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The Drop: The Best UK Drill of April 2020
The Drop returns with a collaborative effort between Headie One and Fred Again, new tracks from KO and Joy Orbison, and more.
By Ethan Herlock May 4, 2020
Staying with the drop on the best rap music from all over the world. Please subscribe to Passion of the Weiss on Patreon.
Ethan Herlock has been going to the grocery store wearing lucha libre masks.
Headie One & Fred Again… – GANG
While the rapper born Irving Adjei, was being championed as a flag bearer in the UK drill scene, he was also trojan-horsing sonic textures and easter eggs that shouldn't have worked within the strict boundaries of the genre. His mixtape run between 2017-2019 became canon and left footprints for others to follow: the shape-shifting, Music x Road, that sampled Faith Evans and crooned about his wifey falling asleep in his designer jumpers; the gutter-heavy, The One and The One Two, that showcased his distinctive, snake-like rapping style that also made shushing in a drill track sound cool; drill's incarnation of the Hollowman Meetz Blade series with OFB's consigliere RV, Drillers x Trappers. He succeeded with his gift for merging Scarface braggadocio with morose lyricism, his ability to bend genres and a Giggs-like consistency and care in penning verses, one-liners and ad-libs that are unforgettable as hooks.
"How her boyfriend pissed because she knows my tunes?" He jokes on The One's Golden Boot, and is knowingly in on the answer; Anthony Joshua bumps his music on Snapchat, a diss track responding to a viral incident that played out on the Gigi Hadid-walked runways of a Burberry show. Even Brian Eno just remixed one of his songs.
It seems like prophecy coming true: "King of drill, rap, trap, I'm doing it all", Headie One boasts on Music x Road's tropical-laced summer hit, "Both" (which also samples Ultra Naté's 1999 hit, "Free"). And while he was alchemizing new dimensions to drill, he became the poster boy for a genre being blasted for its seething antagonism and uncomfortable proximity with a growing crime spike. It's a long way from when Headie served bars with Tottenham's very Own Star Gang and realized a viable possibility in a music career following a 2016 prison stint. After ditching his Headz alias, he dropped the rtap-baptized Sticks and Stones with RV the same year. Suddenly, Headie One was changing the image of drill.
Then in January of this year, amid his highest highs, Headie One was sentenced to six months in prison for knife possession after he was stopped and searched in his car. It was his third bid in prison, and a thorn in the blossoming careers of one of the most exciting UK artists right now.
After some months of silence, the North London rapper released "Charades," a startling evolution from his already brooding raps. Whereas Headie One's style was fluid, it still stayed within the confines of UK drill. "Charades" sounded like NASA finally got a response from those gold-coated polygraphs they launched into space 50 years ago.
After being freed in late March, Headie released his eighth mixtape, GANG, a collaboration with British producer and songwriter, Fred Again…; in which they jettison all boundaries of drill. Headie's Midas touch isn't concerned about what the genre can sound like when its boundaries are played with, but rather, explores the untapped angst and sadness of man. GANG contains Headie One's best songwriting: it's sad, raw, and universal, suffused with the quiet minimalism of Brian Eno, the murky poignancy of Burial and the glitched out pandemonium of Joy Orbison. There's nothing quite like it so far.
Before the 30-second mark on the tape, he confesses the dilemma looming over his head: "I still walk a thin line between music and road." His thoughts are probed and examined in the claustrophobic space of a jail cell. Those musings are anchored by the unpredictable arrangements of Fredagain…, who executively produced the tape over a swift six sessions last summer. The visionary producer helped craft minimalist psychedelic soundscapes with Brian Eno and Karl Hyde and contributed in studio sessions along the likes of Charli XCX, Octavian and Stormzy.
By the distant, living heartbeat, we got an impending sense that we're about to enter uncharted territory. And when the first chilling note is played, we know. "Told" is the dark cousin of Music x Road's self-titled opener and whereas the North London trailblazer is blase and confident, this is painfully mournful. Piano notes fall and shatter in distortion and echo as Headie One repeats the dogma he learned throughout his life growing up on the infamous Farmwater Broad Estate — known for being the backdrop of two major riots that became the focal point of brewing distrust against the police and racial tensions. "Loyalty first, that's the code you know." They appear as life-saving commandments that helped him navigate grueling poverty, a hardened judicial system, enemies, and a sensationalist media.
Listening to GANG can feel like the tape is going to malfunction and shut down from its own crushing catharsis. In the self-titled track, the synths evoke a mist and Headie One is propped by techno-drenched drums, it builds up until the chorus where Headie One's baritone is weighed down and twisted by vocal modulations. GANG lays itself bare and conveys its traumas into emotional wisdom
The sense of brotherhood is crystallized further by its official music video. We witness the faces of Londoners fading in and out of the darkness, before the camera lifts up to an aerial viewpoint, revealing a cosmic and intricate portrait of Britain. He holds the people close to him right over airtight kicks and vocal modulations; as the world closes in on him, he lets out the last breath: "It's my Pa's birthday, I'mma gift him some land / Cah he used to wash my shirts, done that shit with his hands." While the suffocating conversations on UK drill lean towards the moral panic of youth violence, Headie One is an oxygen bubble, emerging from the murky, oft-voiceless depths.
Exhibiting rare chemistry, Headie and Fred agonize in the heartbreak of feeling unloved and judged, as fka twigs' angelic soprano in "Judge Me'" floats in space with Headie One's glitched-out pleas. Finally, they crash into a geyser of wrapped distortion. On the Jamie-xx assisted "Smoke," they create a smoky dance-pop that builds off glowing snyths and throbbing bassline, with Headie One bellowing out his piercing anxieties. The heartfelt closer, "SOLDIERS," offers a lifeboat in the brewing storm of emotion. Sampha's fragile vocal rises above the serene and downtrodden production, like an archangel watching over Headie One, who effortlessly sings: "It takes, share my hands with you and let you help me." The track serves as a beacon of hope in the tortured dystopia of GANG, guiding us through a Tottenham where the lizzie is covered in blood, the cognac tastes like the dirty water from prison taps and the designer is tailored into funeral suits or Her Majesty's prison jumpsuits.
If there is a centerpiece to the tape, it's "Charades." It opens with a voicemail from Headie One talking to Fred Again…, whose pianos creep over a recording of a "Headie! One!" chant. The drill legend's refined baritone growls take center stage. Headie One calls bluffs on opps. There's skengs, flickies, rambos and hoodied up black men creeping in dingers: an impressionistic reconstruction of the sights you'll see growing up on the dog-eat-dog world of London.
UK Drill artists have tried to balance their careers of breaking ceilings in the music industry and still giving in to their love of the roads. Some face darker endings: incarceration, death, even deportation. Others become musically stagnant, or simply stop making music and fade out of the framework. Headie One challenges the looming threat with menace and majesty. At the end of the second verse, Headie One's flow turns buttery-smooth. The sober piano keys bleed into the low-end trumpet horns ans raspy Octavian backing ad-libs.
The once-intense image is now flipped into a maximalist flex: he names off designer brands like a shopping list, causally brags about his rose gold diamonds that are VV's (that's Very, Very Slightly Included drip btw), the bad B's flirting with him while the rambos adjacent on both sides, and refers to A Boogie wit a Hoodie masking his true actions. When the production rises, he proclaims the last line of the hook: "One day I'm in the hood tryna pattern up Shh / The next day I'm recording in France." It's one of the few brief glimpses in GANG where Headie One is truly triumphant: that burdensome line of "doing music" and "doing road" isn't treated with trepidation, the binary is completely erased. At the end of the track, we can hear Fredagain… laugh with elation, as if they're waiting on the drill scene to finally see the gates already being pushed open.
M1illionz – "Y Pree"
M1illionz raps like he's telling you the maddest stories with the coldest remove. His ability to swerve off the pocket, squeeze in extra syllables and then land squarely on his feet is one of the reasons why he's become one of the best up-and-coming rappers in the UK. See the moment just before 3:05, where he stops in the middle of his bar, then the beat switches and he continues his soft-spoken, cavalier flow without flinching.
It's why he rebuffs haters and feds in the hook: "I just seen that whip circle back twice / Is it funny youts or CID? / Why Pree? Why Pree?". In their defence, how could they not? The music video is a movie (especially when we're trapped in our mould-rotten, rodent-infested rentals indefinitely) seeing the rapper travel through the cities of heat-scorched Jamaica. He's sipping on rum, billing joints, rapping while on a boat, showing off his grills and living his best life. You never know when M1illionz's voice is going to simmer down to a complex one-liner or an oozing ad-lib, but the outcome is always satisfying. I could definitely listen to an album of this.
Scoobz – "Japanese"
To be honest, there's nothing sicker than listening to rappers deliver out bars that double as sly mentions to Anime. The Birmingham-based drill artist is pretty good at doing this and in 'Japanese', the stand-out song from his debut EP, Meddling Kind, he portrays the lifestyle of a Driller while squeezing in Naruto, Dragonball Z and FullMetal Alchemist references.
KO & Joy Orbison – "Untitled"
The Drop wouldn't be a UK drill column if I didn't include this mind-bending collaboration between British electronic producer Joy Orbison and the Drilliam Shakespeare of UK Rap, KO. It's untitled, unmixed and unmastered, but an interesting peek into revealing what the future of drill could possibly look like.
LD – "Intro"
In 2017, you could see that LD was on top of the UK drill scene – the viral "Let's Lurk" was basically synonymous with the rise of UK drill and collected MOBO's along the way with the Brixton Drill group 67. Now, he's contemplating in a prison cell while newer rappers benefit from the foundation he helped establish. On December 6th 2019, it felt like a new phase of UK drill was unfolding, signified by 67's ringleader LD's series of tweets – tweeting RIP to the late Harlem Spartans rapper, Bis, who passed away early December and free-'em'-isms to Digga D, #OFB's SJ, Lewisham's Slim and his right-hand men, ASAP and R6. Before ending his diatribe, he goes out with a bang, in all caps: "AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, FREE ME!"
Along with ASAP, he was sentenced to four and a half years for allegedly running a drug-smuggling ring in the Home Counties. In the depths of YouTube comments, there's a swaying insinuation that the Brixton-bred collective 67 were falling off. Well, this is a lie descended from the depths of hell, because musically, they've. been. delivering. consistently. "Intro" is a song you can add to that list. While UK drill is seemingly moving forward at a lighting-speed pace, LD finds solace in the old; you can sense the Chiraq-esque church bells thrashing in the intro, but there's a vintage freshness that is seasoned by a pioneer's experience in the field. The drop comes and LD is fierce but reproachful. It's beguiling testimony against the fuckeries who are trying to make him six feet below or serve a life sentence.
As we wait for his upcoming tape, Who's Watching, it's proof of life that the silver-masked pioneer of Brixton is still in the conversation for as one of UK drill's best rappers.
Stay Flee Get Lizzy featuring Youngs Telfon, Blanco, and RV – "Handsome G"
I seriously think we should consider making RV a Poet Laureate or include his bar "If the boyz in the hood, no homo, get their back blown like Ricky" in the Tate Modern.
Russ – "My Son #2-0" & Taze – "Playground 3"
Seeing UK drill's Chuckle Brothers beef to heavily-publicized, slightly-fake Chip and Bugzy Malone theatrics feels surreal. We're in lockdown and Russ is calling Taze his son because he had a verse on the "Keisha & Becky Remix" while Taze is mockingly gun-leaning and calling Russ a neek over Yamacia's aggressive beats. To be honest, Russ getting into beef with someone every month is a certainty in life, like taxes, death, or a tone-deaf Guardian Journalist getting ratio'd on Twitter. So while the array of sends are enjoyable, I don't have a rigid attachment to either side. But for the sake of an argument, #TeamTaze is the wave right now.
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Q: In R, how to extracting two values from XML file, looping over 5603 files and write to table As I am rather new to R, I am trying to learn how I can extract two values from a XML file and loop over 5603 other (small, <2kb) XML files in my working directory.
I have been reading a lot of topics on 'looping', but find this rather confusing - especially because it seems that looping over XML files is different from looping over other files, correct?
I am using online data in XML structure.
For each XML file I want to write the "ZipCode" and "AwardAmount" to a table.
Running the following code I did retrieve the ZipCode and AwardAmount, but only from the very first file. How can I write a proper loop and write it to a table?
xmlfiles=list.files(pattern="*.xml")
for (i in 1:length(xmlfiles)){
    doc= xmlTreeParse("xmlfiles[i]", useInternal=TRUE)
    zipcode<-xmlValue(doc[["//ZipCode"]])
    amount<-xmlValue(doc[["//AwardAmount"]])
}

