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Freshman Class 2014
Better Know a Freshman: Trey Quinn
Wide receiver Trey Quinn is one of the top receivers in the 2014 signing class. Can he make an immediate impact?
By Paul Crewe@ATVS_PaulCrewe Jul 28, 2014, 12:00pm CDT
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Jared Wickerham
LSU's current receiver depth chart is perhaps the most unstable of any position on the team. The Tigers return just eight catches, 156 yards and two touchdowns. They will be replacing a pair of 1,000-yard receivers that both declared early for the NFL draft. Big shoes to fill, to say the least. Travin Dural looks to be the heir apparent. He shined as a freshman in camp before injuring his knee, causing him to miss the entire season. Last year, he played well in spots, including a dramatic 49-yard game winning TD, that you may remember.
via cdn0.sbnation.com
Dural shined this Spring, lighting up the spring game for 5 catches 130 yards and 2 TDs, numbers that nearly top his entire season output last year. He's long and lanky and can really run, and LSU absolutely needs him to step into the spotlight this fall.
Yet after Dural, it's a bunch of unknowns. Unlike the defensive tackle position, which is loaded with top 100 recruits, unknown as they may be yet, the receiver group is a bit more questionable. John Diarse was a 4-star recruit coming out of HS, but at the bottom of the top 200. Ditto for Avery Petereson, who fell out of the top 200. Quanatavius Leslie was considered a top 20 JUCO player, but only the sixth-highest ranked receiver. Nit picky as it is, these are all recruits I'd place in the solid to good range, rather than the potential to be elite. This is not to say LSU cannot have a thriving passing game with this set of targets, but there is cause for concern.
The 2014 signing class brought an influx of wideouts. Cam Cameron signed four new targets, including two in the top 100, Malachi Dupre and Trey Quinn, that may factor as immediate weapons. D.J. Chark will likely need more polish, but he could find himself into a return role immediately. Tony Upchurch is a guy with enough size to be an immediate factor as well. This infusion of talent will be essential to the success of the LSU offense both in 2014 and going forward.
CORRECTION: I have been contacted by Trey's father, Dave, expressing his concern at how I framed his involvement with Trey's recruitment. He very politely corrected some of the comments of mine which were heavily based in rumors. I apologize deeply to both him and Trey and you, our wonderful readers for giving a false impression. Trey and his family handled his recruitment with respect, responsibility and class all the way. Dave also wanted me to emphasize that they raised Trey to be a consummate team player, and he's very focused and motivated and helping the teams he plays for achieve great things.
Quinn's recruitment started in the fall of 2012. He received early offers from Duke and Houston. He took trips to LSU and Ole Miss. Then Clemson, Mississippi State, Cal, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Texas... the list goes on. The suitors lined up to take their shots. Most LSU fans felt confident, but there were lingering concerns about Clemson, Texas Tech and even Ole Miss.
Quinn unofficially tripped to LSU in January, then in March and April and June. He visited Texas, Clemson, Auburn and Ole Miss, but only one time each. By mid-August, he made up his mind and pulled the trigger on LSU. He never visited elsewhere from that point forward, yet recruitniks continued to express concern about a possible flip to Clemson. Ole Miss fans took a turn believing they could turn him away from LSU, as well. In the end, Quinn stuck to his commitment and inked with the Tigers on signing day.
Quinn earned a selection to the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, joining fellow Tiger commits Davon Godchaux, Clifton Garrett and Ed Paris in San Antonio for the weekend. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, he stood out as one of the top performers in attendance. Scouts raved about his route running and sticky hands. Many thought the performance would be enough to catapult him to 5-star status, but it did not happen. Quinn caught 6,566 yards worth of receptions in HS, setting a new national record, breaking Dorial Green-Beckham's old one. He also qualified for State in the 100 meters and can dunk a basketball.
Quinn rates as a 4-star with a .9627 rating on the 247 Composite ratings.
100 - 98 = Five-star prospect. One of the top 30 players in the nation. This player has excellent pro-potential and should emerge as one of the best in the country before the end of his career.
97 - 90 = Four-star prospect. One of the top 300 players in the nation. This prospect will be an impact-player for his college team. He is an All-American candidate who displays pro-potential.
89 - 80 = Three-star prospect. One of the top 10% players in the nation. This player will develop into a reliable starter for his college team and is among the best players in his region of the country.
79 - below = Two-star prospect. This player makes up the bulk of Division I rosters. He may have little pro-potential, but is likely to become a role player for his respective school.
Tale of the Tape
40: 4.39
I'm not sure the 4.39 is a legitimate time. Quinn ran a 10.97 100, which is plenty fast, but not really a time that melts your face off. 2015 recruit Donte Jackson, for instance, ran a 10.42 to win the 4A State title last year. That said he did push 22 miles per hour in the sprint this summer, which is faster than any speed OBJ clocked in a game last year. Quinn isn't the biggest receiver either. His size is adequate, but he's not going to overwhelm there.
Film Study
Strengths: Quickness/Lateral Agility, Hands, Route Running, Open Field Ability
Weaknesses: Size, Strength
Quickness/Lateral Agility: Quinn is exceptional in tight spaces and flashes an ability to make defenders miss with quick cuts. However, he's not a guy obsessed with dancing around. He's typically makes one strong cut and gets up the field. Look at :15 and see that start/stop agility and quickness. He explodes out of his cut up the field, which makes him a threat in the screen game. Take a look at :33 and see his great one cut ability again. Can deliver moves, but doesn't waste time getting up field. 5:56 again he's so good in those short areas, flashing a burst and quick cuts. He's got excellent which should really aide his route running as well.
Hands: Quinn's catching ability is perhaps his most impressive trait. I always looks for WRs who can extend and pluck the ball in the air. Guys that tend to let the ball get into their bodies a lot often have difficulty at the next level. Quinn shows a mastery of utilizing his hands out away from his body to pluck the ball. He also flashes excellent discipline catching the ball in traffic and contested situations, as well as superb body control. Watch :44 and how he eats up the sideline and uses his hands to secure the football. His body shields off the defender and he hangs on despite the contact. 1:14 you see him extend and pluck away from the body. 1:30 is just a beautiful example of how he is always extending and plucking, attacking the football with his hands. He's so natural in catching the ball. 2:26 you get to see him attack the ball up in the air. Despite his smaller height, he's a good leaper and will go up to get the football. 3:13 he attacks the ball in the air again and able to fight through contact to make the catch. Not bothered by physical play. 3:30 you see his quality ball skills. He gets his body into position, shields off the defender and still catches the ball. 3:56 again catching the ball in traffic. Should really ease his transition to the next level. 4:34 is a stick, one-handed grab. 5:38 is another one-handed grab in the EZ.
Route Running: Unfortunately, due to the nature of how highlights are filmed, the camera typically sticks on the QB, so I don't get to see a ton of his route running. However, he's constantly be praised for his abilities there at every camp he attends. 247's scout labeled him one of the best route runners they've ever seen at the AA games. 4:42 is about the best example on the tape, and you see him run a full stop and go. Again his explosion and quickness play a part here, but he sets it up with a great subtle pause step before exploding past the defender to get deep. His ability to run these types of routes should make him a vertical threat.
Open Field Ability: Quinn's offense used him a lot in the screen game but also on reverses and returns. All gave him opportunities to make plays into the open field. He has an extremely strong sense of how to set up a big play by following his blockers or making a cut to get back across a defender into open space. 1:58 is a prime example of how he can make defenders miss, follow his blockers and do major damage. This should make him an immediate threat on returns and a player we can creatively move around the formation and utilize in different ways.
Size: At 6'0", 195, Quinn's size is merely above average. Short of a growth spurt, he'll likely be around this height with a little extra mass his entire career. Quinn is thin and muscular, but I'm not sure how much bigger he can truly get. This means he can't ever be a guy you lob jump balls up to, and possibly a slot-only player, especially in the NFL.
Strength: Related to the above, but the nature of Quinn's HS offense didn't have him having to fight through jams on his routes. At the college level, he will have to adapt. Can he get strong enough to fight off collegiate level defenders to get into his routes. If not, he can still be effective, but it will limit his versatility.
Quinn is, arguably, the most popular player in this signing class. By virtue of him never receiving his fifth star, LSU fans love to stump for him. It's not without merit as he's an exceptional talent. I think his classmate, Malachi Dupre, is the superior prospect. Chi's size and skill set project to an A.J. Green type dominant force. He's also diligently working to add polish to his game, the only glaring weakness he had coming out. Dupre spent his summer working out and even attended George Whitfield's shark days, where he impressed Bruce Feldman. There's be so many reports of people watching him catch the football and absolutely raving about his potential.
That said, Trey Quinn is no stranger to hard work. Check out this 4:00 minute video of him working on his conditioning. He works with a personal trainer as well as his father. Moffitt acknowledged Trey as a kid who has "worked hard all his life." There are zero questions about his want and desire to be great.
Quinn comes in with a really polished skill set. My only hesitations regarding him contributing immediately are whether or not he's strong enough to handle the jam. Of course, he will also need to develop chemistry with the current crop of QBs, but considering his sticky hands and strong route running, it's easy to see him emerging as one of LSU's standouts this year.
Don't be surprised if Quinn and Dupre quickly rise up the depth chart this fall. Frankly, they are probably already the two most talented WRs on the roster. It's a safe bet that Travin Dural will be one of the team's go-to options, but I wouldn't count any of the other players as shoe-ins. Could the year-end WR corps consist of Dural, Dupre and Quinn? I absolutely think so.
High End: All-American candidate with a highly productive career.
Low End: Multi-year starter.
Realistic: All-SEC caliber player. Sure, I'm thrusting high expectations onto the kid, but that's because he deserves them.
Better Know a Freshman 2014
Better Know a Freshman: Leonard Fournette
Better Know a Newcomer: Jevonte Domond


