text:
American Student Otto Warmbier Released From North Korean Prison
By Ann Thompson
People in Otto Warmbier's hometown of Wyoming, Ohio, have been closely following reports about his arrest and imprisonment in North Korea. Ann Thompson of member station WVXU in Cincinnati reports that many are upset by today's news.
ANN THOMPSON, BYLINE: Bonnie Dierker was on her way out of the Wyoming library with a handful of books and stopped to comment about Otto Warmbier.
BONNIE DIERKER: The whole thing is just tragic. Otto is just a really nice guy, a nice person, a good student, good athlete.
THOMPSON: Dierker has known the Warmbier family for years and was heartbroken when she heard the University of Virginia student had been detained while visiting North Korea 18 months ago. He had reportedly stolen a propaganda sign from a hotel. After a trial in March 2016, Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. After that, it apparently got worse. His parents were told last week he had been in a coma for more than a year.
DIERKER: You know, the whole North Korean thing is just awful. And the only blessing I think now is that he is on his way home and, you know, he is out of there.
THOMPSON: Wyoming is a close-knit community of 8,400 people. For months, people weren't talking about Warmbier's situation for fear that North Korea would hurt or kill him. Resident Neal Notestine can't imagine what the family has been through.
NEAL NOTESTINE: But the news today that he's released in my opinion is a gift from God. And I just pray that the family and he can recover.
THOMPSON: Taylor Marie Smith graduated from high school with Otto Warmbier's brother and has been following the news on social media from her college in Chicago. She is hoping for the best.
TAYLOR MARIE SMITH: It just seems so weird that this kid from little bitty old Wyoming, Ohio, that most people in Cincinnati don't even know exists could possibly have had this happen to him.
THOMPSON: Otto's father, Fred Warmbier, told NPR his 22-year-old son had been beaten, brutalized and terrorized by North Korea. Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown and others had been working for his release through the Swedish embassy in North Korea.
SHERROD BROWN: North Korea's despicable actions of detaining and holding Otto - they're unacceptable. They must be condemned. We must continue working to free all Americans who are being held illegally and cruelly.
THOMPSON: Warmbier is on his way back to the U.S. and reportedly will land tonight. For NPR News, I'm Ann Thompson in Cincinnati.
(SOUNDBITE OF APHEX TWIN'S "JYNWEYTHEK YLOW") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
With more than 30 years of journalism experience in the Greater Cincinnati market, Ann Thompson brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her reporting. She has reported for WKRC, WCKY, WHIO-TV, Metro Networks and CBS/ABC Radio. Her work has been recognized by the Associated Press and the Society of Professional Journalists. In 2019 and 2011 A-P named her "Best Reporter" for large market radio in Ohio. She has won awards from the Association of Women in Communications and the Alliance for Women in Media. Ann reports regularly on science and technology in Focus on Technology.
See stories by Ann Thompson


COULD THE PANKISI GORGE DECIDE THE FATE OF THE CAUCASUS?
BACKGROUND: The Pankisi Gorge is only a tiny blip on Pentagon's global map of the counter-terrorist operation. The information about direct links between the Chechen resistance and the Taliban (and even bin Laden personally), eagerly supplied by Moscow, has never been particularly reliable. There is, however, sufficient evidence to assume that a few dozen Arab fighters have indeed taken part in the Chechen War, using Pankisi as one of the points of entry.
BACKGROUND: The Pankisi Gorge is only a tiny blip on Pentagon's global map of the counter-terrorist operation. The information about direct links between the Chechen resistance and the Taliban (and even bin Laden personally), eagerly supplied by Moscow, has never been particularly reliable. There is, however, sufficient evidence to assume that a few dozen Arab fighters have indeed taken part in the Chechen War, using Pankisi as one of the points of entry. A modest 'train-and-equip' operation in which 200 US instructors would for six months work with some 1,500 Georgian 'elite' troops, who would then, presumably, take control over Pankisi, seems an appropriate answer to this local situation. The immediately obvious complication is the dismal state of Georgian army, which exists on a budget of about $20 million and has been able to attract attention only by staging unorganized 'mutinies', normally quelled by disbursing some of the unpaid salaries. To transform a bunch of these ragtag warriors into a military unit capable of performing a counter-terrorist operation is a tall order. But if the US trainers would indeed succeed beyond expectations, the question that arises is what the Georgian battalions would do after they enter Pankisi to find out that all the terrorists have long gone? The fact of the matter is that the Pankisi question is rather low on the list of priorities of the Georgian authorities, while a highly sensitive issue that is always close to the top is Abkhazia. This quasi-independent republic won a secessionist war against Georgia back in autumn 1993 and has been since living in the expectation of a new attack. The connection between the two conflicts was proven last October when a group of Chechen fighters arrived from the Pankisi Gorge to the Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia and attempted to advance on the regional capital of Sukhumi with a still unclear aim. The Georgian government provided direct support for this enterprise, but the exposure of its failure in the media caused a serious scandal and eventually the resignation of several ministers.
IMPLICATIONS: The core of Georgia's problems lies in the desperate efforts to prolong the existence of a weak authoritarian regime that keeps only a semblance of democratic procedures but is unable to achieve any efficiency. The problem of terrorism is real – from a couple of assassination attempts on Shevardnadze to the murder of the chief of the CIA station in Tbilisi – but it has little to do with Pankisi and everything to do with all-penetrating corruption. The first immediately obvious implication of the US deployment was a sharp negative reaction from Moscow. While hysterical headlines in the media disappeared the day after President Putin had clarified that 'this is not a tragedy', most of the political elite remains visibly irritated with this US 'encroachment' towards Russia's borders. Public opinion has duly registered the sharpest dive in the attitude towards the US since the Kosovo war. There have been several military incidents between Russia and Georgia (including most recently in the Kodori Gorge) since the announcement about the forthcoming US deployment, and it does not take a penetrating analysis to predict more to come. Even more serious implications could be expected in Georgia itself. The country, with all its economic ills and identity problems, is decidedly and sometimes desperately pro-Western, so the arrival of the US troops has been a welcome news indeed. It has provided a visible boost to the Shevardnadze regime whose public support had been sinking to the very bottom. The problem is that it is not a window of opportunity for advancing reforms that is being opened but merely a prolongation of the life of a fundamentally corrupt regime. This miracle of delivering an answer to Georgia's prayers will inevitably be a short-lived one and the sins of the thoroughly criminalized economy may strike back even before the scheduled departure of the US trainers six months from now. Inflated expectations often give way to deep disappointment, so Georgia might slip back to the verge of state failure (to which Moscow had helped push it in 1992-93 and from which it then saved it in autumn 1993). The newly-trained 'elite' battalions could easily become more a part of the problem than part of a solution in this classical revolutionary situation. The Shevardnadze regime (assuming the 'Old Fox' remains in charge) could try to exploit the irredentist anger to regain public support, which has already worried the separatist regime in Abkhazia. But it is not only Abkhazia that now feels threatened, but also Ajaria, which is very much of a personal fiefdom of Aslan Abashidze, and Armenian-populated Javakheti in the southwest - both are areas that host Russian military bases.
CONCLUSIONS: The US deployment to Georgia is designed as a small-scale and limited-duration operation with no combat aims, but with a broad political agenda, stretching as far as providing stability along the route of the yet-to-be-constructed Baku-Tbilisi-Cheyhan pipeline. Accordingly, the risks for the operation are not that much of the traditional 'mission creep' type (even if engaging the Chechen fighters in their own mountains is a hard proposition) but more of a 'political overload' character. Being trapped between the Chechen and Abkhazian conflicts is bad enough, but experiencing a sharply destabilized Georgia and facing a seriously irritated Russia may be significantly worse.
AUTHOR'S BIO: Dr. Pavel K. Baev is Senior Researcher and Head of the Foreign and Security Policy Program at the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO), Norway.