Does anyone has some suggestions?

A: This might work for you.  I got rid of the for loop and went with sapply.
xmlfiles <- list.files(pattern = "*.xml")
txtfiles <- gsub("xml", "txt", xmlfiles, fixed = TRUE)

txtfiles is a set of new file names to be used as the output file for each run.
sapply(seq(xmlfiles), function(i){

  doc <- xmlTreeParse(xmlfiles[i], useInternal = TRUE)
  zipcode <- xmlValue(doc[["//ZipCode"]])
  amount <- xmlValue(doc[["//AwardAmount"]])
  DF <- data.frame(zip = zipcode, amount = amount)
  write.table(DF, quote = FALSE, row.names = FALSE, file = txtfiles[i])

})

Please, let me know if there are issues when you run it.

A: Slightly different approach to Richard's (only slightly). Used ldply to make a data frame before writing it out to a file. You should select his for the answer since the "guts" of the ldply function is his, but this just shows an alternate way of doing it (assuming you want one file vs many files):
setwd("LOCATION_OF_XML_FILES")

xmlfiles <- list.files(pattern = "*.xml")

dat <- ldply(seq(xmlfiles), function(i){

  doc <- xmlTreeParse(xmlfiles[i], useInternal = TRUE)

  zipcode <- xmlValue(doc[["//ZipCode"]])
  amount <- xmlValue(doc[["//AwardAmount"]])

  return(data.frame(zip = zipcode, amount = amount))

})

head(dat)
##         zip amount
## 1 442420001  45000
## 2 479072114 400580
## 3 303320420  22050
## 4 326112002  12000
## 5 265066845  37000
## 6 168027000 300000

write.csv(dat, "zipamount.csv", row.names=FALSE)

You could use append=TRUE with Richard's approach and use a single file name in that write.table to do the same thing. You can also tweak the output settings of write.csv (or write.table) to get the output format you eventually want to work with.
You can also add recursive = TRUE to the list.files to go through all the subdirectories vs put all ~5,600 files into one directory (that can have performance issues on some filesystems/operating systems).

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On October 9, 2018, the County Prosecutors Association of New Jersey (CPANJ) presented scholarship awards to four recipients of the Oscar W. Rittenhouse, Andrew K. Ruotolo, Jr., Harris Y. Cotton and John H. Stamler Memorial Scholarships. The CPANJ, a nonprofit corporation, annually awards scholarships to law students, college and graduate students. Each scholarship is a one-year grant in the amount of up to $3,500.00 paid directly to the recipient. Scholarship recipients from previous years are ineligible.
The awards were presented at the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office in Trenton, New Jersey by CPANJ President Fredric M. Knapp and Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez. The presentation ceremony was attended by New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, and all New Jersey County Prosecutors.
To be eligible for the Oscar W. Rittenhouse Memorial scholarship, an applicant must be a New Jersey resident accepted for admission into a law school. The application must have an interest in pursuing a career as a prosecutor. The applicant must also demonstrate financial need.
The recipient of the 2018 Oscar W. Rittenhouse Memorial scholarship is Eric Patrick Vivino.
To be eligible for the Andrew K. Ruotolo, Jr. Memorial Scholarship, an applicant must be a New Jersey resident accepted for admission to a law school or a graduate school. The applicant must exhibit an interest in, and commitment to, enhancing the rights and well-being of children through child advocacy programs. The applicant must also demonstrate financial need.
The recipient of the 2018 Andrew K. Ruotolo Jr. Memorial Scholarship is Amanda Kate Cipriano.
To be eligible for the Harris Y. Cotton Memorial scholarship, an applicant must be a New Jersey resident accepted for admission to a law school. The applicant must have an interest in pursuing a career as a prosecutor with an emphasis in Domestic Violence or Hate Crime prosecutions. The applicant must also demonstrate financial need.
The recipient of the 2018 Harris Y. Cotton Memorial Scholarship is Cindy Vanessa Guoman.
To be eligible for the John H. Stamler Memorial scholarship, an applicant must be a New Jersey resident and sworn law enforcement officer seeking educational advancement on a college or graduate level to improve his or her effectiveness as a law enforcement officer. The applicant must also demonstrate financial need.
The recipient of the 2018 John H. Stamler Memorial scholarship is Wayne O. Jackson, Jr.
CPANJ President Fredric M. Knapp stated, "On behalf of the County Prosecutors Association of New Jersey, I would like to congratulate the four scholarship recipients. Their hard work and commitment to their respective career paths is admirable".
From left: Sussex County Prosecutor Francis Koch, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez, Oscar W. Rittenhouse Scholarship Winner Eric Patrick Vivino, CPANJ President and Morris County Prosecutor Fredric Knapp, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri, and Salem County Prosecutor John Lenahan.


