text:
\section{Introduction}
Heavy fermions are a class of complex materials in which the effective mass of conduction electrons greatly exceeds the bare electron mass due to the strong hybridization between the conduction and localized $f$-electrons \cite{ColemanReview1,ColemanReview2}. The properties of heavy-fermion materials present an interest for researchers from the perspective of both technology and fundamental science. While the technology-driven research on heavy fermions is mostly focused on problems related to energy conservation and storage, fundamental physics research takes  two interconnected directions: the investigation of the microscopic origins of unconventional superconductivity (with CeCu$_2$Si$_2$, UBe$_{13}$ and UPt$_3$ as first examples of this phenomenon in solid state system \cite{hfsc1,hfsc2,hfsc3}), and discovery and analysis of the novel states of quantum matter.

Despite many years of experimental and theoretical research, the microscopic mechanisms responsible for the emergence of various quantum states in these materials remain unclear. The hidden-order phase in URu$_2$Si$_2$ \cite{HOexp1,HOexp2,HOexp3, HOth1,HOth2,HOth3,HOth4,HOth5}, magnetic field-induced non-Fermi-liquid behavior in YbRh$_2$Si$_2$ \cite{YRS}, low-temperature metallic conductivity in heavy-fermion semiconductor SmB$_6$ and Ce-based compounds \cite{SmB6,KIReviews1,KIReviews2,KIReviews3}, superconducting response to Yb-doping in CeCoIn$_5$ \cite{Maple2011,Fisk2011,Cigdem2010}, La- and Y-doping in CeCu$_2$Si$_2$ \cite{Steglich1983,Ott1987} and recently discovered quantum criticality in $\beta$-YbAlB$_4$ \cite{Satoru} are just a few examples. All these states emerge via a physical process unique to heavy-fermion materials in which strong interactions between conduction and localized $f$-electrons operate in an environment of very strong spin-orbit coupling.

SmB$_6$ is a prototypical example of a heavy-fermion semiconductor \cite{SmB6,KIReviews1,KIReviews2,KIReviews3}. Interaction
between Sm $p$- and $d$-orbital conduction electrons and localized $f$-electron states leads to an opening of the
hybridization gap at $T^*\simeq 100$K. The average electron $f$-level occupancy is well below one, $n_f<1$, demonstrating the strongly mixed valent nature of this material \cite{SmB6mv1,SmB6mv2}. Transport measurements in SmB$_6$ show an increase
in resistivity below $T\simeq 50$K and then saturates at very low (below 5K) temperatures \cite{SmB6mv2,SmB6resist1,SmB6resist2,SmB6resist3,SmB6resist4,SmB6resist5,Kim}.
The value of residual resistivity grows when the quality of the sample increases and is of the order of $\rho_{sat}\sim 30 ~\Omega\cdot$cm.
This value is incompatible with the one originating from the metallic conduction in the presence of disorder induced scattering. The origin of
low-temperature conductivity still remains poorly understood \cite{KIReviews3,SmB6resist1}, however, it was recently proposed\cite{TKI,TKILong} that SmB$_6$ is a topological insulator and finite low-temperature conductivity can be due to topologically protected metallic surface states at sample boundaries.

There are two major theoretical challenges in understanding the anomalous transport properties of SmB$_6$. The first challenge is due
to the strong Hubbard interaction between the conduction and $f$-electrons. The second challenge is that the symmetry of the lowest lying crystalline field multiplets, which are hybridized with conduction electrons and determine the symmetry of the hybridization gap, is not known. These challenges make the formulation of full microscopic transport theory in SmB$_6$ quite challending. Nevertheless, some general features of the heavy-fermion semiconductors in regards to the topological features in their band structure can be described on a more general (i.e. less material dependent) level. One important question, for example, is the question of stability of weak and strong topological insulating phases depending on degeneracy of the local $f$-level.

The basic model which is thought to capture the main aspects of the physics of the heavy-fermion semiconductors is the Anderson lattice model. The Hamiltonian can be written as a sum of the following three terms:
\begin{equation}\label{H}
H=H_c+H_f+H_h.
\end{equation}
Here the first term $H_c$ describes the conduction electrons
\begin{equation}\label{HKL}
\begin{split}
H_c=\sum_{\mathbf k , \sigma }\xi_{\mathbf k }c^{\dagger}_{\mathbf k \sigma }c_{\mathbf k \sigma }, \quad \xi_\mathbf k=-\frac{t}{6}\sum\limits_{i=x,y,z}\cos k_i-\mu_c
\end{split}
\end{equation}
where $\sigma$ denotes electron's spin projection, $t$ is the hopping amplitude (equal to bandwidth) and $\mu_c$ is the chemical potential.
Consequently, $f$-electrons are described by
\begin{equation}\label{Hf}
H_f=\sum\limits_{j}\sum\limits_{\alpha=\pm 1}\varepsilon_{f}^{(0)} f_{j\alpha}^{\dagger } f_{j\alpha}+{U}\sum\limits_{i\alpha}
f_{i\alpha}^{\dagger } f_{i\alpha}f_{i\overline{\alpha}}^{\dagger } f_{i\overline{\alpha}}+\sum\limits_{\langle ij\rangle}\sum\limits_{\alpha=\pm 1}t_{ij}^{(h)} f_{i\alpha}^{\dagger } f_{j\alpha}
\end{equation}
where $f_{j\alpha}^{\dagger }$ creates an $f$-electron on site $j$ in a state
$\alpha$ of a lowest lying multiplet $N_\Gamma$-degenerate multiplet denoted by $\Gamma$ (below we consider Kramers doublet only, so $N_\Gamma=2$), $\varepsilon_{f}^{(0)}$ is the $f$-electron energy and $U>0$  is the Hubbard interaction between the $f$-electrons. The last term in (\ref{Hf}) yields a very weak hole-like dispersion for $f$-electrons to enforce the fully gapped insulating state. We emphasize that index $\alpha$ is not a spin index due to the presence of the strong spin-orbit coupling.
Lastly, the third term in Eq. (\ref{H}) accounts for the interaction between conduction and the $f$ electrons
\begin{equation}
\begin{split}
&H_h=\sum\limits_{j,\alpha=\pm 1}\left[V_{i\sigma,j\alpha} {c}_{i\sigma}^{\dagger} {f}_{j\alpha}+ {\rm h.c.}\right], \\
&V _{ i\sigma,j\alpha}=V\sum_{\mathbf k}[\Phi_{\Gamma\mathbf k}]_{\alpha \sigma }
e^{i \mathbf k \cdot({\bf R}_i-{\bf R}_j)}
\end{split}
\end{equation}

In Refs. [\onlinecite{TKI,TKILong}] the phenomenological analysis of the Anderson lattice model based on the low-energy expansion of the $f$-electron self-energy \cite{Phenom1,Phenom2} has been used to analyze the topological structure of the resulting heavy-fermion semiconducting state. In this paper, I will resort to a microscopic approach based on the large-$N$ slave-boson theory and analyze the topological structure of the insulating state.
I employ the symplectic SP($N$) ($N=2k, k=1,2,...$) representation for the electronic operators to properly describe time-reversal symmetry of the electronic states. In agreement with the previous results \cite{TKI,TKILong} I find that for $N=2$ and $N=4$ there appears two (weak and strong) topologically non-trivial states depending on the relative position between the renormalized $f$-level and the chemical potential of the conduction band. Moreover, I found that for the large value of $N>4$ there is only strong topological insulating state. In addition, I will discuss the tunneling into a topologically non-trivial heavy-fermion semiconductors.

In the next Section I will present the large-$N$ mean-field theory of topological heavy-fermion semiconductors.
and the calculation of the tunneling conductance of the surface states in weak topological insulator.
The Section II is devoted to the discussion of the results and conclusions.

\section{Symplectic slave-boson theory}
Large-$N$ slave-boson mean-field theories ($N$ is the degeneracy of the $f$-electron level) utilize the naturally small
parameter $1/N$ to determine the thermodynamic properties of heavy-fermion materials by expanding near exactly solvable limit
\cite{Barnes,SlaveBoson1,SlaveBoson2,kondolattice,SlaveBoson3,MillisLee,Hewson,Barzykin2006}
of $N\to\infty$. Recently, a novel large-$N$ expansion methods have been developed to account for the specific symmetries of the problem (see [\onlinecite{FlintNature}] and references therein).
In what follows, we generalize our model from SU($2$) symmetry group to SP($N$) with $N=2k$, so that the spin summation run over $k$ spin indices, $\alpha,\sigma\in[\pm 1,\pm k]$. The importance of using the SP($N$) subset of SU($N$) group clearly lies in the requirement for the
proper description of the states related by time-reversal \cite{FlintNature}. In the SP($N$) version of the theory,
the form-factor matrix acquires a block-diagonal form of identical $2\times 2$ blocks. For the subsequent saddle-point analysis
we find it more convenient to use the path integral formulation.

The slave-boson approximation corresponds to (i) taking the limit $U\to\infty$, which corresponds to projecting out the doubly occupied states and (ii) introducing the constraint
which guarantees the local moment at the $f$-site, i.e. $n_f=1$:
\begin{equation}\label{constraint}
\begin{split}
& U\to\infty: \quad f_{i\alpha}\to f_{i\alpha}b_i^{\dagger }, \quad f_{i\alpha}^{\dagger }\to f_{i\alpha}^{\dagger } b_i,\\
& \sum\limits_{\alpha}f_{i\alpha}^{\dagger } f_{i\alpha}+
b_i^{\dagger } b_i=1.
\end{split}
\end{equation}

The partition function corresponding to the model Hamiltonian (\ref{H}) with constraint condition (\ref{constraint}) reads :
\begin{equation}
Z=\int\limits_{-\pi/\beta}^{\pi/\beta}\frac{\beta d\lambda}{\pi}\int{\cal D}(b,b^{\dagger },f,f^{\dagger },c,c^{\dagger })
\exp\left(-\int\limits_0^\beta L(\tau)d\tau\right),
\end{equation}
where Lagrangian $L(\tau)$ is
\begin{equation}
\begin{split}
L=&\sum\limits_{i}b_i^{\dagger }\frac{d}{d\tau}b_i+\sum\limits_{ij}\sum\limits_{\alpha=1}^{N}f_{i\alpha}^{\dagger }\left[\delta_{ij}\left(\frac{d}{d\tau}+\varepsilon_f^{(0)}\right)+b_i t_{ij}^{(h)}b_j^{\dagger }\right)f_{j\alpha}\\&+\sum\limits_{\mathbf k}\sum\limits_{\alpha=1}^{N}c_{\mathbf k\alpha}^{\dagger }\left(\frac{d}{d\tau}+\xi_\mathbf k\right)c_{\mathbf k\alpha}\\&
+\frac{V}{\sqrt{N}}\sum\limits_{i,\mathbf k}\sum\limits_{\alpha,\beta=1}^N\left([\Phi_{\Gamma\mathbf k}]_{\alpha\beta}
e^{i \mathbf k \cdot{\bf R}_i}f_{i\alpha}^{\dagger } b_{i}c_{\mathbf k\beta}+\textrm{h.c.}\right)\\&+\sum\limits_{j}i\lambda_j\left(\sum\limits_{\alpha=1}^Nf_{j\alpha}^{\dagger } f_{j\alpha}+b_j^{\dagger } b_j-1\right)
\end{split}
\end{equation}
Here we use the same notation for the form-factor matrix, although now it has a block diagonal form of $k(=N/2)$ blocks each of dimension $2\times 2$. We have also introduced the field $\lambda_j$ to enforce a constraint.
Finally, we have rescaled the hybridization amplitude $V\to V/\sqrt{N}$ for the bookkeeping purposes (see below).

