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TNCS Winter Concert 2019: Cold Hands, Warm Hearts, and Hot Chocolate!
At The New Century School, two yearly events are the most anticipated happenings of the year—the Winter and Spring performances. This year's Elementary and Middle School Winter Concert featured new TNCS Musical Director Javan Bowden. He put together a truly great show and introduced a few new approaches to the format, including having students introduce the songs they were about to sing with an interesting tidbit about its background written by Mr. Bowden.
As always, the show started with TNCS students wowing the audience with their Mandarin Chinese and Spanish prowess.
Songs in World Languages
First up, TNCS Kindergarten and 1st-graders sang "The Face of Happiness" (幸福的脸) by composer Dàjūn Huáng.
Next, students in grades 2 through 8 took the stage to sing "Our Time" (Wǒmen de shídài,我们的时光), by TFBOYS and composed by Mr. Fantastic and Yun Yun Wang.
For the third and final selection of the world languages portion, all elementary and middle school students joined together for "La Bikina," by Rubén Fuentes.
Strings Ensembles
Next up was the instrumental part of the show. Said TNCS strings instructor Yoshiaki Horiguchi:
Welcome to the strings portion of the Winter Concert at The New Century School. Thank you for all the music teachers and families parents and students who do everything that they do for this community. The wonderful thing about this presentation that we're about to perform is that the strings program in its fourth year of existence, so I've had these kids for a few years now, and it's such a wonderful pleasure to see them grow and learn and develop as people through instruments. The first couple of years is devoted to learning the actual instrument, but this year, we actually got to explore a lot more of the creative process and learning how to work together through music. This arrangement is something that they put together themselves. I hope you all enjoy "Appalachia Waltz," by the TNCS Alsop String Ensemble and composed by Mark O'Connor.
The Alsop Ensemble was followed up by the Bernstein Ensemble, who played "Red Wing," also by Mark O'Connor.
The final and largest group of songs was put together by Mr. Bowden:
I'm Javan Bowden, and I have the honor of being this year's music director at The New Century School. It has definitely been a pleasure preparing the students for our Winter Concert. We will be delivering seven selections, the first from our K/1 group, called "Winter Wiggles," by Teresa Jennings. Here we go!
These songs had wonderful accompaniment by some friends of Mr. Bowden's—Stephen Moore on bass guitar and Peter Roberts on piano.
Following the K/1 group, most of the next songs were introduced by TNCS students, as mentioned above. Next up, a TNCS 6th-grader introduced "I Have a Voice":
Over 70 child actors from Broadway's School of Rock, The Lion King, Kinky Boots, On Your Feet, Matilda: The Musical, and more have lent their voices to an emotional and uplifting new anti-bullying charity single. The song "I Have a Voice" is a powerful anthem for any kid who has felt alone among his or her peers. It's written by Broadway composer Frank Wildhorn and lyricist Robin Lerner and can be found in the newer musical Song of Bernadette. All of the profits from the song go to http://www.nobully.org, through Broadway Kids Against Bullying, a U.S.-based non-profit organization that trains schools how to activate student compassion to stop bullying and cyber bullying.
"Hot Chocolate," from Polar Express, written by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard and arranged by Roger Emerson, needed no introduction!
A TNCS 7th-grader introduced "My Favorite Things":
"My Favorite Things" is a show tune from the 1959 production musical The Sound of Music, one of the famous Broadway writings from Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein. Rogers wrote the music, and Hammerstein wrote the lyrics to this son. Although first appearing on stage in 1959, most people know the film version, which was released in 1965 and won five Oscars. The film featured actress Julie Andrews of Mary Poppins in her famed role as the musical's leading protagonist, Maria, who was the governess of the rich Captain von Trappe's children. This song famously appears in a scene in the film where the von Trappe children Maria look after are frightened and go into her room during a thunderstorm. She sings this tune to comfort them. This piece exemplifies "rounds in music," where one group starts off a specific song and the next group starts to sing the same song a bit later.
"Dreams of Harmony" was introduced by another TNCS 7th-grader:
This piece derives from a large songbook entitled, Peace Songs for Children. Composer Joanne Hammil writes, "while tucking in my children one night when they were young, I was flooded with knowing that parents all over the world were doing the same. With the same big wishes for their kids' happiness and safety and well-being and future, but simply saying their loving 'goodnights' in different languages. One world full of harmonies from all our glorious differences—that's my dream. Part 1 sings "goodnight" in nine different languages: English, French, Japanese, Spanish, Swahili, Chinese, Russian, German and Hebrew. Part 2 harmonizes with Part 1, with a wish in English for us to all be 'one family' and to fill the world with dreams of harmony," creating one counterpoint, which is a harmonic relationship between two voices that are independent in rhythm and contour.
A TNCS 5th-grader had the honor of introducing "When We're Together," with music and lyrics by Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson:
In 2013, Frozen became a smash hit. Part of the reason was due to the movie's soundtrack full of catchy and memorable songs, chief among them being Let It Go, the movie's most show-stopping musical number. It remains to be seen whether the upcoming Frozen II will produce such a song on that same level. Nevertheless, Olaf's Frozen Adventure, Disney's new holiday featurette that continues the original Frozen story certainly tries, with "When We're Together."
Closing out the show was good, old "Jingle Bells," this version with music and lyrics by James Pierpont and arranged by Betsey Lee Bailey.
Standard | Posted in Elementary Education, Middle School Education, The Arts, Uncategorized	| Tagged Alan Silvestri, Appalachia Waltz, Betsey Lee Bailey, Broadway Kids Against Bullying, Dàjūn Huáng, Dreams of Harmony, Elyssa Samsel, Glen Ballard, Hot Choclate, Hot Chocolate, I Have a Voice, James Pierpont, Javan Bowden, Jingle Bells, Kate Anderson, Mark O'Connor, Mr. Fantastic, My Favorite Things, No Bully, Our Time, Peace Songs for Children, Red Wing, Roger Emerson, rounds in music, Rubén Fuentes, Teresa Jennings, TFBOYS, The New Century School, TNCS, When We're Together, Winter Wiggles, www.nobully.org, Yoshiaki Horiguchi	| 0 comments
Meet Javan Bowden, TNCS's New Music Director!
Just in time for the upcoming (and highly anticipated) annual Winter Performance, Immersed got the opportunity to interview Music Director Javan Bowden. For the 2019–2020 school year at The New Century School, it was time for former TNCS Music Director Martellies Warren to pass the conducting baton. Although it was hard to say goodbye to our longtime friend, in true Mr. Warren fashion, he made sure he was leaving the superb music program he built in very capable hands. So let's meet the one person who was right for the job!
Mr. Bowden and Mr. Warren have more in common than being music educators. First of all, they are both from Alabama, although they did not know each other there (Mr. Bowden's hometown is Birmingham). Secondly, they are both vocalists for Anthony Brown & Group TherApy. "In 2017, I began an internship program with Anthony Brown's music label," explains Mr. Bowden. "I was pretty much his personal assistant and his road assistant for about 6 months. Then, in December of that year he needed another tenor to fill in for their annual Christmas concert. So, I sat in for that, and since then I've been a part of the group."
Mr. Bowden further explains that, although he is a tenor in the gospel and pop worlds, he is a lyric baritone in the classical realm. (For what that means in practice as well as to hear a sample recording, click "Talk Like an Opera Geek.")
And, his musical talents don't stop with voice:
Originally, in the 4th grade, I started my music journey on the trumpet when my dad put one in my hand. I kept playing classical trumpet, and I wound up going to the only fine arts high school in Alabama, Alabama School of Fine Arts. After graduating, I attended Howard University in Washington, DC, where I double minored in classical trumpet and classical voice. In my sophomore year, I let go of the trumpet because it became a little too hectic to juggle both voice and trumpet.
Mr. Bowden still resides in DC, traveling to Baltimore to teach TNCS students on Mondays and Tuesdays. The rest of his workweek consists of his position as data collector in the education department of the John F. Kennedy Center of Performing Arts. "There, we survey middle school kids before and after seeing a music or a theater performance to measure their sense of empathy, their consciousness," described Mr. Bowden.
If it sounds like Mr. Bowden is a bit of a Renaissance Man, there's more. At university, he also pursued a music business major that included courses in accounting, economics, law, management of behavior, and various other classes related to the music industry (such as with a music label or as an arts administrator). "It kind of gave me the option to be a performer or handle what's happening behind the stage," he said. He certainly uses this career versatility to advantage now!
Road to Education
So just how did he wind up teaching music at TNCS? "Mr. Warren extended the invitation to me," recounts Mr. Bowden. "He knew that I was looking to expand my passion for music, and he seemed to believe that I could fill his shoes." Prior to TNCS, Mr. Bowden subbed with Montgomery County schools as an art, English, and music instructor. "Now that I'm solely a music instructor, it has given me the opportunity to brush up on a lot of things that I learned throughout my years and reciprocate everything that was given to me to someone else—that's really what I always wanted to do, pass along the art and love of music. Someone cared about me enough to cultivate that in me when I was a young kid, and that's why I'm at this point. I kind of just want to give that back," he said.