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UKRAINE SAYS RUSSIAN CYBER ATTACKS MAY CONSTITUTE WAR CRIMES
By Daniel Croft
Ukrainian officials are arguing that the recent Russian cyber attacks that targeted critical infrastructure and affected civilian lives could be considered war crimes.
The country's Chief Digital Transformation Officer Victor Zhora has said that as Russia used these cyber attacks in support of their kinetic attacks, and those attacks targeted civilians, that Russia's actions constitute war crimes.
"When we observe the situation in cyber space, we notice some coordination between kinetic strikes and cyber attacks, and since the majority of kinetic attacks are organised against civilians — being a direct act of war crime — supportive actions in cyber can be considered as war crimes," he said.
Discussion surrounding certain cyber attacks being classified as war crimes is an ongoing discussion as cyber warfare becomes increasingly common on the modern battlefield. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has seen warfare enter a new era, where cyber attacks are the new missiles.
However, a new digital battlefield means a whole new set of humanitarian regulations have to be developed to protect the wellbeing of non-combatants.
The Geneva Convention rules that attack against civilians can constitute war crimes under international humanitarian law.
The ruling that cyber attacks can constitute war crimes would be a first. Researchers have been asking since the beginning of the conflict for cyber attacks to be added to the International Criminal Court's (ICC) investigations.
Russia has conducted several serious cyber attacks on Ukraine and its government and infrastructure, including DDoS attacks taking down telecoms and energy supplies, both of which affect civilians.
Zhora and Ukrainian officials from the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine (SSSCIP) are now collecting evidence and sharing it with the ICC.
Instances such as the Russian attack on Ukraine's largest private energy investor, DTEK, are being analysed and used to back their points.
"[DTEK's] thermal power plant was shelled, and simultaneously, their corporate network was attacked," said Zhora.
"It's directed and planned activity from Russians, which they did both in [the] conventional domain and in [the] cyber domain."
Officials from NATO have also suggested that cyber attacks could lead to the conflict escalating if they affected neighbouring NATO nations, arguing that it could call on Article 5.
Article 5 rules that if "a NATO ally is the victim of an armed attack, each and every other member of the alliance will consider this an act of violence as an armed attack against all members and will take the actions it deems necessary to assist the ally attacked".
Whether cyber attacks qualify as an armed attack is yet to be determined.
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>R-897
A People's Army for South Vietnam
A Vietnamese Solution
by Brian Michael Jenkins
Military Force Planning,
Southeast Asia,
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A lack of men, money, and any firm guarantee that the U.S. Congress will continue, for very long, to provide funds to support South Vietnam's defense establishment at current levels makes it imperative for South Vietnam to reduce the economic and social burden of its defense, while maintaining adequate security. A program is suggested by which much of the Vietnamese defense burden could be shifted to a people's army composed of local militiamen and members of the People's Self-Defense Force, allowing reductions in the regular armed forces. Initially, this program would concentrate on expanding and increasing the effectiveness of the People's Self-Defense Force and territorial forces. The burden would be gradually transferred. By 1975 the potential savings would amount to $750 million a year. Equally important, 300,000 to 400,000 soldiers would have been released from full-time active duty.
This report is part of the RAND Corporation Report series. The report was a product of the RAND Corporation from 1948 to 1993 that represented the principal publication documenting and transmitting RAND's major research findings and final research.
Copyright: RAND Corporation
Print Format: Paperback
Paperback Pages: 80
Paperback Price: $20.00
Document Number: R-897-ARPA
Series: Reports
Military Force Planning
RAND Corporation Style Manual
Jenkins, Brian Michael, A People's Army for South Vietnam: A Vietnamese Solution. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1971. https://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R0897.html. Also available in print form.
Jenkins, Brian Michael, A People's Army for South Vietnam: A Vietnamese Solution, Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation, R-897-ARPA, 1971. As of January 12, 2022: https://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R0897.html
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text:
A Direct Numerical Simulation-Based Analysis of Entropy Generation in Turbulent Premixed Flames
Phase-Space Position-Momentum Correlation and Potentials
Bahari, H.
Zamiri, R.
Sidek, H. A. A.
Zakaria, A.
Adikan, F. Rafiq M.
Characterization and Synthesis of Silver Nanostructures in Rare Earth Activated GeO2-PbO Glass Matrix Using Matrix Adjustment Thermal Reduction Method
Hamid-Reza Bahari
1,2,*,
Reza Zamiri
3,*,
Hj. A. A. Sidek
Azmi Zakaria
Faisal Rafiq M. Adikan
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University Putra Malaysia, 43400, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Department of Materials Engineering and Ceramics, CICECO, University of Aveiro, Campus Santiago, Aveiro 3810-193, Portugal
Entropy 2013, 15(5), 1528-1539; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15051528
Received: 5 February 2013 / Revised: 24 April 2013 / Accepted: 25 April 2013 / Published: 25 April 2013
This paper reports matrix adjustment thermal reduction method to synthesize silver nanostructures in Er3+/Yb3+ activated GeO2-PbO glass matrix. The GeO2-PbO glass, the medium of nanoparticle formation, doped with Er2O3, Yb2O3 and AgNO3 was prepared by a melt quenching method. Annealing of the glass for different times was utilized, not only due to thermally reduce Ag+ ions to Ag nanostructures, but also to influence the glassy network. This is because, the glass structural transformation temperature is near to 435 °C and heating at more than this temperature can cause some structural changes in the glass matrix. According to TEM images, samples that tolerate 450 °C annealing temperature for one hour show the formation of basil-like silver nanostructures with a mean length of 54 nm and mean diameter of 13 nm embedded in the glass matrix, whereas with annealing at 450 °C for 5 to 20 h, silver nanoparticles of about 3–4 nm mean diameter size are formed. Annealing for 30 h causes silver nanoparticles to aggregate to form larger particles due to an Oswald ripening process. Observation of the characteristic Ag-NP SPR band at 400–500 nm in the UV-visible absorption spectra confirms the existence of silver nanoparticles. The SPR band widens to longer wavelengths in one hour annealed samples, which relates to the existence of nanostructures with different size or fractal shapes. In addition, an increment in the peak of the SPR band by increasing the duration of annealing indicates the formation of more nanoparticles. Furthermore, the existence of a peak at 470 cm–1 in the FTIR spectra of annealed samples and its absence in the samples not exposed to an annealing process suggests that the glass matrix is polymerized by Pb-O chains during the 450 °C annealing process. This is the main source of different nanostructures because of the dissimilar stabilizing media. The tighter media cap the particles to form small and dense nanoparticles but a loose environment leads to the creation of basil-like particles in the glass matrix.
thermal reduction; silver nanoparticles; glass; germanate; PbO
The unusual physical properties of metal nanostructures embedded in solid matrices show potential application in optical devices. Fabrication and characterization of metal nanostructures embedded in glass matrices have been performed by many researchers [1,2]. Photoluminescence can be enhanced by metal nanostructures dispersed in an active medium through local field enhancement and/or energy transfer. Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) arising from metallic nanoparticles results in giant and highly localized electric fields around nanoparticles. This intense localized electric field can enhance the yield of optical transition of nearby rare-earth ions, a phenomenon known as local field enhancement (LFE) [3]. Metal nanoparticles (NPs) can also enhance the luminescence spectrum by energy transfer to emitting ions. In addition to isotropic spherical NPs, optically coupled NPs and also anisotropic NPs with sharp edges by confinement of the local surface electric field at their sharp edges are fascinating for nanometal enhanced fluorescence (NMEF) studies [4,5]. The synthesis of directional nanostructures such as nanorods, nanowires and nanobelts of various materials have attracted material scientists and led to many challenging studies [6]. However, fabrication of non-spherical metallic nanostructures in glass matrices has had remarkably little success and remains a challenge.
Various fabrication techniques such as chemical processes, ion implantation, irradiation or thermal reduction have been employed to produce nanometals inside solid matrices [1,7,8]. In situ fabrication of metal nanostructures in a glass medium is affected by temperature, and annealing or irradiation time. In this research, thermal treatment of glass specimens has been performed to mutually adjust the glass matrix. Hence the thermally reduced silver ions dissolve in the glassy medium, leading to fabrication of silver nanostructures embedded in Er3+/Yb3+ activated GeO2-PbO glass matrix. In addition, annealing of the glass at a temperature higher than 435 °C, the glass transition temperature [9], was used to adjust the glass matrix. This technique represents a novel method to produce promising (isotropic and anisotropic) nanostructures embedded in a glass matrix in a more controlled fashion. The UV-Visible absorption, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy techniques have been employed to study the formation of nanostructures in the glassy network.
2.1. UV-Visible Absorption
Figure 1 shows the UV-visible absorption of NP-Ag/glass composite samples where a number of sharp absorption peaks are observed in the spectra of all samples. The most intense peaks occur at 490, 523, and 649 nm, which are related to Er3+ excitations from the ground state 4I15/2 to 4F7/2, 2H11/2, and 4F9/2 states, respectively [10]. The characteristic SPR peak of silver nanoparticles at about 410 nm is overlapped by a glass band edge at about 400 nm and forms some shoulder-like peaks seen in the absorption spectra. The absorption at about 400 nm for all samples are higher than in the reference sample, but for the samples prepared by annealing at 450 °C for one hour, it is widened to longer wavelengths. The intensity of the SPR peak increases gradually with increasing of the duration of annealing from 5 h to 30 h.
Figure 1. UV-visible absorption spectra for Ag-NP doped Er3+/Yb3+ activated GeO2-PbO glasses with different annealing timing. The blue spectrum, specified with an arrow, is related to a specimen annealed at 450 °C for one hour and shows a higher SPR absorption at longer wavelengths. The SPR peak at about 400–500 nm also increases with increasing annealing time.
2.2. TEM
Figure 2 and Figure 3 combine TEM images of nanoparticle-doped glass samples and apparently shows the formation of nanostructures embedded in the glass matrix. In Figure 2 basil-like nanostructures with a mean length and width of 54 nm and 13 nm, respectively, are shown, with neither specific shape nor dense appearance. The TEM picture reveals that the nanobasils consist of many rod-like nanostructures which are joined each other to form a wider basil-like nanostructure. Figure 3a–c shows the nanoparticle formation in the glass matrix by annealing at 450 °C for 5, 10, and 20 h, respectively.
Figure 2. TEM images for Ag-NP doped RE activated GeO2-PbO glasses annealed at 450 °C for one hour. basil-like silver nanostructures is shown in the figure. More details from this sample are shown in the intercept.
Figure 3. TEM images for Ag-NP doped RE activated GeO2-PbO glasses with (a) 5 hour, (b) 10 h, (c) 20 h and (d) 30 h annealing time. The Ag nanoparticles embedded in glass matrix are shown in the figure. Increasing of annealing duration causes aggregation of small nanoparticles (mean diameter of 3.6 nm) turn to larger particles (5.6 nm) as seen on Figure 3d.
These figures clearly represent pieces of glass-embedded 3–4 nm size spherical silver nanoparticles in their matrix. Particle size distribution and Lorentzian fit for Figure 3c are depicted in Figure 4a. This figure shows that particles are uniformly distributed around a mean diameter of 3.6 nm. Based on Figure 4b, the mean size of nanoparticles does not change considerably with an increase of annealing time up to 30 h. Moreover, when the annealing time increases to 30 h, the silver nanoparticles aggregates turn into bigger, but slightly deformed ones, as shown in Figure 3d and Figure 4b.
Figure 4. (a) The size distribution of NP particles and Lorentzian fit for TEM image of Figure 3 b,c. The relation between NP's mean size and annealing duration. The error bar represents standard deviation of size measurement.