Now we can integrate the conduction electrons by making the following transformation
\begin{equation}
\begin{split}
&c_{\mathbf k\alpha}\to c_{\mathbf k\alpha}-\frac{V}{\sqrt{N}}\sum\limits_{i}\sum\limits_{\beta=1}^N[\Phi_{\Gamma\mathbf k}^*]_{\alpha\beta}
e^{-i \mathbf k \cdot{\bf R}_i}(\partial_\tau+\xi_\mathbf k)^{-1}f_{i\beta} b_{i}^{\dagger }, \\
&c_{\mathbf k\alpha}^{\dagger }\to c_{\mathbf k\alpha}^{\dagger }-\frac{V}{\sqrt{N}}\sum\limits_{i}\sum\limits_{\beta=1}^N[\Phi_{\Gamma\mathbf k}]_{\beta\alpha}
e^{i \mathbf k \cdot{\bf R}_i}f_{i\beta}^{\dagger } b_{i}(\partial_\tau+\xi_\mathbf k)^{-1}
\end{split}
\end{equation}
In what follows, it is convenient to write the $2\times 2$ form-factor matrix as follows
\begin{equation}
\Phi_{\Gamma \mathbf k}=\phi_\mathbf k({\vec n}_\mathbf k\cdot{\vec \tau}), \quad \phi_\mathbf k^2={\frac{1}{2}\textrm{Tr}[\Phi_{\Gamma\mathbf k}^{\dagger }\Phi_{\Gamma\mathbf k}]}
\end{equation}
where ${\vec \tau}$ are Pauli matrices and ${\vec n}_\mathbf k$ is a unit vector.
We obtain
\begin{equation}
\begin{split}
&L=\sum\limits_{i}b_i^{\dagger }\frac{d}{d\tau}b_i+\sum\limits_{ij}\sum\limits_{\alpha=1}^{N}f_{i\alpha}^{\dagger }\left[\delta_{ij}\left(\frac{d}{d\tau}+\varepsilon_f^{(0)}\right)+b_i t_{ij}^{(h)}b_j^{\dagger }\right]f_{j\alpha}\\+&
\sum\limits_{\mathbf k}\sum\limits_{\alpha=1}^{N}c_{\mathbf k\alpha}^{\dagger }\left(\frac{d}{d\tau}+\xi_\mathbf k\right)c_{\mathbf k\alpha}
+\sum\limits_{j}i\lambda_j\left(\sum\limits_{\alpha=1}^Nf_{j\alpha}^{\dagger } f_{j\alpha}+b_j^{\dagger } b_j-1\right)
\\&-\frac{|V|^2}{N}\sum\limits_{ij,\mathbf k}\sum\limits_{\alpha,\beta=1}^N\Delta_{\alpha\beta}(\mathbf k)
e^{i \mathbf k \cdot({\bf R}_i-{\bf R}_j)}f_{i\alpha}^{\dagger } b_{i}(\partial_\tau+\xi_\mathbf k)^{-1}f_{j\beta} b_{j}^{\dagger },
\end{split}
\end{equation}
where we have introduced
\[
\Delta_{\alpha\beta}(\mathbf k)=\frac{1}{N}\sum\limits_{\gamma=1}^N[\Phi_{\Gamma\mathbf k}^*]_{\alpha\gamma}
[\Phi_{\Gamma\mathbf k}]_{\gamma\beta}=\phi_\mathbf k^2\delta_{\alpha\beta}
\]

The action with the Lagrangian above is quadratic in fermionic operators, which can be integrated out to give an effective action
in terms of the slave fields only. Since the resulting expression is quite cumbersome we will not give it here.
Instead, we proceed with the saddle-point analysis.
\begin{figure}[h]
\includegraphics[width=2.4in,angle=0]{Fig1LargeNTKI.pdf}
\caption{Phase diagram found from the solution of the slave-boson mean-field equations (\ref{MFEqs}). Kondo liquid state corresponds to
the situation when the slave-boson amplitude $a=0$. I have used the following
values for the input parameters: $t_f^{(h)}=0.1t$, $\varepsilon_f^{(0)}=-1.05t$. When the number of the fermionic flavors exceeds four,
$N>4$, there exists only strong topological insulating phase and weak topological insulating state disappears.}
\label{Fig1TKI}
\end{figure}

\subsection{mean-field solution}
Mean-field (saddle-point) approximation corresponds to the following values of the bosonic fields:
\begin{equation}
b_\mathbf q(\tau)=\sqrt{N}a\delta_{q,0}, \quad i\lambda_\mathbf q(\tau)=(\varepsilon_f-\varepsilon_{f}^{(0)})\delta_{q,0},
\end{equation}
where both $a$ and $\varepsilon_f$ are $\tau$-independent. Now, we can use the Matsubara frequency representation and
integrate out $f$-fields, since the action is quadratic in these fields. These yields:
\begin{equation}
\begin{split}
Z=&\int\limits_{-\pi/\beta}^{\pi/\beta}\frac{\beta d\lambda}{\pi}\int{\cal D}b{\cal D}b^{\dagger } e^{-S_{eff}}, \\
S_{eff}=&N\left(\varepsilon_f-\varepsilon_f^{(0)}\right)(a^2-q_N)\\&-2NT\sum\limits_{i\omega}\sum\limits_{\mathbf k}
\log[(i\omega-\omega_{1\mathbf k})(i\omega-\omega_{2\mathbf k})],
\end{split}
\end{equation}
where we have introduce the parameter $q_N=\frac{1}{N}$. Moreover, functions $\omega_{1,2\mathbf k}$ describe newly formed energy
bands
\begin{equation}\label{hfbands}
\begin{split}
\omega_{1,2\mathbf k}&=\frac{1}{2}\left[\xi_\mathbf k+E_{f\mathbf k}\pm\sqrt{(\xi_\mathbf k-E_{f\mathbf k})^2+4(Va\phi_\mathbf k)^2}\right], \\
E_{f\mathbf k}&=\varepsilon_f+Na^2h_\mathbf k, \quad h_\mathbf k=\frac{1}{6}t_f^{(h)}\sum\limits_{i=x,y,z}\cos k_i.
\end{split}
\end{equation}
We note that the newly formed band spectrum corresponds to the effective Hamiltonian
\begin{equation}\label{Heff}
\mathcal{H}_{eff}(\mathbf k)=
\left(
\begin{matrix}
\xi_\mathbf k\underline{1} & {Va}{\Phi}_{\Gamma\mathbf k}^{\dagger } \\
{Va}{\Phi}_{\Gamma\mathbf k} & E_{f\mathbf k}\underline{1}
\end{matrix}
\right),
\end{equation}
The reason we invoke the effective Hamiltonian is that it will allow us to analyze the topological structure of an insulating state.
In Eq. (\ref{Heff}) $\underline{1}$ denotes the unit $2\times2$ matrix. To determine the parameters $a$ and $\varepsilon_f$ we, of course,  have to minimize the effective action. In addition, we have to keep in mind that
the total number of electrons must be conserved. Specifically, for an insulator, we have to require that we will have one conduction electron per $f$-electron, so that
\begin{equation}\label{insulator}
n_c+n_f=N.
\end{equation}

Minimization of the effective action together with the condition for an insulator (\ref{insulator}) yields the following system of the mean-field
equations:
\begin{equation}\label{MFEqs}
\begin{split}
&(\varepsilon_f-\varepsilon_f^{(0)})a+T\sum\limits_{i\omega,\mathbf k}\left[Na h_\mathbf k A_{ff}(\mathbf k,i\omega)+V\phi_\mathbf k A_{fc}(\mathbf k,i\omega)\right]=0, \\
&(a^2-q_N)+T\sum\limits_{i\omega}\sum\limits_\mathbf k A_{ff}(\mathbf k,i\omega)=0,\\
&(q_N-a^2)+T\sum\limits_{i\omega}\sum\limits_\mathbf k A_{cc}(\mathbf k,i\omega)=1,
\end{split}
\end{equation}
where the functions $A_{ab}(\mathbf k,i\omega)$ are defined by
\begin{equation}
\begin{split}
&A_{ff}(\mathbf k,i\omega)=\frac{i\omega-\xi_\mathbf k}{(i\omega-\xi_\mathbf k)(i\omega-E_{f\mathbf k})-V^2a^2\phi_\mathbf k^2}, \\
&A_{fc}(\mathbf k,i\omega)=\frac{Va\phi_\mathbf k}{(i\omega-\xi_\mathbf k)(i\omega-E_{f\mathbf k})-V^2a^2\phi_\mathbf k^2}, \\
&A_{cc}(\mathbf k,i\omega)=\frac{i\omega-\xi_\mathbf k}{(i\omega-E_{f\mathbf k})(i\omega-E_{f\mathbf k})-V^2a^2\phi_\mathbf k^2}. \\
\end{split}
\end{equation}
To solve (\ref{MFEqs}) we still need to specify the momentum dependence of the hybridization gap, $\phi_\mathbf k$.
In what follows, we adopt the choice of the form-factors from Refs. [\onlinecite{TKI,TKILong}] and consider function
$\phi_\mathbf k$ which at small momenta $\mathbf k$
is  $\phi_{\hat\mathbf k}=\frac{1}{12}\sqrt{\frac{3}{\pi}}[12\cos(2\theta)+5(3+\cos(4\theta))]^{1/2}$,
where $\theta$ define the direction of the unit vector
$\hat{\bf k}$, associated with the point on the Fermi surface.

To analyze the topology of the bands governed by the effective Hamiltonian (\ref{Heff}) we  use the fact that
topology  is invariant under any adiabatic deformation
of the Hamiltonian. We begin our study with a
tight-binding model for a KI on a simple cubic lattice. Our choice of hybridization ensures that
the mean-field Hamiltonian (Eq. \ref{Heff}) is
a periodic function satisfying $\mathcal{H}_{eff}({\bf
k})=\mathcal{H}_{eff}({\bf k}+{\bf G})$.
The technical analysis is readily generalized to
more complicated cases as discussed below.  The most important element
of the analysis is the odd parity form factor of the
$f$ electrons, ${\Phi}_{\Gamma}(\mathbf k)=-{\Phi}_{\Gamma}(-\mathbf k)$.
This parity property together with the absence of the nodes in the hybridization gap across the Brillouin zone (BZ)
are the only essential input as far as the topological
structure is concerned.

