Aleš Zakrajšek has broad experience from the IT field and excellent knowledge of the cybersecurity, advanced networking, data center and cloud, and productivity solution portfolios. Zakrajšek believes IT plays an important role in the overall success of organizations and that companies should strive to fully exploit the business potential of their IT infrastructure and solutions. He advocates the adoption of technologies that affect bottom line and deliver real business value to his clients. Thanks to his technical background, he also knows how to achieve these benefits and how to integrate the IT solutions in business processes. The proof for that is a long list of implementations that NIL's clients consider beneficial and happened due to Aleš's suggestions.
He joined NIL in 2000 as a student and has spent practically his whole career in sales. Functioning in different roles—from sales engineer, account manager to the director of the Slovenian sales department—he gained great insight into the Slovenian IT market and earned the trust of many Slovenian companies, government institutions and public organizations. In his current position he is trying to build on that experience and further expand NIL's system integration services on the Slovenian market and especially on international markets.
Aleš Zakrajšek holds a degree in telecommunications. He is married and has two sons. In his free time he enjoys running and cycling; he is also a regular participant of the 156 km long annual marathon Franja.


Beautiful 250 M² chalet business for sale in Doucy / Valmorel - 4* Tourism rating for last 3 years, 20 person capacity, very profitable with immediate income, being sold fully furnished, with stunning mountain views.
The views of the valley and mountains will take your breath away as each season delivers ever changing colours and beauty. This chalet is currently used as a self catering holiday accommodation but it could easily be transformed into a wonderful yoga retreat, cooking or pottery school, artist studio or what ever you are looking to create in a wonderfully calm and healthy mountain village. The property has had a full renovation, all modern building materials and systems have been used to ensure the efficiency of this large property, top quality workmanship can be seen throughout.
Outside the quality continues with stone terraces and a fully insulated slate roof installed in 2005 which will last for 100's of years to come. Outside Space: 2 lovely sunny balconies facing South, a large terrace and rear garden (350 m²) plus this chalet offers private parking for its guests.
Inside this beautiful property the choice of building materials and decor has been sympathetically made to keep the traditional 'feel' of this amazing building. Beautiful wood and stone work seamlessly together and create a welcoming, warm and bright home. 2 kitchens / lounges / dining rooms, 9 bedrooms with a capacity to sleep 20 adults comfortably, 4 bath/shower rooms plus 4 separate WC's. The fully furnished accommodation is clean, modern and very spacious measuring in excess of 250 m². Sold fully fitted out and furnished with bespoke furniture made to measure by a local Savoyard cabinetmaker, all kitchen utensils, dishes and towels and linens have been professionally embroidered with the chalet logo name of EDELROC. 5 cellars are found in the basement, and are used to discreetly house the modern heating system which was completely replaced in 2006, the insulated boiler room, large functional laundry room, guest ski locker or bike store, the property technical room / work shop and of course the most important wine and cheese store.
The business has been awarded by the tourism authority a 4 star rating 3 years in a row achieved by providing high quality services and high rental income. Edelroc is a truly magnificent 'turn key' and ready to earn business opportunity - to fully appreciate all that this business can offer a viewing is highly recommended, to schedule a visit please contact the selling agent directly.


In yet another instance of inspiring model-off-duty style from Paris this week, one of the biggest stars from this year's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show has shown us that the fashion on the streets was as good as on the runway. Bella Hadid was spotted in what could have been a perfectly classic and chic outfit, but she made it that much more exciting with a couple tweaks.
The foundation of her look was a luxurious cashmere sweaterdress from Unravel Project and a pair of leather boots that hit just at the knee, exposing a bit of leg for a night out. Where she took things to the next level was with one simple choice: opting for a bright red wool coat. It would have been easy here to rely on a go-to neutral, but we're so glad she didn't. The model topped off the bold look with a quirky pair of Carrera's aviator-style eyeglasses, thus proving the grandparent-inspired eyewear trend is here to stay. It just goes to show that even the smallest style details go a long way.
On Bella Hadid: Carrera Eyeglasses ($99); Unravel Project Cashmere Destroyed Turtleneck Sweaterdress ($1420).
Similar Style: French Connection Platform Felt Wool Coat ($368); Stuart Weitzman The Scrunchy Boot ( $735 ) ($441).
How do you feel about this look? Share your thoughts in the comments.