2.3. XRD
Figure 5 shows X-ray diffraction patterns collected from annealed samples. In addition to the amorphous background, sharp peaks at 38.3°, 44.6° and 64.8° were detected in the XRD patterns which show crystallizations in the glass matrix. All peaks were indices of a cubic silver single phase which is in good accordance with XRD reference number (JCPDS 1-87-720). Comparison between two patterns related to minimum and maximum annealing time in Figure 4 reveal that nanostructures after one hour annealing growth more in the [111] direction due to the higher intensity of the peak at 38.3° in comparison with the 450 °C-30 h sample. In addition, no evidence was obtained from XRD measurements to show the existence of Ag2O (JCPDS 76-1393) or AgO (JCPDS 84-1108) crystalline phases.
Figure 5. XRD spectra of Ag-NP doped Er3+/Yb3+ activated GeO2-PbO glass for samples annealed for 1 and 30 h. The sharp peaks were indices according to the crystalline directions of silver.
2.4. EDX
Figure 6 shows energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectra collected from Ag-NP doped Er3+/Yb3+ activated GeO2-PbO glass.
Figure 6. EDX spectra of Ag-NP doped Er3+/Yb3+ activated GeO2-PbO glass.
These spectra show the elements participate in the glass material and are summarized in Table 1 in terms of weight percent. According to EDX data, contribution of all materials which make up the glass matrix (Ge, Pb, and O) and the dopants (Ag, Er, and Yb) is confirmed.
Table 1. EDX data of Ag-NP doped Er3+/Yb3+ activated GeO2-PbO glass. All values are in weight percent.
Ref 7.94 19.49 26.53 0.34 0.36 1.17 44.17 100.00
450-1h 6.83 20.79 25.36 0.35 0.24 1.47 44.96 100.00
450-10h 6.96 20.26 25.09 0.27 0.39 1.51 45.51 100.00
450-20h 6.6 21.02 29.72 0.34 0.32 1.46 40.54 100.00
2.5. FTIR
The FTIR absorption spectra of silver nanoparticles actively doped in heavy metal oxide germanate glasses is shown in Figure 7. A wide and intense band at 650–850 cm–1 is deconvulated into two peaks at 710 and 770 cm–1. These peaks are related to the stretching vibration mode of Ge-O-Ge bonds in GeO6 octahedral units [11] and antisymmetric stretching vibrations of Ge-O-Ge bonds in GeO4 tetrahedral units [12], respectively. This shows the existence of both of four- and six-coordination. The absorption at 500–600 cm–1 is attributed to the antisymmetrical bending vibration of a Pb-O-Pb chain [13] and also related to bending, and the symmetric stretching vibration of Ge-O-Ge in the GeO4 tetrahedral unit [12]. The weak peak observed at 470 cm–1 is related to the symmetrical bending vibration of Pb-O in a PbO4 tetragonal pyramid [14]. In the germanate-lead oxide system lead ions have a modifier role at low PbO content, but participate in the glass network as PbO chains at higher compositions [15]. The peak in 470 cm–1 is related to a PbO covalent bond which is formed when Pb acts the former role in the glass matrix. This peak was not observed in a reference sample, which means that the Pb-O chains did not originally exist in the glass and form in the glass matrix because of the applied heat treatment.
Figure 7. FTIR spectra of Ag-NP doped Er3+/Yb3+ active GeO2-PbO glass. The arrow in the picture shows the weak peak related to a PbO covalent band that arises after the annealing process.
2.6. XPS
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used as a powerful technique to study the chemical surrounding of Pb atoms and their role in the glass network. XPS collective spectra of Pb 4f5/2 and Pb 4f7/2 spin-orbit doublet of selective lead oxide germanate glasses actively doped with silver nanoparticles are shown in Figure 8. Binding energy of Pb 4f5/2 and Pb 4f7/2 in all selected samples are about 143.0 and 138.1 eV, respectively. These binding energies are in good agreement with data previously reported for PbO [16]. Two Pb 4f peaks of the sample annealed for 10 h are symmetric and are fitted with two single Gaussian-Lorentzian curves. The other samples show a clear asymmetry in their Pb 4f5/2 and Pb 4f7/2 spectra and are deconvoluted into two peaks for each spin-orbit doublet (the sample annealed for 1 hour shows more asymmetric behavior). The appearance of these new peaks at quite higher binding energies (144.8 and 140.1 for Pb 4f5/2 and Pb 4f7/2 respectively) is related to the existence of a new chemical state due to a change in the Pb-O bonding nature from covalent to ionic form [17]. A change in the role of cation from former to modifier is typically associated with the formation of an ionic bond with a transfer of electrons from the cations to neighboring oxygens. Owing to the inverse relation of binding energy to local electron density at the site of atoms, the appearance of new peaks at higher energies in samples annealed for 1 and 30 h, are due to the formation of Pb-O ionic bonds and the modifier role of lead in the glass network. In addition, the sample annealed for 10 h shows higher intensities of both Pb 4f peaks relative to other samples. This reveals a more covalent nature of the Pb-O bond in this sample in comparison with the others, because of higher average Pb electron density. The XPS results clearly show that ionic Pb-O bonding that appeared in the glass network during 1 hour of annealing, is transformed into covalent Pb-O chains after heat treatment for 10 h. Some Pb-O chains then, are broken into ionic bonds after 30 h of heat treatment, but to a lesser extent than the sample exposed to 1 hour of annealing duration.
Figure 8. Experimental XPS spectra of Pb 4f transition and the deconvoluted curves of Ag-NP doped Er3+/Yb3+ active GeO2-PbO glass annealed for 1, 10, and 30 h from bottom to top.
One of the most well-known modifiers in glass science, silver, dissolves in the glass matrix in ionic form (Ag+) when the melt of glass forming material cools down rapidly to form a rigid glassy specimen [13]. These ions can be reduced automatically by heat treatment because the reduction potential (E0) of the Ag+/Ag0 redox system is positive (E0 = 0.8 mV) [1]. During the annealing process, the thermally reduced silver atoms collect with each other to form nanoparticle seeds. Continued exposure of the samples at 450 °C leads not only to the seeding process, but also to the growth of nanoparticles based on the existing seeds from additional reduced silver atoms [6]. When the glass is annealed for just one hour and cooled down slowly in the furnace, the silver atoms do not have enough time to create a large number of seeds, but the growth process still persists even during cooling down to create larger particles. Moreover, our FTIR results showed that Pb acts as a modifier of the glass network before the annealing process took place. According to the XPS data, 1 hour of heat treatment causes the formation of Pb-O ionic bonds and opens the glass network, so silver atoms can move more freely in a glass with an open structure to form more random nanostructures. This is in reasonable agreement with the UV-visible absorption spectra and TEM images. The weak and uniformly wide SPR absorption of the sample annealed for one hour illustrates perfectly the smaller number of particles of various sizes and shapes. The large, uncompressed, basil-like nanostructures observed in the TEM images are well matched with previous results and hence support this evocative mechanism.
Based on the XPS and FTIR data, the Pb-O chains form to recover the glass network during the annealing process. An increase of the duration of annealing causes silver atoms to form more nanoparticle seeds in an environment that is tightened by the formation of Pb-O chains. This leads to the formation of several small nanoparticles which are capped by the glass network to control the NPs' size. Holding the samples at 450 °C for a longer annealing time causes an increase in the number of nanoparticles with almost the same size, but the highest annealing duration results in aggregation of small NPs to form slightly larger nanoparticles. This mechanism can describe the increase of SPR absorption by increasing of annealing time which indicates an increase in the number of nanoparticles. Slightly larger particles observed in the sample annealed for 30 h may lead to a slight red-shift of the SPR peak which may make the SPR band easy to observe, but it cannot be certainly proven by its absorption spectrum. Enhancement of the seeding process in a tight amorphous glassy environment by increasing of annealing time, results in uniformly distributed cultivation of small NPs embedded in the glass matrix. Holding the samples in 450 °C for 30 h not only enhances NP cultivation, but also gives the small nanoparticles the opportunity to aggregate into larger particles and breakdown the glassy network, which is confirmed by the photoelectron data.
4. Experimental Section
In order to study the silver NP-glass material, one set prepared by a melt and quenching method with different annealing processes. A sample with a composition of (GeO2)0.5(PbO)0.5 triply doped with 0.5, 1.5, 1 wt% of Er2O3, Yb2O3 and AgNO3, respectively, was prepared by the melt and quenching method. The sample was divided into several pieces that were separately annealed in 450 °C for 1, 5, 10, 20 and 30 h which is higher than glass transition temperature of this glass (435 °C), and cooled down inside the furnace to room temperature. Then, they were finely grounded for TEM, FTIR, EDX, XPS and UV-Vis absorption (reflection setup) characterization.
The glass samples' crystallinity or amorphous nature was investigated by an X'Pert Pro PW 3040 MPD X-ray powder diffraction instrument (PANalytical B.V., Almelo, The Netherlands). The absorption spectrum was probed with an UV-3600, UV-VIS-NIR spectrometer (Shimadzu Scientific instrument Inc., Columbia, MD, USA) from 300 nm to 1,200 nm using a reflection setup. FTIR results were extracted from a Spectrum-100, FT-IR spectrometer (Perkin-Elmer Inc., Waltham, MA, USA) using a UATR accessory as the sampling method. The spectra were taken from 400 cm−1 to 1,000 cm−1 and deconvoluted into Gaussian component bands. Material compositions were probed by energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. The EDX data were collected using a JSM-6400 electron scanning microscope (JEOL Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) working at an accelerating voltage of 20 kV. Morphological evaluation and measurement of size and size distribution was performed with an H-7100 Transmission Electron Microscope (Hitachi, Chula Vista, CA, USA) operating at an accelerating voltage of 120 kV. For TEM experiments the powder sample was dissolved in isopropyl alcohol and a drop of the solution was deposited onto carbon coated copper grids and left to air dry for one day at ambient temperature. The photoelectron and binding energies study was performed using an AXIS-Ultra XPS instrument (Kratos Analytical Ltd., Manchester, UK). The glass samples were measured in an ultra-high vacuum chamber (4.5 × 10−10 Torr) and using a monochromatic Al Kα X-ray source. The binding energy data were calibrated by referencing the main peak of C 1s peak to 284.6 eV.
Matrix adjustment thermal reduction fabrication method was introduced as a cheap, easy and swift technique to fabricate various silver nanostructures in GeO2-PbO glass matrices. Annealing the glass sample for one hour provided a loose environment to thermally reduce the Ag+ ions to form basil-like nanostructures with a mean length of 54 nm and mean width of 13 nm according to TEM images. Pb-O chains didn't appear in the FTIR results for the glass before annealing, but arose in annealed samples. Also, Pb-O ionic bonds appear in the XPS spectrum of the Pb 4f transition for sample annealed for a short time and disappear in the samples exposed to longer annealing. This provides an open environment for fractal nanostructure formation after a short time of annealing. Longer annealing times resulted in formation of 3–4 nm size nanoparticles in a tight glass network that acted as a capping agent. The SPR band of NP silver showed higher values in the extinction spectra against the increase in annealing time, which reveals the formation of more Ag nanoparticles. Holding the glass specimen at 450 °C for 30 h caused aggregation of smaller NPs to form larger but deformed nanoparticles and some loosening in the glass network which was confirmed by the appearance of Pb-O ionic bonds in the XPS data.
The financial support from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and the Institute of Bioscience (IBS) Zahidah Muhamed for TEM and EDX services, and Center for Research Instrumentation and Management (CRIM) for XPS services are gratefully acknowledged.
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© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
Bahari, H.-R.; Zamiri, R.; Sidek, H.A.A.; Zakaria, A.; Adikan, F.R.M. Characterization and Synthesis of Silver Nanostructures in Rare Earth Activated GeO2-PbO Glass Matrix Using Matrix Adjustment Thermal Reduction Method. Entropy 2013, 15, 1528-1539. https://doi.org/10.3390/e15051528
Bahari H-R, Zamiri R, Sidek HAA, Zakaria A, Adikan FRM. Characterization and Synthesis of Silver Nanostructures in Rare Earth Activated GeO2-PbO Glass Matrix Using Matrix Adjustment Thermal Reduction Method. Entropy. 2013; 15(5):1528-1539. https://doi.org/10.3390/e15051528
Bahari, Hamid-Reza, Reza Zamiri, Hj. A. A. Sidek, Azmi Zakaria, and Faisal Rafiq M. Adikan. 2013. "Characterization and Synthesis of Silver Nanostructures in Rare Earth Activated GeO2-PbO Glass Matrix Using Matrix Adjustment Thermal Reduction Method" Entropy 15, no. 5: 1528-1539. https://doi.org/10.3390/e15051528
Entropy, EISSN 1099-4300, Published by MDPI
https://www.mdpi.com/50568