He also wasn't necessarily interested in being an "extreme performer," meaning that's all he would ever do. Music majors basically have only two options, he explained, either that or teaching music, and, as he said, spreading a love of music in kids is important to him. If you've ever noticed how TNCS students swarm about him, then you know he is definitely giving them that. He is always smiling, and he developed a rapport with his students from the get-go.
At TNCS
"I enjoy teaching at TNCS," he said:
It reminds me a lot of the high school I went to in terms of the many different cultures here and all of the languages spoken. It gives me another sense of why I am the way I that am, as accepting of a lot of different types of people. Even though I'm from Alabama, and it's kind of a conservative state, I was given the opportunity to be in a space where I was accepted, and TNCS resembles that. I feel comfortable here.
His primary goal for the music program is to increase TNCS students' "music literacy." "I want to teach the kids to be able to be presented with a piece of music; read it; and identify the key signature, the tempo, and the clef," he said. "It's one thing to be orally aware of what's happening, but it's another thing to be able to analyze a piece of music on a page. That's what I was brought up on, and a lot of those fundamentals are dying out. It's like with reading and writing—you have to know how to write in order to read and read in order to write. It's the same thing with music."
He teaches in four separate divisions: one class comprises 5th- through 8th-graders, another 2nd- though 4th-graders, a third of Kindergarteners and 1st-graders, and finally a pre-K class (the latter meets once a month rather than twice a week).
"I have to approach the divisions differently, he explained. "I'm a bit more exacting with my older kids because I have a higher expectation of them. I remember what was expected of me at that age, and I try to replicate that as far as reading music, sight singing, oral awareness . . . I can't expect the same thing from my K–2 students."
With the Winter Concert looming, most classes are focused on practice currently. Mr. Bowden reports that he is excited to see all of the moving parts come together. He's not alone!
Beyond TNCS
In his spare time, Mr. Bowden is a cantor at the Washington National Cathedral every other Sunday. He recently had the good fortune to participate in a commemorative service of the 400th anniversary of the first slave arriving in North America. "It was kind of a big program, and a lot of different delegates were there," he said. "I was proud and very grateful to be a part of it. I love being there; they're accepting of a lot of different types of people."
So . . . want to hear him sing? You can find him on YouTube at both the cathedral and singing on Anthony Brown's videos. "[2econd Wind: Ready] is my first album with the group, so I can knock that off my bucket list, actually having a real industry project that I'm a part of. I'm very grateful for that." The album is hot off the press, just released last month, by the way.
The last thing Mr. Bowden wanted the TNCS community to know about him? "I'm a lover of music and people," he finished. Welcome to TNCS, Javan Bowden!
Standard | Posted in The Arts, Uncategorized	| Tagged Alabama School of Fine Arts, Anthony Brown and Group Therapy, Howard University, Javan Bowden, John F. Kennedy Center of Performing Arts, lyric baritone, Music Program, Talk Like an Opera Geek, tenor, The New Century School, TNCS, Washington National Cathedral	| 1 Comment


"Acute renal artery occlusion: making the case for renal artery revascu" by Gregory Giugliano MD, Leehapong Navaravong MD et al.
Atherosclerotic renal artery disease is a common disease entity that may be identified in patients with difficult-to-control hypertension and/or chronic kidney disease but is probably underdiagnosed. Current evidence from both observational and randomized studies offers mixed results regarding the support for renal artery revascularization. There is lack of equipoise with regard to the efficacy of renal artery revascularization among the interventional and renal communities, as well as disagreements on the appropriate endpoints to measure in clinical trials, which have led to selection bias confounding the scant available data. We report a patient who does not fit any clinical trial inclusion criteria with acute on chronic kidney injury and new-onset heart failure whose symptoms and renal function improved significantly after renal artery intervention. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Navaravong L, Ali RG, Giugliano GR. Acute renal artery occlusion: making the case for renal artery revascularization Cardiovasc Revasc Med 2011 Nov;12(6):399-402.


We talk a lot on this podcast about the people that make this festival possible - the artists, the staff, the fans...but we don't hear enough from a group that plays an important role: our partners. Sponsors, nonprofits and organizations help make this festival what it is. This episode we'll hear from three partners, their stories, and how they make Newport a better festival.


CenturyLink has its headquarters located in Monroe, Louisiana, United States. It is a U.S. based telecommunications company that provides data services and communications to wholesale customers, residential, government sectors and business customers. CenturyLink specializes in offering Voice, Video and Data, Communications, Big Data Analytics, Hosting IT Consulting, Cloud, Managed Services, Global Data Centers, and Security. Founded in 19 30 the company has its locations operational through the world.
Below one can find CenturyLink headquarters and corporate office address. We have also provided CenturyLink headquarter team information, customer service contact details and social networking accounts. Read on and have a nice time accessing all the information required.
Customers can get in touch with the CenturyLink headquarters at 1-318-388-9000.
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Right-handed drills require the ultimate in timing and coordination between the upper and lower body but can be executed so that they produce perfectly struck shots when done correctly. Right-handed drills can be done from a normal stance, with the feet crossed, or in a transfer mode with the feet in full motion to allow the player to feel the importance of proper footwork in the swing.
Since the body is in a "weakened" condition of having only one arm on the club, it's imperative that the arm be in its "perfect" plane for the shots to be properly executed. Remember that the ideal swing-plane is different for every person depending on how their individual bones are curved and how their mass is distributed on their frame. No one on earth can tell you exactly where your ideal plane is, but right arm only drills will let you feel exactly where it is because you can't execute quality shots from the drill unless you're in that ideal plane.
To start a right handed drill, the club should be gripped with the right hand only, at the same place on the grip that it would be if both hands were on the club for a normal swing. The grip should be secure and the right shoulder, arm, and wrist should be flexed and firmed up to a degree that when the heave is made to set the swing into motion, the core, the arm, and the club start back exactly together. The heave that sets the arm into motion is powerful but brief, and is complete by the time the arm and club reach 8 o'clock when viewing the player from a facing position. The momentum from the heave alone carries the arm and club to the completion of the backswing with the elbow leading until approximately the 10 o'clock position. At this point, the elbow begins to roll over and lay into the "slot" as the shoulders complete their back-turn. It's very important that throughout the backswing and the change of direction there is as much width in the shoulder joint as possible so that "slack" does not develop between the core of the body and the arm.
Once the elbow and arm have fallen a couple of inches as the shoulders reach their full turn, the counter-fall is complete and the forward turn of the body slings the arm and club through impact to the finish of the swing. The arm is simply going along for the ride and the power to move it in the delivery should be coming only from the centrifugal force created by the turn. If the arm interjects its own strength in the downswing, energy will flow back into the body, the swing-plane will change, and the shot will in all likelihood be miss-hit.
Right-handed drills can be done with any club, and when the ball is hit properly with a weight shift, the ball will travel about 75% of the distance of a normal two-handed swing. They are great for making you super-sensitive to proper power application in the golf swing.


It's shocking but there are very few personal training schools operating in Texas.
If you are living in Texas and interested in starting a personal training career, your choices are a bit limited but there are strong local players in the market. Most notably, Cooper Certification which is a Dallas based certification provider is a dominant force in Texas. You can read our review of the Cooper Certification. The downside to Cooper is that it is not well known outside of Texas. So if you think you may go out of state you may want to consider some of the decent online programs that allow you to self study and attend hands on training in a major Texas city or Las Vegas.
If you are in the Houston area, NPTI is your best choice. With 30 locations natiowide, NPTI consitently turns out high quality personal trainers.
Make sure you shop around and compare programs. Choosing the right certification is one of the biggest factors for determining your success as a personal trainer. I have seen so many trainers take short cuts on their certification. They always end up lacking confidence and struggling to retain clients. That is not a long term recipe for success.
My top pick for personal trainer certification in Texas would be NPTI for the great hands on training, but if self study is your thing then Pinnacle's online program. Pinnacle has a broad curriculum, you can go at your own pace, and includes a brief but intensive hands on component.
So here are some of programs available for personal trainer certification in Texas.
You can take these online certification courses from anywhere. So if you are in Texas where there are no personal training schools, this is a good option.


This last week of summer vacation, my daughters are redecorating the basement.
They are thirteen and sixteen, past needing space for a vast collection of magnetic princesses and plastic animals, the dollhouse closed up and stored beneath the stairs. The collection of pony puzzles and foam building toys and inexplicable plastic parts from birthday-party-goody-bags have been sorted, donated, stored or thrown out. Elmo and Dora the Explorer are long gone. What remains is a small enough collection of things that the basement — home to all things daughter for a dozen years — is ready to become a teenager hangout. They are planning it themselves.
