text:
\section{Introduction}
There are many tools for the analysis of astronomical spectra.  The most
commonly used of these are the various packages of MIDAS\
\citep[][\ascl{1302.017}]{1992ASPC...25..115W}, \textsf{\small IRAF}\
\citep[][\ascl{9911.002}]{2012ASPC..461..595F}, and \textsf{\small Starlink}\
\citep[][\ascl{1110.012}]{1982QJRAS..23..485D}, together with scripts written
in \textsf{\small Python}\ \citep[e.g.,][]{2013A&A...558A..33A} and \textsf{\small IDL}\
\citep[e.g.,][]{1993ASPC...52..246L}.  Very advanced processing is still often
done in custom (especially FORTRAN) programs used by small communities.  These
tools tend to work with specially formatted files (quite often ASCII tables)
stored on local disks.

The common tasks for astronomers during spectral analysis consist of finding
the required spectra in various archives, downloading them, understanding and
extracting metadata (such as date of exposure, spectral range, and flux units),
converting to the custom format used by the particular tool, visualizing
selected spectra and  removing the bad ones (for example if they are noisy or
have excessive numbers of spikes). They can finally run some massive processing
or analysis on an improved list.  Very often the measurement of some parameter,
such as the radial velocity or equivalent widths of selected lines, is
accomplished interactively and the spectra must be adjusted by zooming, panning
and scaling.

A real scientific analysis of thousands of spectra is a very tedious task even
from the same instrument, but the real modern challenge is an analysis of
multi-wavelength spectra from different instruments, where all the metadata are
different, there are various flux and wavelength, frequency or energy units
and where the formats of storage also vary (including simple FITS, binary
tables, and ASCII lists).

Making the handling of spectra obtained from world-wide distributed
heterogeneous archives simple and efficient was the main motivation for
developing the International Virtual Observatory Alliance Simple Spectral
Access Protocol \citep[IVOA \texttt{SSAP};][]{ssap}. The key elements of this
\texttt{HTTP}-based protocol are a standard spectral server discovery mechanism
(a Google for astronomical data) called IVOA Registry \citep{registry} and  the
standard VOTable\ data format \citep{2004tivo.conf..118O}, that is used to
describe the metadata of discovered spectra in a limited vocabulary of
obligatory parameters.

\subsection{The SSA protocol}
\texttt{SSAP}\ allows astronomers to find all the world-wide VO-compatible archival
spectra of their favourite objects, and it can also be used to get spectra for
all the objects in a `circular' region of interest on the sky. These simple
queries can be refined using spectral ranges, dates of observation as well as
more subtle criteria like spectral resolution or target class (even spectral
type) if the server supports corresponding optional parameters. More capable
servers provide extended facilities for converting spectra on-the-fly to the
required format, and can create previews of spectra in \texttt{PNG} or deliver
the fluxes and wavelengths in ASCII or CSV tables.

\subsection{SSAP-compatible visualization clients}
Although processing large amounts of data is more convenient when using \texttt{SSAP}\
from a scripting language for batch processing, a crucial part of understanding
data is only gained by using advanced visualization and interactive
exploration.  Therefore, a very important part of the VO infrastructure is
represented by VO-compatible spectra visualization clients. There are currently
several tools for interactively manipulating spectra in the VO.

\textsf{\small VOSpec}\ \citep[][\ascl{1205.011}]{2005ASPC..347..198O}, developed by ESA, is
designed strictly on principles of IVOA standards and was rather focused on
the analysis of high energy and space-based spectra with absolute flux
calibration, lacking support for some common functions and custom data formats
used in ground-based stellar spectroscopy. The most critical 1D FITS image
format was added just recently. \textsf{\small VOSpec}\ contains quite complex non-linear
model-fitting package and can handle photometric points as well as Spectral
Energy Distributions (SEDs).

The other clients were developed as general spectral analysis tools prior to
the conception of the VO, and have subsequently been extended to add support
for querying and downloading spectra using \texttt{SSAP}.  The advantage of this
approach is the support for many legacy data formats and various
domain-specific functionality, better tuned to requirements of scientists not
familiar with VO technology.

\textsf{\small Specview}\ \citep[][\ascl{1210.016}]{2002SPIE.4847..410B}, developed at STScI,
was intended mainly for handling spectra from \emph{Hubble Space Telescope}
instrumentation and some other NASA missions, but gradually transformed into a
VO-compatible general client supplemented with a library of theoretical spectra
and various models for SED generation.  While \textsf{\small Specview}\ is a very powerful
tool compatible with a lot of very special formats from \emph{HST}, \emph{IUE},
\emph{FUSE}, \emph{ISO} and \emph{GALEX} satellites, allowing for the advanced
comparison of observations with a wide range of theoretical spectral models
(such as power laws, Bremsstrahlung, emission line profiles, interstellar
extinction, dusty rings or whole Kurucz library of spectral types), it is less
flexible in the support of various \texttt{SSAP}\ features and is falling behind the
rapid evolution in IVOA standards.

Because of its powerful spectral model handling \textsf{\small Specview}\   was  selected as a
core module for the visualization of spectra and SEDs in the VAO Spectral
Energy Distribution Analysis Tool \textsf{\small Iris}\
\citep[][\ascl{1205.007}]{2014ASPC..485...19L}.

The specific domain of \textsf{\small CASSIS}\ \citep[][\ascl{1402.013}]{2011IAUS..280P.120C}
is the visualization and analysis of  sub-millimetre  spectra (with special
emphasis on data from the \emph{Herschel Space Observatory} as a plugin for its
HIPE pipeline \citep[][\ascl{1111.001}]{2012ASPC..461..733B}) using various
databases of atomic and molecular transitions and several physical models of
the interstellar environment. In order to be able to directly use spectra from
VO resources, an \texttt{SSAP}\ interface was added recently.

The final VO-compatible client for spectra analysis and the main subject of
this article is {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ \citep[][\ascl{1402.008}]{sun243}.  {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ despite
its early origin was revived recently and is currently under intensive
development, serving as a test-bed for newly proposed VO standards and special
features.

\section{History of SPLAT-VO}
\subsection{SPLAT}
The {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ project is an extension to an older one simply called
\textsf{\small SPLAT}\ \citep[][\ascl{1402.007}]{2002ASPC..281..513B}.  The name \textsf{\small SPLAT}\
is based on the words SPectraL Analysis Tool, an application for the
display and analysis of spectral data. The development of \textsf{\small SPLAT}\ itself
was started by the \textsf{\small Starlink}\ Project \citep{1982QJRAS..23..485D} in
1999 in response to a perceived need within the UK astronomy community
for a spectral domain tool with capabilities similar to those of the
successful \textsf{\small GAIA}\ tool \citep[][\ascl{1403.024}]{2000ASPC..216..615D}
that supported imaging data. \textsf{\small SPLAT}\ was also a leader project for
moving future developments into the Java language, with the obvious
benefits of improved portability, modern language capabilities (OOD,
OOP) and core-level support for features like UIs and Internet
protocols and services. This work eventually led to the formation of
what became the StarJava project, containing also the well-known table processor \textsf{\small TOPCAT}\ \citep[][\ascl{1101.010}]{2005ASPC..347...29T}.

\subsection{SPLAT-VO}
The first VO capabilities added to \textsf{\small SPLAT}\ where released in 2005
\citep{2005ASPC..347...22D}, as support for querying VO registries for Simple
Spectral Access Protocol servers was added. A selection of these servers could
then be queried for any spectra they contained within a region on the sky and
these could then be selected and displayed. \textsf{\small SPLAT}\ already had the ability to
match a wide range of spectral coordinate systems and flux units, so the
spectra could be displayed within the same plots for direct comparison. Since
then \texttt{SSAP}\ support has been increased to support version 1 of the standard and
various enhancements like being able to query for the \texttt{SSAP}\
\texttt{TARGETNAME}, not just a region, have been added.

The second phase of VO developments in {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ were the incorporation into
the \textsf{\small VO-Desktop}\ \citep{2008ASPC..394..251W}, so that spectra and tables could
be shared between applications.  Initially, in 2006, this used the \texttt{PLASTIC}\
\citep{2007ASPC..376..511T} protocol and then, more recently, \texttt{SAMP}\
\citep{2012ASPC..461..279T}.

In 2011 the development of  {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ was resumed by the German Astrophysical
Virtual Observatory (GAVO) in Heidelberg, Germany and in  the Astronomical
Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (AI~ASCR).  Because
of the requirement for a spectral domain application with VO capabilities and
good scientific analysis functions, GAVO  decided to actively support
developments now that {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ was only being supported by unfunded best
efforts, concentrating on an improved VO interface, benefitting from the
in-house development of the VO server suite \textsf{\small DaCHS}.  Around the same time
requirements for some modifications of scientific functions (with emphasis on
optical stellar spectroscopy) identified during the everyday analysis of
spectra of emission line stars in the Stellar department of AI~ASCR, resulted
in Bachelor and successive Diploma theses focused on the implementation of new
analytical and visualization functions in collaboration with
V\v{S}B---Technical University of Ostrava.

In this way {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ can continue to be improved, and kept up-to-date with the
changing requirements of both end users and data providers.

\section{SPLAT-VO internals}
\subsection{Data formats}
The {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ spectral data model is specified by a single internal interface
that is concretely implemented for the various data formats that are
supported. Having a single interface decouples the data model and makes it
practical to support a wide range of formats, but necessarily means that some
format specific features will not be supported and can be lost when making
transformative changes like saving back to file.

The {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ data model is simple only requiring that spectra have a name,
coordinate system and some data values. Other supported items are data errors,
fuller descriptions, keyed properties (key, value, description), data units
and labels, and the underlying dimensionality (if the spectrum is being
extracted from a 2D or 3D array). Spectra can also have mutable properties,
like the names of the table columns that contain the various data values.

Current implementations give {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ access to spectra in simple text files,
FITS \citep{2010A&A...524A..42P}, NDF \citep{ndfjenness}, NDX
\citep{2003ASPC..295..221G}, as well as FITS and VO tables. Tables are
supported using the STILTS \citep[][\ascl{1105.001}]{2006ASPC..351..666T}
library. In addition to these spectra can also be memory based so that they can
become modifiable and be derived from data with higher dimensionalities.