To evaluate the topological indices we use the results of
Fu and Kane [\onlinecite{FuKane2007}] who have demonstrated that in an insulator
{\em with time-reversal and space-inversion symmetry}, the topological
structure is determined by parity properties at the eight
high-symmetry points, $\mathbf k^*_m$, in the 3D BZ, which are invariant
under time-reversal, up to a reciprocal lattice vector:
$\mathbf k^*_m=-\mathbf k^*_m+{\bf G}$.  In our
case, these symmetries require that $\mathcal{H}_{eff}({\bf k})={P}
\mathcal{H}_{eff}(-{\bf k}){P}^{-1}$ and $\mathcal{H}_{eff}({\bf
k})^{T}={\cal T} \mathcal{H}_{eff}(-{\bf k}){\cal T}^{-1}$, where
the parity matrix $P$
and the unitary part of the time-reversal
operator ${\cal T}$ are given by
\begin{equation}\label{}
P = \begin{pmatrix} \underline{1}& \cr & -\underline{1}\end{pmatrix},
\qquad
{\cal T} = \begin{pmatrix}  i \sigma_{2}&\cr & i \sigma_{2}  \end{pmatrix},
\end{equation}
where $\sigma_{2}$ is the second Pauli matrix.
For any space-inversion-odd form factor, it follows immediately that
$\hat{\Phi}_{\Gamma}(\mathbf k)=0$ at a high-symmetry point. Hence, the
Hamiltonian at this high symmetry point is simply
$\mathcal{H}_{eff}({\mathbf k^*_m})=(\xi_{\mathbf k_m^*}+E_{f\mathbf k_m^*})
I/2+(\xi_{\mathbf k^*_m}-E_{f\mathbf k_m^*}){P}/2$, where $I$ is
the four-dimensional identity matrix.

The parity at a high symmetry point is thus determined by $\delta_m=\textrm{sgn}(\xi_{\mathbf k^*_m}-E_{f\mathbf k_m^*})$.
Four independent $Z_2$ topological indices $(\nu_0;\nu_1,\nu_2,\nu_3)$ ~\cite{Kitaev}, one strong ($\nu_0$) and three weak indices
($\nu_{1,2,3}$) can be constructed from $\delta_m$: (i)~The strong topological index is the product of all eight
$\delta_m$'s: $I_{\rm STI} = (-1)^{\nu_0}=\prod\limits_{m=1}^{8} \delta_m = \pm 1$;
(ii)~by setting $k_j=0$ (where $j= x,y, \mbox{and } z$),
three high-symmetry planes, $P_j = \left\{ {\bf k}: k_j=0\right\}$, are formed that contain four high-symmetry points each. The product of the parities at these four points defines the
corresponding weak-topological index, $I_{\rm WTI}^{a}=(-1)^{\nu_\alpha}= \prod\limits_{{\bf k}_m \in P_j} \delta_m = \pm 1$ ($\alpha=1,2,3$)
with integers corresponding to the axes $x,y$ and $z$. The existence of the three weak topological indices in 3D is related to a $Z_2$ topological index for 2D systems (a weak 3D TI is similar to a stack of 2D $Z_2$ topological insulators).
Because there are three independent ways to stack 2D layers to form a 3D system,
the number of independent weak topological indices is also three.
A conventional band insulator has all of the four indices $I_{\rm STI}
= I_{\rm WTI}^x=I_{\rm WTI}^y=I_{\rm WTI}^z = +1$ or  equivalently (0;0,0,0). An index
$I=(-1)$ ($\nu_\alpha=1$) indicates a $Z_2$ topological state with the odd number of
surface Dirac modes. In a KI the symmetry index $\delta_{m}$ of a particular
high symmetry point $m$ is negative provided
$\xi_{\mathbf k^*_{m}}<E_{f\mathbf k_m^*}$ is lower the f-energy $E_{f\mathbf k_m^*}$.
Thus if
$\xi_{{\mathbf k_m^*}=0}<E_{f\mathbf k_m^*}$  at the $\Gamma$ point, while
 $\xi_{\bf{{\mathbf k^*_m\ne 0}}}>E_{f\mathbf k_m^*}$ for all other symmetry
 points,  then $I_{\rm STI}
= -1$, and hence {the Kondo insulating state is a
strong-topological insulator, robust against disorder} \cite{TKI,TKILong}. Weak-topological insulators and topologically trivial
insulators can in principle be found for different band structures and
different values of $E_{f\mathbf k_m^*}$. A particularly
interesting possibility is to tune topological phase transitions
between different types of insulators (e.g., by applying a pressure).
Although we have been specifically considering a tight-binding
model with a primitive unit cell, all our conclusions apply directly
to systems adiabatically connected to this model.

I solve the mean-field equations (\ref{MFEqs}) numerically. For a given value of hybridization and temperature I analyze the topological structure of the effective Hamiltonian (\ref{Heff}) using the prescription outlined above. The results are shown on Fig. 1.
First I note that when $N=2$ the weak topological insulator (WTI) state precedes the strong topological insulating state in agreement
with the earlier studies \cite{TKISU2}. For $N=4$ $(k=2)$ the region where WTI exists shrinks and is fully absent for $N=6$ $(k=3)$. It is a quite surprising observation for it is a special case when the slave-boson mean-field theory results crucially depend on the number of fermionic flavors. In other words, here we find an example when there is no adiabatic connection between the phases for the realistic case of $N=2$ and $N\to\infty$, i.e. when the mean-field theory is exact. The reason for the disappearance of WTI phase can be easily traced to the condition for the WTI: half of the $\delta_m$'s must be negative, while the other half must be positive. However, as it directly follows from the solution of the mean-field equations, this condition can never be satisfied when $k>2$.
Lastly, the  results on Fig. 1 are consistent with the ones which have been obtained for the low-energy version of the Anderson model \cite{TKI,TKILong}. There it was found that WTI is stabilized for $f$-level energy close to the chemical potential for the conductions: this situation corresponds to the $f$-level occupation $n_f\simeq 1$. With an increase of hybridization, $n_f$ is reduced as system shows more mixed valent behavior, so that $n_f<1$. For $N=2$ as soon as insulator becomes a strong topological insulator, $n_f\simeq 0.8$.

Generally, fluctuations around large-$N$ mean-field solution introduce interaction between the newly formed heavy-fermions.
Strictly speaking one needs to prove that fluctuations of the amplitude and phase of the slave-bosons do not break the newly formed state.
Due to the presence of the bulk gap, however, we do not expect that fluctuations will lead to the substantial modification of the
ground state. The separate issue, of course, is the effects of the fluctuations of the metallic surface states. Specifically, whether
the interactions may lead to an opening of gap at the surface. The detailed investigation of that problem goes beyond the scope
of this paper and we leave it for the future studies.

\subsection{tunneling into topological heavy-fermion semiconductors}
Scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STM) of heavy-fermion metals has become an active topic of experimental
and theoretical research in recent years \cite{STMexp1,STMexp2,STMexp3,STMtheory1, STMtheory2,STMtheory3}.
In this regard, an intriguing question is whether the STM can directly probe the metallic surface states
in a topological heavy-fermion semiconductor. In this Section I address this question by evaluating the
differential tunneling conductance into a weak topological heavy-fermion semiconductor. In what follows I will use
the mean-field theory discussed above for the case of SU(2) group, i.e. two flavors of fermions.

To evaluate the tunneling conductance, we will model a bulk system by a stack of $L$ planes along the
$z$-direction and diagonalize the Hamiltonian. The resulting Hamiltonian matrix $H_{nm}$ has blocks along the
diagonal given by (\ref{Heff}), which describe the hopping and hybridization within each plane and the off-diagonal parts describing
the hopping and hybridization between the planes. Since the in-plane momentum is a good quantum number,
the dispersion of the conduction electrons is given by $\varepsilon(k_x,k_y)=-(t/4) (\cos k_x+\cos k_y)$, while the
dispersion of the $f$ electrons is described by $\epsilon_f(k_x,k_y)=(t_f/4)(\cos k_x+\cos k_y)$ with $t_f=0.1t$.
In addition, we have taken the form factor matrix in the form:
\begin{equation}\label{Phi}
\underline{\Phi } = \left\{
\begin{matrix}
V (\sin k_{x}\tau_{x}+ \sin k_{y}\tau_{y}), \textrm{ within the planes}, \\
iV_z\tau_z, ~\textrm{between the planes (upwards)}, \\
-iV_z\tau_z, ~\textrm{between the planes (downwards)}.
\end{matrix}
\right.
\end{equation}
Within each plane the conduction and $f$-electrons are described by the four-component spinor
\begin{equation}\label{Spinor}
\Psi_{l\mathbf k_\perp}^{\dagger }=(c_{l\mathbf k_\perp,1}^{\dagger } ~c_{l\mathbf k_\perp,2}^{\dagger } ~f_{l\mathbf k_\perp,1}^{\dagger } ~f_{l\mathbf k_\perp,2}^{\dagger }),
\end{equation}
where $l$ labels the layer and $\mathbf k_\perp=(k_x,k_y)$. Lastly, the Hamiltonian describing
tunneling between an electrode and a sample is
\begin{equation}\label{Htun}
\begin{split}
H_{tun}&=T_c\sum\limits_{\mathbf k_\perp,\sigma} (p_\sigma^{\dagger } c_{1\mathbf k_\perp,\sigma}+\textrm{h.c.})\\&+T_f\sum\limits_{\sigma\beta,\mathbf k_\perp}\left(
[\Phi_{\Gamma}(\mathbf k_\perp)]_{\sigma\alpha}p_\sigma^{\dagger } f_{1\mathbf k_\perp,\alpha}+\textrm{h.c.}\right)
\end{split}
\end{equation}
Here we have assumed that the tunneling involves conduction and $f$-electron states on the surface layer only ($l=1$). As we will see below, the presence of the form-factor in the second term is crucial for the cotunneling events, which ultimately give rise to the Fano lineshape for the differential tunneling conductance.

\begin{figure}[h]
\includegraphics[width=2.5in,angle=0]{Fig2DOS.pdf}
\caption{Plots of the differential tunneling conductance $g(\omega)$ for the stack of $L$ layers of heavy-fermion semiconductors.
Panel (a) shows $g(\omega)$ for the stack of $L=2$ layers: for this case there are no states in the gap. The band structure as a function of the momentum in the 2D BZ is shown on inset. Panel (b) shows $g(\omega)$ for the stack of $L=8$ layers corresponding to the weak topological insulator (even number of Dirac nodes in the gap). The asymmetry in the tunneling conductance is due to the cotunneling processes into conduction and $f$-electron states.}
\label{Fig2DOS}
\end{figure}

