Hearings began at 1:19 pm. Individual votes were announced for 3 of the first 8 hearings. During the 9th hearing, Chairman Fogleman announced that if he did not mention individual votes in his decision, the public should assume that the vote was unanimous. That assumption has been made in the following entries.
Notes from hearing: Mr. Prevas requested a brief hearing postponement, explaining that the applicant has the support of the community and has entered into a lease, but has not finalized all of the details with the landlord and would like to get everything in place before attending a hearing. Mr. Prevas also said that the applicant had informed Mr. Peters of the Hampden Community Council of the postponement. Mr. Peters, who was not at the hearing, told the author the next day that he had not been aware of the postponement.
Notes from hearing: This location is currently covered by the North Avenue Market's license, but the applicant wants to have his own restaurant license. The applicant presented the Board with a menu, a floor plan showing 104 seats, a document showing a capital investment exceeding the $200,000 required by state law for a new license, letters of support from 3 state delegates, a letter of support from Center City, Inc., and a petition with 167 signatures (including some from Charles North Community Association members) in support of the application. Joe from Joe Squared also testified in support of the application. The applicant said that as part of his operation he is going to try to work with David Stein of Civic Works' Real Food Farms and also to do some workforce development in the neighborhood. As for live entertainment, the applicant said he is planning on having traditional Irish and Scottish music and some blue grass. There will be 3-4 4-top tables outside, but the applicant has not yet gotten the required minor privilege approval from Zoning.
Result of hearing: Transfer, live entertainment, outdoor table service, and off-premises catering approved.
Issues raised in the audit present in this case: Corporate Standing: Audit Finding 3 states that "BLLC lacked documentation that certain State law and BLLC licensing requirements were met." Specifically, 9 of 30 "judgmentally selected" licenses lacked the required documentation indicating that the licensed business was in good standing with the State Department of Assessments and Taxation (i.e. that the business has filed all required documents and is not delinquent with any State agency). The audit recommends that "staff verif[y] that applicants are in good standing with SDAT and include relevant documentation in the licensee files." Liam Flynn's Ale House, LLC is not in good standing with SDAT.
Name of associated corporate entity: Tabor Ethiopian Cuisine, Inc.
Notes from hearing: There are two applicants on this application. The one who is a Baltimore City resident was unable to attend the hearing. According to hearing testimony, he was a licensee at A-1 Deli and Liquors for 16 years. The restaurant is currently open. The applicant's attorney, Mr. Prevas, said that Mr. Yeager of Downtown Partnership was in support of the license (he had been in Room 215 when the hearings were scheduled to begin, but had to leave). The applicant presented the Board with a document showing a capital investment exceeding the $200,000 required by state law for a new license, 3 letters of support (from Downtown Culture Arts Center, Charm City Chews, and PMS Parking), and a petition with approximately 100 signatures. Chairman Fogleman asked if the establishment was within the boundaries of the Mount Vernon Belvedere Association and Mr. Prevas said he thought it was within the boundaries of the Downtown Partnership. The applicant said there will be 76 seats in the restaurant, plus a small bar with 9 stools in front of the kitchen. In terms of live entertainment, he will be offering traditional Ethiopian music, usually acoustic, with 2-3 musicians 3-4 days a week. Commissioner Jones asked how the applicant would control the volume of the music and the applicant responded that Ethiopian music is not loud – it uses instruments like guitars and it does not use drums.
Result of hearing: Application approved, but if a community association within whose boundaries the establishment lies requests a reconsideration within 30 days, the Board will consider it. In an unusual comment that Chairman Fogleman repeated throughout the day's hearings, he told the applicant that he will not receive his license until all criteria on a required checklist (Health Department approval, trader's license, etc.) have been met.
Other reasons Commissioners gave for decision: The licensee has operated a restaurant in this area before so he knows the neighborhood.
Notes from hearing: This is the location of Pazza Luna (now closed). The primary applicant is 28 years old and is the sole investor in the project. His parents are lending him the money to buy the building. The applicants presented the commissioners with petitions with lots of local signatures. They said they are planning on having a "relaxed, up-scale restaurant that's kid-friendly" with about 15 employees. The restaurant will be open 7 days a week, from 11 am to 10 pm on weeknights, and to 2 am on weekends. The applicants said they met with the board members of the Locust Point community association and on June 12 will be giving a presentation to the whole association. They did not have anything in writing from the community association at the hearing. The outdoor seating will be four 4-tops and the live entertainment will consist of "small stuff" such as karaoke, trivia, and acoustic guitar.
What the vote was: Unanimous. Usually, the commissioners deliberate quietly so the audience cannot hear before announcing their decision. In this instance, Chairman Fogleman said audibly to the other commissioners that he wanted to hear from the community association.
Name of associated corporate entity: Wunderpants Productions, Inc.
Notes from hearing: The applicant plans on having a 500 square foot bar to create a bookstore café atmosphere. He presented a letter in support from the Hampden Village Merchants Association, of which he is president – he explained that he recused himself from the vote on whether or not to support the project. Commissioner Smith asked if there are lots of customers under age 21, what the applicant will do to ensure that there is no under-age drinking. The applicant replied that the store has lots of graphic novels that appeal to adults, and that their average customer age is 21-35. He also said that the bar will be completely separated from the area where children's comics are kept. Commissioner Smith also asked about the volume of the live entertainment. The applicant said that he was seeking an ambiance where you can pick up a magazine and sit down and read it with a pint of beer. In response to another question by Commissioner Smith, the applicant said that he will not be renting out the establishment. In response to Chairman Fogleman, the applicant said he plans on offering local beers, including the Raven line, which has an appropriate literary association. The second licensee is not financially invested in the business, but has invested in the license. She is a community resident and a long-time fan of Atomic Books.
Notes from hearing: The applicants, one of whom gave an address in Bethesda, MD, and one of whom gave an address in Arlington, VA, plan on having an establishment with Irish-American cuisine and about 15 employees. The hours will be 11 am to 2 am. Members of the community association supported the application and presented the Board with a signed MOU, which, upon questioning from Chairman Fogleman, the applicants said they had knowingly and voluntarily entered.
Issues raised in the audit present in this case: Finding 3 of the Audit states that "BLLC [the Liquor Board] lacked documentation that certain State law and BLLC licensing requirements were met." In 11 out of 30 applications the auditors tested, the applications were not completely filled out. Neither of the applicants in this case resides in Baltimore City, as required by Md Code Art. 2B § 10-103(4)(i).
Notes from hearing: This is the site of the old J. Patrick's. The applicant wants to use the name O'Donnell in the new establishment. The application says that the applicant will operate the business full-time, but he said at the hearing that he will not – he will have a full-time manager. The applicant met with the Locust Point Civic Association, which voted to support the project, with no restrictions. The applicant presented a floor plan and a petition with 130-140 signatures. Delegate Brian McHale also supports the project. The applicant hopes to open the establishment by January 1. The hours of operation will be 11:30 am to 2 am. The applicant said the live entertainment will probably be acoustic guitar, and outdoor seating will consist of about 6 4-top tables. The mezzanine, which was not part of the business before, will have 20-24 seats.
Name of associated corporate entity: Edmondson Liquors, Inc.
Notes from hearing: The applicant has operated the establishment for about 15-20 years. She presented a petition with signatures supporting the application. The previous owner did not operate the place well, so the applicant is taking over the license. The applicant's attorney said that the Midtown Community Association [the author is unclear if the attorney was referring to the Midtown Community Benefits District or another community association] is basically in support of the application. According to the applicant, the president of the association was apparently going to tell the Liquor Board about the association's approval, but hasn't yet. The applicant was a licensee from 2002-2005. Chairman Fogleman asked if she had any problems during that time, and she said no.
Other reasons Commissioners gave for decision: The petition in support of the license; No opposition at the hearing.
Area demographics (as of 2010, from BNIA): 79% Black, 15% White; 29% households have children under age 18; median household income: $38,733; 18% households live below the poverty line. In a 2011 Baltimore City Health Department report, Waverly scores 35 (out of 55, with 1 being the best) for Liquor Store Density, where Liquor Store Density is assessed as a determinant for community health – this is considered average for the City of Baltimore. The Liquor Board-prepared map for this application shows two other establishments with A licenses within a few blocks of this location.
Name of associated corporate entity: Mimi Liquors, Inc.
Does at least one of the applicants reside in Baltimore City (and has resided in Baltimore for at least 2 years)? No. The applicant listed a residence in Woodstock, MD on her application.
Does the application contain 3 signatures from Baltimore City property owners who are registered to vote and who have known the applicant for at least two years? No. There is one valid signature. Two of the three individuals listed do not own the property they list as theirs; one of these individuals states that he has only known the applicant for one year.
Notes from hearing: The applicant has owned two liquor licenses in the past, one at this location. She presented a petition in support of the application. The applicant said that she has discussed the application with the Harwood Community Association, and the members are in support, but have not had a chance to write a letter yet. Chairman Fogleman asked if the applicant had any violations on her previous licenses. She said she had one in 2003, but none since. Chairman Fogleman emphasized that the Board comes down harshly when licensees serve to underage individuals.
