Hello everyone! I have a big announcement (and also an explanation for why the comic as gone silent these last few months)!
The comic will continue when things calm down into a new normal… I'll send out an email to the mailing list (see left sidebar to sign up) as well as the Facebook fan page when updates resume! Thanks for your patience!


text:
Richard Baret (died 1401), of Eastgate Street, Gloucester, was an English politician.

He was a Member (MP) of the Parliament of England for Gloucester in January 1377, 1378, January 1397, September 1397 and 1399.

References

Year of birth missing
1401 deaths
English MPs January 1377
English MPs 1378
English MPs January 1397
English MPs September 1397
English MPs 1399
14th-century English politicians
People from Gloucester

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Rev Asia to acquire iMedia in all stock deal
By Digital News Asia September 1, 2020
Acquisition worth up to US$9.7mil, depending on iMedia's 2021 net profit
Reunites parties which sold digital media startup to Media Prima in 2017
Rev Asia Bhd today announced that, subject to approvals, it has agreed to acquire iMedia, a Malaysian digital media company focusing on content, technology and social influencer marketing.
iMedia owns and represents some digital properties which have a combined reach of over 8 million Malaysians monthly. iMedia clients include some of the largest tech companies in the region such as Shopee (SEA Group), iQiyi (Baidu), Foodpanda, Huawei and top global brands such as McDonald's, L'Oréal, Fonterra and Mercedes.
According to a statement from Rev Asia, iMedia is expected to make over US$724,000 (RM3 million) in net profit after tax in 2021, which would see a total acquisition price of US$9.7 million (RM40 million) if the net profit is achieved.
Reflecting their confidence and commitment to building a leading digital media group, the founders of iMedia, including, Voon Tze Khay who is also the CEO, are taking the entire consideration in shares in Rev Asia.
Rev Asia notes that iMedia is positioned to capitalise on the digital advertising spend market in Malaysia and other key SEA markets. Nielsen Malaysia recently reported that digital advertising spend in Malaysia from January to May 2020 exceeded RM430 million, accounting for more than 22% of total advertising spend in the country. This is set to continue to grow as businesses place even more effort on the digitisation of advertising and e-commerce efforts in a post-pandemic world.
"There are hundreds of independent digital media and advertising businesses in Malaysia that would be better under one unified roof where they can share technology, data, content, sales teams and clients. We aim to be that single digital home for Malaysian digital media properties. We are looking to invest in or acquire numerous companies in this exact space in both Malaysia and then across the region," says Voon.
He adds that iMedia's social influencer platform was built in Malaysia, and powers influencer campaigns across the top 1,000 influencers in the country.
As part of Rev Asia, the access to capital markets and liquidity is expected to allow the company to accelerate its acquisition and growth plans, while keeping a strong focus on profitability.
Larry Gan, chairman of Rev Asia declared himself "extremely excited" to work with Tze Khay again. "In our last venture together, we built the largest independent digital media group in Malaysia in three years and sold it successfully to Media Prima Bhd (in May 2017)."
That company was Rev Asia Holdings Sdn Bhd which was then a 70% owned subsidiary of Rev Asia Bhd (Youth Asia Sdn Bhd owned the remainder 30%) which owned a number of digital media properties in entertainment, lifestyle and social-millennial English, Malay and Chinese news. The acquisition price was RM105 million. Rev Asia Holdings registered revenue and profit after tax of RM23.5 million and RM4.2 million for the financial year ending 31 December 2016, representing a growth of 32 and 27 per cent respectively compared to the previous financial year.
[Ed: Para edited for accuracy.]
"This time, with an even bigger digital market, I believe we have the opportunity to build a company worth significantly greater in an even shorter period of time. This acquisition brings our know-how and expertise together with iMedia's entrepreneurial team under the Rev Asia banner. We aim to be the home for all digital media entrepreneurs of Malaysia," adds Patrick Grove, Director and a major shareholder.
For more technology news and the latest updates, follow us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn
Rev Asia
Larry Gan
Voon Tze Khay
Mah Sing partners SofaX to bring VR experience to decorating homes
MetLife 'hacks' recruitment to hire top talent in Malaysia
Countdown to WCIT 2022 has started: Pikom
By Digital News Asia June 21, 2022
Fintech unicorn Nium in all share deal to acquire alternative payments network platform, Socash
MDEC launches Global Technology Grant, 4IR Catalyst Grant
CIMB Bank group strengthens security measures

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Luke Burke (born 22 February 1998) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for  club AFC Fylde.

Career

Wigan Athletic
Burke is an academy graduate of Wigan Athletic. He joined the club when he was 11 years old and went on to captain the club's U18 side. In May 2016 he was awarded the Michael Millett Award for Wigan's Academy Player of the Season. The following month he was one of six players from Wigan's academy to be offered a pro contract with the club. Following his performances at youth level the season before, Burke was included, and featured regularly in Wigan's pre-season for the 2016–17 Championship campaign. He made his non-competitive debut against Liverpool and scored his first goal for the club two weeks later in a friendly against Fleetwood. He stood out for Wigan during the pre-season and on 8 August 2016 was handed his debut by manager Gary Caldwell in a 2–1 defeat to Bristol City. On 23 November, Burke signed a contract-extension with Wigan following a string of good performances in the early stages of the season.

AFC Fylde
On 15 February 2017, Burke joined National League side Barrow on a month-long loan, and made his debut on the same day in a 1–0 victory over Macclesfield. He made three appearances for Barrow altogether, including his cup debut in the FA Trophy, before returning to Wigan. Following his return, he featured in three Cup matches before joining AFC Fylde on loan, initially on a six-month loan. The loan was later extended until the end of the season. He was then released by Wigan upon his return to the club whereafter he signed for Fylde on a permanent deal.

Career statistics

Club

Honours
Individual
Wigan Athletic Academy Player of the Season: 2015–16

References

1998 births
Living people
English footballers
Association football defenders
Wigan Athletic F.C. players
Barrow A.F.C. players
English Football League players
National League (English football) players
AFC Fylde players


Might be a trip for the 2015 451 Brabus for us . I'll still have convince the wife it's safe at the wee hours of the morning . NYC is just a two hour drive from our home .
Might want to include a couple of stops for bathroom breaks and or coffee, as well as photos along the way - Manhattan at night should make for impressive photos.
Jetfuel...keeping an eye on this one..
I will re run this course this weekend in full and give expected times. NYC is not very restroom friendly for drivers as it is a mass transit city. So from Tarrytown to Manhattan back to Tarrytown (32 miles each way) restrooms would be a challenge.
Breakfast and rest back in Tarrytown.
Then the Tarrytown ride to Bear Mountian State Park (30 miles each way) would be much easier to schedule some rest stops.
thanks for your input I hadn't thought about rest stops.
In New Jersey and would be very interested. How do I get in touch!
You could PM member "twcom". He is organizing the event.
I sent him a PM. This is a focused but fluid idea of something intended, all thoughts and input will be appreciated. With in the next 3 months details will become more solid and confirmed.
jwight, Smart Bob and 1983JZR3W like this.
Just a thought, it looks like about 5 miles from the park up to West Point - that would be a nice addition to the tour.


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text:
Luca Marmorini (* 17. Juni 1961 in Arezzo) ist ein italienischer Motortechniker, der seit vielen Jahren im internationalen Motorsport engagiert ist.

Karriere

Luca Marmorini studierte in den 1980er Jahren an der Fakultät für Ingenieurwissenschaften der Universität Pisa. Nach seiner Sponsion 1986 promovierte er 1990.

Nach einer Zeit am Massachusetts Institute of Technology war der Italiener in unterschiedlichen Funktionen im Motorsport tätig. 1990 kam er zum ersten Mal zur Scuderia, der Rennabteilung von Ferrari, wo er erst in der Motorentwicklung und später im Bereich Forschung und Entwicklung arbeitete. Marmorini blieb bis 1999 bei Ferrari. Danach war er bei Toyota Racing aktiv und war an der Entwicklung der V10- und V8-Rennmotoren beteiligt. 2009 kehrte er zur Scuderia zurück und übernahm die Leitung der Motorenabteilung. Nach den enttäuschenden Leistungen der Scuderia 2014, die von der Teamführung vor allem auf die mangelhaften 059/3-Triebwerke zurückgeführt wurde, endete der Vertrag zwischen Marmorini und der Ferrari-Rennmannschaft im Juli 2014 vorzeitig.

