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Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible
Bell's Commentary
David in Saul's Camp
v. 1. And the Ziphites, who had once before played traitors against David, came unto Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself in the hill Hachilah, which is before Jeshimon, south of the wilderness?
v. 2. Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having forgotten, apparently, that he owed his life to the magnanimity of David, 1 Samuel 24:18, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, evidently his permanent guard and the nucleus of his standing army, 1 Samuel 13:2, to seek David in the Wilderness of Ziph.
v. 3. And Saul pitched in the hill of Hachilah, for the entire neighborhood bore this name, the mountain with its foothills and lower slopes, which is before Jeshimon, by the way, on the well-known highroad which passed along near the mountain. But David abode in the wilderness, having withdrawn from the mountain Hachilah, and, or for, he saw, he found out through his scouts, that Saul came after him into the wilderness.
v. 4. David, therefore, sent out spies, and understood that Saul was come in very deed, he received definite information to that effect, the matter was beyond a doubt.
v. 5. And David arose and came to the place where Saul had pitched, he himself made a scouting trip by night, accompanied by at least a few of his faithful men; and David, having reached a spot where he could overlook the entire camp of Saul, beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner, the son of Ner, the captain of his host; and Saul lay in the trench, inside the wagon fortification, or rampart, and the people pitched round about him.
v. 6. Then answered David and said to Ahimelech, the Hittite, for parts of this heathen nation had remained and were gradually merged with the Israelites, and to Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, the son of David's sister and afterwards one of David's captains, 1 Chronicles 2:16; 2 Samuel 18:2; 2 Samuel 20:6; 2 Samuel 23:19, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp? It was a very dangerous trip for the purpose of reconnoitering the king's camp. And Abishai said, I will go down with thee.
v. 7. So David and Abishai came to the people by night; and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, probably considering the bulwark of the wagons a sufficient safeguard, and his spear, the sign of royal authority, stuck in the ground at his bolster, near his head, to be ready for any emergency; but Abner and the people lay round about him, all soundly asleep.
v. 8. Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day; for so, according to the usage of war, he regarded Saul; now, therefore, let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time. This grim remark, that there would be no need of a second blow, shows how David's men felt about Saul's searching expedition.
v. 9. And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not; for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? David had not changed his position toward Saul's person, as being sacred and inviolable by virtue of his kingship, 1 Samuel 24:6.
v. 10. And David said furthermore, As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him, or, unless the Lord smite him, for David's oath put the revenge entirely in God's hand, or his day shall come to die, or he shall descend into battle and perish, these three being the contingencies which David took into account: sudden death by a stroke, a normal death, and death in battle.
v. 11. The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed; he would not, on the part of the Lord, on the Lord's account, take vengeance into his own hand; but, I pray thee, take thou now the spear that is at his bolster, at his head, and the cruse of water, the water-pitcher, and let us go.
v. 12. So David, Abishai acting for him, took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul's bolster; and they gat them away; and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither awaked; for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them, Jehovah thus expressing His approval of David's expedition. That is the disposition of the children of God, not to seek their own revenge, but to place their matter into the hands of the Lord, for He has said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay. "
Saul Overcome by David's Plea
v. 13. Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of an hill afar off; having crossed the valley, he climbed back to the very top of the hill from which he had probably come down in the evening; a great space being between them, for David trusted Saul so little that he preferred to have a great distance between himself and the king.
v. 14. And David cried to the people and to Abner, the son of Ner, saying, Answerest thou not, Abner? This is much like our expression, Heigh-ho! or, Halloo! Then Abner answered and said, Who art thou that criest to the king? Abner resented this calling toward the king, by which his rest was disturbed.
v. 15. And David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man, a warrior entrusted with the protection and security of the king? And who is like to thee in Israel? Wherefore, then, hast thou not kept the lord, thy king? It was the general's special duty to watch over the king's life. For there came one of the people in to destroy the king, thy lord; Saul had been in real peril of life.
v. 16. This thing is not good that thou hast done. As the Lord liveth, ye are worthy to die, literally, "Sons of death are ye," because ye have not kept your master, the Lord's anointed; they deserved death for their neglect of duty. And now see where the king's spear is, and the cruse of water that was at his bolster.
v. 17. And Saul knew David's voice and said, Is this thy voice, my son David? Since David was so far away and it was not yet light, Saul could recognize him only by his voice. And David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king!
v. 18. And he said, once more urging his innocence, which stood out all the more strongly in view of the fact that he had spared Saul's life once more, Wherefore doth my lord thus pursue after his servant? For what have I done? or what evil is in mine hand? His manner of addressing Saul is as humble, as gentle, and as reverent as ever.
v. 19. Now, therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the Lord have stirred thee up against me, let Him accept an offering, literally, "If Jehovah incited thee against me, let Him smell a peace-offering," the idea being that Saul should reconcile God to himself by an offering which had the purpose of restoring the right relationship between Jehovah and His children; but if they, the ones that incited the king, be the children of men, cursed be they before the Lord; for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go, serve other gods. Their enmity had the object of making David flee out of the country where the Lord lived among His people in His Sanctuary and thus tempting him to commit idolatry, because he could not worship Jehovah at the altars erected to His honor.
v. 20. Now, therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord, Saul was not to continue his enmity to the point where he would force David to die in a strange land; for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, for by this name David emphasizes his own insignificance in the country, Cf 1 Samuel 24:14, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains, for a. single straying partridge in the mountains is not worth hunting, since the birds may easily be found in flocks in the fields.
v. 2. l. Then said Saul, with the same momentary emotion which he had shown before, 1 Samuel 24:16, I have sinned; return, my son David; for I will no more do thee harm because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day. Behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly. Instead of turning to the Lord in true repentance and asking Him for grace and power to overcome the evil of his heart, he makes a promise which was no more sincere than that of the same kind made on the previous occasion.
v. 22. And David answered and said, Behold the king's spear! And let one of the young men come over and fetch it.
v. 23. The Lord render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness, this being said with special references to himself; for the Lord delivered thee into my hand today, but I would not stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed. He had stood the test when he spared the life of Saul, and exhibited his righteousness and faithfulness.
v. 24. And, behold, as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes, literally, "made large," esteemed highly, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of the Lord, into whose hands David confidently committed himself, and let Him deliver me out of all tribulation, all the misery and distress which the hostility of Saul would still prepare for him.
v. 25. Then Saul said to David, Blessed be thou, my son David, still speaking under the influence of the fleeting better feeling which David's noble conduct awakened in him; thou shalt both do great things, and also shalt still prevail, both undertake and also fully perform, for Saul could not shut his eyes to the fact that the blessing of Jehovah was resting upon David. So David went on his way, not accepting Saul's invitation to return with him, and Saul returned to his place. Thus these two men parted forever, for Saul's enmity continued and forced David to flee into heathen territory. When a person has so hardened his heart that all kindness leaves no lasting impression, his final condemnation is only a matter of time.
Kretzmann, Paul E. Ph. D., D. D. "Commentary on 1 Samuel 26". "Kretzmann's Popular Commentary". https://studylight.org/commentaries/eng/kpc/1-samuel-26.html. 1921-23.


