text:
Search Shows That Peking Duck Could Be an Endangered Species
John KrichStaff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
HONG KONG -- As my party of six entered the elevator to leave Quanjude, a new Hong Kong branch of Beijing's most venerable purveyor of Peking Duck, the alarm signaling "overload" sounded. We weren't surprised. Each slice of duck we had just forced down had come with a slab of fat clinging to faintly roasted skin devoid of the candied flavor that makes this dish a draw the world over.
But, as a recent sampling of different Hong Kong restaurants' versions of the dish proved, Peking Duck, also known as Beijing Roast Duck, is one migratory bird that doesn't travel well. They are even worried about the real thing becoming an endangered species in its home territory.
In January, the Beijing Food Industry Association announced it was establishing a code of standards for the preparation of the Chinese capital's best-known dishes: Beijing roast duck and Beijing lamb hot pot (sometimes called Mongolian hot pot, but please don't tell that to the proud folks in Beijing). The standards will forbid Beijing chefs from taking the name of their city in vain, especially when it comes to the regularly fouled-up fowl dish. It is "so that people won't be disappointed when they want to have real Beijing well-known food," Food Industry Association Chairman Bei Tao announced at the association's conference last year.
"The flavors of Beijing are famous," says an unnamed Association member quoted in the Beijing Youth Daily in January, "but the result is often greatly disappointing, and impairs the reputation of the famous dishes."
State-managed, factory-sized Beijing duck houses have long catered to massive tour groups, in a ritual of force-feeding referred to jokingly as "death by duck." The new rules may reclaim the duck tradition and put an end to greasy appetizers, sloppy soups and birds scalded by inattentive drones.
Beijing's culinary crackdown, however, might better be extended to China's Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong. As Dong Zhen Xiang, manager of Beijing's unparalleled Tuanjiehu Roast Duck says: "Beijing roast duck and roast ducks in other places are totally different, even if their bosses won't admit it."
The famed duck's quality in Hong Kong has been felled by the same factors that have sullied the city's reputation as a top showcase for Chinese cuisine: standardization and sterilization.
Here, the only government edict to have any bearing on Peking duck virtually precludes the genuine production of the Northern-style dish. In their zeal to protect the public from fire, Hong Kong's regulators have banned all old-fashioned wood-fired ovens. Not only is it impossible in this famous food city to get a genuine pizza with a wood-fired crust as you might find in Naples, the rules banning wood-fired ovens mean that duck skins cannot be infused, as they are in Beijing, with the special sweetness of logs cut from local fruit trees such as jujube, pear and peach. Instead, chefs here use an upright, gas-fired oven piled with sauna-like stone briquettes that can't replicate the intense and even heat needed to cook Beijing duck.
While ducks are cooked to order in Beijing, with lucky Chinese characters or family names often baked into the bird's skin, in Hong Kong, chefs half-cook their ducks ahead of time, causing the loss of some juices.
And it isn't just the cooking process that is compromised. "Our tian mian jiang sauce, made from fermented flour, is available only in Beijing," Chef Dong, the Tuanjiehu poultry purist, points out. In Hong Kong, the sauce served with the duck may look right, but is more likely to be made from soybeans and sugar. Mr. Zhen also argues that ducks in the Beijing area are force-fed to reach a weight of three kilograms within 45 days, while lake ducks in southern China take two years to reach the same weight, making them less tender. He says that Beijing's desert-like climate allows the hung ducks to dry properly. Southern China, he adds, is just too humid to ever get the process right.
But even with the limitations that prevent Hong Kong restaurants from replicating the authentic northern item, it is surprising that the quality of Peking Duck here offers so little to squawk about.
It seemed the most likely place to find the truest bird in Hong Kong would be at Quanjude. The first Quanjude restaurant opened in Beijing in the mid-1800s when the dish, which supposedly originated in neighboring Shandong Province, first took China's capital by storm. Surely, the Hong Kong outlet following 150 years of tradition would put out a decent rendition. And it seemed promising to find the massive fourth-floor dining hall of the Wanchai restaurant packed. Not only that. Quanjude's menu was packed with Hong Kong's largest selection of traditional appetizers and accompanying stir-fry dishes made from the same bird.
Things started to go wrong with a side dish of scallops in "spicy sauce." It turned out to be Cantonese scallops in oyster sauce. Things got worse when the duck arrived. Not only was the fat overwhelming, the traditional "lotus leaf" pancakes that diners use to wrap the duck were so thin that they were translucent and so gummy that one could barely pull them apart or chew them.
It got worse at Lao Shing Hing, the solid restaurant in the basement of Wanchai's Century Hotel, cited for its duck by several local food lovers. Here the Peking Duck emerged from the kitchen disembodied, without head, wings or lacquered frame. The caramel-colored, soggy-skinned duck was piled high on a plate, steamrolled flat, evenly square and barely hot.
When he was asked what had become of all the bones, traditionally used in a duck broth that finishes a Beijing Duck banquet, the waiter was armed with an explanation. This was, he said, "Shanghai-style Peking Duck."
Surprisingly, results were better at Peking Garden in a Central office tower basement, one of four run by the Maxim's group in Hong Kong. This restaurant is so heavily geared toward the non-Chinese and uninitiated that a benighted tourist at the next table exclaimed gleefully about the table-side chef folding dough into thin strands of traditional hand-pulled noodles, "Wow, he's making a pretzel!"
At least here, the white-gloved waiter who carved the duck separated meat and skin and deftly kept both super-thin. And these came with a reasonably sharp dipping sauce. But the place had the gall to charge extra for the soup made from the throwaway bones, a common but certainly not welcome Hong Kong innovation. (In Beijing, this finishing hot rinse is often gratis.) The duck chunks in the soup were so tough that they couldn't have been boiled in the broth for more than the time it took to add 120 Hong Kong dollars ($15) to the bill.
The results at Spring Deer, a Peking duck mainstay in Tsim Sha Tsui for 27 years, were similarly satisfying, if not quite Pekinese. While succulent, there was a bit too much meat in every bite, and the sauce was a tad too sweet. (This survey excluded altogether the numerous hard-core Cantonese restaurants that cater to local tastes by crisping the duck skin with hot oil and serving the meat stuffed in spongy rolls smeared with plum sauce.)
By a beak, the winner was an unlikely candidate: the upscale China Lan Kwai Fong in Hong Kong's trendy expat enclave, Lan Kwai Fong. Here, the skin was slightly crisper and sweeter, the meat more tender, the pancakes smaller and cucumber was offered along with the obligatory scallions. At HK$350 for the duck and pancakes only (add HK$130 for a choice of soup or too precious and totally inauthentic minced duck meat with pine nuts) it is hardly a deal. But the daily-delivered Guangdong birds might just please, if not entirely fool, any Beijing duck inspectors ready to extend their crackdown to the South.
"It's nonsense to tell us we have to change the name," says China Lan Kwai Fong manager Ben Man at the suggestion that the Hong Kong restaurants should abide by the standards. "Beijing duck gives respect to the entire nation." Mr. Man adds: "Would the government of Ireland try to monitor what passes for Irish stew all over the world?"
Write to John Krich at john.krich@wsj.com
Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
WSJ opens select articles to reader conversation to promote thoughtful dialogue. See the 'Join the Conversation' area to the rightbelow for stories open to conversation. For more information, please reference our community guidelines. Email feedback and questions to moderator@wsj.com.
HONG KONG -- As my party of six entered the elevator to leave Quanjude, a new Hong Kong branch of Beijing's most venerable purveyor of Peking Duck, the alarm signaling "overload" sounded.
Copyright © 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved


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Every Friday night, there are 60,000 touchdowns scored by high school teams across the country. Every year, 180,000 children are diagnosed with cancer worldwide.
Touchdowns Against Cancer is a national program created in partnership between MaxPreps, Pledge It and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. In support of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, this national high school football program unifies communities across the country for a common cause: Finding Cures. Saving Children®.
Varsity high school football teams and their communities can participate in Touchdowns Against Cancer by pledging a donation for every touchdown their team scores this September. Teams will compete to see whose touchdowns raise the most in the fight against childhood cancer! Find your team and let's defeat childhood cancer, together!
Children in the U.S. are diagnosed with cancer every year.
At St. Jude, Isaac's treatment for a rare type of leukemia included chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. One of his older sisters was his bone marrow donor. Post- transplant, Isaac is thriving. He's a happy, playful kid who likes sports, especially wrestling.


text:
\subsection{Descriptive Statistics}

    \begin{figure*}[ht]
      \includegraphics[trim={0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm},clip,width=\textwidth]{figures/ngram_freq_withpeek=True.pdf}
      \vspace{-0.8cm}
      \caption{50 most frequent iCRs initial bigrams in the CoDraw dataset.}
      \label{fig:initial-bigrams}
    \end{figure*}

    The 13,727 \textit{IF}'s utterance types have been annotated by two annotators, with a Cohen's $\kappa$ \citep{cohen-kappa} of 0.92. Table \ref{table:stat-annotation} presents the main descriptive statistics of the annotated corpus.\footnote{In this paper, for the around 3.6\% of the utterances with disagreements, we opt for the second annotator's labels, who had more training.} 8,807 (11.36\%) of all drawer's utterances in CoDraw are iCRs. 59.45\% of the dialogues contain no iCRs. For the purpose of analysis, we also compute numbers relative to the subset of dialogues that contain at least one iCR; the idea here is that this excludes players who may not have been willing to use the opportunity to ask iCRs. In this subset, the percentage of iCRs is 24.36\%. We also separate out numbers computed from the dialogues up the ``peek'' action described above, as from that move on, the state of the common ground changes.

    \begin{table}[h!]
        \centering
        \small
        \begin{tabular}{r c c c}
         \toprule
                               & all       &  w/ iCRs  & until peek \\
         \midrule
            dialogues          & 9,993     & 4,052     & - \\
            rounds             & 77,502    & 36,149    & 61,829 \\
            iCR utterances     & 8,807     & 8,807     & 7,803 \\\
            \% iCR utterances  & 11.36     & 24.36     & 12.62 \\
            mean iCRs/dialogue & 0.88      & 2.17      & 0.78 \\
            std iCRs/dialogue  & 1.53      & 1.73      & 1.36 \\
        \bottomrule
        \end{tabular}
        \caption{Descriptive statistics: Annotation.}
        \label{table:stat-annotation}
    \end{table}

    Figure \ref{fig:common-CRs} presents the most frequent iCR utterance types, ordered by rank. 7,260 (94.13\% of the types) are \textit{hapax legomena}. Types occupying the highest ranks relate to size, position and orientation, which directly map to the possible actions on cliparts, and to disambiguation of \textit{e.g.}\ facial expression and body pose. Few types occur more than 5 times, which is evidence that the dataset contains a rich diversity of iCR surface forms. Figure \ref{fig:initial-bigrams} aggregates iCRs by initial bigrams, after removing punctuation and initial \textit{ok} and \textit{okay} tokens (which realise a different dialogue act). Common iCR forms are polar questions and wh-questions also related to the main actions (placement, resize, flip, disambiguation).