Professor Chris Chapman of the University of Southampton spoke on the long-running controversy about how best to deal with risk and uncertainty, and associated opportunity cost issues in NPV and related discounted cashflow assessments. The seminar was the second in the series introducing subject 305, the new examination in finance and investment.
Professor Richard Taffler, head of finance and accounting group, Cranfield School of Management, led an evening seminar designed to provide a practical overview to behavioural finance and its relevance to capital markets and to demonstrate that actuaries are human, too!
A number of practitioners have experienced problems either in obtaining data or following notification of errors in data used in actuarial calculations. FTSE has taken steps to improve the quality of the data supplied to it and used in its calculation. However, we are keen to expand the information provided to members so that they have the data they need, better understand how they are calculated, and are aware of any problems with published data. We are currently working with the other practice boards to ensure that we and FTSE have a clear understanding of which data items need to be available and how they are used.


KURO KAGE: aka "BLACK SHADOW"... The Spitfire circuit is on the High Band and the Mongoose on the Low Band. These two classic circuits are our probably most popular circuits for Rock orientated music. They have stood the test of time and many famous bands still use them. They are not at all nasal sounding cleaning up superbly with the use of the guitar volume control. Now you can experience the unlimited combination of blending both tone and distortion to the nth degree with the Kuro Kage.
The Synergy Series The Synergy Series brings parallel path processing and recording studio-mixing quality to our range of distortion pedals. Each pedal has two separate distortion sections that are driven by internal splitter circuitry and then mixed back together. The Low and High Band circuit paths have been carefully chosen from our extensive range of tried and critically acclaimed distortion, fuzz and overdrive circuits. It is best visualised as two separate channels with individual control of the important parameters and then mixed together to form one sound.