If we now assume that the tunneling electrode is in equilibrium state with the surface, the tunneling current as a function of the voltage, $I(V)$,
is
\begin{equation}
\begin{split}
&I(V)=\frac{2e}{\hbar}\int\limits_{-\infty}^\infty d\omega \rho_{tip}(\omega-eV)[n_F(\omega-eV)-n_F(\omega)]\\ &
\times\textrm{Im}\left[|T_c|^2G_{cc}(\omega)+|T_f|^2G_{ff}(\omega)+2|T_c||T_f|G_{cf}(\omega)\right],
\end{split}
\end{equation}
where $\rho_{tip}$ is the STM tip density of states (DOS), $n_F(\omega)$ is the Fermi distribution function and $G_{ab}(\omega)$
are the advanced local single particle Green functions:
\begin{equation}
G_{ab}(\omega)=\sum\limits_{\lambda,\mathbf k_\perp}\frac{\phi_{a,\lambda}^*(\mathbf k_\perp)\phi_{b,\lambda}(\mathbf k_\perp)}{\omega-\epsilon_\lambda(\mathbf k_\perp)-i\delta}.
\end{equation}
In the expression above, $\varepsilon_\lambda(\mathbf k_\perp), \phi_{a,\lambda}(\mathbf k_\perp)$ denotes the set of $\lambda$ eigenvalues and the corresponding eigenfunctions I obtained by diagonalizing the Hamiltonian $H_{nm}$, while subscripts $a,b$ refer to the components of the spinor (\ref{Spinor}) at the surface ($l=1$). In real materials, however, electronic correlations as well as disorder lead the broadening of the $f$-electron level. One way to account for these effects in the differential tunneling conductance $g(V)=dI/dV$ is to consider the complex
valued quasiparticle energies:
\begin{equation}
\epsilon_\lambda(\mathbf k_\perp)\to E_{\lambda\mathbf k_\perp}-i\Gamma_{\lambda\mathbf k_\perp},
\end{equation}
with the quasiparticle width given by \cite{STMtheory3}
\begin{equation}\label{Gamma}
\Gamma_{\lambda\mathbf k_\perp}=
\left\{
\begin{matrix}
\Gamma_{\lambda\mathbf k_\perp}^2/T_K, \quad E_{\lambda\mathbf k_\perp}<T^*, \\
|E_{\lambda\mathbf k_\perp}|/[1+\log(|E_{\lambda\mathbf k_\perp}|/T_K)]^2, \quad E_{\lambda\mathbf k_\perp}>T^*.
\end{matrix}
\right.
\end{equation}
Here $T^*$ is the temperature corresponding to the opening of the hybridization gap, or the temperature at which the first non-trivial solution of the mean-field equations appears. In SmB$_6$, for example, $T^*\simeq 100$K.
With these provisions, we evaluate the differential tunneling conductance for the set of the parameters corresponding to the weak-topological
insulator in 3D translationally invariant system. I show the results on Fig. 2 for a fully gapped states (top panel) and metallic state (bottom panel) corresponding to the weak topological insulator. Both curves have characteristic asymmetry due to the co-tunneling processes into conduction and $f$-states. The finite value of the $g(V)$ are zero bias are due to the finite width of quasiparticle states, Eq. (\ref{Gamma}). From our results we see that $g_{WTI}(V\sim 0)$ in the case of weak topological insulator is significantly enhanced in comparison with
$g_{BI}(V\sim 0)$ (band insulator), which is not surprising. In addition, $g_{WTI}(V)$ shows higher asymmetry then $g_{BI}(V)$. Nevertheless,
it is seems to be a quite challenging task to argue in favor of the topologically protected surface states solely on the STM data.

\section{Conclusions and outlook}
In this paper I have analyzed the low-temperature properties of the generic heavy-fermion semiconductors using the large-$N$ slave-boson theory. Specifically, I have provided an evidence for the formation of the topologically non-trivial electronic states at the surface of these materials. The results reported in this paper are in agreement with those obtained using different approach based on the low-energy analysis of the Anderson lattice model.  The phase diagram obtained within the mean-field analysis implies that the strong topological insulating phase is likely to be observed in materials with high, i.e. cubic,
point group symmetry. In this case, the analysis of the crystalline field split $f$-ion multiplets for the valence configurations corresponding to the total angular momentum $J=5/2$ or $J=7/2$ shows that only $N=4$ degenerate multiplets can give rise to the nodeless hybridization gap. Such a scenario can be realized in heavy-fermion semiconductor SmB$_6$. Indeed, finite
metallic conductivity below $T\simeq 5$K may serve as a signature for topologically protected metallic surface states. The fact that conductivity grows with the improvement of the quality of the samples qualitatively supports this idea. Indeed, recent theoretical works \cite{STIdis1,STIdis2} have explicitly demonstrated that the presence of relatively strong disorder on the surface of a strong topological insulator will substantially disrupt these states. The physical reason for such a behavior is that
the impurity induced states propagate well below leading to the diffusive behavior in the surface transport. In that regard,
when the strength of disorder potential is comparable to the bulk gap, the 2D Dirac theory description of the 3D topological
insulators is not valid \cite{STIdis2}.

An important issue for the subsequent study is a role of fluctuations around the mean-field solution. For the band insulator, one may argue
that the fluctuations effects (generally of the order of $1/N$) do not lead to any significant changes providing only small corrections to the gap itself. Situation becomes drastically different when the metallic surface states are present. In particular, fluctuations in slave-boson fields
lead to the effective interactions between the conduction and $f$-electrons, which in principle may lead to the opening of the gap at the
surface as well. The detailed investigation of these effects goes beyond the scope of this paper and I leave it for the future.

\section{acknowledgments}
I thank Piers Coleman and Pedro Schlottmann for useful comments.
Author acknowledges the financial support by the Ohio Board of Regents Research Incentive Program grant OBR-RIP-220573.
This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grant No. 1066293 and the hospitality of the Aspen Center for Physics (M.D.)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


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The vegetables can be moved and placed indoors on a window sill that gets the sun during the winter but doesn't have to battle with the cold.
If left outdoors in the garden, make sure to choose a container that has holes in the bottom that way excess water can drain out of the container [container gardening].
Also, keep in mind choosing a pot that can handle cold temperatures like a tough plastic and also make sure the container has enough room to hold the vegetable as well as the roots and the soil.
If the home has a patio, the vegetables can also be placed there or outside the kitchen door, within easy reach when cooking.
Storing vegetables in pots can help protect from the destruction of a harsh winter, just make sure to be careful and do research.


text:
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the cult classic Big Trouble in Little China. This movie directed by John Carpenter and starring Kurt Russel, has easily become one of my favorite B-horror movie/comedies. With some alltime great one-liners ("Son of a bitch must pay "), I have some very fond memories of this fantastic movie. When Upper Deck announced last year that they would be releasing a game in the Legendary series based upon the movie, I at first thought it was a joke. To my delight though it wasn't, and yesterday I managed to procure my copy and play my first few games. Was it worth the wait?
As with every Legendary stand alone set, the box provides a new gameboard. The boards feel like a mousepad, and are very sturdy. The box is smaller than a regular Legendary stand alone set, and because of this the board is folded up in the box. This caused it to have a few noticeable folds. This is a minor issue, but still I wish they could have found a better way to include the board. As this is ofcourse a deckbuilding game, there are a lot of cards in this box, though also not as much as previous stand alone sets. Included are 400 cards all with original artwork of varying quality. As I currently own every Legendary set to date, I have gotten quite used to the differences in artwork between the cards themselves. All in all though the cards look great, and manage to recreate the spirit of the movie. The last thing included is ofcourse the rulebook which does a pretty good job in learning the rules for both veteran players, and players new to deckbuilders.
The Legendary series by Upper deck has now two different game variants. You have the Legendary Encounters sets, which include games based on Aliens, Predator and more recently Firefly. And then there are the normal Legendary sets, which so far have only included games and expansions based on Marvel superhero's. Big Trouble can now be added to the last list. The big difference between the two gameplay variants is that in Encounters you basically replay the movies on which the games are based on. Completing a number of objectives, you play through some well known scenes of the movie. The normal Legendary series puts you against a villain, who is trying to complete some nefarious plot. Recruiting hero's you try to stop the villain before he completes his objective.
As Big Trouble in Little China is only one movie, I understand why they decided to go with the normal Legendary treatment. Legendary is a deckbuilder, which means that starting off with a basic set of cards, you try and purchase new and more powerful cards with the basic ones, to enhance your deck. During the game your deck will grow stronger, making it more able to deal with all the enemies that are thrown against you. The hero's you recruit in this game are ofcourse all familiar characters of the movie including Jack Burton himself. There are a total of 12 schemes, or evil plots if you will, to provide more than enough variety.
If you already played any other set in the Legendary series, you will have absolutely no trouble in playing this game. It closely resembles the Marvel Legendary series, and as such contains mostly rules that you will already be familiar with. For new players it will at probably be a little bit more difficult in getting into the game at first, but eventually you will get the hang of it. The best way to learn it is by letting a player who already knows the game teach it to you, or just look at the enormous amount of YouTube video's already out there. Legendary isn't a difficult game to learn though, and after you have played a couple of rounds, you will have no big trouble (pun intended) with it whatsoever.
I have been looking forward to this game since it was announced last year, and obviously my expectations for it ran high. Being a huge fan of the movie, I at least hoped the game would do it justice. And I am very glad to say that it does. It is a delight to play with the characters from the movie, and see some great lines of the film return on the cards. The schemes are pretty tough, the villains are great, and the enemies you have to fight are also not a walk in the park. This provides for some very challenging gameplay. A thing worthy of note is that there are no official solorules included with this game, which is a first for Legendary. The rulebook does mention that you can play the game solo using any of the rules from previous sets. I played the game solo by just playing with two hands, and treating it as a two player game.
If you are a fan of the movie, than I think you should check this game out. But even if you are not, or might never have even heard of it, you will probably still enjoy playing it. It provides enough challenge and replay value to keep you playing for a long time. Whether or not you will be able to beat all the schemes, well to use another Jack Burton quote : "It's all in the reflexes…..".
I give Legendary Big Trouble in Little China a 9 out of 10 score.
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8 thoughts on "Legendary Big Trouble in Little China, a Boardgame for 1-5 players, by Upper Deck (2016)"
Pingback: Big Trouble in Little China, American Movie (1986) | Raistlin0903
I have no idea how I missed this post, possibly you posted it before I started reading and I didn't scrutinise the menus close enough. Looks really fun, I love big trouble in little china though I think I may pass as it looks too similar to Marvel to warrant me having both. Otherwise, great post.
Haha, really no worries 😊 I will most likely have missed some posts as well.
Well….I am a huge Legendary fan, and have so far got every single one of the expansions for Marvel as well as the other sets. I'm waiting eagerly for the release of the Buffy set, and next year we are getting X-files, which will be awesome. As for this being similar to Marvel…I guess it is. It uses pretty much the same mechanics, but I just love the movie so much that this was an instant buy for me 😊
Thanks for the comment and the kind words, appreciate it 😊
This is the first time I've heard of the Legendary series. Do you think as a newbie I can jump right in Michel? I'm also interested in the Buffy one and the X-Files.😊
Legendary is a really fun series and it are games that are very easy to learn. The X-files is coming out later this year. I purchased Buffy last month (that one is a lot of fun to play and instead of cards that have drawings on them, they contain stills from the show).
But to answer your question, every Legendary game pretty much uses the same basic system. There are a few rules changes of course in every set, but no matter which one you choose, all of them are very easy to learn. And there are an ernomous amount of YouTube videos on the game as well for it. So: I think you will really enjoy this one 😀😀
Yay! These are being added to my wishlist as well. Thank you for introducing these to me Michel.🤗
No problem 😊 I hope you will enjoy them 😊
Pingback: Special Features Presents: My top 10 Solo Boardgames (part 2) | Raistlin0903