    The drawer's vocabulary contains 2,200 token types, out of which 1,468 occur in iCRs. Figure \ref{fig:vocab-wordcloud} shows an overview of the 100 most common tokens. The frequent iCR vocabulary contains many nouns relating to cliparts (slide, table, bear, dog), in particular those that refer to nouns involving ambiguity (boy, girl, cloud, tree, ball). Question words occur frequently (what, how, where, which) as well as words about object placement (horizon, facing, size, top, touching, edge). Non-iCR utterances commonly contain words related to the task (scenery, picture, image, check, next), greetings and thanks, and acknowledgement words (ok, ready, done).

\subsection{Relations to Game Dynamics}

    We now turn to examining how the occurrence of iCRs relate to the overall game dynamics.

    To analyse CRs, three positions in a dialogue are particularly relevant: the source utterance in which the communication problem occurs, the CR utterance where repair is initiated, and the response utterance where the problem should ideally be dealt with. Since the dialogue is organized into a sequence of rounds with pairs of utterances $(g_i, f_i)$, if an iCR occurs at round $i$, then $f_i$ is an iCR, $g_i$ is the likely source utterance, and $g_{i+1}$ is possibly the response utterance. In Figure \ref{fig:codraw-cr-example}, turns 1, 5 and 11 are sources, 2, 6 and 12 are iCRs and 3, 7 and 13 are responses. However, these events do not necessarily occur in immediate sequence.

    \begin{figure}[!ht]
        \begin{subfigure}{\columnwidth}
             \centering
             \includegraphics[trim={0cm 0cm 0cm 1cm},clip,width=\linewidth]{figures/vocab_clouds_icr_withpeek=True.pdf} %
             \caption{iCR utterances}
         \end{subfigure}
         \par\bigskip
        \begin{subfigure}{\columnwidth}
             \centering
             \includegraphics[trim={0cm 0cm 0cm 1cm},clip,width=\linewidth]{figures/vocab_clouds_other_withpeek=True}%
             \caption{other utterances}
         \end{subfigure}
        \caption{Most common tokens weighted by frequency.}
        \label{fig:vocab-wordcloud}
    \end{figure}

    Here, we investigate how the game dynamics change at two positions: iCR rounds and rounds immediately following an iCR. We look at the mean number of actions per round and the difference in the score metric with respect to the previous state, as shown in Table \ref{table:stat-game-rounds}. On average, more actions occur at iCR rounds than at non-CR rounds. The difference is even larger in post-iCR rounds, where necessary edits can be occurring. iCR rounds also cause an average higher improvement in the metric than other rounds and the same occurs for rounds after iCRs in dialogues containing iCRs.

    \begin{table}[h!]
        \centering
        \small
        \begin{tabular}{p{3.3cm} l l}
         \toprule
           &\textbf{all} & \textbf{w/ iCRs} \\
         \midrule
         \multicolumn{3}{l}{\textbf{mean actions per round}}  \\

           \hspace{0.1cm} iCR rounds & 1.72 & 1.72 \\
           \hspace{0.1cm} not iCR rounds & 1.64* & 1.62* \\
           \hspace{0.1cm} post-iCR rounds & 2.11 & 2.11 \\
           \hspace{0.1cm} not post-iCR rounds & 1.59* & 1.50* \\

         \midrule
         \multicolumn{3}{l}{\textbf{mean score diff} } \\

           \hspace{0.1cm}  iCR rounds & 0.59 & 0.59 \\
           \hspace{0.1cm}  not iCR rounds & 0.53* & 0.43* \\
           \hspace{0.1cm}  post-iCR rounds & 0.53 & 0.53 \\
           \hspace{0.1cm}  not post-iCR rounds & 0.54 & 0.44* \\

         \bottomrule
        \end{tabular}
        \caption{Round dynamics. * means the difference in relation to the value at the row above is statistically significant at $\alpha=0.01$ using a permutation test.}
        \label{table:stat-game-rounds}
    \end{table}

    To conclude this section, we refer back to our desiderata. The \textbf{naturalness} of iCRs is a consequence of the data being produced by synchronous human-human interaction in a setting that does not directly induce players to ask for clarification; indeed, almost 60\% of the games do not contain iCRs, which we take to be evidence that they are a result of the private decision making of the \textit{IF} and not due to them following instructions on which dialogue acts to produce. \textbf{Specificity} is guaranteed by the annotation process which had a definition to distinguish iCRs from other utterances. In terms of \textbf{frequency}, iCRs are a common phenomenon in CoDraw-iCR (v1), which contains 8,807 (11.36\%) iCR utterances, a sample larger than existing annotated datasets. We have gathered evidence that \textbf{diversity} is present, given that iCRs occur in various forms and exhibit lexical and semantic variety on content related to the game. When it comes to \textbf{relevance} to the task, we have shown that there are statistically significant differences in number of actions and score differences at turns realising and following iCRs, which is a sign that agents need to process iCRs in order to act accordingly throughout the game. \textbf{Regularity} is addressed in the experiments in the next section.

\subsection{Models}

We model the two prediction subtasks as a function $f: (s, c, u)\mapsto P(l=1)$ where $s$ is the representation of the scene, $c$ is the representation of the dialogue context, $u$ is the representation of the last utterance and $l$ is the label. This function is approximated with a neural network that takes each input embedding, encodes them, and maps them to a concatenated representation which is fed into a two-layer classifier that outputs the probability of the positive label by applying the sigmoid function to the logit output, as illustrated in Figure \ref{fig:models}.\footnote{Details about the implementation, setup and experiments are in the Appendix and the code is available at \href{https://github.com/briemadu/codraw-icr-v1/}{https://github.com/briemadu/codraw-icr-v1/}.}

    \begin{figure}[!ht]
        \begin{subfigure}{\columnwidth}
             \centering
             \includegraphics[trim={0cm 8cm 1cm 0cm},clip,width=\linewidth,page=1]{figures/model.pdf} %
             \caption{Task 1: Ask iCR?}
         \end{subfigure} \par\bigskip
        \begin{subfigure}{\columnwidth}
             \centering
              \includegraphics[trim={0cm 8cm 1cm 0cm},clip,width=\linewidth,page=2]{figures/model.pdf}%
             \caption{Task 2: Was this an iCR?}
         \end{subfigure}
        \caption{Illustration of the classifier architecture, with an example dialogue from CoDraw (ID 3454).}
        \label{fig:models}
    \end{figure}

\subsection{Evaluation}

Although the area under the ROC curve is a standard evaluation metric for binary classification, it can be deceptive in imbalanced datasets due to the interpretation of specificity, in which case Precision-Recall curves are more suitable \citep{saito2015precision}. The Average Precision (AP) summarizes this curve into one metric that ranges from 0 to 1, where 1 is the best performance, and the theoretical random is the fraction of positive labels. To facilitate comparison to existing literature, we also report macro-average F1 Score.

As trivial baselines, we perform logistic regression on basic features of the utterances and on the input representation vectors. For Task 1, the features are the length of the last teller's utterance and its boolean bag-of-words representation. For Task 2, we use the length of the last drawer's utterance and a binary variable indicating whether a content word occurs in it. The list of content words was extracted manually from a sample of dialogues.

\subsection{Embeddings}

The pretrained embeddings for texts are generated with SentenceTransformers \citep{reimers-2019-sentence-bert} and for images with ResNet101 \citep{he2016deep}. In order to probe whether the pretrained sentence encoders minimally capture the necessary information for our task, we use the dialogue context representation at the turn before the peek action to predict whether iCRs occurred in the dialogue so far. Using a logistic regression model on dialogues that contain a peek turn, we achieve AP$=0.91$ and macro F1 Score$=0.86$ in the validation set. This provides evidence that, despite they having been optimized for other tasks, the occurrence of iCRs is, to some extent, encoded in the representations.

\subsection{Formalisation: Instruction-Following Dialogue Games}
\label{sec:formalisation}

    A visual instruction-following dialogue game can be formalised as a tuple $G = (P, S, R, M)$ representing a goal-oriented interaction between players $P$ (an instruction giver \textit{IG} and an instruction follower \textit{IF}). \textit{IG} sees a scene $S$, hidden to \textit{IF}, and instructs \textit{IF} on how to reconstruct it. They exchange a sequence $R$ of $n$ rounds $r_i=(g_i, a_i, f_i)$ comprised of two utterances $(g_i, f_i)$, from \textit{IG} and \textit{IF}, respectively, and of actions $a_i$ that incrementally create partial reconstructions $s_i$ of $S$. $R$ is initialised as an empty set and, at each round, it is extended with $g_i$, $a_i$ and $f_i$, in that order. The final state of a completed game contains all filled rounds. A scene similarity metric $M$ computes how close the reconstructions are to the original image at each round, and the goal is to maximize similarity of the final reconstruction $M(S, s_n)$.

	The dialogue acts by the \textit{IF} include acknowledgements and clarification requests, whereas the dialogue acts by the \textit{IG} include instructions and responses to clarifications. Two variations are possible: the state $s_i$ can be accessible for the \textit{IG} or not. The incremental scenes can be regarded either as the common ground between players (if both can see it) or as what the \textit{IF} considers to be their common ground (when it is private), akin to what is proposed by \citet{mitsuda-etal-2022-dialogue}.