\subsection{Internal spectra handling}
The presentation of all data types through a single interface works especially
well when coupled with a further, higher-level, abstraction class. This
abstraction is in effect how all the analysis and visualization code throughout
{\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ see a `spectrum' (these two elements that decouple an abstraction
from the underlying implementations are in fact the well established `Bridge
Pattern').

This use of a single abstraction to all data formats makes it easier to write
consistent code and extend the basic internal spectrum with new facilities
(methods that do things like extraction sections, replace bad values etc.) as
well as associate useful properties like graphics and formatting rendering
hints, data and coordinate range limits. Extending the underlying model is also
easy as new features strictly need only be handled in the abstraction (although
clearly that would not be interesting) and new spectral types can extend the
base abstraction (the basic spectral type is extended to also offer spectra
that render as line identifiers and cached copies of remote spectra).

\subsection{Presentation}
The presentation of spectra is based on the model-view-controller pattern that
pervades Java UIs and the same spectral data can be seen and operated on in
many different guises, that is as a number of line plots, tables, property
lists etc. Memory based spectra are also directly modifiable (as simple edits
to table cells or generally using expressions). Through the
model-view-controller infrastructure all changes are propagated to all views.

\subsection{Coordinate systems and units}
Early in the design of \textsf{\small SPLAT}\ it was decided that it would not be possible to
replicate the considerable effort that had already been put into a
comprehensive system for handling coordinate systems and units, including full
support for reading and writing FITS WCS \citep{2006A&A...446..747G}. This led
to the development of a JNI library for the \textsf{\small Starlink}\ AST library
\citep[][\ascl{1404.016}]{1998ASPC..145...41W,2012ASPC..461..825B}, JNIAST. AST
itself is written in standard C so compiling it on many platforms is relatively
easy, but, as discussed in Sec.\ \ref{sec:jniast-lesson}, this remains a
portability issue at the heart of \textsf{\small SPLAT}\ limiting one of the initial aims.

Some of the advanced features that {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ offers based on AST are support
for spectral coordinates in wavelength, velocity, frequency and energy. These
can have standards of rest, so transformations of rest frame are also supported
(important for velocity and laboratory data). {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ also supports double
side-band spectra for sub-millimetre spectra and flux unit matching. Many of
these features have been improved in AST over time and {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ gains from
this.

AST supports all the units specified in the FITS standard
\citep{2010A&A...524A..42P} and can calculate scaling factors to allow matching
of spectra with different flux units. Adding full \texttt{VOUnits}\ support
\citep{vounits} to {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ would currently require that AST is updated to
match the standard. This would have the added benefit of expanding support for
\texttt{VOUnits}\ to the entire \textsf{\small Starlink}\ software collection and in particular
enhance the unit support of the VO aspects of \textsf{\small GAIA}\
\citep{2009ASPC..411..575D}.

\subsection{Scripting of SPLAT-VO}
The various classes of {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ may be called directly from the \textsf{\small BeanShell}\
scripting language \citep{niemeyer2013learning}, in principle this allows
complex workflows to be created, and is used to create example scripts that are
part of the standard distribution. These support the batch fitting of single
Gaussian line profiles, as well as composite models consisting of any number of
Gaussian, Lorentzian and Voigt profiles for deblending complex lines (a feature
that has never made it into the full UI). \textsf{\small BeanShell}\  scripts are also used
for controlling {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ from command line.

\subsection{The power of SAMP in SPLAT-VO}
Although all \texttt{SSAP}\ clients have powerful capabilities, they are naturally
limited to their built-in features, which will not suit all the requirements of
a wide spectroscopic community. However, almost all VO-compatible tools,
including the important table processor \textsf{\small TOPCAT}\ and stellar atlas \textsf{\small Aladin}\
\citep[][\ascl{1112.019}]{2005ASPC..347..193O}, have built-in support for the
Simple Application Message Protocol (\texttt{SAMP}), successor of \texttt{PLASTIC}. This
supports the bringing together of basic VO applications, like bricks, to build
complex visualization and processing pipelines allowing very complicated
analyses of truly Big Data.  The astronomer may, for example, visualize the
spectra of objects they click on in some imaging survey frame displayed in
\textsf{\small Aladin}, or identify the visual appearance of galaxies from the spectra which
have been visually selected in {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}. \texttt{SAMP}\ has successfully been used to
send messages from a web browser displaying previews of a number of spectra to
{\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ where they were subsequently automatically downloaded and then
analyzed.

\section{SPLAT-VO capabilities  for spectra analysis}
\begin{figure*}[t]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=0.8\textwidth]{phiper-heros-stack.pdf}
\caption{The time evolution of the H$_\alpha$ line emission profile in
$\phi$~Per observations obtained with the HEROS spectrograph at Ond\v{r}ejov 2m
telescope in years 2001--2003. The stacking offset of 0.9  makes sure that the changes can be seen easily.}

\label{fig:phiper-heros-stack}
\end{center}
\end{figure*}

\begin{figure*}[t]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=0.8\textwidth]{zetoph2sp-id.pdf}
\caption{Spectrum of $\zeta$~Oph in H$_\alpha$ region  obtained with Ond\v{r}ejov Coud\`e
  spectrograph 700mm camera (green) and HEROS spectrograph (blue). The line
  identifications from custom line list of telluric lines is overplotted in violet. Note the deeper
  telluric lines from HEROS due to its almost double spectral resolving power.}
\label{fig:zetoph2sp-id}
\end{center}
\end{figure*}

{\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ as a general purpose spectral analysis tool supports a very wide
range of capabilities required by astronomers for every-day work outside of the
VO. Input spectra may be loaded directly from local disk files in a number of
formats, including several types of multicolumn ASCII tables, multi-extension
FITS with binary tables or 1D spectrum FITS image, as well as \textsf{\small Starlink}\ NDF.

The list of capabilities of {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ is enormous and are fully described in
the associated documentation \citep[SUN/243;][]{sun243} which is also available
as online help and includes example data from multi-wavelength observations.

Here we give a short overview of features not relevant to VO protocols.
Several features are very specific to the analysis of hot emission line stars.

\begin{itemize}

\item Visual stacking of spectra introducing either constant vertical offsets
or offsets based on functions of values of certain FITS keywords. For example
the line profiles may be ordered by the circular phase computed for a certain
period. Stacking is also useful for visualization of evolution of stellar line
profiles in variable stars.  Fig.~\ref{fig:phiper-heros-stack} shows the
evolution of an emission line profile for the star $\phi$~Per observed with the
HEROS spectrograph \citep{2002PAICz..90....1S} at the Ond\v{r}ejov 2m telescope
during the years 2001--2003.

\item Measurement of radial velocities by the visual matching of a line profile
with its mirrored image based on idea of oscilloscopic comparators.  This is
important for measuring asymmetric and distorted line profiles typical for hot
emission stars. For a detailed explanation see \citet{2007IAUS..240..486P}.
This feature can be operated with a batch-like mode to quickly process a number
of lines and/or spectra using a \emph{visitor list}.

\item Continuum estimation using flexible curves similar to those expected to
be drawn by a human. The \textsf{\small INTEP}\ procedure based on Hermite polynomials
\citep{1982PDAO...16...67H} has been successfully used for decades in fitting
stellar continua (typically of emission-line stars such as Be stars and
symbiotic novae) in the program \textsf{\small SPEFO}\ \citep{1996ASPC..101..187S}. An
overview of the advantages of this procedure is given in
\citet{2008asvo.proc...97S}. Other curves types are also available such as
\citet{Akima:1970:NMI:321607.321609}.

\item Powerful transformation of the spectral axis with respect to various
coordinate systems; air and vacuum wavelength, optical and radio velocities,
frequency, redshift, energy. The transformations can also include various
standards of rest; topocentric, heliocentric, dynamic and kinematic local.

\item Built-in spreadsheet processor supported by special astronomical
functions. Allows the modification/transformation of coordinates and data
values. Astronomical functions include the spectral line profile models.

\item Filtering with smoothing (mean, median, rebin) and denoising with
wavelets.

\item Line fitting using Gaussian, Voigt or Lorentz profiles.

\item Statistics of selected regions, mean, median, sum, mode, variance, skew,
kurtosis, rms, quantiles.

\item Region removal, replacement and extraction. Also replacement of part of
spectra with an interpolated curve.

\item Comprehensive overlay graphics toolkit with annotations and many
configurable options for the presentation of data. Export of publication
quality output into \texttt{PNG}, \texttt{GIF}, and \texttt{EPS} formats.

\item Animation of spectra - convenient for showing line evolution or
non-radial pulsations.

\item Identification of spectral lines using simple supplied ASCII line lists
and built-in sets of common atomic and molecular lines (includes molecules in
sub-millimetre region). Fig.~\ref{fig:zetoph2sp-id} shows the identification of
telluric lines on a combination of spectra of $\zeta$~Oph obtained with two
different spectrographs of the Ond\v{r}ejov 2m telescope.

\item Simple operations on spectra such as addition, subtraction, division and
continuum fitting.

\end{itemize}

\section{SPLAT-VO SSAP interface}
The \texttt{SSAP}\ interface in {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ is clearly the most important tool for
working with the VO and remains under active development. The task of the
interface is to help the user construct a valid \texttt{SSAP}\ query by filling out a
simple form of parameters, and then arrange for that query to be sent to a list
of selected \texttt{SSAP}\ servers and finally make the query response available so
that any spectra can be selected for download.

Queries can involve supplying the coordinates (\texttt{POS}) and size
(\texttt{SIZE}) defining a 'circular' region on the sky (a so called `cone
search'), or just the name of an object and size, the name being resolved into
a position by the CDS name resolver \textsf{\small Sesame} . Other form elements provide
refinement of the query to include things like spectral ranges (\texttt{BAND}),
the date and time of observation (\texttt{TIME}), status of the wavelength
calibration (\texttt{WAVECALIB}), flux calibration (\texttt{FLUXCALIB}) and
data format (\texttt{FORMAT}).  In fact recent additions to {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ now offer
control of all the optional parameters supported by a selected \texttt{SSAP}\ server.

Once spectra have been selected they are downloaded from the \texttt{SSAP}\ server
(using the \texttt{URL} \texttt{accref} returned in the \texttt{SSAP}\ response) they
can be worked on in the same fashion as any locally available spectra and saved
to local disk etc.