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Fierce People
by James Bowman
The central conceit of Griffin Dunne's Fierce People, adapted from his own novel by Dirk Wittenborn, is derived from that favorite liberal and multicultural principle that, underneath our superficial differences from even the most exotic or savage of the world's peoples, we of the supposedly more advanced civilizations are really all just the same. And, in the case of particularly warlike savages, it's our rich and powerful people who are just the same. Like any primitive tribe, they live without rule, without morality, without conscience or scruple towards those whom they must destroy in order to live as they please.
Do you think you can see where Messrs. Dunne and Wittenborn are going with this?
Finn (Anton Yelchin) is a boy of about 17 who has never met his father, a famed anthropologist working among the primitive Ishkanani — the name means "fierce people" — in the South American jungle. One day, in the summer of 1980, his dad writes to invite Finn to do field work with him in the jungle. He's excited about this, but before he can go he is busted in a drug raid as he attempts to buy drugs for his addicted mother (Diane Lane). He refuses to rat her out. But he suddenly finds himself bailed out by a billionaire called Ogden C. Osborne (Donald Sutherland), allegedly the seventh richest man in the world, whom mom, a masseuse, has met in the course of her work. Mr. Osborne not only "takes care of" Finn's drugs charge, but he offers both him and his mother a place to stay for the summer on his vast estate, Vlyvalle, in New Jersey.
We are never told exactly what business Osborne industries is in, apart from the fact that the old man "makes his pear brandy just the way they do in France." Somehow I don't think you get to be the seventh richest man in the world by doing that. But we are told where the Osborne fortune originated, and — just as Balzac said — it turns out to have been in a forgotten crime. Except that the crime is not forgotten but remembered proudly by Osborne himself. His father had employed his mother to seduce the owner of a telegraph company. Dad stole the company out from under the other man by blackmailing him with an incriminating photograph of the couple in flagrante — a photograph that he had taken himself.
It's that touch of ruthlessness that seems most to impress old man Osborne and that sounds to me as if it would be something beyond even the bloodthirsty Ishkanani, but then I'm not an anthropologist.
At Vlyvalle, Finn is initiated into the ways of the sybaritic and conscienceless rich. He forms an attachment to old Mr. Osborne and also to his grandchildren, the comely Maya (Kristen Stewart), a girl of about his own age, and the manly Bryce (Chris Evans), who studied anthropology at Harvard and admires Finn's dad, whom he calls "the Elvis of anthropology." Bryce is the kind of preppy guy who goes in for hot-air balloon racing and who pays tribute to Finn — naturally a very cool teenager — by calling him "a gentleman and a scholar." After a day or two he proclaims "lifelong friendship" for Finn and warm approval of his relationship with Maya. "Welcome to the tribe, brother," he says. While Finn learns the ways of the tribe, mom joins AA and begins to get her life together. Old Osborne introduces her to the people of Vlyvalle as his doctor. When she protests, he says: "For ten square miles, I'm king. If I say you're a doctor, you're a doctor."
All is going swimmingly until something terrible happens to Finn. Something Ishkanani terrible. Obviously, I have no intention of spoiling the movie for you by giving away the ending, but you would have to be the veriest innocent in the thinking of today's movie culture not to know instantly who is going to turn out to be the bad guy. You can probably guess without even seeing the movie. The only question that remains, then, is whether or not Finn can learn from his studies of the Ishkanani how to take a condign revenge on this person and so redeem his nureshi, or tutelary spirit.
Yet here the film lacks the courage of its own left-wing convictions. I think it is way too glib to say that these highly sophisticated rich people are "really" just like the savage Ishkanani, but if you're going to say that and if, further, you're going to show dear little Finn becoming Ishkananized by them, and by what's happened to him, then you've already cut him loose from the enlightened conscience and sense of social responsibility that commercial movie-makers, rightly or wrongly, think he has to retain in order to win the sympathy of the audience. There the movie loses its nerve, allowing Finn in the end to look down upon the Osbornes from a position of moral — and political — superiority, just as Mr. Wittenborn himself does. I don't know about you, but I'm not buying it.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Inicio > Startups > Startups-Argentina > Quasar Ventures: This is how The Start-up-Launching Machine Works in Latin America
Quasar Ventures: This is how The Start-up-Launching Machine Works in Latin America
Clarisa Herrera, 5 years ago 0 6 min read 261
Unlike incubators and accelerators of technological businesses, the so-called company builders follow the "parallel entrepreneurship" model that is based on identifying solid business models, taking them as projects and looking for and choosing the finest entrepreneurs to implement them and lead them.
That's the case of Quasar Ventures, the recently-created Argentinean company builder that closed 2014 with remarkable results: the continuous rate of growth made it gather USD 40 million in terms of investment for its companies and gave it the possibility to generate 225 new jobs. By the end of the year it had created five perfectly-functional technological companies.
Part of the company's concept refers to the "one-to-one" attention in enterprises, a close monitoring on the way to create the company along with the entrepreneurs. But it also provides the initial capital and its worldwide network to guarantee the funding of each start-up.
When it comes to closely monitoring companies and business models, you need leaders characterized by successful careers and comprehensive knowledge of the ecosystem and the technological industry. That's the reason why Quasar Ventures is managed by Andy Freire, Santiago Bilinkis and Pablo Simón Casarino, three serial entrepreneurs, benchmarks in terms of local entrepreneurship and experts on the Argentinean, Latin American and global technological industry. Freire and Bilinkis have played the leading role in a milestone for local enterprising ecosystem as their company, Officenet, was sold to the international giant Staples.
"We were inspired by a new company creation concept that is based on the enterprising experience of its partners to implement ideas and create top-of-the-line companies", Casarino, Quasar CEO, pointed out.
Pablo Simón Casarino
Quasar Ventures has launched five companies so far: Restorando, an online booking platform for restaurants; Avenida, an e-commerce and logistics website; Rodati, a platform to buy brand-new cars; Trocafone, an online marketplace to buy and sell secondhand electronic products; and Handouts, a platform for tablets that has become widespread in the United States and substitutes paper in schools so teachers and students can create, distribute, gather and qualify works, assignments and questions.
Restorando, the first company launched by Quasar, operates in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Panama, Peru and Uruguay; received in 2012 USD 3.2 M directly given by investors from Silicon Valley and collected another USD 13.3 M in a round headed by Flybridge Capital Partners. On the other hand, in 2014 both Rodati (Brazil, planning its expansion to Argentina and Mexico) and Trocafone (Argentina/Brazil) attracted investment, USD 1 M for the first one and USD 1.1 Mfor the second one.
Avenida was undoubtedly a landmark for Quasar. In order to become the "Argentinean Amazon" the company received, in September 2014, USD 17.5 M from the most important funds of the world. The round was led by Tiger Globant Management and Naspers, which stand among the top experts on international ecommerce and they have already worked with such companies as Despegar, Bumeran and OLX.
Alan Kraus y Federico Malek
Taking into account that the Argentinean situation and relation with foreign investors is currently polemical –mostly due to the law conflicts with the so-called "fondos buitre" (holdouts) – there is double merit for an Argentina-based company that receives investment:
"We were surprised at the time. Just like any entrepreneur, we give nothing for granted. The fact is that there are many opportunities in Latin America, some of which are giants like Avenida. The investors in that case are from New York, for instance. We know how to make the most of opportunities and we have results, so the investors get interested and follow us", Casarino said.
Casarino commented how the virtuous circle of Quasar Ventures was created, although there was uncertainty at the beginning of the project.
"The fact that the companies we are putting on the map are doing great backs up Quasar's proposal, the model, our image in the region. Good image entails more entrepreneurs coming to work with us and the investors trust us. When you have positive results the model gets self-validated. We are now more convinced than ever, at the beginning it was essentially a bet."
The company builder and parallel entrepreneurship concepts contributed to the positive results.
"The model makes the pieces work in the proper way and correct place, without putting aside our worth or the entrepreneurs', that's how we have achieve things. This is an environment –Latin America – with a million opportunities, willing to grow, with many initiatives that are left half the way. Our model puts the pieces together and, when the pieces are correct and well-positioned, the results flow" he explains.
Casarino details that there are numerous business models with different development processes. Taking successful business models is one of the ways.
"In the case of Avenida and Restorando, they are replicas of existing business models, which are doing very well in other countries. So, we work to validate the value proposal or something similar with modifications that make sense in the region. One is based on Amazon and the second one on Open Table"
On the other hand, we identify specific situations in Latin America so we can turn them into opportunities.
"That work is carried out from the base; we analyze the situation and start working on the business model. There might be similar projects overseas, but we try to specifically design it for Latin America. In the case of Trocafone, the model doesn't make any sense in the US because cellphones are very cheap, the trading market in that case is either very cheap or it doesn't directly exist. Nonetheless, in Brazil, Argentina and other countries there is a huge market with growing rate. We have to throw out the idea related to all original projects coming from the Unite Stated", he underlines.
Handouts is a third line of work, where innovation goes global. United States is the company's present target:
"It aims at US, as there are certain solutions that are better received where the need is. There are just a few schools applying it in Latin America because the use of tablets is limited in the region. In the United States there are nearly 1,300 elementary schools that have one-to-one programs on tablets in the classrooms. It's all about redirecting pedagogical models or ways of thinking to the digital world. Instead of giving students copies of their assignments, teachers can use this tool to digitalize the process. They send the assignment to every student. The students do it and teachers have it back so they correct it and establish a feedback with the class. The correct homework is finally sent back to the student," he explains.
In an effort to keep on consolidating this model, Quasar is studying the creation of two new companies and 300 new jobs for next year. Furthermore, it plans to collect total investments of USD 150 million throughout 2015.
"The results have gone beyond the expectations and we'll have a positive 2015 for the companies we have launched. It's hard to say it as we're talking about recently-created companies that have to be consolidated," Casarino expressed.
Tags #Alan Kraus #Avenida #Clarisa Herrera #Federico Malek #Guillermo Arslanian #Guillermo Freire #Pablo Simón Casarino #Quasar #Restorando #Rodati #startups #The Americas #Trocafone
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The eGo-C upgrade battery is the newest improvement of Joyetech. Based on the present eGo-C battery with constant voltage output, this upgrade battery has the new function mode----variable voltage output mode. In this mode, the voltage will change as the battery power changes instead of constant 3.3v output. With high voltage, this will give you a better vapor feeling.