Men have a greater chance of dying then women, and smoking increases an adult's risk of death just as if five years were suddenly added to their age.
For men who have never smoked, heart disease presents their greatest risk for death at any age, exceeding the odds of dying from lung, colon, and prostate cancer combined.
Male smokers face a lung cancer risk that is greater than the odds of heart disease taking their lives after age 60 and is tenfold higher than the chance of dying from prostate and colon cancer combined.
The chances of dying from heart disease and breast cancer are similar for nonsmoking women until age 60 when heart disease becomes a greater risk.


Listen: Is there hope for the Waimea Dam project?
The Tasman District Council's decision to vote against the Waimea Dam project last week left many people in the rural community disappointed.
However, there is still hope the project could go through, as chief executive of Irrigation New Zealand Andrew Curtis told The Country's Jamie Mackay.
"There is a glimmer of hope out there," says Curtis, who confirms the council is going to have another vote on Thursday, after Waimea Irrigators put together a revised funding model for consideration.
"It's my understanding that what this does is it really focuses the rate increase in on those areas which receive direct benefits ... the town of Richmond and some of the commercial players, but obviously the Waimea Plains itself. And then what it does is it takes some of the pressure off the Motueka and Golden Bay area who obviously don't receive that direct benefit".
Mackay asks Curtis why irrigation has such a bad reputation in New Zealand.
"There's just been this branding that's happened over the last few years around irrigation [that it] equals dairy farming which equals poor water quality and environmental issues," says Curtis, who believes that some water issues come from incorrect land usage.
"Irrigation has actually not caused this problem, it's actually the land uses and it's all about how we control those land uses and ensure that certain land uses are only done in certain areas so they don't impact on the environment".
Also in today's interview: The Country's dairy correspondent Andy Thompson explains the unique aspects of irrigation in the Waimea Plains.