The list of \texttt{SSAP}\ servers may be updated using one of several VO registries.
Local or development services not yet registered may be added manually. The
server list may be edited so that the query is only sent to collections of
servers with say similar data or can be restricted to only one service that may
be queried for detailed specific operations.

\begin{figure*}[th]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=0.8\textwidth]{iuehst2.pdf}
\caption{Composite plot of UV spectra of $\phi$~Per from the \emph{HST} GHRS
spectrograph (thick blue short pieces) together with \emph{IUE} low resolution
spectra from SWP camera, (thin green line).}
\label{fig:iuehst2}
\end{center}
\end{figure*}

The following example shows the absolutely calibrated spectra of the emission
star $\phi$~Per. We have selected the \emph{Hubble Space Telescope} with the
Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph and the \emph{IUE} low resolution spectra.
The composite plot of selected  UV spectra is in Fig.~\ref{fig:iuehst2}.

\subsection{ Theoretical spectra access}
In a similar way to observational spectra, synthetic spectra can also be
obtained from libraries available in the VO (e.g., Kurucz models, Rauch's
non-LTE model spectra, TLUSTY hot stars, Salpeter, Dusty). They are selected by
a radio button, which changes the role of parameters used in the query. The
extended protocol called Theory-\texttt{SSAP}\ \citep[hereafter TSAP;][]{ssap} uses
various physical parameters like $T_{\rm eff}$, $\log g$, metallicity etc. for
queries instead of position, wavelength, region and date/time range.
Unfortunately obligatory metadata do not exist for all required physical
parameters, so it is necessary to just try out what is available on a given
server.  It is then necessary to individually select suitable spectra from a
multidimensional table combining all the parameter ranges required.
Fig.~\ref{fig:TSAP-query} and Fig.~\ref{fig:TSAP-plot} show the query and
result of selecting several Kurucz models for Vega.

\begin{figure*}[t]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=0.8\textwidth]{TSSA-query.pdf}
\caption{\texttt{TSAP}\ Query for Vega-like Kurucz models. Note the additional
parameters.}
\label{fig:TSAP-query}
\end{center}
\end{figure*}

\begin{figure*}[t]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=0.8\textwidth]{TSSA-plot.pdf} \caption{Zoomed plot of
Vega-like Kurucz models manually selected in the previous
\texttt{TSAP}\ Query window (see Fig.~\ref{fig:TSAP-query}). }
\label{fig:TSAP-plot}
\end{center}
\end{figure*}

\section{Recent additions}
\subsection{Motivation}
As the VO evolves, adding new protocols and data models, {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ needs to
evolve accordingly.  \texttt{SSAP}, as the name says, is a simple protocol, and has
some limitations. Some features like cut-outs or flux calibration, which are
often needed, have to be performed in a second work step after downloading the
spectra. It is much more efficient to have it done on-the-fly at the server and
to download the spectra exactly as needed. To overcome the limitations of
\texttt{SSAP}, the new \texttt{DataLink}\ protocol \citep{datalink} was used. {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ is one
of the first client implementations of \texttt{DataLink}, in this way also contributing
to its testing and development from a client point of view.

Besides \texttt{SSAP}, spectra can also be retrieved using the \texttt{ObsCore}\ data model
through Table Access Protocol  \citep[known as \texttt{ObsTap};][]{obstap}. Its
implementation in {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ allows spectra to be retrieved also from \texttt{ObsCore}\
services, and the \texttt{ObsTap}\ ADQL\ \citep{adql} search offers a more powerful
search mechanism as well. The implementation of new VO protocols like \texttt{ObsTap}\
and \texttt{DataLink}\ have been done side-by-side with their server-side
implementation in \textsf{\small DaCHS}\ \citep[Data Center Helper Suite;][]{dachs}.

{\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}'s user interface has been improved. An improved server selection
interface and \texttt{SSAP}\ search by metadata parameters are some of the new features
added, which are listed in the next subsections.

\subsection{New features in VO access}
\subsubsection{SSAP service selection}
In the earlier versions of {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ a list of services was presented, and the
user could select the services to be queried, as well as remove uninteresting
services from the list. Information about the services of interest had to be
retrieved from somewhere else, as the service metadata was not used.  This
simple server selection interface has been improved by a more detailed
selection, users can choose a set of services that may contain data of
interest, based on the service's metadata taken from the registry (data source,
wave-band).

There are two ways of selecting services. The first way is to choose according
to the data source (such as a survey, pointed observation, or simulation) or
wave-band.  For example, the user wants to select services containing pointed
observation sources in optical wavelength, so this can be selected in the
interface and only the services which contain this information in the metadata
will be selected.  The other way is useful in the case when users know exactly
the services they want to query, so they may create an own tag containing the
chosen services, and give it a name, such as ``My Favourite Services'', which
will be saved and loaded the next time {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ starts.

This implementation relies on the metadata information from the registry
services, which should be correct and complete. Unfortunately many services
information from the registries are not complete, or not correct, what we hope
will be fixed in the future.

\subsubsection{Manual addition of SSAP services}
{\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ gets its list of \texttt{SSAP}\ services by querying a registry service.  A
new function has been added to allow inclusion of a new service that is not
(yet) registered. This is useful to access a local, not public service, or to
test a service before it's included in the registry.

\subsubsection{Metadata parameters query}
In early versions, {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ contained just a simple cone search using the
\texttt{SSAP}\ obligatory parameters (RA, DEC, band, time, data format) and later added
wavelength and flux calibration state, although much other metadata is
available on servers.  Now {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ also retrieves the metadata parameters for
each server, and a new user interface allows users to chose metadata parameters
and their values to perform more detailed queries.  This is especially
interesting when querying theoretical spectra by \texttt{TSAP}, which contain many
additional query parameters. Figure~\ref{fig:TSAP-query} shows the use of
additional metadata parameters.

\subsubsection{Simple HTTP authentication}
Simple HTTP authentication can be used to restrict access to data when it is
published to the VO before it should be publicly available, so the owner and a
limited group of users can access it before disclosure. The authentication can
be done on a service basis, where the whole service needs authentication to be
queried, or on a spectrum basis, where only some of the spectra from a certain
service require authentication to be downloaded. In any case, an
username/password window will appear when needed.

\subsubsection{GetData and DataLink}
To overcome \texttt{SSAP}\ limitations and allow server-side processing of spectra like
cut-outs, or format conversions, a protocol called \texttt{getData}\ \citep{getData}
has been developed. After successful implementation and testing on {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}},
the work on \texttt{getData}\ has been stopped. It has been decided to implement these
features using the newer \texttt{DataLink}\ protocol, which will probably be made
available on several services in the near future, and can also be used in
different cases.  \texttt{DataLink}\ resources can provide links with several different
ways to access the data, covering \texttt{getData}\ functionality and more.  When
parsing the service response from an \texttt{SSAP}\ query, which is in form of a
VOTable, {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ looks for a \texttt{RESOURCE} element of type
\texttt{service}.  An example is shown below:

{\tiny
\begin{minipage}{\textwidth}
\begin{verbatim}
<RESOURCE ID="aeoadowdpudn" type="service">
  <GROUP name="input">
    <PARAM arraysize="*" datatype="char" name="ID"
    ref="ssa_pubDID" ucd="meta.id;meta.main" value="">
      <DESCRIPTION> The publisher DID of the dataset of interest
      </DESCRIPTION>
    </PARAM>
    <PARAM arraysize="*" datatype="char" name="FLUXCALIB"
    ucd="phot.calib" utype="ssa:Char.FluxAxis.Calibration" value="">
      <DESCRIPTION>Recalibrate the spectrum.  Right now, the only
      recalibration supported is max(flux)=1  ('RELATIVE').</DESCRIPTION>
      <VALUES>
        <OPTION name="RELATIVE" value="RELATIVE"/>
        <OPTION name="UNCALIBRATED" value="UNCALIBRATED"/>
      </VALUES>
    </PARAM>
    <PARAM ID="aemoogtm" datatype="float" name="LAMBDA_MIN"
    ucd="par.min;em.wl" unit="m" value="">
      <DESCRIPTION>Spectral cutout interval, lower limit</DESCRIPTION>
      <VALUES>
        <MIN value="3.3696e-07"></MIN>
        <MAX value="8.7665e-07"></MAX>
      </VALUES>
    </PARAM>
    <PARAM ID="appadowdpudn" datatype="float" name="LAMBDA_MAX"
    ucd="par.max;em.wl" unit="m" value="">
      <DESCRIPTION>Spectral cutout interval, upper limit</DESCRIPTION>
      <VALUES>
        <MIN value="3.3696e-07"></MIN>
        <MAX value="8.7665e-07"></MAX>
      </VALUES>
    </PARAM>
  </GROUP>
  <PARAM arraysize="*" datatype="char" name="accessURL" ucd="meta.ref.url"
  value="http://dc.zah.uni-heidelberg.de/flashheros/q/sdl/dlget"/>
</RESOURCE>
\end{verbatim}

\end{minipage}
}

The \texttt{GROUP} element with name \texttt{input} contains the input
parameters that will be returned to the server.  It must contain an \texttt{ID}
parameter, which refers to the metadata that identifying the required spectra
(normally the \texttt{pubDID} parameter).  The other parameters in this group
are the ones for which the users can set values that will be sent to the
service as a request. The \texttt{accessURL} parameter defines the service URL
to which this request has to be sent.

In the \texttt{SSAP}\ response to a query, the services supporting \texttt{DataLink}\ will be
marked with the  ``\ding{34}''  icon. When one of these services is selected,
the user can activate the \texttt{DataLink}\ feature by clicking on the button with
same name. When activated, a window with a form to enter values to the
\texttt{DataLink}\ parameters will appear. While this window is activated, every
spectrum selected and downloaded from this service will be processed according
to the chosen parameters. When de-selected, the spectra will be downloaded as
they are in the \texttt{SSAP}\ service, without processing.

In the case described above, the \texttt{DataLink}\ resource is in the query response
from the \texttt{SSAP}\ service. In another case, after a query, some services return a
list of spectra pointing not to the spectral data to be retrieved, but to a
VOTable\ containing only \texttt{DataLink}\ information with the links to the URLs of
the data. This \texttt{DataLink}\ resource has then to be parsed by {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ in order
to retrieve the selected spectrum.