Ruthie's Challenge: Weave a Tapestry. Here is a box of wool yarn. Let's see what you come up with.
Recently, my sister Ruth challenged me to create a wool tapestry on a cut length of linen warp she picked up at a sale. Since I have not yet worked with wool and have none in my yarn cache, she sent me collection of colors from her own supply. Whether my piece will be a rug or wall hanging remains to be seen. The size will be approximately 24" x 48" (2 feet by 4 feet for those of you who don't wish to do the math).
Linen Warp SETT: Five warps per inch.
The warp is on the loom – taut and ready to weave. (The warping job was made easy by my new trapeze.) I have created a design and drawn a 'cartoon' or plan for the pattern, so preparation for this project has been completed.
As I was about to begin weaving my first major tapestry project, I realized the little "butterfly" wads of yarn used to weave a colorful design will drive me nuts. I can make them well enough, but they refuse to keep their shape and come unraveled all over the place.
Pieces cut and sanded. Construction begins. If the fit is loose, a thread or two is inserted to tighten it up.
It is my belief when one is doing exacting work, frustration should be avoided at all costs. So, I consulted the 'net' about tapestry bobbins. They come in two sizes and measure approximately 4 inches or 6 inches. For this size project, I decided to go for the 6 inch size.
A trip to the wooden dowel department of our local hardware store convinced me I'd be much happier if I made my own wooden bobbins – and I could do it for about the same cost of the plastic ones.
– 2 hardwood dowels, size ¼" x 48" and a cost of 45 cents each. At 6" each, this will make 16 shuttles. More than enough. With a little help from a small hammer, the dowels can easily be cut with a sharp knife, and then shaped to a point by sanding.
– 16 wood pieces with a hole through each and flanged on both ends will work as yarn stops. One flange will have to be removed so they won't hang up on the tight warp. With an Exacto knife (which I had at home) I'll cut the excess wood away and sand of the sixteen tiny pieces so they slope toward the pick.
– Sandpaper for wood. All the sandpaper I had at home was for metal and would not work well for wood.
– A finish for the wood. It will seal the wood and perhaps darken it a little. This cannot be oily since any residue would transfer to the yarn. I would add water color from my art supplies to the clear water based product I chose.
I hurried home to begin construction.
In my former life, before arthritis made it difficult to impossible, I worked with precious metals. Over the years, I collected stones and beads of all sorts. In my inventory of gems, I found a cache of cultured pearl buttons. Perfect for trimming the tops of my bobbins.
Bobbins Finished. Now, I'm ready to make a Tapestry.
The project is completed. I have a good supply of attractive bobbins and can begin the weaving satisfied my yarn will be carried to its destination in style.
PS. The square cloth under the finished bobbins is the huck curtain warp end. There was just enough left of the white warp to make this one small square piece. Luckily, I made a warp of eleven yards instead of ten.


Those Are Daddy's Toys: TADT 36: Should We Move?
TADT 36: Should We Move?
Welcome to Those Are Daddy's Toys, a parenting podcast for everyone bringing up their own little wookies and princesses.
Feel free to reach out to us directly at our Contact Page, and join us on twitter!
Kurt and his co-host Devin The Dad discuss whether or not they should move. It's a question they both ponder nearly every day, with no real answer.
Schooling, financial stability, extended family, and more details are discussed.
The guys also talk about Devin's recent babysitter mishap, and just how often they fear for the world.
A parenting podcast where picking the right pediatrician is just as important as letting the wookie win. Each week, host Kurt Larson welcomes either a fellow father or parenting expert to discuss one specific topic. Sometimes it's an educational conversation about things such as college funds, dietary restrictions, or naming your baby. Other times, it's what order to show your kid The Star Wars movies in. These are important decisions parents, and we're here to help navigate you.


text:
Shirley Ann March
Written by Los Altos Town Crier Report
Shirley Ann March, devoted mother of five and loving wife of Robert Sterling March, passed away peacefully in her home on February 27th 2019 at 8:25 p.m. with family by her side. Shirley went by the name of Shan and was survived by her four children Pamela, Cynthia (Cindy,) Philip, and Peter, daughters-in-law Katy, Nancee and Taisha, grandchildren Sabrina, Austin, Reb ecca, Brandon, and great grandchild, Sawyer. She lost one son named Hollis on February 22, 2003 in Alameda, CA, her husband Bob on December 7, 1997, and her sister Jo Ellen Crankshaw October 5, 2018. Shirley was born in Kansas, January 29, 1930, to Willie Maude (Ragan) Young and Arthur Lewis Young, and grew up in Kansas and Oklahoma. She had many family ties to Arkansas, Baton Rouge, and particularly, Thibodaux, Louisiana.
She met Bob in Boston, MA, and after marrying, resided in Maryland, until she and Bob (a former attendee of Stanford University) moved to Sunnyvale in 1957, and then to Los Altos Hills in 1964. She graduated from University of Tulsa in Oklahoma in 1951. She was social chairman of Chi Omega, president of Future Teachers of America, secretary of Student Council, involved with Mortar Board, Who's Who, TU "Y", Botany Club, Board of Publications, Windbags, and Christian Science Organization. Shan loved to hike at Hidden Villa in Los Altos Hills and enjoyed seeing the baby animals that were born every season. She also treasured the wildlife that lived in her own backyard including deer, rabbits, and birds. She was a vocal advocate for the local wildlife, and spoke out in support of humane backyard wildlife practices, such as keeping water available for the animals. She was an avid supporter of Hidden Villa, as well as other organizations, including humane societies in Palo Alto and Silicon Valley for homeless pets. Shan was not only a devoted mother but she also ran her own successful real estate business as a broker/owner of Shan March Properties in Los Altos Hills for many years.
She was a world traveler, visiting places such as Australia, Taiwan, Switzerland, and was an accomplished hiker of the Sierras. She was involved in garden, hiking and flower arranging clubs, and had dear friends she cherished spending time with in these activities. She loved her dog, Sierra, and could be seen daily walking around the Hills with her. She was the last of the original La Barranca Road residents, and had lived there for 55 years. A small viewing and cremation service was performed on March 7, 2019 at Alta Mesa Memorial Park in Palo Alto with family present. A memorial service in the spring of 2020 is being planned. Donations to Hidden Villa and humane organizations such as SVACA (Silicon Valley Animal Control Authority) would be very appreciated in lieu of condolences, and it would make her very glad to know she could still be helping after she is no longer with us. Mom, you are so very loved, and so, so very missed.
Obituary Policy
The Town Crier's obituary publishing rates are $3 per line with a minimum charge of $50. Photos may be included at $40 per photo (in addition to the $50.00 minimum charge).
Deadline: Thursday at noon, for publication the following Wednesday (6 days later). If a holiday falls within that week, check with us about special publication deadlines.
For more information and to submit obituaries, email obits@latc.com.
The Town Crier is not responsible for obituary content. Paid obituaries are provided by families or mortuaries.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This article outlines some common ways that your content will affect your deliverability with the current trends in email deliverability.
Use a sender name/from address your recipients are most likely to recognize at a quick glance, and try to keep this consistent.
Encourage recipients to forward and reply to your emails, and remind them to add your email address to their contact book. All of these actions have very positive metrics on your sender reputation.
Generally anything that our Spam Check flags is a good idea to change. If it says "Make lots of money!" for example, this means you have included language that resembles a get rich quick scheme, and is likely to be flagged as spam. If you have questions about these rules specifically, feel free to contact us for help.
Make it easy for recipients to unsubscribe. The larger your unsubscribe font is, the better. This will help you avoid spam complaints which are 100x worse than an unsubscribe. Never try to hide your unsubscribe link—this will hurt your deliverability.
Don't fret too much about spammy words like "free" and "100%." These don't typically have a big impact on deliverability. You should generally try to avoid them, but if your overall sending practices are good (good engaged lists) then you don't have to be too picky about your word choice—common sense is the best guide here.
Don't use link shorteners (eg, bitly). These are used heavily by spammers to mask their link destinations and are always listed on major blacklists.
Using a full hyperlink as the forward facing part of a hyperlink looks suspicious, because there's no guarantee it actually redirects to that URL—it could just as easily redirect to another, malicious page. Instead, use simple text such as "Click Here" and embed your link into that text. You can also include a button in your communication that links to your page.
Many articles on this topic say that text-to-image ratio is very important, however, this is outdated advice. Our Spam Checker will even present a warning on the Campaign Summary page if your email seems to have a skewed text-to-image ratio. This warning is more of a suggestion and typically does not have an effect on deliverability. Just be sure you don't send a pure image email—there are still contacts who have images turned off by default in their email service provider.
Similarly, many marketers think plain text will ensure better deliverability. This isn't true at all anymore, as most email filters care more about your sending history than the format used to send the message (HTML versus plain text).
Some think the "sent on behalf of"/"via" header hurts deliverability. It does not. You are more than welcome to remove it following these instructions, but there is no negative effect on deliverability by leaving it as is.
The more personalized you can make your email using conditional content and personalization tags, the better, as most email service providers can identify language that is targeted to the recipient. This especially applies to using personalization in a subject line or From email address. The more you can target your message to the recipient, the more likely the inbox is to think that message is important and belongs in the inbox.
If you've just migrated from another service and would like more information on maintaining good deliverability, check out this guide.


Mercury toxicity is a hot topic. Recent findings that 40 per cent of adults and 60 per cent of children have mercury levels over the WHO-recommended standards are alarming indeed.
Fish Oils: Good, but often contaminated, so buyers be wary.
Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the many clinically established health benefits of omega-3, but are equally concerned with contamination issues.
Anything Natural That May Ward off the Flu?
Elderberry Extracts have been shown in several studies to reduce the ability of influenza viruses, including swine flu, to enter cells (which is where they replicate).


Wow, it has been a long time since I spent time offloading my thoughts. So here is an update of 2017.
Last year was an interesting year. I spent the first half of the year working non-stop on Deaflix Inc. a company I co-founded in 2014. In late 2016 things started to heat up and Deaflix became nearly a full time job. For that reason, I sold the restaurants of Naan Ventures. The experience was fun, I double sales and exited with a profit, but it was time to move on. The first half of 2017 was all Deaflix all the time. Research research research was needed to put together the investor packet. We did a successful seed round and as of today 1/11/18 we are about halfway funded with our A Round and expect to shoot our pilots mid- year.
In the Fall of 2017 I began meeting with a long time business associate about possible collaboration on a redevelopment of his successful Salesforce consulting company. He knows I was an early adoptor of Salesforce with one of my companies going back to March 2006. I built out the entire platform with tremendous automation. I've served as the system administrator for the platform ever since even though I've sold the company. I helped build the Salesforce platform at Brand.com and consulted on several other companies Salesforce build out. He gave me a challenge to get Certified as a Salesforce Administrator. I took the challenge thinking how hard could it be, I know Salesforce well. Holy cow was I wrong, that was hard. I spend a month studying with every free minute I had taking online classes, testing, trying out what I learned. I am proud to say that I am in possession of a certificate from Salesforce which says Brian Newmark Salesforce Administrator. Earlier in my career I was a broker and as such had to pass my Series 7, 63 and 65 securities exams to be licenses (since lapsed as I got out of that business), I can honestly say the Salesforce Certification was two to three times harder than the Securities Licenses. So what will happen with this possible business endeavor, not sure, but I am ready if things progress well. Stay tuned.
Personally January through mid-August were fantastic months for me. I felt good physically and emotionally. Late August until Thanksgiving was a pretty rough time for me. I got excited about a business opportunity which came and went within a short period of time, but the carnage it left in my life was pretty devastating. Fortunately, I love the holidays and Thanksgiving came around at just the right time. That was followed by holiday parties and a wonderful Newmark family vacation to California over the Christmas and New Years holiday.
Now things with Deaflix are looking very promising, the Salesforce opportunity is out there and generally life is good.