Like many projects, this was supposed to be an all-summer-long plan, but here we are in the last week of summer vacation, frantically painting. I brought paint sample pamphlets from Home Depot for them, blues and reds and greens and purples and yellows. They're the same kinds of sample cards that their father used to give them to hold while he wheeled them through the store in the oversized carts when they were very tiny, on the one day each week when he'd bundle them quickly out of the house in the early morning so I could get a few precious extra hours of sleep. They still talk about playing with the doorknobs in the store. They still remember the carts.


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2. Soft X-ray MCP detectors with XDL and Timepix readouts
3. Experimental setup
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Volume 28| Part 4| July 2021| Pages 1069-1080
Photon-counting MCP/Timepix detectors for soft X-ray imaging and spectroscopic applications
Anton S. Tremsin,a* John V. Vallerga,a Oswald H. W. Siegmund,a Justin Woods,b Lance E. De Long,c Jeffrey T. Hastings,c Roland J. Koch,d Sophie A. Morley,d Yi-De Chuangd and Sujoy Royd
aSpace Sciences Laboratory, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA, bDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA, cDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA, and dAdvanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
*Correspondence e-mail: ast@ssl.berkeley.edu
Edited by A. Bergamaschi, Paul Scherrer Institut, Switzerland (Received 3 December 2020; accepted 12 April 2021; online 28 May 2021)
Detectors with microchannel plates (MCPs) provide unique capabilities to detect single photons with high spatial (<10 µm) and timing (<25 ps) resolution. Although this detection technology was originally developed for applications with low event rates, recent progress in readout electronics has enabled their operation at substantially higher rates by simultaneous detection of multiple particles. In this study, the potential use of MCP detectors with Timepix readout for soft X-ray imaging and spectroscopic applications where the position and time of each photon needs to be recorded is investigated. The proof-of-principle experiments conducted at the Advanced Light Source demonstrate the capabilities of MCP/Timepix detectors to operate at relatively high input counting rates, paving the way for the application of these detectors in resonance inelastic X-ray scattering and X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) applications. Local count rate saturation was investigated for the MCP/Timepix detector, which requires optimization of acquisition parameters for a specific scattering pattern. A single photon cluster analysis algorithm was developed to eliminate the charge spreading effects in the detector and increase the spatial resolution to subpixel values. Results of these experiments will guide the ongoing development of future MCP devices optimized for soft X-ray photon-counting applications, which should enable XPCS dynamics measurements down to sub-microsecond timescales.
Keywords: soft X-ray detectors; photon counting; microchannel plates; X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy; Timepix.
The recent development of novel techniques enabled by the combination of bright partially coherent X-ray sources and advanced X-ray detectors provides experimental capabilities to study various microscopic dynamic phenomena. X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) is a technique that can probe the dynamics of complex systems at length scales in the Ångstrom range (Dierker et al., 1995 ; Mochrie et al., 1997 ; Grübel et al., 2008 ; Sinha et al., 2014 ; Shpyrko, 2014 ; Sandy et al., 2018 ). The scattered X-ray radiation reflects the microscopic morphology of the sample. The dynamics of that morphology are represented by changes in the intensity of the speckle patterns. These can vary over a very wide range of timescales, from seconds to picoseconds depending on the physical system under investigation. The large dynamic range introduces very stringent requirements on the detection systems needed for such experiments. The speckle patterns need to be measured with very high timing and sufficient angular or scattering momentum (q) resolution.
The advent of diffraction-limited light sources (e.g. ALS-U, APS-U, https://als.lbl.gov/als-u/resources/; https://www.aps.anl.gov/APS-Upgrade) and free-electron laser X-ray sources (LCLS-II; Galayda, 2018 ) has substantially increased the intensity of coherent X-rays available for experiments. The development of detectors, which can meet the requirements for spatial and timing resolution while at the same time facilitate operation in a large dynamic range, is crucial for using ultra-high fluxes for XPCS experiments. At the same time, the spatial resolution and detection efficiency of soft X-ray detectors in resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) experiments (Rossi et al., 2019 ) in many cases determine the ultimate resolution of these experiments. Therefore the development of soft X-ray detectors with high spatial and temporal resolution capable of operation at high counting rates with high detection efficiency is very important for future operation at various synchrotron sources.
Fast non-imaging and linear detectors can be used for XPCS experiments, e.g. 1D Mythen devices (Westermeier et al., 2013 ). However, they introduce substantial constraints on the phenomena that can be studied, require relatively long illumination leading to radiation damage of materials under investigation, and are difficult to use when the alignment to a specific speckle becomes problematic. Furthermore, they are restricted to one speckle (or a few speckles in the case of 1D arrays) at a time, whereas complex systems typically exhibit multiple different speckles with various 2D distributions. In addition, the XPCS time resolution scales are the inverse square root of the number of speckles used in the analysis; therefore, high timing resolution detectors with full 2D imaging capabilities are needed for these experiments.
A number of fast X-ray 2D area detectors have been developed recently for XPCS experiments where the intensity of the incoming X-ray specular reflection pattern is measured with sub-millisecond timing resolution (Denes et al., 2009 ; Johnson et al., 2012 ; Becker et al., 2013 ; Pennicard et al., 2013 ; Hatsuia & Graafsma, 2015 ; Zhang et al., 2016 , 2018 ; Rumaiz et al., 2016 ; Kleczek et al., 2018 ; Graafsma et al., 2020 ). Most of these devices are built for moderate-to-high X-ray energies, exceeding ∼10 keV. In this work we concentrate on the development of detectors for soft XPCS experiments, where detection technology at present does not allow investigation of fluctuations at the nanometre length scale with a sub-microsecond time resolution. Integrating soft X-ray detectors, such as charge coupled devices (CCDs), have excellent detection efficiency but limited timing resolution from tens to hundreds of microseconds at present (e.g. Denes et al., 2009 ). For fast hybrid detectors, where incoming photons are converted to a charge in Si or other solid-state sensors and subsequently registered by a readout-specific integrated circuit (ROIC), such as event-counting Medipix/Timepix, integrating AGIPD devices (Graafsma et al., 2020 ) have a minimum charge threshold value corresponding to a photon energy of several keV. Detection of soft X-ray photons (∼100 eV to ∼1.2 keV) therefore requires charge amplification. We accomplish this by employing vacuum electron multipliers such as microchannel plates (MCPs).
Detectors with microchannel plates have been used for soft X-ray and UV photon counting for a number of years, primarily for astrophysical instrumentation and applications where incoming fluxes are relatively low. However, recent progress in MCP detectors has extended their photon-counting capabilities to relatively high counting rates exceeding ∼108 photons s−1 (Tremsin et al., 2020a ,b ) and allowed the detection of many photons simultaneously. The quantum efficiency (QE) of MCP detectors for soft X-ray photons is determined by the efficiency of the photon conversion into photoelectrons by a particular photocathode, which can be deposited directly onto the MCP input side (Fraser, 1983 ; Siegmund et al., 1988 ; Tremsin & Siegmund, 2005 ). Generally, the detection efficiency of MCP devices is not as high as the efficiency of soft X-ray CCD detectors. However, their intrinsic timing resolution, being as low as ∼10–25 ps (Martindale et al., 2007 ; Vredenborg et al., 2008 ; Va'vra et al., 2009 ), and sub-20 µm spatial resolution (Bellazzini et al., 2008 ; Siegmund et al., 2009 ; Tremsin et al., 2012 ) make these detectors very attractive for future soft RIXS and XPCS applications. In Section 2 we briefly describe how the MCP detectors with cross delay line (XDL) readout, widely used now for soft X-ray experiments, can be optimized for the photon-counting applications where low-intensity spots need to be measured in the presence of spatially separated bright areas. The main purpose of this study is the evaluation of the existing MCP detector configuration with Timepix readout (Llopart et al., 2007 ) specifically for RIXS and XPCS applications in the soft X-ray regime. We discuss the near-future potential of this technology with an emphasis on the new generation of Timepix readout devices. The proof-of-principle measurements conducted at the COSMIC scattering beamline 7.0.1.1 at the Advanced Light Source described in Section 4 demonstrate the strengths and deficiencies of the existing MCP detection technology. The results presented in this paper lay the foundations for future improvements of this detection technology. The ongoing upgrade to next-generation Timepix readouts, the existing Timepix3 (Poikela et al., 2014 ) and the latest Timepix4 ROIC will substantially enhance the capabilities of MCP/Timepix detectors for soft RIXS, XPCS and other experiments.
Detectors using MCPs are capable of single-particle detection with high spatial and temporal resolution due to high gain (with a factor of up to ∼107) electron multiplication within the MCP pores, with jitter times as small as ∼10 ps without signal spread beyond the MCP pore (Wiza, 1979 ; Martindale et al., 2007 ; Vredenborg et al., 2008 ; Va'vra et al., 2009 ). To detect photons, the incoming flux of the soft X-rays has to be converted into photoelectrons by a photocathode before these photoelectrons are amplified in the microchannels. The efficiency of this conversion determines the quantum detection efficiency (QDE) of the entire device, as the probability of every photoelectron to create a charge avalanche in the microchannel is close to unity. No ideal photocathode exists for all photon energies and the selection of specific photocathode materials and geometry can only be performed for a given wavelength range. Various soft X-ray photocathodes have been developed for the MCP detectors, with alkali halide films being widely used for soft X-ray photon conversion (e.g. KBr or CsI photocathodes, Fraser, 1983 ; Siegmund et al., 1988 ). In this study, we use a conventional KBr opaque photocathode evaporated directly on the input surface of the MCP chevron stack.