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Packers Host Seahawks
With victories over Philadelphia and Houston the past two weeks, the Green Bay Packers are one-third of the way to running the table in their final six games. Sunday's game against the Seattle Seahawks at Lambeau Field (4:25 p.m. ET, FOX) looms as by far the biggest barrier.
Green Bay (6-6) remains two games behind Detroit in the NFC North but has gotten back into the wild-card chase, where it trails Tampa Bay (7-5) by one game.
With Dallas (11-1) running away in the NFC race for home-field advantage, Seattle (8-3-1) is battling Detroit (8-4) for a first-round bye. The Seahawks have won four of their last five games, including a blowout of Carolina on Sunday night in which Russell Wilson threw for 277 yards and Thomas Rawls ran for 106 of the team's 240 rushing yards.
Injuries will be a major storyline for the Packers. Starting outside linebacker Nick Perry, the team's leader with eight sacks, has been ruled out with an injured left hand.
Fellow starter Clay Matthews, was "extremely limited" against the Texans with an injured shoulder. Starting inside linebackers Jake Ryan (ankle), who returned last week from a two-game absence, and Blake Martinez (knee), who has missed the past two games, are ailing, too.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers is battling a hamstring injury -- not particularly good news for the Packers, considering Seattle ranks fourth in the league with 31 sacks.


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In 2017 the Department established the DBEI Distinguished Faculty designation, which recognizes exceptional faculty members whose work epitomizes the successful synergies across its three core disciplines to promote health, science and education. At the Department's name change celebration on September 6, Perelman School of Medicine Dean J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD (second from right, below) joined (from left) Chair Harold I. Feldman, MD, MSCE, and Division Directors Stephen E. Kimmel, MD, MSCE (Epidemiology); J. Richard Landis, PhD (Biostatistics); and Jason Moore, PhD, FACMI (Informatics) in honoring the first four recipients.
Alisa Stephens-Shields, PhD
Dr. Stephens-Shields leads a research program centered on causal inference, clinical trials and clustered and longitudinal data analysis. Her methodological and applied research sits squarely at the junction of our three disciplines. Her current collaborations include the Testosterone Trials, the Multidisciplinary Approach to Pelvic Pain Network, and trials to evaluate the effectiveness of financial incentives in increasing medical adherence and research participation.
Douglas Wiebe, PhD
Dr. Wiebe leads a vibrant research program in injury science. His work creatively incorporates high-dimensional geospatial data to study how the urban environment, policies and the locations where people spend their time influence their risk of injury and their overall health. He directs the SpaceTimeEpi Group and the Penn Injury Science Center. Dr. Wiebe also leads a highly creative training program to build capacity for injury and trauma epidemiology in Botswana.
Alexis Ogdie-Beatty, MD, MSCE
Dr. Ogdie-Beatty focuses on the pharmacoepidemiology of psoriatic arthritis. Through her creative, interdisciplinary research program, she has enhanced our understanding of the physiological aberrations that lead to this potentially devastating disease and innovated treatment strategies that optimize clinical outcomes.
Russell T. Shinohara, PhD
Dr. Shinohara leads a research program that develops methods to assess the structural and functional changes in the brain throughout the lifespan. His work also guides us in using neuroimaging to manage neurological, psychiatric and developmental disorders. His many scientific contributions are the product of a robust integrative research program that sits at the intersection of our three disciplines and that informs a broad array of observational and interventional studies.


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Home » Indigenous leader sues AFN over corruption allegations
Indigenous leader sues AFN over corruption allegations
By Teilor Stonein News
AFN National Chief RoseAnne Archibald believes the assembly has a right to know who gets contracts and why. (Archives)
First Nation Chief in Northern Ontario files lawsuit against Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and its National Chief RoseAnne Archibald, in response to allegations of corruption.
Days after the declaration was presented to the Ontario Superior Court, Chief Wilfred King of the Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek First Nation, or Gull Bay, located north of Thunder Bay, received an apology from the AFN Executive Committee.
In a letter signed by the committee dated Oct. 20, Regional Chief for Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador Paul Prosper acquitted Mr. King of any wrongdoing and recommended that the national chief apologize personally.
The AFN Executive recognizes that the National Chief's comments potentially intended to harm, and likely did, harm your reputation, he wrote in the document obtained by CBC.
"The AFN Executive Committee unequivocally apologizes to you and your organization for the About the National Chief. »
— Paul Prosper, AFN Regional Chief for Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador
Mr. Prosper adds that following an investigation of comments by the National Chief and social media posts, the committee found no evidence of corruption on the part of Mr. King.
However, he is now seeking $200,000 in damages for defamation and damage to reputation since, according to him, the AFN is responsible for the conduct of Ms. Archibald.
In a written statement, RoseAnne Archibald says she welcomes the lawsuit with open arms.
I look forward to the start of the trial, since I believe that the truth must be shared, she continues.< /p>
According to his lawyer, the executive committee's decision was not made out of a spirit of cooperation.
I do not believe that the national chief was consulted and that she had the chance to discuss the file in advance, believes Aaron Detlor.
"This raises huge questions about how an executive committee that must include the national chief should operate and how it continues to operate in a way that is exclude.
—Aaron Detlor, attorney for RoseAnne Archibald
In an email sent to over 40 chefs dated July 1 titled URGENT & CONFIDENTIAL: Evidence of corruption, Ms. Archibald cites Mr. King and the $22,500 he received from an AFN contract that was awarded by his predecessor, former National Chief Perry Bellegarde.
Mr. King's name sits alongside a dozen others; these are individuals, law firms, and companies that would all have received APN contracts between 2020 and 2021.
In his court filings, Mr. King argues that the contract, issued on November 5, 2020, contained nothing malicious, and that he was never warned of concerns about its improprieties until he was #x27;comes due, four months later.
To the best of my knowledge, it was executed in a transparent manner while adhering to AFN procedures and policies, can we read.
Gull Bay First Nation Chief Wilfred King (Archives)
According to his statement, Perry Bellegarde told him offered the contract following the grand opening of the Giizis Energy Solar Energy Storage Center in Gull Bay in August 2019, an event Ms. Archibald also attended as Ontario Regional Manager at the time.
< p class="e-p">Mr. King alleges that Mr. Bellegarde asked him for help in developing similar energy projects for other First Nations.
As of Thursday, Aaron Deltor says that Ms. Archibald still has not received any paperwork advising her of the lawsuit.
If he can't speak to Mr. King's case, since he is is before the courts, Deltor says the National Chief is trying to address a larger, systemic issue regarding transparency and accountability within the AFN.
Details of any contract should be accessible if there is a fair and open distribution process, he says.
AFN distribution regulations contracts are expected to change soon. A motion to this effect will be put to a vote at a Special Chiefs Assembly in Ottawa.
If adopted, the APN would henceforth be required to produce a quarterly report on the contracts distributed and contract requests as well as an annual analysis of these procurement activities, in order to ensure compliance with the principles of transparency, of fairness and liability.
On August 16, the AFN notified her insurer that there was potential for legal action against her after she received four letters alleging defamatory statements which could lead to legal action, including that of Mr. King.
The following week, the Executive Committee passed a motion confirming that a letter would be sent to the National Chief, urging him to apologize to independent contractors who may be possible plaintiffs on defamatory grounds and to retract his statements on social media.
At the time, the committee had agreed that if the AFN refused to apologize, the member chiefs members of the band would themselves apologize on his behalf.
With information from CBC's Olivia Stefanovich
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"A toxicological profile for atrazine, draft for public comment was released in September, 2001. This edition supersedes any previously released draft or final profile"--P. iii.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 179-216).


Take a ride on the Blue Train through the Volvo Cars plant at Torslanda and get a behind-the-scenes view of our production line. We welcome 30,000 visitors a year on to our Blue Train, where your guide will take you through the production process, from rolls of sheet metal to finished cars.
Experience first-hand how a Volvo car is built on the Blue Train. Tours are available to companies, organisations and schools, as well as the general public. Each tour can take up to 30 guests, although arrangements can be made for larger parties. The tours last around one hour, with varying routes depending on maintenance or development work being carried out in the plant. Photography and the use of mobile phones is prohibited. Tours are available in Swedish, English and Mandarin, Monday to Friday, and must be booked in advance.
Please contact our reservations office for prices and more information. Phone +46 (0)31 59 50 00 or e-mail vhallen@volvocars.com.