Marmorini ist verheiratet, Vater zweier Kinder und lebt in Modena.

Literatur

 Leonardo Acerbi: 60 Jahre Ferrari Heel, Königswinter 2007, ISBN 978-3-89880-815-6.

Einzelnachweise

Person (Ferrari)
Italiener
Geboren 1961
Mann
Formel-1-Techniker


"On Glory's Summit" is a work for concert band commissioned by and written for the Western Reserve Community Band of Hudson, Ohio on the occasion of the ensemble's 10th anniversary. The work begins with a festive fanfare followed by a lively section and culminates with a setting of Charles Wesley's (Lewis Edson-Lenox) familiar hymn "Blow Ye the Trumpet". The work was premiered at the Western Reserve Community Band's 10th anniversary jubilee concert on Sunday, March 19, 2007 in the Hudson High School auditorium. The mp3 above is a suitable rendering with Sibelius Sounds.


text:
\section{Introduction}
Networks are powerful tools for representation of many diverse
systems arising in physics, biology, and sociology. Progress in
this field is rapid; good reviews of our current knowledge are
presented in \cite{Newman,DorMend,BarabAlbert}. In this work we
investigate a network which is embedded in an Euclidean space
where the probability that two nodes are connected by a link
depends on their mutual distance. A similar model was first
proposed by Kleinberg in~\cite{Kleinberg}. Later, a model based
on a regular underlying lattice was proposed and some numerical
results were obtained~\cite{Boguna}; very recently, this work
has been generalized by introducing hidden
variables~\cite{Boguna2}. In~\cite{NisVenk,Petermann}, similar
models with wiring costs depending on distances are studied;
in~\cite{Xulvi,Yook,Manna1,Barth03,Manna2}, the interplay between
geographical distance and node degree is investigated.

Models mentioned above have one feature in common: resulting
networks consist of many short links and long distance
connections are less numerous. Notice that this corresponds to
the picture widely accepted by sociologists investigating
networks of acquaintances~\cite{Gran1,Gran2}. Their key phrase
"Strength of weak ties" has a straightforward interpretation
here: the probability of connecting two nodes must decrease with
the distance slow enough to enable multiple long links. Then
the resulting network resembles the structure observed in the
human society. Our present understanding of this phenomenon
agrees with early mathematical insights presented
in~\cite{Kasturirangan} where importance of multiple edge length
scales was discussed. Notice that also the classical model of
Watts and Strogatz with two types of links~\cite{WattsStrog}
follows a similar pattern.

In this paper we deal with the network model based on the
distance dependent connectivity which was investigated in
\cite{Medo} and is similar to~\cite{Boguna}. This model was
developed to mimic the acquaintance network in a human society.
It allows us to estimate the typical degree of separation
between distant vertices in the network---the results show that
with a proper choice of the dependence between the linking
probability and the nodes distance, the network exhibits the
small-world phenomenon.

However, in the original work the degree distribution $P(k)$ was
not a matter of interest. In this paper we show that it can be
approximated by a Gaussian distribution. This result is not
surprising because the model relies on the edges whose presence
is mutually independent in the same way as it is in the
classical random graph of Erd\"os and R\'enyi. Moreover, we show
that the distribution of $P(k)$ is rather narrow. By contrast,
when we investigate the number of persons's acquaintances in
a~real society, the distribution decays slowly. This observation
and the lack of diversity in the original model were our main
motivations for the presented work. The basic ``homogeneous''
model is generalized by introducing hidden variables which is a
common approach in various network models~\cite{Cald02,Boguna3},
a similar attempt was recently presented in~\cite{Boguna2}. We
investigate the tail behavior of the degree distribution and
show that the resulting network exhibits the small-world
phenomenon.

\section{The basic model}
We assume that nodes of the graph form an infinite square
lattice in the Euclidean plane with the side length of
the elementary square equal to $1$. When modeling a society,
each node represents one person and thus in this way we assume
a~homogeneous distribution of population. The probability that
two vertices with the distance $d$ are connected by an edge we
label as $Q(d)$. Notice that this is the point where we
introduce homogeneity to the network: the probability $Q(d)$ is
the same for every pair of nodes separated by the distance $d$.
The degree $k$ of a node is defined as the number of edges
connected to this node. Consequently, the average node degree
$z:=\avg{k}$ is given by the linking probability $Q(d_i)$
summing over all nodes $i$. When $Q(d)$ changes slowly on the
scale of $1$, the summation can be replaced by an integration
and thus
\begin{equation}
\label{normalization}
z=\sum_i Q(d_i)\approx
\int Q(r)\,\mathrm{d}\vec{r}=\int_0^{\infty}Q(r)2\pi r\,\mathrm{d} r.
\end{equation}
Notice that with $z$ given, Eq.~\req{normalization} represents a
normalization condition for $Q(d)$.

For a node with the degree $k$, the clustering coefficient $C$
is defined as the ratio $C:=n/\binom{k}{2}$ where $n$ is the
number of edges between the neighbours of the given node. Notice
that $0\leq C\leq1$. For a particular node $X$ and a given
function $Q(d)$, the average value of $n$ is
$\avg{n}=\tfrac12\sum_{i\neq j}Q(d_{Xi})Q(d_{ij})Q(d_{jX})$.
Here the factor $\tfrac12$ corresponds to the fact that by a
plain summation over all $i\neq j$ a doublecounting occurs
($i\leftrightarrow j$). Consequently, the average clustering
coefficient of the network can be approximated as
\begin{equation}
\label{<C>-old}
\avg{C}\approx\frac1{z(z-1)} \int\!\!\!\!\int_{i,j}
Q(d_{Xi})Q(d_{ij})Q(d_{jX})\,\mathrm{d}\vec{r}_i\mathrm{d}\vec{r}_j.
\end{equation}
Here we again assumed that $Q(d)$ changes slowly on the scale of
$1$.

In~\cite{Medo}, $Q(d)$ was assumed to have the form
\begin{equation}
\label{Q(d)}
Q(d)=\frac1{1+bd^{\alpha}}
\end{equation}
with $\alpha>2$ to allow a proper normalization according to
Eq.~\req{normalization}. This choice was motivated by the
following observations of human society:
\begin{enumerate}
\item When two persons live close to each other, they probably
know each other. Thus we require $Q(0)=1$;
\item The greater is the distance between two persons, the
smaller is the probability that they know each other. Thus
$Q(d)$ should be a decreasing function of $d$;
\item We define the average number of distant people that every
person knows as $N_d\equiv\int_R^{\infty} Q(r)2\pi r\,\mathrm{d} r$
where $R$ is large and fixed. We demand $N_d$ sufficiently high
to reflect the observation that many people have distant friends
(e.g.~living on the opposite Earth hemisphere).
\end{enumerate}

For example, $Q(d)=\exp[-bd]$ satisfies (i) and (ii) but if we
choose $R$ that covers half of human population
($\pi R^2\approx 3\cdot 10^9$) and $z\approx200$ (which is a
reasonable value to model real acquaintances), we obtain
$N_d\approx 10^{-11}$ which is effectively zero. Consequently,
Eq.~\req{Q(d)} represents a simple choice of $Q(d)$ which for
$\alpha$ in the range $2.5-3.5$ complies with the requirements
written above. Yet, we do not claim that these three
observations allow us to guess the precise form of $Q(d)$. We
merely suppose that our choice is able to capture basic features
of the human acquaintances network. More detailed discussion on
the nature of $Q(d)$ can be found in \cite{Medo}.

In addition to the clustering coefficient defined above, another
important characteristics of random networks is the degree of
separation (or equally the shortest path length). It is defined
as the minimal number of vertices along the shortest path
between two given nodes. Denoting the geometrical distance of
these two nodes as $l$, in the original paper it was shown that
for $Q(d)$ given by Eq.~\req{Q(d)}, the typical degree of
separation of distant nodes is
\begin{equation}
\label{D-old}
\tilde D(l)\approx -\frac{\ln Q(l)}{\ln z}.
\end{equation}
Since in two dimensions, the typical distance $l$ scales with
the network size $S$ as $\sqrt{S}$. Consequently, for the
distance dependence given by Eq.~\req{Q(d)}, the typical
topological distance of two nodes in the network scales as
$\tilde D\sim\ln S$. For the human acquaintances network is
$S=6\cdot 10^9$ and hence $l\approx80\,000$; when $\alpha$ lies
in the range $2.5-3.5$, and $z$ in the range $50-500$, we obtain
$\tilde D$ in the range $3-10$. In addition, by numerical
integration of Eq.~\req{<C>-old}, for the described parameters
the mean clustering coefficient lies in the range $0.05-0.30$.
We can conclude that the given network exhibits the small-world
phenomenon.