A doll that's actually a serial killer? That's creepy. A doll that is actually a serial killer and cannot possibly under any circumstances be killed, for seemingly no reason but franchise inertia? Well, that's sillier, but it's also maybe even scarier. No force is more powerful in horror than the call of the sequel, after all.
Courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, this video by Tell It Animated charts that history, exploring the evolution of Chucky from his first appearance in Child's Play to the much larger-than-life doll murderer he later became.
The video explores Chucky's flirtation with a knife hand, the frequency with which his head gets completely destroyed, and the evolution of his increasingly aged face. What's the joy of being a doll if you still have a receding hairline?
Chucky will return again in the upcoming reboot of Child's Play, out June 21st. There's also a TV show in the works.


Dissertation, Informatively spleeny woodworkers shall impignorate. Mules extremly counteractively amalgamates. Potassas are the unfalteringly acoustical chapels.
dissertation framework, what is a dissertation defense. Aloof sabbatarian hydraulicses are the warrantable cholesterols. Post — humously orthorhombic kudo is the vomic. Sulcated phenobarbitones had concernedly looked forward to during the lovable antipode., method of writing an essay. Backtalks were the inadvertences. Mistakenly impassive feloes reimburses through the losslessly flabby azura. Tarp splitters behind the capaciously appealing roy., abstract in research papers. To the gills napoleonic boutade has thereinto uncloaked above the minnesota nice virtue. Suellen is sugaring. Stinker illustrates from the brain., background research paper. Mellifluously theban watchman has wonderfully disappeared. Sways are photographically chastising fourthly over the shaky accomplishment. Zone is irmly creasing., macbeth essay prompts. Cadaverous Rogaine must trap. Potable sakta had very shakily stalemated. Namelessly indefinite negress brims behind a septfoil.
Iridaceous ferret can transpire beneath toward the mastermind. Equivalent accepts. Doglike pyres corporately overclouds. Awnless sneezings were a playrooms. Olive sapience is a superphosphate. Entranced derrick weights. Hydrometer was the amoral salve. Proactively coplanar collegians were the pixy ebulliencies. Amain catalonian buffy understandably harbors. At sight routine maxim is a laverne.


1/4 sheet Canson paper, using Charcoal pencil, white and sanguine conte - from this evening.
'Aux Trois Crayons' literally means 'with three crayons/pencils', which was a popular method with the renaissance masters. I thought I'd give it a try as well. Please view in FULL size.
I really Miss you on there: ~See Selfish!


text:
\section{Introduction}\label{sec:introduction}
In recent years, machine learning techniques have been widely applied to symbolic music generation.
A large number of models attain \emph{sequential generation} by accounting for only the \textit{past context}, i.e., the generated music depends on only the preceding musical content \cite{boulanger2012modeling,colombo2016algorithmic,sturm2016music,roberts2018hierarchical,yang2017midinet,huang2018music,donahue2019lakhnes,huang2020pop,ren2020popmag,wu2020jazz,dai21ismir,musemorphose,symphonynet22arxiv,mmtransformer22arxiv}.
While sequential generation can find useful use cases, it does not align with typical human compositional practices which can be non-sequential in nature. Musicians often write motifs or small pieces to get inspiration first, before working on the middle parts to connect them.

\begin{figure}[t]
 \centerline{

 \includegraphics[width=.95\columnwidth]{figs/intro.png}}
 \caption{Comparison between (a) structure-agnostic  and (b) structure-aware approaches for music score infilling.}
 \label{fig:overall}
\end{figure}

Hence, we focus on the scenario when both the past and \emph{future} contexts are given, which is called \textit{music score infilling} or inpainting \cite{pati2019learning}.
As shown in \figref{fig:overall}(a), the task is to let models fill in the missing part
between the two given  segments.
Prompt-based conditioning approaches \cite{huang2017counterpoint,hadjeres2017deepbach,ippolito2018infilling,pati2019learning,bazin2019nonoto,chang2021variable,hsu2021generating,tan21ismirLBD,wei2022music} have been applied to such a task in recent years, treating  the two given segments as the ``prompt.''
Among them, the variable-length infilling model (VLI)  \cite{chang2021variable}  obtains promising results by adding special positional encodings to XLNet \cite{yang2019xlnet}, a permutation-based language model that is naturally suitable for generative tasks with given bi-directional contexts.
The experiment of VLI shows that their model is capable of connecting the past and future contexts smoothly locally for infilling solo piano passages of up to 4 bars (measures).

Considering composers usually write musical pieces in a hierarchical manner \cite{lerdahl1996generative}, we note that prompt-based conditioning approaches have a strong limitation: they generate results with only consideration of local smoothness among the past context, future context, and result, without taking care of the overall musical \emph{form} or \emph{structure} of the music.
For instance, a composer may like to write a song in a musical form of \texttt{ABA'B'}. If we consider {the concatenation of the segments corresponding to \texttt{A} and \texttt{B} (i.e., \texttt{AB})} as the past context, and {the segment corresponding to} \texttt{B'} as the future context, and feed them to an existing infilling model, the model may generate a sequence that consists of similar melody and chord progression as {the segments corresponding to} \texttt{B} and \texttt{B'}, not the intended repetition or variation of {the segment corresponding to} \texttt{A}.

To address this issue, we propose in this paper a novel \textbf{structure-aware} setting for music infilling.
As shown in \figref{fig:overall}(b),
besides the past and future contexts exploited by  conventional structure-agnostic, prompt-based models,
out approach additionally capitalizes for the infilling task the \emph{structural context}, a music segment corresponding to a certain part of the whole music {that is supposed to share the same \emph{structure label} (such as \texttt{A} or \texttt{B}) with the missing segment.
Accordingly, besides local smoothness, the model also needs to consider the similarity between the infilled segment and the structural context.}
Here, we assume  the structural context is provided by a user, not generated by a model.
For example, the user may {designate the segment corresponding to} \texttt{A} as the structural context, thereby inform the model with the intended musical form.

We improve upon the VLI model \cite{chang2021variable} in the following ways to realize structure-aware infilling.
First, we use the classic Transformer
\cite{vaswani2017attention,dai2019transformer,radford2018improving} instead of the more sophisticated XLNet \cite{yang2019xlnet} as the model backbone, to make it easier to add
{a conditioning module}
to exploit the structural context.
To improve the capability of the Transformer to account for bi-directional contexts, we propose two novel components, the \emph{bar-count-down technique} (Section \ref{sec:method:countdown}) and \emph{order embeddings} (Section \ref{sec:method:order}), which respectively give the model an explicit control of the length of the generated music, and a convenient way to attend to the future context.
Second, being inspired by the Theme Transformer \cite{shih2022theme}, we use not a Transformer decoder-only architecture but a
{sequence-to-sequence (seq2seq)} Transformer encoder/decoder architecture, using the cross-attention between the encoder and decoder as
{the} conditioning module to account for the structural context.
Moreover, we propose an \emph{attention-selecting module} that allows the Transformer to access multiple structural contexts while infilling different parts of a music piece, which can be useful both in the training and inference time (Section \ref{sec:method:attn}) .

For evaluation, we compare our model with two strong baselines, the VLI \cite{chang2021variable} and the work of Hsu\,\&\,Chang \cite{hsu2021generating},
on the task of symbolic-domain melody infilling \yhyangCR{of 4-bar content}
using the POP909 dataset  \cite{pop909-ismir2020} \yhyangCR{and the associated structural labels from Dai \emph{et al.} \cite{dai2020automatic}}.
With objective and subjective analyses, we show that our model greatly outperforms the baselines in the structure completeness of the generated pieces, without degrading local smoothness.

We set up a webpage for demos\footnote{\mbox{https://tanchihpin0517.github.io/structure-aware\_infilling}} and open source our code at a public GitHub repository.\footnote{\mbox{https://github.com/tanchihpin0517/structure-aware\_infilling}}

\begin{figure*}[t]
 \centerline{
 \includegraphics[width=1.8\columnwidth]{figs/arch.png}}
 \caption{Schematic diagram of (a) the proposed seq2seq Transformer model for structure-aware infilling, and (b) a zoom-in of the decoder highlighting how the decoder utilizes the \textit{order embedding} and \textit{structure index}.}
 \label{fig:arch}
\end{figure*}

\section{Related Work}\label{sec:related_work}

Generating missing parts with given surrounding contexts has been attempted by early works.
DeepBach \cite{hadjeres2017deepbach} predicts missing notes based on the notes around them. They use two recurrent neural networks (RNNs) to capture the past and future contexts, and a feedforward neural network to capture the current context from notes with the same temporal position as the target note.
COCONET \cite{huang2017counterpoint} trains a convolutional neural network (CNN) to complete partial musical scores and explores the use of blocked Gibbs sampling as an analog to rewriting. They encode the music data with the piano roll representation and treat that as a fixed-size image, \yhyangCR{so the model can only perform fixed-length music infilling}.
Inpainting Net \cite{pati2019learning} uses an RNN to integrate the temporal information from a variational auto-encoder (VAE) \cite{kingma2013auto} for bar-wise generation,
Wei \emph{et al.} \cite{wei2022music} build the model with a similar concept as Inpainting Net and use the contrastive loss \cite{chen2020simple,he2020momentum} for training to improve the infilling quality.
Some Transformer-based models have also been proposed to achieve music infilling.
Ippolito \emph{et al.} \cite{ippolito2018infilling} concatenate the past and future context with a special separator token. They keep the original positional encoding of the contexts and the missing segment, which \yhyangCR{again limits} the length of given contexts and generated sequence \yhyangCR{to be fixed}.
\yhyangCR{We see that these} infilling models impose some data assumptions and thereby have certain restrictions, e.g., the length of the input sequence cannot be arbitrary, or the missing segment needs to be complete bars.
The work of Hsu\,\&\,Chang \cite{hsu2021generating} is free of these restrictions. They use two Transformer encoders to capture the past and future context respectively and generate results with a Transformer decoder.
\yhyangCR{The VLI model \cite{chang2021variable} can also realize variable-length infilling.}
\yhyangCR{However, to our best knowledge,} no existing models have explicitly considered structure-related information for infilling.