    Following \citet{clark1996using}, we assume that a pair of equally competent players, committed to the game's goal of maximizing $M(S, s_n)$, seek to minimize joint effort. It is acceptable for the \textit{IG} to produce an underspecified instruction if producing a fully specified instruction would cost more than answering an iCR. Instruction CRs require an extra effort by the \textit{IF}, so they should occur when repair is necessary and the cost of asking is lower than the potential information gain.

\subsection{Tasks}
\label{tasks}

	We propose to use CoDraw-iCR (v1) to advance research in iCRs by modelling two CRs subtasks in an instruction-following dialogue game grounded in a visual modality. Both subtasks can be regarded as a binary decision step happening right before each player's next utterance generation.\\

	\noindent \textbf{Task 1: Ask iCR?} From the \textit{IF}'s perspective as the CR initiator, decide when to initiate a CR. More specifically, after each \textit{IG} utterance, given the dialogue context $D_{0:(i-1)}$ (that is, all previous utterances), the current utterance $g_i$ by $IG$, and the current state\footnote{Under the assumption that the \textit{IF} has manipulated the scene in response to \textit{IG} already. For CoDraw, the exact point when the \textit{IF} types the message has not been preserved.} of the scene $s_{i}$, the \textit{IF} must decide  on the type of their utterance $f_i$, namely whether to consider the action completed and signal willingness to receive further instructions (\textit{e.g.}, produce something like ``OK''), or to ask for clarification on some aspect of a previous instruction. That is, this formulation of the task focuses on the dialogue act to perform, abstracting away from the concrete realisation. It deals with the problem of automatically determining what is a good instruction and what is not, on its context. This task relates to slot filling in the sense that an instruction containing all the needed parameters for the mentioned objects should not require clarification.\\

	\noindent \textbf{Task 2: Was this an iCR?} From the \textit{IG}'s perspective as the CR recipient, identify whether an iCR has been made. At each round $i$, given the dialogue context $D_{0:i}$ (in which the last utterance, $f_i$, is possibly an iCR) and the original scene $S$, the \textit{IG} must decide whether to give further instructions or to (also) respond to an iCR.

\section{Introduction}
    \label{sec:intro}
    \input{contents/intro}

\section{Related Literature}
    \label{sec:lit-review}
    \input{contents/lit-review}

\section{Motivation and Problem Statement}
    \label{sec:problem}
    \input{contents/problem}

\section{Data and Annotation}
    \label{sec:data}
    \input{contents/data}

\section{Corpus Analysis}
    \label{sec:corpus}
    \input{contents/corpus-analysis}

\section{Models and Experiments}
    \label{sec:experiemnts}
    \input{contents/experiments}

\section{Results}
\label{sec:results}
    \input{contents/results.tex}

\section{Discussion}
    \label{sec:discussion}
    \input{contents/discussion}

\section{Conclusion}
    \label{sec:conclusion}
    \input{contents/conclusion}

\section{Limitations}
    \label{sec:limitations}
    \input{contents/limitations.tex}

\section*{Acknowledgements}
    We are thankful for the anonymous reviewers for their feedback. We thank our student assistants, Sebastiano Gigliobianco and Sophia Rauh, for performing the annotation and Philipp Sadler for generating the step-by-step scenes.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


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text:
Q: How do I tell tail -f it has finished - cleanly? I am copying a LOGFILE to a remote server as it is being created.
tail -f LOGILE | gzip -c >> /faraway/log.gz

However, when the original LOGFILE is closed, and moved to a storage directory, my tail -f seems to get some odd data.
How can I ensure that tail -f stops cleanly and that the compressed file /faraway/log.gz is a true copy of LOGFILE?
EDIT 1
I did a bit more digging.
/faraway/log.gz terminated badly - halfway through a FIX message. This must be because I ctrlCed the whole piped command above.
IF ignore this last line, then the original LOGFILE and log.gz match EXACTLY! That's for a 40G file transmitted across the atlantic.
I am pretty impressed by that as it does exactly what I want. Does any reader think I was just "lucky" in this case - is this likely NOT to work in future?
Now, I just need to get a clean close of gzip. Perhaps sending a kill -9 to the tail PID as suggested below may do allow GZIP to finish its compression properly.

A: To get a full copy, use
tail -n +1 -f your file

If your don't use -n +1 option, you only get the tail part of the file.
Yet this does not solve the deleted/moved file problem..  In fact, the deleting/moving file problem is an IPC (inter-process communication) problem, or an inter-process co-operation problem.  If you don't have the correct behavior model of the other process(es), you can't resolve the problem.
For example, if the other program COPY the log file to somewhere else, and then delete the current one, and the program then log outputs to that new log file... Apparently your tail can not read those outputs.
A related feature of unix (and unix-like system) worth of mentioning:

When a file is opened for read by process A, but is then deleted by
  process B, the physical contents will not be immediately deleted,
  since its reference count is not zero (someone is still using it, i.e.
  process A).  Process A can still access the file, until it closes the
  file.   Moving file is another question:  If Process B, say, moves
  file to the same physical file system (Note: you may have many
  physical file system attached on your system), process A can still
  access the file, even the file is growing.  This kind of moving is
  just to change name (path name + file name), nothing more. The
  identity of the file (a.k.a. "i-node" in unix) does not change.    Yet
  if the file is moved to another physical file system, local or remote,
  it is as if the file is copied and then removed.  So the remove rule
  mentioned can be applied.

The missing lines problem you mentioned is interesting, and may need more analysis on the behavior of the programs/processes which generate and move/delete the log file.
--update--
Happy to see you got some progress. Like I said, a process like tail can still access data after
the file is deleted, in a unix-like system.
You can use
      ( echo $BASHPID > /tmp/PID_tail; exec tail -n + 1 -f yourLogFile ) | gzip -c - > yourZipFile.gz
to gzip your log file, and kill the tail program by
kill -TERM `cat /tmp/PID_tail`

The gzip should finish by itself without error.  Even if you are worried about that gzip will receive a broken
pipe signal, you can use this alternative way to prevent from the broken pipe:
 (  ( echo $BASHPID > /tmp/PID_tail; exec tail -n + 1 -f yourLogFile ) ; true ) | gzip -c - > yourZipFile.gz

The broken pipe is protected by a true, which prints nothing, but ends itself.

A: From the tail manpage: Emphasis mine

With --follow (-f), tail defaults to following the file
descriptor, which means that even if a tail'ed file is renamed,
tail will continue to track its end.  This default behavior is
not desirable when you really want to track the actual name of
the file, not the file descriptor (e.g., log rotation).  Use
--follow=name in that case.  That causes tail to track the named
file in a way that accommodates renaming, removal and creation.

Therefore the solution to the problem you proposed is to use:
tail --follow=name LOGILE | gzip -c >> /faraway/log.gz

This way, when the file is deleted, tail stops reading it.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


There is a lot of possible changes right now with tax law for 2009. Those changes could mean a big change for you in how much tax you pay in 2009, what is income, what isn't, whether AMT (alternative minimum tax) is even around and what's deductible. And, believe it or not, that could make a big difference in how you file your 2008 return. That's why this next piece of information maybe the best advice you get for your 2008 return.
File an extension. You need to file Form 4868, automatic 6 month extension for your individual income tax return, by 4-15-09. The extension allows you more time to file your return (and by the way, to fund your retirement fund as well) but it doesn't give you an extension of time in which to pay your taxes. That's why we always ask our clients at DKTS to send in their tax information as soon as possible, even though we plan on filing an extension. We'll do an estimate of the tax due so that there won't be a bunch of penalties and interest due.
You'll also need to file an extension for your partnerships (or LLCs taxed as a partnership). Use Form 7004 for that. It will also need to be filed by 4-15-09, but this year will only get you an extension to 9-15-09.
And finally if you have an S Corporation or C Corporation with a 12-31-08 year end, you'll use Form 7004 to file an extension. You have to get that extension filed by 3-15-09.
In a few months, we'll have some idea about what might become law and what is definitely going away. At that point, we can look at whether it's time to file the returns, or wait until later in the year.


Crystal Spraggins, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is an HR professional and freelance writer born, bred, and living in Philadelphia, PA. She attended Philadelphia High School for Girls and earned a BA in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania. With more than 15 years of experience as an HR generalist, she has helped small- to mid-sized companies develop policies, programs, and procedures that increase profits, maximize efficiency, and enhance positive employee relations. Crystal is a frequent contributor to various workplace-related websites and maintains a personal blog, HR BlogVocate.
As workers in the nonprofit, human services sector, we may think we are immune to the thoughts and feelings that are being discussed in the news and social media – on race, gender, and sexuality – as we confront these issues daily with our clients. Unfortunately, implicit bias can find its way into the most progressive workplace, and these roots are often the most challenging to identify and uproot. In this workshop, Crystal and Rachael will take a two-pronged approach to tackling the issue. First, they will help participants identify the red flags of implicit bias in the nonprofit workplace and suggest strategies to confront and dismantle the systemic, toxic culture of privilege. This part of the workshop will involve identification and naming of the very subtle use of language and policy that enables individuals in power to project their benevolence and generosity while maintaining the status quo. Second, Crystal and Rachael will share work they are currently undertaking to engender new workplace cultures. Crystal is head of cultural change at a multi-service nonprofit in Philadelphia that is employing trauma-informed principles to shift workplace norms externally and internally. Rachael is working with the largest integrated medical system in the U.S. to change the culture of clinicians and their attitudes towards the family caregivers of patients.