Result of hearing: Transfer approved.
Other reasons Commissioners gave for decision: The applicant has owned licenses in the past, and only had 1 violation 10 years ago. She knows the neighborhood.
Issues raised in the audit present in this case: Finding 3 of the Audit states that "BLLC [the Liquor Board] lacked documentation that certain State law and BLLC licensing requirements were met." In 11 out of 30 applications the auditors tested, the applications were not completely filled out. The applicant in this case does not reside in Baltimore City, as required by Md Code Art. 2B § 10-103(4)(i). Additionally, the application contained three citizen signatures, but the signatures were not signatures of three citizens who met the requirements of Md Code Art. 2B § 10-104(d).
Area demographics (as of 2010, from BNIA): 83% Black, 13% White; 31% households have children under age 18; median household income: $19,183; 38% households live below the poverty line. The Liquor Board-prepared map shows 14 other liquor licenses within a few blocks of the establishment, 7 of which are BD7 licenses.
Does the application contain 3 signatures from Baltimore City property owners who are registered to vote and who have known the applicant(s) for at least 2 years? No. One of the three individuals listed does not own the property he lists as his.
Name of associated corporate entity: Pal Brothers, Inc.
Notes from hearing: The applicant's father is retiring, so the applicant is taking over the license. Chairman Fogleman confirmed that the establishment has permission to have outdoor table service, but doesn't really use it.


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Jim Stewart: 5 Things Every Competitive Shoot Needs To Do
As the head coach of Michigan State's rifle team, Jim Stewart spends a ton of time at Lansing's Demmer Center working with the athletes from the Michigan State Shooting Sports Club to prepare them for competition.
Because shooting is a club sport at MSU, Stewart prepares his shooters for events like the NRA Intercollegiate Rifle Club Championships – an event at which the Spartans won the national championship in 2012 – as opposed to the NCAA-sanctioned championships. In keeping with the club theme, he also works with several student-athletes that are less interested in the competitive aspects of shooting, and more focused on development and social interaction.
Regardless as to the level of an athlete's dedication to the sport, if shooters truly wish to get better, there are some basic things they need to do if they want do well in competitions.
1. Don't blame your equipment
In an sport that relies so heavily on equipment, there can be a temptation to purchase the latest and greatest rifle in the hopes that it will automatically improve the quality of a shooter's performance. However, Jim says this method of "buying points" doesn't always work out the way the athlete intends.
"Usually kids won't put the time and effort into practicing and getting better simply because they bought some high-dollar equipment," Jim explained. "So I've seen kids with expensive equipment that can't shoot for anything, and I see kids with mediocre equipment that are really pushing the limits of the equipment because they're so good."
2. Get a coach
If you want to get better at anything, it's logical to find someone better than you and learn from them. In the case of shooting sports, Jim says that finding someone to coach you may be the first step toward ultimately landing a scholarship to join the team of a top college or university.
"If you start working with a coach, and you show any skill at all, your name will get passed around to a lot of coaches," Jim said. "These coaches will pass you on to a state association coach. They have coaches that will coach the kids up and take them to different shoots and competitions around the country, and from there the kids will get noticed by coaches from some of the big schools. Coaches are good about moving shooters' careers along."
3. Figure out how dedicated you are
Like most activities, the more time someone spends practicing with a rifle, the better they get at shooting. As Jim pointed out, someone deciding between competing at a school with a club program or a varsity program can come down to how much time they are willing to dedicate to mastering their craft and improving on several levels.
"At Michigan State, rifle is a club sport, so we have one organized practice each week, and the kids are encouraged to come in and practice on other days as much as possible," Jim said. "If this were a club sport, it would become more of a job; we would shoot three times a week minimum and do other strength and conditioning drills on other days. Students have educational and social lives that are competing for their attention, and they need to decide how much time they are willing to part with to get better at a sport."
4. Get in shape
To a casual observer, marksmanship relies exclusively on the sharpness of the shooter's eye, coupled with basic hand-eye coordination. However, over the course of a shooting competition that can last well beyond an hour, Jim says the physical stamina of a competitor can come into play, and that can result in them being off target with shots that they would otherwise make.
"You need to be able to stabilize your body to maintain the same position with a calm demeanor and a low heart rate for a long period of time," Jim said. "All of these things can be worked on with strength training and conditioning. And you don't really see any big, out-of-shape shooters at the highest levels. So, it's an athletic sport in a different sense; the most athletic are those that can stay the most still."
5. Compete regularly
Ultimately, it doesn't matter how well someone shoots on the practice range if they can't repeat the performance during a competition. When the pressure mounts, Jim says a lot of competitors get a bad case of nerves, and this wreaks havoc on their shooting. Unfortunately, the pressure that comes with a tournament will never go away, so shooters simply need to get used to it.
"Typically, the athletes that win are those that control their nerves and emotions better than anyone else," Jim explained. "The way you overcome the pressure of the situation is simply by doing it. Eventually, you get to the point where you don't even see or hear the crowds because you're so comfortable in your environment. You'll just realize you've done it lots of times and you can relax."
Interested in Shooting?
Check out the Meijer State Games - Winter Games Shooting Information
Check out the Meijer State Games - Summer Games Shooting Information
The Meijer State Games of Michigan is a multi-sport, Olympic-style event(s) that welcome athletes regardless of age or ability level. The Games embody the values of participation, sportsmanship and healthy living.
Interested in our Summer Games?
www.StateGamesofMichigan.com/summergames
Interested in our Winter Games?
www.StateGamesofMichigan.com/wintergames
Tagged: Shooting, State Games, Training, athlete
Ted Rath: 5 Mistakes Most Young Athletes Are Making In The Weight Room
With six years as a strength and conditioning coach at the professional level under his belt, Ted Rath knows his way around a weight room. Although he enjoys designing the workout routines for the current crop of Detroit Lions football players, Ted also stays abreast of the fitness trends that are influencing younger athletes as they look to develop their bodies and improve their athletic performances.
Tagged: Weight lifting, Detroit Lions, Mistakes, State Games, Athlete, Training, Los Angeles Rams, Super Bowl, NFL

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Levenshtein error-correcting barcodes for multiplexed DNA sequencing
Tilo Buschmann1 &
Leonid V Bystrykh2
11k Accesses
High-throughput sequencing technologies are improving in quality, capacity and costs, providing versatile applications in DNA and RNA research. For small genomes or fraction of larger genomes, DNA samples can be mixed and loaded together on the same sequencing track. This so-called multiplexing approach relies on a specific DNA tag or barcode that is attached to the sequencing or amplification primer and hence appears at the beginning of the sequence in every read. After sequencing, each sample read is identified on the basis of the respective barcode sequence.
Alterations of DNA barcodes during synthesis, primer ligation, DNA amplification, or sequencing may lead to incorrect sample identification unless the error is revealed and corrected. This can be accomplished by implementing error correcting algorithms and codes. This barcoding strategy increases the total number of correctly identified samples, thus improving overall sequencing efficiency. Two popular sets of error-correcting codes are Hamming codes and Levenshtein codes.
Levenshtein codes operate only on words of known length. Since a DNA sequence with an embedded barcode is essentially one continuous long word, application of the classical Levenshtein algorithm is problematic. In this paper we demonstrate the decreased error correction capability of Levenshtein codes in a DNA context and suggest an adaptation of Levenshtein codes that is proven of efficiently correcting nucleotide errors in DNA sequences. In our adaption we take the DNA context into account and redefine the word length whenever an insertion or deletion is revealed. In simulations we show the superior error correction capability of the new method compared to traditional Levenshtein and Hamming based codes in the presence of multiple errors.
We present an adaptation of Levenshtein codes to DNA contexts capable of correction of a pre-defined number of insertion, deletion, and substitution mutations. Our improved method is additionally capable of recovering the new length of the corrupted codeword and of correcting on average more random mutations than traditional Levenshtein or Hamming codes.
As part of this work we prepared software for the flexible generation of DNA codes based on our new approach. To adapt codes to specific experimental conditions, the user can customize sequence filtering, the number of correctable mutations and barcode length for highest performance.
High-throughput sequencing is an increasingly popular technique due to steadily improving sequencing capacity and decreasing costs. Since modern machines are (at the time of writing this manuscript) capable of generating up to 8 ∗ 109 base pairs (8 Gbp) total read length in one lane, it might exceed required capacity for many research protocols focused on smaller scale sequencing applications, for instance those focused on selective DNA sampling for SNP analysis [1, 2], miRNA expression profiling [3], cellular barcoding [4], profiling repeated elements [5] and retroviral vector integration sites in the genome [6], as well as complete sequencing of microbial [7] and other small genomes [8].
In such cases many samples are combined in a single batch and sequenced as one sample. Using this multiplexed format, specific sample tags, also called barcodes, are added to the amplification or sequencing primer to discriminate all sub-samples in the mixture. After sequencing, reads can be identified by reading barcodes, allowing the sorting and separating of all sequence reads into original samples. The protocol is efficient as long as barcodes can be read robustly [9].