One of the wonders of the Houston Astros wonderful 2017 offense was the strength up and down the lineup. Even the weak link, DH Carlos Beltran put the ball in play and moved the runners over or hit a sacrifice fly once in a while. The Astros were first in almost everything (Runs, hits, BA, OBP, SLG, OPS) and were a true juggernaut. This season…..not so much.
One of the biggest differences in 2017 from 2016 was the "length" of the lineup. In 2016, there was not much behind the top three players for the Astros (Carlos Correa, Jose Altuve and George Springer). Carlos Gomez (.210 BA.594 OPS), Colby Rasmus (.206/.641), Jason Castro (.210/.684), Marwin Gonzalez (.254/.694) and Jake Marisnick (.210/.588) were all rally killers. 3B/1B Luis Valbuena was decent but only played 90 games and DH Evan Gattis did good things intertwined with interminable slumps. It seemed as if the team did not do something involving the top three, they were just as likely to do nothing in the games.
Sounds familiar. Even though the Astros are still number three in the AL in runs scored and top two to four in BA/OBP/SLG/OPS – there are serious underlying issues with their lineup.
George Springer. Was in a swamp deep slump for 6+ weeks of the season. Though his BA is slowly climbing now he is not coming near the .889 OPS he put up last season.
Jose Altuve. It feels wrong to complain about a guy hitting .329, but he is obviously down in HRs and RBIs and has not been good with 2 outs RISP. It feels like he is pressing to replace the injured Carlos Correa. Now he will miss some time with his own injured knee and that will knock his cumulative numbers down even more.
Carlos Correa. Correa was struggling for him in the first half of the season – down in all the major areas (.268 BA/.832 OPS), which would have been great numbers for an Astros SS in about 50 of the previous seasons. He is now in the midst of a one month and counting stint on the DL with a bad back. His numbers will be down for the year.
The black hole. The end of the lineup has been a mess, especially lately with inconsistent Evan Gattis, slumping Gonzalez and Max Stassi, overmatched Kyle Tucker and Tim Federowicz, and a fairly ineffective Josh Reddick. For a few weeks, the end of the lineup was pretty decent between a blazing Gattis, a fairly hot MarGo and a solid Tony Kemp. But lately the lineup has not been able to turn over and with the problems with Springer, Altuve and Correa it was no sure thing when they did.
Now a couple positives have been Yuli Gurriel with a good BA especially with RISP and the breakout season of Alex Bregman. Bregman is first or second on the team in Runs, doubles, HRs, RBIs, OBP, SLG and OPS. Where they would be without him? In deep doo-doo.
So is there any hope here for improvement? It was predicted here that Reddick and MarGo would regress this season. But not this much. They could get on a roll some time down the stretch. The returns of Correa, Altuve and to a lesser extent McCann could help a bunch. Another hot streak by Gattis and Stassi would be welcome. And if Jeff Luhnow went out and got some hitting help in the next couple days that might do something for this lineup too.
Where are you on this lineup and the black hole?
Will they get their hitting mojo back?
What do they need to do that?
Is this black hole expanding? Controllable?
Will the hitting be this team's undoing?
I just don't get the line up tonight. Yuli at 2nd again. I'll be surprised if we win this one. I hope I'm wrong.
I don't know what Osuna did or did not do. But if it is anything like Danry Vasquez, who kept hitting the young girl over and over. Then I have no use for either of them. Call it my upbringing, but only low life cowards ever hit a female. PERIOD.
wow been running around all day and night till now. lots happening. i wish my gambling radar was as good as my trade radar. i mentioned just awhile back i thought another arm was coming and paulino might be part of the package leaving. hit on that. osuna (from a baseball only outlook) is a heck of a pickup. i dont know the facts on the domestic side so i will reserve judgement till it all is known.
Garrett Cole is DEALING tonight!
He better keep it up. We forgot to pack our bats…… Again.
I have no idea what is wrong with our guys. Either they aren't interested in winning, or they've given up. The most lifeless group of baseball players I've ever seen, except Bregman.
Marwin goes fishing and comes up empty. What's he even do in the line up anyway?
We've been seeing it for the last two months. Ask Verlander.
I thought Gattis' long ball in the first was a 3 run HR. Unfortunately Safeco Field appeared to have only one camera angle on the ball from about 500 feet away. We will never know the truth on that one.
Same problem a while back at MMP. Couldn't see the ball down the left field line. You'd think they'd put camera's to see the lines. 8th inning…another scoring opportunity down the drain.
In the last 10 loses that we've had we've averaged 5 hits.
The M'S smell Astros blood.


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Home Tags Oracle
How to check which version of Java you have installed in Windows 10, in 2 steps
Melanie Weir, Business Insider US - January 28, 2020
To check which version of Java you have on your Windows computer, you'll need to open the Command Prompt.
Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux operating system, warned developers not to use an Oracle-owned file system because of the company's '...
Rosalie Chan, Business Insider US - January 13, 2020
Linux creator Linus Torvalds said he does not feel "safe" adding code from ZFS, built by Oracle's Sun Microsystems, to the Linux open source project.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai's salary was just raised to $2 million, but he's set up to make at least $240 million more if he sticks around an...
Mary Meisenzahl, Business Insider US - December 20, 2019
Pichai's salary will increase to $2 million, plus millions more in stock, some tied to the company's performance.
Larry Ellison says that Oracle has 'no plans' to hire a new co-CEO, meaning Safra Catz will be running the show solo
Julie Bort, Benjamin Pimentel, Business Insider US - December 12, 2019
Larry Ellison says Safra Catz will be Oracle's only CEO, with nobody stepping up to replace the late Mark Hurd.
A look at the most valuable tech companies from 10 years ago shows how much has changed — and that Microsoft and Apple still dominate
Tyler Sonnemaker, Business Insider US - December 10, 2019
Things sure have changed since the dawn of the decade — players like Cisco, Intel, and IBM all hit roadblocks, but Apple and Microsoft only thrived.
San Francisco is so expensive, Oracle is moving its annual mega-conference to Las Vegas instead
Rosalie Chan, Business Insider US - December 10, 2019
Oracle will move its OpenWorld conference to Caesars Forum in Las Vegas because of high hotel rates in San Francisco and "poor street conditions."
Amazon's cloud boss mocked IBM and Oracle at its big conference with a clever picture showing Amazon Prime shipping boxes
Rosalie Chan, Business Insider US - December 3, 2019
At AWS re:Invent, CEO Andy Jassy showed a slide featuring Amazon Prime boxes and an IBM mainframe as he spoke about moving applications to the cloud.
Safra Catz will remain Oracle's sole CEO while the company grooms a new exec to replace the late Mark Hurd as co-CEO
Benjamin Pimentel, Business Insider US - November 19, 2019
Oracle plans to name a president who could be groomed to replace Mark Hurd, the tech giant's co-CEO who died last month, according to Bloomberg.
15 people who became billionaires in 2019 — and 14 who lost their status in the three-comma club
Taylor Nicole Rogers, Business Insider US - November 11, 2019
Adam Bowen and James Monsees, the cofounders of Juul, had particularly short-lived tenures as billionaires.
Microsoft's $10 billion Pentagon contract win changes everything in the cloud wars with Amazon. Here's what you need to know.
Matt Weinberger, Business Insider US - November 1, 2019
Microsoft's win over Amazon Web Services is like if the Washington Nationals won the World Series. Hey, wait.