The main subject of this paper is the optimization of the detector readout for the experiments where timing and position of each photon need to be detected, including multiple simultaneous event detection. Two readout technologies are considered for the use within MCP detectors: a cross delay line (XDL) readout (Siegmund et al., 1999 ; Tremsin et al., 2007a ) and bare Timepix ROICs (Llopart et al., 2007 ) are placed directly behind the MCP stack. The schematics of these two detector configurations are shown in Figs. 1 and 2 . There is not a single readout type that can fulfil the requirements for all experiments; therefore, an optimal readout needs to be chosen for a specific experiment (Tremsin et al., 2020a ). XDL detectors have excellent linearity, great timing (<50 ps) and spatial (<20 µm) resolution, and large active areas (exceeding 10 cm × 10 cm), but they cannot register multiple near-simultaneous events. They also have a limit on the input counting rates, typically below ∼1 MHz per entire detector area, and a limited lifetime due to the ageing of the MCP from operations at very high gain settings (106–107 e− photon−1). On the other hand, an MCP electron amplifier combined with a Timepix readout can operate at very high input rates exceeding ∼100 MHz and can detect many particles simultaneously. The timing resolution is limited to 10 ns for the first-generation Timepix (Llopart et al., 2007 ) and is improved to ∼1.6 ns for Timepix3 devices (Poikela et al., 2014 ) and anticipated to be ∼200 ps for the Timepix4 ROIC. Although the experimental results presented in this paper were obtained with Timepix readouts, multiple aspects of MCP/Timepix operation and optimization (e.g. charge collection by bare Timepix chips, thermal load management, charge spread over multiple pixels, MCP count rate saturation and others) will directly benefit the development of future detectors with Timepix3 and Timepix4 readouts. Despite the fact that certain limitations exist for the first-generation Timepix readout used in this study, the unique capabilities of these detectors to operate at high counting rates with low MCP gain and detect multiple simultaneous particles with sub-10 µm spatial resolution at high dynamic range, the absence of readout noise and the low dark count rate make these devices attractive for various soft X-ray imaging applications at synchrotron beamlines.
Schematic of the XDL event counting detector with MCPs. The position of each particle is encoded by two orthogonal delay lines, and the timing of the particle is picked up at the MCP output electrode. Custom TDCs with the possibility to veto signals are used for the selection of the region of interest in order to avoid global count rate saturation of the readout electronics.
(a) Photograph and (b) schematic of the MCP detector with 2 × 2 array of Timepix readout used in the experiments. The open-face detector is mounted in vacuum on an 8 inch flange as shown in (a). The detector active area of 28 mm × 28 mm is located behind the circular mesh grid visible in the image. The detector signals are transferred outside the vacuum over 128 parallel lines and are processed by a custom FPGA data processing board. An external trigger can be used to generate the sequence of acquisition frames, each controlled to a 10 ns timing accuracy. The time of photon arrival within each of these frames is measured by the Timepix readout. Due to the use of frame-based Timepix readout, only one photon per acquisition frame is possible for the current detector, whereas next-generation readouts (Timepix3 and Timepix4) can operate in event-driven mode to remove the latter limitation on the detector local count rate.
2.1. Optimization of MCP/XDL detectors for high input rates
One of the main deficiencies of MCP/XDL detectors in XPCS applications is their inability to detect multiple particles simultaneously and the limit on the maximum detection count rate. In XPCS experiments, for example, the incoming flux consists of very bright illumination in a small area (e.g. Bragg diffraction spots, specular reflected spots) and very weak speckles directly next to them. The dead-time related to single-photon processing means that the detection of photons in weak speckles can be substantially suppressed by the unwanted bright spots. Although detection methods for several near-simultaneous particles have been developed (Jagutzki et al., 2002 ), signals corresponding to separate particles still need to be distinguished at the timing output channel of the detector, as shown in Fig. 1 . The timing of photons in this detector configuration is reconstructed by measuring the pulse at the MCP output electrode. The signal propagation along the back electrode is far from ideal for fast timing measurements; therefore, photons still need to be well separated in time, which can be problematic for experiments involving fast dynamic systems. Provided the photons are distinguishable by the time-processing electronics, one of the possible optimizations of MCP/XDL detectors operating at high input fluxes is the application of gating implemented at the processing electronics. We have already reported how gating of the time-to-digital converter (TDC) can be implemented for time-of-flight experiments in the case of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) (Tremsin et al., 2007b ). In those experiments, the unwanted bright peak from secondary electrons in the time distribution can be ignored, thus avoiding the suppression of weak peaks by the detector dead-time. A similar TDC gating can be implemented for the experiments where the registration of a weak speckle is required in the presence of other unwanted bright spots. Only photons corresponding to a given area will trigger the processing electronics in such a detector configuration, where the TDC ignores all events except in a pre-selected area of the detector as depicted schematically in Fig. 1 . Two veto pulses are generated for X and Y channels by a pulse generator triggered by the MCP out channel. This approach clearly requires preliminary measurements with an ungated full field of view in order to determine the location of the area of interest.
2.2. MCP detectors with Timepix readout
The unique capability to detect many near-simultaneous events by combining an MCP with a Timepix readout device is possible due to the fact that each pixel in the detector readout can register an event almost independently from other pixels. Furthermore, the MCP/Timepix detectors can operate at a relatively low gain compared with other readouts due to the fact that the intrinsic electronic noise in a pixel of the Timepix readout chip is approximately ∼50–75 e− r.m.s. Consequently, the low-level threshold of Timepix can be set to ∼1000 electrons. Depending on how many pixels are excited by a single photon, the gain in the MCP/Timepix detector can be set to as low as 104 e− photon−1. Direct placement of the Timepix chip behind the MCP eliminates any transfer of charge or analog signals, and only the digital values are read from the Timepix chip into the data processing FPGA board, as shown in Fig. 2 . In the present study, we used first-generation Timepix chips; these impose a certain limitation to applications where the timing of each photon needs to be detected with an accuracy better than ∼1 ms. This limitation is related to the fact that only one photon can be detected per pixel per acquisition frame, which needs to be followed by a 320 µs readout dead-time; the first-generation Timepix is still a frame-based readout. The next-generation Timepix3 and Timepix4 readout chips are capable of pixel-based event-driven operation, thus eliminating such deficiency and enabling the uninterrupted detection of X-ray photons. However, many of the characteristics stemming from the combination of MCPs with the Timepix readout are common to all generations of Timepix readouts and therefore are tested and optimized in the present study. These characteristics are: (i) number of pixels excited per individual photon, (ii) local MCP gain saturation, (iii) spatial resolution, (iv) detection efficiency, (v) detector operation parameters such as gain, the accelerating field between the MCP and Timepix. The capability of these devices to simultaneously register bright and dim spots, where the difference in their flux is more than three orders of magnitude, is demonstrated by our proof-of-principle experiments described in Section 4 .
The MCP/Timepix detector used in the present study has a relatively small active area. The original Timepix chips require a wire-bonded connection on one side. Only 2N (where N is an integer) chip tiling configurations are possible without large dead areas, limiting the size of one side of the active area to 28 mm. Moreover, there is a small gap in between the chips, which is typically ∼150 µm in our current devices. The Through Silicon Via (TSV) technology will be implemented in Timepix4 devices, which will also feature a larger single chip size (∼28 mm × 24 mm) to provide larger active areas in future work. The MCP/Timepix detectors also require carefully designed heat transfer and dissipation outside the vacuum chamber as substantial power is generated by Timepix chips (up to 1 W cm−2).