It is known, however, that multiple errors can occur with DNA sequencing due to defects in primer synthesis, the ligation process, sample pre-amplification, and finally sequencing. These errors can be either nucleotide substitutions or small insertions and deletions [10]. In addition to common sources of error, some sequencing platforms show elevated error rates in specific situations, such as indels of identical bases in Roche 454 Pyrosequencing [11] or random indels in PacBio sequencing technology [12]. Although any randomly picked synthetic nucleotide sequence can be used as a barcode, this approach is problematic because all basic parameters of the corresponding oligonucleotide, namely minimal distance, GC content, sequence redundancy etc. cannot be properly controlled [13].
In recent years several papers were published attempting to utilize general coding theory of binary error-correcting codes. The major advantage of those codes over "naive" tags is the possibility to detect and correct a limited number of errors. In addition they also ensure a constant minimal distance. Other parameters, such as GC content and sequence redundancy, are generally more uniform in error-correcting codes than in randomly generated tags.
Probably the first attempt to create a systematic error-correcting code for DNA barcodes was made by Hamady et al. [7], based on the original Hamming binary code [14, 15]. The authors adapted Hamming codes for a DNA context by representing each DNA base by two consecutive binary digits. Although being popular for a while, this barcode was later found to be flawed [13, 16]: in a proposed configuration one third of all single errors occurring at the DNA level caused 2 bit changes (2 errors) in the code. By definition those 2 bit errors could not be corrected. As an alternative, Krishnan et al. proposed to use binary, linear error-correcting codes for DNA barcoding applications [16]. Those codes provide larger minimal distance and better error-correcting capacity. This allowed correction of DNA errors even if there were 2-bit errors in the code. Recently one of us proposed to adapt Hamming binary code to the DNA quaternary metric, thus preserving minimal distance and capability to correct single errors on the DNA level [13]. Both applications [13, 16], however, were dedicated to the linear perfect codes capable of correcting nucleotide substitutions only. As indicated above, insertions and deletions (indels) might be a persistent problem for at least some sequencing platforms. Therefore it is very important to design a code resistant to this type of error as well. In this manuscript we provide a code, which we call the Sequence-Levenshtein code, capable of correcting all types of errors, including insertions and deletions. This code largely follows ideas from the Levenshtein code [17]. Unlike previous attempts at adapting Levenshtein [18], it is specifically designed for the DNA context. As a consequence it shows significant improvements in recovering errors in DNA sequence compared to other codes of the same kind.
Barcode preparation
Barcodes were constructed as DNA sequences of fixed length n from the 4 different bases. Here, we encoded DNA bases A, C, G, T as numbers 0, 1, 2, and 3 in a quaternary alphabet and therefore avoided the binary-quaternary conversions used by others [7, 16]. The number of all possible combinations, and therefore the size of the maximum barcode set was 4n, e.g. an unfiltered 8-mer barcode set could have been used for 48 = 65536 unique samples. For the calculation of maximal set sizes of barcodes of length n, we initially generated the full set of all possible barcodes with our custom software written in Java. This initial barcode set was then filtered to exclude barcodes with GC-content of less than 40% or more than 60%, perfect self-complementation, or more than two sequential repetitions of the same base.
Error-correcting codes
Error-correcting DNA barcode sets were constructed using only a subset of the 4n maximal combinations, while carefully meeting some specific error-correcting properties. Commonly, this subset is called code and the individual barcodes in the set are called codewords.
A very popular code for the correction of substitution errors is based on the idea of linear codes (e.g. Hamming codes [14, 15] or Reed-Solomon codes [19]). This type of code consists only of codewords that differ in at least three positions from each other (called the Minimum Hamming Distance, denoted as d H min ). Figures 1(A-C) depict the Hamming distance and its application in DNA context.
Barcode correction using Hamming and Levenshtein distances. (A) Hamming distance between two example codewords. (B) Example linear code of four codewords with the minimal Hamming distance d H min =3. (C) A mutation is corrected on the basis of the minimal distance between barcodes and mutated sequence. (D,E,F) The same for Levenshtein distance and an example Levenshtein code with the minimum Levenshtein distance d L min =3.
Figure 1(B) gives an example of a linear code that has a minimal Hamming distance of 3 and corrects 1 substitution error. A substitution error and its correction is shown in Figure 1(C): The barcode "ACT" mutates at position 3 and the base "T" became substituted with the base "G". The Hamming distance to the original barcode "ACT" is 1, while it is greater for all other barcodes of this linear code. Therefore correct decoding and identification of the original barcode is possible. In general, more substitution errors can be corrected by constructing codes with a larger minimal distance between codewords. To correct k errors, the minimum Hamming distance d H min of the codewords needs to be at least 2 ∗ k + 1.
As in the case of linear codes, Levenshtein-based codes guarantee a specific minimum distance d L min between any codewords [17]. The difference is in the distance definition: Levenshtein based codes also include insertions and deletions that need to occur to transform one word to another word, as depicted in Figure 1(D). Levenshtein-based codes consisting of codewords with a minimum Levenshtein distance d L min >2∗k+1 can correct k insertions, deletions, and substitutions. Figure 1(E) depicts an example code with d L min =3 that corrects 1 insertion, deletion, or substitution error when not in context of other DNA. Figure 1(F) shows such a correction: The last base of barcode "GCG" becomes deleted and is read as "GC". The Levenshtein distance to the original barcode "GCG" is 1, while it is greater for all other barcodes of this Levenshtein code. Therefore correct decoding and identification of the original barcode is possible.
For the purpose of this paper, the error-correction capability of a code is the number and types of errors that a code (per design) guarantees to correct in a specific scenario. The actual error-correction capabilities in realistic scenarios (e.g. biological experiments, PCR and sequencing data) will be studied separately.
Sequence-Levenshtein distance
We adapted the Levenshtein distances in such a way that the DNA context is taken into account and the length of the new mutated barcode in the sequence read is correctly identified. In the worst case, any barcode embedded in the sequence read will be surrounded by the sample sequence such that it decreases its distance to other sequences in the set.
The Sequence-Levenshtein distance between two arbitrary words A and B is the minimum number of the following three operations:
which results in word Ā, finalized by applying one of the following operations exactly once:
Truncating Ā to match the length of B
Elongating Ā to match the length and bases of B
The latter two operations do not increase the distance between A and B. It follows, that the distance between A and B is 0 if A is a prefix of B (and vice versa). For the purpose of this distance metric, we define in this case A to be equal to B.
Barcode computation
There is no systematic calculation rule for the classic Levenshtein code and codes based on our Sequence-Levenshtein distance. A generation of distance-based codes by an exhaustive search of the set of all possible subsets has two computational bottlenecks that have to be addressed: Firstly, the number of all subsets grows exponential with the length of the codewords and therefore the enumeration of these subsets is prohibitively inefficient. Secondly the distance between any two codewords has to be calculated at least once, making 4 2 n 2 - 4 n calculations necessary. Distances need to be calculated repeatedly if the complete distance matrix cannot be held in memory.
We therefore generated codes heuristically with a so-called greedy closure evolutionary algorithm first described for this application by Ashlock et al. [20, 21]. Here, we initialized our code set with a small number (2-4) of random barcodes that fulfill the distance requirement (the so-called seed). We then walked through all eligible barcodes in lexicographical order and added the tested barcode to the code set if its distance was at least 2 ∗ k + 1 to every other barcode that was already in the code set. Using an evolutionary approach (in the computational sense), we tried a large number of different seeds or altered very successful seeds to find the seed giving the best, i.e. largest code set. Among other heuristic algorithms for the generation of classic Levenshtein codes, this particular method has shown the best results (Houghten et al[22]). The same study revealed that this method yielded nearly-optimal solutions for short codewords (n ≤ 5) and it reached approximately one third to one half of the upper limit of code sizes for longer codewords (5 < n ≤ 12) [22, 23].
We also optimized the calculation of the Sequence-Levenshtein distance. We adapted the dynamic programming approach to the classical Levenshtein distance [24] and reached approximately the same performance (see Additional file 1: Supplement). Additionally, we minimized the number of operations with the approach developed by Allison (Lazy Programming, [25]).
We simulated three scenarios both with classical Levenshtein codes and modified Sequence-Levenshtein codes:
In Simulation 1 the application of classical Levenshtein codes in DNA context was assessed. A large number of barcodes of the same length was generated at random, followed by a random sample sequence. Every barcode was mutated with a single random in/del/sub error and then attempted to be decoded. As the length of the received codeword was unknown, the codeword of equal length to the generated DNA barcodes was used. If decoding did not work (i.e. there was no DNA barcode with a distance of 1 to the received codeword), codewords of the length n - 1 and n + 1 were tried. If ambiguities still existed, we decided randomly.
In Simulation 2 the error correction capabilities of Sequence-Levenshtein codes were tested. Every code used in this manuscript was included, up to a length of 12nt for 1 and 2 correctable errors. We iterated through every possible error (1 error, respectively 2 errors; insertions, substitutions, and deletions) and decoded the resulting DNA barcode.