The San Diego County Water Authority has posted a photographic tour of the San Vicente Dam Raising Project. Click here to see it.
The November Lakeside Community Planning Group Update also has a few pictures.
I'm on the waiting list for a tour, and will post photos and more detail here afterwards.
This entry was posted on November 18, 2009 at 2:08 pm	and is filed under Environment, Land use, Water. Tagged: San Vicente Reservoir. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


Cancer Research UK announced today that it is funding three major new international research initiatives on the microbiome, chronic inflammation and why some cancers are specific to certain tissues and not others.
Multidisciplinary teams of scientists from across North America, the UK and Europe, and Israel will come together to explore these research challenges, which are currently some of the biggest in cancer research.
Collectively, the teams have been awarded almost £60 million.
These five-year research programmes will investigate how billions of microorganisms living in our bodies, called the microbiome, could be manipulated to treat bowel cancer; find new ways to tackle cancers linked to chronic inflammation; and develop a deeper understanding of why cancers develop in some tissues but not in others.
These initiatives represent the bold approach Cancer Research UK is taking in bringing the very best researchers from around the globe together to unite their talent, pool resources and crack some of the biggest questions in cancer research.
And for the first time, several major US institutions will be leading these projects as part of the Grand Challenge competition. They are the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston; Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston; Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston; and the University of California, San Francisco. They form part of a growing community of Cancer Research UK funded international researchers.
Bowel cancer is the 4th most common cancer in the UK, accounting for 12% of all new cancer cases in 2015. Initial research suggests that a person's microbiome – the collection of billions of microorganisms living in our bodies – may be linked to bowel cancer and their response to treatment.
Professor Matthew Meyerson at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, and Professor Wendy Garrett at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health will lead the project, along with researchers in the US, Canada, the UK, the Netherlands and Spain, to explore the relationship between the microbiome and bowel cancer.
The team is aiming to understand the difference between a healthy microbiome and a microbiome associated with cancer and find ways to manipulate this collection of microorganisms to better prevent and treat cancer. They will explore this through clinical trials of new interventions based on the research results.
Professor Wendy Garrett, from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said: "The colon is the most densely populated microbial environment on the planet. We've assembled a global team with a lifelong interest in the microbiome and its huge impact on human health. We've already seen certain types of bacteria that appear to be associated with a greater risk of bowel cancer, but that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Professor Matthew Meyerson, from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, said: "Microbiome research has already thrown up a range of unexpected findings. For example, we've found certain bacteria that have spread with cancer cells to other parts of the body. We don't yet know how this happens, but this is just one of the questions we'll be trying to answer as part of this project.
In another project, Professor Thea Tlsty at the University of California, San Francisco, and collaborators from the US, Canada, the UK and Israel will unravel how chronic inflammation is linked to cancer.
Inflammation is part of the body's immune response. Chemicals released by white blood cells help protect our body from damaged cells, foreign substances or infections. Chronic inflammation can be caused by several factors such as viral and bacterial infections (including colitis), being overweight or lack of exercise, which can lead to diseases such as cancer. It is suggested that up to 1 in 4 cancers globally are linked to inflammation*.
Professor Stephen Elledge at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School and collaborators from the US, the UK and the Netherlands are looking to understand why genetic faults only affect certain tissues.
Mutations in the BRCA gene are amongst the most well-known inherited genetic defects that can lead to cancer, and increase the risk of breast, ovarian and prostate cancers. There are many other genetic mistakes that increase the likelihood of developing cancer, but why do they only affect certain tissues in the body?
If someone carries a potentially cancer-causing gene mutation, this fault can exist in every cell of the body, but only causes specific cancers, e.g. breast or skin. The team is studying why this is the case, and will use this information to find ways to prevent or treat cancer in these organs.
This project is supported in partnership with The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research.
These teams will now join a growing community of Grand Challenge researchers, which first launched in 2015 and already includes four international teams announced in 2017.
Grand Challenge is open to scientists based anywhere in the world and from any discipline to bring innovative, international, and collaborative approaches to research.
The funding for these new projects comes from Cancer Research UK directly and with support from The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research, based in New York, which are providing £10 million to the project led by Professor Stephen Elledge.
Michelle Mitchell, Cancer Research UK's chief executive, said: "We're excited to be able to fund such innovative research. These teams have five years to try to answer these complex questions about a disease that affects so many people, and we look forward to crossing new frontiers in our understanding of cancer.
* Hussain SP, Harris CC. Inflammation and cancer: an ancient link with novel potentials. Int J Cancer. 2007 Dec 1;121(11):2373-80.
Okada F. Inflammation-related carcinogenesis: current findings in epidemiological trends, causes and mechanisms. Yonago Acta Med. 2014 Jun;57(2):65-72.


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Should the Democrats Pursue Immigration or Climate Change?
Democrats are on the verge of a fateful choice about their agenda between now and the end of the 111th Congress. Whatever its substantive merits, and regardless of how it will be judged once it goes into effect, the health care bill has not gained popular support since its passage, and the Democratic Party has continued to slip in the polls. The key reason, I'd suspect, is that people came to see the health care debate as a long diversion from their central concern—namely, jobs and the economy.
Elementary prudence would seem to dictate that the leadership would quickly pivot to the economy and would sustain that focus through the spring and summer. The small-bore jobs bill was a start, and the far more significant financial reforms will advance the case. But now, the leadership is moving toward, or backing into, months dominated by some combination of immigration and climate change—and of course there will also be a Supreme Court confirmation battle to fight. It is hard to believe that the people will respond favorably.
No doubt strategists on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue will point out that intensity is the key to midterm elections and that right now the intensity gap strongly favors the Republicans. The only way to counter-mobilize a somewhat demoralized Democratic base is to target the issues its components care about the most—immigration for Hispanics, climate change for young people—or so the argument runs.
That sounds too clever by half. In the first place, it's very unlikely that either immigration or climate change legislation will succeed in this congress. If passing health care did not increase public support for Democrats, why will failing to pass immigration reform or climate change legislation work any better?
Second, Democrats seem to assume that they have nothing left to lose—that all the people who will vote against them this November have already made up their minds—so that focusing on non-economic issues dear to the base will be all gain and no pain. Again, I wonder. Might it not reinforce the message that Democrats are out of touch and unwilling to heed the people's concerns? Over the past nine months, many independents who supported Democrats in 2006 and 2008 have moved away from the party. More could follow.
No doubt Democrats will try to blunt this reaction by emphasizing the connection between jobs and the economy, on the one hand, and immigration and climate change on the other. Substantive as that argument may be, I still don't think it will work. In times of deep economic concern, average Americans are more likely to see threats than opportunities. Immigration reform and climate change legislation will always be tough, but they'll be easier to accomplish when the middle class is feeling less anxious.
Granted, in the long term, the politics of immigration will certainly work in favor of the Democrats. Look at California: Republicans have never recovered from the legislation and rhetoric of Pete Wilson's governorship. In the short term, however, the issue could push in the opposite direction. While the immigration debate of 2006-2007 divided Republicans, it also divided Democrats, and this year the issue will most hurt endangered Democrats in tough districts.
My skepticism about the Democrats' emerging strategy has nothing to do with the substance of these issues. What's been made public so far about the Kerry-Lieberman-Graham bill sounds sensible, and I served as co-convenor of a bipartisan task force that agreed on recommendations for comprehensive immigration reform. I disagree, rather, with the political calculation that seems to be driving this strategy.
Here's why: 90 percent of the electorate is not Hispanic, and 85 percent is not young. Relatively modest shifts in voter sentiment outside these two groups could easily swamp increased turnout within them and turn all-but-certain Democratic losses into a rout of historic proportions. While the temptation to adopt a strategy of targeted micro-politics is understandable, Democrats should instead espouse a strategy of macro-politics focused on broad-based public concerns. If that means that Senate Democrats will have to choose a new majority leader next January, so be it. At least they'll still have a majority.