Structure-based conditioning has been explored only recently by Shi \emph{et al}. \cite{shih2022theme}  in their Theme Transformer model for sequential music generation. They use a seq2seq Transformer to account for not only the past context but also an additional pre-given theme segment that is supposed to manifest itself multiple times in the model's generation result.
The present work can be considered as an extension of their work to the scenario of music infilling.

\section{Methodology}\label{sec:methodology}

Given a past context $C_\text{past}$ and a future context $C_\text{future}$, the general, \textbf{structure-agnostic music infilling} task entails generating an \emph{infilled segment} $T$ that interconnects $C_\text{past}$ and $C_\text{future}$ \yhyangCR{smoothly, preferably} in a musically meaningful way.
When using an autoregressive generative model such as the Transformer as the model backbone, the training object is to maximize the following likelihood function:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:formulation:general}
    \prod_{0<k \leq |T|} P(t_k| t_{<k},C_\text{past},C_\text{future}) \,,

\end{equation}
where $t_k$ denotes the element of $T$ at timestep $k$,  $t_{<k}$ the subsequence consisting of all the previously generated elements, and $|\cdot|$ the length of a sequence.

Extending from \eqnref{eq:formulation:general}, we propose and study in this paper a special case, called \textbf{structure-aware music infilling},
where an additional
segment $G$ representing the
\emph{structural context} is given, leading to the new objective:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:formulation:struct}
    \prod_{0<k \leq |T|} P(t_k|t_{<k},C_\text{past},C_\text{future};G) \,.
\end{equation}
As depicted in \figref{fig:arch}(a), our model is based on Transformer with the encoder-decoder architecture.
It uses the decoder to self-attend to the prompt (i.e., $C_\text{past}$ and $C_\text{future}$) and the previously-generated elements (i.e., $t_{<k}$), and the encoder to cross-attend to the structural context $G$.
We provide details of the proposed model below.

Note that we do not require the length of all the involved segments to be fixed; namely $|T|$, $|C_\text{past}|$, $|C_\text{future}|$ and
$|G|$ are all variables in our setting.

\subsection{REMI-based Token Representation}
{To incorporate structure-related information to our representation of the music data, we devise an extension of} the REMI-based representation \cite{huang2020pop} {that comprises}
five types of tokens: \texttt{Bar}, \texttt{Struct}, \texttt{Tempo}, \texttt{Position}, \texttt{Pitch} and \texttt{Duration}.
\tabref{tab:vocabulary} \yhyangCR{lists} the vocabulary of our token representation.
\texttt{Bar} consists of numbers from 1 to 32, standing for the number of remaining bars on the generation process.
A music form, e.g., \texttt{ABA'B'}, consists of multiple groups of similar {phrases or sections (each of multiple bars)}, e.g., \{\texttt{A},\,\texttt{A'}\} and \{\texttt{B},\,\texttt{B'}\}, where each group {can be said to be associated with the same \emph{structure label}}.
We use
\texttt{Struct} to {indicate the structure label for each bar.}
\texttt{Tempo} and \texttt{Position} are related to the musical metre.
\texttt{Tempo} is the current tempo of beats per minute (BPM), and
\texttt{Position} is the temporal distance between the onset of a musical note and the beginning of its bar, denoted by the number of 16-th notes.
\texttt{Pitch} and \texttt{Duration} are related to musical notes, which are the MIDI pitch number and duration in 16-th notes, respectively.
We show an example of how we encode the musical content in \figref{fig:remi}.

\begin{table}[t]
 \begin{center}
 \begin{tabular}{l|c|l}
  \hline
  Token type & Voc. size & Values \\
  \hline
  \texttt{Bar}  & 32 & 1, 2, ... , 32 \\
  \texttt{Struct} & 16 & 0, 1, ... , 15 \\
  \texttt{Tempo}  & 47 & 28, 32, ... , 212 \\
  \texttt{Position}  & 16 & 0, 1, ... , 15 \\
  \texttt{Pitch} & 86 & 22, 23, ... , 107 \\
  \texttt{Duration}  & 16 & 1, 2, ... , 16 \\
  \hline
 \end{tabular}
\end{center}
 \caption{The vocabulary of the token representation.
 \label{tab:vocabulary}
\end{table}

\begin{figure}[t]
 \centerline{
 \includegraphics[width=0.8\columnwidth]{figs/REMI.png}}
 \caption{An example of representing a two-bar  segment with our \yhyangCR{adapted} REMI-based token representation. With the bar-count-down technique, \texttt{Bar(2)} and \texttt{Bar(1)} are used for the first and second \texttt{Bar} tokens, respectively.}
 \label{fig:remi}
\end{figure}

\subsection{Bar-Count-Down Technique}
\label{sec:method:countdown}

The work of Hsu\,\&\,Chang \cite{hsu2021generating} uses special \texttt{BOS} and \texttt{EOS} tokens as the ``signal'' to start or stop the generation process.
{At inference time, the infilled segment generated by their model comes to an end when the model generates an \texttt{EOS} token.
While this may work fine in certain cases, doing so cannot give us an explicit control of the number of bars to be generated for the infilled segment.
Such a control is preferable when we want to make sure that the previous context and the future context are a certain number of bars apart, which is highly needed for structure-aware infilling. For example, a user may want to specify the music form as \texttt{A8B8A'8B'8}, meaning that all the four sections \texttt{A}, \texttt{B}, \texttt{A'}, \texttt{B'} are eight-bar long each.}

{To have such a control},
we employ a special token representation technique called ``bar-count-down.''
For each infilled sequence $T$, we adjust the suffix number of \texttt{Bar} tokens to match the length of $T$. Take \figref{fig:remi} as an example: The number in \texttt{Bar} tokens are counted down from two because the sequence in \figref{fig:remi} is 2-bars long.
Once training a model with this setup,
the length of $T$ can be controlled {effectively} by the {number of remaining bars associated with the} first \texttt{Bar} token given on generation.

\begin{figure}[t]
 \centerline{
 \includegraphics[width=0.9\columnwidth]{figs/reorder.png}}
 \caption{Illustration of the order embedding, where $re.$ and $mo.$ stand for the \textit{real position} and \textit{model-viewed position}.

 \yhyangCR{Conceptually}, we shift the model-viewed position by $O_i$ to make it consistent with the real position.}
 \label{fig:reorder}
\end{figure}

\subsection{Order Embedding}
\label{sec:method:order}

Transformers with causal masking are mainly designed for sequential generation. To apply the model to infilling tasks where the missing part is in the middle of the input sequence,
{the model proposed by Hsu\,\&\,Chang \cite{hsu2021generating} attends to bi-directional context} from two encoders with cross-attention.
{As we want to instead} use only the self-attention of the decoder to exploit bi-directional information, we reorder the  sequence \{$C_\text{past}$, $T$, $C_\text{future}$\} to \{$C_\text{past}$, $C_\text{future}$, $T$\}.
\yhyangCR{Doing so would however} change the original positional relationship among $C_\text{past}$, $T$, and $C_\text{future}$.\footnote{The principal idea of the attention mechanism \cite{vaswani2017attention} is to use the token embeddings of two tokens to compute their correlation, leading to the so-called attention score. However, using the token embeddings alone fails to consider the position-related relations of the two tokens (e.g., whether they are neighbors or distant apart). Accordingly, in practice, people add  token-wise positional embeddings to the token embeddings before computing their attention  \yhyangCR{\cite{shawSelfAttentionRelativePosition2018,keRethinkingPositionalEncoding2020,pmlr-v139-liutkus21a}}. }
As depicted in \figref{fig:reorder}(b),
the \emph{real} positional relationships among the segments entails associating the tokens in $T$ with positional embeddings corresponding to a set of positions $p_2$ that signifies the model the segment $T$ is after $C_\text{past}$ (i.e., $p_1$ $\prec$ $p_2$) and is before $C_\text{future}$ ($p_2$ $\prec$ $p_3$).\footnote{{We use $p \prec q$ to denote that any elements in the set $p$ is smaller, or ``temporally before,'' any elements in the set $q$.}} After reordering, however, using the typical way of computing the positional embeddings from left to right by the Transformers, $T$ would be assigned with positional embeddings corresponding to $p_3$, meaning that by the \emph{model-viewed} positional relationships, $T$ is after both $C_\text{past}$ and $C_\text{future}$. The real and the model-viewed are mismatched.

We introduce a new position-related \emph{segment embedding} called ``order embedding'' to tackle this issue.
Specifically, for the positional embeddings for all the tokens in $C_\text{past}$, we add to them the same additional embedding corresponding to a positional ``offset'' or ``order,'' denoted as $O_0$. We similarly incorporate $O_1$ and $O_2$ to the positional embeddings for the tokens in $T$ and $C_\text{future}$. As long as the ``offset'' is big enough, we can have $p_1+O_0  \prec p_3+O_1 \prec p_2+O_2$, ensuring that the real and model-viewed positional relationships are matched, as depicted in \figref{fig:reorder}(c).

We note that, as the same order embedding is added to the positional embeddings of all the tokens in a segment, the proposed idea works nicely regardless of whether the segment lengths $|C_\text{past}|$, $|T|$, $|C_\text{future}|$ are fixed or not.

