal and has caused serious damages to its image at a time that the company has been making an extraordinary effort to recover its operational and commercial credibility.
TAAG also apologises to all the passengers that were in the referred plane, as well as to its customers in general, for all the constraints caused by that situation.
http://www.portalangop.co.ao
Labels: Airlines, Airplanes, Airports, Boeing
'Unnecessary' purchase of aircraft: Supreme Court issues notices to government, Air India over Boeing purchase and lease
The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre and Air India on a plea seeking a CBI/SIT probe into alleged irregularities in the purchase of 111 aircraft for the national carrier costing Rs.67,000 crore to the exchequer when Praful Patel was Civil Aviation Minister.
A bench of justices H L Dattu and C K Prasad sought response from the government, the national carrier and CBI on a petition filed by an NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation, alleging that various decisions taken during the tenure of Patel were meant to benefit private airlines and caused huge loss to Air India.
The CPIL has also sought probe into taking on lease aircraft that again dented the exchequer by "thousands of crores of rupees".
The NGO, in its petition, has referred to several of Patel's decisions, including the "massive" purchase of 111 aircraft for national airlines costing about Rs 70,000 crores,taking a large number of planes on lease, giving up profit-making routes and timings in favour of private airlines and the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines.
The NGO approached the apex court challenging a Delhi high court order dismissing its plea into the alleged irregularities.
The high court had refused to pass any order on the NGO's plea for a probe into Air India's fleet expansion programme and its decision to purchase 111 planes at a whopping Rs 67,000 crore, saying that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament is already looking into it.
"A responsible committee like PAC is looking into the matter and we are not giving any direction at this stage but expect PAC to look into the matter from all angles...," the high court had said.
Besides this, the CPIL has also prayed for probe into the national carrier leaving profitable routes and timings "for the benefit of private airlines".
A probe has also been sought into Air India giving away its bilateral rights to foreign carriers.The notice is returnable in four weeks.
Acquisition of 111 aircraft for Air India in 2005-06
Former civil aviation minister Praful Patel defended the acquisition of 111 aircraft for Air India in 2005-06 after a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report indicated that this purchase led to the downfall of Air India .
The CAG said that the entire acquisition (for both Air India and Indian Airlines) was to be funded through debt (to be repaid through revenue generation), except for a relatively small equity infusion of Rs.325 crore for Indian Airlines.
The CAG report slammed the decisions made by the government to buy new aircraft, which was driven by the aviation ministry, and the dismal management practices had led to the downfall of Air India.
Reviewing the decision to buy 68 Boeing aircraft for Air India and 43 Airbus planes for Indian Airlines, the report termed the acquisition process ill-timed and driven from the top, resulting in the airline accumulating a massive debt of Rs.38,423 crore as on March 31, 2010.
http://english.samaylive.com
Labels: Airbus, Airlines, Boeing
Malaysia: 'Investigate air traffic system failure'
PKR wants probe on the cause of the total system failure at the Air Traffic Control Centre last week. DCA, however, claims it was not a total failure.
SUBANG: Aircraft in the local airspace were "flying blind" last week when the Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control Centre (ATCC) suffered a "total failure in the system with no radar, no radio" for almost one-hour-plus, alleged PKR today.
The incident occurred between 2.50am and 4.15am on Sept 12, according to a systems log of the Subang Air Traffic Control Centre and a preliminary report of the incident was revealed to the press by PKR vice-presidents Nurul Izzah Anwar, Tian Chua and N Surendran today.
"A total system failure occurred for almost two hours and throughout that time, the Malaysian airspace was rendered blind, with all departures cancelled and existing air traffic handed over to neighbouring countries," said Nurul outside the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) traffic control centre at the Subang airport.
She said the system failure had put civilian passengers on board the planes at risk as they were cut off from any guidance from ground control, and during the down time Singapore and Thailand were in total control of the traffic system, which "left us completely defenceless".
Retired Royal Malaysian Air Force director-general of operations, brigadier-general Abdul Hadi Abdul Khatab who joined PKR last year, said that what occurred must be taken seriously as there were "high risks" when the airspace is blind, which can even lead to possible air collisions.
Read more here: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com
Labels: Airplanes, Airports, Airspace
Mandan Municipal (Y19), North Dakota: Bids award...
Cape Air Cessna 402C, N771EA: "This is flying!!"...
Tracy Municipal (KTCY), California: Lawyer seeks ...
Beechcraft 95-C55 Baron, N265Q: Accident occurre...
Luanda – Public air transport company explains r...
'Unnecessary' purchase of aircraft: Supreme Court...


OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association of serum and synovial fluid cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) with systemic and local measures of osteoarthritis (OA) activity by bone scintigraphy. METHODS: Samples of serum and knee joint synovial fluid (275 knees) were obtained from 159 patients with symptomatic OA of at least 1 knee. Bone scintigraphy using (99m)Tc-labeled methylene diphosphonate was performed, and early-phase knee scans and late-phase whole-body bone scans of 15 additional joint sites were scored semiquantitatively. To control for within-subject correlations of knee data, generalized linear modeling was used in the correlation of the bone scan scores with the COMP levels. Principal components analysis was used to explore the contribution of each joint site to the variance in serum COMP levels. RESULTS: The correlation between synovial fluid and serum COMP levels was significant (r = 0.206, P = 0.006). Synovial fluid COMP levels correlated most strongly with the early-phase knee bone scan scores (P = 0.0003), even after adjustment for OA severity according to the late-phase bone scan scores (P = 0.015), as well as synovial fluid volumes (P < 0.0001). Serum COMP levels correlated with the total-body bone scan scores (r = 0.188, P = 0.018) and with a factor composed of the bone scan scores in the shoulders, spine, lateral knees, and sacroiliac joints (P = 0.0004). CONCLUSION: Synovial fluid COMP levels correlated strongly with 2 indicators of knee joint inflammation: early-phase bone scintigraphic findings and synovial fluid volume. Serum COMP levels correlated with total-body joint disease severity as determined by late-phase bone scintigraphy, supporting the hypothesis that whole-body bone scintigraphy is a means of quantifying the total-body burden of OA for systemic biomarker validation.


text:
Harbert United States Real Estate Fund V Closes on Fountainhead Corporate Park
HUSREF V Completes Acquisition of Office Portfolio in Phoenix, Arizona
Birmingham, Alabama, Dec. 15, 2014 – Harbert United States Real Estate Fund V, L.P. ("HUSREF V"), in conjunction with Cypress Office Properties ("Cypress" or together with HUSREF V, the "JV") recently held a simultaneous close on the acquisition of Fountainhead Corporate Park, a five building, 476,000 square foot, Class-A- office campus in Phoenix, Arizona, and the sale of three of those buildings to the largest tenant in the park, Allegis. Although initially underwritten as a five building portfolio acquisition, the JV pursued the simultaneous sale of the three buildings to Allegis, which represent 40% of the portfolio square footage, to capitalize on the opportunity to materially improve the base case return profile while also de-risking the execution of the transaction. The remaining two buildings in the portfolio that the JV purchased total 287,000 square feet and will undergo a targeted $4.0 million renovation plan starting in Q1 2015. The planned renovation will modernize building common areas and create a more cohesive and better amenitized campus environment, which is intended to in turn drive leasing demand to the currently 72% occupied portfolio.
To view the full press release, please click here.


text:
Q: correct order for SpatialDropout2D, BatchNormalization and activation function? For a CNN architecture I want to use SpatialDropout2D layer instead of Dropout layer.
Additionaly I want to use BatchNormalization.
So far I had always set the BatchNormalization directly after a Convolutional layer but before the activation function, as in the paper by Ioffe and Szegedy mentioned.
The dropout layers I had always set after MaxPooling2D layer.
In https://machinelearningmastery.com/how-to-reduce-overfitting-with-dropout-regularization-in-keras/ SpatialDropout2D is set directly after Convolutional layer.
I find it rather confusing in which order I should now apply these layers. I had also read on a Keras page that SpatialDropout should be placed directly behind ConvLayer (but I can't find this page anymore).
Is the following order correct?
ConvLayer - SpatialDropout - BatchNormalization - Activation function - MaxPooling
I really hope for tips and thank you in advance
Update
My goal was actually to exchange in the following CNN architecture dropout for spatial dropout:
model = Sequential()
model.add(Conv2D(32,(3,3))
model.add(BatchNormalization())
model.add(Activation('relu'))
model.add(Conv2D(32,(3,3))
model.add(BatchNormalization())
model.add(Activation('relu'))
model.add(MaxPooling2D(pool_size=(2,2))
model.add(Dropout(0.2))