In an experimental setup, more than one error might occur. Therefore, in Simulation 3 a large number of classic Levenshtein and new Sequence-Levenshtein barcodes was simulated, where every base had a chance p of being mutated with equal likelihood for substitutions, insertions and deletions. Every base was equally likely to be inserted.
Classic Levenshtein codes fail in DNA context
Levenshtein-based codes have one mandatory condition: The length of the codewords and the received words need to be known. While we know the length of the DNA barcodes because we construct them ourselves, the length of the received codeword is not available as the barcode is embedded into the DNA sequence. If the DNA barcode is shortened during processing, the first base of the sample DNA sequence takes the place of the last base of the DNA barcode. If the DNA barcode is elongated, the last base of the DNA barcode now becomes the first base of the sample DNA sequence. There is no inherent separation between DNA barcode and sample sequence to detect this change in length and thus traditional Levenshtein correction fails. To show this, we construct two codewords c A and c B whose Levenshtein distance is 3 but is reduced by the inference of the remaining sample DNA sequence.
We construct the codewords c A = "CAGG" and c B = "CGTC" with a Levenshtein-distance d L (c A ,c B ) = 3. In an exemplary biological experiment, c A could be used as a barcode and within it could be followed by "CA" so that the whole DNA sequence reads "CAGG|CA...". If the base "A" at the second position of c A becomes deleted, the base "C" (previously on position 5) would succeed the base at position 4 so that the sequenced DNA creceived now would read: "CGGC|A..." (Figure 2). Because the deletion would remain undetected, we could try to find a correction for creceived = CGGC. Consequently, the codeword c B is actually closer to the manipulated received sequence (d L (c B ,creceived) = 1) than codeword c A (d L (c A ,creceived) = 2) and there is no possibility to find the actual chain of mutations because the only criteria in correcting errors is the minimal distance. Trying to guess the real length of the corrupted barcode gives ambiguous results as Table 1 shows.
Deficiency of Levenshtein Codes in DNA context. Classical Levenshtein-based codes fail in DNA context as the word boundary is not decodable. Here, the original barcode "CAGG" becomes corrupted through a deletion. The new barcode "CGGC" is now closer to the wrong barcode "CGTC" on the left as opposed to the original barcode "CAGG" on the right.
Table 1 Distances of the received codeword at various presumed word lengths
We generalized this problem in Simulation 1 (Figure 3): Barcodes based on classical Levenshtein codes with a minimal distance d L min =3 failed to correct indel errors on average in 26% of the cases (see Methods for details). This error level is very close to 1 4 , the probability of the adverse base to be inserted or the adverse base to be added to the barcode after a deletion. Accordingly, classical Levenshtein-based codes correctly decoded barcodes that were corrupted once if the codes have the guaranteed capability to correct two errors, but failed on average in 6.5% of two-corruption cases. This error level is explained by the probability of inserting or complementing the two random worst-case bases, which is 1 4 2 = 1 16 =0.0625.
Simulation of Levenshtein Codes in DNA context. Levenshtein codes with a minimal distance d L min =3 failed to correct indel errors on average in 26% of the cases while Levenshtein codes with a minimal distance d L min =5 always corrected one indel error but failed to decode two indel errors in about 6.5% of the cases.
Clarke and Ferreira previously showed that Levenshtein codes with a minimal distance d L min =5 can robustly correct at least one error in a context scenario with fixed-length decoding as applied here [26]. Henceforth, we will delineate the guaranteed minimal error-correction capability of Levenshtein codes specifically in DNA context under this assumption, so that Levenshtein codes with d L min =5 guarantee to correct at least one error, those with a minimal distance d L min =9 guarantee to correct at least two errors in DNA context.
With the adapted Sequence-Levenshtein metric, the distance between the previously considered codewords "CAGG" and "CGTC" is now d SL ("CAGG","CGTC") = 2: Delete second base "A" of "CAGG" to get "CGG" and substitute third base "G" with "T" to get "CGT". In the worst case the remaining sample sequence will start with base "C", so that if we elongate with "C" then get "CGTC". Therefore, "CAGG" and "CGTC" cannot be part of the same error correcting code.
The formal definition of our Sequence-Levenshtein metric allowed us to prove that it is indeed a "distance metric" (see Additional file 1: Supplement), so that codes based on this distance can correct k substitutions and indels in DNA context if their minimum distance is at least d SL min =2∗k+1.
Sequence-Levenshtein code example and decoding
An example of a Sequence-Levenshtein code with 4 bases for the correction of 1 error yielded 4 barcodes: "TTCC", "ACAC", "CGAA", and "TAGG". Suppose, we use "TTCC" as the barcode and the base "T" at the second position becomes deleted during sequencing. In our example, exemplary sample reads have the length m = 10 and the sequence read is "TCC|ATGCATA" ( 4). To decode this example, we calculate the distance between the word "TCCATGCATA" and the words "TTCC", "ACAC", "CGAA", and "TAGG" with the results in Table 2. The column "operations" is the listing of the possible operations that corrupted the barcode.
Operations in Sequence-Levenshtein distance.
Table 2 Example decoding results
It is apparent that the difference between the number of insertion and deletion operations is the difference between the barcode length and the starting part of the sample sequence, which allowed the identification of the starting position of the sample sequence, as shown in column four of Table 2.
Sequence-Levenshtein codes useful for DNA applications
We calculated and verified a number of Sequence-Levenshtein codes for different sequence lengths and compared them to codes with higher Levenshtein distance that were designed for the correction of at least this particular number of errors (the guaranteed error correction capability in DNA context). Figure 5 depicts the number of DNA barcodes that we generated for the correction of at least 1 or 2 insertion, deletion, and substitution errors with our Sequence-Levenshtein distance and with the classic Levenshtein distance. For comparison purposes, we also added the number of barcodes of the classical Levenshtein code with a distance d L min =3 that does not guarantee to correct at least one error reliably in DNA context.
Number of Barcodes vs Barcode Length. Barcodes based on the Sequence-Levenshtein distance resulted in barcodes with a magnitude higher numbers then Levenshtein barcodes for the same length of the barcode and the same guaranteed minimal error correction capability. The guaranteed correction of one additional error shrunk the number of barcodes by almost two magnitudes.
For codewords of length 8nt, 48 = 65536 possible combinations of DNA bases can be generated. Of those, 14600 met the required chemical properties as described in the Methods section. Finally, with the Sequence-Levenshtein distance a maximum barcode set of 188 elements for the correction of one error in DNA context could be generated. This is equivalent to a code rate of log 2 ( 188 ) log 2 ( 65536 ) ≈0.472. For classical Levenshtein codes, we could generate 552 barcodes, the equivalent of a code rate of log 2 ( 552 ) log 2 ( 65536 ) ≈0.569. We found that the code rate increased with barcode length for both Levenshtein and Sequence-Levenshtein based codes (see Additional 1: Figure S1).
Figure 5 shows that our modified Sequence-Levenshtein codes scaled up to more than 20,000 possible barcodes with one guaranteed correctable error. This would satisfy the needs of the most complex sample multiplexing setups. Alternatively, for a medium-sized experiment of only 48 samples, the length of the barcode did not need to exceed 7 bases (77 barcodes). Conversely, we could increase the robustness of the code to 2 correctable errors and generate 90 11-nt-long barcodes. Compared to classic Levenshtein codes, we produced one order of magnitude more barcodes for the same length and guaranteed minimal number of correctable errors.
Simulation for correctness and the decoding rate
In Simulation 2, we simulated all possible 1 or 2 mutations for every Sequence-Levenshtein barcode used in this manuscript up to a length of 12 with the guaranteed capability to correct 1 or 2 errors and found that the original barcode could be decoded correctly in every case.
We also used this simulation to measure the speed of decoding random sequence reads with our unoptimized Java-based prototype implementation. As a general result, the number of decoded sequence reads per seconds depended on three parameters:
Length of the sequence read: longer was slower
Length of barcodes: longer was slower
Number of used barcodes: more barcodes were slower
In the slowest simulation with 20,894 12-nt-long barcodes and 14-nt-long sequence reads, we decoded 20 sequence reads per second while we decoded approximately 190,000 sequence reads per second with four 4-nt-long barcodes.
Experimental simulation
In Simulation 3, we analyzed the behavior and limits of Sequence-Levenshtein codes under the assumption that multiple mutations of barcodes are possible. The results are depicted in Figure 6. The theoretical expected average number of mutations μ M for each barcode of length n and per-base mutation probability p was μ M = p ∗ n, which we also confirmed on average in all simulation runs. As a consequence, the number of mutations in a barcode of a sequence read increased linearly with the length of the barcode, leading to a higher number of mismatches during the decoding phase (Figure 6(A)).
Results of Simulation 3. (A) Number of correct matches after decoding depending on base mutation probability rate p for different error correction codes and barcode lengths. (B) Number correct matches after decoding depending on base mutation probability rate p for the fixed number of 48 barcodes simulated with the smallest eligible error correction codes: Levenshtein code with d L min =3, length 6; Sequence-Levenshtein code with d SL min =3, length 7; Levenshtein code with minimum distance d L min =5, length 9; Sequence-Levenshtein code with minimum distance d SL min =5, length 11.