\section{The degree distribution}
Let's choose one node of the network, we label it as $X$. The
plane can be divided into thin concentric rings centered at $X$.
If the ring radius is $r$ and its width is $w$, it covers
approximately $N=2\pi rw$ vertices. Meanwhile, all
vertices in one ring have approximately the same distance from
$X$. Therefore they also have approximately the same probability
$Q(r):=p$ to be connected with $X$. Since links are drawn
independently, the number of neighbours of $X$ in the ring with
radius $r$, $n(r)$, is a random quantity with the binomial
distribution whose mean is $Np$ and the variance is
$Np(1-p)=2\pi rw Q(r)[1-Q(r)]$.

The degree $k$ of node $X$ is obtained by summing $n(r)$ over
all rings. The central limit theorem applies here and thus $k$
is normally distributed and its variance $\sigma_k^2$ is the sum
of variances of all contributions $n(r)$. Replacing the
summation over all rings by the integration we obtain
\begin{equation}
\label{sigma}
\sigma_k^2\approx
\int_0^{\infty}2\pi r Q(r)\big[1-Q(r)\big]\,\mathrm{d} r=2z/n.
\end{equation}
To confirm this result numerically, in tab.~\ref{tab-sigma} the
quantity $n\sigma_k^2/z$ is shown for various values of $z$ and
$n$. As can be seen, the numerical results are well approximated
by the analytical prediction $n\sigma_k^2/z=2$ for a wide range
of parameters.
\begin{table}
\centering
\begin{tabular}{r|ccc}
                & $z=50$ & $z=150$ & $z=500$\\
\hline
\vbox to 9pt{}
$\alpha=2.5$    & 1.96   & 1.94    & 1.88\\
$\alpha=3.0$    & 1.97   & 2.03    & 1.93\\
$\alpha=3.5$    & 2.00   & 2.05    & 2.00
\end{tabular}
\caption{Numerical estimates of $n\sigma_k^2/z$ for various
values of $\alpha$ and $z$ on the square lattice with the
dimensions $1\,000\times1\,000$ ($4\,000\times4\,000$ for
$\alpha=2.5$), the variance $\sigma_k^2$ is obtained from
10\,000 realisations of the model.}
\label{tab-sigma}
\end{table}

We can conclude that the node degree $k$ has approximately the
Gaussian distribution with the mean $z$ and the variance $2z/n$.
For values of $z$ resembling a real society ($z$ of the order of
hundreds) it follows that $\sigma_k\ll z$ and thus the degree
distribution is sharply peaked around its mean value (narrowness
of the degree distribution is clearly visible in
Fig.~\ref{fig-Pk}). This is in a clear contradiction with the
empirical studies~\cite{Ebel,cinania,Csanyi,Onnela} which
suggest power-law behavior. The resulting social network is
strongly homogeneous---it lacks nodes exceeding others in degree
by orders of magnitude. In the following section we investigate
how this basic model can be modified to produce a~heterogeneous
network and exhibit a broad degree distribution.

\section{Heterogeneous network model}
The probability distribution $Q(d)$ given by Eq.~\req{Q(d)},
fundamental for this model, has two natural parameters: $b$ and
$\alpha$. Heterogeneity can be introduced to the network by
assigning random values of these parameters to each node (with
the constraints $b>0$, $\alpha>2$). To keep the acquaintance
relation symmetric we symmetrize the probability $Q_{ij}(d)$
that persons $i$ and $j$ with the distance $d$ know each other
by the relation
\begin{equation}
\label{symmetrization}
Q_{ij}(d;b_i,\alpha_i,b_j,\alpha_j):=
\frac{Q(d;b_i,\alpha_i)+Q(d;b_j,\alpha_j)}2.
\end{equation}
To simplify our calculations we assume that $\alpha$ is fixed in
the network and only $b$ is a random quantity drawn from the
distribution $\varrho(b)$. The parameter $b$ we call the node
solitariness (as $b$ grows, the number of acquaintances is
decreasing and their average distance is getting smaller). The
average degree of a~vertex with the solitariness $b$ is now
\begin{eqnarray}
\label{k-mix}
z(b)&=&\!\int_0^{\infty}\frac{Q(r;b)+Q(r;b')}2
\,2\pi r\varrho(b')\,\mathrm{d} r\,\mathrm{d} b'=\nonumber\\
&=&\!\int_0^{\infty}\!\!\!\!Q(r;b)\pi r\,\mathrm{d} r+
\frac{\avg{z(b)}}2=
\frac{\pi^2b^{-2/\alpha}}{\alpha\sin(2\pi/\alpha)}+\frac z2.
\end{eqnarray}
Here we again replaced the summation by an integration;
$\avg{z(b)}$ is the average connectivity in the network which we
already labeled as $z$. As the solitariness $b$ of a vertex goes
to zero, $z(b)$ goes to infinity. By contrast, as $b$ increases
to infinity, $z(b)$ has a lower bound which is equal to $z/2$.

According to our previous discussions, we would like to
generalize the model to exhibit a wide connectivity
distribution. To achieve this, high-degree nodes with small
values of $b$ must be present. However, the value $b=0$ is
pathological for it makes the probability distribution
$Q(d;b)$ flat and creates a node with an infinite degree (if the
network itself is infinite). Thus for the distribution
$\varrho(b)$ we require $\varrho(0)=0$. The simplest possible
choice is $\varrho(b)=Kb^{\beta}$ for $b\in(0;B]$, $\beta>0$.
Values of $K$ and $B$ are fixed by the condition $\avg{z(b)}=z$
and by the normalization of $\varrho(b)$, leading to
\begin{equation}
\label{ro-b}
\begin{aligned}
B&=\Bigg[\frac{(\alpha+\alpha\beta-2)z\sin(2\pi/\alpha)}
{(1+\beta)2\pi^2}\Bigg]^{-\alpha/2},\\
K&=(1+\beta)\,B^{-(1+\beta)}
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
Since high degrees are due to small values of $b$, the results
derived below hold for all $\varrho(b)$ which can be
approximated by $\varrho(b)\sim b^{\gamma}$ for $b$ small.
Thanks to the constraint $\varrho(0)=0$ and the Taylor expansion,
this is already a quite general class of functions. However, in
this paper we focus on the power-law $\varrho(b)$ which allows
us to investigate the model analytically.

First we show that the chosen form of $\varrho(b)$ leads to the
desired fat distribution of connectivities. For the distribution
of $z(b):=\ol{k}$ we have
$$
g(\ol{k})=\varrho(b)\Big/\left\vert
\frac{\mathrm{d}\ol{k}}{\mathrm{d} b}\right\vert=
\frac{2K}{\alpha}\,b^{1+\beta+2/\alpha}.
$$
Consequently, using Eq.~\req{k-mix} and assuming $\ol{k}\gg z$
we obtain
$$
g(\overline{k})\sim\overline{k}^{\,-(1+\alpha/2+\alpha\beta/2)}.
$$
We already know that when $b$ is given, the probability
distribution of the vertex degree is sharply peaked. Therefore
we can approximate the distribution $f(k)$ which we are
searching for by the distribution $g(\ol{k})$ of the mean
degree. Then we obtain
\begin{equation}
\label{power-law}
f(k)\sim k^{-(\alpha\beta+\alpha+2)/2},\quad
P(k)\sim k^{-(\alpha\beta+\alpha)/2}.
\end{equation}
Here $P(k)$ is the cumulative probability distribution of the
vertex degree. We see, that for the chosen $\varrho(b)$, the
degree distribution has a power-law tail. In Fig.~\ref{fig-Pk},
this analytical result is compared with a numerical simulation
of the model for $z=100$ and $\alpha=3$. The power-law character
of $P(k)$ is clearly visible for $k\gtrsim300$ and the
approximate values of the power-law exponents confirm
Eq.~\req{power-law}.
\begin{figure}
\centering
\includegraphics[scale=0.3]{Pk}
\caption{The cumulative degree distribution $P(k)$ plotted in
a~logarithmic scale. The thick lines have slopes $1.95$, $2.35$,
and $2.70$ respectively (values predicted by Eq.~\req{power-law}
are $1.88$, $2.25$, and $2.63$ respectively). The probability
distributions were obtained by 20 realisations of the model on
the lattice with dimensions $600\times600$ for $\alpha=3$ and
$z=100$. For a comparison, the degree distribution of the basic
homogeneous model is also shown.}
\label{fig-Pk}
\end{figure}