\subsubsection{ObsTAP}
In addition to \texttt{SSAP}, spectra can be retrieved using \texttt{ObsTap}. This service uses
the Table Access Protocol (\texttt{TAP}) to query metadata from the Observation Data
Model Core Components (\texttt{ObsCore}). Currently there are few services implementing
it, and the {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ implementation is ongoing.  \texttt{ObsCore}\ provide standard
metadata attributes that can be used, through the ADQL\ query language, to
perform more extensive and detailed queries than in the case of \texttt{SSAP}\ data
discovery.

In the current {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ implementation, users can select \texttt{ObsCore}\ in the main
{\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ window. The \texttt{ObsCore}\ browser window will appear, which is in part
similar to the \texttt{SSAP}\ browser window. The user can chose either a similar cone
search interface like the one in \texttt{SSAP}, or a simple ADQL\ interface where some
parameters can be set. For more advanced queries, the user can directly edit
the ADQL\ expression. After sending the query the results tables will be
displayed, which are in functionality similar to the \texttt{SSAP}\ browser window.

\subsubsection{Visualizing light curves using SSAP}
\begin{figure*}[tbh]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=0.8\textwidth]{OGLE-SC7-127550_plot.pdf}
\caption{Multicolour light curves of Cepheid OGLE-SC7-127550 from OSPS. The
manual modification of default line types into various markers and flip of
vertical axis was applied on data obtained by an experimental \texttt{SSAP}\ light
curve protocol.  The measurements in Johnson-Cousins filters correspond to U
(diamonds), B (asterisks), V (pluses) R (crosses) and I (triangles).  }
\label{fig:OGLE-SC7-127550_plot}
\end{center}
\end{figure*}

As a proper standard for displaying photometric light curves or time series of
other variables is not available from the IVOA, there have been several
attempts to exploit the visual similarity of spectra and light curves
pretending the spectral axis is the temporal one.  So the \texttt{SSAP}\ was
successfully used as a transport protocol for delivering light curves in binary
table format. In principle the table may contain many columns displayed as
dependent variable against the various time axes with interactive menu.  The
current limitation only requires the time axis expressed as floating point
variables, which limits the possibility of using strings e.g., dates, time
stamps or even the names of CCD images used to extract given photometric point
on light curve.  An example in Fig.~\ref{fig:OGLE-SC7-127550_plot} shows the
light curves obtained from the Ond\v{r}ejov Southern Photometry Survey
\citep{skoda_adassxxiii} ongoing at the Danish 1.5m telescope DK154.

\subsection{New features in spectral analysis}
\label{davids_functions} To improve the analytic capabilities and general
usability the following features were added to the non-VO capabilities of
{\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ \citep{and146bcthesis}:

\subsubsection{Saving spectra stack in multi-extension FITS format}
Previous versions of {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ were able to save the global list of spectra to
a binary format, which was in fact a dump of the native serialization of
spectra objects. Sometimes, there may be a need to save that list to a more
universal, standardized format. For example, {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ has many operations on
spectra, which result in a new spectrum that is added to a global list of
spectra (e.g., cutting a part of spectrum). Saving the list of such spectra to
a standardized format would allow their use in other tools offering
capabilities that {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ does not support.  This may be helpful for the
preparation of large lists of normalized line profiles for Fourier
disentangling or asteroseismology studies.

{\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ now allows the user to save the global list of spectra to a much more
universal FITS format, where every spectrum  is represented by its own
(\texttt{IMAGE}) extension.  The only disadvantage compared to the native dump
format is that settings related to the way that the spectra are rendered are no
longer available as there is no standard for metadata of presentation styles
and graphics attributes.

\subsubsection{Visual spectrum selection and highlighting}
In earlier versions of {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}, when working with multiple spectra displayed
in one common plot, it was difficult to work out which spectrum corresponded to
one in the global list, so that it could be worked on independently.  Also the
selection of, for example, a noisy spectrum and its removal from the plot
window could be done only by a trial-and-error procedure and therefore was
quite problematic and time-wasting.

This has been improved and now when a spectrum is selected in the global list,
{\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ will highlight it in all the plot windows that it is displayed in.
The highlighting has the form of a few-seconds blinking in an inverted colour
and is performed sequentially (highlighting in one plot window comes after the
previous one is finished), which gives to the user a perfect sequential
overview of the spectrum's plots.

\subsubsection{Cut window: saving the ranges}
In the cut regions tool, it is possible to read the ranges of regions from a
local text file. But what if a visual selection of ranges from a currently
plotted spectrum is to be saved?  {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ can now save the currently
defined ranges to a local file in the same format as used for reading.

\subsubsection{Cut window: working with multiple spectra}
Previously any regions defined by the cut regions tool only operated on one
spectrum (known as the current spectrum). This tool now has a table of all
currently plotted spectra which can now be selected so that any region
operations are applied to them all.

\subsubsection{Display of spectra received by SAMP in one window}
In previous versions of {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}, all spectra received via \texttt{SAMP}\ messages were
opened in their own plot windows. Since it would be useful to also display
spectra in one plot to make comparisons, a new control to toggle this behaviour
on and off has been added.

\section{Lessons learned}
During the development of {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ a number of lessons have been learned that
may affect future developments of similar tools. In this section we summarize
these issues.

\subsection{Using JNI versus ``pure'' Java}
\label{sec:jniast-lesson}
The question should probably be asked if using a JNI wrapper to the AST library
was a good choice or not. As with most things, we believe this was a good idea
and also bad. The judgement of how bad depends on how the ultimate cost benefit
analysis works in the longer term, but either way it is difficult to deny that
a pure Java solution would have been preferable.

The positives of this choice are that it made the development of {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\
possible on useful time-scales as we were able to immediately benefit from all
the work that had gone into the AST library, as AST is very much more than just
a system for handling coordinates and units. It also insulates against the
often messy need to parse FITS headers and offers the ability to transform
easily between all compatible coordinates and units. Even today some 15 years
later, AST is still believed to be a class leader in these areas.

Avoiding this work was also pragmatic as a re-write into Java would have been a
lot of work that the effort just wasn't available for and still isn't. In the
intervening years there have also been new features added to AST, such as the
dual-sideband support, which was vital for sub-millimetre work, and the
adoption of \textsf{\small SPLAT}\ by the Joint Astronomy Centre (JAC). The development of
\textsf{\small SPLAT}\ has also been a useful testing ground for the development of AST itself
(like the introduction of thread safety, so not just the handling of spectral
coordinates), closing a virtuous circle.

The downsides are only the obvious ones, not having a pure Java solution
compromises the portability, so we need to make an additional effort for all
the supported platforms. There is also the non-trivial time writing the JNI
layer itself takes. Writing JNI interface code is more challenging than those
more commonly found for scripting languages.

\subsection{Open sourcing from the beginning}
The decision was made very early on for the \textsf{\small SPLAT}\ source code to be made
publicly available, first via CVS on a \textsf{\small Starlink}\ server, then via \textsf{\small Subversion}\
on a Joint Astronomy Centre server and finally using \textsf{\small Git}\ on Github. We feel
that this openness contributed directly to the software being picked up by the
GAVO project, saving the application from stagnation once the direct funding
for it was dropped.

\subsection{Local spectral line catalogues are not sufficient}
Currently {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ uses a local text file containing molecular transitions
that are thought to be of interest and allows the user to provide external
lines via a text file of a similar format. The internal list is dominated by
sub-millimetre lines required by the JCMT. Even so, the list of lines was never
sufficient and astronomers continue to ask for more obscure transitions to be
included. A local line catalogue is an excellent back up but it is also
necessary to look up catalogues from remote services. The \textsf{\small ALMA-OT}\
\citep{2013ASPC..475..373W} works in exactly this way with much success. This
feature will be added in the future using the Simple Line Access Protocol
(SLAP) that will allow for retrieval of line lists from big world-wide atomic
and molecular database such as NIST
\citep{NIST_ASD,2012APS..DMP.D1004K,2004JPCRD..33..177L}, Splatalogue
\citep{2010AAS...21547905R}, and all the databases from the VAMDC consortium
\citep{2011BaltA..20..503K}.

\subsection{Calling user interfaces from pipelines requires forethought}
Interactive user interfaces are very powerful but a number of issues become
apparent when reduction and analysis facilities are directly integrated into an
application where automation is a secondary concern.  At the James Clerk
Maxwell Telescope \textsf{\small SPLAT}\ replaced the \textsf{\small SPECX}\ package
\citep[][\ascl{1310.008}]{specx} which had been developed for interactive
command-line use whilst supporting a scripting language to allow for bulk
processing of spectra. With \textsf{\small SPLAT}\ the promise of \textsf{\small BeanShell}\ support was
never able to overcome some key difficulties associated with automation. There
are two scenarios for automation. The first is for an astronomer to record the
steps taken manually in reducing or analyzing a spectrum and then replay that
analysis on many other spectrum. The second scenario is to allow key algorithms
to be made usable in a pipeline environment with the GUI disabled. For the JCMT
heterodyne pipeline
\citep[][\ascl{1310.001}]{2008ASPC..394..565J,JennessACSISDR} all efforts at
algorithmic enhancement were focused on individual \textsf{\small Starlink}\ applications such
as \textsf{\small KAPPA}\ \citep[][\ascl{1403.022}]{sun95}, because it was unclear how
feasible it would be to add complex algorithms to \textsf{\small SPLAT}\ and make them
available through the pipeline. One of the interesting approaches taken by
\textsf{\small GAIA}\ \citep{2009ASPC..411..575D} was that all analysis algorithms were called
through a messaging interface such that they could be used by the interactive
GUI, from the command-line or from the pipeline. This proved to be a very
powerful approach but was not available in the \textsf{\small SPLAT}\ design. Taking care to
separate core algorithms from interactive interfaces is an important design
decision that has long term ramifications for an application.

\subsection{Sub-millimetre units are complicated}
\texttt{VOUnits}\ \citep{vounits} standardization is very useful but is not
sufficient for the majority of spectral line data that is encountered
by sub-millimetre astronomers. Sub-millimetre spectra are generally
calibrated in temperature rather than janskys and there are two
competing standards for handling the different calibration factors
that are involved in converting from such definitions as corrected
antenna temperature, main-beam temperature and antenna temperature
\citep{1981ApJ...250..341K,1989LNP...333..351D,2009tra..book.....W}. The
units alone do not tell you which temperature scale is in use and many
efficiency values are required when comparing spectra from different
telescopes. The situation is in dire need of standardization efforts
and we simply had to ignore the issue in \textsf{\small SPLAT}.