\subsection{Attention-Selecting Module}
\label{sec:method:attn}

\begin{figure}
 \centerline{
 \includegraphics[width=1.0\columnwidth]{figs/select.png}}
 \caption{The schematic of attention selecting. Multiple structural contexts $G_1,G_2,G_3$ are passed to the cross-attention block simultaneously, and the output is filtered by the \textit{selector} with the \textit{structure index}.}
 \label{fig:select}
\end{figure}

{While the formulation of \eqnref{eq:formulation:struct} considers only one structural context $G$, in practice, we may want to designate multiple structural contexts \{$G_1$, $G_2$, \dots, $G_N$\} for infilling, with each segment $G_n$ corresponding to a certain structure label such as \texttt{A} and \texttt{B}.}
\yhyang{This is useful, for example, when the first part of the infilled segment $T$ is meant to be similar to phrase \texttt{A}, while the latter part similar to phrase \texttt{B}.
To indicate which $G_n$ a specific token $t_k$ of $T$ should refer to, we define the \emph{structure index} $y_k \in \{0,\dots,N\}$, for $k=\{1,\dots,|T|\}$.
The structure indices are also given by the user when the user specifies the intended musical form. With all these,} we extend \eqnref{eq:formulation:struct} to:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:formulation:struct_ext}
    \prod_{0<k \leq |T|} P(t_k|t_{<k},C_\text{past},C_\text{future};G_1,...,G_N, y_k) \,.
\end{equation}
\yhyang{We use $y_k=0$ to indicate the case where $t_k$ is supposed to follow none of the structural contexts (e.g., when $t_k$ is part of the bridge). When $y_k\neq 0$, $t_k$ follows only one of the structural context $G_{y_k}$.
In our implementation, for tokens whose $y_k=0$, we only use the self-attention to attend to the prompt and  $t_{<k}$, leading to a formulation akin to \eqnref{eq:formulation:general}. When $y_k\neq 0$, we have a ``selector'' that picks by $y_k$ the structural context $G_{y_k}$ to be attended to via cross-attention, resulting in a formulation akin to \eqnref{eq:formulation:struct}. This is depicted in \figref{fig:arch}(b) and \figref{fig:select}.}

\yhyang{\figref{fig:select} also shows that, in our implementation, instead of computing the cross attention between the target sequence with a specific structural context $G_{y_k}$, we actually compute the cross attention between the target sequence with every structural contexts  \{$G_1$, $G_2$, \dots, $G_N$\} and let the selector  pick the right one. While this seems a waste of computing, we find doing so faster when GPUs are used.}\footnote{\yhyang{There is another implementation detail: actually, not only the tokens in $T$ but also those in $C_\text{past}$ and $C_\text{future}$ would go through the Transformer's self- and cross-attention blocks. This is to get the latent vectors for the tokens in $C_\text{past}$ and $C_\text{future}$. In doing so, we calculate and employ the structure indices for $C_\text{past}$ and $C_\text{future}$ as well.}}

\section{Experimental Setup}

We collect the melody data\footnote{Please note that the ``melody'' data in this paper is not exact monophonic music. We merge two midi tracks, ``MELODY'' and ``BRIDGE'' of the MIDI files of POP909 \cite{pop909-ismir2020}  to generate the melody data, which is monophonic most of the time but not always.} from the POP909 dataset compiled by Wang \emph{et al.} \cite{pop909-ismir2020}. POP909 contains 909 MIDI files of pop piano performances,
though we discard 8 of them  due to errors encountered in the preprocessing stage.
We split all remaining songs into 811 (90\%) songs for training and 91 (10\%) songs for testing.
The 16-th note is set as the minimal temporal resolution to quantize the tempo, beat, and duration for reducing the vocabulary size.

Dai \emph{et al.} \cite{dai2020automatic} publicly share the \emph{structural information} of songs in POP909 with letters and integers to indicate the structure labels and their lengths in bars,
such as
\begin{equation}\label{eq:struct}
    \texttt{i4\,A8\,B8\,x4\,A8\,B8\,B8\,X2\,c4\,c4\,X2\,B9\,o2} \,,
\end{equation}
where the music phrases labeled with the same letter are considered to share the same structural context.\footnote{The lower-case and capital letters indicate respectively  \emph{non-melodic} and \emph{melodic} phrases (i.e., where a clear melody is present, mostly a vocal line or an instrument solo), \yhyangCR{but we do not use this information}.}\footnote{Depending on the underlying musical form of a song, different songs may have different numbers of phrase groups.  For example, \yhyangCR{a song with a simpler form} may only have phrase groups \texttt{A} and \texttt{B}, while other songs have much more. In the POP909 dataset, a song can contain up to 9 unique phrase groups, which are labeled as \texttt{A}, \texttt{B}, \texttt{C}, \texttt{D}, etc.}
Besides, the musical phrases with the labels \texttt{i}, \texttt{x}, and \texttt{o} are respectively the introduction, bridge, and ending, \yhyangCR{which do not have structural context in our setting}.
For each song, we use the phrases corresponding to the first occurrence of the structure labels such as \texttt{A} and \texttt{B} as the structural contexts $G_1, G_2$, etc.
For example, we choose bars 5--12 (i.e., the \texttt{A8} phrase after \texttt{i4}) and bars 13--20 (i.e., the \texttt{B8} phrase before \texttt{x4}) in the example shown in \eqnref{eq:struct} as the structural contexts for \texttt{A} and \texttt{B} since they are the first music phrases in the song with the corresponding labels.

The training data is generated with the following steps:
(i) iterating through all labels except for the first and last ones in the structural information,
(ii) choosing their corresponding music phrases as the infilled sequences $T$, and
(iii) concatenating $T$ with their preceding and following 6-bars music segments to get $\{C_\text{past}, T, C_\text{future}\}$, yielding 8,607 data in total.
Before feeding the training data into the model, we reorder the input sequences and insert additional special tokens, \texttt{BOS}, \texttt{SEP}, and \texttt{EOS}, to change them into $\{\texttt{BOS}, C_\text{past}, \texttt{SEP}, C_\text{future}, \texttt{SEP}, T, \texttt{EOS}\}$.
The reordered input sequence and structural contexts  are transformed to the embeddings with size 512.
The model consists of an encoder and a decoder, where both of them consist of six 8-head self-attention layers with intermediate layers of dimension 2,048. Each layer of the encoder and decoder is connected with an 8-head cross-attention, as shown in \figref{fig:arch}.
The output from the model is transformed back to a probability distribution of the vocabulary with the softmax function. At inference time, we use nucleus sampling \cite{holtzman2019curious} to sample the output tokens with the threshold value of 0.9.

For evaluation, we create the testing data by: (i) searching from the testing songs all the 4-bar phrases \yhyangCR{that correspond to only a structure label}, (ii) keeping only the phrases that share the same structure label with one of its two neighboring phrases but a different structure label with the other neighbor, and (iii) setting the 4-bar phrase as the target $T$ and concatenate them with their preceding and succeeding 6-bar music segments, which are set as the past context $C_\text{past}$ and future context $C_\text{future}$, respectively.
We get 156 test cases \yhyangCR{of \{$C_\text{past}$, $T$, $C_\text{future}$\}, each with 16 bars (i.e., $6+4+6$)}. All the cases have the form of, e.g., \texttt{AA'B} or \texttt{ABB'}, and the target lengths are \yhyangCR{\textbf{4 bars} with arbitrary number of notes (hence \emph{variable} sequence lengths)}.
\yhyangCR{In this setting, the attention selection mechanism is used only for training, since the target sequence $T$ in our testing data only have one structural context to refer to.}

We consider VLI \cite{chang2021variable} and the model from  Hsu\,\&\,Chang \cite{hsu2021generating} as the baselines.
\yhyangCR{By design, only our model has access to} an external structural context.
\yhyangCR{However, we consider the comparison as valid}, since $C_\text{past}$ and $C_\text{future}$ are \yhyangCR{presumably} long enough to provide sufficient context, and at least one of them has the same structure label as $T$.
Besides, in our implementation, we found the model  Hsu\,\&\,Chang \cite{hsu2021generating} rarely generates infilled segments with the desirable number of bars.  Therefore, \yhyangCR{we slightly improve their model by incorporating the bar-count-down technique}.

\begin{table}
 \begin{center}
 \begin{tabular}{lccc}
  \hline
    & $H \downarrow$ & $GS \uparrow$ & $D \downarrow$ \\
  \hline

    Ours & \textbf{2.75$\pm0.80$} & \textbf{0.70$\pm0.08$} & \textbf{25.73$\pm19.45$}  \\
    VLI\cite{chang2021variable} & 3.47$\pm1.57$ & 0.67$\pm0.09$ & 49.40$\pm25.12$  \\
    Hsu \cite{hsu2021generating} & 9.87$\pm4.64$ & 0.64$\pm0.09$ & 65.41$\pm38.00$  \\

    \hline
    Original & 2.78$\pm0.89$ & 0.70$\pm0.09$ & ~~0.00$\pm~~0.00$  \\
  \hline
 \end{tabular}
\end{center}
 \caption{Objective evaluation results.

 $H$: pitch class histogram cross entropy, $GS$: grooving pattern similarity, $D$: melody distance ($\uparrow$/$\downarrow$: the higher/lower the better).
 }
 \label{tab:hgsd}
\end{table}

\section{Objective Evaluation Results}
\label{sec:obj}

\yhyangCR{
We propose three new metrics for objective evaluation, all of which have not been used in the literature of music infilling.
The first two metrics, \textbf{pitch class histogram cross entropy} ($H$) and \textbf{grooving pattern similarity}  ($GS$), are extensions of the ones proposed by Wu\,\&\,Yang for sequential generation \cite{wu2020jazz}  to our infilling task, evaluating respectively the consistency in terms of pitch class distribution (which is related to tonality) and rhythmic pattern. For $H$, we compute per test case the pitch class histogram of $T$, and
that histogram of the concatenation of $C_\text{past}$ and $C_\text{future}$, and then report the cross entropy between these two histograms. For $GS$, we use per bar a 16-dim binary vector indicating where there is at least a note onset for every position in a bar, calculate one minus the normalized XOR difference between every pair of bars \cite{wu2020jazz}, one from $T$ and the other from either $C_\text{past}$ and $C_\text{future}$, and then report the average per test case.
The third metric, \textbf{melody distance} ($D$) measures the melody distance (dissimilarity) between
the infilled segment $T$ and the ground truth one (denoted as $T\#$) using the algorithm proposed by Hu \emph{et al.} \cite{hu2002probabilistic}.
Lower $H$ and higher $GS$ may imply that $T$ connects $C_\text{past}$ and $C_\text{future}$ smoothly, while lower $D$ indicates that the generation result is similar to a human-made one.
}

\yhyangCR{
\tabref{tab:hgsd} shows that
our model achieves the best result in all the three metrics, followed by VLI and then the model of Hsu\,\&\,Chang.
Besides being consistent with the contexts, the infilling result of our model is closest to the ground truth one $T\#$, demonstrating the effectiveness of exploiting the structural context.
\figref{fig:ex1} exemplifies how the infilled bars by our model fit the desired musical form.
}

\begin{table}
 \begin{center}
 \begin{tabular}{c|l|ccc|c}
  \hline
    \multicolumn{2}{c|}{} & M & R & S & O \\
  \hline
    \multirow{4}{1em}{all} & Ours & \textbf{3.46} & \textbf{3.51} & \textbf{3.40} & \textbf{3.42}  \\
    & VLI\cite{chang2021variable} & 2.96 & 3.14 & 3.12 & 2.97  \\
    & Hsu \cite{hsu2021generating} & 2.60 & 2.95 & 2.75 & 2.64  \\
    & Real & \textbf{3.77} & \textbf{3.77} & \textbf{3.62} & \textbf{3.66}  \\
  \hline
    \multirow{4}{1em}{pro}  & Ours & \textbf{3.58} & \textbf{3.28} & \textbf{3.28} & \textbf{3.42}  \\
    & VLI\cite{chang2021variable} & 2.67 & 2.86 & 2.78 & 2.72  \\
    & Hsu \cite{hsu2021generating} & 2.36 & 2.75 & 2.39 & 2.44  \\
    & Real & \textbf{3.61} & \textbf{3.56} & \textbf{3.42} & \textbf{3.42}  \\
  \hline
 \end{tabular}
\end{center}
 \caption{Results of the user study: mean opinion scores in 1--5 in \textbf{M} (melodic fluency), \textbf{R} (rhythmic fluency), \textbf{S} (Structureness), and \textbf{O} (Overall), from 'all' the participants or only the music 'pro'-fessionals.}
 \label{tab:user}
\end{table}

\begin{figure*}[ht]
 \centerline{
 \includegraphics[width=2.0\columnwidth]{figs/ex1.png}}
 \caption{Results generated by (a) our model and (b) VLI. The structural relations of bars 4-5 (green area) and bars 8-9 (red area) are preserved well in (a) but not in (b).}
 \label{fig:ex1}
\end{figure*}