The results reported in this paper were obtained with a detector containing a chevron stack of MCPs with 6 µm pores, 50 mm in diameter, 0.3 mm thickness with 8° pore bias (tilt of the pores relative to the MCP normal) and ∼50 MΩ resistance per MCP. An ∼1 µm-thick KBr photocathode was evaporated on the input surface of the top MCP, which improves the QDE of the detector to 30–70% (Siegmund et al., 1988 ) depending on the photon wavelength. A quad assembly of bare Timepix chips was placed behind the MCP stack. Custom-built readout electronics were used to control and receive data from the Timepix chip over 128 parallel readout lines operating at 100 MHz (Tremsin et al., 2015 , 2020a ). The first-generation Timepix readout operates in frame-based mode, where the time of arrival of photons in relation to the time of the frame is recorded in each individual pixel. Only the first photon per pixel per frame can be detected. The global detector readout time is ∼320 µs, enabling a maximum rate of ∼1200 frames s−1. The duty cycle of the detector, i.e. readout dead-time versus sensitive time, is determined by the time of the acquisition shutter as the readout dead-time is fixed. Here we implemented ∼9.68 ms and ∼1.1 ms shutter time lengths, which equate to acquisition duty cycles of 95% and 76% for these two shutter values, respectively. An external pulse generator was used to trigger the detector for both these modes, as shown in Fig. 3 . A list of photon events in the form of XYT (pixel indices X and Y and photon time T relative to the free-running 100 MHz global clock counter in the FPGA processing board) was saved to a disk in the data acquisition computer for subsequent analysis. Most photon events activated more than one pixel on the Timepix readout due to charge spreading in the gap between the MCP and Timepix chips. A specific data processing procedure was developed to assign only one pixel per event, and this procedure will be described in Section 4 .1 . The time of photon arrival was recorded with 1.28 µs and 160 ns binning for ∼9.68 ms and ∼1.1 ms shutter widths, respectively. The detector was mounted on an 8 inch conflat flange attached to the scattering endstation of the COSMIC beamline at the Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. A monochromatic soft X-ray beam illuminated the sample at an incidence angle ∂ = 8.65°, and the reflected/scattered photons were registered by the MCP/Timepix detector at an angle of 2∂ = 18°, as shown in Fig. 4 . The pinhole (7 µm in diameter) to filter out the coherent portion of the X-rays was located about 1 cm in front of the sample and the distance between the sample and the detector was set to 1 m.
Timing diagrams of the two acquisition frame configurations used in our experiments. An external pulse generator provided the trigger signal to the FPGA board, which generated ten acquisition frames for the 10 Hz trigger, configuration (a), and six acquisition frames for a 100 Hz trigger, configuration (b). The detector dead-time (frame readout) of 320 µs was fixed for both configurations, while the length of the acquisition shutter was 9.68 ms for configuration (a) and 1.1 ms for configuration (b). A larger dead-time gap occured between the last shutter and next trigger (2 ms and 1.8 ms for 10 Hz and 100 Hz, respectively). Time of photon arrivals was registered with 1.28 µs accuracy for configuration (a) and 160 ns for configuration (b).
Schematic of the XPCS setup at the COSMIC beamline at the Advanced Light Source, where the MCP/Timepix detector was installed.
The sample used in the present study was a square array of permalloy (Ni0.8Fe0.2) nanomagnets fabricated on a silicon wafer using electron-beam lithography (Chen et al., 2019 ). The sample was capped with 1.5 nm of Al to guard against oxidation. The block-spin dimensions were 470 nm long, 170 nm wide and 3 nm thick with a lattice constant a = 600 nm. The thickness of the permalloy was chosen so that the array undergoes fluctuation and settles into an antiferromagnetic ground state near room temperature. RIXS produces both structural Bragg peaks and antiferromagnetic Bragg peaks at the detector.
In our experiments, we varied the temperature of the sample while it was illuminated by a monochromatic coherent X-ray beam at 708 eV (Fe L3-edge). A typical full-field image registered by the MCP/Timepix detector is shown in Fig. 5 , which contains both Bragg diffraction spots from an artificial spin ice lattice and antiferromagnetic Bragg peaks (Woods et al., 2021 ). The brightest specular reflection spot is just to the left of the field of view, not interfering with the signal of interest. As mentioned earlier, these experiments require detection of incoming photons with a very large dynamic range, where bright spots can possibly inhibit the detection of dim speckles of interest. The full parallel processing of events by each pixel in an MCP/Timepix detector is one of the crucial characteristics of these devices, which extend the capabilities of MCP detectors originally developed for low-flux particle counting. Cross sections through several spots in that image, shown in Fig. 5 (b), indicate that the intensity in the spots varied by more than three orders of magnitude. The input flux and the size of the illuminated area for these spots are described in Table 1 . Although our MCP/Timepix detector can count the number of registered photons at rates exceeding 100 MHz per detector chip, the timing of each individual photon can only be measured at lower rates due to the limitation of the current Timepix readout, as described earlier. The individual single-frame images acquired in our experiment with the acquisition frame lengths of 9.68 ms and 1.1 ms are shown in Fig. 6 . The colour in these images represents the time of photon arrival within the shutter in microseconds. These single-frame images contain all pixels activated by the charge generated by the MCP stack. In most cases, one photon activates several pixels due to charge spread behind the MCP stack. However, in some photon-counting experiments (e.g. XPCS), ideally we need to determine the correct location and time of one incoming photon rather than the footprint of an amplified electron cloud, i.e. we need to select only one pixel per photon. The process of data reduction, assigning only one pixel per incoming photon, is described in the next section.
Size and input count rate for the spots indicated by dashed rectangles in Fig. 5
Area (pixels) 1570 497 193 726
Input count rate (photons s−1) 16000 242 7.7 941
(a) Typical raw image acquired by the MCP/Timepix detector during XPCS experiments. All photons registered within 1000 s are summed in the image, while the time and position of each photon was recorded during the measurement. (b) Linecut taken along the x direction through Spots 1–4 outlined by dashed rectangles in (a). The count rate within different spots in the image varies by more than three orders of magnitude. The Bragg diffraction spots from an artificial spin ice lattice are marked by dashed lines. The remaining spots correspond to antiferromagnetic Bragg peaks.
Single-frame images acquired by the MCP/Timepix detector. The colour represents the relative time of photon arrival (in microseconds) within the acquisition frame. (a) Frame length of 9.68 ms; (b) frame length of 1.1 ms. The dashed rectangles indicate the spots shown in more detail in Figs. 8 and 9 .
4.1. Cluster analysis: single pixel per photon
Optimizing the size of the electron cloud generated by the MCP to the pixel size of the Timepix chip can be achieved by changing the MCP gain, the accelerating voltage and the gap distance between the MCP and the Timepix chip. Most MCP detectors operate in a saturated mode, where the gain of individual events has a relatively small variation (typically ±25%) around the modal gain value. That is achieved usually at an MCP gain of 106–107 e− photon−1. We operate the MCP stack at much lower gain and therefore do not achieve full saturation. On one hand, this allows operation of the MCP at much higher photon rates but, at the same time, it leads to a wider distribution of gain between individual photon events. As a result, the size of the electron cloud ejected from the MCP and therefore its footprint on the Timepix chip also changes from event to event. Optimization of MCP saturation at a relatively low gain of 104–105 will be explored in our near future studies.
For experiments where single-pixel detection is required, we developed and implemented a data reduction procedure, which is schematically described in Fig. 7 . This procedure is executed on each frame acquired by our detector and it can either be done in real time or post-experiment after all the raw data are recorded. The criteria by which the individual photons are identified are: (1) time of the photon arrival; (2) spatial separation of clusters in the x and y axes. For each individual frame, we sort the events by their time of arrival first and then combine those pixels, which differ only by one time-bin value. The exact length of a time bin can change from 10 ns to tens of microseconds, depending on the detector settings. This step is necessary since the neighbouring pixels excited by the same photon may have a different amount of accumulated charge, which leads to a small time difference for the threshold crossing between neighbouring pixels. When the event is close to the edge of the Timepix clock cycle, this leads to a different registered time by one time bin. In the second step, we separate the clusters with the same time of arrival by the gaps in their projections on the x and y axes and then calculate the centroid of the charge distribution for each event cluster to assign that event to a particular pixel. The result of this analysis for the spot indicated by the dashed rectangle in Fig. 6 is shown in Fig. 8 for a 9.68 ms acquisition frame and in Fig. 9 for a 1.1 ms frame. The shape of clusters in our raw data can be seen in Figs. 8 (a), 8(c) and 9(a), 9(c). For this specific dataset, we found that, on average, each photon excited 5.3 pixels in our detector.
Schematic of the cluster analysis implemented in the raw photon list data in order to eliminate the effect of charge spreading within the MCP detector that results in multiple pixels excited by a single photon.
Detailed view on the photons registered within a single illumination spot indicated by the dashed rectangles in Fig. 6 . The colour scale indicates the time of photon arrival in microseconds within the shutter. The time window for a single acquisition frame is 9.68 ms. (a, c) Raw image recorded by the MCP/Timepix detector showing multiple pixels excited at the Timepix readout by most photons. (b, d) The same acquisition frame processed by the developed cluster analysis tool. Only one pixel is assigned to each registered photon. Images (c) and (d) show a 3D representation of the measured data: the horizontal plane is the event position xy, and the vertical axis is the timing of the photon arrival (in microseconds).
Detailed view on the photons registered within a single illumination spot indicated by the dashed rectangles in Fig. 6 . The colour scale indicates the time of photon arrival in microseconds within the shutter. The time window for a single acquisition frame is 1.1 ms. (a, c) Raw image recorded by the MCP/Timepix detector showing multiple pixels excited at the Timepix readout by most photons. (b, d) The same acquisition frame processed by the developed cluster analysis tool. Only one pixel is assigned to each registered photon. Images (c) and (d) show a 3D representation of the measured data: the horizontal plane is the event position xy, and the vertical axis is the timing of the photon arrival (in microseconds).