Qatar Airways, the national carrier of the State of Qatar, is one of the fastest growing airlines operating one of the youngest fleets in the world. Now in its 19th year of operations, Qatar Airways has a modern fleet of 190 aircraft flying to more than 150 key business and leisure destinations across six continents. Qatar Airways won World's Best Business Class, Best Business Class Airline Lounge, and Best Airline Staff Service in the Middle East at the 2016 Skytrax Awards.
In 2015 Qatar Airways launched Oryx One, an enhanced interface for its inflight entertainment system, increasing the number of movies and TV shows on board from 950 to up to 3,000. Passengers flying on Qatar Airways flights served by its B787, A350, A380, A319 as well as select A320 and A330 aircraft can also stay in touch with their friends and family around the world by using the five-star airline's on-board Wi-Fi and GSM service. Qatar Airways operates the A350 with triple daily flights from Singapore.
Qatar Airways is one of the world's leaders in sponsoring global sporting events, including the strategic team sponsorships of FC Barcelona and Al-Ahli Saudi Arabia FC. Qatar Airways' strategy reflects the values of sports as a means of bringing people together, something at the core of the airline's own brand message - Going Places Together.
"Qatar Airways Privilege Club (Qmiles)", the frequent flyer program has partnership mileage agreements with other oneworld alliance members, Asiana Airlines, GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A, MEA, Royal Air Maroc and tie-ups with international hotel and car rental companies for members to avail fantastic offers.
The airline's free baggage allows 50kg on First Class, 40kg on Business Class and 30kg on Economy Class.
Experience the world's newest aircraft, the A350 XWB on triple daily flights from Singapore to Doha where you can connect to a myriad of destinations in Europe, USA, GCC and Africa. Book now and fly with an award-winning airline.
of comfort across all classes.
Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just 18 years of operation and it currently flies a modern fleet of 162 aircraft to 151 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America.
Proud to be the first to fly the world's newest aircraft and look forward to welcoming you onboard.
The Qatar Airways A350 XWB. It's truly ahead of the curve.
Airbus and Qatar Airways have collaborated to design and develop the A350 XWB. Airbus has a prestigious 40-year history of technological firsts and industry milestones.
The combination of Airbus expertise and the pioneering spirit and service excellence of Qatar Airways, means you can enjoy an aircraft designed specifically around passenger comfort and featuring the very latest innovations.
Innovations in passenger comfort and well-being take your flying experience to a new level. Sit back and relax into spacious seats, take in the view from panoramic windows with electromechanical shades that go from fully transparent to opaque in Business Class, and feel the difference of a wider cabin. A model of efficiency by design, the A350 XWB is one of the lightest aircraft of its type, made from advanced composite materials and powered by two new-generation Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines. This also makes it kinder to the earth, with 25% lower CO2 emissions than with current generation aircraft in its category.


text:
Former President Bill Clinton appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to talk about his new book, Giving. After the taping, he and Oprah continue chatting in the hallway outside the studio.
Subscribe to the live your best life newsletter Sign up for the oprah.com live your best life newsletter Get more stories like this delivered to your inbox Get updates on your favorite shows, the latest from Oprah's world and more! Get more inspiration like this delivered to your inbox
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
package com.haier.wxpt.yqfw.job;

import java.text.ParseException;

import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils;
import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
import org.quartz.CronTrigger;
import org.quartz.JobDetail;
import org.quartz.Scheduler;
import org.quartz.SchedulerException;
import org.quartz.SchedulerFactory;
import org.quartz.impl.StdSchedulerFactory;

import com.haier.wxpt.yqfw.Init;

public class Job {
	static SchedulerFactory schedulerFactory = new StdSchedulerFactory();
	static Logger log = Logger.getLogger(Job.class);

	public static void createJob(String jobName,String jobCron,String className){
		createJob(jobName,Init.JOBNAME,jobCron,className);
	}

	public static void createJob(String jobName, String jobGroup,String jobCron,String className){
		if(StringUtils.isEmpty(jobName) || StringUtils.isEmpty(jobCron) || StringUtils.isEmpty(className) ){
			log.warn("JOB启动失败,原因:必填参数为空");
			return;
		}

		CronTrigger appClassifyTrigger = new CronTrigger();
		try {
			log.debug("启动JOB:"+jobName+",轮询周期:" + jobCron);
			appClassifyTrigger.setCronExpression(jobCron);
			appClassifyTrigger.setName(jobName);
			appClassifyTrigger.setGroup(jobGroup);

			Scheduler sched= schedulerFactory.getScheduler();
			sched.start();
			JobDetail deviceJobDetail = new JobDetail(jobName, jobGroup,Class.forName(className));
			sched.scheduleJob(deviceJobDetail, appClassifyTrigger);

		} catch (ParseException e) {
			log.error("JOB启动失败");
			log.error(e.getMessage(),e);
		} catch (SchedulerException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		}
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Creating with Christine: Swan Lake Workshops Your Way Kit!
Swan Lake Workshops Your Way Kit!
This month my club is ordering the Swan Lake Workshop Your Way to make next month! This paper has such rich, warm colors perfect for this season!! I actually did NOT use the swan side of the papers, I flipped the paper over which has beautiful flowers over a black background!
So here is the swan paper - which is really just background, the photos are the feature!
Here is my layout using the other side of the swan paper which features flowers!
I love the accessories in this kit!!
Why am I bothering to show you this? So that you don't quickly dismiss something because of the name or the pattern or the theme. As most of you know, our pattern papers have a different pattern on each side! If you don't like one, just flip it over! Also, as you saw with our Halloween papers, you can use the different sides that are NOT theme specific for any occasion! This kit is no different! Remember, these are workshops YOUR way! Create the layouts only or the cards only or absolutely everything! Here are the rest of the layouts you can create with this kit!
Our NEW Pocket Plus Memory Protectors are the easiest way to add more photos, journaling, and artwork without over crowding your layouts. Fill the 3x4 and 4x6 pockets with photos, journaling or Picture My Life (PML) cards from this kit. These "mini pages" become part of your two-page layout!
With your scraps in this kit, you can create 8 beautiful cards! I'll post them next!
You can get your very own Workshop Your Way to create in your own home!
Jeepers Creepers Workshop Your Way Kit!
October Stamp of the Month - Yuletide Joy!
Are you ready to earn Real Rewards?


Open City Hall is an online forum designed especially for Palm Desert residents and businesses. Users who sign up are asked for their name and home address to confirm that statements are being posted by community stakeholders. Thank you very much for sharing your time and input with your City.