Sequence-Levenshtein codes have been decoded correctly at a better rate than classical Levenshtein codes of the same barcode length and the same minimal distance ( d SL min = d L min =3 and d SL min = d L min =5 respectively). Furthermore, both classical Levenshtein codes and Sequence-Levenshtein codes with a higher minimal distance ( d SL min =5 and d L min =5) decoded barcodes correctly more often than the same codes with a smaller minimal distance ( d SL min =3 and d L min =3). Notably, although Sequence-Levenshtein codes with d SL min =3 were designed for the same guaranteed minimal number of correctable errors in DNA context as classic Levenshtein codes with d L min =5, the latter outperformed the former when a random number of mutations was considered. All these effects were more pronounced for median base mutation probabilities p ∈ [ 0.2,0.8].
In practice, the choice of the barcode length and the type of error correction ( d SL min =3 or d SL min =5) is based on the number of samples that one wants to sequence in parallel. We therefore repeated simulation 3 on 48 barcodes from six different error correcting codes that supported this number of parallel samples: a classic Levenshtein code with d L min =3 and length 6; a classic Levenshtein code with d L min =5 and length 9; a Sequence-Levenshtein code with d SL min =3 and length 7; a Sequence-Levenshtein code with minimum distance d SL min =5 and length 11, a linear code of length 5, and finally a code of length 3 that offered no correction (see Additional 1: Table S2 for details). The result is depicted in Figure 6(B). It shows that the new Sequence-Levenshtein codes outperformed classical Levenshtein codes of the equivalent minimal distances as well as the linear code despite requiring longer barcodes. The same was true for the comparison of Sequence-Levenshtein codes with minimal distances d SL min =5 and d SL min =3. Apparently, in this case the added robustness of larger distances and the change to the classical Levenshtein distance outweighed the drawbacks of longer barcodes.
Historically error-correcting codes were first made in binary metric to correct program-reading errors in early type computers in the 1950s [14, 27]. Levenshtein was one of the first in attempting to resolve more natural problems such as insertions and deletions [17]. Whereas computer codes were gradually evolving (in data transfer and processing, mobile, satellite communications, etc.), an application for DNA studies was far from successful. A few authors rediscovered Hamming code while making a theory of oligonucleotide design for microarrays [28, 29]. This however was not implemented in commercially available microarrays. Similarly, currently available barcoded primers from, for instance, Illumina look like a random design devoid of any theoretical (error-correcting) considerations [13]. The first attempt to implement Hamming code into DNA barcode design failed due to improper binary-tertiary conversion protocol [7]. Later, this problem was resolved by adapting the Hamming concept to quaternary format [13]. Alternatively, Krishnan et al. used binary, linear error-correcting codes with longer minimal distances for DNA barcode design [16]. Whereas a noticeable progress was achieved with linear/perfect codes mentioned above, a proper application of Levenshtein codes for DNA barcodes had not yet been demonstrated. The major obstacle in these implementations was the problem of word recognition in the continuous context of DNA. As this inherent failure is not addressed in the literature on Levenshtein-based error correction in DNA barcodes (e.g. [18]), we at best assume that some form of separating sequence is used between the DNA barcode and the sample DNA, and at worst no correction of this failure was attempted. The drawback of separating sequences is obvious: they do not come with any correction ability by themselves and elongate the DNA sequence at the same time, increasing the error rate for the sample DNA. The use of separating sequences is therefore not ideal.
By simulating equally likely substitutions, deletions, and insertions we tested the robustness of Sequence-Levenshtein distance based codes. We found that the error correction of Sequence-Levenshtein barcodes was, on average, more reliable than comparable Levenshtein-based codes. Although the probabilities of mutation rates in experimental sequencing data or in biological samples might considerably deviate from equal, it very much depends on the organism and the sequencing platform. Therefore it is not easy to create a "real life" simulation of sequencing errors. In our mutation study we ignored possible differences in mutation rates solely to test as many possible mutations on as many possible DNA combinations as possible. As a result the revealed rates of successful error corrections will not necessarily correspond to those in a real sequencing data.
Sequence-Levenshtein codes can be further improved in the following ways. Firstly, as barcode libraries are often constructed only once and then reused for later experiments, it is desirable to construct barcode sets that correct k errors with a maximum subset that corrects k + 1 errors. Thus, if the number of parallel processed samples in an experiment is very low, the more robust k + 1 subset is used. This code construction is easily achieved by modifying the evolutionary greedy search algorithm to favor barcode sets with a large robust k + 1 subset. Secondly, not every error occurs with the same probability: some substitutions are more likely than others, e.g. DNA/RNA sequences are more likely to be altered at the end of the read than at the beginning. An advanced version of this code would therefore use probabilities of operations as a distance measure and construct codes that, while not guaranteeing error correction, will correct more errors on average with shorter barcodes.
We propose a solution to the problem of the word size definition in the continuous context of DNA and a definition of a modified Levenshtein distance which we name "Sequence-Levenshtein distance". This new distance measure takes into account the interference of appended sample sequences and the resulting shorter distances between barcodes.
This approach allows for the detection of the length of the corrupted barcode and the recovery of the start of the appended sample sequence. However, this imposes more strict rules for the selection of barcode sets eligible for error correction. We show that the application of these new barcodes decreases mismatching in multiplexing experiments considerably, increasing the robustness of experimental results. For further experimental validation and application, we provide barcode sets of different lengths and guaranteed error-correcting capabilities that will satisfy current size-needs of most experimental setups as well as software to decode sequence reads which is, in its current implementation, highly efficient.
Our Sequence-Levenshtein software package is a versatile tool to flexibly generate barcode sets of different sizes and robustness, simulate expected mismatch rates for individual next generation sequencing technologies, and decode millions of sequence reads in a short time. As such, we believe it offers a valuable research utility to the general public.
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We thank Michael Chang, Erik Zwart and Lydia Kuettner for reading and correcting the manuscript.
The research of Tilo Buschmann was supported by the European Commission project EuroSyStem (200270), Leonid V. Bystrykh was partially supported by an HEM-ID grant (http://www.hemid.eu/) and NIRM grants (http://www.nirm.nl/).
Institute for Medical Informatics and Biometry (IMB), Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany
Tilo Buschmann
Laboratory of Ageing Biology and Stem Cells, European Research Institute for the Biology of Ageing, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
Leonid V Bystrykh
Correspondence to Tilo Buschmann.
Dresden University of Technology submitted a patent application for the Sequence-Levenshtein technology in Germany (application id 800228609).
LVB initiated the re-analysis of classical DNA codes and initiated and inspired the development of the method. TB developed the method. TB developed, ran and analysed the simulations. TB and LVB wrote the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Additional file 1: Supplement. The supplement contains a proof of the metric property of the Sequence-Levenshtein distance, the dynamic programming algorithm of the Sequence-Levenshtein distance, a figure of code rates depending on barcode lengths, a table of Sequence-Levenshtein code sizes as well as an additional table describing the codes used in Simulation 3. (PDF 143 KB)
Buschmann, T., Bystrykh, L.V. Levenshtein error-correcting barcodes for multiplexed DNA sequencing. BMC Bioinformatics 14, 272 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2105-14-272
Received: 15 February 2013
Linear Code
Code Rate
Levenshtein Distance
Substitution Error
Large Minimal Distance
Sequence analysis (methods)


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Tentatively sneaking in the back door with a Christmas post. The countdown really is on now and I've been making and baking this week for the Cake & Candy stall at our School Christmas Fair in addition to the Pinnies & Petticoats Cake Club Christmas Meet. A couple of easy ones to start with. No baking skills at all involved in Reindeer Candy Canes but you do need to be a dab hand with a glue gun.
Poundshops are the best places to source your candy canes whilst you should be able to get googly eyes, red pom poms and brown pipe cleaners at any craft store. Glue two canes together and leave till set before winding a brown pipecleaner round the bottom half. Arm yourself with a glue gun once again and attach a pom pom nose and googly eyes. Rudolph is born.
Line a swiss roll tin with aluminium foil.
Melt* your Dark Chocolate and add the peppermint essence. Pour and spread evenly over the base of the lined tin and put in the fridge to set.
Meanwhile smash up the candy canes in a plastic bag using a rolling pin. You still want to keep some chunky pieces.
Sieve the crushed candy canes to separate out the very fine dust from the more substantial pieces.
Melt* the white chocolate and stir in the candy cane dust.
Spread the white chocolate and candy cane mix on top of the dark base and sprinkle with the broken up pieces of candy cane.
Put back in the fridge until set and then chop into random shaped pieces.
**If you want to have a more professional shiny finish with a better snap you can Temper the chocolate when you melt it but the bark will work fine without.
Festive Marshmallow Pops are another very simple but effective non bake. Great fun for the kids to help make too. Push a lolly stick into each marshmallow, dip in melted chocolate and top with festive sprinkles. I got these fab sprinkles in Lidl for a bargain price of £1.29 a jar. To allow the pops to dry I stand them in the holes of a wire cooling rack.