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The Aston Martin DB AR1 is a limited-edition grand tourer that was made by Aston Martin and Zagato for the United States market in 2003. The AR1 name stands for American Roadster 1. It was introduced at the Los Angeles Auto Showin January 2003, when it had no convertible top at all.
The Zagato press release of January 2003 states: "It is based on the current DB7 Vantage Volante (convertible) and boasts revised bodystyle with coachwork by Zagato". The DB AR1 uses the 6.0 litre, 48-valve, V12 engine from the V12 Vanquish. It offers 435bhp compared with 420bhp of the DB7 Vantage.


Starts Friday, Oct 26, 2018 | 04:30 P.M.
Ends Friday, Oct 26, 2018 | 07:00 P.M.
Location Scotts Miracle-Gro Athletics Complex - Cranston, R.I.
The Regis men's soccer team heads to Rhode Island to face Johnson and Wales in the quarterfinals of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament. The winner of the overall eight-team tournament receives an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Tournament.


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Ken Detzner Concerned about Aging Election Equipment
Jim Turner News Service of Florida
Decade-old voting equipment is quickly aging in nearly half the state's counties, and there has been a struggle at the local level to secure money to cover the replacement costs.
Secretary of State Ken Detzner said he will meet next month with local supervisors of election in Orlando to determine which counties are most in need of new equipment before the 2016 elections.
"It's kind of one of those things that you don't think about until something happens," Detzner said this week. "We know we need to do something."
Detzner estimated that about 30 counties might need new equipment or upgrades, but he declined to specify the counties.
It's up to local county commissions, some still smarting from a rush to bring in state-of-the-art electronic touch screen equipment after the state's controversial 2000 election, to fund the bulk of the latest replacement costs.
"Some of the equipment is old, some as old as 10 years old," Detzner said. "And we'll be evaluating that, working with the supervisors and their local county commission to make sure they get funded in preparation for 2016."
The president of the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections said most computer technology is reaching obsolescence at a decade, including programs simply designed to count ballots.
Duval County Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland, the association president, expects Detzner to come out of the meeting next month with a list of counties that are most at risk of running elections that could fail without new equipment.
"He has the authority to decertify equipment," Holland said. "He can easily tell the county commissions, 'Listen, this equipment is not worthy of going forward.' Then the county supervisors have the ability to go to their county commissioners and say 'It's not a luxury but a necessity.'"
Holland also declined to say which counties face urgent upgrades.
Most Florida counties now use optical-scan technology, where voters mark paper ballot choices by filling in bubbles or connecting arrows before sliding the paper through electronic tabulators.
Tabulators at each precinct tally those votes and, depending upon the equipment, can quickly transmit the results from the precinct to a supervisor's headquarters after the polls are closed.
It's the tabulators, which individually cost about $4,000, that are most in need of being replaced with the latest technology, Holland said. Updating tabulators also requires new software.
With about 200 precincts and 18 early-voting locations, Duval County spent about $1.4 million before the 2012 election to update its voting equipment. The county spent about $1.6 million after the election on electronic poll books that are intended to cut down the time at the polls for voters by reducing paperwork.
"You can get through an election without the latest technology, but the problem is you then have a competence factor," Holland said. "The voter starts asking, 'Why couldn't I put my ballot in the machine? What are they going to do with my ballot if they couldn't tabulate it at the (polling) location?' Those issues erode confidence in an election. That's why you don't want go to the point where your equipment is faulty."
The supervisors association conference, which will be held the week of Dec. 7, will also feature a discussion with Detzner on how to prepare for what is expected to be an increase in the use of early-voting locations and absentee voting for the presidential contest in two years.


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Tim Cook says Apple wants to use AR to make conversations better
And hints at Apple's interest in building a car
By Jacob Kastrenakes@jake_k Apr 5, 2021, 9:27am EDT
Share All sharing options for: Tim Cook says Apple wants to use AR to make conversations better
Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge
Apple CEO Tim Cook rarely provides details on unannounced products, but he offered some hints about Apple's thinking on augmented reality and cars in an interview with Kara Swisher for The New York Times this morning.
When it comes to augmented reality, he agreed with Swisher's framing that the tech is "critically important" to Apple's future and said it could be used to enhance conversations.
"You and I are having a great conversation right now. Arguably, it could even be better if we were able to augment our discussion with charts or other things to appear," Cook said. He imagines AR being used in health, education, retail, and gaming. "I'm already seeing AR take off in some of these areas with use of the phone. And I think the promise is even greater in the future."
"You know, I've never spoken to Elon."
Apple has been rumored for years to be working on an augmented reality headset, and the latest leaks suggested a mixed reality device could launch next year. Augmented reality features are already available on the iPhone and iPad, but outside of some fun Snapchat filters, augmented reality hasn't become all that widely used yet.
Cook also talked broadly about Apple's approach to products during a question about cars. Leaks from Apple have made it unclear if the company is developing self-driving tech that it could license to other companies or if Apple plans to develop an entire car by itself. Cook's latest comments suggest the latter, assuming the project comes to fruition.
"We love to integrate hardware, software, and services, and find the intersection points of those because we think that's where the magic occurs," Cook said. "And so that's what we love to do. And we love to own the primary technology that's around that."
Cook referred to "autonomy" as a "core technology" and said there are "lots of things you can do" with it in connection with robots. But he warned that not every Apple project eventually ships. "We investigate so many things internally. Many of them never see the light of day," Cook said. "I'm not saying that one will not."
Swisher also asked Cook about Elon Musk's comments about a failed attempt to discuss selling Tesla to Apple around 2017. "You know, I've never spoken to Elon," Cook said, "although I have great admiration and respect for the company he's built."


2 View of students walking accross bridge at the corner of College and Boston Avenues, Rollins, Edwin B.
3 View of students with Cousens Gymnasium in the background Rollins, Edwin B.
4 Physical education class Rollins, Edwin B.
5 Class of 1900 engineering students Rollins, Edwin B.
6 Class of 1902 forging-blacksmithing class Rollins, Edwin B.
7 Class of 1903 blacksmiths Rollins, Edwin B.
8 Class of 1876 Rollins, Edwin B.
9 Students in front of East Hall Rollins, Edwin B.
10 Graduating class of 1871 Rollins, Edwin B.
11 Students lounging in front of East Hall Rollins, Edwin B.


Varalakshmi pooja in progress at the Sakthi Peedam in Saligramam. Large numbers of women took part in it.
Photo mailed by Maha Devi.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 12th, 2014 and is filed under Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.


On behalf of Timothy Pletter of Ambrogio, Pletter & Associates, LLC posted in Personal Bankruptcy on Wednesday, February 28, 2018.
Residents of Connecticut who have a discharged and successfully completed bankruptcy often ask how long it will take to restore their credit to a respectable level. Until that is done, it is more difficult for them to obtain credit and they will tend to be hit with higher interest rates. After a personal bankruptcy is completed, however, it will not take more than a few years or even less in some cases to get the credit score up into the 700 range.
On behalf of Timothy Pletter of Ambrogio, Pletter & Associates, LLC posted in Debt Management on Thursday, February 15, 2018.
For Connecticut consumers who are having a hard time gaining control of their debt, it's important to know that there are ways to ease those struggles. By learning and implementing practical debt management skills and tactics, consumers can not only get their debt under control, but can also build an emergency savings fund and strengthen their credit. Here are some practical tips that can make a big difference in debt control.
On behalf of Timothy Pletter of Ambrogio, Pletter & Associates, LLC posted in Debt Management on Thursday, February 1, 2018.
A recently published article looks at the financial challenges facing low-income households, especially those of African Americans. According to the author, systemic discrimination has created significant disparities in regard to debt and wealth. For many in Connecticut, debt management is an urgent need.


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Q: Is it possible to redirect to service console case record page instead of standard one in lwc I am trying to redirect to the case record I have created in lwc in the service console, instead of the standard case record page.
Is that possible to achieve in lwc at all? I have searched the documents but haven't got a clue yet.