Cluster analysis not only reduces the raw data to one pixel and time per photon, but also improves the spatial resolution of the resulting dataset as the blurring from the charge spread is removed, as demonstrated in Fig. 10 . The tilted rectangular grid pattern observed in these images is the shadow of a grid mesh installed in front of the MCP detector in order to enhance the detection efficiency by repelling the photoelectrons generated at the input surface back into the MCP pores. The shadow of the mesh (with a 1.27 mm period) becomes much sharper after cluster analysis. The spatial resolution of our dataset can be improved to sub-pixel level, which has been demonstrated previously (Suhling et al., 1999 ; Vallerga et al., 2005 , 2011 ; Tremsin et al., 2018 ). In Fig. 11 we demonstrate how a detector spatial resolution of ∼6 µm can be achieved with event centroiding, which is important for some applications such as RIXS where the detector pixel resolution directly affects the RIXS spectral resolution. In real time, our data acquisition software performs the analysis of clusters [Figs. 11 (a) and 11(b)] corresponding to individual photons and calculates the centre of each of these clusters to sub-pixel accuracy. The resulting 8192 × 8192 pixel image, a fragment of which is shown in Fig. 11 (c), resolves individual pores of the top MCP, thus reaching the limit of possible resolution determined by the MCP geometry used in our detector (i.e. ∼6 µm).
Zoomed-in area of the summed image acquired over 1000 s, shown in Fig. 5 (a). The raw image (a) has lower spatial resolution due to blurring introduced by the charge spread in the MCP detector. (b) The same image after cluster analysis. The shadow of a grid mesh, installed in front of the detector, is resolved with 55 µm single-pixel resolution.
High spatial resolution photon detection through event centroiding. (a) Single-photon footprints detected by Timepix readout. (b) Enlargement of the area indicated by a dashed rectangle in (a), showing footprints of two photons in more detail. (c) Fraction of a high-resolution image obtained with full-field UV illumination of the MCP/Timepix detector. Individual pores of the MCP are resolved in the image. Two black spots correspond to the triple-point defects present in this MCP (crushed MCP pores at the points where three hexagonal multifibers meet).
4.2. Time of photon arrival: optimization of spot count rate and overlap correction
Once the subset of detected photons corresponding to the speckle(s) of interest is determined, the correlation analysis can be performed, provided that the time of photon arrival is accurately recorded by the detector. It is important that features reconstructed in this analysis originate from the sample and are not introduced by the experimental setup, especially not by the detector. In this section, we describe the deficiencies of present MCP/Timepix devices and how the input flux and detector acquisition configuration need to be optimized for XPCS experiments.
To extend the XPCS analysis to new time scales below milliseconds, preferably below microseconds and possibly into the nanosecond range, and to the limit of a single-photon quantum, it is not only the accuracy of photon detection that is important but also the probability of photon detection over time, which should be constant to avoid introduction of unwanted features into the results of the XPCS analysis. In particular, periodic features create a strong signature in the two-time correlation function and must be avoided. An obvious challenge for many detection systems in that respect is the detector readout dead-time when the detection efficiency drops to zero. For our current generation of MCP/Timepix detectors, we have a global dead-time of 320 µs, which will be eliminated by the ongoing development of the MCP/Timepix3 event-driven system. To reduce the impact of the global dead-time, the obvious choice is to run the acquisition with the highest duty cycle possible to minimize the missed photons during the dead-time, advocating for the allowable long acquisition frames. On the other hand, the largest deficiency of our present system is the limitation of the first photon per pixel per frame, which requires the shortest achievable acquisition frames possible in order to have no pixels with more than one photon arriving within a single frame. Therefore, the length of the acquisition frame needs to be optimized for a particular illumination pattern and speckles of interest. In addition, the intensity of the speckles of interest should be as high as possible in order to probe dynamics in microseconds or even higher for the nanosecond scales to reach reasonable photon statistics for the XPCS analysis. It is difficult, if not impossible, to probe dynamics in microsecond and nanosecond scales if only a few photons arrive at the detector per speckle per second. At the same time, the number of speckles that can be observed simultaneously is limited by the detector spatial resolution and the size of the active area.
On the high side, there are two count-rate limitations to be considered: (i) the global count rate limitation, i.e. the number of photons that can be registered per entire detector area; (ii) the local count rate limitation, i.e. the number of photons detected per pixel or per speckle. The biggest challenge for our current MCP/Timepix detector setup is the local count rate limitation in timing mode with one photon per frame per pixel. Let us consider the time sequence of photons registered for spots with different illumination intensities: Spots 1–3 indicated in Fig. 5 (a). We can clearly see in Figs. 12 (a) and 12 (b) that the intensity of Spot 1 has a very high modulation introduced by our detector readout triggered with a 10 ms repetition period. At the beginning of each acquisition frame, all pixels are available for photon detection and the consecutive number of acquired photons increases more rapidly at the beginning within each 10 ms period. Towards the end of the acquisition frame, many pixels are already busy processing prior photons and the probability, averaged over the whole detector, to detect photons at that time is reduced. This changes the slope of that curve. Obviously, detection of photons within Spot 1 is far from optimal and the detector local count rate saturation introduces a substantial modulation to the timing characteristics of detected photon flux within that spot. The lower flux within Spots 2 and 3 does not exhibit obvious modulations in the timing curves in Figs. 12 (c) and 12 (d), although some 100 Hz modulation of intensity is present for Spot 2 which we will show later in this section. To conclude, the intensity for 9.68 ms-wide frames is too high for Spot 1.
Time sequence of photons detected within Spots 1–3 indicated in Fig. 5 (a). The y axis represents the consecutive photon number registered by the detector. The acquisition frame of 9.68 ms followed by the 0.32 ms readout time is shown in Fig. 3 . Vertical lines in (a) and (b) indicate the boundaries of the acquisition frames. The cluster analysis was implemented in the raw data to represent each photon by only one pixel. The periodic structure seen in (a) and (b) is caused by the local count rate saturation in Spot 1 from the Timepix limitation of one pixel per frame in time-resolved counting mode. Some random variation of intensity within the spots N2 and N3 over a longer period of time seen in (c) and (d) can probably be attributed to the stability of the X-ray beam and the alignment on the sample.
The histograms of the time difference between consecutive photons for the same spots are shown in Fig. 13 . The peak at ∼2 ms seen in the histogram of Spot 1 can be attributed to the timing of our acquisition shutters: at the end of the 10-frame sequence shown in Fig. 3 (a) there is a 2 ms gap, which can be seen in the histogram and is not related to the dynamics of the sample. For Spot 1 the average time gap between photons was ∼63 µs. For each 100 ms period, we introduced an artificial gap of ∼2 ms between consecutive photons due to the particular shutter sequence shown in Fig. 3 (a). The incoming flux was such that the fraction of photons with 2 ms gaps for Spot 1 was quite low as expected for the 63 µs average time gap. The artificially added 2 ms time gaps constitute a measurable fraction of the events appearing as a bump in our histogram for Spot 1 in Fig. 13 . It was washed out in the histogram for Spot 2 where the average time gap between photons was ∼4.1 ms and even longer for Spot 3.
Histogram of the time difference between two consecutive photons in Spots 1–3. Photon counts are normalized by the width of time bins used to produce the histogram: Spots 1 and 2, time bin = 40 µs; Spot 3, time bin = 4 ms. The acquisition sequence with 9.68 ms frame as shown in Fig. 3 (a).
A more detailed view on the local count rate saturation for the MCP/Timepix detector is shown in Fig. 14 . The saturation of pixels can be effectively considered as a reduction of the quantum detection efficiency (QDE) in that area, which changes as a function of time from the start to the finish of the acquisition frame. It is obviously a function corresponding to the frame sequence used during the data acquisition cycle depicted in Fig. 3 . The detection efficiency of the brightest Spot 1 is reduced by a factor of ten compared with the original detector efficiency towards the end of the 9.68 ms frame as seen in Fig. 14 (a). But for Spot 4, which has ∼17 times lower input flux than spot 1, the probability to detect a photon in that spot is reduced by a factor of two towards the end of the acquisition frame. For Spot 2 (∼70 times less intense), it does not show local count rate saturation and subsequently no reduction of detection efficiency. It is obvious from Fig. 14 (b) that more frequent frame readouts reduce detector saturation and both Spots 2 and 4 do not show any reduction of detection efficiency. Thus 1.1 ms acquisition frames are acceptable for the intensities corresponding to Spots 2, 3 and 4 whereas a 9.68 ms frame can be used only for the intensities lower than that observed in Spot 4.
The probability to detect a photon within Spots 1, 2 and 4 varied as a function of time. That probability can be considered as the time-dependent variation of QDE, decreasing within each acquisition frame due to the Timepix one photon per pixel limitation in timing mode. After readout, the probability of detecting a photon is reset to its original value. (a) Acquisition frames of 9.68 ms, (b) acquisition frames of 1.1 ms showing smaller QDE degradation for bright Spot 1. No QDE degradation is observed for Spot 2 with lower incoming flux. The dashed curve in (b) represents the relative QDE variation after correction according to Tremsin et al. (2014 ) and is applied to the raw data.