Poets say the eyes are a window to the soul. But biomedical engineers are using the eyes to gain insight into the body.
They're hard at work on futuristic-sounding technology that uses smart contact lenses and implantable lenses to diagnose, monitor, and treat a wide range of diseases. In 2014, two of the largest multinational companies made an announcement that brought this new technology into sharp focus. Google, through its biology offshoot, now named Verily Life Sciences, and the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis International, through its eye care division Alcon, joined forces to design, develop, and commercialize smart contact lenses for diabetics. If the project reaches its goals, these lenses will spare diabetics from the daily finger pricks typically used to measure blood glucose levels, instead employing embedded microelectronics to measure glucose in the wearer's tears.
Verily and Alcon aren't the only ones pushing smart-lens technology forward. In labs around the world, biomedical engineers have been making exciting progress on smart lenses to diagnose diseases and allow unobtrusive and continuous monitoring of patients. In fact, two smart-lens products have already hit the market in Europe to help patients with glaucoma, one of the world's most common eye diseases.
All of the efforts rely on two basic types of smart lenses: contact lenses similar to those used for vision correction and intraocular lenses that must be surgically implanted in the eye. The former are obviously easier to put into position, as they can be slipped into the eye on a fingertip. They also allow for a broader range of physical and biochemical microsensors, because the lenses can be replaced when the sensors wear out. Intraocular lenses, on the other hand, allow for long-term monitoring without the patient having to take any action.
Both types of lenses may benefit from new kinds of flexible electronics that are microscopic or semitransparent. Advances in materials science have also made it possible to fabricate lenses from materials like hydrogels, which can tolerate the physical stress of eye movements while allowing oxygen to pass through and nourish the eye. Although significant technical challenges remain, we're already beginning to look into people's eyes—not for emotional revelations but for medical ones.
Golden Eye: The Triggerfish smart contact lens for glaucoma monitoring uses an antenna made of gold to both receive power and send out data.
To fit comfortably in or on the eye, a smart lens must measure about 14 millimeters in diameter and a mere 100 to 200 micrometers thick. That small curved disk must incorporate sensors as well as microelectronics to manage power consumption, control the sensors' operations, and transmit the sensors' readings to an external device such as a smartphone. In these tiny lenses, the biggest challenges are supplying power and ensuring that the sensors give reliable readings.
Powering a thin piece of instrumented plastic pressed against a human eyeball isn't an easy task. Conventional batteries are much too big, and their packaging would have to be reengineered to ensure that any leaking chemicals wouldn't harm the wearer. Wireless power transfer is therefore more appealing. Its main drawback is that the source of power must be very close to the lens—typically just a few centimeters. To discreetly solve this problem, some experimental systems (including those developed in my lab at the University of Applied Sciences of Southern Switzerland) embed the power transmitter in eyeglass frames.
The most convenient way to transmit wireless power is near-field inductive coupling, the same method used to charge electric toothbrushes in their base stations and smartphones on the charging pads at Starbucks. For smart lenses, the transmitting coil can be placed in the eyeglasses, and the receiving coil is embedded near the lens's outer border. Near-field inductive coupling operates at low frequencies, typically a few megahertz, so the transmission poses no threat to the eye tissue. Some labs have experimented with far-field inductive coupling, beaming power to the lens via microwaves, but these systems operate at higher frequencies (typically a few gigahertz) and require precautions to avoid damaging eye tissue.
A more futuristic approach is to have the lenses power themselves. At Ghent University, in Belgium, Herbert de Smet's lab has inserted miniature photovoltaic cells into lenses to collect solar power. Other researchers are exploring how to use piezoelectric elements to turn the vibrations caused by eye movements into electrical power; Samsung, for example, recently applied for a patent on a piezoelectric smart lens. Another far-out idea uses fuel cells that convert chemicals present in human tears into electricity. Of course, it will be some time before any of these in situ power technologies is ready for real-world use.
Designing biosensors for smart lenses poses another challenge. Smart contact lenses need highly accurate sensors that can be manufactured cheaply (particularly if the lenses are disposable), while smart intraocular lenses need sensors that will keep working in the eye for at least 10 years to avoid repeated surgery. Biosensors that rely on an enzymatic reaction to detect biomarkers like glucose or lactate in the eye's fluids don't last long, because such sensors' enzyme activity declines over time. Some research groups are therefore working on biosensors on the nanoscale, so that hundreds or even thousands of sensors could be embedded in one lens, thereby increasing the lens's longevity. Eventually, nanosensors could be made sensitive enough to detect a single molecule of the target chemical; the diameter of a graphene-silver nanowire, for instance, is comparable to the size of a glucose molecule.
Telltale Tears: This diabetes-monitoring contact lens, still under development by researchers at Google and Novartis, measures glucose levels in the wearer's eye fluids.
Contact lenses offer a view into the interior of the body via the fluids that bathe the eye. For monitoring diabetes, most smart lenses use sensors that measure the glucose concentration in basal tears, the fluid that lubricates the cornea and washes it clean of dust.
Many types of sensors have been developed for measuring the glucose in these tears. The best known is the electrochemical sensor devised by Babak Parviz while he was an electrical engineering professor at the University of Washington; he later became a director at Google and launched the Verily-Alcon smart-lens project. This sensor uses an enzyme that catalyzes glucose to create hydrogen peroxide, which is further oxidized at the electrode to release electrons, thus generating an electrical current proportional to the glucose concentration.
Other types of sensors use fluorescent or colloidal-crystal particles to provide an optical readout that indicates the amount of glucose present. For example, users could look in the mirror to check the color of tiny dots on their smart lenses.
Before any of these technologies can turn into commercial products, researchers still have to answer several scientific questions. The first relates to the minute amount of glucose found in basal tears: Typical tear glucose levels are on the order of 0.1 to 0.6 millimole, while glucose levels in the blood range from about 4 to 6 mmol. Some researchers therefore argue that tears simply don't contain enough information to be useful for diabetes monitoring. Others counter by citing studies that examined tears using mass spectrometry, the gold standard of analytical chemistry, and found that glucose is present at low but consistent levels. Unfortunately, it's impossible to pack a mass spectrometer onto a smart lens, and biochemical sensors can't match the accuracy of mass spectrometry.
Scientists are also debating the correlation between glucose levels in blood and those in tears. Animal studies have shown an average lag time of 13 minutes between a rise or fall in blood glucose level and when such a change shows up in tears. If such a delay is consistent, it could be taken into account during the calibration of smart-lens systems. However, if the time lag varies, it will be very difficult to create tear-monitoring systems that diabetics can rely on.
And then there's the question of the chemical composition of the three different types of tears: the basal tears that lubricate the eye, the tears caused by eye irritation, and the heartfelt tears that spring from emotions. Is the amount of glucose significantly different in these three fluids? If so, users' glucose readings could spike or dip whenever they started to cry or got a speck in their eye.
Despite these open questions, smart contact lenses have great potential for medical monitoring. Already, researchers are looking at substances other than glucose that are found in the eye and might be used to diagnose other disorders. For example, lactate in tears could be an early warning of sepsis, an acute infection that's a common killer in hospitals.
A person suffering from glaucoma typically loses peripheral vision first, and the darkness gradually creeps inward. Glaucoma afflicts 67 million people worldwide, and it's the leading cause of irreversible vision loss and blindness. The first two smart-lens products to reach the commercial market are a contact lens and an implanted lens to help patients with this devastating disease.
Doctors know that the biggest risk factor for glaucoma is high intraocular pressure (IOP), which damages the optic nerve. Today, ophthalmologists measure IOP during eye exams using tools called tonometers, which either send a puff of air into the eye or press a probe against the eye's numbed surface. Monitoring a patient's eye pressure over time requires repeated office visits, an inconvenience that prevents some people from managing their illness effectively.
While medicine presents the most urgent and obvious applications for smart lenses, the technology developed may end up having a much broader impact. If bioengineers find the right materials for the lenses and solve problems related to packaging and power, the technology could be repurposed for consumer use.
Verily Life Sciences and Alcon already have a vision-correcting smart-lens project running in parallel with their diabetes-monitoring lens effort. The companies are working together on an autofocusing lens that would enable the wearer to focus on something close-up, replacing the reading glasses that older people often require.
An even bigger market could be opened up by smart lenses that include a display. These lenses would let the user experience augmented reality, in which data is overlaid on the wearer's natural view of the world. Tech companies are aware of the possibilities here. Samsung, for one, applied for a patent in 2016 for a smart lens with both a display and a camera; a distinct pattern of blinks would allow the wearer to capture any view and send it to a smartphone.
Smart lenses could do better because they continuously measure IOP using embedded sensors. The IOP of a healthy human eye is between 1,300 and 2,800 pascals, whereas in a diseased eye the pressure can range from 500 to 6,500 Pa. What's more, an individual's IOP fluctuates with their circadian rhythm—with the highest pressure typically occurring at night while the person is lying in bed. Getting 24 hours' worth of IOP readings is valuable to eye doctors because it yields the patient's true IOP profile.
The commercial contact lens for glaucoma comes from the biotech company Sensimed, based in Lausanne, Switzerland. Its Triggerfish lens, already available in 33 countries, recently gained regulatory approval for use in the United States. The soft disposable lens uses piezoresistive strain sensors to measure IOP. The sensors detect the slight change in the circumference of the cornea when it stretches due to fluid pressing on it from behind. Pressure readings are taken every 5 minutes over a 24-hour period, and the lens transmits the data wirelessly, using near-field induction, to a receiver placed in an adhesive patch that encircles the user's eye. A wire connects the receiver to a recording device that the patient wears in a pouch hung around the neck.
Doctors are using Sensimed's device to diagnose patients at risk of developing glaucoma, as well as for existing glaucoma patients, giving them periodic checkups to track the progress of the disease. For now, that's where the utility of the Triggerfish lens ends; the system is too cumbersome for long-term wear.
The first commercial smart lens for implantation in the eye comes from Implandata Ophthalmic Products, of Hannover, Germany, which received regulatory approval in Europe for its Eyemate lens in May 2017. While a lens that requires surgical implantation may not seem as convenient as a disposable lens, the surgery isn't a major drawback. The implantation can be done during routine cataract surgery, a quick outpatient procedure that millions of people undergo every year. In cataract surgery, a tiny incision is made in the eye, and the cataract-clouded lens is removed and replaced by an artificial intraocular lens; this lens sits behind the colored ring of the iris, so it's not visible. For glaucoma patients, the surgeon can instead insert the Eyemate intraocular lens, with its embedded pressure sensor and accompanying microelectronics. Patients will go home with a handheld device that they'll regularly hold up to their eye to collect recorded IOP data and power the lens via inductive coupling.
Even so, why bother with surgery when smart contact lenses are so much easier to deal with? The most obvious reason is that an implanted lens can provide long-term monitoring, not just a 24-hour checkup. The other reason is accuracy: One disadvantage of the Triggerfish contact lens is that it determines pressure indirectly, by measuring cornea deformation and then correlating that data to an IOP value. This correlation step introduces errors. By contrast, the Eyemate intraocular lens directly measures IOP and yields more accurate data. Its eight tiny pressure sensors resemble plate capacitors. Each sensor has a rigid plate and a flexible membrane, and when the membrane is pushed closer to the plate by the pressure in the eye the overall capacitance changes, generating an analog signal that's changed to a digital signal on the chip.
In my lab, we've long been experimenting with smart intraocular lenses for both glaucoma monitoring and other applications. Our glaucoma lens directly measures IOP using piezoresistive strain sensors; these sensors contain electrical conductors that stretch under pressure, thus changing their resistance and providing a readout of IOP. We've also used an implanted lens to monitor glucose concentrations in the aqueous humor—the fluid that fills a chamber behind the cornea—but the biochemical microsensors we've tried haven't lasted long enough to be practical for long-term use.
While the technological and scientific challenges of smart contact and intraocular lenses are significant, the lenses' potential for disease diagnosis and monitoring guarantees that work will continue. In the next decade, you can expect to see the commercial introduction of a wide range of smart lenses for medical applications. Meanwhile, researchers around the world continue to investigate new biomarkers in tears, develop new energy-harvesting and storage technologies, fabricate new types of flexible electronic devices, and construct more reliable biosensors. Other researchers are designing lenses to treat disease, with microfluidic components that deliver drugs on command. With these new technologies, we'll have a better view of human biology than ever before.
Diego Barrettino recently moved to the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts from the University of Applied Sciences of Southern Switzerland, where he continues his work on smart contact lenses and eye implants.