Again sourced from a pound shop I used a pack of mini candy canes to make Candy Cane Lollies. Lay out the candy canes on a lined baking tray with a lolly stick in the middle to form a heart shape. Warm them in the oven until the canes become malleable. 3-5 mins at 180 should do it. Be warned there is a very small window of opportunity in which to do this before they completely melt and I had some casualties along the way. Using asbestos fingers pinch the bottom of the two canes so they attach to the stick and the top so they attach to each other. Ease out the sides to get a good heart shape and leave to cool. Carefully spoon in melted chocolate to fill the hearts and decorate with sprinkles.
Next a recipe I've developed for the #ChristmasWithMackays blogger challenge. Mincemeat & Ginger Muffins featuring their Spiced Ginger Preserve. These have all the wonderful spicy flavours of Christmas in them. Quicker to make and lighter in texture than a traditional mince pie. You can yous your own homemade mincemeat or shop bought. For extra decadence top with a Brandy Buttercream. Thanks to Mackays for sending me a selection of their artisan preserves to work with. Have a look at my previous #BakingWithMackays blog post for further jammy inspiration.
Sift together all dry ingredients in one bowl.
In another combine all wet ingredients, including the mincemeat and ginger preserve.
Pour wet into dry and mix until just combined.
Bake at 200C for 25 minutes until tops are lightly browned.
Sift icing sugar over the top for a snowy effect.
So that's all my Cakes and Bakes packed up for the School Christmas Fair. Some new ones this year plus a couple of old favourites. Hopefully I've provided some inspiration for any bake sales you have coming up. Unfortunately we won't be there on the day as we are heading off to Costa del Peterhead for the weekend. At least it means there will be no upset if my cake and candy doesn't sell.
After all that, the festive floodgates must now be well and truly open. Expect plenty more Christmas bloggage over the next few weeks. Only 39 baking days until Christmas!
Wow. That's an impressive array!
Meal planning Monday - It can't be November?!


text:
NCLEX-RN Review Course
Physiological Integrity (Nursing)
by Jill Beavers-Kirby, Kristine Pfendt, Joanna Jackson u.a.
Physiological Integrity
This course addresses topics that are likely to be tested in the NCLEX exam referring to therapies (parenteral and pharmacological) that assist the patient in making adjustments to deal with the disease process. It also addresses reducing risks as well as enhancing hygiene, rest, and other means of personal care.
The topics in this section typically encompass approximately 50% of the NCLEX exam. This percentage may vary up to + 3% depending upon the distribution in the content area.
Jill Beavers-Kirby, Kristine Pfendt and Joanna Jackson also elaborate on:
Pharmacological Pain Management
Blood and Blood Products
Assistive Devices (LVAD) (Nursing) 04:43 min
Assistive Devices (LVAD) (Nursing) 0 quiz questions
Assistive Devices (LVAD) (Nursing) 0 articles
Elimination (Nursing) 10:19 min
Elimination (Nursing) 0 quiz questions
Elimination (Nursing) 0 articles
Mobility/Immobility (Nursing) 14:02 min
Mobility/Immobility (Nursing) 3 quiz questions
Mobility/Immobility (Nursing) 0 articles
Non-pharmacological Comfort Interventions (Nursing) 09:01 min
Non-pharmacological Comfort Interventions (Nursing) 3 quiz questions
Non-pharmacological Comfort Interventions (Nursing) 0 articles
Nutrition and Oral Hydration (Nursing) 22:53 min
Nutrition and Oral Hydration (Nursing) 3 quiz questions
Nutrition and Oral Hydration (Nursing) 0 articles
Personal Hygiene (Nursing) 11:43 min
Personal Hygiene (Nursing) 2 quiz questions
Personal Hygiene (Nursing) 0 articles
Rest and Sleep (Nursing) 09:09 min
Rest and Sleep (Nursing) 3 quiz questions
Rest and Sleep (Nursing) 0 articles
Medication Administration (Nursing) 05:13 min
Medication Administration (Nursing) 0 quiz questions
Medication Administration (Nursing) 0 articles
Adverse Effects/Contraindications/Side Effects/Interactions (Nursing) 16:57 min
Adverse Effects/Contraindications/Side Effects/Interactions (Nursing) 5 quiz questions
Adverse Effects/Contraindications/Side Effects/Interactions (Nursing) 0 articles
Expected Actions/Outcomes (Nursing) 05:36 min
Expected Actions/Outcomes (Nursing) 4 quiz questions
Expected Actions/Outcomes (Nursing) 0 articles
Pharmacological Pain Management (Nursing) 10:49 min
Pharmacological Pain Management (Nursing) 0 quiz questions
Pharmacological Pain Management (Nursing) 0 articles
Parenteral/Intravenous Therapies (Nursing) 10:15 min
Parenteral/Intravenous Therapies (Nursing) 2 quiz questions
Parenteral/Intravenous Therapies (Nursing) 0 articles
Blood and Blood Products (Nursing) 06:56 min
Blood and Blood Products (Nursing) 0 quiz questions
Blood and Blood Products (Nursing) 0 articles
Central Venous Access Devices (Nursing) 12:51 min
Central Venous Access Devices (Nursing) 2 quiz questions
Central Venous Access Devices (Nursing) 0 articles
Dosage Calculation (Nursing) 11:42 min
Dosage Calculation (Nursing) 2 quiz questions
Dosage Calculation (Nursing) 0 articles
Total Parenteral Nutrition (Nursing) 12:47 min
Total Parenteral Nutrition (Nursing) 3 quiz questions
Total Parenteral Nutrition (Nursing) 0 articles
Changes/Abnormalities in Vital Signs (Nursing) 07:17 min
Changes/Abnormalities in Vital Signs (Nursing) 0 quiz questions
Changes/Abnormalities in Vital Signs (Nursing) 0 articles
Diagnostic Tests (Nursing) 20:42 min
Diagnostic Tests (Nursing) 4 quiz questions
Diagnostic Tests (Nursing) 0 articles
Potential for Complications from Surgical Procedures and Health Alterations (Nursing) 07:50 min
Potential for Complications from Surgical Procedures and Health Alterations (Nursing) 0 quiz questions
Potential for Complications from Surgical Procedures and Health Alterations (Nursing) 0 articles
Laboratory Values (Nursing) 22:09 min
Laboratory Values (Nursing) 4 quiz questions
Laboratory Values (Nursing) 0 articles
System Specific Assessments (Nursing) 12:35 min
System Specific Assessments (Nursing) 4 quiz questions
System Specific Assessments (Nursing) 0 articles
Potential for Alterations in Body Systems (Nursing) 12:22 min
Potential for Alterations in Body Systems (Nursing) 4 quiz questions
Potential for Alterations in Body Systems (Nursing) 0 articles
Therapeutic Procedures (Nursing) 16:44 min
Therapeutic Procedures (Nursing) 4 quiz questions
Therapeutic Procedures (Nursing) 0 articles
Potential for Complications of Diagnostic Tests/Treatments/Procedures (Nursing) 07:50 min
Potential for Complications of Diagnostic Tests/Treatments/Procedures (Nursing) 3 quiz questions
Potential for Complications of Diagnostic Tests/Treatments/Procedures (Nursing) 0 articles
Alterations in Body Systems (Nursing) 13:09 min
Alterations in Body Systems (Nursing) 4 quiz questions
Alterations in Body Systems (Nursing) 0 articles
Medical Emergencies (Nursing) 07:54 min
Medical Emergencies (Nursing) 4 quiz questions
Medical Emergencies (Nursing) 0 articles
Fluid and Electrolyte Imbalances (Nursing) 06:29 min
Fluid and Electrolyte Imbalances (Nursing) 0 quiz questions
Fluid and Electrolyte Imbalances (Nursing) 0 articles
Pathophysiology (Nursing) 10:04 min
Pathophysiology (Nursing) 2 quiz questions
Pathophysiology (Nursing) 0 articles
Hemodynamics (Nursing) 13:14 min
Hemodynamics (Nursing) 2 quiz questions
Hemodynamics (Nursing) 0 articles
Unexpected Response to Therapies (Nursing) 06:33 min
Unexpected Response to Therapies (Nursing) 1 quiz question
Unexpected Response to Therapies (Nursing) 0 articles
Illness Management (Nursing) 14:51 min
Illness Management (Nursing) 3 quiz questions
Illness Management (Nursing) 0 articles
Your Educators of course Physiological Integrity (Nursing)
Jill Beavers-Kirby
Jill Beavers-Kirby has gathered vast experience in the medical field and is currently working full-time with adults who have lymphoma and leukaemia. She teaches part-time, too.
Jill Beavers-Kirby received an ADN from Wytheville Community College in Wytheville, VA. Moreover, she received a BSN Online from the University of Phoenix, a Master of Science Acute Care Nurse Practitioner from Wright State University and a Doctorate of Nursing Practice from the Ohio State University in 2011.
Kristine Pfendt
Kristine Pfendt, R.N., M.S.N. is an associate professor and has been awarded tenure status at Northern Kentucky University. She has been in nursing education since 1978 and was a tenured instructor at the College of DuPage in Illinois prior to moving to the northern Kentucky area in 1984.