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Kyoto Animation Studios, prior to the 2019 arson
An animation studio is a company producing animated media. The broadest such companies conceive of products to produce, own the physical equipment for production, employ operators for that equipment, and hold a major stake in the sales or rentals of the media produced. They also own rights over merchandising and creative rights for characters created/held by the company, much like authors holding copyrights. In some early cases, they also held patent rights over methods of animation used in certain studios that were used for boosting productivity. Overall, they are business concerns and can function as such in legal terms.
American studios
Main article: History of animation
Raoul Barré
Winsor McCay was widely renowned as the father of the animated cartoon, having converted his cartoon strip Little Nemo into a 11-minute feature film, co-directing it along with J. Stuart Blackton, released on April 8, 1911.[1][better source needed] However, the idea of a studio dedicated to animating cartoons was spearheaded by Raoul Barré and his studio, Barré Studio, co-founded with Bill Nolan, beating out the studio created by J.R. Bray, Bray Productions, to the honor of the first studio dedicated to animation.[2]
Though beaten to the post of being the first studio, Bray's studio employee, Earl Hurd, came up with patents designed for mass-producing the output for the studio. As Hurd did not file for these patents under his own name but handed them to Bray, they would go on to form the Bray-Hurd Patent Company and sold these techniques for royalties to other animation studios of the time. The patents for animation systems using drawings on transparent celluloid sheets and a registration system that kept images steady were held under this firm. Bray also developed the basic division of labor still used in animation studios (animators, assistants, layout artists, etc.).[3]
The biggest name in animation studios during this early time was Disney Brothers Animation Studio (now known as Walt Disney Animation Studios), co-founded by Walt and Roy O. Disney. Started on October 16, 1923, the studio went on to make its first animated short, Steamboat Willie in 1928, to much critical success,[4] though the real breakthrough was in 1937, when the studio was able to produce a full-length animated feature film i.e. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which laid the foundation for other studios to try to make full-length movies.[5] In 1932 Flowers and Trees, a production by Walt Disney Productions and United Artists, won the first Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.[6] This period, from the 1920s to the 1950s or sometimes considered from 1911 to the death of Walt Disney in 1966, is commonly known as the Golden Age of American Animation as it included the growth of Disney, as well as the rise of Warner Bros. Cartoons and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio as prominent animation studios.[7] Disney continued to lead in technical prowess among studios for a long time afterwards, as can be seen with their achievements. In 1941, Otto Messmer created the first animated television commercials for Botany Tie ads/weather reports. They were shown on NBC-TV in New York until 1949.[3] This marked the first forays of animation designed for the smaller screen and was to be followed by the first animated series specifically made for television, Crusader Rabbit, in 1948.[8][better source needed] Its creator, Alex Anderson, had to create the studio 'Television Arts Productions' specifically for the purpose of creating this series as his old studio, Terrytoons, refused to make a series for television. Since Crusader Rabbit, however, many studios have seen this as a profitable enterprise and many have entered the made for television market since, with Joseph Barbera and William Hanna refining the production process for television animation on their show Ruff and Reddy. It was in 1958 that The Huckleberry Hound Show claimed the title of being the first all-new half-hour cartoon show. This, along with their previous success with the series Tom and Jerry, elevated their animation studio, H.B. Enterprises (later Hanna-Barbera Productions), to dominate the North American television animation market during the latter half of the 20th century.[9]
In 2002, Shrek, produced by DreamWorks and Pacific Data Images won the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.[10] Since then, Disney/Pixar have produced the most number of movies either to win or be nominated for the award.[11]
Direct-to-video market
Direct-to-video animation has seen a rise, as a concept, in the Western markets. With many comic characters receiving their versions of OVA's, original video animations, under the Westernized title of direct-to-video animations, the OVA market has spread to American animation houses. Though the term "direct-to-video" carries negative connotations in the North American and European markets, their popularity has resulted in comic characters ranging from Hellboy, Green Lantern and Avengers, to television shows such as Family Guy and Futurama, all releasing direct-to-video animations. DC Comics have continually released their own animated movies for the sole purpose of sale in the direct-to-video market. With growing worries about piracy, direct to video animation might become more popular in the near future.[12]
Ownership trends
With the growth of animation as an industry, the trends of ownership of studios have gradually changed with time. Current studios such as Warner Bros. and early ones such as Fleischer Studios, started life as small, independent studios, being run by a very small core group. After being bought out or sold to other companies, they eventually consolidated with other studios and became larger. The drawback of this setup was that there was now a major thrust towards profitability with the management acting as a damper towards creativity of these studios, continuing even in today's scenario.[13]
Currently, the independent animation studios are looking to ensure artistic integrity by signing up with big animation studios on contracts that allow them to license out movies, without being directed by the bigger studios. Examples of such co-operation are the joint ventures between DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures and that of Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Studios.
On August 22, 2016, Comcast's NBCUniversal acquired DreamWorks Animation, appointing Meledandri oversee Comcast's Universal Animation/DreamWorks/Illumination, Disney's Disney Animation/Pixar/20th Century Animation, & Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Animation/Warner Animation Group.
Japanese studios
Main article: Anime
The first known example of Japanese animation, also called anime, is dated around 1917,[14] but it would take until 1956 for the Japanese animation industry to successfully adopt the studio format as used in the United States. In 1961, these productions began to be aired in the USA. Toei Animation, formed in 1948, was the first Japanese animation studio of importance and saw the reduction of animators as independent anime artists.
After the formation of Toei Animation Co. Ltd. in 1948, the Japanese studios churned out minor works of animation. But with the release of Toei's first theatrical feature, The Tale of the White Serpent released in October 1958,[15][failed verification] the animation industry in Japan came into the eye of the general public.
The success of Alakazam the Great led to the finding of the artist Osamu Tezuka, who would go on to become the father of Japanese manga with his brand of modern, fast-paced fantasy storylines. He became influenced by Hanna-Barbera productions of the late 1950s and made Japan's first made for television animation studio, Mushi Productions. The success of the studios' first show in 1963, Astro Boy, was so immense that there were 3 other television animation studios by the end of the year and Toei had opened their own made for television division. The greatest difference between Japanese studios and North American studios was the difference in adult-themed material to make way in Japan. Tezuka's thought that animation should not be restricted to kids alone has brought about many studios that are employed in the production of adult-themed adaptations of classic stories such as Heidi (Heidi, Girl of the Alps), One Thousand and One Nights and The Diary of a Young Girl and many more.
In the 1980s, animation studios were led back to their theatrical roots due to the success of Hayao Miyazaki's film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, which led publishing house Tokuma Shoten to finance a new animation studio, Studio Ghibli, which would be used for the personal works of Miyazaki and his close friend, Isao Takahata. Many of Ghibli's works have become Japan's top-grossing theatrical films, whether in live-action or animated form.
OAV/OVA market
The market for 'OAV's or 'Original Anime Video' later the acronym would be better known as 'OVA' meaning 'Original video animation' as the term 'OAV' could often be misunderstood for 'Original Adult Video', began in 1984. These are often tended towards the home video market, while not tending to the television or theatrical audience as such. They refer to those movies that are launched as direct-to-video releases and not meant to be released in theatres. Video productions can run from half an hour productions to well over two hours. They require that premise or story be original in order to be counted as an OVA, though sometimes, the story can be derived from a longer running manga or animated series. As the OAV market is not adapted to the rigors that are faced by television shows or feature films, they have been known to show gratuitous amounts of violence and/or pornography. Some OAV's have registered such strong acclaim that they have been remade as anime television series as well as theatrical releases.
Since most new OVA's are derived from other animated media, many animation studios that have previously worked on animated series or movies, and adaptations of Japanese manga, have now entered the OVA market, looking to capitalize on the popularity of their flagship shows. Studios participating in such circumstances include Production I.G and Studio Deen.
Animator's contracts
Although there are permanent/full-time positions in studios, most animators work on a contract basis. There are some animators that are considered to be in the core group of the studio, which can either be as a result of being there since the inception of the company or being talented recruits from other animation studios. These are the more secure positions in an animation studio, though the studio might have policies concerning the possible tenure of animators. Since studios can hire animators on a work for hire basis nowadays, many artists do not retain rights over their creations, unlike some of the early animators. The extent of these copyrights is subject to local intellectual property rights.
The animators must also be aware of the contracts laws and labour laws prevalent in the jurisdiction to which the animation studio is subject to. There have been numerous legal battles fought over the copyright of famous franchises, such as Kung Fu Panda[16] and SpongeBob SquarePants. This has come about as a result of the clause in Copyright contracts that states that an idea cannot be protected, only an actual piece of work can be said to be infringed upon. This means that though the animators may have forwarded ideas to the animation studios about certain characters and plots, these ideas alone cannot be protected and can lead to studios profiting on individual animator's ideas. However, this has not stopped many independent artists from filing claims to characters produced by different studios.[17]
Animation specialties
An example of traditional animation: a horse animated by rotoscoping from Eadweard Muybridge's 19th-century photos
Due to the wide range of animation techniques and styles, many animation studios typically specialize in certain types.
Main article: Traditional animation
Traditional animation employs the use of hand-drawn frames. Traditional animation studios have seen a decline in recent years due to the increased use of computers and some companies, such as Walt Disney Animation Studios, have transitioned away from traditional animation to computer-generated imagery.[18] Nonetheless, traditional animation still is used extensively in the world of cartoons and anime. Notable studios that specialize in this style include Studio Ghibli and Cartoon Network Studios.
Main article: Stop-motion animation
Stop-motion animation uses objects that are incrementally moved and photographed in order to create an illusion of movement when the resulting frames are played back. Notable studios specializing in this style of animation include Aardman Animations and Laika.
3D computer animation
Main article: 3D computer graphics
3D animation is the newest of the animation techniques, using the assistance of computers and software, such as Houdini, to create 3D models that are then manipulated and rendered to create movement. Notable studios include Pixar Animation Studios, Blue Sky Studios and Illumination.
List of animation studios
Computer generated imagery
List of movie genres
List of motion picture topics
List of anime conventions
List of anime theatrically released in the United States
Q-version
Voice acting in Japan
Film studio
Look up animation in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Animation studios.
^ "Winsor McCay". IMDb. Archived from the original on May 19, 2019. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
^ Crandol, Michael (1999). "The History of Animation: Advantages and Disadvantages of the Studio System in the Production of an Art Form". Digital Media FX. Archived from the original on August 21, 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
^ a b Cohen, Karl (January 2000). "Milestones Of The Animation Industry In The 20th Century". Animation World Magazine (4.10). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
^ Cohen, Karl (January 2000). "Milestones Of The Animation Industry In The 20th Century". Animation World Magazine (4.10). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
^ Waheed, Mazher (21 March 2011). "Flowers and Trees [1932], 1st Oscar Award Winner 3D Animation Movie". Free Maya Video Tutorials. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2013. CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ Barrier, Michael (1999). Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age. New York, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-503759-6.
^ "Crusader Rabbit". Archived from the original on January 9, 2012. Retrieved August 30, 2011 – via www.imdb.com.
^ Farley, Ellen (1985-03-08). "Saturday Morning Turf Now Being Invaded : Hanna, Barbera Turned Firing Into Triumph". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 30, 2014. Retrieved October 14, 2011.
^ Grebey, James (6 February 2020). "Every Academy Awards Best Animated Feature Winner, Ranked". GQ. Archived from the original on February 7, 2020. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
^ "Academy Awards: Every Non-Pixar Film To Win Best Animated Feature". ScreenRant. 2020-02-06. Archived from the original on February 7, 2020. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
^ Rorie, Matt (12 October 2011). "How Tower Heist Could Have Changed The Way You Watch Movies (But Won't)". Screened. Archived from the original on 7 May 2012.
^ McKay, Hollie (2011-07-15). "Is Hollywood Ruining Children's Movies With Adult-Focused Content?". Fox News. Archived from the original on September 15, 2011.
^ Cooper, Lisa Marie. "Global History of Anime". Right Stuf. Archived from the original on August 31, 2019. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
^ "Literature Study Guides - By Popularity - eNotes.com". eNotes. Archived from the original on October 19, 2009. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
^ Goldberg, Andrew (May 26, 2011). "Copyright Suits Can't Keep Potential Blockbusters Out of Theaters". The American Lawyer. Archived from the original on October 7, 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
^ "Faerie Media Animation". Faerie Media Animation. Archived from the original on August 26, 2017. Retrieved 2017-08-26.
^ "Is Hand Drawn Animation Dead?". The Silver Petticoat Review. 2015-06-25. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
Animation topics
Early TV broadcast era
Modern TV cable and streaming era
Animation department
Story artist
Animation database
Art pipeline
Biologist simulators
Animation film festivals
Highest-grossing films (Openings weekends)
Based on cartoons
Computer-animated
Feature-length
Lost or unfinished
Barrier grid
Limited animation
Exposure sheet
clay painting, strata-cut
Cutout (silhouette)
go motion
Pixilation
Puppetoon
(history, timeline)
Multi-sketch
Onion skinning
Digital puppetry
T-pose
Cel shading
Non-photorealistic rendering
Physically based animation
Virtual cinematography
Chuckimation
Drawn-on-film
Inbetweening
Paint-on-glass
Pinscreen
Pose to pose
Syncro-Vox
Abstract animation (visual music)
Animated cartoon
Animated sitcom
Animated documentary
Educational animation
Erotic animation
Instructional animation
Animation music
Bouncing ball
Mickey Mousing
model sheet
walk cycle
lip sync
off-model
Twelve principles
Motion comic
Films with live action and animation
highest grossing
Cartoon physics
Most expensive animated films
List of animated films by box office admissions
List of animated series by episode count
anime franchises
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Western Land Services' Due Diligence team is staffed with seasoned examiners cross-trained in lease, title, and production review. Our experience and versatility allow us to tackle projects of all scopes and sizes with efficiency. Acquiring leasehold assets from another operator? Performing an internal audit? Buying or selling midstream assets? WLS has done it all. Supporting mergers, acquisitions, farm-out agreements, joint operating agreements, and more, our Due Diligence team prides itself on inclusive results and quick turnaround.