\subsection{Service selection interface depends on Registry}
The new \texttt{SSAP}\ service selection interface, using more metadata information
from the services, is meant to help the user to choose the specific services
needed and to avoid making unnecessary queries and downloading data which is
not needed. Sometimes too much detail may lead to confusion, especially if the
service information from the registries is often incomplete. If the data is not
there as it should be a detailed interface won't do much. The current interface
will be redesigned in the future, to be probably simpler but more accurate. It
has also been planned to use \texttt{RegTap}\ \citep{regtap} to look for spectral
services, which may provide easier handling.

\subsection{Tracking VO standards is hard}
\textsf{\small SPLAT}\ transitioned from a local analysis tool to a VO client during the birth
of the VO and witnessed an explosive growth of standards during that time. One
interesting outcome of this was that funding for \textsf{\small SPLAT}\ became scarce as the
VO grew and funds were diverted from classical astronomy software development
efforts. VO standards became increasingly important and it was clear that
support should be added for \texttt{SSAP}\ and related standards although it was a
struggle to prioritize this effort as VO adoption was initially slow and
astronomers were not driving the initial support for these facilities.

{\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ is being updated to add support for standards such as \texttt{DataLink}\
\citep{datalink}, \texttt{ObsCore}\ \citep{obstap} and \texttt{RegTap}\ \citep{regtap} as well
as expanded units support with \texttt{VOUnits}\ \citep{vounits} required to understand
the metadata from these services, but the VO standards will continue to evolve
as new versions are announced and new standards developed and it will be a
continuing struggle to remain compliant. There is a worry that all the
development effort available to {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ will be spent simply on maintaining
standards support and this will be at the expense of supporting new analysis
algorithms. This is a very difficult balancing act and we can not expect the
IVOA standards process to stagnate purely to make life easier for applications
developers.

\subsection{The client is not omnipotent}
During the discussions about VO standards we often hear that the protocol
should be very simple, focusing just on allowing users to query the particular
data set and express the location of original files, with all the additional
post-processing of data left as a task for the client.

Unfortunately, when we started using {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ and a simple \texttt{SSAP}\ server of
stellar spectra from Ond\v{r}ejov HEROS observations, we immediately faced the
limitations of purely client-based processing. Every spectrum of HEROS
\citep{2002PAICz..90....1S} is more than forty five thousand points long
covering about 4500\,$\AA$ (in two channels). Upcoming instruments from
sub-millimetre telescopes such as CCAT \citep{jenness_spie2014} may have a
hundred thousand channels per spectrum and echelle spectra (like those from
UVES \citep{2000SPIE.4008..534D} or HARPS \citep{2000SPIE.4008..582P}) may have
as many as three hundred thousand points. Just downloading thousands of spectra
takes a long time, but zooming on every spectral line to see it in detail and
unzooming takes even longer, while consuming lot of memory.

This practical experience demonstrated the analysis of a stack of hundreds of
complete spectra in {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ on a common computer, was a very inconvenient and
time consuming task (if possible at all), while usually only a short spectral
range of tens of Angstroms was needed to display each time.  If the server
itself (usually a very powerful computer with a lot of memory) would trim to
the required range, the client need download only a very small data chunk,
which could be quickly displayed.  Instead of spending time zooming to another
line we can in principle perform another query in different spectral range
requesting again only a short piece of another line range.

The need for server-side post-processing, as articulated by our experience with
analysis of thousands of spectra lead to the first
implementation\footnote{\url{http://wiki.ivoa.net/internal/IVOA/InterOpOct2008DAL/stelSSAcutout.pdf}}
of a VO-based post-processing server, based on the \textsf{\small PLEINPOT}\ suite
\citep{2005ASPC..347..385C}, with simple on-the-fly cutouts and relative
rescaling of spectra, later on ported to \textsf{\small DaCHS}\ and supplemented by automatic
continuum
normalization\footnote{\url{http://wiki.ivoa.net/internal/IVOA/InteropMay2012DAL/champaign-getdata.pdf}}.
As \texttt{SSAP}\ does not contain support for post-processing, it was decided
pragmatically to ``overload'' the \texttt{SSAP}\ query parameters representing query
and processing parameters at the same time.

This required to set up another (post-processing) \texttt{SSAP}\ server, where the
\texttt{BAND} limits are used for cutting of the given spectral range
(previously selected) and \texttt{FLUXCALIB} was understood as a command to
divide by the maximum value (\texttt{FLUXCALIB=relative}) or call automatic
continuum normalization (\texttt{FLUXCALIB=normalized}).  This allowed us to
display detailed profiles of hundreds of spectra, including the very long
echelle spectra, study line profiles evolution in long time-series or identify
emission episodes in a long series of Be stars observations just by
overplotting hundreds of on-the-fly normalized cuts of the H$_\alpha$ line.
Although this solution is not consistent with original VO standard motivation,
it served its purpose and resulted in the \texttt{getData} proposal, finally
replaced by \texttt{DataLink}, even though the original \texttt{DataLink}\ was not conceived as
post-processing mechanism (rather it should just point to alternative version
of images or previews etc.).  In any case it is clear that the client is
generally not able to handle large amounts of spectra, due to lack of memory
and processing power. The properly balanced design separation of tasks between
client and server allows for comfortable processing of really Big Data.  A very
nice and clean protocol, which cannot handle real scientific needs, must
finally be made more complex by extensions. Even if it is nice idea, we cannot
put all the processing burden on the client.  This is always the difficult
trade-off between design simplicity and scientific requirements.

\section{Obtaining SPLAT-VO}
{\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ is released in a variety of ways, you can build it using the source
code, obtain it as part of a \textsf{\small Starlink}\ JAC release. Alternatively you can
install into your desktop using a standalone IzPack bundled version or run it
up using Java webstart.

The bundled standalone and webstart releases of {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ are currently
available for the following desktops, Linux (32 and 64 bit), Mac OS X (32 and
64 bit Lion) and Windows Vista and later (32 and 64 bit). Previous versions
also worked on Solaris, Sparc and Intel, and OS X PPC.

The \textsf{\small Starlink}\ releases \citep[e.g.,][]{currie_adassxxiii,2013ASPC..475..247B}
are available for Linux (32 and 64 bit) and OS X (Lion and Snow Leopard).

See \ascl{1402.007}\footnote{or \url{http://astro.dur.ac.uk/~pdraper/splat}}
for the main support site where links to these releases can be found.  Releases
of recent GAVO developments are also available and these developments will be
merged into the main {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ releases.

The source code for {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ and its associated libraries is open-source and
available on Github at \url{https://github.com/Starlink/starjava}

\section{Conclusions}
{\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ is a very powerful tool for the analysis of spectra allowing the
immediate browsing of world-wide distributed archives as well as detailed
studies of individual objects across the whole electromagnetic spectrum by the
building of SEDs from spectra taken in many different energy bands. Its
capabilities make it an ideal tool for the analysis of astronomical spectra on
the local desktop, facilities that are promoted to full productivity when
combined with resources from the VO environment. It is currently under active
development, promising soon handling of light curves and data cubes. We also
intend to add support for automatic matching of line identifiers to spectra,
simultaneous processing of multiple spectra, automated continuum normalization,
and enhanced support of FITS extensions and metadata.

As a result of combining the effort of GAVO \textsf{\small DaCHS}\ server suite developers and
{\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ developers, {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ is an ideal reference implementation for
testing new IVOA proposed standards, as required by IVOA rules, for pushing
standards in the recommendation phase.

\section*{Acknowledgements}
The initial work on {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ was supported by the now closed \textsf{\small Starlink}\
Project funded by the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council and more
recently by the Joint Astronomy Centre, Hawaii, also funded by the Particle
Physics and Astronomy Research Council and more recently by its successor
organization the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

The current work on {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ by GAVO is supported by German Federal Ministry
of Education and Research, BMBF grant 05A11VH3 and the Czech development is
supported by grant 13-08195S of Granting Agency of the Czech Republic and by
the Czech project RVO:67985815.

We thank Mark Taylor, who added the \texttt{SAMP}\ support to {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ and created the
VO Registry and \texttt{TAP}\ query libraries used (these are part of StarJava).  We
also thank Markus Demleitner who actively supports the new features in
{\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ \texttt{SSAP}\ and \texttt{DataLink}\ handling by the development of GAVO \textsf{\small DaCHS}\
server publishing suite.  Finally we thank Jan Wouterloot for his work testing
the sub-millimetre features of {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}.

Many new features of {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ are based on everyday experience with analysis
of hot emission line stars spectra observed at Perek 2m Telescope of the
Ond\v{r}ejov observatory of the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of
Sciences, Czech Republic. We greatly acknowledge the help of M.~\v{S}lechta,
responsible for reduction of most of the spectra and students T.~Peterka and
J.~N\'advorn\'\i{}k for the set up and maintenance of the \texttt{SSAP}\ services of
the AI stellar department, with which {\textsf{\small{SPLAT-VO}}}\ was heavily tested in recent
years.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
Albert Pinkham Ryder, né le  à New Bedford et mort le  à New York, est un peintre américain connu pour ses toiles allégoriques et ses marines, associées au courant du tonalisme américain. Il est considéré par certains critiques comme l'un des peintres pionniers du modernisme pictural, au même titre que Paul Cézanne et Paul Gauguin.

Biographie
De 1870 à 1875, Albert Pinkham Ryder étudie les arts à l'Académie américaine de design où il rencontre Julian Alden Weir avec lequel il restera ami toute sa vie. En 1877, il voyage pour la seule et unique fois en Europe et s'intéresse notamment à l'école de Barbizon. La même année, il est membre fondateur de la  avec Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Robert Swain Gifford, son ami Julian Alden Weir, John LaFarge, Winslow Homer et Alexander Helwig Wyant. Il expose avec ce groupe, de 1878 à 1887, des œuvres qui relèvent de l'école du tonalisme. Dans les années 1880 et 1890, ses toiles deviennent plus oniriques et il écrit souvent des poésies pour les accompagner. Après 1900, il ne produit pratiquement plus mais retravaille encore parfois d'anciens tableaux.

En , six de ses toiles sont présentées dans le cadre de l'Armory Show.

Il meurt en 1917 dans la plus grande pauvreté, hébergé par la famille d'une de ses anciennes élèves qui l'a recueilli.