I wake up every day looking at Death, and you know what? He ain't half bad.
Its not until you lose everything that you are free to do anything.
I used to take pride in the fact that I felt like I could die satisfied any day. I was at a place in my life where I couldn't ask for more, and there was a tremendous sense of overall satisfaction. I had everything that I deserved. After that, all I had left to experience, every fall morning caught or tear shed, was a bonus. Of course, the closest I had ever come to death was a minor case of pneumothorax, which I imagine is as fatal as pinching one's skin between two Lego pieces while building the Death Star, so this feeling was never actually put to the test. I'm sure I'd feel differently if I ever came frighteningly close to the end of my life, although just how much remains a mystery.
Perhaps this grew from a cogent sense of frailty, perpetuated by all the stories of freak accidents echoed throughout the media. The student who impaled his heart on a number 2 pencil while trying to catch a football in the middle of class. The general who drowned in a pool of his own blood from a nosebleed on his wedding night. Even the president of the United States almost choked to death on a pretzel. To distance myself was the only way I could deal with it.
The problem, I've only recently discovered, was that this left me alienated and unattached. I have no dreams, nothing to live for. Not even a goal to work towards. During high-school, the goal was to get into a university. After university, the goal was to get a fulfilling job. After the job was the house. Now that I own a house, it feels like the rest of my life has been laid out in front of me. No risks, no surprises. I appreciate everything that I've been given, but it feels like it's been a little too easy. Even my most significant goal was rather suddenly accomplished this year. As Logan Pearsall Smith once wrote in his book Afterthoughts, "How many of our daydreams would darken into nightmares if there seemed any danger of their coming true!". A simultaneous fulfillment and dissatisfaction.
I presented this problem to Pat, and from his infinite wisdom (at 24, no less) I realized that one should never live for what might happen. Otherwise, a person would go crazy. Of course, to truly live this way, it doesn't hurt to be a bit of a fatalist. Having this belief means that one can only do the best that they can, and to go means that it was meant to be.
For now, I've been keeping myself occupied, until I can figure out what I want in the last rest of my life. Blessed is the person who is too busy to worry in the daytime and too sleepy to worry at night. It's only now that I've discovered that I need a few dreams to survive.
And I can only hope to never reach them.
A few years ago, while we were still living together, Pita and I passed by a restaurant called Social that was along the market. We looked in at the elegant, minimal atmosphere, the nicely dressed people, and the intricate dishes that were being served to them. Looking at the menu posted outside, and noting the lack of decimals in the pricing (everything was in flat dollars), it was mutually agreed that going there to dine without a reason to celebrate was out of our budget. Just walking inside was something that we would have to earn, and we made an agreement. For the term, if I could manage all As (anything from an A- to an A+, or a GPA of over 8.0) and if he could win his next competition (for both standard and Latin ballroom dancing) than we would walk in one day and order anything we wanted.
The term came and passed, and in the end I only managed a bunch of measly grades, while he got bronze at the competition. We never spoke of it again.
Until this week. After traveling abroad for more than a year and working in his native country, Pita came back to Canada to settle down. He decided to live the rest of his life in Montreal, but he was able to visit for the weekend. We agreed on lunch at Social, not needing any justification between each other. After all, we graduated, found jobs, started to settle down. We hadn't seen each other in over a year.
He had the duck, I had the lamb. Both were unbelievably succulent, tender, and came with fresh salads in a light dressing, along with super-thin fries. Even though we weren't dressed as well as what some would call the "regular" patrons, we were served well and with respect, something can't be said about all the restaurants I've been to. To be honest, I've never been given a choice of water (regular, mineral, soda, or sparkling, the man told us). I paid this time, and Pita agreed to treat me when I visit him in Montreal.


Green Fairy Quilts: A favorite!
This is amazing!!! I was wondering how long you have been long arm quilting? Did it take you long to get this good? I am just amazed by your talent and wonder if trying to learn to long arm is worth it.
such a pretty quilt - your quilting is always so nicely done.
Yep...this by far is my favorite too! I like just a little bit of that pebbling and those big fun funky flowers...perfect for Swanky line of fabric! Great call on this one!!
That is exquisite-it would've been very hard to give up. Great job again.
Glad Micah is doing well.
What a beautiful quilt!!! Do you know the name of the pattern Judi? Your quilting is amazing as always and really makes the quilt come alive. You are so talented. Thanks for sharing this wonderful quilt with us.
Beautiful, beautiful quilting on that Awesome Swanky quilt Judi!
Your quilting is just beautiful! Are the flowers trapuntoed at all, or did you achieve the effect through the dense background quilting?
this quilt is just so amazing..
Your quilting is justso beautiful..
Awesome..I can see how hard it would be to give up..
I can see why it is your favorite...looks wonderful!!
Oh, my, that is beautiful.
You have such a way of taking a beautiful quilt an making it so much more special!
I know I must sound like a broken record, but I am just so in awe of your quilting! You work on beautiful quilts to begin with, but your quilting makes them so much more special.
THe quilting is sooo pretty! Are you using a high loft batting to get that puffiness in the flowers or is there some other trick to that??
I've said it before and I'll say it again bz I truly mean it...you are an artist! You do such beautiful work.
P.S. I almost forgot that I told you I'd tell you about when I helped sew up my husband's head. Larry had taken a tumble on some ice while he was at work (he's a salesman) and had a big gash above his eyebrow. While we were at the ER they were really, really busy. The doctor couldn't find a nurse to help him and I had already told him that I had trained as an medical assistant umpteen million years ago (I never worked as an one though but went on to do medical transcription instead) so he asked me to help him. I actually enjoyed it and Larry was surprised that I wasn't grossed out at all! It definitely was an adventure but I don't think I could do it on one of my kids. It's too heartbreaking when they hurt, lol!
Absolutely beautiful design, delightful fabrics, cheerful colors and exceptional quilting.
Thanks for sharing this inspirational quilt.
You've done it again - another masterpiece.
Glad your littlie is recovering - I think they do that much quicker than we do sometimes.
Judi, I'm just dropping by to wish you a wonderful, most blessed Thanksgiving, and thank you for all the joy you have shared with me through the year with your beautiful pictures, your Romania trip and generous giveaways. Hugs comin at ya.
Your quilting is just divine - a fantastic quilt - of course you don't want to give it back!!
That's all there is to say!
Your quilting is so awesome. Love the designs.
Your quilts really inspire me. I do a lot of utility quilting for customers, but when they ask for something special, I always think of your work.


I have depth undersding and knowledge about maths. Moreover, I know various techniques which help students to understand the concept. I will low down my level and teach according to student level of perception.
I am doing PhD in maths from Canterbury University.
I have been teaching and tutoring maths over 10 years to school and University level students. I have been tutoring maths in Canterbury University.


Melrose Cottage is a comfortable self-catering holiday cottage located at Town Foot Farm near Alnmouth and Alnwick in Northumberland. Adjoining Townfoot Cottage, it enjoys the same extensive views across its own garden, and is only a short drive or ten-minute walk from the main leisure facilities at Village Farm. It makes an excellent choice for a self-catering cottage holiday in Northumberland.
Melrose Cottage comprises a semi-detached cottage, sleeping six. On the ground floor, it has a large, comfortable sitting room with a wood-burning stove.
Leading off the sitting room is a spacious kitchen and dining area. French doors lead out on to a patio. From here, you can enjoy stunning views across the garden towards Alnwick and the Cheviot Hills. The back door leads into a porch and utility room.
On the first floor are two double / twin bedrooms with en-suite showers, and a third large king-size bedroom with an en-suite bathroom with bath and shower.
Melrose Cottage is a non-smoking holiday cottage. Pet dogs can be accepted subject to a reasonable additional charge per pet per stay to cover extra cleaning. This is on the understanding that they must in no circumstances be allowed to go upstairs or on to any item of furniture.