text:
"World headed towards stagflation; India must take care of the poor"
CHECKS AND BALANCES: India's topline numbers hide the worrying facts, say economists; ruling party maintains India an outlier, no need to worry
GN Bureau | December 2, 2022
#finance ministry #business #inflation #organised sector #GDP #Economy #Arun Kumar #Meghnad Desai #BJP
As the post-pandemic fallout and geopolitical uncertainty slows down global economies and sanctions against some nations, energy crisis and inflation are adding to the troubles, India is projected to be decoupled from world economy and fare better. To check if this belief really holds water, in the latest episode of Checks & Balances, Geetanjali Minhas of Governance Now spoke to top economic minds.
Economist Prof. Arun Kumar said that the cold war between the two capitalist blocks for territories and resources is leading to disruption of trade, finance and technology. Like the rest of the world, India is already in recession. This will not spur anticipated growth. There is no clarity on future and there is not much to be optimistic as India is not decoupled from world economy. There are global supply bottlenecks that require strong fiscal interventions.
On the question of the RBI, financial agencies and analysts projecting a 6%-7% growth rate for Indian economy, Prof. Kumar said a negative forecast by financial agencies will cause financial markets to decline. The RBI projection of a 7.2% GDP growth in 2023 does not take into account the decline in unorganized sector, he said.
"Our GDP levels are the same as in 2019 while other counties' GDP levels are higher than what they had in 2019. Even before the pandemic, our growth rate had been falling Q after Q from 8% to 3.1%. Our consumption and investment are low. The RBI data show consumer sentiment is still not recovered to the January 2020 levels. The ratio of investment to GDP ratio was 36% in 2012-13, it dropped to 30% and has stayed there. The 7% growth rate that the RBI talks about is only of the organized sector and not of Indian economy. We are roughly at -1% growth and not 7% growth," he said.
Prof Kumar said that huge forex reserves India built up during Covid were the result of rising Indian stock markets as the rate of returns of the organized sector had gone up because the unorganized sector was doing badly. "It has no correlation with consumption and demand or the strength of Indian economy. Reserves help in balance of payments and do not mean the economy is doing well. With declining exports, CAD [current account deficit] too is widening."
Prof Kumar said specially in India, with 94% workers in unorganized sector, these people are not able to bargain for their wages and even 4% inflation is very high.
Citing data from recently released Peoples Commission Report that he authored, Prof Kumar said 24 million people in the age group of 15-29 years who come to the job market are able to get only half a million jobs and less than 2% get organized sector jobs. The rest are forced into the unorganized sector or compelled to stop looking for jobs. Compared to 1991, when labour participation rate was 58%, in 2022 it is only 45%, which means 19 crore people have stopped looking for jobs as they given up.
Explaining further he said, there is disguised employment, underemployment, disguised unemployment and those who have stopped looking for work. These are 27.8 crore people who need jobs. If they are provided with some basic jobs, India's GDP will go up by 15%. With high degree of automation 80% investments go to the organized sector and with 60% working in unorganized sector jobs are not being created here.
He said employment must be generated in the micro and small sector. "The micro sector is 97.5% of MSME; it needs to be corporatized. The problem is we lump micro with MSME. All policy benefits of MSME go to the medium scale sector and not the small and micro sector. The larger sector has only 6000 units, small and medium are 6 lakh units and micro has 6 crore units. With young people unable to find jobs and getting into crime we are seeing a demographic disaster. Digitization is further killing the unorganized sector as education levels of young people are very poor. There needs to be urban employment and strengthen rural employment guarantee."
He said that policy needs to be aimed at raising demand through the micro and agriculture sector. "Instead, we have only tried to help the business community. These supply side policies work in the long run and not in the short run because investment revives in the long run and not the short run. 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' and tax cuts were supply side packages which are not going to work when demand is short.
"Black economy, according to my estimate, is 60% of GDP. If this segment was to be taxed, tax to GDP ratio will go up from 17% to 41%. And there will be enough money for employment generation, health, education," he said.
Lord Meghnad Desai, London-based economist and Padma Bhushan awardee, said that if the Russia-Ukraine war does not stop it will lead to a bigger war with Taiwan and other nations pulled in.
"We will have serious stagflation across the world and no county will escape. If China seriously slows down and the US slows down, globally there will be massive recession. India has Russian oil for now, [but] India should not be complacent."
"India is world's fifth largest economy. It is 150th in per capita income. In India 20% are very rich, 40% are ok and 40% are very poor...very small percentage of women is in labour market. Beware! It's a long haul and it's going to be very difficult economic cycle this time," he cautioned.
Lord Desai said that India must have an urban 'MNREGA' scheme on the lines of the MNREGA. "In a poor country the government has to do something to give succour to the poor. These sorts of measures are going to come up. India is a strong democracy. People will demand justice irrespective of who is in power. The choice in India will be: Who is to be looked after? In time of trouble India should become more of a welfare state.
"India has to get into a consistent growth programme for 5-10 years. It has never grown for 10 years except for one episode. I have a lot of respect for [finance minister] Nirmala Sitharaman. [Prime minister] Narendra Modi, since 2014, has always looked after bank accounts of poor… the will is there... The question is when the budgetary terms come, can the government say we will give the poor higher priority than we have done so far… for 200-300 million people in that condition... that is the challenge for the government of India. ….that can only be done by…. Narendra Modi," said the renowned economist.
Observing that the Indian inflation is dependent on the global inflation, he said it is not going to die down. India is an inflation-prone country and there is no fiscal discipline in India at the state level. "Indian finance numbers are so mysterious that one can never be sure if the government is spending money or not. As elections come closer, the government wants to have fiscal laxity, whatever it may say in public. There may be all types of leakages, some of the advantages may be to the poor voters, but I am not as sanguine about India's inflationary position as other people."
On 'swadeshi' policies, he said India needs to be cautious rather than boastful. "Policies need to be pro-poor and not swadeshi…look after vulnerable people without neglecting growth, especially over the next 10 years because… the poor in India are very poor."
He added that India's growth is about digitization, e-commerce and services. It has become a very efficient fin tech hub. The world is investing money in India as it is a huge market. "India is a services economy and should not worry about being a manufacturing economy.
"In India 20% are rich. That is 200-300 million people… four times the size of the UK. It is a huge market. A lot of dollar investments coming are coming to India and may continue. It may slightly escape recession... That's the only bright sunshine spot, I see," he said.
Gopal Agarwal, BJP national spokesperson on economic affairs, said that despite the global recession at present India is an outlier. While Europe and the US are facing severe inflation, energy crisis, in India the government and the RBI are working together to control inflation and are confident of keeping it under 6%.
Outlining the measures being taken by the Modi government to strengthen the economy, he said the wholesale price index (WPI) has come down drastically to 8%-8.5%. The government has opened defence manufacturing for domestic producers. As many as 65% of defence production has been reserved for domestic producers, tenders under Rs 200 crore are reserved for domestic manufacturers and the productivity-linked incentive (PLI) scheme is favouring the manufacturing sector. The PM's new logistic policy is at par with global standards while taking care of domestic needs. The government is investing hugely in chip manufacturing and 5G and looking at free trade agreements (FTAs) with Europe and developed countries in other regions. It is particularly working with farmer producers at the farm level.
"India is now increasingly focusing on green hydrogen and energy to reduce carbon emissions. The government's initiative of reliance on alternative sources of energy will not pose energy challenge in future. We have sufficient power, water, renewable and green energy. Our target is to increase contribution of the manufacturing sector to GDP from current 15%-16% to 25%, which will solve the employment problem in the long term," he said.
He said the government's post-Covid fiscal stimulus package targeted the bottom end of population through MNREGA, Ayushman Bharat, Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, free food for the poor, free vaccination, Ujwala Yojana schemes and DBT. That has kept the inflation under control and India is the fastest growing economy in the world.
To address the challenge of employability of the huge unorganized workforce, Agarwal said the government in 2014-15 started universality of provident fund (PF) scheme for construction labourers. Through GST and other reforms, the government wants to convert the unorganized sector into an organized one and the number of people registering for PF and Employee State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) schemes has increased drastically. Labour reforms being undertaken through labour codes will bring the unorganized sector into the organized economy. He said that well-meaning people should come together for a common narrative of reforms in the unorganized sector, adding that amendments to the agriculture laws had to be withdrawn due to "vested interests". He said the states ruled by the opposition are not following fiscal discipline for political benefits and they need to be much more disciplined while announcing freebies as doles disturb fiscal discipline
He added that though India is a successful service economy, employment has become a challenge as earlier policies did not support manufacturing. He called for strengthening of the MSME sector.
On "swadeshi" policies, he said that for the BJP, "swadeshi" does not mean India will be a closed economy. "Our focus is to strengthen the value chain domestically so that we have integrated a cluster of domestic manufacturing, multi-nodal logistic hub etc."
The BJP spokesperson said that global recession can be an opportunity for India. "Globally, the sentiment for India is very positive and the world wants to invest in India because of democracy, a stable government, transparent systems, the big market, and stable fiscal policies."
#finance ministry
#inflation
#organised sector
#GDP
#Arun Kumar
#Meghnad Desai
#BJP