The local count rate saturation introduced by our detector in some cases can be corrected during data processing, as demonstrated and thoroughly tested in our time-of-flight experiments (Tremsin et al., 2014 ). The effective reduction of detection efficiency cannot be changed by that data correction, meaning fewer photons are detected and longer acquisition times are required in order to collect sufficient photon counts for a particular analysis. However, the timing characteristics of any quasi-periodic incoming flux could be reconstructed properly by this algorithm. The input flux in many XPCS applications has only small fluctuations above the pulsed structure related to the X-ray source, which is in the sub-10 ns range at most synchrotron sources. Compared with millisecond-wide frames, such flux can be considered as nearly constant as far as the requirements for the correction are concerned. We have not yet proven that XPCS results can be accurately reconstructed for the spots where the detector local count rate saturation modifies the measured photon counts. This will be performed once we have the full XPCS analysis implemented. However, in Fig. 14 (b) we demonstrate that our data analysis method almost correctly reconstructs the incoming intensity of the oversaturated Spot 1. With longer integration time, this correction becomes even more accurate as the reduction of detection efficiency during the acquisition frame is calibrated more precisely. In short, this correction uses the fact that, for a periodic or constant input signal, the probability that a particular pixel is occupied by processing an earlier photon is measured as a function of time from the start of the acquisition frame. With that knowledge, each registered photon can have a correction weight inversely proportional to the probability of the pixel being occupied. More details of this correction technique can be found in the work by Tremsin et al. (2014 ).
We demonstrated the strengths and deficiencies of the existing Timepix detection technology for soft X-ray photon counting and imaging experiments. Enabling detection of individual photons using an MCP in combination with the Timepix chip allows us to combine nanosecond time resolution with sustained high count rates. The frame-based readout used in our current detector modulates the timing characteristics of the measured photon flux and introduces substantial limitations on the intensity of measured spots due to localized count rate saturation. Upgrading to future generations of the Timepix chip will eliminate this problem.
For the current generation of MCP/Timepix detector, optimization of data acquisition parameters, in particular the length of acquisition frames, is needed for a specific scattering pattern. We demonstrated how local count rate saturation can be calibrated before the data are obtained. The use of event-driven Timepix3 and Timepix4 readout chips will eliminate the deficiency of the MCP/Timepix combination detector and should allow the extension of soft XPCS analysis to much faster time scales through photon counting with sub-10 ns timing resolution. Although the temporal resolution of the detector used in our experiments is limited to 10 ns by the Timepix chip internal clock, it will be improved to ∼1.6 ns and ∼0.2 ns in future generations of MCP detectors with Timepix3 and Timepix4 readouts, respectively. The local count rate capabilities of the Timepix3 readout integrated circuits (ROICs) is 1.3 kHz pixel−1 (Poikela et al., 2014 ) and it is expected to be ∼10 kHz pixel−1 for Timepix4.
A cluster analysis technique that can be applied to the raw detector data has been developed for the accurate assignment of the correct pixel position of each registered photon, which also improves the spatial resolution of the processed data below the limit of the pixel size. Our experiments demonstrate the capability of MCP detectors to register many near-simultaneous photons with a large dynamic range and virtually no readout noise, helping the ongoing development of next-generation MCP/Timepix detector technology which should extend soft XPCS analysis to nanosecond time scales and improve the resolution of RIXS experiments through event centroiding, facilitating a detector resolution of ∼6 µm for the current MCP manufacturing technology.
The MCP/Timepix detector used in these experiments was developed at the University of California at Berkeley in collaboration with Techne instruments, Oakland, CA, USA, with great help from the Medipix collaboration, in particular with the help of our colleagues from Advacam s.r.o. and Advacam Oy, the Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics, Czech Technical University in Prague, NiKHEF and the entire team of Medipix/Timepix chip designers at CERN. The work on the MCP/Timepix detector at the University of California was partially funded through the research grants by the US Department of Energy (DOE), National Science Foundation and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The authors would like to acknowledge the generous donation of the Vertex FPGA and design tools by Xilinx Inc. of San Jose, California, through their Xilinx University Program. The development of the Timepix based soft X-ray detector for correlation spectroscopy is supported by the DOE (award RoyTimepixDetector). This research used resources of the Advanced Light Source, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility (contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231). Sample fabrication was supported by the US DOE, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences (award No.DE-SC0016519). Use of the Center for Nanoscale Materials, an Office of Science user facility, was supported by the US DOE, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences (contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357). This work was performed in part at the University of Kentucky Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering and Center for Advanced Materials, members of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI), which is supported by the National Science Foundation (contract No. ECCS-2025075).
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asouviron
Digital media consultant and journalist. Passionate about history.
International reserves could fall to $5bn by the end of year
By asouviron on Apr 12, 2019
Between December 2018 and April 2019, Bolivia's net international reserves (NIR) had a reduction of SU$1.02 billion, according to data from the BCB. If the trend continues without changes the NIR will fall to SU$5 billion.
FDI reached $515m in the first nine months of 2018
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during the first nine months of 2018 reached $US515 million, according to data from the Bolivian Central Bank (BCB). The rhythm of FDI has been the same since 2015 when it reached SU$1.06 billion. The president of the entrepreneurs federation of Cochabamba, Javier Bellot, noted that to generate more investment there have to be some reforms. He added that, in the case of Cochabamba, there are connectivity problems both, by air and land. Another obstacle is the process to open companies in Bolivia, which has to be simplified. "There is also labour policy and taxes pressure. If we want to attract investment, we must analyze the tax issue because at this moment there are countries that are more attractive than Bolivia."
Bolivia will invest $26.4m in coffee production
By asouviron on Apr 9, 2019
Bolivia's General Treasure will transfer SU$26.4 million to execute the Coffee Investment Program, said the agronomist and coffee grower José Luis Escobar. The attributes of Bolivian coffee, according to the opinion of tasters, "are citrus chocolate flavours, red fruits". The green coffee belt, located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, with regions that have favorable conditions for coffee production, includes Bolivia whose altitude is a plus point. Escobar said that the investment program has "an implementation time of 5 years and began in 2018. The project finances 70% of new seedlings and the remaining 30% will be financed by the producer."
Bolivia launches a new website to attract investors
The Bolivian government launched the internet portal http://www.investbolivia.gob.bo to attract foreign investors interested in Bolivian strategic projects. The portal shows the five major investment sectors: Hydrocarbons, mining, energy, tourism, industry, technology and infrastructure.
UAE showed interested in Bolivian lithium and gas
Bolivia offers four strategic projects to investors in the UAE
Lithium, infrastructure projects on the Paraguay-Parana waterway, the bi-oceanic corridor, and the construction of the Viru-Viru airport hub, are the four strategic projects that president Evo Morales presented to investors gathered at the 9th Annual Investment Meeting in Dubai. Morales added that all these projects require significant investments and the building of alliances with the private sector.
International reserves fell by $800m in Q1-2019
Bolivia's international reserves decreased by US$821 million in the first quarter of 2019. The reserves fell from SU$8.9 billion in December 2018 to SU$8.1 billion by 22 March. The Government insisted that the money is being used in productive projects but some analysts warned that this accelerating level of decrease could impact the country's payment capacity.
Remittances from Argentina fell by 29%
Remittances from Argentina fell by 29% due to the crisis in this country. Inflation and measures from the Argentinian government to prevent the outflow of foreign currency are among the reasons for the decline. According to the Bolivian Central Bank (BCB) remittances from the rest of the world also fell 1.6%.
Digital banking consolidates its presence in Bolivia
The use of digital technology in the banking sector exceeded 50% of the total financial transactions in 2018, said the executive secretary of the Association of Private Banks of Bolivia (Asoban), Nelson Villalobos.
The government said that confrontation with the private sector is over
The government announced that the phase of confrontation with the private sector is over. With a strong handshake, the vice-president, Álvaro García Linera, welcomed the new president of the Confederation of Private Entrepreneurs of Bolivia (CEPB) Luis Barbery. Regarding the economic model said that it requires some adjustments and proposed to work tirelessly to improve "business climate". He proposed a critical path based on four axes: a) the best legal and political conditions to boost private investment; b) incentive to national production with quality at larger scales; c) provision of goods and services for our population; and d) implementation of efficient mechanisms to stimulate exports. García Linera proposed dialogue and agreed that the high bureaucracy is one of the worst enemies of business ventures, but made it clear that the tax issue is important to maintain balance in the public sector.


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Kodak Opts Out Of Consumer Printer Market
As part of its restructuring, Kodak won't be making consumer level printers anymore
By Tim Barribeau
kodak printer
As part of the ongoing changes prompted by its bankruptcy, Kodak has announced a number of further reorganizations. Chief among those is the decision to switch out of the consumer printer market entirely. In the announcement, Kodak said:
Consistent with that emergence strategy, Kodak has continued to manage its Consumer Inkjet business for profitability, and the company announced today that, starting in 2013, it will focus that business on the sale of ink to its installed base, and wind down sales of consumer inkjet printers. Kodak expects that this decision will significantly improve cash flow in the U.S. beginning in the first half of 2013.