Anti-CCP hs (high sensitive)® is an ELISA-based, automated, in-vitro test system for the quantitative determination of IgG antibodies against cyclic citrullinated peptides (CCP) in human serum or plasma.
Anti-CCP hs (high sensitive)® is based on selected and optimized peptide epitopes from the body's own MCV protein (modified citrullinated vimentin). Due to its tailored antigen profile, this ELISA attains the highest sensitivity while maintaining high specificity. It is thus positioned as a powerful serological test for the rapid and precise routine diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), as well as for the diagnosis of early RA. In conjunction with rheumatoid factor, autoantibodies against citrullinated antigens (ACPA) have been included as determinate factors in the current ACR criteria for the classification of rheumatoid arthritis. Anti-CCP hs (high sensitive)® is an ACPA test that allows for the diagnosis of RA with comparable sensitivity and significantly higher specificity and prognostic power than conventional rheumatoid factor tests.


text:
Traditional Thread-on Freewheels
Translations of this article (earlier version):
German Russian
Follow @sheldonbrowncom
by Sheldon "TickTickTick" Brown
with revisions and additions by John Allen
Freewheel Threading
Freewheel Removal
Freewheel Installation
Freewheel Lubrication
Sprocket Replacement and Restoration
Freewheel History
How Many Speeds?
Customization/Upgrading
Freewheel Body Servicing
Shimano Freehubs
Threaded Freewheel
Threaded Hub
Freehub ®
Freewheel or Freehub?
Older multi-speed bicycles have simple rear hubs with a set of threads on the right side of the hub shell. A traditional freewheel cluster has matching threads which screw onto the hub.
This is different from the more modern "Freehub ®" or "cassette hub" design, in which the freewheeling ratchet mechanism is a more-or-less integral part of the hub. See also my article on Cassette Hubs.
A standard freewheel attaches to a hub by screwing on to external threads that are part of the hub. Pedaling tightens the freewheel down on the threads, so no tools are required to install a freewheel.
The standard ISO threading for freewheels is 1.375 x 24 TPI, the same as for standard ISO bottom brackets.
1.378" x 24 tpi
35 x 1.058 mm
34.92 x 1.058 mm
1.366" x 25.4 tpi
34.7 x 1 mm
Metric BMX
All recent freewheels and threaded hubs, regardless of where made, use ISO threading. The older British and Italian standards use the same thread pitch but a very slightly different thread diameter, and are generally interchangeable. However, for strong riders and on tandems, it is best not to mix and match -- freewheels sometimes do strip the threads of aluminium hubs. A French freewheel may start to thread onto an ISO/British/Italian hub but will soon bind. An ISO/British/Italian freewheel will skim the top of the threads of a French hub and will slip forward if an attempt is made to use it. Do not force a freewheel -- you will ruin the hub.
A bottom-bracket cup can serve as a thread gauge for a freewheel: Dimensions are usually marked on cups. Hold the threads of the bottom-bracket cup against those of the hub, and look in between, against the light. If the threads engage tightly all the way across, the thread pitch is the same. If they rock across each other, it is different. You may check the thread pitch of a freewheel by threading an ISO left bottom-bracket cup into it (not a right cup, which is left-threaded). The cup will go in easily if the thread pitch is the same -- but do have a freewheel extractor tool handy so you can unscrew the cup.
Freewheels screw onto the hub without any tools, then, as you ride the bike, your pedaling effort tightens them down.
A freewheel that has been ridden for a long time, especially by a strong rider with low gears, may be quite difficult to remove because the threads are so tight.
Freewheel bodies have a larger diameter than the spoking flange of many hubs. Warning: loosen a freewheel before cutting the spokes to replace the rim, otherwise you may not be able to loosen the freewheel or to replace the spokes on the right side of the wheel. The barrel (between the flanges) of many hubs will break if you respoke only the left side and then try to unscrew the freewheel.
Although you can screw the freewheel on by hand, just by turning the sprockets clockwise, when you want to remove it, the sprockets don't help, because the freewheel's ratchet mechanism lets it spin freely counterclockwise. To remove a freewheel requires a special tool, commonly called a "freewheel puller" or "freewheel extractor", to grab hold of the core of the freewheel.
This tool is a splined unit that may be mounted in a vise or turned with a wrench. The splines engage matching splines in the interior (non-rotating) part of the freewheel body. Different brands of freewheels have used different spline patterns, but there is a recent tendency to standardize on the Shimano pattern.
Older freewheels had simple notches and matching extractors with two or four "bosses" (prongs.) The shape and spacing of these prongs would vary from one brand to another. It was very common for the prongs to get rounded off or broken, and to ruin the freewheel. Once the notches are damaged, or to remove and discard an old freewheel for which you have no tool, you must disassemble the freewheel and clamp the core into a vise -- left side of the wheel up -- then unscrew the wheel counterclockwise.
When using a boss-type freewheel puller, the tool should be secured against the freewheel by tightening down the axle nut or quick release skewer (with the springs left off). Once the freewheel has broken loose from the hub, remove the axle nut or skewer before unscrewing the freewheel any further -- or else you will break something.
Some Popular Freewheel Tools
Park FR-1
Shimano large-spline current model, 12 splines
(Also works for SRAM/Sachs and most HG cassette lock rings.)
SunTour 2-prong.
Atom/Regina splined.
20 splines.
(About the same outside diameter as a nickel.)
The usual technique for removing a freewheel from its hub is to clamp the freewheel puller into a solidly-mounted vise and unscrew the wheel from the freewheel. If your vise allows this, it works better if you clamp it so that the wheel is in a vertical position. permitting you to twist harder without having your feet slip on the floor. This gives you better purchase to turn the wheel. I used to work in a shop where we had a vise mounted sideways on a door frame for this purpose. My present vise has an extra pivot that permits the jaws to be rotated 360 degrees. Unfortunately, most vises lack this useful feature, so you may have to make do with a horizontal wheel orientation.
An alternate approach which I have found to work quite well for really obstinate freewheels is to use a suitable box wrench to hold the tool, and strike the wrench handle sharply with a big rubber mallet. I use a Park chain whip, because it has a hexagonal hole in the handle that fits Park freewheel pullers perfectly.
The professional FRW-1 handle and the SR-1 chain whip.
Whatever method you use, it is best if the wheel has a tire installed and inflated. This will improve grip and reduce the risk of damaging the rim.
Installing Freewheels
Installing a freewheel is quite easy, and requires no tools at all. Basically you just screw the freewheel on as you would screw the cap onto a jar. The final tightening will occur by "foot power" as soon as you ride up your first hill. You can feel the freewheel slip forward. Still, if you are building up a bicycle for someone else, it's a good idea to tighten the sprockets with a chain tool, or to pedal the bicycle in all the threaded sprockets, to avoid creating the impression that something is wrong.
The foot power is very considerable, and that's why it can be so hard to remove a freewheel that has been used for a while, especially on a bike with low gearing. To prevent future difficulty with removal, it is very important to grease the threads before screwing a freewheel onto your hub!
The type of grease used is not all that important, but you must use something. The anti-seize compound that is commonly used for spoke nipples also works.
Make very sure that the freewheel is going on straight. Freewheel threads are unusually fine for their diameter, and the aluminium threads on the hub are soft, easily damaged if you cross-thread the freewheel. Again, if the freewheel is going on straight but starts to bind, don't force it: you have mismatched threads and will damage the hub.
Lubricating Freewheels
Freewheels should be oiled from time to time with a medium-weight oil. This is easy to do, and generally requires no disassembly.
The bike should be held with the rear wheel off the ground, and leaning to the left at about a 45 degree angle. An assistant may be helpful for this. Turn the pedals around a couple of times to get the wheel spinning fast, then let it coast (helps to be in high gear for this.)
Look inside the smallest sprocket. The sprocket will be stationary, since the wheel is coasting, but you'll see an inner part of the freewheel that is spinning with the wheel. Drip oil onto the crack between the turning part and the stationary part. Gravity and capillary action will help work oil into the freewheel.
Repeat this a few times, until you hear a change in the sound of the clicking pawls (they'll generally get quieter when the oil reaches them.)
This should be done every year or so, or any time that coasting sounds loud and gritty.
Most multi-speed freewheels have replaceable, interchangeable sprockets. It used to be a common bike-shop service to assemble custom freewheels with any desired combination of sprocket sizes. Unfortunately, with the general decline in freewheels, replacement sprockets are no longer as readily available as they once were. They do show up on eBay, and it is also possible to restore an older, worn sprocket with some judicious grinding.
Sprockets of older freewheels had taller teeth than are usual today. When a sprocket and chain wore together, they would form a hook shape at the back side of each sprocket tooth. A new, replacement chain's shorter links would fall into the hollow behind the hook of one tooth, ride up over the next tooth, and jump forward when that tooth came around to the top.
It is possible to extend the life of a hooked sprocket by grinding off the hooks with a Dremel tool or disk sander. The hardened metal surface has already worn off, so the revived sprocket will wear faster than a new one. Newer sprockets must usually simply be replaced, as the teeth are not tall enough to allow of restoration: see my article on sprocket and chain wear.
To remove sprockets from a freewheel for replacement or restoration, you normally use two chain whips: one to unscrew the sprocket, the other to prevent the freewheel from rotating backwards. This is easiest with the freewheel installed on the wheel. Or you can use a special freewheel vise in place of the second chain whip. Remove the freewheel from the wheel to use the freewheel vise.
Freewheel vise. The photo is for illustration only. The freewheel vise must be clamped in a bench vise in use and when separating two sprockets of nearly the same size, place the smaller one underneath, for less interference with the chain whip.
Older European freewheels mostly used all threaded sprockets. Usually the two largest would have left threading, and would have to be removed/replaced at the wide end of the freewheel. Because of the low gearing provided by the larger sprockets, they would usually be screwed on very, very tight, and could require a considerable amount of effort to unscrew. The smaller sprockets would screw on from the outside, using normal right threading. If you don't have a chain whip, or if you are trying to remove a particularly stubborn threaded sprocket, you can substitute a short length of chain held in a vise
A length of chain and a bench vise also can clamp a sprocket
In practice, you usually did not have to remove all of the sprockets at the same time, because you needed a sprocket to hold the freewheel in place while you unscrewed the one you wanted to remove. There were special vises that gripped the threads to let you take off the last sprocket, but I never found the need to use one. Another way to remove all of the sprockets is to tighten the two largest ones against each other, loosen the remaining smaller sprocket and then unscrew the largest sprockets from each other. British Cyclo freewheels were different -- all the sprockets screwed on from the left except the smallest -- and quickest wearing -- one! This sprocket was integral with the freewheel body and could not be removed. Mechanics who didn't know this have broken teeth off this sprocket trying to remove it. But that's ancient history and you will probably never see a British Cyclo freewheel!
Newer freewheels use splined sprockets: you need only unscrew one or two outer sprockets, and then the others slip off. Shimano Hyperglide freewheels use all splined sprockets, with a threaded lockring similar to the system used on Hyperglide cassette hubs.
Keep track of the spacers between the sprockets, to maintain correct sprocket spacing when you reassemble the freewheel. When reassembling the sprockets to the freewheel body, grease the threads to prevent corrosion and make removal easier the next time.
Many sprockets are asymmetrical. The high side of the teeth of SunTour sprockets faces to the right. The ramps for chain pickup on newer sprockets also face to the right. If installed backwards, these sprockets will shift very poorly. Some older sprockets are symmetrical, so you can extend their life by turning them over.
With older freewheels, there were commonly 2 or 3 different thread sizes on the same freewheel, so sprockets made for one position wouldn't necessarily fit on another position. Threaded sprockets also had built-in spacers, so they could only be installed in one direction.