text:
Out East With Lee Radziwill
By Juliet Izon By Juliet Izon | June 3, 2019 | People Home & Real Estate
The style icon left her mark on more than one storied Hamptons property.
It's difficult to imagine a woman who encompassed the spirit of the Hamptons more than Lee Radziwill. Like the town of East Hampton that she loved so dearly, Radziwill was equal parts grace, style and reserve. With her passing at age 85 in February of this year, the East End lost one of its most revered denizens. But many of her favored haunts, ranging from childhood homes to picturesque beach cottages, still remain, and moreover, still seem imbued with that classic glamour that was so quintessentially Radziwill. Herewith, four Hamptons spots indelibly linked with the socialite.
Lasata
Radziwill's ties to the Hamptons don't originate with her adulthood, however. Her mother's ancestors, the Sergeants of Kent, England, were some of the original founders of East Hampton. She also grew up spending time at her father's family manse, Lasata, also located in town. It was there she spent some of her happiest days: "I longed to be back in East Hampton, running along the beaches, through the dunes and the miles of potato fields my father's family had owned," she once said of her childhood. And who could blame her? The property at 121 Further Lane is mightily impressive: a six-bedroom main home, plus a large pool, tennis court and formal gardens to round out the estate. In recent years, inhabitants have included Roman Abramovich and Reed Krakoff.
Eothen
Andy Warhol purchased this grouping of five charming clapboard cottages on 16 Cliff Drive in Montauk in 1971, and it quickly became a melting pot of all of his A-list pals, including John Lennon, Liza Minnelli, Elizabeth Taylor and Radziwill, who rented the property from him for the summer of 1972. Her sister Jackie and Jackie's children Caroline and John F. Kennedy Jr. were frequent guests, as well as Radziwill's sometimes paramour, artist Peter Beard. While Warhol bought the property for a relative song—$225,000—it's unsurprisingly gone up significantly in value: Its current estimate is a cool
$85 million.
43 East Dune Lane
Radziwill's last residence out East was this oceanfront estate in East Hampton, which she shared with then-husband Herb Ross. The 3-acre property has stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean as well as the Maidstone Club golf course, where Radziwill was a member. While Jerry Seinfeld was once in talks to purchase the property from her, it was eventually sold in 2001 for $19 million to Thomas Lee, the then-CEO of leveraged buyout firm Thomas H. Lee Partners. Lee tore down the original house soon after purchasing it, but rebuilt it to the same exterior specifications, albeit with a new interior floor plan.
While film buffs and Hamptons historians alike are familiar with this East Hampton manse, many don't realize that the landmark 1975 documentary of the same name was originally spearheaded by Radziwill. The film features reclusive socialites "Big Edie" and "Little Edie" Beale, who were aunt and cousin, respectively, to Radziwill. "The original idea for the film was about my return to East Hampton after 30 years and to have my Aunt Edith narrate my nostalgia and hers," she told The New York Times in 2013. Of course, the eccentric personalities of her family members soon took center stage, resulting in a film that remains a touchstone for many filmmakers decades later.
Radziwill's Route
Lee's favored hamlet out East was tony East Hampton. Our imagined Radziwill itinerary through the village looks something like this:
Start off with breakfast at beloved Babette's (66 Newtown Lane), where the Newport omelet with caramelized onions and smoked mozzarella is an ode to one of Radziwill's other favorite cities.
A trip to preppy-chic boutique Tory Burch is in order. "Lee was an American icon, and I feel fortunate to have called her a dear friend," Burch says. In fact, Burch named a handbag after her, which Radziwill wore, in red, to one of her birthday parties.
Wind down for the day at private Maidstone Club, where Radziwill and her sister were frequent guests of her father, "Black Jack" Bouvier. "He doted on his daughters, having them accompany him to the club," says Sam Kashner, co-author of The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters.
Photography by: Lee Radziwill by fireplace photo by Keystone Pictures USA/ZUMAPRESS.com © Keystone Pictures USA/ZUMAPRESS.com; Lasata photo © Jake Rajs,
courtesy of The Corcoran Group; Grey Gardens house photo courtesy of The Corcoran Group; Eothen photo by Evan Joseph;
Babette's photo by Barbara Layton


text:
Joseph Blewett (25 September 1925 – 21 March 2013) was a South African cricketer. He played first-class cricket for North Eastern Transvaal and Transvaal between 1950 and 1960.