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Catalog	» Browse by Author: S	» Dee Snider (song lyrics)
Dee Snider (song lyrics)
While he is perhaps best known as the lead singer and songwriter of the '80s sensation Twisted Sister, there is so much more to DEE SNIDER. He has starred in several reality TV shows and has been a frequent host on MTV. His own nationally syndicated radio show House of Hair will soon celebrate twenty-five years on over 200 stations in North America. As a voiceover artist, he can be heard in many radio and TV commercials, animated shows, and documentaries. He also served a yearlong stint as the voice of MSNBC.
Dee wrote, produced, and starred in Dee Snider's StrangeLand, which has become a cult classic that helped create the torture film subgenre. StrangeLand 2 is currently under development. On the small screen, Dee played himself in the VH1 original film, Warning: Parental Advisory, recreating his role during the 1985 congressional record labeling hearings. Dee, along with Frank Zappa and John Denver, famously turned DC politics upside down by carrying a banner of Dee's Twisted Sister legendary anthem, "We're Not Gonna Take It," at the hearings.
During his run to become governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger asked Dee to lead the way in singing "We're Not Gonna Take It" at a campaign stop on the steps of the California State Capitol building in Sacramento. The Mexican government recruited Dee as well, using both him and the anthem in an "antidishonesty" campaign to gain attention on their bid to set the country on a judicial road to recovery.
His starring role on Broadway in the hit musical Rock of Ages generated national interest, culminating in a spot on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, where Dee guested with the Roots and Jimmy on Dee's self-penned hit, "I Wanna Rock." His autobiography, Shut Up and Give Me the Mic, was released in the summer of 2012 by Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster to critical acclaim, coinciding with Warner Bros. Pictures' release of Rock of Ages, which features two of Dee's biggest hits.
Dee's hit songwriting credits extend to many genres of music and have been covered by major artists the world over. Following his critically acclaimed album Dee Does Broadway, Snider's Broadway connection has continued to grow. Dee Snider's Rock & Roll Christmas Tale (lyrics, music, and book by Dee Snider) completed highly successful runs in Chicago and Toronto. His producer credits extend to the off-Broadway hit ensemble, the Puppet Shakespeare Players, and the international award-winning short film, Fool's Day.
In 2014, Dee was the recipient of the prestigious Harry Chapin Memorial Humanitarian Award for his charitable work spanning several decades. Most notably, Dee spent twelve years as the national spokesman and grand marshal of the March of Dimes Bikers for Babies initiative (for whom he raised $325,000 with his Celebrity Apprentice win), established his annual Ride to Fight Hunger for Long Island Cares, and donated his gold and platinum album awards to Broadway Cares for auction.
On May 20, 2016, Dee took part in the unveiling of the new Rock & Roll Hall of Fame exhibit, Louder Than Words: Rock, Power & Politics, which was on display in Cleveland, OH, during the 2016 Republican National Convention. To commemorate the exhibit, Dee performed a new acoustic version of his legendary song, "We're Not Gonna Take It." This moving new version of Dee's epic anthem is featured on his new album, We Are the Ones, released on Red River Entertainment in North America and Ear Music internationally.
A lightning rod for controversy, Dee rocked the 1985 Senate hearing instigated by the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), and his historic involvement remains relevant to rock music and politics today. In April 2016, Dee was called back to Capitol Hill to speak on behalf of the GRAMMY Foundation's Fair Play Fair Pay Act. This time, they were pleased to see him!
In the summer of 2016, Dee and Twisted Sister set out on a farewell tour that drew well over a million fans to their headline festival shows in the United States and Europe. 2017 saw Dee touring the world performing solo shows as his production company Twisted Storm continued to develop several movies and television shows. He also traveled to North Dakota to shoot a video that highlighted the Native American struggle to maintain their dignity in the face of unjust corporate pipeline encroachments that threaten the ecology and environment of their sovereign land.
Dee is currently at work on his first novel.
(Photo Credit: Stephanie Cabral)
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We're Not Gonna Take It
By:	Dee Snider (song lyrics) and Margaret McCartney (illustrator)
This picture book of Dee Snider's classic song of empowerment and self-determination will strike a chord with kids everywhere.
Now available for preorder. All preorders will ship out on June 2, 2020!


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Heritage Centre News and Updates - 2007.
Further Tales at the Pottery"
Two Classic Victorian Stories of Mystery and Suspense performed by Raymond Sargent.
"The Withered Arm" is a local premiere as part of the Sting in the Tale Festival!
Note that the "verwoodheritage.org" website has been reorganised.
verwood.org This site contains Verwood general community Information including the "What's On" page.
"Verwood & 3LX" Twinning Association".
history.verwood.org This is the site that is aimed at giving information about the history of Verwood including its chronology with reminiscences.
Currently these sites are re-directed.
verwoodheritage.org Now points to "heritage.verwood.org"
verwoodheritage.net Now points to "heritage.verwood.org"
June 3rd :- The new exhibition is now "Cranborne & Edmondsham", kindly loaned by Chris Bright.
The Scouts & Guides display has been retained in the hall.
May 22nd :- For a full report (and pictures) on the recent twinning visit by our friends from Champtoceaux then please select the LOGO to visit the Twinning Website.
February 24th :- Dorset Family History Society, Woodlands and Verwood Historical Society visited the Centre for another successful event in order to help people Trace their Ancestors. Entry was FREE.
February :- Verwood Health Walks now take place every Friday at 09:45 for a 10:00 a.m. start. These walks are organised and lead by rangers of East Dorset Country Management Services (Moors Valley) and are FREE though you will be required to wear suitable clothing and register, please bring along some change for a cuppa at the end of the walk.
"Walking the Way to Health" is a National Scheme supported by the British Heart Foundation and Natural England to encourage people to walk more for the benefit of their health.
Note:- that Health Walks also occur in Wimborne, Moors Valley and Avon Valley Country Parks. Please visit the Website (http://www.moors-valley.co.uk) for further information, Leaflets can also be picked up at the Heritage Centre.
February :- The new Exhibition "Verwood Youth Activities" opened.


text:
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Flush with new cash, AssemblyAI looks to grow its AI-as-a-service business
Large-scale machine learning models are at the heart of headline-grabbing technologies like OpenAI's DALL-E 2 and Google's LaMDA. They're impressive, to be sure, capable of generating images and text convincing…
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You.com raises $25M to fuel its AI-powered search engine
There's a growing appetite for alternative search engines. At least, that's the crux of the argument Richard Socher, the former chief scientist at Salesforce, likes to make. In 2020, Socher…
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HiddenLayer emerges from stealth to protect AI models from attacks
As AI-powered services like OpenAI's GPT-3 grow in popularity, they become an increasingly attractive attack vector. Even shielded behind an API, hackers can attempt to reverse-engineer the models underpinning these…
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Deci lands $25M for tech that makes AI models more efficient
Deci, a startup company with 50 employees who are developing a platform to build and optimize AI-powered systems, today announced that it closed a $25 million Series B financing round…
AI Tech Business Meta Tech Tech News
Baidu reveals the next-gen robotaxi that will be deployed throughout China
Baidu, the Chinese search engine giant that has plowed money into AI and autonomous vehicle technology, unveiled Wednesday a new all-electric robotaxi that it plans to deploy at scale across…


AfricaAdapt is an independent bilingual network (French/English) focused exclusively on Africa. The Network's aim is to facilitate the flow of climate change adaptation knowledge for sustainable livelihoods between researchers, policy makers, civil society organisations and communities who are vulnerable to climate variability and change across the continent.
This joint initiative between three knowledge brokers aims to advance the user demand-driven development, refinement and cross-linking between weADAPT, the Climate Information Portal (CIP) and AfricaAdapt.
The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and Institute of Development Studies (IDS), together with partner knowledge networks, are trying to address the climate change knowledge gap through an in-depth analysis of how different user groups of climate knowledge broker services assess, access and apply knowledge from these services.
Lisa McNamara reports from the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) Partnership Forum in Cape Town on mobilising and delivering climate finance in Africa. Read about some important lessons emerging regarding the effective use of climate finance by developing countries and the critical need for organised engagement around climate investment plans.
In the second blog from the CDKN Knowledge Brokers Workshop in Frankfurt, CDKN's Tristan Stubbs reports on the challenges conference participants have set themselves, and how they plan to work together in the future.