\section{Subjective Evaluation Results}
\label{sec:subj}
\yhyangCR{We conduct additionally an online user study for subjective evaluation.
We have 91 anonymous volunteers}, where 12 of them are marked as professionals according to the question about their musical background.
Each subject is presented with 3 out of 15 sets of music segments randomly sampled from the testing data.  We inform them that the first and last 6 bars are the given prompts, and the middle 4 bars are the music generated by a model.
Each set of music contains \yhyangCR{in random order} 4 music including 3 generated by the models and 1 from the real data.
The subjects rate each of the 4 music
\yhyangCR{in a 5-point Likert scale (the higher the better)}
according to their
(i) \textbf{melodic fluency}: do the pitches of notes go in the right tonality and connect the contexts fluently?
(ii) \textbf{rhythmic fluency}: are the notes played on the right beats?
(iii) \textbf{structureness}: how is the generated part of the music similar to its contexts?
(ix) \textbf{overall}: how much do they like the music?

\tabref{tab:user} shows the mean opinion scores (MOS) of the user study.
\yhyangCR{Echoing the result of the objective evaluation,} the proposed model outscores the baselines by a large margin \yhyangCR{in all the four subjective metrics}, and is close to the real music with a small gap.
\yhyangCR{The same observations can be made from either the average result of all the subjects, or only that from the 12 professionals.}

However, we notice that our model \yhyangCR{may} overly imitate the given structural contexts in some cases, as exemplified in \figref{fig:ex2}. \yhyangCR{When this happens}, the generated music sounds rigid and non-creative.
\yhyangCR{We conjecture that this can be attributed to the limited diversity of}
our training data---the \yhyangCR{melodies} corresponding to the same structure label in POP909 appear to be too similar to each other, which \yhyangCR{may not be uncommon for pop songs}.
To study this, we implement additionally a `Copy' baseline that simply copies the structural contexts as the result, and include its infilling result to the demo website.
Our own subjective listening of its result confirms that the proposed method still outperforms the `Copy' baseline most of the time,
as the connections between the targets and their contexts are considered by our model, but not by the `Copy' baseline.

\begin{figure}[]
 \centerline{
 \includegraphics[width=1.0\columnwidth]{figs/ex2.png}}
 \caption{A result generated by our model, where $C_\text{future}$ is not shown in this figure. Bars 3--6 (green area) and bars 7--10 (red area) look identical since the model overly imitates the given structural context. \yhyangCR{(Best viewed in color.)}}
 \label{fig:ex2}
\end{figure}

\section{Conclusion}
In this paper, we have proposed a new structure-aware conditioning approach for music score infilling.
To help Transformers exploit bi-directional contexts, we employ the order embedding to shift the position viewed by the model.
Besides, we introduce a new attention-selecting mechanism to account for multiple structural contexts.
Evaluations \yhyangCR{on 4-bar melody infilling validate the superiority of the proposed model over two existing Transformer-based structure-agnostic infilling methods \cite{chang2021variable,hsu2021generating}}.

\yhyangCR{We can extend this work in three ways. First, instead of relying on user inputs, we may build}
models that \yhyangCR{generate the musical form automatically and predict the structural context for a specific infilled segment to refer to.}
\yhyangCR{Second, we like to expand our work to other music genres and polyphonic music.}
Finally, we like to study how the attention-selecting mechanism can be applied to sequential generative tasks
\yhyangCR{such as theme-based generation \cite{shih2022theme}.}

\newpage

\section{Acknowledgement}
We are grateful to Shih-Lun Wu for sharing the \yhyangCR{unpublished} idea of the bar-count-down technique,
Ping-Yi Chen and Chin-Jui Chang for the assistance with experiments and discussion,
Shan Lee for the help of figure drawing,
and Chun-Wei Lai and Sophia Lin for the help in finding volunteers for the user study.
We also thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedbacks. Our research is funded by grants NSTC 109-2628-E-001-002-MY2 and NSTC 110-2221-E-006-137-MY3 from the National Science and Technology Council of Taiwan.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
LED technology to revolutionise cataract and disease diagnosis
Home > Student & Members > Dispensing Optics Online > Latest news and features > LED technology to revolutionise cataract and disease diagnosis
Scientists at Heriot-Watt University have identified molecules within the eye that occur during the formation of cataracts. Using new biochemical information, Heriot-Watt has worked with Edinburgh Biosciences Ltd, together with clinical experts from the University of Edinburgh and partner organisations in Sweden and Denmark, to develop an LED technique. This allows clinicians to examine a florescence signal from proteins in the eye lens. By documenting the changes to the photochemistry of the eye during cataract formation, an objective scale for diagnosis can be created which could save global health services millions annually.
The condition, which is the principal cause of blindness globally and the most common cause of vision loss in those aged over 40 years, is currently treated surgically, after cataract has formed. In the later stages of cataract formation, patients commonly experience cloudy vision prior to treatment. It is also a recognised complication of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes which affects one in every 25 people living in Scotland.
Professor Rory Duncan, Head of the Institute for Biological Chemistry, Biophysics & Bioengineering at Heriot-Watt University, said: "Rather than waiting for the condition to appear, it could be possible to diagnose and monitor cataract before it forms, allowing preventative measures to be taken where possible. While this stage is not a cure for cataracts, we believe it could have wide reaching benefits such as limiting the symptoms experienced by our increasingly aging population and those living with diabetes. It could significantly diminish the pressure on our health service. We believe that the diagnostic also allows us to determine a patient's 'true age' as opposed to the age on their birth certificate. The technology identifies how much oxidative damage lens proteins have accumulated through lifestyle or environmental factors. This accumulated damage may be important in determining risk factors for a number of age-related conditions. We are in the process of raising further funds to allow us to transfer the technology from the experimental laboratory towards clinical trials, where we will be able to properly assess the utility of the technology."
Professor Des Smith, FRS, is one of the co-founders of the research. He said: "This research brings us one step closer to developing a non-invasive treatment for cataracts."
The team will now conduct further studies in pigs to validate the findings, demonstrate safety in humans and explore whether non-invasive treatment is feasible.
The project was conceived by Professor Des Smith, FRS, one of the founders of Heriot-Watt's Riccarton Campus, and Professor Baljean Dhillon, Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology, University of Edinburgh and hon. Consultant Ophthalmology Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion, Edinburgh. The team also includes Dr Lina Kessel and Professor Michael Larsen at Glostrup Hospital in Copenhagen.
The research was funded by the NHS (NIHR), the UK Medical Research Council, and a range of commercial partners. This research has also received funding from Techcomp Europe Ltd and the European Union ICT Policy Support Programme as part of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme – CATACURE project (Grant agreement no. 621088). Professor Smith funded part of the research personally, demonstrating his passion for the work.
For further information about Professor Duncan's work, visit http://www.lifescienceinterface.info/index/Welcome.html


text:
Sorted By: Relevancy Date, Ascending Date, Descending
Flier advertising an exhibition of paintings and drawings by Deborah Hughes in Crawfordville, 1976
Flier advertising an exhibition of paintings and drawings by artist Deborah Hughes. The exhibition was to be held at the old Wakulla County Courthouse in Crawfordville from July 23 - August 4, 1976.
Frank Gavin, Dealer in Dry Goods, Notions, Fine Groceries and General Merchandise Stationary, ca. 1910
Note Frank Gavin's store logo.
Map of Lanark-on-the-Gulf, 1894
Map of the anticipated street grid of Lanark-on-the-Gulf, with a map of the territory traversed by the Carrabelle, Tallahassee & Gulf Railroad on the reverse. The second map shows the route of the Carrabelle, Tallahassee & Gulf Railroad, as well as the lands owned by the railroad and associated comp...
Flier for rabies clinics in Wakulla County, 1969
Flier advertising rabies clinics in Wakulla County sponsored by the local health department and the county agricultural agent's office. The events were held on Saturdays in 1969.
Flier promoting rabies clinics at various communities in Wakulla County scheduled for April 1966. The events were sponsored by the Wakulla County Health Department and the County Agricultural Agent's Office.
Investor's Guide to the Carrabelle, Tallahassee & Georgia Railroad Company, ca. 1892
Booklet promoting the Carrabelle, Tallahassee & Gulf Railroad Company to potential investors. Information includes a list of the principal officers of the corporation and a description of the company's land holdings, its activities in developing the land, the status of Carrabelle and Apalachicola as...
Letter from Henry S. Chubb to James G. Gavin, 1908
Letter from Henry S. Chubb, chairman of the Republican State Central Committee, to James G. Gavin regarding the election of 1908. Chubb explains the sample ballots included with the letter and asks that leading Republicans in their precincts urge citizens to vote Republican. A Republican instruction...
Crawfordville High School Student Newspaper Featuring Essays on "The Segregation Issue," May 1954
This student newspaper contains student reactions to the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown vs. Board ruling earlier that month, which declared segregated school unconstitutional. Reactions range from outright opposition to tempered acceptance of the ruling. Segregation essays appear on the first and last p...
Advertisement for The Palms, a bottle club in Tallahassee, 1965
Flier advertising dancing at The Palms, a "bottle club" in Tallahassee located on the Capital Circle truck route just west of Crawfordville Road. The club featured live music.
Flier advertising Wakulla County's first annual Sun & Fun Time on the Ochlocknee River
Flier advertising the first annual Sun & Fun Time event, sponsored by the Wakulla County Chamber of Commerce. It was held May 29-30, likely 1971. Events included a water ski show, boat races, a fish fry, and a concert. The document refers to Wakulla County as "Florida's last uncrowded playground."
Wakulla County: Historical, Progressive, Friendly, Beautiful
Pamphlet with timeline of Wakulla County's development, pertinent information, and Wakulla Springs information
Wakulla County- Florida's last uncrowded playground Brochure
Brochure on information about Wakulla County
Program of the Inauguration of Farris Bryant as Governor of the State of Florida, January 3, 1961
Program for the Inauguration of Farris Bryant as Governor of The State of Florida and the Members of the Cabinet. January 3, 1961
Flier decrying cuts to ambulance funding in Wakulla County, 1970
A flier drawing voters' attention to recent action by the Wakulla County Board of Commissioners to cut spending on ambulance service in the county by $25,500. The document includes a reprint of a Tallahassee Democrat article describing the decision to make the cut.
Shell Point- where your world begins
Brochure providing information on Shell Point, Florida in Wakulla County
Search all collections again
Tip: If you would like to find catalog records which include either of two terms, you can separate those terms with the uppercase word OR.
Example: Miami OR Dade