In the mid-1970s, SunTour and later, Shimano took the freewheel business away from the long-established European manufacturers, such as Atom, Campagnolo, Cyclo, Everest, Maillard, Regina, TDC... by virtue of greatly superior design and workmanship, even though the metallurgy of the Japanese products was not as good:
One of the reasons that the Japanese were able to take over from the Euro manufacturers was by universally adopting splines, rather than threads, to attach the larger sprockets to the freewheel body. Since the only threaded sprockets were the small ones, (which don't get screwed on that tightly) it was much easier to remove and replace the sprockets. Some Euro manufacturers used splines too, but there were other issues...
There were only two important brands of Japanese freewheels -- SunTour and Shimano -- simplifying parts ordering for bike shops. There were ten or more European product lines, most of whose sprockets were non-interchangeable.
The Japanese undercut the Europeans on price.
The Japanese introduced better-shifting rear derailers and narrower sprocket spacing, which allowed a 6-speed freewheel in place of a European 5-speed freewheel.
The Japanese freewheels also featured better-shaped sprocket teeth, which made them shift significantly better. SunTour sprocket teeth were beveled at the top in a direction that made it easier for the chain to seat into position as it shifted. Shimano used a "twist-tooth" design, which placed the back corner of each tooth where it could more easily snag the passing chain during a shift.
Japanese freewheels also had a better, deeper, more reliable freewheel-remover fitting. SunTour used a conventional two-prong connection, but the notches were much deeper than those on European freewheels, and the puller was designed for a superior fit to SunTour freewheels. Shimano was a major pioneer in the adoption of splined pullers, which were pretty much immune to the old problem of rounding off the two corners of the tool and the matching corners of the freewheel notches.
French freewheel with weak notches SunTour freewheel with stronger notches.
The first multiple-speed freewheels had 3 sprockets, using the traditional 1/8" chain.
In the 1950s, narrower 3/32" sprockets and chains were introduced, permitting the move to 4-sprocket freewheels within the then-standard 114 mm (4 1/2") frame spacing
In the late 1950s, spacing was widened to 120 mm to permit the use of 5-speed freewheels. This required adding spacers to the right-hand end of the axle to keep the chain from rubbing on the frame. The added spacers required additional dish to the spokes, causing wheels to become somewhat weaker.
In the 1970s, there was a move toward 6-speed freewheels. These were of two types:
"Standard" spaced 6 speeds had sprocket-to-sprocket spacing the same as the existing 5 speeds, around 5.5 mm
Standard spaced 6-speeds required increasing the frame spacing to 126 mm, aggravating the problems introduced with the move to 5-speed, but still providing satisfactory service in most cases.
"Ultra Six ®" spaced 6 speeds used a closer spacing, around 5 mm. This permitted an Ultra Six ® freewheel to directly replace a standard 5-speed unit on a 120 mm hub. The key to making this work was the use of a narrower chain. The interior width of the chain was the same as always, but the new narrower chains used shorter rivets, so the ends of the rivets didn't protrude past the outer chain plates, as the rivets in traditional chains did.
In the 1980s, these two approaches were combined to create 7-speed freewheels, with 5 mm ("Ultra") spacing that would fit the same 126 mm hubs as "standard" 6-speeds.
In the early 1990s, the industry moved to 8-speed clusters with 130 mm spacing. 8-speeds were available in both freewheel and cassette hubs. As with the move from 4- to 5-speed, and from 5-speed to 6-speed, this required adding spacers to the right-hand end of the axle to keep the chain from rubbing on the frame.
As it turned out, the increased length of un-supported axle sticking out from the right side of the hub was just too long for traditional 10 mm threaded axles. 8-speed freewheels were sold for several years, but a very large percentage of the riders who bought them wound up having problems with axle breakage/bendage. As a result, 8-speed freewheels eventually pretty much disappeared from the market.
This also coincided with the increasing popularity of the cassette Freehub ® which didn't have the problem of axle protrusion. As the number of sprockets has continued to increase to 9 and beyond, thread-on freewheels have become obsolete for high-end applications. 9- or 10-speed freewheels have never been produced, as all modern derailer bikes of decent quality use the much superior cassette Freehub system.
Customizing and upgrading
[ Most of this section can be blamed on John Allen :-) ]
Do you need to replace an older, threaded rear hub to update to a modern, index-shifting drivetrain?
Not unless you insist on having more rear sprockets than you probably need. It's nice spec hype to advertise 9, 10, 11 speeds at the rear, but you can get a wide range and narrow steps with 6 or 7 sprockets and compact double (see example) or triple chainwheels.
Modern 5-and 6-speed freewheels have a 5.5 mm sprocket spacing and work with Shimano 5-and 6-speed shifters. 7-speed freewheels -- and old SunTour Ultra freewheels -- have a 5 mm sprocket-to-sprocket spacing that works with Shimano 7- or 8-speed click shifters and rear derailers -- see table of sprocket spacings. (You may need to adjust the cable routing slightly with an 8-speed shifter). An index shifter's extra clicks will be blocked by the limit stop on the derailer. 8-speed chain works with all of these freewheels, and it is more durable than the narrower chains used for 9 or more speeds.
7-speed freewheels with 13-15-17-19-21-24-28 teeth are available from Shimano, SunRace and IRD. This is a nice, even progression, or you may choose another -- see list of available freewheels from Harris Cyclery. Modern freewheels have the same easy-shifting features as cassettes.
Unless you are willing to put up with friction shifting, you need to install new shifters. Indexing handlebar-end shifters, top-mount shifters or downtube shift levers let you know how to shift by feel. Brake-lever shifters return to the same position after every shift, so you don't know what gear you are using. They also tend to be expensive. Brazed-on bosses for downtube shifters on some older frames will not fit today's index shift levers or cable stops, so you will need to use a clamp-on adapter.
A 5-speed freewheel or Suntour Ultra-6 will work with the 120 mm rear dropout spacing that was usual in the 1970s. A 7-speed freewheel needs at least 126 mm spacing, but only steel frames are likely to have narrower spacing, and they can usually be cold set to spread the dropouts. You also may need to redish the rear wheel-- see article on frame spacing. To convert to a cassette, you would have to replace the rear wheel.
To be sure, freewheel choices are somewhat limited, unless you have been hoarding old sprockets. Back in the days of 4-, 5-, even 6-speed freewheels, it used to be common to customize the ratios. When there were so few sprocket positions available, it was more important to provide the specific sizes desired to match a given rider's style and riding conditions.
As gears proliferated through 7-, 8-, 9- and now 10-speed cassettes, this became less of an issue. As a result, custom gearing is now much less common than formerly. But with a wide-range triple crankset, this is not much of an issue.
On the other hand -- many older cyclists assume that it is harder to customize cassette-type clusters than it was with the old thread-on freewheels. In fact, the opposite is the case! Cassettes are much easier to customize, because all of the sprockets use the same spline pattern, so any of the sprockets (except the smallest one) can be used at any position on the Freehub body. With thread-on freewheels, the body is "stepped" so that sprockets for different positions will attach with different spline or thread patterns. Back in the day, better bike shops would have a big "sprocket board" with dozens of hooks to stock all of the various permutations of tooth count and attachment size needed to create custom freewheels. Generally each different manufacturer would require a different sprocket board, because each manufacturer would have its own proprietary design.
Servicing Freewheel Bodies
Some SunTour Pro Compe and Perfect freewheels tend to unscrew the lockring. Fortunately, only the bearing balls will fall out: the axle and dropout will retain the other parts. It is usually possible to screw the lockring back in (counterclockwise) and ride home as long as you don't coast.
Some freewheels also have one more internal shim than needed, making them rock noticeably as you ride. So, you may need to service a freewheel, if you want to keep it.
Note: Except in urgent cases:
restoring a cherished antique freewheel;
to get back on the road with one that has come apart;
when the freewheel remover doesn't work or you don't have one --
working on freewheel bodies is generally not worth the trouble. The freewheel is the least important bearing on a bicycle, since it only turns when it is not carrying any load.
Some people will ignore my advice and try to service freewheels (or have no choice), so here's how to do it.
Leave the freewheel in place on the wheel, or screw it onto a wheel, so that you will have something to hold it with. Breaking the freewheel loose from the wheel now with a freewheel remover reduces the likelihood of damage to the inner body later.
You should see a ring with two holes in it for a pin spanner to fit into. This is usually the ring which has the brand name of the freewheel marked, and may also have an arrow pointing clockwise, and the word "remove" in one language or another.
If you don't see such a ring, you may need to remove the smallest sprocket to gain access to it. This is common on freewheels with 13 tooth or smaller sprockets. You will need two chain whips, one to unscrew the smallest sprocket, another hold the freewheel so that it doesn't spin backward while you unscrew the top sprocket. You also will need about 100 1/8"bearing balls for most freewheels.
Use a hammer and punch (or an old flat-blade screwdriver) alternately in one hole, then the other, to drive the ring in a clockwise direction. This ring is actually a bearing cone with a left ("reverse") thread, and once you have removed it you will see a row of 1/8" bearing balls and a stack of very thin washers surrounding the threads that the cone threaded on to. These are shim washers, and you can remove one or more of them to make the bearing tighter, if the freewheel has too much play.
If you want to disassemble it further, just lift off the cluster at this point and the innards will be revealed to you, including another row of 1/8" balls (which will probably fall out) at the base of the freewheel, and two or three spring-loaded pawls which make the ratchet work.
You can now clamp the inner body in a vise by the pawl recesses, and unscrew the wheel. This is how you remove a freewheel when you can't use a freewheel remover. Removing the inner body makes reassembly easier, but there is some possibility of damage from the vise jaws.
For re-assembly, you can use thickish grease to stick the balls in place while you reassemble the unit. With the outer part of the freewheel large-side-up, first insert balls into its bearing race. Don't fill the race completely -- leave room for two or three more balls. The tricky part is the pawls. In days of yore, there were special bobby-pin-like clips to hold the pawls compressed against their springs while you re-assembled the freewheel. These are no longer available.
Instead of the special clips, you can use a rubber band with a piece of thread looped though it. Assemble the pawls to the freewheel core, then wrap the rubber band around them to hold them against their springs. You may also be able to get the pawls to seat by holding the freewheel large-side-up and moving the core from side to side as you rotate it clockwise.
Once the outer part of the freewheel is more-or-less in place, use the thread to pull the rubber band out through the middle of the freewheel.
Sometimes it is possible to seat the pawls by carefully rotating the inner and outer bodes against eash other in the freewheeling direction.
After seating the pawls, listen as you slowly rotate the outer body backwards.You should hear "tick, tock, tick, tock" if the ratchet in the outer body has an odd number of teeth -- one pawl engages at a time. If both engage at the same time, as on many SunTour freewheels, you should hear ticktick, ticktick, ticktick.
Use blue threadlock compound on the lockring threads, so it will not unscrew. It threads on counterclockwise, and tightening it will tend to loosen the freewheel from the wheel. Tighten the freewheel onto the wheel using a sprocket and chain whip or freewheel remover, so you will have enough purchase to tighten the lockring.
Shimano Freehub ® Bodies
Most of these may be serviced in the same way as conventional freewheels. You'll need a fairly hard-to-find old-style Shimano special tool (TL-FH 40) to unscrew the cup, which is also the cone for the main bearings.
Sheldon Brown on Facebook
Site Feedback & Questions
Articles by Sheldon Brown and Others
Bicycle Glossary
Essays and Fiction
Family Cycling
Fixed-Gear
Gears and Drivetrains
Sheldon - the man
Copyright © 1997, 2007 Sheldon Brown
Harris Cyclery Home Page
If you would like to make a link or bookmark to this page, the URL is:
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/freewheels.html
Last Updated: by Harriet Fell