Now we show that the modified network model still exhibits the
small world phenomenon. The probability that two vertices with a
fixed distance $l$ have the degree of separation $D$ we label as
$P(D)$. We can examine this quantity by techniques similar to
those presented in~\cite{Medo}. There it was shown that in the
resulting homogeneous network, the first approximation of $P(D)$
has the form
\begin{equation}
\label{PD-povodne}
P(D)_{\mathrm{HO}}\approx (D+1)z^D Q(l).
\end{equation}
The derivation of a similar result $P(D)_{\mathrm{HE}}$ for the
heterogeneous network model proposed here can be found in
Appendix A; it is well defined only when $\alpha\beta>2$.
In Fig.~\ref{fig-cc-q}, the resulting ratio
$\xi(D):=P(D)_{\mathrm{HE}}/P(D)_{\mathrm{HO}}$ is shown as
a~function of $\beta$. Notice that in the limit $\beta\to\infty$
all ratios $\xi(D)$ approach to $1$. This is because as $\beta$
increases, a higher weight is given to values of $b$ close to
the upper bound $B$. In particular, in the limit
$\beta\to\infty$ all nodes share the same value of solitariness,
$B$. Thus we can say that the proposed generalization is in the
limit $\beta\to\infty$ equivalent to the original model. One can
notice that $\xi(D)>1$ for all $D$. This means that in the
proposed heterogeneous network the probability to find a path of
a certain length is higher than in the homogeneous network. In
other words, hubs (nodes with a high degree) present in the
heterogeneous network facilitate formation of short paths.
Therefore, for the typical degrees of separation the inequality
$\tilde D_{\mathrm{HE}}<\tilde D_{\mathrm{HO}}$ holds. On the
other hand, since the ratios $P(D+1)/P(D)$ (which are of order
of $z$) are much larger then the ratios $\xi(D)$ shown in
Fig.~\ref{fig-cc-q}, we can also say that the introduction of
heterogeneity to the network does not change the typical degree
of separation substantially and
$\tilde D_{\mathrm{HE}}\approx\tilde D_{\mathrm{HO}}$.

The average clustering coefficient $\avg{C}$ cannot be trea\-ted
analytically and therefore in Fig.~\ref{fig-cc-q} we present
only numerical results. They confirm the expected fact that
$\avg{C}$ is little sensitive to changes of the model
parameters and thus it is almost as high as in the original
model. One can also notice that with increasing $\beta$,
$\avg{C}$ approaches to the value $0.161$ valid for the original
model (this value is taken from \cite{Medo}, in
Fig.~\ref{fig-cc-q} it is shown as a dashed line). This limit
behavior is similar to the limit behavior of $\xi(D)$. Since we
observe both a small typical degree of separation and a high
average clustering coefficient, the heterogeneous network
exhibits the small world phenomenon.
\begin{figure}
\centering
\includegraphics[scale=0.3]{pomery}\\[6pt]
\includegraphics[scale=0.3]{cc_q}
\caption{Changes of the the main network properties with $\beta$
for $z=300$ and $\alpha=3$. In the upper figure, the ratio
$\xi(D):=P(D)_{\mathrm{HE}}/P(D)_{\mathrm{HO}}$ is drawn
according to Eq.~\req{PD-povodne} and Eq.~\req{PD-nove}.
The course of $\avg{C}$ in the lower figure has been obtained by
a numerical simulation of the model with averaging over 1\,000
realizations; the dashed line presents the limiting value of the
clustering coefficient in the limit $\beta\to\infty$.}
\label{fig-cc-q}
\end{figure}

\section{Conclusion}
In this paper we investigated a network model where links are
drawn according to nodes distances. Building on the basic
model~\cite{Medo}, we proposed a~generalization aiming to
introduce heterogeneity to the network and also fat tails to the
degree distribution. First, a hidden random parameter $b$ is
assigned randomly to each vertex of the network. Then between a
pair of nodes, a link is drawn with the probability depending on
the hidden parameter values of these two nodes. As a result we
obtain highly heterogeneous network which exhibits a power-law
distribution $P(k)$ over a large range of connectivities. With
respect to the social interpretation of the model, one can say
that it produces a social network where highly sociable party
goers are present along with loners. The proportion of highly
connected nodes can be adjusted by the distribution, from which
the hidden parameter $b$ is drawn---in this work we focused on
the simple distribution $\varrho(b)=Kb^{\beta}$. We also showed
that for the resulting network, the typical degree of separation
is small and the average clustering coefficient is high; both are
approximately equal to the corresponding values for the
homogeneous network with same $z$ and $\alpha$. Thus we conclude
the small world phenomenon is present in the networks produced
by the proposed model.

\vspace{-12pt}
\begin{acknowledgement}
MM would like to thank the Universit\'e de Fribourg for
the financial support and kind hospitality and to Paulo Laureti
for enjoyable and helpful discussions. JS would like to thank
Mat\'u\v s Medo for introduction to the field and patient and
agreeable collaboration.
\end{acknowledgement}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
Crackdown on Peaceful Protesters in Angola
Washington, August 14, 2020
It is with great concern that Friends of Angola (FoA) became aware of the aggressions carried out on August 5, against a group of citizens demonstrating over the distribution of water in their community. According to witnesses present at the scene, the police not only acted violently against the protesters, but also used a police vehicle as a way to disperse the protesters. Reports reaching FoA indicate that a musician and activist Jaime MC was hit by said vehicle and injured.
Local civil society demonstrated due to the lack of water supply, which has been an issue for more than two months. This water shortage, according to sources, is actually due to a strike action by EPAS-Bengo workers, who have not been paid their wages for six months. Freedom of assembly and demonstration is embodied in the Constitution of the Republic of Angola (CRA) in Article 47;Aga Peacefully and without weapons, as stated in paragraph 1 of the Article, the participants in the demonstration appeared only with posters, properly protected with face masks and respecting the physical distance required in the context of combating the pandemic of COVID-19.
Friends of Angola's is concerned as the Angolan Constitution guarantees the rights to freedom of expression and assembly, as state above. However, when Angolan authorities believe that peaceful demonstrations should be authorized through prior approval. It is a violation of the Constitution of the Republic of Angola (CRA), in particular the Freedom of Assembly and Demonstration. Angola, in addition to having ratified relevant international treaties related to these rights, guaranteed in its Constitution that all constitutional and legal precepts regarding fundamental rights must be integrated in harmony with the UDHR, the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and the other international treaties to which Angola is a party (art. 26, no. 2, CRA).
Thus, Friends of Angola believes that every citizen, national or foreign, should be treated with dignity and respect when demanding a right. We believe that each case must be assessed in strict compliance with the international conventions to which Angola is a party.
For this reason, we call on the Government of Angola and in particular, the provincial commander of the Bengo police, to be educated about the laws of the land, as well as uphold their work in full commitment to the people, regardless of the circumstance, so that their rights are respected.
We also call for the immediate investigation of the illegal detention of four arrested citizens, namely: Cheick Hammed Hata, Jaime MC, Banju Lima and Piriquito. As it is clear that the demonstration is in accordance with what is stipulated in the CRA, FoA demands the Angolan authorities to open an investigation with the aim of holding those responsible for the aggressions to justice with respect to universally recognized human rights, such as the right to integrity, physical and freedom of expression. These are rights foreseen in the CRA and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ratified by Angola and violently denied by authorities who, by legal imperative, should be the first to respect them.
Tags#Crackdown on Peaceful Protesters in Angola