text:
Sean Spicer: Draft order on interrogation methods "is not a White House document"
Updated on: January 25, 2017 / 2:21 PM / CBS/AP
WASHINGTON -- White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that a draft executive order on U.S. interrogation methods did not originate in the White House.
"It is not a White House document," Spicer said at the White House briefing Wednesday. "I have no idea where it came from, but it is not a White House document."
According to the document, which was purported to be a draft executive order, President Trump was said to be considering a major review of America's methods for interrogating terror suspects and the possible reopening of CIA-run "black site" prisons outside the United States, according to reporting by CBS News and other media outlets. The New York Times was the first to report on on the document.
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The document would have instructed the Pentagon to send newly captured "enemy combatants" to the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, asked for a national security recommendation on restarting the extraordinary rendition program. The document also says U.S. laws should be obeyed at all times and explicitly rejects "torture."
But its reconsideration of the harsh interrogation techniques banned by President Barack Obama and Congress is sure to inflame passions in the United States and abroad. While some former government leaders insist the program was effective in obtaining critical intelligence, many others blame it for some of the worst abuses in the "war on terror" after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
The reports of an upcoming order sparked alarm among Republicans as well as Democrats.
"The president can sign whatever executive orders he likes. But the law is the law," said Republican Sen. John McCain, who was held captive during the Vietnam War. "We are not bringing back torture in the United States of America."
In a statement, McCain said that the CIA's new director Mike Pompeo pledged in his recent confirmation hearing before the Senate that he would "comply with the law that applies the Army Field Manual's interrogation requirements to all U.S. agencies, including the CIA." Defense Secretary James Mattis vowed the same.
At a news conference Wednesday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called the proposed orders "This would be a step backward and I'm not alone in thinking that the path he's going down is wrong," Pelosi said at a news conference.
Donald Trump on torture: "I will always abide by the law"
"Don't ask me, just ask John McCain and others," she added. "Reverting to that again does not support our values, but also endangers our people, whether it's from a security standpoint, the intelligence community or the military. It's wrong and I hope he will listen to even some Republican leaders on this subject."
A top Senate Intelligence Committee aide told CBS News' Nancy Cordes that the laws prevent Trump officials from being able to do much in this arena on their own -- they would have to go through Congress. That's why the draft calls for "review" of several different detention policies rather than outright changes to those policies.
On the campaign trail, Trump spoke emphatically about toughening the U.S. approach to fighting the Islamic State group. He said he would interrogate terror suspects with the outlawed practice of waterboarding, which simulates drowning, and a "hell of a lot worse." Since becoming president, however, he has tempered those calls, noting his Defense Secretary James Mattis' advice that torture is ineffective.
President George W. Bush publicly acknowledged the clandestine CIA-run detention facilities in 2006. After condemnation in much of the world, Obama ended the program in his first days in office.
A 2014 report led by Senate Democrats said the CIA's interrogation program was more brutal than previously understood and failed to produce unique intelligence that couldn't have been obtained through more traditional methods.
The document criticizes Obama for refraining from exercising powers critical to America's defense, such as by opposing detentions at Guantanamo and allowing the "nation's most sensitive interrogation methods" to be revealed. Such efforts had a "predictably negative impact on the morale of our intelligence community."
It calls for "modifications" and "additions" to interrogation policies "as consistent with the law, for the safe, lawful, and effective interrogation of enemy combatants captured in the global war on terrorism."
It asks for "any updates or modifications" to a 2007 executive order signed by Bush that ordered limited compliance with the Geneva Conventions. Obama revoked that order after coming to office in 2009.
On Guantanamo, the draft says detention facilities "are a critical tool in the fight against international jihadist terrorist groups who are engaged in armed conflict with the United States, its allies and its coalition partners." About 40 detainees remain there.
The document says "over 30 percent detainees" who've been released have returned to armed conflict, with at least a dozen conducting attacks "against U.S. personnel or allied forces in Afghanistan." Six Americans, including a civilian aid worker, died as a result of those attacks.
CBS News' Nancy Cordes contributed to this report.
Read the document here:
Trump Draft Order on Reviewing "Black Site" Prisons, Terror Interrogations by CBS News Politics on Scribd
First published on January 25, 2017 / 12:09 PM

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
ČAPUTOVÁ PLEDGES TO BE PRESIDENT OF SLOVAK-HUNGARIANS TOO
Slovakian President Zuzana Čaputová underlined her campaign pledge to be the president of Slovakia's 450,000 citizens who identify as Hungarian, saying said she strongly believed that "a liberal democracy that guarantees each and every citizen equal rights is the best mode of protecting minorities".
As regards the Visegrad Group cooperation, Čaputová said the grouping should not settle for defending just regional interests but should also stand up for values such as the principle of the rule of law, democracy and freedom. This is important, she said, "so that we're not seen as weakening and disrupting the European Union".
On the topic of economic cooperation, she highlighted industrial automatisation and robotisation as the most promising areas.
Čaputová said it was regrettable that for the first time none of the EU's top leaders would be from one of the Visegrad Group countries. But Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland are united by their citizens' positive view of their countries' EU membership, she added. In response to a question, Čaputová welcomed the prospective election of Germany's Ursula von der Leyen as European Commission president. Áder expressed his support for von der Leyen on the condition that she helps Hungary and Slovakia expand the capacities of their nuclear plants in the face of Austrian opposition to the upgrades.
In response to a question, Áder described his meeting with Čaputová as "extremely friendly". He added that though their countries may have disagreements in the future, it would in no way jeopardise Visegrad Group cooperation. Čaputová echoed Áder's sentiments, saying that it was natural for partners to disagree at times. In response to another question, she branded as "lies" reports in the Hungarian media that she was an "agent" of US financier George Soros.