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Various corporate failures of late have been well-documented, with most of the issues having resulted from widespread breakdowns in governance. In the aftermath, the focus has been on directors and the clear omissions in governance.
The failure of boards and professional advisors, such as external auditors, has taken centre stage because of the clearer need to restore trust in the system of governance.
Although this epitomises the perception of the traditional role, it is the manner and approach to minutes that has evolved in a new governance era. Despite the evolving complexity associated with the function, the importance of minute taking and ensuring proper recording of meetings remains critical.
A lack of understanding of the business will lead to a lack of understanding of the nuances of discussion that will result in an inadequate record of the meeting, which could potentially have disastrous consequences. Regardless of the number of people around the table, the key elements of a discussion are likely to be lost with the passage of time, so the ability to capture the core elements of the discussion can prove invaluable if a challenge from a regulator, shareholder or the board itself arises later.
Statutory requirements place the Co-Sec in the position of compliance officer in relation to board issues. This is particularly the case in a listed entity, where the Co-Sec is responsible for secretarial compliance and for ensuring that there is compliance with the requirements of the relevant exchange. This is an onerous and highly critical task as any failings in this regard could have serious reputational consequences for the organisation. As a result, the Co-Sec is required to be an expert in both corporate and securities legislation and regulation.
The Co-Sec as advisor is emerging as a key area of expertise. A truly valuable Co-Sec will act as advisor to the board in general and to each individual director, including the chairman, on all matters related to governance. This includes being the voice of reason and governance conscience so as to ensure the board operates effectively while governance practices are upheld. In order to perform this role, it is necessary for the Co-Sec to adopt a pragmatic approach to governance issues, given the company's context and matters being discussed.
There are multiple definitions of governance and many contributors within the corporate governance framework of an organisation. Notwithstanding the numerous other vital roles, such as the CFO and risk and internal audit lead, the Co-Sec needs to take the lead on issues relating to governance. This includes ensuring the adequacy of the governance framework, including that for board committees.
This role of governance leader encompasses the important function of ensuring that a proper board education program is in place. Together with the chair, the Co-Sec must ensure that new directors are properly inducted into the organisation and that there is an adequate and meaningful ongoing professional education program for all board members.
By maintaining independence and a level of objectivity, the Co-Sec is uniquely positioned to objectively consider and assess whether the functioning of the board, and the issues placed before it, align with the agreed strategy of the organisation. In addition, the Co-Sec has an obligation to speak up on any issues relating to governance.
The Co-Sec is in a unique position to facilitate information flows to the board from management. Ensuring the adequacy of information provided to the board requires the Co-Sec to coach management to meet the board's expectations on information and behave appropriately within a board setting. This can have a positive impact on the content and conduct of board meetings, thereby creating more effective outcomes for the business as a whole.
Although larger listed entities have dedicated investor relations executives responsible for communicating with institutional shareholders, the Co-Sec still plays a pivotal role in ensuring proper communication and education, especially in relation to Annual General Meetings. The Co-Sec is responsible for other stakeholder relationships, including with key regulators, which is becoming more frequent and sophisticated with the advent of integrated reporting.
In the new world, the importance of the role played by the Co-Sec in assisting with the compilation and production of annual reports to shareholders and stakeholders extends beyond compliance. Together with the CEO and CFO, the Co-Sec plays a role in ensuring that documents presented to the public are objective and transparent, incorporate all relevant issues, and most importantly, are accessible to shareholders.
In an age of ever-increasing regulation and demands on boards, the importance of the governance role to be played by the Co-Sec is abundantly clear. A dynamic governance system is essential to provide inherent checks and balances and to ensure the sustainability of an organisation. The Co-Sec can no longer perform the tasks of a mere administrator, in the same way that governance can no longer be considered an extracurricular activity to be box-ticked for annual disclosure requirements.
Today, varied expertise is required from a Co-Sec, which is inextricably linked with a set of core competencies required for success. The Co-Sec today must be a networker, intellectually honest, a business analyst and a good communicator, as well as possess boardroom presence. Of paramount importance is an understanding that the resources used by the company and the relationships with its stakeholders are interdependent and interconnected.
That said, the perception of the role of Co-Sec has not kept pace with expectations, resulting in a potential lack of suitably qualified candidates. Johnson is making headway on this important issue and has assisted numerous ASX100 companies to upgrade their Co-Sec roles to ensure they are match fit for this new era of corporate governance.


text:
Home / Entertainment News / MEGHAN MARKLE AND PRINCE HARRY TO SKIP QUEEN'S CHRISTMAS PARTY
MEGHAN MARKLE AND PRINCE HARRY TO SKIP QUEEN'S CHRISTMAS PARTY
While royals are typically expected to attend Queen Elizabeth II's annual get-together at Sandringham House, rule-flouters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are making other plans, multiple outlets report.
"The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are looking forward to extended family time towards the end of this month," Buckingham Palace said in a statement on Wednesday. "Having spent the last two Christmases at Sandringham, Their Royal Highnesses will spend the holiday this year, as a new family, with the Duchess' mother Doria Ragland. This decision is in line with precedent set previously by other members of the Royal Family, and has the support of Her Majesty The Queen."
Rumors of the Christmas change-up have been brewing for days.
"The plans have not been finalized," a source told Vanity Fair earlier this week. "They will be in America for Thanksgiving later this month and there's a chance they might choose to stay out there a while longer which might mean missing Christmas."
"They need some time away to recharge and decide their plans for next year," a source told The Sun.
Their decision may have consequences, some say.
Biographer Sally Bedell Smith told Vanity Fair this "could be seen as another piece of evidence that Harry and Meghan are going their own way if they don't show up for Christmas."
Still, the Queen is pretty chill, Smith claimed. "The Queen is pretty tolerant and she may not begrudge them missing Christmas given Meghan's mother is in the States," Smith continued. "It will be a useful time for the couple to re stock reassess and decide how they want to move forwards. Christmas at Sandringham is a deeply embedded tradition in the royal family however and it's expected that everyone will be there, but the Queen does sometimes make allowances."
Who will be by the Queen's side? Kate Middleton, Prince William and their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
"Things between them are still not great," the source told the magazine. "The feeling is that Harry and Meghan have rather alienated themselves from the rest of the family."
Previous QBs are the Commodity that Never Go Bad
Next Tom Hanks "Can't Fake" the "Malevolence" Needed to Play Villains