text:
Minimally invasive, sutureless, adolescent male circumcision with topical anesthetic: a field trial of Unicirc, a...
Minimally invasive, sutureless, adolescent male circumcision with topical anesthetic: a field trial of Unicirc, a single-use surgical instrument
Peter S. Millard1, Norman Goldstuck2
1Department of Family Medicine, University of New England, Biddeford, Maine, USA; 2Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa
Contributions: (I) Conception and design: PS Millard; (II) Administrative support: None; (III) Provision of study materials or patients: None; (IV) Collection and assembly of data: N Goldstuck; (V) Data analysis and interpretation: PS Millard; (VI) Manuscript writing: All authors; (VII) Final approval of manuscript: All authors.
Correspondence to: Norman Goldstuck. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa. Email: nahumzh@gmail.com.
Background: Circumcision has been shown to reduce the rate of HIV transmission in Africa. It is most cost effective if performed in younger men. Surgical assist devices can increase the efficiency and potentially reduce the cost of performing circumcisions.
Methods: We used the Unicirc disposable instrument to perform circumcisions in an outpatient primary care clinic. The trial was non-blinded. Circumcisions were performed under topical anaesthetic and the wound was sealed with cyanoacrylate tissue adhesive. The primary outcome was intraoperative duration; secondary outcomes were intraoperative and postoperative pain; adverse events (AEs); time to healing and patient satisfaction; and, cosmetic result.
Results: A total of 82 adolescent boys (aged 10–15 years) were circumcised. The median intraoperative time was 10 minutes and the median blood loss was 1 mL. All wounds were healed by 4 weeks and cosmetic results were excellent. There were no AEs.
Conclusions: Adolescent circumcision with Unicirc under topical anesthetic and wound sealing with cyanoacrylate tissue adhesive is safe, rapid, and heals by primary intention with excellent cosmetic results. It is cost effective and can be used for large scale programs.
Keywords: Circumcision; HIV prevention; minimally invasive; surgical instrument; disposable instrument; topical anaesthetic; tissue adhesive
Submitted Sep 15, 2019. Accepted for publication Nov 29, 2019.
UNAIDS (Joint United Nations program on HIV/AIDS) "Fast-track" plan to end the global AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) epidemic calls for 27 million male circumcisions by 2020 in high prevalence countries of southern and eastern Africa, in addition to the 11.6 million already performed by the end of 2015 (1).
One of the surprising findings of the UNAIDS circumcision program thus far is the unexpectedly lower participation of men, and the higher participation than expected of adolescent boys 10–19 years of age (2). Post-pubertal adolescents are likely to be sexually active, with self-reported rates ranging from 9% in Tanzania to 20.7% in Zimbabwe (with corresponding HIV risk) (2). Medical circumcision in this age group is similar in technique and complications to that of adult men, although traditional circumcisions have a high complication rate (3).
Circumcision of pre-pubertal boys, on the other hand, is technically challenging. In industrialized countries, circumcision of pre-pubertal boys is generally performed by specialists under general anaesthesia, but is performed under local anaesthesia in existing field programs in Africa. The smaller size of the penis presents a challenge for non-specialists without magnifying lenses or cautery instruments, and young boys' anxiety further complicates surgery. As a result, adverse events (AEs) in pre-pubertal boys are far higher than they are among infants or adults (4).
Neonatal circumcision is commonly performed among Jews and Moslems, in West Africa, and in the US, but is not considered a cultural norm in the high HIV prevalence countries of eastern and southern Africa (5). In the US, where over 1 million neonates are circumcised annually, the Gomco® (Alimed, California, USA) clamp is the most commonly used surgical instrument. When used as directed, it has "an impeccable safety record, as the stainless-steel bell protects the glans from the risk of amputation" (6). The disadvantage of the Gomco is that it is a sterilisable instrument that could potentially lead to cross-contamination if not adequately sterilized under field conditions.
The Unicirc surgical instrument functions similarly to the Gomco clamp and has been evaluated in 3 separate studies in adults (7-9). It is a single-use-only metal and plastic disposable surgical instrument. Like the Gomco, Unicirc creates circumferential compression of the base of the foreskin, which fuses the mucosal and skin surfaces, allowing for bloodless excision of the foreskin. Outside of the neonatal period, the fused tissues can easily separate and cause bleeding without further intervention. However, if the fused skin edges are sealed with cyanoacrylate adhesive, there is no open wound and healing occurs by primary intention without use of sutures.
This field trial is the first to evaluate Unicirc circumcision in boys aged 10–15 years. The surgery was conducted in general practice exam rooms, and we evaluated clinical outcomes and AEs.
We performed this study according to the guidelines found in the WHO (World Health Organization) Framework for Clinical Evaluation of Devices for Adult Male Circumcision (Framework) (10). Unicirc® (Kapasa Medical, Vienna, Austria) is approved by the South African (SA) Health Products Regulatory Authority and is CE (Conformité Européenne) certified. The SA Medical Association's Ethics Committee (SAMAREC) approved Unicirc for Phase IV (post-licensing) use (06 March, 2014). The Unicirc disposable devices were supplied by the manufacturer.
We obtained written informed assent from each participant and informed consent from each parent or guardian. The procedures took place between June 2016 and July, 2017. The ClinicalTrials.gov identifier is NCT02593630.
This was a single-center field trial. Healthy uncircumcised boys 10–15 years of age were eligible for the study. Participants were recruited via posters and word of mouth at a primary health care clinic in Mitchell's Plain, Western Cape, South Africa. We excluded volunteers with current illness, bleeding disorder, reaction to local anesthetic, infection, or any penile abnormality potentially complicating circumcision.
We did not perform HIV testing prior to the circumcision and had no information concerning HIV status. We did not inquire about sexual activity.
Two generalist doctors, experienced in surgical and Unicirc circumcision, performed all circumcisions assisted by a single registered nurse in individual consultation rooms in the primary health care clinic.
The primary care doctor applied 3–5 gm of topical Lidocaine and prilocaine (EMLA™) 30 minutes prior to procedure. He determined the size of the instrument needed using a disposable sizing plate. Prior to use, the instruments were gas sterilized in sealed packages. After retracting the foreskin and cleansing the glans and foreskin with povidone iodine, the Unicirc instrument was applied to the glans; the foreskin was then pulled over the transparent bell with the doctor's fingers and adjusted to ensure adequate removal of foreskin. No surgical instruments were used to position the instrument, unless the prepuce required dilation. The Unicirc was then tightened and left in place for 5 minutes; the foreskin was excised with a #20 surgical scalpel. The instrument was removed and the fused skin-mucosal edges were sealed with cyanoacrylate skin adhesive (Exofin™, Chemence Medical Inc., Alpharetta, Georgia, USA or Indermil™, Connexicon Medical Ltd., Tallaght, Dublin, Ireland). Operative duration was timed from the beginning of the procedure until the dressing was placed (i.e., including the 5-minute waiting time). The penis was dressed with adhesive dressing and absorbent gauze. We instructed participants to keep the wound dry, to leave the gauze in place until it became soiled, and to remove the dressing after 3 weeks if it was still in place.
We observed participants for 30 minutes after the procedure, and gave their parent/guardian written postoperative instructions with cellular telephone contact information of the doctor.
The primary outcome measured was intraoperative duration and the secondary outcome measures included intraoperative and postoperative pain; AEs (intraoperative and postoperative); wound disruption, healing at 4 weeks; patient satisfaction; and, cosmetic result. The WHO Framework served as the guideline for evaluating AEs. Mild AEs require little or no intervention (e.g., slight bleeding), moderate AEs require active treatment (e.g., antibiotics or suturing), and severe AEs require transfusion or hospitalization, or result in permanent damage. Key AEs evaluated were anaesthetic complications, bleeding, haematoma, infection, problems with urination, subsequent procedures needed to correct complications, or poor cosmetic results.
The sample size was based on the Framework: "Studies involving about 100 (range, 50 to 300) are suggested as a compromise between assessing safety, documenting the presumed advantages of the new method, and ensuring rapid progress through the different stages of clinical assessment. For devices which are aids to surgery and do not stay on the penis…. study sizes at the lower end 25-100 range may be sufficient."
All boys were followed up at 7 days and 4 weeks. If the wound was not completely healed by 4 weeks, we planned to conduct a 6-week follow-up visit.
Outcome definitions are shown in Table 1. The surgeons themselves assessed wound-healing outcomes.
Table 1 Outcome definitions
We used a 10-point visual analog scale for the intraoperative and postoperative pain survey, which was administered prior to leaving the clinic. Satisfaction was assessed at the final visit using a 5-point Likert scale.
We collected data from participants on socio-demographics and reason for circumcision. We analyzed data with Epi Info, version 7 (Atlanta, USA). For continuous variables, we used nonparametric statistics. For categorical variables, we used the chi-square or Fisher's exact test. All P values were two-sided.
We recruited participants in 2016 and 2017. Follow-up was completed in July, 2017. A total of 87 boys and their parent/guardian were interviewed and 82 (94.3%) participated in the study. SN performed 63 circumcisions, and ZP performed 19 circumcisions.
The baseline characteristics of the participants are shown in Table 2. Most boys gave improved hygiene as their motivation for circumcision; one-third were motivated by a potential reduction in HIV infection.
Table 2 Baseline characteristics
Table 3 shows operative outcomes. Intraoperative and postoperative pain was minimal. Intraoperative duration was 10 minutes (including the 5 minutes when the instrument was in place) and blood loss was minimal. There were no differences of operative duration time and surgical outcome between early-pubertal and late-pubertal boys. Adverse events are shown in Table 4.
Table 3 Operative outcomes
Table 4 Adverse events
Healing, participant satisfaction, and cosmetic results are shown in Table 5. No wound disruptions required intervention, and all healed uneventfully. All were fully healed at 4 weeks. Satisfaction was high. The cosmetic result was excellent; a regular scar line was found in all boys.
Table 5 Postoperative outcomes
One of the key goals of the UNAIDS Fast-track plan to end AIDS is the successful completion of 25 million medical male circumcisions by 2020, in addition to the 11.6 million performed as of the end of 2015. Demand for circumcision among adult men has lagged, while demand for circumcision among adolescents has exceeded expectations. In most of the 14 high prevalence countries, over 40% of circumcisions performed in 2015 were in boys less than 15 years of age, reaching 72% in Swaziland (2). The relatively low demand in men, and increased demand in young adolescents, may be due to the cultural tradition of circumcision, which sees it as a rite of passage into manhood, and not culturally appropriate for adult men (2). Adolescents generally do not work or have the same financial pressures as men, giving them more flexibility. Given that the average age of sexual debut in the high prevalence regions is approximately 18 years of age, circumcision prior to the onset of sexual activity is advantageous because it obviates concerns about transmission of infection during wound healing. Over the long term, circumcising younger boys delivers the greatest reduction in HIV incidence compared with older age groups (1).
Until now, almost all circumcisions in the 14 high prevalence countries were done with the open surgical method under local anaesthesia, which is technically challenging and has a high complication rate. This study showed that, in boys aged 10–15, the Unicirc method was rapid to perform, caused minimal discomfort, and healed promptly with excellent cosmetic results and no adverse events.
This study involved 2 overlapping populations of boys: early vs. late pubertal. Penile growth is a late pubertal phenomenon, which results in a rapid doubling of penile length. We defined early pubertal boys as having a glans diameter <2.6 cm and late pubertal boys as having a glans diameter at least 2.6 cm. By these criteria, 44% of our participants were pre-pubertal and 64% were post-pubertal.
The generalist doctors in this study were experienced in both surgical and Unicirc circumcision among men, but had not previously used Unicirc in boys. Operative duration was similar to prior studies. Because the Unicirc operative duration includes 5 minutes of waiting with the Unicirc in situ, the doctors were able to perform multiple procedures sequentially, thus further reducing the time needed (11). Unicirc generally requires no surgical instruments other than a scalpel, no injectable anesthetic, and no sutures. It is completed at one point in time and, unlike plastic ring devices, requires no follow-up visit for device removal.
Follow-up at 4 weeks was complete, and there were no significant adverse events. One boy was kicked in the groin at school 18 days following the circumcision and had mild bleeding which did not require treatment. Given the fact that complications are higher using the surgical method during this age range than at any other time, the absence of complications implies that Unicirc is superior to surgical circumcision in this age group, as previously shown in adults (7-9). Because of the small risk of postoperative bleeding, we recommend that sites which perform Unicirc be capable of suturing. There were two minor wound separations not requiring treatment.
No boys had pathological phimosis, although we have shown in adults that Unicirc works well with concomitant phimosis. Several boys had tight prepuces which required dilation (with a hemostat) prior to placing the Unicirc.
Cyanoacrylate tissue adhesive is superior to sutures in paediatric (12-19) and adult (8,9,20-25) circumcision. We used both high viscosities, quick-setting 2-octyl cyanoacrylate (Exofin™) and a lower viscosity product (Indermil™), each in approximately half the procedures. Both performed similarly, but we found the high viscosity product easier to apply with less running.
This study was limited by the fact that it was a single-arm field trail and not a randomized controlled trial. Wound healing was assessed by the doctors themselves and there was no independent assessment.
Two plastic ring devices have been approved by WHO, but one of those (Prepex) was recently removed from the market. With the remaining approved device (Shang Ring), healing is by secondary intention, leading to delayed healing and potentially increased HIV transmission prior to wound closure. The device is promoted because it is rapidly applied, but the need for a follow-up removable session with specialized instruments obviates any time advantages.
Unicirc circumcision under topical anaesthetic and wound sealing with cyanoacrylate tissue adhesive in boys 10 to 15 years of age is safe, rapid, heals by primary intention, and has excellent cosmetic results.
We thank Dr. Senzo Ntshalintshali and Dr. Zainul Parker for performing the circumcisions. Drs. Cyril and Elizabeth Parker and the rest of the staff at Simunye Primary Health Care provided support for the study. Simone Harris performed the data entry.
Funding: This study was supported by Simunye Primary Health Care.
Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. The SA Medical Association's Ethics Committee (SAMAREC) approved Unicirc for Phase IV (post-licensing) use (06 March, 2014). We obtained written informed assent from each participant and informed consent from each parent or guardian.
Fast Track: Ending the Global AIDS Epidemic by 2030. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2015.
Njeuhmeli E, Hatzold K, Gold E, et al. Lessons learned from scale-up of voluntary medical male circumcision focusing on adolescents: benefits, challenges, and potential opportunities for linkages with adolescent HIV, sexual, and reproductive health services. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2014;66 Suppl 2:S193-9. [Crossref] [PubMed]
Wilcken A, Keil T, Dick B. Traditional male circumcision in eastern and southern Africa: a systematic review of prevalence and complications. Bull World Health Organ 2010;88:907-14. [Crossref] [PubMed]
Weiss HA, Larke N, Halperin D, et al. Complications of circumcision in male neonates, infants and children: a systematic review. BMC Urol 2010;10:2. [Crossref] [PubMed]
Westercamp N, Bailey RC. Acceptability of male circumcision for prevention of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa: a review. AIDS Behav 2007;11:341-55. [Crossref] [PubMed]
Manual for early infant male circumcision under local anaesthesia. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2010.
Shenje J, Millard PS. Sutureless Adult Voluntary Male Circumcision with Topical Anaesthetic: A Randomized Field Trial of Unicirc, a Single-Use Surgical Instrument. PLoS One 2016;11:e0157065. [Crossref] [PubMed]
Millard PS, Goldstuck ND. No-needle, single-visit adult male circumcision with Unicirc: a multi-centre field trial. PLoS One 2015;10:e0121686. [Crossref] [PubMed]
Millard PS. Rapid, Minimally-invasive Voluntary Adult Male Circumcision: a Quasi-experimental Study (NCT01998360). Available online: http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01998360?term=unicirc&rank=2
Framework for Clinical Evaluation of Devices for Adult Male Circumcision. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2011.
Considerations for implementing models for optimizing the volume and efficiency of male circumcision services. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2010. Available online: http://www.malecircumcision.org/programs/documents/mc_MOVE_2010_web.pdf
Elemen L, Seyidov TH, Tugay M. The advantages of cyanoacrylate wound closure in circumcision. Pediatr Surg Int 2011;27:879-83. [Crossref] [PubMed]
Elmore JM, Smith EA, Kirsch AJ. Sutureless circumcision using 2-octyl cyanoacrylate (Dermabond): appraisal after 18-month experience. Urology 2007;70:803-6. [Crossref] [PubMed]
Kaye JD, Kalisvaart JF, Cuda SP, et al. Sutureless and scalpel-free circumcision--more rapid, less expensive and better? J Urol 2010;184:1758-62. [Crossref] [PubMed]
Kelly BD, Lundon DJ, Timlin ME, et al. Paediatric sutureless circumcision--an alternative to the standard technique. Pediatr Surg Int 2012;28:305-8. [Crossref] [PubMed]
Lane V, Vajda P, Subramaniam R. Paediatric sutureless circumcision: a systematic literature review. Pediatr Surg Int 2010;26:141-4. [Crossref] [PubMed]
Van Haute C, Tailly T, Klockaerts K, et al. Sutureless circumcision using 2-Octyl cyanoacrylate results in more rapid and less painful procedures with excellent cosmetic satisfaction. J Pediatr Urol 2015;11:147.e1-5. [Crossref] [PubMed]
Gorgulu T, Olgun A, Torun M, et al. A fast, easy circumcision procedure combining a CO2 laser and cyanoacrylate adhesive: a non-randomized comparative trial. Int Braz J Urol 2016;42:113-7. [Crossref] [PubMed]
Voznesensky M, Mutter C, Hayn M, et al. Pediatric sutureless circumcision: an effective and cost efficient alternative. Can J Urol 2015;22:7995-9. [PubMed]
Millard PS, Wilson HR, Goldstuck ND, et al. Rapid, minimally invasive adult voluntary male circumcision: A randomised trial of Unicirc, a novel disposable device. S Afr Med J 2013;104:52-7. [Crossref] [PubMed]
Millard PS, Wilson HR, Veldkamp PJ, et al. Rapid, minimally invasive adult voluntary male circumcision: A randomised trial. S Afr Med J 2013;103:736-42. [Crossref] [PubMed]
O'Sullivan J, Cahill K, Shabbir J, et al. Circumcision: Gomco Clamp Method, the possible benefit of tissue glue over sutures. Research Bulletin Irish Nat Inst Health Sci 2002;1:14.
O'Sullivan J, Shabbir J, Masokwane P, et al. The benefits of histoacryl tissue glue over sutures for wound approximation after circumcision with Gomco clamp. Irish J Med Sci 2002;171:57-8. [Crossref]
Sharma P. Sutureless circumcision: Wound closure after circumcision with cynoacrylate glue - A preliminary Indian study. Indian J Surg 2004;66:276-8.
Tiwari P, Tiwari A, Kumar S, et al. Sutureless circumcision - An Indian experience. Indian J Urol 2011;27:475-8. [Crossref] [PubMed]
Cite this article as: Millard PS, Goldstuck N. Minimally invasive, sutureless, adolescent male circumcision with topical anesthetic: a field trial of Unicirc, a single-use surgical instrument. Transl Androl Urol 2020;9(2):516-522. doi: 10.21037/tau.2019.12.16