The consumer level printer market is notoriously low profit, so hopefully by focusing on commercial printing, Kodak can keep things together. Also part of this announcement is the news that Kodak will be cutting some 1,200 employees, up from the 1,000 originally estimated.
Users of Kodak printers should at least take some solace in the fact that Kodak will continue to sell supplies for the existing printers, so you won't be stuck with printer without ink in the near future.


No one wants to hear that he or she has high cholesterol. It can cause arteries to harden and lead to strokes and heart attacks. Often, people panic over high cholesterol and jump on board with taking medication before considering their diet and lifestyle and seeing what can be changed first.
Sometimes, lowering cholesterol is just a matter of changing what you do and how you eat. Knowing the sources of good and bad fats and how they work together can mean the difference between taking medication or controlling your cholesterol on your own. Be sure you keep your doctor in the loop with anything you do. Below are 5 easy things you can do to manage your cholesterol naturally.
1. Eliminate trans fats and saturated fats. One of the best things you can do according to Harvard Medical School is decreasing your intake of trans fats and saturated fats. Don't increase your sugars in order to eliminate these fats, though. They are just as bad. Eating red meat, shrimp, fatty cheeses, and butter can still be enjoyed, just not as often.
2. Increase polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. Another recommendation by Harvard Medical School is to increase your intake of the good fats. These lower your LDL. Soybean oil, olive oil, peanut oil and other plant oils are a great way to find these oils. Eating tuna, salmon, trout, herring, and sardines will also help you get these oils.
3. Increase fiber. The Mayo Clinic says that adding soluble fiber to your diet can also lower LDL. Whole grains, nuts, beans, fruits, and vegetables are great sources of fiber. Harvard Medical says the deeper the color of the fruit and vegetables, the better they are for you.
4. Exercise. Most of us don't think of exercise affecting cholesterol, but WebMD says that doing aerobic exercise for 30 minutes four days a week will also make a difference in your cholesterol level and help you lose weight.
5. Reduce stress. Stress drives up cholesterol levels, so WebMD recommends finding ways to reduce stress in your life. Take time to laugh as well.
Finding ways to control your cholesterol is more than just changing your diet. It means taking control of your life and making conscious choices to relax and let your hair down. It means taking care of your body. With a little TLC, you may be able to lower your cholesterol without needing medication.


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Home » Departments » Planning and Comm Dev » American Rescue Plan Act
About the American Rescue Plan
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was signed into law on March 11, 2021, and established the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund and Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, providing support to State, territorial, local, and Tribal governments to respond to economic and public health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The City of Manchester received $21.6 million to date and is expected to receive another $21.6 million in May 2022, totaling $43.2 million. Manchester residents were asked how they wanted funds to be used, and their responses were compiled into categories of eligible programs, as reflected in the City's ARPA Funding Recommendations.
Landlord Incentive Program Accepting Participants
A landlord incentive program, administered by the Manchester Housing and Redevelopment Authority (MHRA) in partnership with the City of Manchester, is now open to local landlords who are interested in participating in the Section 8 Voucher Program.
MHRA is offering up to $3,000 per housing unit and up to $10,000 for each residential property to be used in the repair of housing units to comply with Housing Quality Standards, making them eligible as rental units for Section 8 Voucher holders.
For contact infomation and additional details, please reference the program flyer found here.
ARPA Small Business Grant Program Now Open
The City is pleased to launch its Small Business Grant & Program Assistance (SBGPA), which is designed to help Manchester's small business owners recover from the negative economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. For this initiative, the City will distribute funds to assist with fixed business costs (i.e., rent, utilities, payroll, etc.) accrued on or after March 3, 2021, transitioning to e-commerce business platforms, outdoor space upgrades, and other technical assistance needs.
Applicants who meet the program eligibility criteria may be awarded up to $10,000 to advance their small business recovery proposals. Please APPLY HERE to access the Small Business Grant Program Guidelines and Application Form.
Completed applications can be emailed to PCD-ARPA@manchesternh.gov, with the subject line "SBGPA Application", or mailed to: City of Manchester, Planning and Community Development, Attn: SBGPA Application, 1 City Hall Plaza, Manchester, NH 03101.
Applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling "first come, first served" basis.
Community Event and Activation Grant Program Now Open
The Community Event and Activation Grant (CEAG) program aims to help Manchester recover from the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by distributing grants for community events and projects.
Applicants can apply for up to $10,000 per grant for community-based projects and events contributing to community health and safety, economic development, and tourism. All applicants are required to provide a minimum 25% match for each project that can be made up of private funding, in-kind donations, and/or volunteer hours.
HOW TO APPLY: Application materials are available here. Applications are due by February 15, 2023. Late applications will not be accepted.
Please submit complete applications to PCD-ARPA@manchesternh.gov with the subject line "CEAG Application", or by mail to City of Manchester, Planning and Community Development, Attn: CEAG Application, 1 City Hall Plaza, Manchester, NH 03101.
We invite you to share the program flyer with your networks.
Información en español disponible aquí.
American Rescue Plan Quick Links
Planning and Community Development Related Links


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Ricky Martin gets reality show
By Dave Nemetz, TVLine
April 14, 2017 | 12:25pm
Ricky Martin Getty Images
Drag Race's Latest Cast-Off Defends Herself: 'I Know What an Adjective Is!'
RuPaul's Drag Race Recap: Which 'Princess' Got Royally Screwed?
Ricky Martin to Play Versace's Lover in American Crime Story Season 3
VH1 has set its programming slate for the coming year, and there's no other word for it but loca.
The network unveiled a crowded lineup of new and returning shows on Thursday ahead of the fast-approaching upfronts, led by a Season 10 renewal for "RuPaul's Drag Race," which just moved to VH1 from Logo this season. ("Drag Race"'s tenth season is slated to debut next March.) Plus, VH1 announced five new series, including an untitled reality show chronicling the life of pop star Ricky Martin, set to premiere this June and billed as "a revealing, never-been-seen account of one of the most private and guarded global superstars of our time."
Along with "Drag Race," VH1 has renewed "America's Next Top Model" (Season 24, premiering in December), "Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner" (Season 2, October), "Basketball Wives" (Season 6, April 17), "T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle" (Season 6, April 17), "Love & Hip Hop Hollywood" (Season 4, July 17), "Black Ink Crew: Chicago" (Season 3, May 24), "Hip Hop Squares" (Season 2, fall 2017) and "Shaunie's Home Court" (Season 2, fall 2017).
The celebrity events "Hip Hop Honors" (August) and "Dear Mama" (May 8) will also return to VH1 later this year.
Besides the Ricky Martin reality series, VH1's four other new series are: "'90s House," where host Lance Bass sticks today's tech-obsessed youth in a house with only pre-Internet technology (August 16); "Scared Famous," which puts celebrities in a spooky mansion (October); "Baller Wives," about three Miami pro athletes and their wives (August); and the previously announced "Daytime Divas" (June 5).
Filed under reality tv , ricky martin , rupaul , vh1
Jessica Chastain joins Cannes jury


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New F-15EX Fighter Jet Completes Successful First Flight
Boeing's newest fighter destined for the U.S. Air Force is the most advanced version to date, featuring the Eagle Passive/Active Warning and Survivability System electronic warfare system to improve mission effectiveness News By DA Editor / 17 Feb 2021
The new Boeing F-15EX fighter jet has completed its first flight, paving the way for the early delivery of the first two jets to the U.S. Air Force later this quarter. The jet took off and landed from St. Louis Lambert International Airport, completing a 90-minute test flight before returning to the airport.
Boeing F-15 Chief Test Pilot Matt Giese checked out the multirole jet's avionics, advanced systems and software. A test team monitoring the data collected during the flight in real time confirmed that the aircraft performed as planned.
"Today's successful flight proves the jet's safety and readiness to join our nation's fighter fleet," said Prat Kumar, Boeing vice president and F-15 program manager. "Our workforce is excited to build a modern fighter aircraft for the U.S. Air Force. Our customer can feel confident in its decision to invest in this platform that is capable of incorporating the latest advanced battle management systems, sensors and weapons due to the jet's digital airframe design and open mission systems architecture."
The fighter's digital backbone means it can serve as a testbed for future technology insertion, a key capability for the Air Force. Modern variants of the F-15 also include fly-by-wire flight controls, an all-new digital cockpit, modern AESA radar and the ADCP-II, the world's fastest mission computer. The F-15EX, the most advanced version to date, features the Eagle Passive/Active Warning and Survivability System electronic warfare system to improve mission effectiveness and survivability for operators.
In July, the Air Force awarded Boeing a contract to build the first eight jets. Future plans call for as many as 144 aircraft.
Posted by DA Editor Connect & Contact