She has also worked at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center as an education specialist during her career. Kristine Pfendt holds a masters of science degree in medical surgical nursing from Northern Illinois University.
She is currently the Director of the Nurse Advocacy Center for the Underserved at N.K.U . the coordinator of continuing education for nursing, and the chairperson of the Reappointment, Promotion and Tenure Committee for the Department of Nursing in addition to her other responsibilities.
Joanna Jackson
Joanna Jackson is a Medical Compliance Manager who works as an independet contractor. She is responsible for for federal, state and local regulations for clinics. She amongst other things develops and implements policies that conform to current standards of nursing.
In the past Jackson has worked as Clinical Manager in the Psychiatry and as a Regional Nursing Supervisor. After completing her studies at Miami Valley Career Technology Center, where she was an Honor Roll student, she was a finalist in the Health Knowledge Bowl Regional Contest.
Diana Shenefield, PhD
Diana Shenefield works at the Assistant Nursing Faculty at the Huntington University in Indiana. Her work includes teaching fundamental skills in nursing, pathophysiology and pharmacology.
She has got a PhD in Nursing Education which she got in 2012 at the Capella University in Minnesota.
Shenefield can look back on years of experience in the medical care sector. She is also a member of certain nursing associations like the National League of Nurses and the American Association of Critical Care Nurses.
Need more specific teaching
By bibi h. on 16. March 2020 for Illness Management (Nursing)
Very good points on Patient Education. It would be also nice to give sample how to educate them specifically. We nurses do not get taught and practice interventions like PAs or MDs.
need more specific nursing interventions such as ACS interventions.
By bibi h. on 16. March 2020 for System Specific Assessments (Nursing)
good lecture. Need more specific nursing interventions such as ACS interventions or ICU type of nursing.
By Jamie S. on 17. February 2020 for Medical Emergencies (Nursing)
Just another video with the presenter listing what the audience needs to "go back and review", Lack of detail, information, and quality. After completing multiple other Lecturi video series, most recently, Pharmacology (Nursing) from Dr. Lawes, I have been very disappointed with this group of videos.
Very disappointed in this particular video and the lack of quality in this series!
By Jamie S. on 17. February 2020 for Diagnostic Tests (Nursing)
Based on the title and caption of this video, I expected there would be information and details about the diagnostic test and complications. There was very little information and details provided. The presenter continuously stated "you as the nurse should know what this is" The point of purchasing this service was for "lectures" not to hear someone repeatedly say "look it up" and "you as the nurse should know". Very disappointed in this particular video and the lack of quality in this series.
See all 14 user reviews with text
Lab Values
By Trish M. on 12. April 2019 for Laboratory Values (Nursing)
The instructor was clear in her explanation and had little vignettes to help with the recollection of the material. She made a complicated subject easy to understand. I especially like that she took her time when speaking instead of going at a 1,000 miles per minute.
awesome thanks
By Sharon D. on 05. April 2019 for Medical Emergencies (Nursing)
quick to the point thank you very much for these lectures
A great online course
By Neuer N. on 14. December 2018 for Physiological Integrity (Nursing)
I love to be a massage therapist 4 Sports Medicine when I grow up to help professional sports teams and score sports teams I do not like when they put a lot of pressure on the body
Informative video
By Aleena N. on 28. October 2017 for Fluid and Electrolyte Imbalances (Nursing)
The video was very well structured. I understood what was said easily.
Great lecture
By Jill B. on 10. October 2017 for Laboratory Values (Nursing)
Very thorough. I learned so much. Dr. Beavers-Kirby really makes learning lab values fun!
By Neuer N. on 28. September 2017 for Pathophysiology (Nursing)
Very informative. The only negative was the slide show was to fast for me. However, I enjoy the lecture and the samples the instructer always give after a definition.
By Andrea L. on 02. September 2017 for Changes/Abnormalities in Vital Signs (Nursing)
The video was simple and gave an accurate explanation of taking blood pressure.
Awesome Lecture
By Hannah R. on 27. June 2017 for Assistive Devices (LVAD) (Nursing)
Very informative video on assistive devices. I look forward to watching more of your lectures
GIVE ALL THE REVIEW TO DIANA SHES THE BEST!
By Obelle M. on 26. June 2017 for System Specific Assessments (Nursing)
Diana Shenefield is the Best Lecture presenter this site has only because she doesn't just read what's on the slide but she explains them to you and giving me time to activily takes note without pausing the videos all the time ! I lOVE HER! If all the lectures could be presented like hers this Review would be A WHOLE LOT BETTER. With all the oThers I'm not satisfied :(
I LIKE THIS LESSION …
By kanani j. on 24. April 2016 for Assistive Devices (LVAD) (Nursing)
I LIKE THIS LESSION


text:
The 8 Hottest Places on Earth
By Katharine Gammon published 8 July 11
This image shows the hottest land surface temperature the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite recorded at each location on Earth between 2003 and 2005. (Image credit: NASA)
Many places around the world sweat and swelter when summer comes, but even the hottest summer temperatures in many places don't hold a candle to the hottest places on Earth.
While two-thirds of the earth is covered in water, a full third of the remaining land (that's one-ninth of the total!) is nearly uninhabitable desert. As it turns out, all of the world's hottest places lie in that harsh environment.
Wadi Halfa, Sudan - 127 degrees
An intense dust storm moved quickly over Sudan and Egypt towards Saudi Arabia on July 15, 2010. (Image credit: NASA)
Wadi means valley in Arabic, and this dry valley at the top of Sudan lies on the border with Egypt. In April of 1967, the city of 15,000 clocked a temperature of 127 degrees Fahrenheit (53 degrees Celsius).
While the climate of northern Sudan is generally extremely dry, there are times when damp southern air can reach the border and cause violent dust storms known as the haboob , when moist, unstable air forms thunderstorms in the heat of the afternoon. The initial downflow of air from an approaching storm produces a huge yellow wall of sand and clay that can temporarily reduce visibility to zero.
Ahwaz, Iran - 128 degrees
The ancient zigurrat complex of Chogha Zanbil, a UNESCO World Heritage site, near Ahwaz, Iran. (Image credit: dreamstime)
Ahwaz, Iran lies in a desert just above sea level and gets less than an inch of rain per year. During July, the average high will be 116 F (47 C) that's hot enough to get most of the city's million residents inside to turn on the fans.
Ahwaz, also spelled Ahvaz, is a place where the siesta is taken very seriously in order to escape oppressive afternoon heat, shops and businesses close around noon and reopen for a few hours at 6 p.m.
Tirat Tsvi, Israel - 129 degrees
Date palms in Israel. (Image credit: dreamstime)
The hottest place in Asia, the small kibbutz of Tirat Tsvi (population: 642) recorded a temperature of 129 F (54 C) in June 1942. The town lies 722 feet (220 meters) below sea level. Despite its formidable climate, the town is the largest grower of dates in Israel, with 18,000 trees.
Araouane, Mali - 130 degrees
Sunrise in Africa colored by the Harmattan. (Image credit: dreamstime)
Araouane is a small Saharan village on the way to Timbuktu. Just 300 families call this desert place home. The surrounding desert is completely barren and a dry desert wind known as the Harmattan blows fine particles of sand that can obscure visibility and build up on the sides of buildings.
Araouane doesn't receive enough rainfall to grow crops, and the village is dependent on the caravan trade that nowadays moves blocks of salt from mines that lie to the north. The temperature in this remote outpost hit 130 F (54.4 C) in the summer of 1945.
Timbuktu, Mali - 130.1 degrees
Sankore mosque in Timbuktu. (Image credit: dreamstime)
The city best known for being the middle of nowhere Timbuktu is also a hot-hot-hot place. Timbuktu sits on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, about 10 miles north of the Niger River. The town is surrounded by sand dunes and the streets are often covered in sand. With a recorded high of 130.1 F (54.5 C), Timbuktu is one of the hottest places in the world.
In the month of May, average highs of 108 degrees are not uncommon. Even the winter months of December and January feature highs into the 90s. A population of more than 40,000 people fights the summer heat with clothing designed to fend off the worst of the weather.
Kebili, Tunisia - 131 degrees
Tunisian oasis. (Image credit: dreamstime)
While it's egg-fryingly hot, Kebili is actually a desert oasis. The 18,000 people who call this town home face heat waves with temperatures in excess of 131 F (55 C).
Because the history of Kebili dates back more than 200,000 years, many of the local inhabitants have passed along methods designed to survive these unbearably hot days. Locals stockpile water and work hard to maintain a relatively constant body temperature.The town also grows world-famous dates.
Ghadames, Libya - 131 degrees
Roofs of Ghadames. (Image credit: dreamstime)
Tying in temperature-record with Kebili is Ghadames, Libya, another oasis in the middle of a desert. The native Berber population of about 7,000 live in houses made with thick walls of mud, lime and tree trunks that help protect them from the blazing heat, especially in the summer.