text:
By Garvit Gupta, Ashoka University.
Increasing population has always been a hotly debated topic in the public domain.
Is a burgeoning population a boon or a bane? That depends on what a country's past demographic indicators and policies were. However, as a future economist, do you believe that population control should be promoted or not? Or would a balancing act be the best way out? Make your case using related economic principles and
theories.
The Problem Statement refers to an ever-present problem of Population growth that has developed since the Industrial Age. For the sake of clarity, Population Control will primarily refer to the forced imposition of limits on children borne1 and sterilisation of the citizens, and, as a secondary, it will refer to awareness programs that passively discourage reproduction. But, before we move on to this essay's prescriptive and policy-based aspects, I think it is essential for us to place the issue of Population Growth in a more nuanced context. The increasing population of the human species on this planet is said to have directly contributed linked to two of the key issues that humanity faces – Scarcity and Climate Change. While there exist other emergent and related problems, the essay will primarily deal with these two issues to describe the problem of population growth properly.
First, the increase in population is said to be one of the greatest causes of scarcity (lack of goods and services). Prima Facie, this argument appears logically sound. But, this proposition ignores the complex socio-economic and geo-political factors that have led to the aforementioned scarcity. The increasing wealth/income inequality, exploitation of the Global South, privatization2 of the means of production, etc., are arguably greater factors when it comes to scarcity. These factors have historically proven to be detrimental to the purchasing power of the common man and the overproduction of profitable goods over productive/important goods, thus, skewing the demand and supply curves to produce scarcity in the economy.
Second, the increase in population is said to have led to or hastened the process of Climate Change. Once again, these arguments do make sense. But, they, too, individualise what a systemic problem is. Excess Demand leads to high production, and vice versa, which leads to increased waste and emission production, thus, leading to climate change. But is this necessarily a Population problem? Is it the increasing population that is leading to a considerable increase in demand, or is it excess consumption by the population that is contributing to this? While appearing to be similar, these are two very different situations. One describes the increase in population directly causing the increase in demand. The other describes and includes factors other than population growth responsible for the increase in demand.
Building upon previous arguments and observations, the Supply side of the economy is controlled by a few strong players who prioritise profit-driven production over demand/welfare-based production. A culture of consumption (representing the demand side) is established by the material base (the base of profit-driven production) on which society exists, which complement each other. These two act together to propel the economy to levels of overconsumption and overproduction. This overproduction is necessary to sustain the profit-driven industries which are running out of avenues of profit after each business cycle and commodity frenzy ends.
Even then, a low population could hypothetically decrease the negative impact of overproduction and overconsumption. This could be considered correct in the rational and "pure" science of economics. But, looking at the stark reality that exists today, this can be debunked.3 The gross inequalities have skewed the demand of the world to be dominated by a few wealthy people in the world. Applying the Pareto principle4, we can ascertain that the problems of overconsumption and the subsequent overproduction can not be blamed equitably on the entire population. This problem is one that belongs to a class of people with the economic and political means to propel demand and escape public accountability for the same.
Now that the issue at hand has been placed in some context, it makes it easier for us to solve it. As shown in the previous arguments, Population Growth is a problem that has been widely overstated in popular discourse. Nevertheless, The effects that are allegedly caused by Population Growth are very much real and damaging to the economy. But, to solve this by curtailing the social and political autonomy of people to reproduce is a decision that would be unfair. A fair reform must target the real agents of harm to the economy, and an economist would strive to deal with the systemic issues that lead to the effects of Overpopulation instead of undertaking a program of political repression. Note that the aforementioned agents of harm may also possess the economic and political privilege to escape the policies of Population Control. These reforms can also be targeted against a certain social class as a means of oppression and ethnic cleansing. The economist approach to this issue would be three-pronged -
1. Focusing on awareness programs and contraception distribution schemes to curtail unnecessary reproduction. This will not violate the rights of the individual while creating a labour force that is aware of the societal consequences of its actions.
2. Decentralise economic organisations and wealth, and ensure that the decision-making power does not rest in the hands of a few in an economy to curtail overproduction or profit-driven incentives. One such way would be to advocate for fair competition laws, labour safety & upliftment policies, anti-monopoly legal action, etc.
3. Impose a progressive taxation scheme; This will help deal with inequalities present in the economy while curtailing unnecessary expenditure by the higher economic classes and contribute to decreasing scarcity and climate change. Moreover, Tax rebates and social schemes can also parallelly run to further economically uplift the people.
As a closing argument, the world is going through dramatic political and social changes that may heavily impact labour productivity and political safety. In such times, robust youth and the labour force will ensure that the interests of the people and the nation are safeguarded. Policies that weaken this base of power may lead to unforeseen negative consequences. A rational analysis of the economy and society yields a clear denial of the "supposed" gravity of the issue of population growth and supports external systemic reforms instead.
1. 12:30 am, Andrew Mullen +. FOLLOW Published: "What Was China's One-Child Policy and Why Was It so Controversial?" South China Morning Post, 1 June 2021, https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3135510/chinas-one-child-policy-what-was-it-and-what-impact-did-it. Accessed 23 Oct. 2022.
2. "The Inequality of Overconsumption: The Ecological Footprint of the Richest." Why Green Economy?, 24 Nov. 2015, http://whygreeneconomy.org/inequality-of-overconsumption/. Accessed 23 Oct. 2022.
3. https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/wp-content/uploads/InthePublicInterest_InequalityReport_Sept2016.pdf.
4. "Pareto Principle - an Overview." ScienceDirect Topics, http://sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/pareto-principle. Accessed 23 Oct. 2022.


text:
Q: What is the best way to recover from a connection failure in MySQL Workbench? Background:  This question follows up on 2 other questions I've posted here in the past week.  In a 2-3 week process of learning MySQL and attempting to get a Python stock info scrapping program to feed data into a MySQL schema (database, table) I'm having serious difficulties with connections.  I believe I've now uncovered the source of my problems.  It appears that something is happening during the communication process between my Python script and the MySQL table.  I'll be looking into this further; however, in the meantime, after running the Python script I refreshed the MySQL table to confirm that the data had been written successfully; at that point I got the message that the communication link to the database had cratered.  Checking Windows services showed that the appropriate service was stopped.  Attempting to restart the windows service resulted in

*

*Message saying the service was starting, followed by

*Message saying "start pending" followed by

*Message saying "service stopped. (I'm writing this from memory, so the wording will not be exact)

I spent 20-30 minutes trying various restart method from within Workbench and focusing on the Windows service to no avail.  Finally, I did a full restart on my computer after closing all open applications.  After the full restart, everything was back to normal.  The MySQL windows service was "running" and communication was reestablished to the MySQL database.
So, The real question is:
Is shutting down my computer and restarting the only way to reestablish communications or is there a less drastic method?
My setup parameters are pretty vanilla with the exception that I'm putting the MySQL program on my D: drive as opposed to the C: drive (an SSD reserved for the operating sys).
System: Windows 8 64bit on a Xeon Ivy Bridge processor, large SSD's, large HD's, mucho RAM, dual X-fired video cards, ASUS Sabertooth MB (self-built a yr ago)
Software: MySQL 5.7, complete installation except for module for Visual Basic and Python3 (running 2.7).  Attempting to use the above hardware as both a server & client.
TIA, Doug
Partial Logs added  The last few entries for both.
from MySQL.err
2013-11-13T02:05:27.793705Z 0 [Note] IPv6 is available.
2013-11-13T02:05:27.793705Z 0 [Note]   - '::' resolves to '::';
2013-11-13T02:05:27.793705Z 0 [Note] Server socket created on IP: '::'.
2013-11-13T02:05:28.199955Z 0 [Note] Event Scheduler: Loaded 0 events
2013-11-13T02:05:28.199955Z 0 [Note] D:/Program Files/MySQL/MySQL Server 5.7/bin\mysqld: ready for connections.
Version: '5.7.2-m12-log'  socket: ''  port: 3306  MySQL Community Server (GPL)
2013-11-13T02:28:05.919396Z 1 [Note] Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO)
2013-11-13T02:28:23.592157Z 4 [Note] Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO)
2013-11-13T04:50:05.102535Z 2 [Note] Aborted connection 2 to db: 'unconnected' user: 'root' host: 'localhost' (Got an error reading communication packets)
2013-11-13T04:50:05.102535Z 5 [Note] Aborted connection 5 to db: 'unconnected' user: 'root' host: 'localhost' (Got an error reading communication packets)

From MySQL.log
2013-11-11T23:17:49.240559Z 0 [Note] IPv6 is available.
2013-11-11T23:17:49.240559Z 0 [Note]   - '::' resolves to '::';
2013-11-11T23:17:49.241559Z 0 [Note] Server socket created on IP: '::'.
2013-11-11T23:17:49.252567Z 0 [Note] Event Scheduler: Loaded 0 events
2013-11-11T23:17:49.253567Z 0 [Note] D:/Program Files/MySQL/MySQL Server 5.7/bin\mysqld: ready for connections.
Version: '5.7.2-m12-log'  socket: ''  port: 3306  MySQL Community Server (GPL)
2013-11-11T23:18:44.161120Z 2 [Note] Aborted connection 2 to db: 'mysql' user: 'root' host: 'localhost' (Got an error reading communication packets)
2013-11-11T23:18:44.161120Z 1 [Note] Aborted connection 1 to db: 'mysql' user: 'root' host: 'localhost' (Got an error reading communication packets)
2013-11-11T23:23:42.738555Z 4 [Note] Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO)
2013-11-12T01:32:37.841648Z 5 [Note] Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO)
2013-11-12T01:33:17.269224Z 8 [Note] Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO)
2013-11-12T03:59:44.116187Z 6 [Note] Aborted connection 6 to db: 'unconnected' user: 'root' host: 'localhost' (Got an error reading communication packets)
2013-11-12T03:59:44.117186Z 9 [Note] Aborted connection 9 to db: 'tutorial' user: 'root' host: 'localhost' (Got an error reading communication packets)
2013-11-12T10:19:52.316073Z 18 [Note] Aborted connection 18 to db: 'tutorial' user: 'Doug' host: 'ISAAC' (Got timeout reading communication packets)
2013-11-12T11:43:28.296173Z 20 [Note] Aborted connection 20 to db: 'tutorial' user: 'root' host: 'localhost' (Got timeout reading communication packets)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Unnamed (near Chekhechunnjik Creek)
Ag; Au
This occurrence is at an elevation of about 2,500 ft approximately 3/4 mile south of Chekhechunnjik Creek (sec. 9, T. 30 N., R. 3 E., of the Fairbanks Meridian ) and 12 1/2 miles southeast of the east end of Ackerman Lake. It is 14 miles northeast of Thazzik Mountain. This site corresponds to unnamed loc. 80 in DeYoung (1978). The location is accurate within a 1-mile radius.
The brief description of this prospect provided by Brosgé and Reiser (1972) indicates only anomalous gold and silver values in samples from a vein described as a single, thin, arsenic-rich vein in a system of east-west-trending quartz veins. The samples returned values as high as 3.6 ppm Au; Ag values were 1 to 3 ppm. Brosgé and Reiser (1972) also note several additional weakly anomalous rock and soil samples in an area which extends several miles to the southwest of the principal occurrence. The area is mapped as dark gray to black, gray to reddish-brown weathering, quartz-muscovite schist (Brosgé and Reiser, 1964).
Low-sulfide Au-quartz veins? (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 36a?).
36a?
Cobb, E.H., 1976, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Chandalar and Wiseman quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-340, 205 p.
Cobb, E.H., and Cruz, E.L., 1983, Summaries of data and lists of references to metallic and selected nonmetallic mineral deposits in the Chandalar quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 83-278, 91 p.
DeYoung, J.H., Jr., 1978, Mineral resources map of the Chandalar quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-878-B, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.
Grybeck, Donald, 1977, Known mineral deposits of the Brooks Range, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-166C, 45 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:1,000,000.
J.M. Britton (Anchorage)