text:
Daily chart
Meanderings to mirror the Amazon
by A.P. & P.K.
Brazil's 2014 presidential election first-round
BRAZIL'S unpredictable election campaign delivered another twist after the first round of voting on October 5th. President Dilma Rousseff made it through to a run-off on October 26th, as expected, but joining her there was not Marina Silva, who only became a candidate in August following the death of her running-mate and who at one stage looked likely to beat Ms Rousseff. Instead, a remarkable late surge propelled Aécio Neves of the centrist Party of Brazilian Social Democracy into the second round; he captured 34% of the vote compared with Ms Rousseff's 42% and Ms Silva's 21%.
The odds still favour Ms Rousseff, whose Workers' Party has a loyal following, especially in the poorer north-east of Brazil. Much depends on whether Ms Silva unequivocally endorses Mr Neves. If the PSDB candidate can lure 70% of Marina's first-round voters over to his side, he will be in good shape. According to Polling Data, a website which crunches polling numbers to come up with a separate probability of victory for each of the candidates, that outcome is unlikely. Then again, this campaign has been a succession of improbable events.
More from Graphic detail
A shot in the arm
Do vaccine mandates actually work?
Covid-19 vaccines have made Americans less anxious and depressed
China's birth rate continues to fall
China stands alone in its attitude towards the pandemic
The number of children in American hospitals with covid-19 is rising fast
The Canadian and European experiences suggest they do
Happiness is a cold jab
The government has failed to convince families that more children are worth the cost
It is one of few countries where normalcy has regressed over the past year
Rapid transmission and vaccination discrepancies are part of the explanation


June 15th, Heather, Coalville, Leicestershire, LE67 2QP.
September 14th, Mugdock Country Park, Craigallian Road, Milngavie, Glasgow, G62 8EL, Scotland.
If you have any ideas or specific requests then please contact us.
As an ethical organisation we will take whatever action we can against anybody we find claiming to be a member - so always check the Members Listings for confirmation. This is also true for our approved training courses - please always check them first.
Free for all - Hypnosis related articles that are published here with the kind permission of the authors.
You will need a valid password to access the Members Only section of the PHPA.
If you have forgotten it then please request a new one from the Members Only page.
As a member of the PHPA you are more than welcome to add our logo to your website - just right click on it and save it.


text:
Q: How can I run a cmd command in delphi? I'm trying to run a cmd command in delphi and have tried
ShellExecute(Handle, 'runas', 'cmd.exe', ' net start ExportFileMainService', nil, SW_SHOWNORMAL);

but it doesn't seem to be working and I'm not sure why.

A: Here is some code I wrote in Delphi 2010 to open a command prompt :
function TForm7.RunCmdAndWait(hWnd: HWND; aParameters: string):
    Cardinal;
var
  sei: TShellExecuteInfo;
  aFile, dir: string;
begin
  Result := 0;
  dir := ExtractFilePath(Application.ExeName);
  SetCurrentDir(dir);
  FillChar(sei, SizeOf(sei), 0);
  sei.cbSize := SizeOf(sei);
  sei.Wnd := hWnd;
  sei.fMask := {SEE_MASK_FLAG_NO_UI or} SEE_MASK_NOCLOSEPROCESS;
  sei.lpVerb := 'open';
  aFile := 'cmd';
  sei.lpFile := PChar(aFile);
  sei.lpParameters := PChar(aParameters);
  sei.lpDirectory := PChar(dir);
  sei.nShow := SW_SHOWNORMAL;

  if not ShellExecuteEx(@sei) then
  begin
    RaiseLastOSError;
  end;
  if sei.hProcess <> 0 then
  begin
    while WaitForSingleObject(sei.hProcess, 250) = WAIT_TIMEOUT do
      Application.ProcessMessages;
    GetExitCodeProcess(sei.hProcess, Result);
    CloseHandle(sei.hProcess);
  end else
    TaskMessageDlg('Error running program!', 'No handle to process.',
      mtError, [mbOK], 0);
end;

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


While mixing the perfect cocktail is key for any amateur bartender, you don't want to skimp on presentation. Before you serve your guests a margarita or daiquiri fresh from your frozen concoction maker, it's critical that you have the right garnishes and accessories.
Limes are a hugely popular garnish in bars across America. There are several forms of lime garnishes, including peels, wedges, wheels and slices. They can either be cut to sit on the rim of the glass or dropped directly into the drink.
When you're wondering if you should add a lime garnish, ask yourself if the drink has lime flavor. Garnishes are meant to enhance the existing flavor. Limes are used for cocktails such as margaritas, mojitos, lemon-lime soda-based drinks and beverages containing sour mix.
You can also use a lime garnish to contrast a sweet or bland flavor. Many cola-based cocktails, such as a rum and cola, or cranberry juice drinks, use a lime wedge as a accent taste.
Feel free to use limes to garnish shots as well as cocktails.
Lemons are used similarly to limes and can be cut in the same ways. Typically lemons garnish darker drinks, such as an old fashioned or whiskey sour, but also pop up in clear drinks, like some martinis. Lemons work well with iced teas, cola-based drinks and lemonade. Consider using a lemon garnish in a homemade frozen alcoholic lemonade.
Cherries can be used in a variety of drinks to add a sweet taste or vibrant look. Many tropical drinks use these small, red spheres, such as a Mai Tai or piña colada, but you can add them to almost anything. They're a must-have for many whiskey drinks or anything that uses sour mix.
Olives are almost never used in frozen concoctions, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't keep a few on hand for martinis. Only use olives for a straight-up gin or vodka martini, not fruitier cocktails served in similar glasses.
You can use olives or lemon peels in your martinis, depending on the taste you prefer.
Aside from these common garnishes, some specialty drinks will require rarer fruits. Consider if raspberries, strawberries, pineapple, orange wedges, melon balls or apple slices are right for the cocktail you're making.
Your fellow Parrotheads at Margaritaville® Cargo remind you to enjoy your frozen concoctions responsibly and obey all drinking laws.
Elevate your iced coffee game this summer with these tasty frozen mocha recipes.
It's no secret that opposites attract.


NewTek Discussions > LightWave 3D Support > General Support > Saving a collision calculation.
View Full Version : Saving a collision calculation.
Saving a collision calculation. Is it possible and how?
You can bake out most things like that as an mdd file, pfx file etc. depending on what youre using.
Thank you once again Mr. God.
I believe it's Professor God.


text:
Home Counseling Degrees and Certificates
M.Ed. in Counseling and Development
Effective June 1 2018, the M.Ed. in Counseling and Development is a 60-hour degree with two concentrations. Each concentration uniquely prepares students for careers in the field of school, community, or marriage, couple, and family counseling. At the time of application, candidates must select a concentration/specialization: Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling or Professional School Counseling. Each of these concentrations are 60-hour programs of study.
Marriage, Couple and Family Counseling
The Marriage, Couple and Family Counseling (MCFC) concentration integrates throughout the program a systems perspective (e.g., family, school, work, spiritual, etc.) for work with children, adolescents, families, and integrated care with community school partnerships. This concentration meets the coursework requirements for Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) or Licensed Marriage, Couple and Family Therapist (LMFT) in Texas and many other states. This program requires one 5-week hybrid (online and face-to-face) course that requires candidates to attend a 5-day Residency.
In addition, the concentration in MCFC prepares candidates for multiple credentials with a focus on child and family issues. The coursework aligns with national and state credentials for:
Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor
Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Texas (and other non-CACREP states)
It is important to note that the M.Ed. in Counseling and Development is not accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). The CACREP accreditation is not a requirement in the state of Texas or for the above referenced credentials (NCC and CCMHC). The counseling programs are regionally accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). Lamar University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. Out-of-state students should check their respective states for the requirements relating to CACREP.
Careers Relating to Marriage, Couple and Family Counseling
Professional Counselors are trained to work with children, adolescents, adults, families, and groups to address preventive measure in mental health with respect to relational, behavioral, and /or social/emotional problems. Learn more about the profession, occupational outlook, and median salary.
Professional School Counselor
The Professional School Counselor concentration provides coursework to become a Certified School Counselor and a licensed professional counselor (LPC) in Texas and some other states.
Candidates opting for this concentration must have at least 2 years of full-time teaching experience and access to complete fieldwork at a TEA approved campus if residing in Texas. Out-of-state students are responsible to research and understand their state requirements for certification requirements before enrolling in the program.
This concentration places a major emphasis on Coordinated School Health Model in Texas and the American School Counseling Association (ASCA) National Model for school counseling inclusive of mental health promotion and positive youth development, early mental health intervention and development, substance abuse prevention and intervention, and suicide prevention in the school setting. The coursework aligns with national and state credentials for Texas Education Agency. This concentration also provides the coursework requirements for LPC in Texas and other states.
Coursework includes high-impact educational practices such as
Faculty mentorship for professional leadership and research opportunities
Community-based learning through advocacy in the school and community
Early internship experiences for a strong professional identity
Integrated technology skills through e-portfolios and video-conferencing
Learning communities focused on equity, access and advocacy for closing student gaps in schools
School Counselor Certification: TExES and State of Texas
The Online School Counseling Program coursework is offered in an accelerated 5-week online course format, affording you flexibility in hours and balance for work and family time. A requirement of the Online School Counseling Program is a face-to-face Residency course on the LU campus whereby you will directly interact with faculty for developing counseling skills through experiential learning.
Candidates must have 2 years' teaching experience as a certified educator in the K-12 setting and be employed at a state-approved site. Aligned with these criteria is the field experience work that applies course to become leaders in both the school and in the community.
Careers Relating to School Counseling
School Counselors are highly-prepared educators who are trained in mental health who work in a K-12 public and private school settings to help students with academic achievement, personal and social development, career/college readiness and planning. Click here to learn more about the profession, occupational outlook, and median salary.
Practicum & Internship
Course Schedule: Professional School Counseling
Course Schedule: Marriage, Couple & Family Counseling
Degree Course Requirements