A new study has found that older people's mental skills decline with age, even if they do not have dementia.
In a report published in the journal Neurology today, scientists claim that people's mental skills start declining years before death.
'These changes are different and separate from the changes in thinking skills that occur as people get older,' the report's author Valgeir Thorvaldsson, of Göteberg University in Sweden, said.
The study examined 288 people who did not suffer from dementia, from the age of 70 to death.
The participants' mental skills were measured up to 12 times over a period of 30 years and evaluated to make sure they were not suffering from dementia.
The decline of an individual's mental skills was shown to differ for various cognitive abilities.
Perceptual speed, which measures how quickly people can compare figures, begins declining nearly 15 years before death, spatial ability begins declining eight years before, and verbal ability starts declining six-and-a-half years before death.
A number of factors may explain the decline in mental skills with age, Mr Thorvaldsson said.
'Cardiovascular conditions such as heart disease or dementia that is too early to be detected could be factors,' he said.
Also, verbal abilities appear to only decline sharply as an individual approaches death.
'This indicates that people remain stable in their verbal abilities unless they are experiencing disease processes that also increase their mortality risk,' Mr Thorvaldsson added.


Opened in August 2014, Moore College provides state-of-the art living accommodations inside gothic-style architecture. It is home to 341 upperclass students in four, five, and six-person suites along with more traditional double and single rooms. Students live on all floors of this six story building. Building residents are encouraged to take advantage of the lounges, study areas, music rooms, conference rooms, common kitchen and laundry facilities. The faculty head of college lives on the fifth floor in an apartment with her family.
Moore College is named in honor of Stanford Moore, a 1935 Vanderbilt graduate who received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1972.
Moore Mondays: opportunities for residents to come together in community over a meal.
Signature Social Events: weekly socials to build and foster relationships among residents in the college.
Elections/appointments to the Moore College Advisory Council have already occurred. Please check back in the spring for information about the 2019-2020 election/appointment process. For more details, please email Program Coordinator Elizabeth Scott-Francis.


Difference in long or short oven steam time?
Why do some bakeries steam their loaves longer or some steam them shorter?
What happens with the bread or crust?
Hi, I've found that the longer I leave my loaf in steam, the thinner and softer my crust.
Thanks Mat, that's what I was looking for.
Because my Tartine bread I take the lid off of the duch oven after 20 minutes, but my Forkish bread I take the lid off after 30 minutes.
I believe that it depends on the type of dough that is to baked. Whole wheat, and whole rye breads do not require more than 10-15 minutes steam, as the crust will thicken and be leathery quickly. White doughs can be steamed for upto 20 minutes, depending on dough size.
I don't know... but I am only baking white bread at the moment... focussing on one thing at a time, but I have been baking mine in steam for 30mins or more...basically until the water runs out. I started by accident as I used to remove the steam pan after 10 mins. Now I do it because it works for me.
a little steam will slow the crusting of the bread. this is supposed to help oven rise as things can expand more before the crust sets. you also get that nice blistering with steam during the first 10-15 minutes of the bake. why do some steam longer or shorter than others - I can't say for sure, but it can be just a bakers preference. some like a crisper crust, some don't. some breads are better with a crisper crust, some aren't (compare say bagels to white sandwich bread). stream as much, or as little, as you like to get loaves the way you like them. since you're doing the baking, you're the boss and can have it any way you like!
size of the loaf or bread. Bagels 7-8 minutes and 16 min total. 900-1000 g loaves 15 minutes of steam and 30 minutes total baking time 1,400 g loaves 20 - 25 minutes steam and 40-50 minutes total baking, I shoot for half steam and not to get the best crust. Why blisters form sometimes and other times not is a good question too.
Pumpernickel's are under steam the whole time and some high % rye breads will have longer steam too.
Questions about steaming ovens for bread baking are asked pretty often on TFL. Most of them pertain to steaming methods for home ovens. Sometimes, other questions are asked the answers to which pertain to steaming, for example, "Why is my bread's crust so dull?" Questions regarding how long to steam usually get answered in terms of anecdotal experience, and, given the variability among home ovens, maybe that is the best we can do. Yet, it seems to me, some attention to the actual functions of oven steaming may provide each of us with some basis on which to objectively determine how much is enough for our ovens.
The most important effect of steaming the oven is to delay crust formation. When bread is loaded into a humid oven, and the moisture is retained for the first part of the bake, a thin film of moisture forms on the surface of the loaves. This delays the surface drying out and becoming rigid. This allows maximal expansion of the loaves during oven spring, because they are not constrained by a stiff outer surface. Thus, a greater loaf volume is achieved. When the loaf surface is expanding as the crust starts to form, the result is a thinner, crispy crust. Eventually, the crust does form, even in a moist environment. After this starts, more moisture is not helpful and, in fact, may lead to a thicker, tougher crust.
This surface moisture has a couple more beneficial effects. At the start of the bake, as the dough begins to heat up, there is an increase in enzymatic activity. The surface moisture, by delaying drying out and through evaporative cooling, prolongs the period of increased enzymatic activity. This frees more sugars from the starch in the dough, and these increase the Maillard reaction and, thus, contribute to a pleasing crust coloration and improved aroma and flavor. When exposed to water as it heats up, the starch granules on the surface of the loaf burst, and the starch gelatinizes. This gelatinized starch forms a film which reflects light. We see this as a shiny crust.
All of these beneficial effects result from a moist oven at the start of the bake. Ideally, the oven is humidified before loading the bread and humidity is maintained until crust starts to form, usually indicated by the start of visible browning. Generally this begins 12-15 minutes into the bake. Steaming for longer than this is of no benefit, and, under some circumstances, can be harmful. Most home ovens don't retain steam very well, so over-steaming is usually not a concern. However, if the steam is trapped, for example by baking in a covered container, one can easily overdo it. The usual result is a loaf that is overly shiny. However, if the loaf is somewhat over-proofed, while a little steam can enhance oven spring as described above, too much steam can delay formation of a crust that is needed to support the expanded dough and result in loaf deflation and decreased loaf volume. Similarly, the right amount of steaming is necessary for good bloom and ear formation. Excessive steam can promote collapse of the elevating flap of dough with decreased bloom and a flat surface without good ear formation.
1. In general, under-proofed bread may benefit from longer steam exposure. Over-proofed breads need earlier crust formation to support their fragile structure, so a shorter steaming period is needed.
2. Breads (or rolls) that have been egg washed are generally not steamed at all.
3. Sourdough breads without added bakers' yeast need longer steaming. Sourdough breads, compared to breads leavened with commercial yeast, have slower, more prolonged oven spring. Therefore, they benefit more from having the oven humidified before the loaves are loaded and from more prolonged steaming to keep the crust flexible longer to achieve optimal loaf volume.
This information was abstracted from Bread, by Jeffrey Hamelman and from Advanced Bread and Pastry, by Michel Suas. Any errors in the above are mine.
This information is very helpful. Thanks David.