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text:
Yes we are open normal hours! We are taking specific precautions to protect our team and our patients during this time. Give us a call with any questions you have.
Contact (605) 275-6900
What is Upper Cervical
Headaches: Which Kind Is It and Where to Find Help
Headaches happen so often that almost everyone has experienced them at one time or another. There are various kinds of headaches, each with their own set of symptoms. Understanding which headache you are suffering from can help when trying to find a way to care for it, as they do not all respond equally.
Five Common Headache Types
Where to Find Relief for Headaches
Rebound headaches: This headache is brought about by using too much pain medication to care for other headache types. It can be more intense than a migraine.
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To learn more about the connection between head and neck injuries and migraines, request our complimentary e-book by clicking the image below.
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Here at Upper Cervical of Sioux Falls in Sioux Falls, SD, we have seen much success caring for our headache patients. Headaches are often linked to a misalignment in the top bones of the neck, the C1 and C2 vertebrae. The brainstem is also located in here and becomes stressed due to the misalignment. The central nervous system, as well as the nerves that run through this area, are negatively impacted.
Using a gentle method, we help the neck vertebrae to move back into place, releasing the pressure on the brainstem. This is often all that is needed to see an improvement in the pain of headaches, no matter what type they are.
To schedule a complimentary consultation with Dr. Casey Weerheim call our Sioux Falls office at 605-275-6900 You can also click the button below.
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UCM Social Media2021-01-12T07:21:27+00:00July 23rd, 2017|Headache / Migraine|Comments Off on Headaches: Which Kind Is It and Where to Find Help
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The 6 Most Debilitating Migraine Symptoms
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Banbridge Amateur Swimming team headed to Lisburn Omniplex on Sunday 17th April, to compete with Lisburn Swimming Club, with Banbridge taking a 216-184 win over Lisburn.
Bann's coaches entered two relay teams for each age group and four swimmers for each individual event, male and female.
The first relay was won by Group A Medley team, Thomas Evans, Lauren Burns-Atkins and Noah Breen. Group B Medley team came in second. This team consisted of Megan Williams, Bailey Breen, Ciara Daly and Pearse Rice.
Group C powered through the water and won, led by Ellie Bingham and joined by Jodie McMullan, Ronan Quinn and Isaac Forsythe. The Group C team were in fine form and also won. Clodagh McGrady, Rachel Blemmings, Finlay Wright and Peter Bigley.
The Group A girls consisted of Katie McFarlane, Lauren Burns-Atkins, Tara Kennedy, Edie McCusker, Aine McGrady, Maya Forsythe and Kate Smith.
The Group A boys were led by Noah Breen with Cathal Hill, Ben Wilson and Thomas Evans. These 4 boys were to swim every event and prove their worth all night.
The Group B girls were against some tough opposition, however, they pushed hard and never gave up for their team. Ciara Daly, Megan Williams, Holly McKibbin, Alana Burns-Atkins and Emma Irvine made up this fine team.
Group B boys knew that they had great opposition so they pulled out all the stops and succeeded in achieving first and second in almost every event. Bailey Breen led this formidable foursome with Pearse Rice, Caelan McCracken and James McMullan.
Group C girls were a strong team led by Jodie McMullan and joined by Ellie Bingham, Sarah McEvoy, Dia McCrory, Niamh McGeown and Sara Calvert.
Group A boys as always were a strong group. They won all the individual events, in a combined effort from Ronan Quinn, Isaac Forsythe, Jack Lennon, Jack Dougan, Carter Bell, Peter McGrath and Christopher Mahood.
Group D girls were only four in this group so they had to swim every event. Rachel Blemmings, the girls' captain led her team of Sorcha Boersma, Clodagh McGrady and Jennifer Morrow.
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The final event to take place was the Freestyle relay. Group A team of Lauren Burns-Atkin, Cathal Hill, Noah Breen and Katie McFarlane. They flew into first place. Group B gave everything but Alana Burns-Atkin, Ciara Daly and Bailey Breen were a close 2nd.
In Group C there was no catching Sarah McEvoy, Isaac Forsythe, Ronan Quinn and Jodie McMullan.
Next it was Group D and the final event. Everthing was riding on the relays. Niall McGeown, Sorcha Boersma, Peter Bigley and his cousin Rachel smoothly swam to victory.


text:
class UrlGenerator
  include Rails.application.routes.url_helpers
  # @@default_url_options = {:host => 'www.example.com'}
  @@only_path = true
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Well the sub-prime mess in the US is affecting India but it's not rationale. Only 2% of all home purchases in India are funded with a mortgage so what's the problem folks? I don't think India needs to pay for the US sub-prime mess and it should not be reflected in our stocks. Those obnoxious speculators need panic situations to make money selling short and are creating it worldwide. Repeat after me – there is no connection between sub-prime rich US and non-sub-prime India.
Spreading panic makes these speculating clowns money because as investors sell their short positions make money. These vermin switch to the long side when the panic dies down actually buying the same stock back at a discount to true value. Let the vermin scurry about - I remain a bull as always.


text:
Q: SKView integrated into UIViewController with UITextFields lagging I am trying to use a SKView in my login UI for some animations. The SKView is added as a subview to a LoginContainerView as well as the view containing the UITextFields and the sign in button. All of the subviews are positioned with autolayout and the FireScene attached to the SKView has it's scaleMode set to .resizeFill.
The issue I'm having is very clear to observe from this clip: https://streamable.com/5it17 .

Clip explanation: Whenever I double tap any of the UITextFields (to trigger the
  UIMenuController / Paste button) the FireScene freezes for a brief
  amount of time (yet it's very noticeable) and the FPS drops down to around 30 for 1-2 seconds.

The only node that the FireScene has added as its child node is a modified fireflies SKEmitterNode template. I'm fairly certain that this has nothing to do with the actual code (as it is very straightforward and concise) and is probably a UIKit mixed with SpriteKit bug.
Relevant code:
class FireScene: SKScene {

    // MARK: - Properties
    var fireSparkEmitter: SKEmitterNode? = nil

    // MARK: - Inherited
    override func didChangeSize(_ oldSize: CGSize) {
        // position the emitter to scene's center
        fireSparkEmitter?.position = CGPoint(x: size.width/2, y: size.height/2)
    }

    override func didMove(to view: SKView) {
        if let emitter = fireSparkEmitter {
            emitter.resetSimulation()
        } else {
            guard let emitter = SKEmitterNode(fileNamed: "FireSparks.sks") else { return }
            addChild(emitter)
            fireSparkEmitter = emitter
        }

    }
}

class LoginContainerView: UIView {
    /// ...
    let fireBackgroundScene: FireScene = {
        let scene = FireScene(size: .zero)
        scene.scaleMode = .resizeFill
        return scene
    }()
    /// ...

    // MARK: - Inherited
    // called after view initialization
   func setupSubviews() {
        let skView = SKView(frame: .zero)
        skView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        addSubview(skView)
        skView.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: bottomAnchor).isActive = true
        skView.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: topAnchor).isActive = true
        skView.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: leadingAnchor).isActive = true
        skView.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: trailingAnchor).isActive = true

        skView.showsFPS = true
        skView.presentScene(fireBackgroundScene)
    }
}

PS: I've tried to profile the app with Time Profiler and it seems that the bottleneck is the UITextField gesture handling by UIKit itself.

A: Your issue seems related to a different layout syncronization between SKView and the other UIKit objects.
SKView have a property called isAsynchronous (default = true) that indicates
 whether the content is rendered asynchronously.
You can try to set:
skView.isAsynchronous = false