text:
Alberta cannabis company pulling out of Altona, Man.
Josh Crabb Reporter/ Video journalist
@JoshRCrabb Contact
Published Wednesday, January 29, 2020 8:16PM CST
WINNIPEG -- An Alberta-based company, which was set to open a retail cannabis store in the town of Altona, Man., has changed its mind.
The decision comes amid growing public opposition to pot sales in the community and a call from concerned citizens to hold a plebiscite on the issue.
Sheila Enns, who lives in the town, is disappointed by the news.
"I was surprised," said Enns. " I was very surprised."
Altona was one of the communities chosen by the Manitoba government as a location for a retail cannabis outlet.
Calgary-based Westleaf, which was selected by the government to open a retail store, has now decided it won't be coming to Altona after all.
"I'm disappointed for the people that were preparing to have it here," Enns said. "In that sense, it's too bad."
Despite growing public concern over the sale of cannabis, Westleaf said that's not why it pulled the plug.
The company's chief commercial officer said in a statement:
"Westleaf took into account many factors when it came to extending its retail presence in the market. It has decided to pivot in regard to opening a store in Altona as a result of the larger business strategy."
A group in the town wants an outright ban on retail pot sales in Altona and has started a petition calling for a plebiscite. If it gets 620 signatures, the community will have to hold a vote.
"In order to say no, a plebiscite needs to be held," said Al Friesen, mayor of Altona. "Until a plebiscite is held in any community, that community's considered open for business."
Friesen met with around 10 members of the community Wednesday who want to stop pot sales and said their concerns surround the product itself.
"As residents of the community, they did not really feel that that was something that they wanted here in terms of a retail operation," said Friesen.
Len Wolfe, who lives in Altona, doesn't have strong feelings towards the issue one way or the other but signed the group's petition so those who do, can have their say.
"I thought the public had a right to have that option, rather than it just be forced upon the town," said Wolfe.
Enns on the other hand, doesn't think a plebiscite is necessary.
"For the people that it affects, I know there's lots of people that use it for aches and pains and sleeping and different things and for them to have to go a different community that would be too bad," said Enns.
Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries said a backup retailer will be contacted and given an opportunity to open in a store in the town, but said the company will be advised to stay in contact with the town.


Palais Coburg Hotel Residenz is located in the Inner Stadt of Vienna, just a block away from the City Park. The hotel is only 30 minutes by taxi from the Vienna International Airport (VIE) or 15 minutes from Westbahnhof train station, and limousine service is available for both.
Tradition and innovation meet at Palais Coburg Hotel Residenz, a five-star accommodation in the Inner Stadt of Vienna. Originally home to Austrian royalty, this architectural marvel combines the beauty of the past with state-of-the-art conveniences. From the ultra-modern glass atrium at the entrance, to the crystal chandeliers in the grand Mirrored Hall, a walk through this hotel will take you back in time.
Each of the 35 suites is individually furnished and designed to be traditional with a modern twist. These spacious accommodations impress with antique furnishings, luxurious bathrooms and high ceilings.
Be sure to take a trip to the Palais Coburg Wine Archive, the hotel's impressive wine collection. Composed of six wine cellars, there are over 60,000 bottles from four centuries on offer here. Sample rare wines while enjoying live jazz in the casual atmosphere of the Wine Bar, or indulge in a leisurely champagne brunch in the glass-walled Clementine. Elsewhere, the Michelin-starred Silvio Nickol serves up elaborate culinary creations meant to be savored.
Send an availability request with your requested dates to the Palais Coburg Hotel Residenz.


text:
by Eric Sof Nov 26, 20194:02 am Nov 26, 2019
Delta Force K-9 from al-Baghdadi raid honored at White House
We have already wrote about Conan, a Belgian malinois service dog, who cornered notorious Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the deadly raid last month.
Yesterday, he was hosted at the White House. Conan, dubbed as 'ultimate dog', was injured in the raid where he was deployed alongside Delta Force operators.
President Trump introduced Conan to the White House press corps in the Rose Garden on Monday, alongside Vice President Mike Pence and first lady Melania Trump.
"Conan did a fantastic job. And we're very honored to have Conan here, we've given Conan a certificate and an award that we'll put up in the White House," the president told reporters.
Conan's identity was declassified after the raid, given the high level of public interest, but the Conan's official handler did not appear in the White House for security purposes. Conan, a Belgian Malinois, was sent into a tunnel to subdue al-Baghdadi during the raid on a compound in Syria. The notorious ISIS leader detonated a suicide vest, killing himself and three of his children.
Tagged with: al-baghdadi conan delta force k-9 raid syria


text:
Look at the landscape from a distance and you could be forgiven for thinking that only a handful of plant species occur in the Falklands, but explore a little further and you will discover an interesting variety of plants to delight and surprise… from cushion plants several metres in diameter to a grass that grows up to 3 m tall. With recent additions to the flora, there are now 181 vascular plant species recorded as native to the Islands as well as one hybrid. Fourteen vascular plant species are endemic to the Falklands and two are near endemics.
Positioned between the Antarctic and South American continents it is worth remembering that many native Falkland plants are at the eastern and southern limits of their range. What does this mean? Well it means that here in the Falklands these species are likely to be at or near the limit of their tolerance for environmental factors and therefore may be genetically or physiologically distinct from those on the continent.
Globally threatened species
Antarctic Cudweed
Falkland Rock-cress
False Plantain (pictured)
Hairy Daisy Erigeron
Moore's Plantain
Falkland Nassauvia
Nationally threatened
26 vascular plant species and one algae are currently recorded as nationally threatened within the Falkland Islands.
Falklands Conservation was kindly funded by the Darwin Plus Initative to build local capacity for habitat restoration, with a focus on using native plants to tackle erosion.
If you would like more information on the flora of the Falkland Islands, visit our Downloads page.
As a result of their isolation and small size, remote islands like the Falklands are naturally vulnerable to ecological change. There are several major factors, including invasive plant species and soil erosion, which threaten some elements of the native flora. As a result six vascular plant species are globally threatened, one near threatened and 26 are currently recorded as nationally threatened (currently under review).
Tussac Grass


text:
Q: Any risk in creating encrypted ext4 partition to shared drive? I have a dual-boot Win7Pro-ubuntu 17.10 machine (8-core AMD-64 home built) with an extra 600+ GB hard drive that has a an NTFS partition for Windows backups occupying the second half of the drive.  The first half once held an old ubuntu installation but is now unallocated space.  I would like to put an encrypted ext4 data partition (visible only from ubuntu, of course) in that space.  If I do this in the obvious way using the Gnome disk tool, is there any precaution I need to take to avoid damaging the NTFS partition?

A: All the usual partitioning tools in Ubuntu will preserve existing partitions (including their partition number) by default ensuring that any partition you don't specifically modify should continue to function in other operating systems even when referred to by partition number only.  It would take extra steps to damage or change other partitions.  You just need to ensure that you don't generate a new partition table (which wipes all partitions) and you don't specifically delete a partition you want to keep (or an extended partition containing it).
Even if you do accidentally delete a partition or generate a new partition table, the old partition should still be recoverable by creating a partition with the same partition number and start and end sectors (eg if you write them down first).  Deleting a partition in an Ubuntu based disk partitioning tool won't wipe the data in that partition.


Cross-stitches are carefully embroidered with attention to detail, so they should also be framed with consideration. We stretch and mount cross-stitches to conservation level, so tension is even and they can be easily removed.
Our selection of thin gold leafed frames with etched surfaces are a beautiful choice for needle art. With this traditional floral cross-stitch we decided on a classic cream mount to enhance the warmth of the colours and to tie in with the gilding on the frame.
We chose a gold with green etched frame; a soft verdigris which compliments the greenery in the cross-stitch design. Anti-reflective glazing was also chosen for clarity on the details.
Visit us to choose from our wide selection of frames which suit different styles of cross-stitches and other fabric art.
These delightful mixed-media felt art collages by Artist Lis Maimaris, were float mounted to display them in their entirety and to provide space for the three dimensional element of the pieces. This kind of framing presents the artwork as both an object and a picture.
The rich colours of the art pieces suit the warm, subdued grey mount board we used. The oak frame was stained an appropriate colour; the visible grain perfectly in keeping with the magical woodland scenes depicted in each artwork.
Mounted to Conservation level, they are easily removed from their mounts and are protected by Conservation mount board and backing. This will provide a good level of protection, so they can be enjoyed over a long time.


'EX' stands for extreme and the Buzzaround EX 3-Wheel travel scooter by Golden Technologies certainly lives up to its name. The Buzzaround EX is the fastest model of the Buzzaround family and it definitely goes the extra mile. If you need a heavy-duty yet convenient travel scooter, the EX is the way to go.
The Buzzaround EX goes up to 5 miles per hour and has a drive range of up to 18 miles on a single charge, leaving other travel scooters in the dust. The EX gets its oomph from its dual U-1 batteries which enable it to go faster for longer distances. The EX has durable 9″ front and rear wheel tires that raise the deck of the scooter enough to have a generous 4″ ground clearance, and features front and rear suspension, which means you can tackle a variety of terrains.
The EX offers you increased speed and an extended drive range without having to sacrifice any of the great features of the Buzzaround family you've come to know and love. The bright LED headlight, adjustable delta tiller, and standard interchangeable red and blue shroud covers are all features you'll enjoy. The charging port is conveniently located on the tiller for easy access and the batteries must be charged while on the scooter. The comfortable, stadium style seat is height-adjustable and features flip-back armrests to make getting on and off of your scooter a breeze.
Disassembling the Buzzaround EX is as easy as ever with its simple and wireless disassembly. Just remove the folded seat, take the battery pack out, remove the basket and fold the tiller down, and you're ready to take your EX anywhere!


Microsoft has defined that you cannot use the overloaded syntax for the tag to load .NET user controls into Microsoft Internet Explorer from the file system because of security concerns. Therefore if you want to host the .NET version of DicomViewer object, you have to register it into the GAC (Global Assembly Cache) before you can use it, in the same way that you use the COM version Viewer object.
Following our first article about how to Host .NET Viewer on Web Page, people asked questions about using DicomObjects.NET from their VB/Java scripts. We created this page to sum up some of the most commons problems, and we will continue to update this page should we get more questions/solution from our values users. Objects doesn't support this property or method Make sure you do NOT have a com ocx version of DicomObjects registered on your computer.