text:
Ho, Ho, Ho It's Dance Magic You Know
News 1/4/2013 at 5:21 AM by Sam Tyler 0
New dance game coming to PSN this January
Who says that the January release schedule is dead? OK, perhaps it is quieter than usual, but there are new co-op games to be found, if you are willing to look a little off beat. Dance Magic will be disappearing from the pre-release lists and magically reappearing exclusively on PSN from 8th January. The game is a Move operated disco simulator that allows 2 player co-op online as well as mysterious collaborative dancing.
Dance Magic does not look like being an AAA release and is nestled somewhere down amongst the unfashionable end of the alphabet. To make us better informed on the game, Gaijin Entertainment have released some details:
What if dancing could heal the world? In Dance Magic, it can.
Imagine a world where every person is not only a dancer, but also a warrior fighting for peace on Earth. These people have developed Dance Magic, a new form of biological energy that can only be realized by dancing. From the smallest personal disagreement to widespread military conflicts—all can be resolved through dancing duels.
Now worldwide peace is threatened by a rising evil. A powerful dancer has plans to use Dance Magic to take over the planet. People will die and the power of dance will be used to destroy, not to heal. Join the fight to stop him! Take part in the most important dance-off of all. You and your friends can save the planet, and the human race!
If that synopsis has not put you off, there does appear to be some hidden depths to the game. There are 7 dance styles on offer including Disco, Hip Hop and Latin. For co-op fans there is a online co-operative 2 player mode alongside the single player campaign. The official website also mentions a collaborate dance mode, how this differs from the co-op is anyone's guess.
Still reading? Firstly, congratulations. Secondly, check out the trailer for the game to see the magic of dance in action:
Source: Gaijinent.com
MMO Co-Opportunities Volume XCV: Living Stories, Anniversaries, and Hats Online
Civilization VI: Rise and Fall Announced; Brings New Co-Op Benefits
Hire a Co-op Friend in the New Far Cry 5 Trailer
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 Gets some Inhuman Action
7 Things I Love About Rogue Trooper Redux


text:
Home News Impact Story - Paula
Impact Story – Paula
Admin April 13, 2021 Impact Story
Huge hearts, helping hands
Paula's positivity and optimism is contagious. She is just finishing up a four-month gig at a big box retailer, sterilizing and cleaning shopping carts and baskets as part of COVID-19 safety procedures.
Because that job took Paula from location to location, she has worked at sites where there have been COVID-19 exposures—and it has become too risky to her health to continue. "Because I've had cancer, my immune system isn't what it was," says the 51-year-old mother of four, who grew up on the North Shore.
Paula was diagnosed with late stage four breast cancer at the age of 45. She underwent an aggressive treatment regime, including surgery, and continues to be in remission.
"There's no guarantee in life, I know that," she says into the phone from her one-bedroom apartment in Abbotsford where she took up residence late last year. The move was a big one: it took Paula from living in a 24-foot trailer in the woods to being housed with, what she calls, all the extras.
"I'm all connected now: I have Wi-Fi, hydro and heat. I love my new place! It's so beautiful, it's so quiet and peaceful—it's awesome."
To get there, Paula needed a $450 rent bank loan, which was administered by the Fraser Valley Rent Bank, a program of the Mennonite Central Committee, a non-profit organization.
That was the second time that Paula leaned on a short-term, interest-free loan from a rent bank. The first time was exactly two years ago (in February 2019) when she needed help with paying rent for her trailer pad rental. She'd broken her leg and was unable to work; her anticipated income dropped. Fortunately, Paula knew about the rent bank in the Fraser Valley because she had been volunteering at local community meals at the MCC facilities.
Her first loan – for about $400 and which is now fully repaid – was a cheque that went directly to the landlord of the trailer pad. Jane Njogu, a homelessness prevention outreach program coordinator at MCC, gave that cheque to Paula.
Housing stability by preventing homelessness is what rent banks are all about. Jane says, "I describe it as a bridge that goes both ways: it prevents people from falling down the cliff [of eviction] and it gives a hand up to people who need housing."
The conversation with Jane then turns to some of the ways that people are underhoused. Sometimes people are on the street and in the trenches, seniors who are living in their vehicles (there are a lot, she says), and couch surfing where people are paying with cash or in-kind.
Meeting people in the midst of tough times has its toll. "It's not easy. I pray a lot; the pain that they entrust to us…," Jane says as her voice fades, but she quickly turns her attention to the joy of meeting new people, as well as seeing familiar faces, every week through communal meals offered by MCC.
"When people go out and look for food, because so much of their budgets are going to housing, that is when we meet them. They come out for meals but maybe they're behind on rent or they needed to go to the dentist or fix their glasses or their car broke down. We get to know them through these meals,"
Jane Njogu – Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)
By understanding where people are at the moment, the rent bank is able to provide additional wraparound resources that might be needed whether that is housing, clothing, furniture or even employment as Paula can attest to—she was connected to her job at the big box retailer through Jane and the rent bank.
At the end of every day, it is certainly worth it. "MCC is an amazing organization—and so is Jane. You just feel warm and comfortable with her," Paula says. And for Jane: "We have a family and community that comes out for community meals. We support one another; there is a mutual transformation."


Elizabeth Scarpino of Single Handedly Liz will show a collection on the Omaha Fashion Week runway for the first time this month.
The 23-year-old Iowa State University Apparel Merchandising and Design graduate tells us her collection is "sophisticated and feminine but sassy." She utilized current trends in silhouette and color to create a collection of eveningwear that focuses on accentuating the female form while also achieving comfortability.Elizabeth has incorporated the use of hand dyed fabrics, including silk, to execute her vison for a "strong and independent" woman who likes to show off her personality through her wardrobe.
Over the course of her design endeavors thus far, the designer has developed a keen focus on fabric. "Textile art is my favorite thing in the world and I feel like that separates me from my competition and my fellow designers," Elizabeth says.
Get tickets to see Single Handedly Liz hit the runway on Thursday February 23rd. Learn more about Single Handedly Liz here.


Debra Pardee Gaffney practices as an Acupuncturist in Deland, FL.
Services Debra Pardee Gaffney is an Acupuncturist or Acupuncture office in Deland, FL. Call Debra Pardee Gaffney at (386) 734-4126 for a detailed description of the services offered.
Acupuncturist like Debra Pardee Gaffney offer services that often include facial renewal acupuncture, cupping, moxibustion, Gua Sha, Zen Shiatsu, Chinese herbal formula, herbal medicine, smoking cessation and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Talk to the staff at Debra Pardee Gaffney for information about your acupuncture needs in Deland, FL.


Baseline Collection - featuring a slim and modern design, the Titmus BC116 will please the wearer who wants a clean and contemporary look.
Having great protection doesn't mean that you can't look good as well. The EX281S is as fashionable as any stylish dress frame available today. Offered in tailored colors and two sizes, the EX281S will appeal to a wide audience.
Distinguished by its adjustable nosepads for fitting convenience, the SC915 provides a low cost/high value, lightweight/comfortable and superior coverage/protective style that comes in two sizes and colors.
The newest offering in a design that features "memory metal", the EXT14 has incredible flexibility while maintaining its integrity. This feature when combined with its titanium construction makes this frame unbelievably light yet remarkably robust.
Titanium Collection - the EXT2 is a traditional double bar bridge design with a deep ""B"" dimension perfect for multifocal wearers.
Titanium Collection - another take on the classic P3 shape but with a shallower ""B"" dimension for higher cheekbone characteristics. It features attractive detailing on the endpieces and temples.
Titanium Collection - a modified oval the EXT5 is a great model for someone who wants a softer face friendly look. It is complimented with soft satin colors to complete the offering.
Titanium Collection - the EXT6 is 100% Titanium and is offered in a shallow modified oval for wide facial application. Detailed scrollwork on the endpieces and temples finish this attractive design.
Titanium Collection - a very low profile is what distinguishes the EXT7 from most other designs. The small ""B"" dimension is very much with today's fashions.


text:
Q: GLSL bypassing float array to uniform setShaders
    muOffsetHandle = getUniformLocation("offset");
    muWeightHandle = getUniformLocation("weight");

useProgram
    GLES20.glUniform1fv(muOffsetHandle, 1, mOffset, 0);
    GLES20.glUniform1fv(muWeightHandle, 1, mWeight, 0);

vars
private int muOffsetHandle;
private int muWeightHandle;

protected float mOffset[] =new float[] {0.0f, 1.3f, 3.3f};
protected float mWeight[] =new float[] {0.2f, 0.3f, 0.3f};

FragmentShader
        "uniform float offset[3];\n" +
        "uniform float weight[3];\n" +

then trying to reach: weight[i]
I get this:
Shader log: 0:13: S0004: Member reference or swizzle attempted on non-structure and non-vector
line 13: tc += texture2D(uFrameBufferTexture, vTextureCoord[0].xy + vec2(0.0, offset[i])/uScreenHeight).rgb * weight[i];
(i = 0 to 2)
so my question: How to bypassing a float array to a uniform? float[3]
the code
protected static final String mFShader =
        "precision mediump float;\n" +
        "varying vec2 vTextureCoord;\n" +
        "uniform float uTime;\n" +
        "uniform float uScreenWidth;\n" +
        "uniform float uScreenHeight;\n" +
        "uniform sampler2D uFrameBufferTexture;\n"+