to syncronize your SKView with the core animation updates.
This could be not enough because you'll syncronize SKView with the Core Animations of your project but there are always the UIKit-style animations that could be out of sync.
If this property don't solve your issue you can change also the preferredFramesPerSecond property. Remember that when you try to mix two frameworks (sprite-kit and UIKit) you will inevitably incur to unpleasant hitches.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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text:
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Congressional Hearings Focus on Aviation, Flood Control
March 3rd, 2017 | By: Whitford Remer
As the President's repeated in his address to Congress his pledge to dramatically increase infrastructure spending to the tune of $1 trillion, various Congressional Committees have been holding hearings to explore the need. While the hearings reflect broad and even growing support on Capitol Hill for infrastructure spending, they also illustrate major hurdles, chief among them and one that has bedeviled infrastructure advocates for a very long time, how to pay for it. On the House side, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has begun a series of hearings to highlight the need among specific infrastructure categories. Using the title "Building a 21st Century for America," the hearings explore the federal role in several infrastructure categories. On March 1st, the Committee's Aviation Subcommittee looked at the state of the nation's airports, with a panel of airport executives including Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and the Greater Asheville (NC) Regional Airport Authority. The executives noted different challenges faced by different sized airports and the need for flexibility, both in how they are able to spend grant money received through the Airports Improvement Program (AIP) and the ability to set the appropriate level for the Passenger Facility Charges (PFCs) that airports can charge, which has been capped by Congress at $4.50. During the hearing, full Committee Ranking Democrat Peter DeFazio (D-OR) announced he had joined with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) in offering legislation to remove the cap on PFCs and permitting airports to set the level as they see fit. The panel also noted that under the new pricing policies instituted by airlines, while the ticket tax that funds the AIP is applied to the basic ticket, additional charges such as baggage fees are not subject to the tax, costing the program millions of dollars. Finally, both members of the Committee and the panelist agreed that the recent pattern of short-term authorizations of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and its programs has made it hard to make long-term plans and have increased the cost of the capital projects. ASCE strongly agrees with the airport executives and supports increasing funding for the AIP, removing the cap from the PFCs and longer-term authorization for the FAA. Meanwhile in the Senate, the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee held a hearing titled "Flood Control Infrastructure: Safety Questions Raised by Current Events." The hearing was prompted in large part by the recent spillway deteriorations and ensuing evacuations around California's Oroville Dam, the tallest dam in the nation. Among the witnesses were Lieutenant General Todd T. Semonite, Commanding General and Chief of Engineers U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Larry Larson, Director Emeritus & Senior Policy Advisor for Association of State Floodplain Manager. General Seminote talked about his agency's role in providing flood protection infrastructure across the country. Sens. John Barrasso (R-WY) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) pressed the General on the Agency's benefit-cost analysis formula for selecting projects, which relies, in-part, on property value. Sen. Barrassso, the new Chairman of the Committee emphasized this type of formula pitted urban project against more rural projects in his home state of Wyoming. Larry Larson and several Senators also raised the important point that there are flood control programs authorized by Congress in the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 and Water Resources Development Act of 2016 that have not received any federal funding. Larry Larson also told the panel that private funding will not cover the full cost for dam and levee repair. "Our experience shows that financial incentives are very difficult to apply to these projects," adding that that federal funding would be needed.
President's Address Includes Infrastructure
March 1st, 2017 | By: Becky Moylan
On Tuesday night, President Trump addressed a joint-session of Congress for the first time in his presidency. Infrastructure was among the many issues he discussed. The President highlighted the interstate highway system as a the "last truly great national infrastructure program," before calling for a "new program of national rebuilding" and vowing to ask Congress to pass legislation for $1 trillion in infrastructure investment, "financed through both public and private capital." Infrastructure investment was one of the President's core campaign promises. While there still needs to be much more shared about the infrastructure legislation described, including what the mix of public and private capital will be and how this investment will be allocated across our nation's significant infrastructure needs, this is an encouraging step toward fulfilling what the President pledged during the campaign. The speech came just 10 days before ASCE will release its new 2017 Infrastructure Report Card. The report will again provide grades and analysis of 16 categories of infrastructure and offer key solutions and category solutions to raise the grades. One of the core solutions you can expect to read and hear about is the need for investment, and even more specifically government funding. To have lasting progress for our infrastructure, the federal government must commit to not only financing infrastructure programs but funding them. Funding must supplement – rather than replace – long-term solutions, regular appropriations, and scheduled reauthorizations. This tenet is one ASCE also focuses on in its Principles for Infrastructure Investment, released during the Presidential Transition. Americans recognize our infrastructure needs are significant—a new investment gap number will also be released on March 9 in the Report Card. They are also solvable, beginning with federal infrastructure legislation that:
Includes investment that provides substantial, long-term benefits to the public and the economy;
considers the cost of an infrastructure project over its entire life span;
ensures projects are built sustainably and resiliently;
does not replace existing federal, state, local, or private infrastructure funding.
Explore the full Principles and mark your calendar for March 9 at 9:30 a.m. ET to watch the Report Card grades reveal live via webstream.
House T&I Committee Examines How to Build a 21st Century Infrastructure
February 2nd, 2017 | By: Laura Hale
Yesterday the House Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Committee held a hearing titled "Building a 21st Century Infrastructure for America." It was the Committee's first hearing in the 115th Congress and came on the heels of both President Trump's pledge to focus on infrastructure and a trillion dollar infrastructure investment blueprint previewed by Senate Democrats last week. The panel of witnesses represented private industry (FedEx, Cargill, BMW and Vermeer) that relies on the country's vast infrastructure networks, with the exception of Richard Trumka, President of AFL-CIO, whose union members build, maintain and operate much of the nation's infrastructure. Getting the hearing off to a fiery start was Ranking Member Peter DeFazio (D-4th OR), who picked up right where he left off last Congress—emphasizing the need to fix the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) (a bit of background…in December of last year Rep. DeFazio gave an impassioned speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives during votes on the Water Resources Development Act, criticizing the final bill for not including language to spend down funds collected by the HMTF). Rep. DeFazio laid out three key areas he wants the Committee to focus on this year: indexing the gas tax to inflation, spending the existing $9 billion in the HMTF that has been used to offset a portion of the deficit and raising the cap on passenger facility charges for airports. Members of the Committee and witnesses agreed that these were important issues. David MacLennan, Chairman and CEO of Cargill, reminded legislators not to get carried away by dazzling new innovations like electric cars, microgrids and high-speed rail saying "As exciting as new technologies are, we should also think about our traditional assets. So the remainder of my testimony will focus not on the shiny objects, but on the ones that tend to get rusty: the rails, roads, bridges and waterways of rural America." The panelists also all spoke about the importance of the federal government providing real funding to infrastructure projects, not just financing. Frederick W. Smith, Chairman and CEO of FedEx even went so far to say that he had been testifying in the T&I Committee room for 40 years and was ready to see real infrastructure investment. The Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee is expected to hold its own hearing examining infrastructure challenges and opportunities soon.
Democrats' Infrastructure Blueprint Furthers Legislative Conversation
January 26th, 2017 | By: Becky Moylan
Days after President Trump was the first to use the word "infrastructure" in an inaugural address, Senate Democrats doubled-down on his promise to invest in infrastructure by offering their own plan to increase investment by $1 trillion over 10 years, and purportedly create more than 15 million new jobs in the process. The plan, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and dubbed "A Blueprint to Rebuild America's Infrastructure," proposes many investments that ASCE has advocated for over the last two decades, including in the 2013 Infrastructure Report Card. The obvious one is increased investment. At $1 trillion—a figure originally proposed by President Trump during his campaign—this or a similar plan would go a long way in closing the $1.6 trillion infrastructure investment gap. The "Blueprint" also emphasizes addressing backlogged needs, which have been growing for far too long and are at the root of our nation's "D+" infrastructure. The "Blueprint" offers a good start to furthering our lawmakers' dialogue on what a large infrastructure bill should include, and how our nation can wisely invest $1 trillion, ensuring ROI and addressing our significant infrastructure needs. In particular, the "Blueprint's" approach of dividing investment across the 16 categories of infrastructure is important to improving the entirety of the interdependent infrastructure system. But to make the most of this substantial of an investment with an eye on the future, it will be even more important to select the right projects. ASCE has outlined its vision for what a large infrastructure investment bill should include in our "Principles for Infrastructure Investment." We will rely on these "Principles" to engage Congress as it reacts to the "Blueprint" and considers a path forward on this critical economic and social issue, balancing needed investment with judicious planning to effectively address our infrastructure needs. Here are some of the highlights of how the Senate Democrats' "Blueprint" breaks down from ASCE's perspective*:
$210 billion for roads and bridges – ASCE recently identified surface transportation as the infrastructure area with the largest unfunded need.
$10 billion to expand TIGER – Increasing funding into proven programs is an excellent way to ensure that the investment is used effectively.
$110 billion for water and sewer – The "Blueprint" notes that underinvestment has happened in our drinking and wastewater infrastructure in part because of a hesitancy to increase water rates. An infusion of additional funding will help bring these systems back up to where they need to be for Americans' safety and quality of life.
$180 billion for rail and bus – Divided into $130 billion for public transit and $50 billion for rail, which will include acceleration of implementing Positive Train Control.
$200 billion for transformative projects – Vital Infrastructure Projects (VIPs) as the "Blueprint" calls them would help to elevate not just the quality of our infrastructure, but also put us on a strong path for the future.
$75 billion for schools – Most of our school buildings were built to originally teach baby boomers and modernization is desperately needed so that schools can prepare students for the 21st
$65 billion for ports, inland waterways, and airports – Broken down to $30 billion for airports, including through the effective Airport Improvement Program (AIP) and to implement NextGen, $10 billion for dredging, lock maintenance and other needs for ports and inland waterways, and $25 billion to build more resilient communities, which ASCE has highlighted the importance of as one of its eight key criteria when assessing infrastructure.
$100 billion for energy – Including upgrades in transmission and distribution, along with increased resilience.
$20 billion for public lands – Directed in part to increased funding for the National Park Service, which infamously has had challenges maintaining its infrastructure, including the iconic Arlington Memorial Bridge.
$10 billion in seed money for an "IBank" – Expected to be $100 billion for infrastructure once fully leveraged, this would be a way to test the Infrastructure Bank concept on the national level. The Blueprint also notes the need to protect WIFIA and TIFIA, two programs that like TIGER have proven value and should be used to ensure strategic investment.
Missing from the proposal is funding of water resources projects authorized in WRDA14 and WIIN16. These programs would improve dams, levees, and other water resource infrastructure that are in need of improvement and would benefit from an infusion of investment. One other major sticking point when it comes to federal infrastructure investment: How to pay for it. Democrats maintain the proposal's $1 trillion investment would be covered by closing tax loopholes. Under its "Principles," ASCE supports infrastructure investment from all levels of government and the private sector. Ultimately, our nation needs a long-term, sustainable funding solution for all areas of infrastructure. A down payment to modernize our infrastructure that is funded, not just financed, will put us on the right track. *Italicized text notes ASCE's comments on specific parts of the proposal based on ASCE Public Policy Statements.
WRDA Passes The House
September 29th, 2016 | By: Whitford Remer
The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 5303 the Water Resources Development Act of 2016 late yesterday afternoon by a vote of 399-25. The $11.5 billion bill authorizes over three dozen Army Corps of Engineers flood control, navigation and ecosystem restoration projects and studies across the country. In addition to the base text reported out of the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee nearly 40 amendments were added to the bill on the House floor. The final amendment to the bill authorizes $170 million in aid for Flint, Michigan to assist with the drinking water crisis. For months Congress has been struggling with how to respond to the drinking water issue in Flint. At one point earlier this week, democrats were prepared to shut down the government unless the Flint issue was resolved. Around midnight Tuesday, leaders agreed to address Flint in the House WRDA bill, which cleared the way for both short term government spending bill and gave WRDA the votes necessary to pass. Prior to the Flint amendment, democrats threatened to block the bill because another provision requiring funds in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) to be spent every year was stripped out last minute. Democrats led by T&I Ranking Member Peter Defazio (D-OR) wanted to ensure the HMTF was used to the fullest extent each year, whereas now its funds are subject to an unpredictable annual appropriations process. The House WRDA bill is much narrower than the version passed in the Senate two weeks ago by a vote of 95-3. The Senate bill includes a similar list of Army Corps projects, $220 million for Flint and an entirely separate title dedicated to improving the nations drinking water and clean water infrastructure. The additional water infrastructure programs will be the subject of intense the negotiations between Senate and House staff while Congress is home campaigning prior to the November election. When congress returns for the lame duck session in December, the hope is there will be agreement on a WRDA bill that both chambers can easily pass and send to the President's desk. Congress has committed to passing a WRDA bill every two years, with the last one passing in 2014. Prior to that WRDA bills passed in 2007 and 2000.
With Gas Prices Low, Congress Has Opportunity to #FixTheTrustFund
August 8th, 2016 | By: Laura Hale
Last month's average gas price in the U.S. was the lowest for July since 2004. Cheap gas coupled with an improved economy is spurring Americans to drive more. After a decrease during the recession, vehicle miles traveled (VMT) is climbing again. Summer is the busiest time on U.S. roads and many drivers will find themselves stuck in traffic, whether they're headed to work or the beach. In 2014, Americans spent 6.9 billion hours sitting in traffic (42 hours per driver). The wasted time and gas add up—the total cost of congestion in 2014 was $160 billion ($960 per driver).
Estimated VMT based on traffic volume trends. Federal Highway Administration.
A major contributor to congestion is the underinvestment into our road network. According to AASHTO, there is a $629 billion backlog of highway needs. For the federal government and most states, taxes on gasoline and diesel are the primary funding source for highways, but the tax rates frequently have not been raised in years, sometimes decades. Many states are considering plans to raise their fuel taxes to increase their investment in highway infrastructure and last year nine states actually did it. Despite these tax increases, the price drivers pay at the pump has continued to go down—one study by ARTBA even shows that a gas tax increase does not have a direct impact on the price at the pump. Federal lawmakers unfortunately have not followed their lead. The federal Highway Trust Fund has been flirting with insolvency since 2008 because its primary funding source, an 18.4 cent per gallon tax on gasoline and a 24.4 cent per gallon tax on diesel, has not been raised since 1993. Inflation has cut its real value by 40%. The fund has been propped up by $140 billion in transfers from the general fund. In order to ensure adequate and stable funding for America's highways, the Trust Fund needs a sustainable funding source. The most direct and immediate way to #FixTheTrustFund is to increase the tax on gas and diesel a sufficient amount at the federal level to stop the need for general fund transfers and allow for increased investment to address the backlog. Meanwhile, there should be additional pilot programs to test charging motorists based on how much they use roads with the long-term goal of using mileage-based user fees to fund the federal highway trust fund to prepare for the future. It's time for Congress to step up and #FixTheTrustFund.
House Passes Resolution Limiting Options to Fix the Highway Trust Fund
June 10th, 2016 | By: Laura Hale
Today the U.S. House of Representatives passed H. Con. Res. 112, a resolution introduced by Rep. Boustany (R-LA) and co-sponsored by 11 Republicans expressing Congress' opposition to new fees on oil. As yesterday's blog post highlighted, this resolution may be non-binding, but it puts Congress on the record in opposition to a viable option for fixing the Highway Trust Fund (HTF). Because the gas tax rate has not kept up with inflation, the HTF has been on the brink of insolvency many times in the past several years. Instead of addressing the HTF's long-term solvency problem, Congress has relied on general funds transfers for the past eight years to prop up the fund, including most recently in the FAST Act. Rep. DeFazio (D-OR), ranking member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, spoke passionately in opposition to the resolution. In under 24 hours, over 200 advocates responded to ASCE's action alert and contacted their representatives in opposition to H. Con. Res. 112. Along with 30 coalition partners, ASCE sent a letter to Congress opposing the resolution. Rep. Blumenauer (D-OR) read extensively from the letter in his remarks on the House floor. As a concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 112 will pass over the Senate for debate and vote. It remains to be seen if that body will pick up the measure.
Congressional Vote Could Limit Options to #FixTheTrustFund
June 9th, 2016 | By: Laura Hale
Tomorrow the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on H. Con. Res. 112, a concurrent resolution introduced by Rep. Boustany (R-LA) and co-sponsored by 11 Republicans that would express Congress' opposition to new fees on oil. While non-binding, the resolution would put Congress on the record as opposing one option for fixing the Highway Trust Fund (HTF). For years now the HTF has been spending more than it has been bringing in. It has been propped up with $140 billion in general fund transfers since 2008. Its primary funding source, the motor fuels tax, has not been increased since 1993 and inflation has decreased its value by 40%. Unstable and insufficient federal funding for surface transportation is one the main reasons our infrastructure is in such poor shape. ASCE's 2013 Report Card for America's Infrastructure gave our nation's roads a D, our bridges a C+ and our transit a D. The U.S. is on track to invest less than half of what is needed in surface transportation over the next decade. This will have a cascading impact on our nation's economy, impacting productivity, GDP, employment, personal income, international competitiveness, and, most importantly, public safety. Every year this funding gap is not addressed it will cost American families $3,400 – that's $9 a day because of underperforming infrastructure. The HTF needs a long-term funding solution and in order to get there, all options need to be on the table. H. Con. Res. 112 would eliminate a viable funding alternative and does not offer any strategy to #FixTheTrustFund and repair America's deteriorating transportation infrastructure. Along with 30 coalition partners, ASCE sent a letter to Congress standing up for infrastructure and opposing H. Con. Res. 112. Want to help #FixTheTrustFund? Tell your congressman to oppose H. Con Res. 112!