text:
Envi group says switch to washable masks will save beaches
Jul. 31, 2020 JIGGER J. JERUSALEM
CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines – An environmental group is appealing to the public to switch from wearing medical or surgical masks in this pandemic to reusable masks to save the environment.
The EcoWaste Coalition made this appeal as many of the items used to protect the public from the pandemic, like masks, bottles of alcohol, and hand sanitizers, have made their way to beaches and coastal lines that are also filled with plastic bags, sachets, straws, and other single-use items.
"While we fully support the wearing of face coverings or masks as part of the basic health protocol to stem the spread of COVID-19, we are deeply upset by the unchecked consumption and disposal of soiled masks that are ending up on our streets and in the beaches and seas," said Aileen Lucero, EcoWaste Coalition national coordinator.
"This is very concerning as these throw-away masks, which are supposed to protect us and others from the dreaded virus, pose a real threat to aquatic life," she said, warning marine animals might mistakenly eat, get choked or become entangled in them.
"Over time, discarded masks in the oceans will break down into extremely small particles and may contribute to the microplastic contamination of the food supply chain," she added.
The alternative is to use fabric masks that are reusable and can be washed daily.
"To discourage the unrestrained use and disposal of throw-away masks, we urge the public to don reusable fabric masks, which can be easily washed with detergent or soap and safely reuse," Lucero said.
"By opting for reusable or washable face masks, we avoid generating non-biodegradable and non-recyclable trash that only adds to the worsening plastic pollution crisis," she said.
Lucero said limiting the use of medical masks will also ensure an adequate and steady supply for those who need them the most, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).
EcoWaste also pointed out the need for the government's sector on the environment to integrate the National Plan of Action for the Prevention, Reduction, and Management of Marine Litter (NPOA-ML) concrete policies and steps to cut down on coronavirus plastic waste and to stop such waste from entering the oceans.
The NPOA-ML is currently being finalized by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) through the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) and the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB). (davaotoday.com)
← Zero applicants for Covid-19 health staffing worries DOH-11 FM pass, curfew in Davao City to be lifted on August 3 →