References

External links

1925 births
2013 deaths
South African cricketers
Northerns cricketers
Gauteng cricketers
Cricketers from Johannesburg

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer is observed on September 16, 2020. The day was designated by the United Nations General Assembly.
We have placed a detailed description of this event on this page: International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer 2019. For further information please stop by there!


84 years old lady presented to us with pain in the right thigh and difficulty in walking . She is a operated case of revision TKR with allografting (revised 5 times earlier) . Preoperative Radiographs shows loosening of the femoral stem.
Total Femur Replacement with constrained Hip and Knee done (Tibial Component not revised).


text:
Drought Spatial Object Prediction Approach using Artificial Neural Network | SciTechnol
Geoinformatics & Geostatistics: An Overview.ISSN: 2327-4581
Special Issue 1
Research Article, Geoinfor Geostat An Overview Vol: 3 Issue: 2
Drought Spatial Object Prediction Approach using Artificial Neural Network
Berhan G1*, Tadesse T2 and Atnafu S3
1Postdoctoral Researcher, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA
2National Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA
3Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
Corresponding author : Berhan G
Postdoctoral Researcher, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA
E-mail: getachewb2012@gmail.com, ttadesse2@unl.edu, solomon.atnafu@aau.edu.et
Received: October 22, 2015 Accepted: November 09, 2015 Published: November 16, 2015
Citation: Berhan G, Tadesse T, Atnafu S (2015) Drought Spatial Object Prediction Approach using Artificial Neural Network. Geoinfor Geostat: An Overview 3:2. doi:10.4172/2327-4581.1000132
The concept of object identification and modeling has fueled a lengthy scientific effort to convert remotely sensed images into geographic phenomena. The objective of this article was to develop a new concept for characterizing and identifying drought spatial objects from satellite images for improved drought prediction and mitigation using a back propagation artificial neural network (ANN). To characterize drought as a spatial object, 11 attributes from multi-sensors and resolutions (such as Standardized Deviation of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index [SDNDVI], Digital Elevation Model [DEM], Soil Water Holding Capacity, Ecological Regions, Land Cover, Standard Precipitation Index [SPI], and oceanic indices were used.
Keywords: Back propagation; Drought object; Modeling; Prediction; Satellite image
Back propagation; Drought object; Modeling; Prediction; Satellite image
The concept of object identification and modeling has fueled a lengthy scientific effort to convert remotely sensed images into geographic phenomena [1]. In this research, a drought spatial object is defined by the geographic phenomenon drought that is characterized by a group of pixels that can be segmented into separate regions with defined spatial locations (e.g., longitude and latitude) and attributes [2]. Object identification in remote sensing is usually done by converting raster pixel values to geographic objects. In this process, the remotely sensed image is first grouped to provide approximately homogeneous segments, and then classified into known classes [1]. According to Stein et al. [1], various procedures for image segmentation are well documented and include procedures based on mathematical morphology, edge detection, and identification of homogeneity in one band or in a set of bands. Classification routines include statistical routines such as k-nearest neighbor classifiers and increasingly fuzzy classification methods.
The main objective of several remote sensing studies is to identify objects that have an ontological representation on the earth's surface. These objects can have different meanings, and they can be of various types and shapes. A segmentation procedure is commonly first applied to identify homogeneous sets of pixel values in one or more bands [1].
The concept of identifying and modeling drought as an object is new [3]. Rulinda et al. [3] indicated that "a next step in drought modeling is an approach focusing on spatial object and this kind of object can be built from different temporal and spatial resolution images." In remote sensing, objects are identified and subsequently classified on the basis of pixel information, and the objects are then tracked over time, during which their behavior may be governed by external factors that also have to be identified and quantified [1].
In remotely sensed images, a pixel or group of pixels with similar spectral reflectance are used to characterize the objects of interest. Remote-sensing object-classification methods usually consider information regarding the texture of features on the earth. The pixels identified as having the same texture are grouped, and the groups are considered as objects [2]. These objects can represent physical features on earth, such as roads, parcels, or water bodies. When these physical features are classified based on texture, they are considered to be physical objects [2]. Expanding upon this basic concept, this research identifies virtual objects by using incidence of vegetation stress during drought to identify virtual drought spatial objects (using drought classes of extreme drought, severe drought, moderate drought, near-normal, and above optimum) on the real ground. To characterize the virtual drought object, 11 attributes from multisensors and resolutions were used. The objective of this article was to develop a new concept for characterizing and identifying drought spatial objects from satellite images for improved drought prediction and mitigation using a back propagation artificial neural network (ANN). Materials and methods are presented in detail in section 2. Section 3 discusses the experimental analysis using artificial neural networks, and section 4 presents the conclusions and future research recommendations.
The identification of a drought object from a group of pixels involved a number of scientific investigations, including the identification of the key attributes characterizing drought, modeling drought using these key attributes, and evaluating the reliability of the models. Eleven attributes characterizing drought were iteratively selected for this research.
Attribute selection
In the attribute selection process, we used Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) [4-6], Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) [6-8], and Moran's I index [6,9]. The AIC was used as a model performance by including a given potential attribute; the VIF was used as a parameter for controlling the duplication of the information of the potential attribute with previously selected attributes; and Moran's I index was used as a parameter for controlling absence of key attributes and for avoiding misspecification of the drought spatial object model. The three parameters used for selecting the relevant attributes in the whole experimental process are presented in Figure 1 for the subsequent modeling experiment. In this figure, floristic region (flor_Rgion) is not connected with the relevance metrics, since this attribute was not related to the dependent attribute. Using these criteria, 11 attributes were identified for modeling drought spatial objects. The lists, acronyms, format, sources and references of these attributes are presented in Table 1 [10-22].
Figure 1: Diagrammatic illustration of the iterative process for selecting relevant attributes.
Table 1: Attributes identified for drought spatial object modeling experiment.
The data used for this study were obtained from biophysical and remote sensing imagery sources (Table 1) within the extent of Ethiopia (East Africa). Ethiopia occupies the interior of the Greater Horn of Africa, stretching between 3° and 14° N latitude and 33° and 48° E longitude (Figure 2), with a total area of 1.13 million km2 [23]. Figure 2 presents the grid point extraction locations within the spatial extent of Ethiopia. For each grid point, all input data variables were extracted to be used in developing a prediction model.
Figure 2: Map showing the distributions of the 2812 grid points in Ethiopia.
ANN training and prediction experiment
In the ANN modeling, the network was used for predicting oneto four-month SDNDVI values (agricultural drought) using the 11 key attributes of drought. As a typical neural network model [24], the network in the drought model had three types of processing units. The first units were the 11 input drought attributes. The second units were functions characterizing drought severity extent and the third units were the hidden units (the weights characterizing the drought attributes and the output drought severity extent).
The weights associated with these connections (w) constitute what a neural net knows and determine the output from an arbitrary input from the environment [24,25]. Using this principle, a back propagation network with an appropriate weight (w) was used to model the relationships between the key attributes and the target drought value. In this process, the network learning algorithm searched through the space of w for a set of weights offering the best fit with the training sample data.
From the available learning algorithms in ANN, a back propagation algorithm is an effective learning technique that is capable of exploiting regularities and exceptions in training sample data [25]. This algorithm was also used for drought forecasting [26] in the past, and interesting results were obtained. For these reasons, a back propagation algorithm was used in drought exploratory analysis and prediction experiments.
To get the appropriate ANN models, four steps were followed: assembling the data for the actual training, creating the network object, training the network, and simulating response to new inputs (model testing). For training and testing, 67,488 records from the 24 years (1983-2006) of historical data were used. Of these, 80% were used for training and 20% for testing the models. The data split, 80-20% (80% for training and 20% for testing), was based on similar research, where improved results were found for a 80-20% split compared to other splits, such as 50-50%, 60-40%, and 70-30% [27]. The training and test datasets were randomly selected using the RANDBETWEEN function in Microsoft Excel. After generating the random number, sorting was done to split the training and test datasets. The Neural Network Toolbox on Matlab v7.9.0 [28] was used to build the ANN models.
A supervised training (training with the guidance of an expert) method was used in this study. The reason for using supervised training instead of unsupervised training was that during the experimental training, the expected outputs were already known (the drought object). In this kind of scenario (when expected outputs are known), both MathWorks [28] and Heaton [29] recommend supervised training as the appropriate training method. The workflow in the drought training experiment is presented in Figure 3. In this training process, the neural network adjusts the values in the weight matrix based on the differences between the anticipated output and the actual output. A sample of the learning curve, with a learning rate of 0.04, is presented in Figure 4.