text:
About Integrity Systems Company
1. ISC at a glance 2. Board & staff 3. Stakeholders 4. Strategy
ISC Board
ISC is governed by a skills-based Board, responsible for providing advice and guidance on how policies and standards are incorporated into the delivery of the industry's integrity systems.
The Board receives operational advice and input from the Integrity Systems Taskforce, which includes representation from all peak industry councils across the supply chain.
The SAFEMEAT Partnership's Integrity Systems Policy Group provides strategic and policy input into the integrity system, and an Integrity Systems Communications Working Group provides advice on communications and stakeholder engagement activities.
Robert Fitzpatrick (Chair) BEc, LLB, MBA, GAICD
Mr Fitzpatrick is an industry and technology expert with more than 30 years' experience in senior executive roles across the spectrum of large corporates, government agencies, and small and medium enterprises and start-ups. He has a detailed understanding of industry representative bodies, research and higher education, retail, fast-moving consumer goods, telecommunications, and information and communications technology sectors. Mr Fitzpatrick has a passion for improving the integrity and efficiency of Australia's agricultural sector, applying new analytics to improve on farm productivity, de-bottleneck supply chains and reduce the cost of moving product from farmgate to global markets. Mr Fitzpatrick is director of the Australian Academic and Research Network, and as at 30 June 2019 was CEO of Gelion UK and Gelion technologies, a leading provider of battery storage for the renewable energy sector. Mr Fitzpatrick is Chair of Integrity Systems Company Limited and a director of Meat & Livestock Australia Limited and MLA Donor Company Limited.
Previous roles: Previous board and senior executive roles include McKinsey & Company, Optus, ShopFast, Monitoring Division Inc and wishlist.com.au, councillor of Charles Sturt University, senior executive of Data61 (formerly NICTA) and CEO of Australian Information Industry Association.
Dr Michele Allan (Director)
BAppSc, MMgtTec, MCommLaw, DBA, FAICD
Dr Allan has an academic background in biomedical science, management and law. Dr Allan currently holds board positions with Food Innovation Australia Limited, Apple and Pear Australia, Grain Growers, Nuffield Australia, CSIRO, Food Agility CRC, Dairy Food Safety Victoria, MJCP Holdings Pty Ltd and Wine Australia. She is Chancellor of Charles Sturt University and Chair of the Defence CRC for Trusted Autonomous Systems. Dr Allan is also Chair of Meat & Livestock Australia Limited, a director of MLA Donor Company Limited and a member of the MLA Remuneration and Selection Committees.
Previous roles: Chair of the Grains and Legumes Nutrition Council; executive director of Patties Foods; non executive director of Patties Foods, Dairy Research & Development Corporation, Forest and Wood Products Australia, Ruralco Holdings, Tasmania Fruit & Vegetable Taskforce, Tasmanian Irrigation, Callaghan Innovation, William Angliss Catering & Hospitality TAFE College, Cooperative Research Centre Hearing, Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation, Innovation and Science Australia, and member of the CRC Advisory Committee.
Jason Strong (Director)
MAICD
Mr Strong has more than 30 years' red meat and livestock experience, knowledge and connections from the farm through to the end consumer in both domestic and international markets. He is a well-recognised and respected senior executive with extensive skills in commercial and industry business management and administration, supply chain development, meat science and grading, genetics and marketing as well as on-farm experience. Mr Strong is also Managing Director of Meat & Livestock Australia Ltd and is a director of MLA Donor Company Limited, AUS-MEAT Limited and Red Meat Traceability Systems Pty Ltd, and Chair of the EU and UK Red Meat Market Access Taskforce.
Previous roles: CEO, Smithfield Cattle Company, Managing Director AA Co, MLA's regional manager in Europe and Russia, Pfizer (now Zoetis), past Chair of the Australian Beef Industry Foundation. Manager and coach of the Australian Inter Collegiate Meat Judging Team and councillor and NSW Chairman and National Vice President of Cattlemen's Union of Australia.
Alan Beckett (Director)
BEc, FICA, GAICD
Mr Beckett runs an Angus breeding and backgrounding operation in Yea, Victoria. He brings 40 years' experience with a major professional services firm, practising in the area of audit and corporate services to large companies with an emphasis on listed public companies along with practical experience in doing business in Oceania, South-East Asia, China, Japan and India. Mr Beckett is a non-executive director of Defence Health Limited, Westbourne Capital Pty Ltd and Westbourne Credit Management Limited. He is the independent member of the Audit & Risk Committee of the Reserve Bank of Australia's wholly owned subsidiary, Note Printing Australia Limited. Mr Beckett is a director of Meat & Livestock Australia Limited, MLA Donor Company Limited and Integrity Systems Company Limited, and is Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee.
Previous roles: Chairman of ASX listed Basper Limited (formally Berklee Ltd) and Deputy Chairman of the Department of Defence Audit & Risk Committee.
Erin Gorter (Director)
BA (education) GAICD
Ms Gorter is a rural industry consultant with many years of experience as a WA livestock producer. Ms Gorter comes from a farming background and was a landholder and involved in running a mixed farming operation in Kojonup, WA, producing prime lamb, wool and grains, conducting sheep trading and a small amount of agroforestry for nearly 30 years. Ms Gorter runs her own business in providing business and industry management advice and events planning in rural areas. She was awarded the WA RIRDC Rural Women's Award Runner Up in 2010 and is a director of AgVivo. Ms Gorter is a director of Meat & Livestock Australia Limited, MLA Donor Company Limited and Integrity Systems Company Limited, is Chair of the Remuneration Committee and a member of the Audit and Risk Committee.
Previous roles: Producer representative on the Board of the WA Meat Industry Authority and managed all aspects of two WA-based grower production groups.
Andrew Michael (Director)
Director since December 2017
Mr Michael is a fourth-generation farmer, working his 1,500ha family farm at Snowtown, South Australia, as well as grazing land in the state's north-east pastoral area and in the south-east. Over the last 45 years he has built and operated a large scale sheepmeat and wool business including both terminal and maternal sheep. He has extensive experience in the use of breeding technologies in both the sheep and cattle industries, and has, for over 35 years, incorporated all the latest leading edge animal breeding technologies available. Mr Michael is a great supporter and user of all sheep industry groups, including Sheep CRC, Sheep Genetics, Information Nucleus Flock and many more. Using these technologies and working with industry groups has assisted him to develop a highly productive business, breeding top performing sheep for quality red meat production, along with high value skins and wools on animals that do not require mulesing. For many years he has had a close association with commercial producers all round Australia, New Zealand and South America, holding presentation and educational field days and helping their marketing and genetic selection programs. Mr Michael is enthusiastic, has a passion for progress and technology and has a positive vision for Australia's sheep flock.
Previous roles:
Mr Michael has been a member of the Royal Adelaide Show Pastoral Committee having served 22 years, two as President. He has now resigned and finishes this role in October 2017. He was a board member of the Lumeah Trust, a member with SA Sheep Disease Management Committee focusing on OJD and Spider Syndrome, and an Australian White Suffolk Foundation Committee Member. Mr Michael is also Honorary Life Member and Distinguished Service Award member of the Australian White Suffolk Association.
Russell Lethbridge (Director)
Dip Rural Business Management, Cert Animal Husbandry and Farm Engineering (Hons)
Mr Lethbridge, with his family, runs Werrington Cattle Company, a commercial beef cattle, breeding, growing and fattening enterprise. Werrington has been in the Lethbridge family for 118 years with the current branch of the family in ownership since 1980. The Werrington business runs over 10,000 head of cattle and comprises a breeding program on 19,500ha of natural eucalypt forest country, approximately 250km west of Townsville and 200km north of Hughenden in north Queensland. The business also consists of Rainmore Station, a 27,000ha property near Alpha in central Queensland. Mr Lethbridge has a deep understanding of cattle production systems, managing breeder and feeder cattle under extreme environmental conditions and pasture nutrition levels, utilising genetic selection and strategic herd management to achieve production and business success.
Previous roles: Mr Lethbridge was Chair of the Hann Highway Action Group, a member of the Rural Fire Board and a member of the Oak Race Club Committee. He was an elected representative of AgForce for seven years, beginning as Regional Vice President for the north region, then as Regional President and Board Member and member of AgForce Finance Audit and Risk and Agribusiness Finance Drought and Climate Policy Committees. He was a member of the steering committee for the Northern Gulf Resource Management Group to develop and promote a business improvement package for north Australian cattlemen.
Manny Noakes (Director)
BSc, Dip Nut & Diet, PhD
Director since November 2018
Professor Manny Noakes is a key opinion leader and trusted advisor in nutrition and health both nationally and internationally. With over 25 years' experience she has extensive knowledge in many fields of nutrition and health including the food regulatory system and functional food substantiation, and an in-depth knowledge of the role of red meat in human nutrition. Professor Noakes was instrumental in the development of the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet which positions red meat as part of a healthy diet for weight control. Professor Noakes is currently an Adjunct Research Professor with the University of South Australia and a member of the Nutrition Society of Australia. In addition, she is also a member of the National Committee for Nutrition for the Australian Academy of Sciences as well as being on its Expert Working Group Special Project: Nourishing Australia: A decadal plan for nutrition science.
Previous roles: Professor Noakes was formerly a Senior Principal Research Scientist and Director for the Nutrition and Health Program at CSIRO. She has been an executive member of the Federal Government Food and Health Dialogue, the National Heart Foundation Food and Nutrition Advisory Committee and an Executive Member of the Lion Nutrition Advisory Panel amongst numerous other advisory roles for industry and government.
Jo Pye (Director)
BSc Food & Nutrition, MBA, Dip Leadership Coaching
Ms Pye has 20 years' experience in large scale customer engagement, marketing and strategy within the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry (with a focus on food and beverage) across numerous roles covering food science, product and strategic marketing management, consumer insights and strategic planning. She has held senior positions across local, regional (APAC) and global (USA, UK, APAC) markets including a three-year assignment in Shanghai, China where she was responsible for strategic planning and implementation to drive regional business growth. Ms Pye has excelled in both global corporate and lean start up environments and in designing and delivering high quality strategic market advisory and implementation projects. She has completed a Diploma in Leadership Coaching and is a member of the Australian Institute Food Science & Technology (AIFST).
Previous roles: Ms Pye was Director – Food Service for The NPD Group, Global Head of Insights & Customer Experience at Watch Me Think, Global Director of Insights & Client Service, Mintel International and was Marketing Director Australia & NZ DuPont (formerly Danisco).
ISC Staff
ISC is managed by a CEO supported by a team of approximately 38 people with strong expertise in the integrity programs, database and analytical systems, balanced with significant red meat industry value chain experience.
Dr Jane Weatherley – Chief Executive Officer
PhD (Farming systems), GAICD
Dr Jane Weatherley has worked for MLA for almost 11 years, and in 2016 took on the role of Chief Executive Officer of ISC. In her role as CEO, she is responsible for managing Australia's red meat industry integrity systems including the NLIS, NVDs and LPA programs. Previously, Jane was General Manager, Livestock Productivity, managing Meat Standards Australia, livestock genetics and sheep productivity RD&E. She has also held roles with Rabobank in far north west Tasmania, and as a red meat extension officer for the Department of Primary Industries in Tasmania. Jane maintains an active role in her family beef breeding operation on Bruny Island, Tasmania and has a PhD from the University of Tasmania in farming systems RD&E.
Jo Quigley – Chief Operating Officer
Jo is responsible for the operations and implementation of the Australian red meat industry's on-farm and through-chain integrity and traceability systems, including the NLIS, NVDs and the LPA program. With an agricultural upbringing and a Bachelor of Agricultural Economics (Hons) from the University of New England, Jo has worked with MLA for the past 15 years. She has been responsible for ensuring the successful implementation of industry initiatives aimed at minimising the Australian red meat industry's exposure to food safety, biosecurity and product integrity risks. Jo is also Chair of the International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR) Animal ID Sub-Committee.
Andrew Skinner – Solution Design & Information Architecture Manager
Over the past 19 years, Andrew has designed and deployed digital solutions into challenging physical environments for some of the world's biggest organisations. At ISC, Andrew is implementing the Integrity System 2025 Strategy and works across the digital and data pillars of the MLA Annual Investment Plan, collaborating with supply chain organisations to realise production value through integrating multiple horizon technologies into their businesses. Prior to his appointment with ISC, Andrew led the Data to Decisions CRC Innovation Exchange program researching big data opportunities in the defence, manufacturing, health and agricultural industries. This included developing the Big Data Reference Architecture and other whole of agriculture digital and data research for the Rural R&D for Profit Precision to Decision Project.
Kathleen Allan - Communications and Adoption Manager
Kathleen is responsible for the implementation of communication, stakeholder engagement and adoption activities at ISC. Kathleen is a fifth-generation farmer living on the family property near Yass in southern NSW and has a Bachelor of Rural Science with Honours from the University of New England. Prior to her appointment with ISC, Kathleen worked in a number of regulatory, program management and policy roles with the Australian government in Canberra and has held management roles at Grains Research and Development Corporation and Sheep Producers Australia. Kathleen has a particular interest in community engagement and agricultural advocacy.
Damon Holmes – Integrity Program Manager
Damon is responsible for overseeing the operations of NLIS, NVDs and the LPA program in his role as Program Manager at ISC. Damon works closely with federal and state governments, peak industry councils, producers and supply chain participants, to continue to deliver traceability and food safety to industry. Previously, Damon was a cattle market analyst within MLA's market information team. Following this, he took carriage of the National Livestock Reporting Service (NLRS) for three years, where he managed domestic price collection and reporting across Australia. Damon grew up on a cattle property in Theodore in central Queensland and has a Bachelor of Economics from the Queensland University of Technology.