Œuvre
On connaît moins de 200 toiles de Ryder. Elles ne sont que très rarement signées et datées. Beaucoup, constituées de nombreuses couches superposées, sont travaillées pendant des années par l'artiste qui peint fréquemment sur le vernis frais et mélange des peintures à séchage rapide avec des peintures à séchage lent. Faute de toile, il va jusqu'à découper des panneaux dans le bois de son lit. Ses œuvres picturales sont ainsi souvent instables et s'assombrissent ou se craquellent avec le temps lorsqu'elles ne se désintègrent pas.

Selon une étude publiée en 1989, il existerait sur le marché une quantité importante de faux Ryder.

Galerie

Bibliographie
 [article] « Ryder, Albert Pinckam » dans Maurice Raynal, Le  siècle. De Goya à Gauguin, collection « Les grands siècles de la peinture », Genève, Skira, 1951, .

Notes et références

Annexes

Articles connexes
 Peinture américaine

Liens externes

Peintre américain du XIXe siècle
Peintre américain du XXe siècle
Peintre paysagiste américain
Peintre de marine américain
Tonalisme
Naissance en mars 1847
Décès en mars 1917
Décès à 70 ans
Étudiant de l'Académie américaine de design
Armory Show

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Substring extraction with pandas / regex I'm trying to use the built in pandas method .str.extract to extract a substring from within a column in a dataframe I have imported. The entries within the column all follow this structure:
x.xx% Test1 Test2 Test3 XYZ|ZYX Oct 2018

So essentially it is always a float %, following by a string (which doesn't always have the same length of words), followed by a three letter code which is either XYZ or ZYX and a date afterwards.
I'm trying to extract the Test1, Test2 and Test3 from the example above, meaning I want to strip out the percentage at the beginning, and where XYZ|ZYX occur I want everything after gone (including the three letter code).
I've been reading up on regex all morning but I'm struggling a bit to build some code using pandas extract that can pull out exactly what I want. Any suggestions? Furthest I've gotten is the below, which only pulls through the percentages at the beginning (was trying to split it into three categories):
.str.extract('(\d\.\d+%.)')

A: You can use a pattern with a lookahead to determine when to stop matching.
([\w\s]+?)(?=\w{3}\|)'

Details
(               # first capture group
    [\w\s]+?    # match letters or whitespaces
)
(?=             # lookahead
    \w{3}       # fixed length 3 chars
    \|          # literal `|`
)

s = pd.Series(['x.xx% Test1 Test2 Test3 XYZ|ZYX Oct 2018'])
s.str.extract(r'([\w\s]+?)(?=\w{3}\|)', expand=False)

0     Test1 Test2 Test3
dtype: object

A: A regex you can you could be the following:
r"(\d\.\d+%.)(.*)\s([A-Z]{3})\s([A-Z]{1}[a-z]{2})\s([0-9]{4}$)"

where \d\.\d+%. matches the percentage
[A-Z]{3} matches the letter code
[A-Z]{1}[a-z]{2} matches the month
[0-9]{4}$ matches the year, at the end
.* matches the remaining, thus the tests.
the \s match a single space, and it's outside the matches.
The resulting code could be something like this:
import re

string = "3.14% Test1 Test2 Test3 XYZ Oct 2018"

matches = re.findall(r"(\d\.\d+%.)(.*)\s([A-Z]{3})\s([A-Z]{1}[a-z]{2})\s([0-9]{4}$)", string)[0]

percentage = matches[0]
mytest = matches[1].split(' ')
letter_code = matches[2]
month = matches[3]
year = matches[4]

print(percentage) # 3.14%
print(mytest) # ['Test1', 'Test2', 'Test3']
print(letter_code) # XYZ
print(month) # Oct
print(year) # 2018

A: You can try Positive Lookbehind :
import re
pattern=r'(?<=%)(\s.+)?XYZ|ZYX'
text="""x.xx% Test1 Test2 Test3 XYZ|ZYX Oct 2018

x.xx% Test1 Test2 Test3 ZYX|XYZ Oct 2018"""

for i in re.findall(pattern,text):
    data=re.sub(re.escape('ZYX|'),' ',i)
    if data.split():
        print(data.split())

output:
['Test1', 'Test2', 'Test3']
['Test1', 'Test2', 'Test3']

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


David Newman, Head of Global High Yield, discusses the underlying factors that drive and drag the performance of the global high yield market, how he sources opportunities and what investors should consider when looking at this asset class.
Hello, my name's David Newman, and I'm in charge of the global high yield strategy at Allianz Global Investors. I've been in charge of the strategy since its inception in 2009, and I work with a team of three other portfolio managers, each of which has got over 20 years' experience, and a research team of 18 people around the world looking for opportunities in Asia, emerging markets, Latin America, North America, the UK and Continental Europe as well.
Our global high yield strategy is benchmarked against the Merrill Lynch Global High Yield Constrained Index. However, despite having an index to outperform, we're very active in how we manage this. We will take active views on whether we want to be in the European, sterling or US high yield markets; active views on whether we want to be in BBs, Bs or CCCs; active views on whether we want to be in certain sectors or not; and active views on whether we want to be in certain names or not. Right now, for example, of the 30 biggest names in an ETF, we only own six of them, and in fact we're underweight every single one of those as well. What we try to do is find the very best opportunities around the world which will outperform our benchmark. So we could say that we are aware of what is in the benchmark, but we're certainly not constrained by it.
The high yield market in the end always gravitates towards two things: (1) expected default rates and (2) volatility. The high yield market is a high beta market, so when volatility spikes typically what you see is that high yield spreads spike as well. If you look at high yield returns over the last 30 years, there are two things which you can break down on the spread: (1) is your default premium, what are you going to lose and how much are you going to use if that happens; and (2) is what people often call the illiquidity premium, and this is an amount you get paid because of uncertainty of the high yield market. In the end you typically get a coupon, but in any one year you very rarely do. And what we've seen in our analysis is that (1) the illiquidity premium is highly correlated to equity volatility and (2) that high yield spreads typically predict an increase or decrease in default rates by about nine months. So what we need to do as portfolio managers is have a view (1) on credit fundamentals and (2) where volatility is going.
Our investment approach is very active. We start with a top-down view of the world. We have an asset allocation meeting every six weeks, not just using the high yield team but all the resources of global fixed income, and taking some inputs in as well from the broader Allianz Global Investors network as well. From there we try to work out where the sweet spots are going to be in credit, and we'll try to focus on those sweet spots. So that gives our analyst team a great guiding point to where to look for opportunities around the world. And we source all of our opportunities internally. We don't use third party research to get there; our analysts do their own work. They will know what the portfolio's looking at, and come up with recommendations which they think will go and beat our benchmark returns to allow us to outperform no matter what we're investing in.
There are three types of risk within the high yield markets. One is liquidity risk, one is market risk and one is idiosyncratic risk, and we have to think about all three of those. The first one is market risk. Market risk is the risk of underperforming or outperforming the market by having too much or too little beta in the portfolio. Our job is not to go and allocate beta, but to give our clients the return of the asset class. So we typically manage the amount of risk over or below the benchmark risk in terms of what we call weighted duration time spread, and we'll never have more than 10% more or less risk than the market at any one time. So the second risk that you have to look at is liquidity risk. What you want to do is have a well-diversified portfolio. Typically we have around about 150-odd names in our portfolio. We also have a limitation on the smallest issuers. We have a limitation on percentage of the issue size which we own. We typically never own more than 5% of the issues. And also we don't own more than 3% of any one issuer, although that would be a large position in the portfolio. We have a number of analytical tools that can allow us to look real time to make sure that our portfolios are as diversified and doing what we expect them to do.
I think the biggest differentiation in our strategy is that we start with that top-down view, which I mentioned a minute a minute ago. So that top-down view really focuses the analysts on looking for credit sweet spots. So we don't be blindsided by headwinds which can destroy the very best analytical work. Having identified these sweet spots, we also have a very rigorous bottom-up process as well. So we look at all the scenarios around the business. We think like a shareholder. We think about what the shareholders are going to do and whether it's good for us as bond holders. We think about who else is involved in the capital structure, and we will think about who else is involved in the industry and what that could do to the business as well. If there are a number of fundamental crosses which we don't like, we won't buy the credit even if it fits into our top-down view.
So, despite having a lot of direction coming from our top-down views, bottom-up always overrides top-down. So if we don't like a credit fundamentally, just because we have an asset allocation committee saying you should own type of business X, we won't do so. And I think it's really that real interplay between top-down and bottom-up that creates very strong conviction ideas which then go into the portfolio. So I think it's a real interplay between the top-down and the bottom-up that really gives us a strong conviction credit view.
Well the first thing I'd say is that it's not definite that rates are going to rise that much more. So there are a number of issues going on in the world, such as whether the Phillips Curve is breaking down, whether governments can afford much higher interest rates, which could be a cap on how much higher interest rates go. So let's take the assumption that rates are going to rise. So what we did in our analysis is looked at the impact of rising rates and what does that do to high yield spreads. So the first thing is that the 10-year has very little impact, so we're really looking at the frontend fed funds rates. And what we've seen is that typically after a 3% absolute rise in rates, we start to go and see high yield spreads begin to widen. We then developed that further and said well is it the increase in rates which has been the problem or is it something else? And what we actually saw is each time spread widened, yes fed funds had risen, but there were other issues. There was the Russia crisis, there's a dotcom crisis, there's a great financial crisis and there's the large oil selloff in high yield markets. So it's not actually proven that rising rates can go and hurt high yield markets so much, it may be something else, that rising rates are the beginning of a change in economic cycle.
But how do you deal with it? Not everything is going to do badly because rates rise. Banks do OK as long as defaults don't go down. And other businesses which have got a lot of interest coverage or have extended all the maturity profiles out a long way can still do well as well. So some further analysis we did is that typically the CCC sector is most exposed, some of the lower Bs, and that shouldn't surprise you because they are the most levered, and there are some sectors like retail and healthcare and utilities which have more interest rate risk than a number of other sectors. So what can we do as a global manager? We can go and buy credits in geographies where rates aren't rising. That's easy. We can buy less CCCs if we're worried about rising rates, and we can buy less in those sectors which will get impacted by rising rates, unless of course there's a positive factor to offset that.
I think you have to think about whether high yield is a good investment in a portfolio generally. And if you look at risk-adjusted returns of high yield since 1993 to today, high yield gives you better risk-adjusted returns than government bonds or equities. That's a pretty strong statement. If you look at high yield returns over a long period of time, yes there are periods where they give you large negative returns. But if you don't panic and sit there longer term, they always come back again. So over that long 30-year period high yield gives you that coupon. The key thing is not to panic and try and gain the market and sell it before it may or may sell off, and buy it before it may or may not recover. It should be a longer-term strategic asset class which you put as part of your portfolio in the same way as you do equities and bonds. And of course if we can provide better returns than the asset class itself through strong active management, that's even better.