text:
Coalition calls on Virginia lawmakers to fully fund public schools and increase teacher pay
by: Jackie DeFusco
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC)- A statewide coalition of parents, students, teachers and advocacy groups says Virginia is failing to adequately fund public schools.
Advocates representing more than 20 organizations laid out their priorities in a press conference on Tuesday –one of many events held on the eve of the 2023 legislative session.
Despite recent investments, advocates say Virginia continues to rank in the bottom ten states when it comes to funding education.
Virginia Department of Education unveils new K-12 history standards draft
"Our students see the impact of this funding failure every day. We started the school year with 3,300 teacher vacancies. That's a 25 percent increase since October 2021," said Virginia PTA President Jenna Alexander.
The coalition wants the state to fully pay for its share of what the Virginia Board of Education says is needed to provide a high-quality education, including 1,487 additional assistant principals, 1,224 more specialized support positions and 1,130 new counselors.
"We can't significantly improve achievement if we don't ensure that students are in a school environment where their mental health needs are being met," said Bristol City Schools Superintendent Keith Perrigan, who also leads the Coalition of Small and Rural Schools.
The group also wants to scrap spending limits set during the last recession, which would pave the way for 6,534 additional support staff positions like instructional aides.
Del. Sam Rasoul (D-Roanoke) is introducing a bill that would require Virginia to pay its public school teachers and other Standards of Quality-funded positions a wage that is at least equal to the current national average. Rasoul said, if passed, it would take effect July 1, 2024.
Virginia Education Association President Dr. James Fedderman said, in 2021, Virginia teachers were paid 10 percent less than the national average and recently approved increases won't get the commonwealth past that threshold.
"While the state is providing its portion of 5 percent staff salary increases this year and next, it will not be enough to reach the national pay average and many may not even keep up with inflation," Fedderman said.
Virginia legislator proposes state minimum wage for children
All in, the coalition's early estimates show their priorities would cost the state another $1 billion each year.
"The question we have to ask ourselves is what is the cost of not doing it?" said Del. Jeff Bourne (D-Richmond). "We're going to continue to see under performance from our students. We're going to continue to see astronomical teacher departure rates."
Youngkin calls new reading and math test scores 'catastrophic'
The $1 billion figure far exceeds the budget proposal Governor Glenn Youngkin laid out last month, when he identified education as a priority.
"The dismal test results and NAEP scores we've seen over the last six months make it clear how much work we still have to do," Youngkin said in a speech to lawmakers.
Youngkin's budget aims to address pandemic-era learning loss, in part by hiring more reading and math specialists. He also wants to invest more in new lab schools with innovative learning models.
Under Youngkin initiative, first lab schools win state dollars to get started
For teachers, Youngkin is proposing a 1 percent retention bonus to be paid next August and a $50 million investment for merit-based $5,000 bonuses.
"This is a way to reward the teachers who are having the biggest impact because they deserve it," Youngkin said.
Youngkin hasn't specifically committed to fully fund the Standards of Quality or lifting the support cap.
West Virginia News / 3 mins ago


text:
Anabolicum Vister
Anabolicum Vister (Quinbolone)
Unfortunately, Anabolicum Vister (Quinbolone) wasn't very popular in the United States, and most of the research on it was written in Italian. Why is that important? Well, most of the research on it is written in Italian. I'm one of those guys who doesn't even like to read the menu out loud at an Italian restaurant I usually have to point at the item I want to avoid looking too stupid.
Anabolicum Vister is yet another attempt at creating a steroid with the basic idea of altering the Methandrostenolone/Boldenone structure. As we already know, Equipoise (Boldenone) is basically a non-17alpha alkylated version of Dianabol, with an Undeclynate ester added. What we're looking at in Anabolicum Vister (Quinbolone) is basically Eq or Boldenone but with a cyclopentenyl ester at the 17-alpha position to increase its lipophillicity, in lieu of the undeclynate ester found in Eq. It's yet another attempt at a non-toxic oral anabolic like Andriol, and it used a similar delivery system. It was sealed in an oil-filled capsule, so that the oil could be absorbed by the lymphatic system just like it is with Andriol and thus it could by-pass the liver and avoid being broken down that way, which is how most oral steroids (the 17-alpha-alklyated ones) are. Your lymphatic system is a bunch of veins and arteries that can only absorb water, the idea behind Anabolicum Vister takes advantage of this state of affairs.
Anyway, as you may have heard, using the lymphatic system as a delivery vehicle for steroids is very problematic. Blood levels are all over the place (6)(9), and in some people it seemed as if most of the time it didn't metabolize properly at all. Therefore, as with Andriol, effective doses of this steroid are necessarily high. Originally, each capsule had 10 mg of quinbolone, and you needed to take 10-20caps mg to get any kind of decent anabolic effect (9)(5)(4). Remember, we're talking about oral EQ here, so you're better off with just shooting some nice Stark brand Eq (or Ganabol, or whatever you happen to like). While you won't get any benefits with Anabolicum Vister over regular Eq, it will basically do all of the same things Eq will. This stuff will help you lose a bit of fat (4)(5), will increase strength and muscle (5), and also (as Eq is noted for) increase red blood cell production (2). The kicker, for me, is that this drug was given a new name, Quinbolone, while its basically just boldenone cyclopentenyl. That's just idiotic.
As we already know from the properties of the Boldenone base, this is a particularly safe steroid. Anabolicum Vister is not liver toxic (8), and has little or no interaction with the 5AR enzyme (6), so it doesn't really form much of the more androgenic metabolite Dihydroboldenone. We also know that it has only half the ability to interact with aromatase as testosterone, so it won't convert too much estrogen. Unlike it's brother, Methandrostenolone (dbol), it doesn't have the structural alteration of the 17-alpha-methyl group that makes it form a more potent estrogen (6).
What we have here (although it has been discontinued) is basically oral Eq, which requires too many caps per day to be cost effective over injectable Eq, but nonetheless may be an interesting drug if a underground lab starts producing some. The original company that made it has, sadly, stopped doing so.
Boldenone shown with Undeclynate Ester
(Quinbolone)
[1,4-androstadiene-3-one,17b-ol (+ ester 17beta-(1-Cyclopenten-1-yloxy) ]
Molecular Formula (of Base): C19H26O2
Molecular Formula (of Ester):N/A
Molecular Weight (of Base): 286.4132
Molecular Weight (of Ester): 352.5156
Melting Point:N/A
Manufacturer: Parke Davis (Discontinued)
Effective Dose (women): 50-100mgs/day
Active Life: less than 8-12 hours
Detection Time:2-3 months
Anabolic/Androgenic Ratio: 100:50
1. [Quinbolone in the therapy of anemia in uremic patients during periodic hemodialytic treatment]Clin Ter. 1980 Jul 15;94(1):57-65. Italian.
2. [Erythropoietic action of an oral non-17-alkylated anabolic steroid] Clin Ter. 1979 Nov 15;91(3):267-78. Italian.
3. [Pituitary activity and quinbolone] Minerva Med. 1977 Jun 30;68(32):2245-8. Italian.
4. [Controlled studies of the comparative effects of an anabolic steroid (quinbolone) and cobamamide on weight gain, skinfold thickness and secondary sex characters in a group of children of both sexes. Preliminary note] Minerva Pediatr. 1972 Jul 14; 24(25):1040-50. Italian.
5. [Human pharmacological study of quinbolone. Clinical and Laboratory investigations of the effects of anabolic treatment in aged women] G Gerontol. 1972 Apr; 20(4):361-78. Italian
6. Metabolism of 1-dehydroandrostanes in man. I. Metabolism of 17 -hydroxyandrosta-1, 4-dien-3-one, 17 -cyclopent-1'-enyloxyandrosta-1, 4-dien-3-one (quinbolone) and androsta-1,4-diene-3,17-dione (1). Steroids. 1971 Jul; 18(1):39-50.
7. [The action of quinbolone on nitrogen metabolism in humans] G Clin Med. 1967 Jun;48(6):632-44. Italian.
8. [Considerations on the use of a new non 17-alpha-alkylated anabolic steroid, active orally: quinbolone. Study of liver function] Rass Fisiopatol Clin Ter. 1965 May-Jun;37(3):165-77.
9. [Clinical study of a new anabolic preparation: Quinbolone] Gazz Med Ital. 1965 Dec;124(12):360-6. Italian.


text:
Little Falls Township Police Department
D.Chief Bryan Prall
Address 225 Main Street
Little Falls NJ 07424
Website https://www.lfnj.com/departments/police
ABOUT LITTLE FALLS TOWNSHIP
Little Falls Township is named for the Passaic River waterfall that formerly spilled downstream from the dam in front of the Beattie Mill. The photo at right shows what the falls looked like back in 1890, when Union Ave. crossed the Passaic River via a covered bridge.
Little Falls can trace its heritage back to 1711. Its 2.8 square miles, now home to a population of about 11,000, are bounded by the communities of Montclair, Wayne, Cedar Grove, Woodland Park, Totowa, North Caldwell, Fairfield and Clifton.
Primarily residential, Little Falls has managed to retain the feel of a small town despite its strategic location in the tri-state metropolitan area. New York is only 15 miles away; Newark Liberty Airport is just 12 miles away. For many residents, local shopping, schools, and a variety of services are within walking distance.
The old Morris Canal, once an important artery of trade and transportation between the Delaware and Hudson Rivers, wound its way through the town, and vestiges of it still serve as a reminder of Little Falls' long history. Several well-maintained residences and other structures from the last century serve to further strengthen the town's sense of pride in it's past.
During most of the years of its existence, the Beattie Carpet Mill was the town's major employer. Even thought the mill was closed almost thirty years ago, the buildings have been converted into beautiful condominiums that overlook the river.
The quarrying of brownstone was another important local industry, and Little Falls brownstone has been utilized in many significant structures including New York's famous Trinity Church. Commercial activity is now comprised mainly of light industrial and office-based companies; there is some heavy industry. The many residents who commute elsewhere to work are among the best served in the metropolitan area, with frequent rail and bus service, as well as close proximity to key state and interstate highways.
For most of its history, a Township Committee consisting of five committeemen elected by the voters governed Little Falls. A chairman (Mayor) and deputy-chair (Deputy Mayor) were selected annually by the Township Committee members. Starting January 1, 2005, the form of government was changed as the result of a public referendum. The current government is a Mayor/Council form authorized by the New Jersey Faulkner Act. Under the new government, the voters directly elect a Mayor to a four-year term. The Mayor is responsible for the administration of the Township. The Township Council members, who are elected to four-year staggered terms, perform the legislative duties of the Township.
Little Falls has matured gracefully and today offers long term residents and newcomers alike the quality of life that makes suburban New Jersey a desirable address for home, career and recreation.
Law Enforcement & Police Officer Recruitment Within the Little Falls Township NJ Police Department. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Mobile Site