Figure 3: Workflow in supervised drought object training.
Figure 4: PANN learning curve on training data.
In the training mode of ANN, the algorithm requires a certain number of hidden layers and neurons in the hidden layer. The number of layers was decided based on the recommendation of Heaton [29]. Heaton [29] recommended that two hidden layers be used when the objective of the analysis is to approximate smooth mapping to a reasonable accuracy level of the output. After reviewing other similar studies [30,31], we used two hidden layers in our analysis (Figure 5). In this study, 20 neurons were used for each hidden layer, and the network was trained for 500 epochs (a completed iteration of the training procedure) using a back propagation algorithm with a learning rate of 0.04. Investigating the influence of a different number of neurons and epochs on drought prediction is beyond the scope of the current research.
Figure 5: A screenshot from ANN back propagation training.
Experimental Analysis and Discussions
Drought object model attributes selection
To select the key attributes, all attributes that were identified from past research were statistically explored for their relationships with the new drought object model developed in this study. Since 11 explanatory attributes were identified, it was not possible to present all the statistical explanatory analysis in this subsection. For this reason, four key attributes were selected and the steps followed for all key attributes are presented using these sample attributes. These four attributes were also assumed to be the most significant and also the most repeatedly used by past research [32-34]. The selected attributes were DEM, WHC, 3-month SPI and SDNDVI. For the attribute DEM alone, the r-squared was 0.095, AIC was 8,012.92 and spatial autocorrelation (Global Moran's I index) was 0.58 (p<0.01). The interpretation for this is that DEM alone can explain about 10% of the variability of drought. The spatial autocorrelation also showed that there is statistically significant clustering of the ordinary least squares (OLS) residuals in this prediction process. The null hypothesis is that there is clustering of the residuals, and this hypothesis cannot be rejected. This means that all the key attributes that explain SDNDVI are not included in the model. This is a logically meaningful statistical output in that only DEM is included from the other potential attributes collected from previous research. Each of these attributes was tested using the same procedure as the DEM attribute.
In an iterative way, different combinations of the explanatory variables were tested. Some of the iterative combinations are presented in Table 2. In all of the combinations, the expected signs of the coefficients have been checked. All of the explanatory variables were found to have coefficient values as expected. For instance, as the 3-month SPI values decrease, the SDNDVI values have to decrease; conversely, as the 3-month SPI values increase, the SDNDVI values have to increase. This is because both values are showing the drought and non-drought situation of a given location as confirmed by past research [32-34]. Therefore, these attributes can be reliably used for representing a drought object.
Table 2: Experimental result of key attribute selection for modeling drought objects.
The r-squared values were used as a model fitness criterion (Table 2). From the various combinations, the r-squared ranged from 0.11 to 0.85. This means that these models can explain from 11% to 85% of the drought object variability. It was also realized that as the number of attributes increases, the r-squared was found to increase. The highest R2 (i.e., 0.85) was found when the August SDNDVI was included in the various combinations. The August SDNDVI alone can also explain about 82% of the variability of the September SDNDVI. This is expected because the NDVI value of the previous month (August) is correlated with the following predicted month (September). The Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) ranges from 6,797 to 8,017. The AIC model selection criterion is based on the fact that no single model represents the whole truth or complete information about the phenomenon under investigation, and models only approximate reality [4]. Based on this principle, Akaike [5] developed a relative index for a model that would best approximate reality using some set of explanatory variables. Since it is a relative value (the smaller the value, the better the model) for comparing models [5,35], the AIC in this research was used to compare the models for relatively better representation of the drought object. Interestingly, the lowest AIC value was obtained when the four attributes were combined for modeling the drought object (Table 2). This indicates the strong relationships of the explanatory variables with the dependent variable. As the number of explanatory variables increases, drought variability is captured in the model.
The statistical analysis output of the model from the four explanatory attributes (DEM, WHC, August 3-month SPI, SDNDVI August) is presented in Table 3. As can be observed, all the coefficients are statistically significant. The Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) value, which is a measure of the severity of multicollinearity in regression analysis [7], was also found to be low in all the attributes. Multicollinearity here is the statistical phenomenon in which two or more predictor variables in the regression model are highly correlated [7,8]. Obrien [8] indicated that a VIF value greater than 10 usually shows the existence of multicollinearity. As a guide, ESRI [6] recommended that the VIF value should be less than 7.5 for GIS data. The maximum VIF value recorded in the drought object model using the four attributes is 1.89, which is much less than the recommended value (Table 3). Therefore, using the four key attributes, drought in September is:
Table 3: Exploratory data analysis output of drought object model.
DroughtObject = 10.62 – 0.0098DEM + 0.96 SDNDVI August + 0.1179 WHC + 0.122 August 3-month SPI.
Cross-validation of drought ANN models
To cross-validate the drought object models, the data were randomly split into two sets: a training dataset (80%) and a test dataset (20%). Accordingly, 53,990 records were used for training and 13,498 records for testing.
The learned parameters from the data in the training dataset were subjected to those parameters in the test dataset. The prediction qualities of the models were then evaluated by comparing the predictions with the target data (SDNDVI). Using the 24 years of data, the one- to four-month drought prediction models' performance on test datasets for the growing months (June to October) are presented in Figure 6 (a–j) using regression scatter plots (i.e., observed versus predicted) and the best-fit line.
Figure 6: Scatter plots of observed and predicted drought object using ANN: The red lines are the best fits for the scatter plots.
As can be observed from Figure 6, the best fit for the June prediction model was obtained for the one-month prediction (r-squared=0.72). Both July one-month and two-month predictions (for August and September) showed best fit (i.e., r-squared=0.84 and 0.69, respectively) as expected. The August one-month prediction (for September) was also found to be the best fit (rsquared=0.90) as compared to the two-month prediction (r-squared=0.53). The September one month prediction model also has a low correlation value (r-squared = 0.59) as compared to the other growing months (i.e., June, July, and August) one-month prediction models. September one-month prediction (predicting October using September data) was low because September is in the growing period whereas October is dry and vegetation in the study area is partially or fully senesced. In all the predictions for October, the scatter plot has extreme outlier values, and it needs further investigation. At each iteration, the correlation coefficient (r) (which is a measure of the accuracy levels of the models) was assessed. The summary of these accuracy levels for different time-lag predictions is presented in Table 4. The highest correlation coefficient was for Augusts' one-month prediction (predicting September using August data). This is in agreement with our expectations. Both these months are vigorous plant-growing periods and can be captured by NDVI data, and the two datasets are the same. The lowest correlation was for June's three-month prediction (using June data to predict September). This is also in line with our expectations: June is drier and it marks the start of the growing season, while September is within the vigorous plant growth period.
Table 4: Prediction accuracy of the networks on the test dataset.
In this research, we developed a scientific approach for modeling and predicting drought as a spatial object. To characterize and identify drought spatial objects, relevant attributes were selected using AIC, VIF and Moran's I index.
The AIC (a relative value to compare between models) was used as a model performance by including a given potential attribute and was found to have a value range of 6,797.2-8,016.5. The lowest AIC value was obtained when the four attributes were combined for modeling drought objects, which is in agreement with our expectations and established theoretical framework. The VIF as a parameter for controlling the duplication of the information of the potential attribute with previously selected attributes was found to have a maximum value of 1.89, which is much lower than the recommended 7.5. The Moran's I index as a parameter for controlling absence of key attributes and for avoiding misspecification of the drought spatial object model was assessed by checking the clustering of the residuals, and in all of the assessed models there was no clustering of the residuals. This iterative way of attribute selection is helpful in developing reliable ANN models for predicting drought in one- to four-month time lags.
The output of this new concept could help in integrating the available information from multisensors and resolutions for droughtmitigation applications at different levels of decision making. Future research may focus on experimenting with the approach in wider coverage areas, such as regional or continental levels, and quantifying the uncertainty level of the approach for its practical use in drought adaptation planning and mitigation applications. Future research may also focus on identifying optimum neuron numbers in ANN, specifically in optimizing too few and too many neurons in the hidden layers for improved drought object prediction.
This work was supported by NASA Project NNX14AD30G and IT Doctoral Program of Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia (http://www.aau.edu.et/itphd/). We also thank Deborah Wood of the National Drought Mitigation Center for her editorial comments.
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