Augmented Reality (AR) has been a popular buzzword for several years now. While the technology rose to popular fame through the likes of Pokemon Go and Snapchat Lenses, those who have been paying close attention will also have realized it is increasingly being utilized in more practical, business-driven ways. One of the most interesting areas of growth and potential for AR is in the application of learning and development (L&D). Each year, companies are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars training employees, seeking new ways to save/make money, and looking for ways to get better and go further.
Here's why increasingly more companies are turning to AR to keep their workforce ahead of the curve.
A lot of the conversations around the potential of AR largely focus on obscure future-speak that often fails to outline real-world use cases. The truth is that there are dozens of industries that provide specialized training for their employees, with equally specialized AR programs.
Perhaps the most practical application for AR is in employee onboarding. Imagine your employee having the most incredible and engaging onboarding process possible. Not only can AR bolster a new employee's learning experience, but it can also create an incredible first impression for a new team member that leaves them feeling ready and excited to join your company.
A great example of applying AR for onboarding is the take-and-bake pizza company, Papa Murphy's Pizza. Papa Murphy's Pizza recently rolled out an AR training campaign where codes were added to posters in various locations at 15 stores. New employees are able to scan these codes (placed in various training stations) and watch an engaging video. An additional benefit is that these can be updated easily over time. This AR system offers a way for Papa Murphy's Pizza to engage and educate an otherwise disconnected and mobile workforce.
For more specialized positions, such as factory workers and production line employees, AR allows for a new level of process visualization that builds confidence with minimal risk to the employee and the business. For customer-facing roles, AR can place employees in a highly immersive situation, so they are better prepared for what may happen out "on the floor" in real life with little risk.
IT overhauls to inform the workforce of important changes to organizational systems.
These applications are all well and good, but you might be wondering exactly what makes AR such a powerful learning tool? Why does it leave us walking away with such an impactful experience? The answer is rooted in the science of how we learn and interact with our environment. Data has shown that learning is fundamentally enhanced through engagement and immersion, two factors that are at the core of augmented reality. Our own research created in conjunction with Mindshare and Neuro-Insight and encapsulated in the "Layered" report empirically proved that AR drives nearly double the levels of visual attention in the brain compared to traditional learning experiences. Moreover, it elicits a "surprise" response in the brain that is highly effective in knowledge retention. Most importantly of all, the research showed that our brains retain about a 70% higher rate of encoding in long-term memory from an AR experience versus a non-AR experience.
The science certainly makes sense when one thinks about it. Which experience is going to excite you and leave you more inspired? Sitting at a desk, scrolling through an employee handbook on a computer screen, or an interactive and immersive experience that has you up and moving and is accessed conveniently through your phone or tablet?
On top of a more engaging training experience, these factors open the door for significant potential cost savings by increasing speed to competency, increasing knowledge retention, reducing required training hours, and improving employee satisfaction. Not to mention the plethora of rich, measurable data.
1. Thinking deeply about the context of the use case, your target audience, and the display devices.
2. Investing the right time in the User Experience (UX) flow and content you're delivering.
3. Building the right framework for the future to make it truly scalable, robust, effective, and efficient from day one.
4. Having a dedicated project lead with C-suite support.
In order for anything to get off the ground, there has to be a solid understanding of exactly where and how AR would benefit your L&D program. You need to put yourself in the user's shoes and think deeply about the moment of assistance in minute detail. No two are built the same, and the team needs to think critically about the value it could provide. It is also entirely possible that a non-AR solution is still the most viable, depending on business needs.
Upfront investment in time shouldn't be confused with monetary investment. AR does not have to be expensive—the simpler, the better is often the case. However, the more time that is dedicated to thinking deeply about the UX and the right content made for the AR training, the more effective the end result will be. With the growing number of customizable toolkits available to businesses today, it is easy to start very small to get a hint of how things could work before scaling up and that's exactly what our ZapWorks service is created to do. Again, Papa Murphy's started its program in just 15 store locations before expanding.
If you build it well from the start, you'll ensure that you're building training content and collateral that is built to last. You want employees to be able to use this over and over again down the road. Finally, it's imperative that someone is tasked with delivering the program and driving this through the organization. In order to do that they need the full weight of senior management behind them.
The potential for augmented reality goes far beyond marketing. Where its real value exists is as a facilitating technology for spatial computing and a reimagining of how to display and convey information. AR has real staying power when it comes to process-focused applications like those required for learning and development. Companies of all sizes that are looking to inspire and engage their workforce while reducing costs and gaining better metrics are already reaping the benefits. That opportunity is now available to every business.
Caspar Thykier is CEO and co-founder of Zappar, the market leader in AR-enabled product and infotainment experiences on mobile.


text:
League & CupsLeague & Cups
Ogden: Russia will have it all to do next summer
3yMark Ogden
Champions-elect Liverpool look down from their perch at Man United
2dMark Ogden
Arsenal suffer deja vu as defending lets them down again
3dNick Miller
Lamela and Lo Celso recall Spurs' FA Cup glory of Villa and Ardiles
7dTom Williams
Liverpool's win shows Spurs just how far they have to go
10dMark Ogden
Man United have hope of a brighter future amid Rashford's emergence
10dRob Dawson
Arteta finding old habits die hard at Arsenal
10dNick Miller
Solskjaer sees positives, but FA Cup replay stretches Man United
Arsenal see off Man United, but both sides have far to go
Draw vs. Brighton illustrates why Chelsea need a big January window
Arteta has his work cut out to revive Arsenal
23dTom Williams
It's a matter of when, not if, Liverpool win the league
Lampard, Chelsea gets the better of Mourinho, Spurs amid ugly scenes
Man City remain a force, while Arsenal's malaise continues
Man United have progressed under Solskjaer, but have far to go
Man United youth take advantage of Europa League opportunity
Chelsea will be vulnerable in last 16 despite Rudiger's return
Can Liverpool be stopped? In the Champions League or anywhere?
Exceptional forwards bail out incompetent Arsenal
Derby defeat suggests Man City dominance may be ending
Russia's Confed Cup showing doesn't suggest future World Cup success
Mark OgdenSenior Writer, ESPN FC
Russia gave it their best at the Confederations Cup but the hosts just lacked the quality to compete with the world's elite. AFP PHOTO / FRANCK FIFEFRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images
KAZAN, Russia -- One of the few positives to emerge from Russia's Confederations Cup exit for Stanislav Cherchesov is that he has managed to get the country behind his team once again.
Whether the same can be said for the domestic media is another matter, judging by the first question thrown the coach's way in the postmatch news conference after Mexico's 2-1 win in Kazan had confirmed Russia's group stage elimination.
"Our sources told us that, if Russia went out of this tournament before the semifinals, you would be fired," the reporter said. "Are you going to resign?"
Cherchesov, who only took the Russia job less than a year ago, is a sardonic character at the best of times, but his response was cutting.
"If you can be more specific as to where you got your information from, I can respond," he said. "We have the most trendy journalists -- unnamed sources -- and with these I will continue to work, with pleasure.
"And the informer you dreamt about, please pass on my regards."
It may prove to be little more than vain fighting talk from Cherchesov, whose fate could well be hanging in the balance as a result of Russia's early exit, but it is not all bad news for the 53-year-old former Spartak Moscow goalkeeper.
Somehow, he has managed to get a nation back onside ahead of next year's World Cup, but there is still an awful long way to go before the relationship is based on anything as solid as respect and admiration.
"We have warmed hearts and minds to a certain extent in this month and have given some reasons to feel optimistic," Cherchesov said. "There are some things we can do, others we can't, but the team played their hearts out and I don't think anyone watching on TV or in the stadium can have any doubts about that."
Cherchesov appears a smart cookie, aware that winning the PR battle is often as important as being victorious on the pitch. He made a statement at the end of the game by assembling all of his players in the centre-circle of the pitch in Kazan.
Russia had just become the first host nation since South Korea in 2001 to fail to emerge from their group at a Confederations Cup and it did not end well, with veteran Yuri Zhirkov compounding their misery with a red card on 68 minutes for throwing an elbow.
But despite the failure of himself and his players, Cherchesov marched into the centre-circle and ordered every member of his squad to join him for a show of appreciation towards the crowd.
It could have gone either way, with the home supporters well within their rights to vent their anger and disappointment as Cherchesov's men stood there, apologetically waving to all four sides of the Kazan Arena.
But the response was supportive, with a heavy dose of pity, as the men in red were politely applauded before they trudged off the pitch, up the tunnel and out of the tournament.
Cherchesov will not want pity for his players, but that is the position this current Russia squad finds itself in after this underwhelming campaign in the warm-up tournament for next year's World Cup.
Few people in Russia have any faith in their football team. Even President Vladimir Putin has weighed in with his opinion that they must do better ahead of Russia 2018.
It is as though the football players have become something of a national embarrassment and everyone has given up hope in the current crop having any chance of doing anything of note in 12 months' time.
Longtime goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev made a rare error to gift Mexico the game-winning goal. AFP PHOTO / Yuri CORTEZYURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images
Based on their performances in Group A at the Confederations Cup, which has seen them win against lowly New Zealand and lose to Portugal and Mexico, Russia will require plenty of luck when the draw is made for the World Cup in December if they are to have any prospect of progressing to the knock-out stages in their own tournament.
Russia will have had almost eight years to prepare for staging the World Cup by the time it comes around, but those familiar with their football team suggest that it is not only the worst in a decade, but the worst since the Soviet Union broke up in 1991.
Still, Cherchesov's limited team played with pride and passion and, for now, that will be enough to warrant the support of the country as they attempt to scale a mountain by delivering some kind of success next year.
Russia simply do not have any players of any note and they will be the weakest of the seeded teams in the draw later this year.
Their better players in this game -- Aleksandr Samedov and Denis Glushakov -- are hardly blessed with youth, while long-serving goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, whose unenviable claim to fame is never having kept a clean sheet in the Champions League, made a horrific mistake for Mexico's second when rushing off his line and crashing into goalscorer Hirving Lozano.
Injured players such as Alan Dzagoev and Artem Dzyuba will return next season, but they are not Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, so they are unlikely to make a great deal of difference.
Still, Cherchesov was keen to accentuate the positives, even acknowledging that, a year after striking out at the 2001 Confederations Cup, South Korea reached the World Cup semifinals.
Don't put your house on Russia matching that achievement, though.
Getting out of the group will be a success and, if they can manage that, who knows where the draw will take them?
But beyond that, maybe just winning some more hearts and minds is the best Russia can hope for.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