text:
Caged Eyes
Lynn Hall
Interview with Kimberly Belle + #DebBallGiveaway of THE MARRIAGE LIE
Posted By Lynn K Hall on Saturday, January 7, 2017
We're thrilled to welcome back Kimberly Belle into the Debutante Ball guest chair this week! Belle's latest novel, The Marriage Lie, hit shelves just last week, and is already earning rave reviews!
Iris and Will's marriage is as close to perfect as it can be: a large house in a nice Atlanta neighborhood, rewarding careers and the excitement of trying for their first baby. But on the morning Will leaves for a business trip to Orlando, Iris's happy world comes to an abrupt halt. Another plane headed for Seattle has crashed into a field, killing everyone on board, and according to the airline, Will was one of the passengers on this plane.
Iris sets off on a desperate quest to find out what her husband was keeping from her, pulling back layer after layer of deception to discover her marriage was far from solid.
I love this phenomenal review from Boolkist: "Belle harnesses her heroine's grief, disbelief, anger, and love to fuel this domestic thriller, splicing in modern technology for a ripped-from-the-headlines feel. Belle's taut pacing drives the story forward, and the relatability of the Griffiths will hit readers close to home. With plot twists around every corner, Belle isn't afraid to keep her readers guessing until the very last page of this heart-pounding story of one woman's desperate search for answers." Wow!
Want to win a free copy? enter to win a signed hardcover by retweeting on twitter:
Enter the #DebBallGiveaway to win THE MARRIAGE LIE by Kimberly Belle! RT to Enter, Ends 1/13 https://t.co/pdYKZqWfBL pic.twitter.com/GPDO2BH9eF
— The Debutante Ball (@DebutanteBall) January 7, 2017
Or, you can also enter by sharing the post on Facebook. We will select and contact the very lucky winner on Friday, January 13th at noon (US Only).
Now, onto the interview!
Talk about one thing that's making you happy right now.
My daughter is currently in the midst of applying to colleges, and to the kinds of programs that require headshots and auditions. This process is, to put it mildly, stressful for everyone involved, and it doesn't come cheap. Hotels, airline tickets, the works. But what's making me happy is watching her come in to her own during this process and develop the self-confidence to walk into any room, pluck any microphone from the stand, and belt out a song in spectacular, pitch-perfect tune. My husband and I always joked that our son was the practice child, the laid-back kid who prepared us for his younger sister, the drama queen. But now I see her stubbornness came with a purpose, for this path she's chosen for herself. As sad as I'll be to see her go off to college, I know she'll be fabulous wherever she lands.
Where do you love to be?
Anyone who follows me on social media knows I'm more than a little obsessed with all things Dutch. Not just because my husband was born in Holland and half my family lives there. Not just because strolling Amsterdam's streets and canals feels like walking through a postcard. Not just because of the food and the shopping and the flowers and the museums, all of which are world class. Because of all those things and more.
I moved to Amsterdam a zillion years ago, when I was young and in love and life was an adventure, before there were babies and mortgages and sixty-hour workweeks. Maybe it's nostalgia for that easier time, but that sense of freedom is what sticks with me the most when I think of that place, the feeling that everything and anything is possible there. You want to play your flute and pass out tulips on the street corner? Cool. Eat salted licorice and French fries with mayonnaise? Yum. Ride your bike naked through the rain? Um, you might be a little cold, but go for it. The Dutch are a little weird, a lot crazy, and always authentic, and even though we haven't lived there for fourteen years, Amsterdam will always feel like home.
The road to publication is twisty at best–tell us about some of your twists.
I made my first attempt at writing a book eight years ago, and like most first novels, it wasn't pretty. The characters were clichéd, the conflict was flat, the dialogue was stilted. If there was a story there, it was buried under all the wrong words—words even a newbie like me could tell were complete crap. When I was done, I closed the file, shoved it in a box under my bed, and chalked the effort up as a learning experience. Every writer has a practice book, right?
I took everything I'd learned and wrote another novel, The Last Breath. I knew by chapter three that this was the book that would land me an agent, but I also hated the odds of the slush pile. I supplemented my query efforts with in-person pitch sessions at conferences, which are exactly as terrifying as they seem. But I stuttered my way through them, and the very first agent I pitched was the one I eventually signed with, so I must have done something right. She sold The Last Breath in a two-book deal one year later, and that second book? I pulled that practice novel out from under my bed, rewrote it, and published it as The Ones We Trust.
What is the best perk of your job?
I adore working from home, and how it means I get to sit around in my yoga pants all day. I'm constantly standing on my head or folding myself into a pretzel in order to think through a scene. For me it's more than getting up and out of my chair; it's about getting grounded, about letting the story go long enough to let my subconscious take over. Especially when I'm stuck, I've found that as soon as I let go of the story and do something physical, my plot knots unwind and I figure out how to move forward. The world looks very different upside down, and so does my story.
What's your next big thing? (new book, new project, etc.)
My next story is called MISTAKEN, and it's about the disappearance of eight-year old Ethan, who vanishes from a cabin in the North Georgia mountains while on an overnight trip with his second-grade class. At first, police assume his disappearance is an abduction, until another mother receives a mysterious call demanding ransom for her son, a little boy who's safe and accounted for. Both mothers are thrust in a race to save Ethan, where the greatest dangers turn out to be not in the threats of an anonymous stranger, but the everyday smiles of people closer to home.
Thank you, Kimberly, for joining us today! It's an honor to have you.
Kimberly Belle is the author of three novels: The Last Breath, The Ones We Trust, and The Marriage Lie (coming January 2017). She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Agnes Scott College and has worked in marketing and fundraising for various nonprofits, both at home and abroad. She divides her time between Atlanta and Amsterdam.
You can follow Belle on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or find her on her website:
www.facebook.com/KimberlyBelleBooks
www.twitter.com/KimberlySBelle
www.instagram.com/KimberlySBelle
www.kimberlybellebooks.com
Lynn K Hall
Lynn Hall is a memoirist, activist in the movement to end sexual violence, ultra-runner, and crazy cat lady. Her memoir, CAGED EYES: AN AIR FORCE CADET'S STORY OF RAPE AND RESILIENCE, was published by Beacon Press in February 2017. Her writing has previously appeared in the New York Times, The LA Times, Hippocampus Magazine, The Sexual Assault Report, The Manifest-Station, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, and elsewhere. In the summers, Lynn copes with publication anxiety by spending too many days in the Colorado mountains, and in the winters, with pans of brownies. She lives in Boulder with her partner and their 23 cats. Just kidding…she only has five.
Latest posts by Lynn K Hall (see all)
The New Debs: Please Welcome the Class of 2018! - Saturday, September 2, 2017
A Deb Ball Graduation - Wednesday, August 30, 2017
My Debut Year: Standing in My Truth - Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Make New Friends But Keep The Old - Wednesday, August 16, 2017
What Sophomore Book? - Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Posted in 2017 Debs, Caged Eyes, Debutante Ball, Guest Author, Lynn Hall Tagged Deb Ball Interview, Guest Author, Kimberly Belle, The Marriage Lie
← The Planner Has No Plan!!!
News Flash: Taking 2017 by Storm →
writeoncindy says:
Saturday, January 7, 2017 at 8:05 am
I LOVED "The Marriage Lie" and can't wait to read "Mistaken." FYI: Amsterdam is one of my favorite cities in the world. I remember it seemed as if everyone was tall and gorgeous – even the soldiers at Schipol Int'l. Good luck!
millie dunn says:
The Marriage Lie is a book I simply could NOT stop reading! Recommending it to all my friends!
Judy Tucker says:
Saturday, January 7, 2017 at 10:24 am
Can't wait to read the marriage lie. Loved her other books.
Kwihui Halliday says:
Hello. I'm new to reading anyone's blogs. It is little bit confusing, with the way it's set up. I'm sure it's just me. There are so much reading through what's what.
Of course I was enticed by the headline writes about entering in the book win, or something like it. I was looking through the SteamPunk information. I love that genre, if it's very well written with a strong plot that's also very interesting. I cannot recall the titles of the books that I've read, at the moment, but the first one left a strong impression. My daughter had gotten me hooked by recommending what she's just read. She is an avid reader, and she is "that" person who cannot live without books, as Thomas Jeffersons said, when. Of course, I'm proud to say, that it was I who've impressed upon her and my son, her younger brother. They are both mature adults, and both love books immensely. They've read Shakespear, Chaucer, and Socrates, and other classical works. They've also read current novels, too, and love many new authors. Their interests are very eclectic. The love of reading is what creates a gentler souls, I think. Also, a better and maturer adult, who have broadest views of the world. Only if more would read. Oh well.
Anyway, thank you, to all of you authors of the world, for creating unbelievably wonderful fantastic worlds for us readers. Honestly, like my children, I could not exist in a world that doesn't have books! Books of all kinds. Authors are the most fantastic and admirable people, in my opinion.
Thank you for reading my jumbled words. Look forward to reading yours and the other authors on your page.
Kwihui Halliday