        "uniform float offset[3];\n" +
        "uniform float weight[3];\n" +

        "void main() {\n"+
        "  vec3 tc = vec3(1.0, 0.0, 0.0);\n"+
        "  if (vTextureCoord[0].x<(uTime-0.01)) {\n"+
        "    tc = texture2D(uFrameBufferTexture, vTextureCoord[0].xy).rgb * weight[0];\n"+
        "    for (int i=1; i<3; i++) {\n"+
        "      tc += texture2D(uFrameBufferTexture, vTextureCoord[0].xy + vec2(0.0, offset[i])/uScreenHeight).rgb * weight[i];\n"+
        "      tc += texture2D(uFrameBufferTexture, vTextureCoord[0].xy - vec2(0.0, offset[i])/uScreenHeight).rgb * weight[i];\n"+
        "    }\n"+
        "  }\n"+
        "  else if (vTextureCoord[0].x>=(uTime+0.01)) {\n"+
        "    tc = texture2D(uFrameBufferTexture, vTextureCoord[0].xy).rgb;\n"+
        "  }\n"+
        "   gl_FragColor = vec4(tc, 1.0);\n"+
        "}\n";

A: The problem isn't actually with weight or offset. The compiler is complaining that you say vTextureCoord[0].xy, but you declared vTextureCoord as varying vec2 vTextureCoord;.
Either declare vTextureCoord as an array, or don't say [0].

A: You don't need to declare it as an array, but if you want you can simply use:
varying vec4 vTextureCoord[3]; // you can use anything you want between the brackets

Also, don't forget to modify the varying the the vertex shader too so that they will be identical.


text:
Q: Single return statement in a method but object cannot be instantiated. No return statement error We learnt that it's good coding practice in Java to only have a single return statement in a method. However, here is my problem;
I have an abstract superclass, Action. There are subclasses like WalkAction, JumpAction, DoNothingAction etc. There is a method in the Actor's class that returns an action based on the requirements in the if-else if-else loop. How am I supposed to only have 1 return statement if the Action class cannot be instantiated. Right now the method looks something like this;
private Action getAction(Actor actor, Distance distance) {
   if (distance < 5) {
       return new JumpAction(actor);
   }
   else if (distance > 5 && distance < 10) {
       return new WalkAction(actor);
   }
   else {
       return new DoNothingAction(actor);
   }
}

It's also showing an error that there is no return statement

A: You can rewrite your code to the following single return form:
private Action getAction(Actor actor, Distance distance) {
   Action action;
   if (distance < 5) {
       action = new JumpAction(actor);
   }
   else if (distance > 5 && distance < 10) {
       action = new WalkAction(actor);
   }
   else {
       action = new DoNothingAction(actor);
   }
   return action;
}

Or alternatively:
private Action getAction(Actor actor, Distance distance) {
   return
       distance < 5                  ? new JumpAction(actor) :
       distance > 5 && distance < 10 ? new WalkAction(actor) :
       new DoNothingAction(actor);
}

A: Add "return null" out of the "if-else" block.
The compiler doesn't know your runtime info, it's possible that the whole "if-else" block
 is not matched at all then you end up with "no return statement" error.


text:
Q: Jackson com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.exc.MismatchedInputException with empty string Having following json fragment:
"Location": {
    "Address": ""
},

And my Pojo
public class Address implements Serializable
{

    @JsonProperty("City")
    private String city;
    @JsonProperty("StateProvinceCode")
    private String stateProvinceCode;
    @JsonProperty("PostalCode")
    private String postalCode;
    @JsonProperty("CountryCode")
    private String countryCode;
    private final static long serialVersionUID = -4475717488164417476L;

    /**
     * No args constructor for use in serialization
     *
     */
    public Address() {
    }

    /**
     *
     * @param city
     * @param countryCode
     * @param postalCode
     * @param stateProvinceCode
     */
    public Address(String city, String stateProvinceCode, String postalCode, String countryCode) {
        super();
        this.city = city;
        this.stateProvinceCode = stateProvinceCode;
        this.postalCode = postalCode;
        this.countryCode = countryCode;
    }

getters and settes ...

I got
com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.exc.MismatchedInputException: Cannot construct instance of com.xxx.Address (although at least one Creator exists): no String-argument constructor/factory method to deserialize from String value ('')\n at [Source: UNKNOWN; line: -1, column: -1]
Which seems pretty obvious, empty string cannot be deserialized as Address. The issue here is sometimes response comes as empty string and others as complete Address Objec.
How can I configure Jackson objectMapper to tell to ignore if empty string is present??
This response is from an external source, so I cannot modify that response.
Here is my Object Mapper configuration
@Bean
  public ObjectMapper objectMapper() {
    ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
    mapper.registerModule(new Jdk8Module());
    mapper.configure(DeserializationFeature.ACCEPT_SINGLE_VALUE_AS_ARRAY, true);
    mapper.configure(DeserializationFeature.FAIL_ON_UNKNOWN_PROPERTIES, false);
    mapper.configure(DeserializationFeature.FAIL_ON_IGNORED_PROPERTIES, false);
    mapper.setSerializationInclusion(JsonInclude.Include.NON_NULL);
    return mapper;
  }

Additional note: Pojo classes are generated using jsonschema2pojo gradle plugin and are based on json schemas

A: As suggested by @Dmitry Zagorulkin, turn DeserializationFeature.ACCEPT_EMPTY_STRING_AS_NULL_OBJECT to true. For more details, check docs.
Here is the code I tried to replicate the issue and fixed by adding the line highlighted by comment.
public class JacksonExample2 {

    private static String json1 = "{\r\n" +
         "  \"Location\": {\r\n" +
         "    \"Address\": \"\"\r\n" +
         "  }\r\n" +
         "}";

    public static void main(String[] args) throws JSONException, IOException {
        ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
        mapper.registerModule(new Jdk8Module());
        mapper.configure(DeserializationFeature.ACCEPT_SINGLE_VALUE_AS_ARRAY, true);
        mapper.configure(DeserializationFeature.FAIL_ON_UNKNOWN_PROPERTIES, false);
        mapper.configure(DeserializationFeature.FAIL_ON_IGNORED_PROPERTIES, false);
        // Add this line
        mapper.configure(DeserializationFeature.ACCEPT_EMPTY_STRING_AS_NULL_OBJECT, true);
        ParentData parentData = mapper.readValue(json1, ParentData.class);
        Address address = new Address("New York", null, null, null);
        LocationData locationData = new LocationData(address);
        System.out.println(parentData);
    }

}

@Getter
@Setter
@AllArgsConstructor
@NoArgsConstructor
@ToString
class ParentData {
    @JsonProperty("Location")
    private LocationData locationData;
}

@Getter
@Setter
@AllArgsConstructor
@NoArgsConstructor
@ToString
class LocationData {
    @JsonProperty("Address")
    private Address address;
}

@Getter
@Setter
@AllArgsConstructor
@NoArgsConstructor
@ToString
class Address implements Serializable {

    @JsonProperty("City")
    private String city;
    @JsonProperty("StateProvinceCode")
    private String stateProvinceCode;
    @JsonProperty("PostalCode")
    private String postalCode;
    @JsonProperty("CountryCode")
    private String countryCode;
    private final static long serialVersionUID = -4475717488164417476L;
}


With the increased attention following her recent marriage and announcement of her pregnancy, Kate Middleton's face has gained tremendous prominence, and her nose is now the world's most-requested plastic surgery feature.
As reported in The Daily Mail, people are clamoring for Kate Middleton's nose this Christmas season. Though it is believed that the Duchess of Cambridge has never had plastic surgery herself, she has now broadened her influence to include both fashion and cosmetic surgery trends. Women are reported to be particularly attracted to her natural-appearing look.
With this striking increase in press coverage of Kate Middleton's face, requests to model new noses after that of the Duchess have tripled this holiday season. These rhinoplasties, or nose jobs, are not intended to actually copy the Duchess' nose, but rather they use her features as an ideal starting point for basing a natural nose shape that fits the patient's face. Other methods, such as facial fillers and Botox may be used to balance the overall shape of the face.
This should come as no surprise to Brits, who have long been enamored by Kate Middleton's aura, recently voting her as England's most naturally beautiful woman. Her sister, Pippa, was voted in as England's tenth most naturally beautiful woman.
Other celebrity facial features that have been lauded for their perfection by plastic surgery patients include the cheeks of Cheryl Cole and the chin of Myleene Klass, which could be created using chin augmentation or facial filler injections.
Photo by Tom Soper Photography on Flickr.


Inola Gurgulia (1929-1977) - this name, in the first place, is associated with the image of a poetic, faithful, loving, free person. She is the author of about one hundred songs, the texts of which (with the exception of just a few) are written by her as well. Inolas's art of singing is known to a wide circle of public through "Samaya" - a trio founded by her. Its role in the history of singers' trios in Georgia is very important. Unfortunately, Inola Gurgulia, as a solo singer is known to the public only through three or four films (among these D. Toradze's song from the film "The last and the First Day" is distinguished by the exquisite refinement of performance).
On the occasion of the 70 anniversary of her birth the last unique recording of Inola Gurgulia's songs, performed by her, was released as a CD for the first time (five songs, #22-26, are performed by her together with her husband - Mikheil Shugliashvilil. The original of the recording, kept in Inola's family archive, is not of a good quality since is not made in a studio. These defects were partially removed, and the recording -cleaned, by means of the corresponding computer technique.
In spite of the remaining defects (it was technically impossible to remove all of them) we believe that, the presented streaming music will be a precious gift to the admirers of Georgian. The original recording lacks the beginning of Inola's last song "Man", it starts with the words: «... In the beginning was the song, a beautiful chant, and it was singing that man was made for". The title of the CD is based on these words, expressing the essence of her creative work.
CD project authors: D. Shugliashvili. foundation "Georgian Library"
5. Don't Say Anything To Me!
9. Is It My Fault?
15. Let It Be So!
25. What Do You Want It For?
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