130 Congressmen Ask Colleagues to Fix the Highway Trust Fund
June 3rd, 2016 | By: Laura Hale
Last week 130 Members of Congress (73 Democrats and 57 Republicans) sent a letter to Chairman Brady (R-TX) and Ranking Member Levin (D-MI) of the House Ways & Means Committee urging them to include addressing the long-term solvency of the Federal Highway Trust Fund (HTF) in their plans for overhauling the U.S. tax code. They wrote: "The need for improvements to our nation's infrastructure and safety programs is long overdue. However, the current finances of the HTF make it unable to support those investments…We recognize that tax reform legislation will be a heavy lift. Finding a solution requires ingenuity and will involve building consensus among competing interests and ideas, but we stand ready to work in partnership to reach this critical goal." The HTF is supposed to fully fund the federal government's investments in roads, bridges and transit, but for several years now it has been spending more money than it is taking in. The root of the HTF's solvency problem lies in its primary funding source: the federal motor fuels tax. The federal motor fuels tax of 18.4 cents per gallon for gas and 24.4 for diesel has not been raised since 1993 and inflation has decreased its real value by 40%. To fill the gap, Congress has been diverting general fund dollars into the HTF since 2008. The FAST Act, the five year surface transportation bill signed in December 2015, included a $70 billion transfer from the general fund to the HTF. Even with the passage of the FAST Act, our nation's current level of investment in surface transportation is less than half of what's actually needed. ASCE's new report shows that the U.S. needs to invest an additional $1.1 trillion in surface transportation over the next ten years (from federal, state, local and private sources). Failing to sufficiently invest in America's deteriorating infrastructure will have a cascading impact on our nation's economy, impacting business productivity, GDP, employment, personal income, international competitiveness, and, most importantly, public safety. The report found that if the surface transportation funding gap is not addressed, the U.S. will lose over $1.2 trillion in GDP and 1.1 million jobs by 2025. Over the past 30 years, all increases in the federal motor fuels tax have occurred as a part of larger tax reform packages, Therefore, Reps. Brady and Levin's work could offer an opportunity for Congress to finally provide an adequate, sustainable funding source for the HTF. ASCE strongly supports increasing the federal motor fuels tax a sufficient amount at the federal level to stop the need for general fund transfers and allow for increased investment to close the widening gap. Additionally, ASCE supports the creation of additional pilot programs to test charging motorists based on how much they use roads with the long-term goal of using mileage-based user fees to fund the federal HTF.
House Transportation Committee Passes Water Resources Bill
May 26th, 2016 | By: Whitford Remer
The House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee advanced a $5.5 billion Water Resource Development Act (WRDA) this week. A path forward for H.R. 5303 will require support from the full chamber, a commitment by House leadership to give the bill floor time, and ultimately a compromise with the much more expansive Senate bill that advanced out of the Environment and Public Works Committee several weeks ago. It was expected the House would introduce a much smaller "pamphlet" sized bill that would be limited primarily to Army Corps projects studies and authorizations. The base text of the bill includes 28 Corps project authorizations, but also several policy reforms, including one to continue to improve funding of the nation's harbors. Currently, ports will collect fees from shippers for harbor maintenance, but those funds first go to the Treasury where Congress has made a habit of using the money for unrelated activities. The WRDA bill would set target levels Congress would have to follow to ensure the funds are used for harbor maintenance. The bill would establish a new pilot program to beneficially use sediment dredged from navigation channels to restore shorelines, beaches, and wetlands. The Senate WRDA bill (S.2848) also included a provision on beneficial use of dredged material (section 2017). During the House WRDA markup 21 amendments were offered, most of which were ultimately withdrawn after Chairman Shuster (R-PA) agreed to work with members to resolve their issues separately. Several amendments did pass including one that would allow wetland mitigation banks for Gulf Coast restoration, a new comprehensive study at the Corps South Atlantic Division and a manager's amendment that includes a study of nature based solutions for water resources projects. The Senate will likely make the next move and work to get their version of the WRDA bill floor time in late June. Timing on the House side is less clear. There remains significant differences in the two bills, including the major clean water/ drinking water titles in the Senate bill that weren't included in the House bill. Even if each full chamber passes their respective versions, working details out in conference will likely prove to be challenging.
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Small businesses that have just started out may be faced with a lot of difficulties particularly when it comes to their finances. Office space, utility bills, salaries of employees, and production expenses are just a few of the things that they have to concern themselves with.
Contrary to the beliefs of other people, starting a business is not as easy as it sounds. It may take quite a while before you can actually start to see money coming in. But what if you don't have enough cash on hand to finance your business? Will you go for a business loan? Or, is there an alternative?
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Invoice factoring benefits both the factor and the business company.
The invoice serves as a promise of the client that they will pay for the rendered services or delivered products. With reputable credit-worthy companies, they are somehow guaranteed a good return on investment.
It is the business company's responsibility to replenish whatever has been used to serve a certain customer in order for them to serve a new one. If they are going to wait for the old client to pay, which can take up to 90 days, then their operations may be stopped. But with invoice factoring, businesses will get the cash upfront. Hence they will be able to carry on their daily business activities.
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When I was chosen to judge the Barilla Pasta World Championship, a friend asked the obvious question: "How does a schmuck like you pull that off?" The jury contained five Michelin-starred chefs and one food historian. What it lacked, apparently, was a minor novelist.
I made my way to Parma, a hub of Italian gastronomy known for crumbly Parmigiano Reggiano, buttery prosciutto and the world's biggest pasta corporation, Barilla, which was sponsoring the television-style cook-off.
I pursed my lips to hide my cappuccino breath. Shorly afterwards, a buzzer rang, starting the 30-minute timer for the first of three finalists, Accursio Lotà, a Sicilian by birth who works at Solare Ristorante in San Diego. His offering was a seafood version of spaghetti alla carbonara, replacing the traditional combination of guanciale (pig's cheek) and eggs with a fishy fantasia of salmon roe, sea urchin eggs, tuna bottarga, and osetra caviar, plus scallops, mazara red shrimps, amberjack, cuttlefish, clams, mussels. The chefs admired his execution. I found the mass of seafood a little muddled, and the link to carbonara theoretical at best.
Still, the dish was inventive, in keeping with the contest's theme, "The Future of Pasta" – a topic of much concern to the industry with "carbophobia" (as pasta folk seethingly describe it) having dented traditional markets. The Pasta World Championship is a way for Barilla to promote its wares beyond Europe and the Americas by presenting it as more versatile than diners imagine.
While foreigners tend to view Italy as a nation of jolly rule-flouters, social conformity reigns, especially in the kitchen, where deviation is heresy. Putting spaghetti with meat sauce? Heathen! It's tagliatelle! The pasta industry is confronting a dilemma that tests Italy itself: how to retain its glorious heritage while pursuing needful innovation.
The young talents slicing and dicing for first prize, the company hopes, will become global pasta missionaries. Not one of the 19 original contestants works in Italy (though several were born there). An exemplary case was the second finalist, the Japanese chef Keita Yuge of the Quintocanto restaurant in Osaka, who melded Italy and Asia in his delectable fusilli with scampi, finessed with iriko dashi, miso and yuzu zest. The scampi dissolved in the mouth, with corkscrew pasta deftly twisting up a creamy lentil paste, notes of anise sneaking through. I scarfed down my portion – only to note that the other jurors were still daintily appraising. Segan kept leaning past me to listen to the pros.
The last finalist was Omri Cohen, only 25 but already a chef at the highly rated West Side restaurant in Tel Aviv. He cooks only kosher food, which is rare at the elite level, and presented a sumptuous fish linguine. Bearded and tattooed (a chef's hat on his forearm), he exuded confidence, roasting sage and aubergine with a blowtorch, squeezing tomatoes like oranges, wafting aromas to his nose – even directing the cameraman at one point. In conclusion, he slapped his chest, declaring, "My heart is on the plate." I double-checked his ingredient list.
I gobbled down his superb dish, the grouper steamed to perfection and wrapped in kale leaves, served with tomato romesco sauce of perfect sweetness, if a little overspiced. Finally, we judges stepped out to render our decision. The chefs, it seemed, wanted a consensus winner rather than what I'd expected, that we'd simply score each dish in secret. A second surprise to me was that our deliberation room contained more than just the jury, including vociferous characters I couldn't identify – local VIPs apparently. The most forceful speechifiers, however, all wore white tunics. One alpha chef in particular drove proceedings toward his favourite. "Could I ask a question?" I ventured, hoping to propose a differing view. They talked over me. Meekly, I raised my hand. Still no luck. I gave my ballot to a tabulator, and awaited the result.