On the day Hitary.com uploaded 8 photo about Al Pacino Stencil Awesome Stencil 2014 Is Wonderful Street Art Hd image is one of the picture among other photos in the post of Awesome Stencil 2014 Is Wonderful Street Art Hd. The picture added on Friday, May 16, 2014 12:56:52 PM. If you like the picture, you can Download Al Pacino Stencil Awesome Stencil 2014 Is Wonderful Street Art Hd picture, or if you can view picture in large size, simply click on on the thumbnail with size 800 × 829 pixels under Hitary.com picture gallery.
The interesting Al Pacino Stencil Awesome Stencil 2014 Is Wonderful Street Art Hd Graffiti Art, image above, is categorized in Graffiti Art topic. If you want to know more details of The place description, just here to back on discussion page.
Al Pacino Stencil Awesome Stencil 2014 Is Wonderful Street Art Hd also field in wonderful street, h, l, stencil, t, r, also posted in Graffiti Art, and another. Moreover, we also furnish about wilderness shelter designs which can be found at this website.


Ashura 2019 | When is Ashura 2019?
• Ashura 2019. You can find the date of Ashura in 2019, Ashura 2019 calendar and the number of the remaining days.
• Ashura in 2019 is on Tuesday, September 10, 2019.
• In the muslim calendar, a holiday begins on the sunset of the previous day, so observing Muslims will celebrate Ashura on the sunset of Monday, September 09, 2019.


VANCOUVER, B.C., September 25, 2018 – Panoro Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: PML, Lima: PML, Frankfurt: PZM) and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Panoro Trading (Cayman) Ltd. ("Panoro" or the "Company" - http://www.commodity-tv.net/c/search_adv/?v=298467) are pleased to announce that they have received the seventh Early Deposit payment of US$750,000 as part of the Precious Metals Purchase Agreement (the "Cotabambas Early Deposit Agreement") with Wheaton Precious Metals International Ltd. ("WPMI"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (TSX:WPM) (NYSE:WPM), in respect of the Cotabambas project located in Peru.
Panoro is entitled to receive US$14 million spread over a period of up to 9 years as an early deposit with payments to be used to fund corporate expenses related to the Cotabambas Project. The Cotabambas Early Deposit Agreement includes provisions to accelerate these payments through WPMI's matching, up to certain limits, any third party financing by Panoro targeted for exploration at the Cotabambas Project. The balance of the US$126 million; should WPMI elect to proceed with the Cotabambas Early Deposit Agreement, is payable in instalments during construction of the Cotabambas Project.
Together with this payment, the total advanced to date is US$7.0 million, including the accelerated tranche of US$2.0 million received in December 2016.


text:
The art of downsizing
Lifestyle // Home & Garden
By Karen Davis, For the Express-News April 25, 2014 Updated: April 25, 2014 9:06 p.m.
1of14The living room in Elaine Dagen's and Michael Simpson's home is filled with works from artists such as R.C. Gorman (above the fireplace).Photo: Edward A. Ornelas / San Antonio Express-News
2of14A pottery cathedral in Elaine Dagen's home was raku fired in a single piece.Photo: San Antonio Express-News
3of14An autographed chair was a gift to Dagen in honor of her work as executive director of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation.Photo: San Antonio Express-News
4of14Photo: San Antonio Express-News
5of14Frida Kahlo's likeness is in the cutouts on a lamp Elaine Dagena nd Michael Simpson bought at a McNay Art Museum gala.Photo: San Antonio Express-News
6of14Elaine Dagen and Michael Simpson updated the kitchen in their condo, along with making changes to accommodate art throughout.Photo: San Antonio Express-News
7of14Elaine Dagen had an antique organ that belonged to her father converted into a wine cabinet.Photo: San Antonio Express-News
8of14Detail of crosses on a wall in Elaine Dagen's home.Photo: San Antonio Express-News
9of14Art in Elaine Dagen's home.Photo: San Antonio Express-News
10of14Michael Simpson and Elaine Dagen, art collectors and former gallery owners, created space in their condo to display pieces they treasure.Photo: San Antonio Express-News
11of14Artist David Cunningham of Santa Fe, N.M., created the media cabinet in the home of Elaine Dagen and Michael Simpson.Photo: San Antonio Express-News
12of14Elaine Dagen uses a glass cabinet that belonged to her grandparents to display purses.Photo: San Antonio Express-News
13of14An antique desk and art in Elaine Dagen's home.Photo: San Antonio Express-News
14of14A view of the dining room in Elaine Dagen's home Monday April 14, 2014.Photo: San Antonio Express-News
SAN ANTONIO — The home of Michael Simpson and Elaine Dagen is all about art, which is no surprise considering Dagen once owned a local art gallery and that both are enthusiastic collectors.
But the couple faced a challenge upon returning here from Louisville, Ky., a couple of years ago: Where were they going to display their art? In Kentucky, they lived in a 3,400-square-foot house. The Alamo Heights condo they found is 1,900 square feet. But they've made a place for everything in the two-bedroom unit that bursts with colorful, unusual art pieces.
Before they brought in the art, though, they tore out walls, replaced flooring and redid the kitchen in their unit, which is part of a development built in the mid-1950s.
"We completely gutted the place," Dagen says. "It was very dated. Most of the floors were carpeted, and there was old, red tile on the kitchen floor. The kitchen was walled in. The counters were laminate, and the cabinets were green."
Got space?
Do you know of a beautiful, unique house that would be great in Spaces? Email you suggestions to Home & Garden Editor Tracy Hobson Lehmann, home@express-news.net.
Now, beige ceramic tile covers the floors, and the kitchen has been redone with birch cabinets, recycled glass counters and a quartz backsplash. Two walls were taken out to open up the living area.
And then there's the art.
Just inside the front door is a media cabinet from Santa Fe, N.M., by artist David Cunningham. The cut-out design on the doors features American Indian scenes. On top of the cabinet is a huge papier-mâché costume head with a lion's face on one side and a human face on the other.
A pottery sculpture of a cathedral from Mexico is displayed on a nearby table. The intricate sculpture, Dagen said, was raku fired as a single piece. The rapid-cooling technique often causes a crackled finish on the glaze, but this piece is mostly smooth.
A red lamp featuring images of artist Frida Kahlo, a find from a McNay Art Museum gala, has a place on the living room coffee table.
An Ikea wooden chair sits at the entrance to the living area. It's covered with autographs from such luminaries as actress Rita Moreno — a gift to Dagen in honor of her work as executive director of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation from 1987 to 2000.
Over the fireplace hangs a painting, "Dream Night," by R.C. Gorman, and on an adjacent wall is another large piece, "The Next Generation," by Colombian artist Orlando Agudelo-Botero.
The couple displays a collection of religious art, including crosses, a prayer box from Morocco and a commemorative plate from Dagen's family church in Lititz, Pa., on a wall in the kitchen dinette area. A wine storage cabinet converted from her father's antique organ sits across the room.
The hallway to the bedrooms ends in a massive, wood-framed mirror once owned by Confederate Gen. Matthew Butler. In the master bedroom, a glass-front cabinet from Dagen's grandparents displays a selection of purses, and an old Mexican chest holds board games.
In the bath, the couple had 44-inch-high "standing" cabinets installed on one wall to provide more storage space.
"Redoing this place was a challenge, but we could see that it had good bones," Dagen said. "We really love living here."
Karen Davis is a San Antonio freelance writer.


The way I approach the sixth of my Six Simple Rules, "Be Healthy," is closely connected to the fifth, "Be a Lifelong Learner". I regularly read health-related articles to keep up on the latest science around eating well and exercise, and work on new habits according to what I learn. As always, I make new habits by using the formula for making habits that stick: I break them down into small pieces and work on one at a time for the 21 days it takes to form a new habit.
What follows are summaries of, and links to, several health-related articles you may wish to read, and which contain ideas you may wish to add to your list of goals—a list you can then choose from as you add new habits to your life.
Eating Nuts: I eat nuts every day. Eating nuts is one of the easiest habits to add to your life (as long as you don't have a nut allergy) because they are delicious (most people I know feel this way), and they are easy to keep on hand. I eat walnuts most mornings, usually before or during breakfast, and I eat almonds or other nuts as a snack many afternoons or evenings. Eating nuts appears to have had a positive impact on the numbers in the blood test results from my annual physicals. Read this: Nuts may lower your risk for heart disease.
Sitting too much: Do not sit all day. Read this: Standing up and walking around for five minutes every hour during the workday could lift your mood, combat lethargy and even dull hunger pangs.
Health from Exercise: Many people do not add exercise to their daily routine because of a perfectionism mentality—they feel it's all or none—either they exercise a lot, or not at all. I developed my exercise habits over time by slowly increasing the amount of time, and the types of exercise I do. Perhaps this article will help those of you who fear a small amount of exercise isn't worth the effort. It is! Read this: Even light activity may increase your chances of living longer.
Happiness from exercise: It's not just our health—it's also our happiness that will be impacted by even a small amount of exercise. Read this: People who work out even once a week or for as little as 10 minutes a day tend to be more cheerful than those who never exercise.
Health from happiness: And it's a two-way street—happiness activities can improve your health because actively cultivating positive emotions may boost the immune system and counter depression. Read this: Positive Thinking May Improve Your Health and Your Lifespan.
Soda is poison: As I have written many times, soda is poison. Stop drinking soda. When I say soda, I include diet soda. Read this: Diet Soda Might Contribute to Diabetes.
Genetics are not everything: In addition to lifestyle choices (how you eat, exercise, smoking), genetics plays a role in our health. If you've been dealt a bad hand when it comes to heart health genes, do not give up. Read this: Even people who are at the worst risk can benefit by not smoking, exercising moderately and eating a healthy diet.