model.add(Conv2D(64, (3,3))
model.add(BatchNormalization())
model.add(Activation('relu'))
model.add(Conv2D(64,(3,3))
model.add(BatchNormalization())
model.add(Activation('relu'))
model.add(MaxPooling2D(pool_size=(2,2))
model.add(Dropout(0.2))

model.add(Flatten())
model.add(Dense(512))
model.add(BatchNormalization())
model.add(Activation('relu'))
model.add(Dropout(0.4))
model.add(Dense(10))
model.add(Activation('softmax'))

A: Dropout vs BatchNormalization - Standard deviation issue
There is a big problem that appears when you mix these layers, especially when BatchNormalization is right after Dropout.
Dropouts try to keep the same mean of the outputs without dropouts, but it does change the standard deviation, which will cause a huge difference in the BatchNormalization between training and validation. (During training, the BatchNormalization receives changed standard deviations, accumulates and stores them. During validation, the dropouts are turned off, the standard deviation is not a changed one anymore, but the original. But BatchNormalization, because it's in validation, will not use the batch statistics, but the stored statistics, which will be very different from the batch statistics)
So, the first and most important rule is: don't place a BatchNormalization after a Dropout (or a SpatialDropout).
Usually, I try to leave at least two convolutional/dense layers without any dropout before applying a batch normalization, to avoid this.
Dropout vs BatchNormalization - Changing the zeros to another value
Also important: the role of the Dropout is to "zero" the influence of some of the weights of the next layer. If you apply a normalization after the dropout, you will not have "zeros" anymore, but a certain value that will be repeated for many units. And this value will vary from batch to batch. So, although there is noise added, you are not killing units as a pure dropout is supposed to do.
Dropout vs MaxPooling
The problem of using a regular Dropout before a MaxPooling is that you will zero some pixels, and then the MaxPooling will take the maximum value, sort of ignoring part of your dropout. If your dropout happens to hit a maximum pixel, then the pooling will result in the second maximum, not in zero.
So, Dropout before MaxPooling reduces the effectiveness of the dropout.
SpatialDropout vs MaxPooling
But, a SpatialDropout never hits "pixels", it only hits channels. When it hits a channel, it will zero all pixels for that channel, thus, the MaxPooling will effectively result in zero too.
So, there is no difference between spatial dropout before of after the pooling. An entire "channel" will be zero in both orders.
BatchNormalization vs Activation
Depending on the activation function, using a batch normalization before it can be a good advantage.
For a 'relu' activation, the normalization makes the model fail-safe against a bad luck case of "all zeros freeze a relu layer". It will also tend to guarantee that half of the units will be zero and the other half linear.
For a 'sigmoid' or a 'tahn', the BatchNormalization will guarantee that the values are within a healthy range, avoiding saturation and vanishing gradients (values that are too far from zero will hit an almost flat region of these functions, causing vanishing gradients).
There are people that say there are other advantages if you do the contrary, I'm not fully aware of these advantages, I like the ones I mentioned very much.
Dropout vs Activation
With 'relu', there is no difference, it can be proved that the results are exactly the same.
With activations that are not centerd, such as 'sigmoid' putting a dropout before the activation will not result in "zeros", but in other values. For a sigmoid, the final results of the dropout before it would be 0.5.
If you add a 'tanh' after a dropout, for instance, you will have the zeros, but the scaling that dropout applies to keep the same mean will be distorted by the tanh. (I don't know if this is a big problem, but might be)
MaxPooling vs Activation
I don't see much here. If the activation is not very weird, the final result would be the same.
Conclusions?
There are possibilities, but some are troublesome. I find the following order a good one and often use it
I would do something like

*

*Group1

*

*Conv

*BatchNorm

*Activation

*MaxPooling

*Dropout or SpatialDropout

*Group2

*

*Conv

*----- (there was a dropout in the last group, no BatchNorm here)

*Activation

*MaxPooling

*Dropout or SpatialDropout (decide to use or not)

*After two groups without dropout

*

*can use BatchNorm again

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