The roofs of the houses are interconnected, and many of the streets are covered, allowing for increased shade, privacy, and security. The city is so iconic that it is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site . The landscape resembles Star Wars' planet Tatooine, and human habitation of the area extends back to the 6th century.
Death Valley, United States - 134 degrees
(Image credit: dreamstime.)
Death Valley is the driest and lowest valley in the United States those conditions add up to some extreme temperatures. On July 10, 1913, at the Furnace Creek weather station, thermometers recorded 134 degrees, the highest temperature ever measured.
During the heat wave that week, five days in a row clocked in at 129 degrees or above. Furnace Creek was formerly the center of the valley's mining operations for the Pacific Coast Borax Company, which hauled the mineral with mule teams across the Mojave Desert. Today, most of Death Valley's lodges shut down when the temperature soars to 125 degrees.
Note: A temperature of 136.4 degrees Fahrenheit (58 degrees Celsius) was formerly recognized as the hottest temperature ever measured until an investigation by the World Meteorological Organization found sufficient problems with the measurement to declare it invalid on Sept. 13, 2012.
Earth is at the center of a 1,000-light-year-wide 'Swiss cheese' bubble carved out by supernovas
1st bioengineered hybrid animals discovered — in ancient Mesopotamia
Curvature of space-time measured using 'atomic fountain'
Weird sand 'chess pieces' dot Lake Michigan shore. Here's how they formed.
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket spotted from space before and after epic 105-satellite launch (images)


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text:
Lingue
Dari – lingua dell'Afghanistan
Dari – lingua diffusa tra alcune comunità zoroastriane

Persone
Achille Dari – calciatore italiano
Luigi Dari – ministro italiano
Dary Batista de Oliveira, meglio noto come Dari o Dary – calciatore brasiliano

Altro
dARI – gruppo musicale italiano
Dari – città dell'India

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Scotty James became the second Australian in Winter Olympic history to win a medal in the snowboard halfpipe event. EPA/Fazry Ismail
What makes a winning halfpipe snowboarder like Scotty James?
February 14, 2018 10.03pm EST
Jade Haycraft, Victoria University
Jade Haycraft
PhD Candidate, Victoria University
Jade Haycraft receives funding from the Australian Government (Australian Postgraduate Award Scholarship).
Victoria University provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.
On Wednesday, Scotty James won Australia's second medal at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang – bronze in the men's snowboard halfpipe competition.
James' medal adds to those won by fellow Australian Torah Bright (gold at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and silver at Sochi in 2014) in the women's snowboard halfpipe event.
What is snowboard halfpipe?
The snowboard halfpipe made its debut at the 1998 Nagano Olympics. The event takes place on a trough-like feature made of snow, built on a shaped earth base. The Olympic halfpipe is sloped at approximately 17-18°, and is between 150-170 metres long, 19-22m wide, and 6.7m high.
The halfpipe event consists of three runs lasting around 20-30 seconds, and involves between six and eight "hits" of the pipe. A "hit" is an aerial trick (jump, rotation and twist) off the top of the pipe.
Six judges score a competitor's run based on each hit's height, rotation, technique and degree of difficulty, with a score given out of 100. The highest and lowest scores are removed, and the final score is the average of the four remaining scores.
The best score of the three runs is recorded; the highest scores determine the medals.
The International Ski Federation's snowboard judges' manual specifically outlines the scoring criteria:
amplitude – with the greater the height of the jump off the top, the riskier the hit, and greater point scores;
difficulty – more rotations increases the difficulty, but also switch take-offs (opposite side to natural board stance), frontside or backside rotation, take-offs (on heel or toe side), different hand grab placements on board, blind landings (athlete can't see where they are landing), combinations and sequential hard tricks, different rotational axis (lateral/longitudinal or horizontal), and an alley-oop (spin opposite direction to jump entry (for example, front entry to back spin);
execution – overall control throughout the run, and for each individual hit. It is also the ability to perform the positions of the intended trick once they have initiated it;
variety – changing the type of trick for each hit gets a higher score (for example backside then frontside, changed spin axis, different grabs);
combinations – consecutive difficult hits score higher;
pipe use – anything performed before an athlete crosses the marked finish line is counted in judging, with hits scoring higher if performed off the top of the pipe;
progression – introducing new tricks never seen in the sport is highly favoured; and
risk-taking – pushing to the maximum limit of ability is advantageous.
Judges deduct points for errors in a run based on the following criteria:
one-to-ten points for small mistakes (hand drag, flat landings, deck landings, and sliding);
11-20 points for medium mistakes (stop full, longer hand drags, heavy hand touches, slight butt touches, and revert to natural stance on board);
21-25 points for major mistakes (heavy butt or body landing, complete bailing from hit).
Highlights of the men's snowboard halfpipe final from Pyeongchang.
The nature of snowboard halfpipe means most competitors risk serious injury – and possible death – throughout their career.
Halfpipe has the third-highest incidence of injury (behind big air and snowboard cross). There is a reported 1.6 injuries reported per 1,000 runs for men, and 2.3 injuries per 1,000 runs for women.
The most common injuries are to the lower arm/wrist, spine, and knee. As a result, current training practices focus heavily on giving athletes the physical tools to prevent these injuries.
Specifically, many programs target jumping/landing force, as this is the common factor of injury occurrence for snowboard halfpipe athletes. Training for "crash robustness" requires athletes to build joint strength and soft-tissue support in muscles and ligaments across the entire body.
Core strength to support and tolerate spinal loads during rotations, jumps and landings is also crucial in avoiding spinal injuries.
Snowboard halfpipe is an explosive, skill-based sport. While building "crash robustness" is integral, these athletes need to train to perform. They may seem laid-back and relaxed, but they are subjected to high physical load and fatigue induced by training and competition.
An average training day for halfpipe may consist of between ten and 12 runs (each lasting 20-30 seconds), plus hikes to the top of the pipe. This equates between two and four hours of training each day. Managing sub-zero temperatures and the effects of altitude on physical performance is also a concern.
Read more: Explainer: how Winter Olympic athletes cope with the cold
The northern hemisphere training and competition period can last between four and five months. But athletes like James may also train and compete during the southern hemisphere winters.
Halfpipe snowboarders do not require large muscle mass to compete; they prefer to remain lean to maximise their hit amplitude. Their physical training focuses on neuromuscular adaptations to induce greater muscle fibre recruitment, power/speed, and eccentric (muscle lengthening under tension) force absorption for landings.
Scotty James demonstrates core strength and neuromuscular gym training, and other off-snow training.
A large majority of off-snow training focuses on sport-specific skill development, such as building co-ordination and the smoothness of trick execution. Athletes and coaches use a "gymnastic approach" to off-snow training – via trampolines, foam pits, and diving platforms/pools – to practice aerial skills in a safe landing environment.
So, behind his cool exterior, James has worked as hard as any other elite athlete on all aspects of his training to avoid injury and increase performance. Put together, this enabled him to stand on the podium to receive his bronze medal.
What makes a ...?
Winter Olympics 2018
Temperatures in Pyeongchang fall below -10℃ at night. EPA/Filip Singer
Explainer: how Winter Olympic athletes cope with the cold
Harley Windsor's visibility before, during and after these Winter Olympics may just be the catalyst to inspire future generations of Indigenous athletes. AAP/Brendan Esposito
In Harley Windsor, Australia has its first Indigenous Winter Olympian – why has it taken so long?
What makes the mogul discipline distinctive is that it is both a judged event and a timed event. EPA/Sergei Ilnitsky
What makes a winning mogul skier like Matt Graham?
Frenzy and focus in the women's Snowboard Cross final at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games. Vassil Donev/AAP
How snow-deprived Aussies can win in snowboard cross and ski-cross in Pyeongchang


Young Ell and D2theH (born Eric and Derrick Hillman) are the talented duo behind the growing phenomenon 'Twin Thing'. The 19 year old identical twins were born in Nairobi, Kenya but have lived in Somerset for most of their lives. The young men were born to perform; from an early age the boys were enthusiastically writing and producing their own music.
They realised they wanted to use their talent professionally when their sister invited a host of talented performers to her 18th birthday party. Watching the likes of Wiley and N Dubz on stage motivated them to take their music to the next level. They so badly wanted to stir the same excitement in audiences and allow their music to touch the lives of young people throughout the world.
The boys are solely responsible for choreographing their entertaining performances that include their exceptional gymnastic background and their appreciation for different types of dance. Their eclectic sound is a unique mix of their African heritage, their English upbringing and their need to educate their fellow peers on pertinent social concerns. The boys want their music to inspire and educate as much as provide entertainment for their peers.
So far, the proceeds from all their performances have been directed to 'Mama Upendo'; a children's home that was founded and is supported by their loving mother. The boys feel very close to the children they support and have visited Kenya numerous times to spend time with the children in the home, inspiring them and lifting their spirits with their music.
Twin Thing have a myriad of musical influences that they incorporate into their unique sound including Michael Jackson, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the African Jazz Maestro Hugh Masekela. They have always taken such pride in their work and as such, they insist on being involved in every aspect of their music and performances. All the twins want to do is share their music with the world. So have a listen, enjoy and comment away!


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