text:
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao
Rs 25 lakhs Each To Families Of Pulwama Attack Victims: KCR
Telangana Politics February 22, 2019, 12:18 pm Updated: February 22, 2019, 4:01 pm
Hyderabad:The Telangana government Vote-On-Account Budget session commenced today, the first day of the four-day session.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) moved a resolution in the state Assembly to condemn the terror attack claimed by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror outfit. "This was an attack on the nation," he said and conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families."The session started with a homage to the soldiers and two-minute silence was observed as mark of respect for those who were martyred in the Pulwama attack .
KCR condemned the attack on the CRPF soldiers , calling it a heinous crime and announced an amount of Rs 25 lakhs support from the state of Telangana to each of the families of the slain soldiers, which was appreciated by all the members in the assembly.
Opposition leader of the floor Bhatti Vikramarka took to the floor and condemned the attack on the soldiers and appreciated the government's decision to extend monetary aid to the families of the soldiers.
According to sources, major allocations will be made to the irrigation department as the state government is in the process of implementing major irrigation projects. Also, the government will ensure appropriate fund towards fulfilling some of the poll promises such as one lakh farm rupee loan waiver and Rythu Bandhu scheme.
The budget session will conclude with adoption of the Appropriation Bill on the last day, February 25.
Also Read: Telangana Cabinet Expansion: KCR Inducts 10 Ministers


text:
Attorney Bios > Shiller Preyar Alumni
Shiller Preyar Attorney and Vital Staff Alumni
Rasheda Jackson, 2014-2016
Rasheda is the Assistant Village Attorney for Oak Park, Illinois, where she lives with her family. In this role, she provides in-house counsel to administrative staff and the Village Board, and directs the services provided by outside counsel.
Keep up with Rasheda here
John Antia, 2013-2016
Currently, John is the senior immigration attorney at Sarikas Law Group, LLC in Chicago, Illinois, where he manages the immigration department. Prior to this position, was an associate attorney at the Law Offices of Rosalba Pina, P.C., also in Chicago.
Keep up with John here
Barbara Long, 2010-2013
After leaving Shiller Preyar, Barbara joined the sexual misconduct law firm, Vogt & Long P.C., in Portland, Oregon where she focuses on representing survivors of sexual abuse in civil actions against the individuals and institutions responsible for the abuse. She also volunteers for the Legal Aid Services of Oregon-Volunteer Lawyers Project and the Victim Rights Law Center.
Keep up with Barbara here
Chastidy Burns, 2013-2014
Chastity now serves as an Assistant Public Defender in Cook County; she sits on the Board of Directors of both the University of Chicago Alumni Club of Chicago; and of Just the Beginning--A Pipeline Organization, dedicated to increasing diversity in the legal profession. She is also the 2017-2018 Vice-President of the Black Women Lawyers Association of Greater Chicago
Keep up with Chastidy here
Nebula Li, 2013-2014
Now a staff attorney at the Domestic Violence Legal Clinic in Chicago, Nebula focuses their practice on family and immigration law. Since leaving Shiller Preyar Nebula has worked for multiple social justice oriented organizations, including Community Activism Law Alliance, Justice For Our Neighbors, and Asian Americans Advancing Justice--Chicago.
Keep up with Nebula here
Clinton Davis, 2014-2015
Since 2015 Clinton has been a Trial Attorney at the Chicago-based Vrdolyak Law Group LLC, where he focuses on the area of civil litigation.
Keep up with Clinton here
Whitney Williams, 2013-2015
Whitney is a legal fellow/staff attorney at Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem where she practices a holistic type of criminal defense. Prior to moving to New York City she was a law clerk for the Cook County Public Defender's Office in the Homicide Task Force, and managed the Self Help Web Center which helps plaintiffs and defendants understand court documents.
Keep up with Whitney here
Ashley Nicole Black, 2011
Ashley is a comedian, actor, and writer who lives in Los Angeles, California. She has been nominated three times for the Primetime Emmy Awards as a writer and correspondent on Comedy Central's Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.
Keep up with Ashley here
Kemi Adeyemi, 2010-2013
Kemi is an Assistant Professor of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Washington.
She focuses her classes and own work on issues specifically facing black women in urban spaces.
Keep up with Kemi here


Voith's portfolio spans renewable energy, oil & gas, paper, raw materials and transport. With over 40,000 employees and locations in over 50 countries of the world, it is one of the largest family-owned companies in Europe. Voith Hydro is a subsidiary of the Voith Group, and is a leading supplier of hydropower equipment and services, having manufactured around a third of all hydroelectric turbines and generators.
Voith's 1MW horizontal axis turbine HyTide 1000 has a rotor diameter of 13m and weighs 200 tonnes. Preparatory works commenced in summer 2011 with a 23m monopile installed in the seabed at EMEC's tidal test site at the Fall of Warness off the northern island of Eday. The turbine was installed in September 2013 and subsequently removed in February 2015.
The device was installed at European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) tidal device test area in Fall of Warness, Orkney.
South Seal Skerry (West Coast of Eday) Orkney. Water Depth: 33m. Tidal range: 3m. Tidal speeds up to 3.7 m/s.
The Voith HyTide turbine was removed in February 2015 after around a year of operation in which multiple lessons on technical and environmental considerations were learnt.
Since Hytide's removal Voith have not attempted to progress the tidal stream arm of the business, stating that technologies developed for marine could now be used in river systems and for installations in existing locks and dams.
In 2016 Voith assets in the form of a monopole and scientific monitoring equipment were transferred to SME to support deployment of their PLAT-O#1 device, also at EMEC.
Baseline studies for the Fall of Warness test site were performed by EMEC and can be found here.
Voith HyTide at EMEC is located in United Kingdom.
Benthic survey to determine the baseline benthic environment.
A ROV survey was undertaken to collect video footage of the seabed in the vicinity of the proposed installation site.
The results of the seabed survey indicated that the seabed was predominately composed of heavily scoured bedrock slabs with areas of boulders. No distinct patches of sand, gravel or fine sediment were observed. This type of high-energy environment severely restricts the development of benthic communities and only occasional small kelp plants, encrusting algae and barnacles were clearly observed on the bedrock surfaces exposed to the tidal current. There was, however evidence of cryptic communities existing in crevices, under overhangs, and around areas of boulders. A number of urchins, whelks and other molluscs, and small sponges appeared to be present; however, a detailed assessment of the species present in these areas was not possible from the ROV footage.
Monitoring of interactions with the device.
Data from 3 video cameras mounted on the device over a period of ~3 months.
There is one potential siting of a seal from the video footage, however this is unconfirmed. Footage shows one diving bird in the vicinity of the turbine. Fish and jellyfish can be seen to aggregate around the device, particularly around slack tide.
Monitoring of the extent of biofouling on the device.
A time lapse video is available which shows distinct progressive fouling of the nacelle. Growth begins within weeks of the turbine being in the water. Biofouling is patchy at first but coverage increases with time until most of the visible nacelle is covered in growth. This becomes darker with time suggesting an increasing density of fouling.
Observational monitoring at seal haul-outs during the breeding season.
Extensive monitoring carried out pre deployment as part of EMEC monitoring procedures. During operation for 1 hour 45 minute periods twice a day between 22nd May and 29th September 2013.
The presence of pups at all sites during 2013, and the observation of a live birth at Swenstay point on 22nd June suggests the absence of pups at some sites in previous years is more likely a result of inter-annual variation between the three sites. Overall, the number of seals observed in 2013 was less than that reported in 2011 when there were several times during which 40 seals were present. The highest number of seals observed at any of the haul-out sites in 2013 was 27. Such a trend was mentioned by the observer, who suggested that numbers of harbour seals in the area have fallen over the past few years.
The presence of work boats, DP vessels and RIBs in the development area does not appear to cause disturbance to seals hauled out at Seal Skerry. The same conclusion was drawn by the observer who recorded no change in the behaviour of seals whilst the DP vessel and work boats were on site. Disturbance events were however recorded, but were confined to times when RIBs travelled in close proximity to haul-out sites. Such events resulted in the seals being classed as either 'alert' or 'disturbed'.


Nifty options or stock options ?
A continuous dilemma for most of option traders.
Whereas there is great liquidity in Nifty Options not only for current month but also for next month, low implied volatilities reduce the premiums.
On the other hand we get decent premiums in stock options but liquidity is always an issue in most of them.
Hence both have there own pros and cons.
In present scenario, where extreme volatility is there in Nifty options, it requires great skill as an option trader to make positive returns. Because of low premiums, even a small movement in market can spoil the show for option writers. One need a very experienced and well tested adjustment strategy to sail through such environment of low premiums and high movements. Margin of error is very low and volatility reduces probability of success.
Stock options are always volatile. They are volatile now also. But if we compare with Nifty options, in the present environment both are volatile. Stock options provide high premiums whereas Nifty options are having low premiums. Because of availability of good premiums , trading stock options can be much more beneficial compared to index options. High premiums in stock options also take care of liquidity issues to some extent.
MASTER STRATEGY is a strategy for stock futures and options and is practically risk free , gives decent returns on consistent basis and easy to execute.
What else can any sound trader expect !


We had a great time in Peru in major part due to the excellent care given us by Ofelia, Juan, Jason and Omar. They are super people and we appreciated all the attention to us during our visit. Ofelia is a wonderful guide with outstanding knowledge of Peru and Inca history and educated us a lot on those subjects. Juan, our driver, took excellent care of us too. As you probably know, I had a few days with some health problems and we didn't get to do all that was planned for us but again your people took care of making even this problem more tolerable.
I haven't started looking at photos and stuff from our visit yet but if we see something of interest we will send it to you.
One other thing. You provided walking sticks to us for our visit and there were some small connectors that we inadvertently brought home with us. So, we would like to send them to you in Cusco but at the moment can't find a Cusco address for Kuoda. Would you give us an address where we can send these items.
The itinerary satisfied our desires for visiting Peru and Machu Picchu and Ofelia, Juan and all the other Kuoda People made it a wonderful experience. Thank you.