We all know how important online reviews are, and Google just made it easier for users to leave reviews on your Google+ page. Google+ accounts are no longer required for leaving reviews, and Google is now allowing users with just a Google account to leave reviews. Users now have the ability to use either a Gmail or non-Gmail based account to post about their experiences. The only requirement is users must display both their first and last name.
This small change will make the review process easier, and will open the door for more of your customers to leave reviews!
This Wednesday, J.D. Power and DealerRater announced they will be joining forces to speed up customer reviews for auto dealers. They will be merging data from Automotive Consumer Insights with dealer reviews. Combining actual dealer reviews with customer survey data means auto shoppers can get all the information they need from one place.
The combined data means your dealership gets feedback faster, in an easy-to-read package.
You will be able to analyze your dealer reputation directly from DealerRater.
This will make reading reviews easier for car dealerships!
Over 9.5 million auto shoppers are posting reviews on the DealerRater site.
Positive dealer reviews give car shoppers more confidence to shop at your dealership.
Reviews are good for SEO and help your website rank higher.
"We are excited to work with DealerRater to provide automakers and dealers with fast and comprehensive insights delivered through our new industry-leading online reporting platform." – Mike Battaglia, Senior Director of Automotive Retail, J. D. Power and Associates.
"Our consumer-written reviews serve many purposes, which includes helping consumers find the best place to buy a car and enabling dealers to understand what their customers are looking for in the car-shopping experience." – Chip Grueter, founder and chief technology architect of DealerRater.
Reviews are important; we get it.
Without reviews, you see less website traffic (reviews are a huge ranking factor and are good for SEO), have less engagement with your customers, and probably sell fewer vehicles.
But how do you ask customers for reviews? Everybody is busy, and if someone just finished buying a car, the last thing you want to do is pester them for a dealer review.
It's easy to ask customers for a positive review by putting a brief message and a link to your review page in your email signature. This way no one can "forget" to ask for the review either. Remember, subtlety is the key to seduction.
Build a very simple and friendly page on your website that links to all of your preferred review sites. Check out the page that Pacific Motors just built for this: http://www.pacificmotors.ca/dcm/review-us.
You can also purchase an easy-to-remember domain to advertise your review sites (www.reviewdealershipname.com, for example) and then put that link in your email signature or include it in a "Thank you" email you send each customer after they have made a purchase.
Get someone else to ask for you! Your salespeople or front-facing staff can politely ask a customer to leave a review.
Just make sure your staff know your dealership's preferred review websites so they can steer customers in the right direction.
While you can't buy reviews from customers with cash, gift certificates, or prizes, you can give incentives to your employees to ask for positive reviews.
I've seen dealerships offer cash or an entry into a draw for every positive review they received. It was so successful that they could only run the program for a few months—if you're looking for a quick pay off, then this may be your best bet.
If you send a "Thank you" letter to customers a week or two after their purchase, you could ask for a positive review at the same time.
Whether you've decided to set up a separate page or URL for your review sites, or to include review icons and a brief sentence requesting a review, adding it to your sales process is an effective way to remind customers to review your business.
For more on reviews, don't forget to check out our post on 4 places to get dealer reviews!
By now, everyone understands the benefits of getting positive reviews for your business. But where do you send your customers to leave their reviews? Is it just a testimonial page on your website? There are actually a number of popular review websites that you can send your customers to.
Getting positive reviews on Google+ has arguably the biggest bang for your proverbial buck. Google weighs these reviews, combined with the quality of your Google+ page, the heaviest of all the review sites. Why? Because they own this sh*t!
The authority of your Google+ listing combines with your website authority to give you a better chance of showing up in the Google maps locations in the search results page (known as the "Map Pack").
If you lack time or resources (who doesn't?), definitely start with this one. Your first steps should be to claim your Google Plus and Places listing, complete it as thoroughly as possible, and then ask customers for reviews.
Facebook might be getting a little tired to some of us, but it's still hands down the social media giant. With 1.3 billion monthly active Facebook users, you can bet that people are asking their friends and family about buying a car and looking for advice and information.
Facebook only shows results from popular Facebook pages already in their database. If you don't already have a Facebook business page, set one up and post a few times before advertising the page too much. Not sure about the whole Facebook thing? Read some reasons why your car dealership should be on Facebook and see if we can change your mind.
With over 60 million registered users and over 20 million reviews posted on the site, this is not one to ignore. Yelp is also considered the second most important review site (next to Google+) to help boost your SEO.
In the beginning, Yelp was mostly used for reviews on the restaurant industry but other industries now account for more than 75% of their listings. To get started with Yelp, check to see if you already have a Yelp listing and update any incorrect information on your account. If you can't find your dealership, then create a new listing.
Of all of the review sites built just for the automotive industry, we see customers leave the most reviews on dealerrater.ca. Customers can search for a dealership, service centre, or actual vehicle using this site and leave a review by logging in through their social media account or by creating a Dealer Rater account. In order to become a Dealer Rater Certified dealership, you have to pay to play.
If you need help improving your online presence or gaining positive reviews for your business, Contact Us at Strathcom with any questions!


I'd love to help take credit for this too, but I didn't have much of anything to do with it. My job was to keep Easton out of the way and attempt to rid myself of this cold (I honestly can't recall ever having a cold this late in spring) – which is proving to be unsuccessful. Irregardless of how I'm feeling, I am making my way into the sewing room today – I am determined to finish up the asymmetrical top (or at least do everything but the hem) so I can wear it this weekend.
What did everyone else accomplish this weekend – any holiday sewing or great BBQs? By the way, for anyone interested in constructing one of these sets for themselves – the 'it only takes 12 hours to build' tag on the 'package' seems to be about 15-20 hours off!
This entry was posted in General on May 31, 2010 by stacy.


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Q: Term for getting "Depending on" the wrong way around I have been trying for some time to figure out the correct term for a grammatical error that drives me up the wall. It is when people use the phrase "depending on" the 'wrong way around'.
Where thing A actually depends on B but they say "B depends on A".
The best example I can think of right now is

*

*"Whether it rains depends on whether I'll wear my raincoat or not."

It just feels so wrong but I don't know how to properly explain to someone why it's wrong, or the correct terminology for this.
Does this have a name? Is it actually bad grammar or am I being overly pedantic?

A: Catachresis has a broadened sense, beyond the well-known 'wrong choice of a single word', for example using 'luxuriant' for 'luxurious':

catachresis [noun; pl. catachreses]

*

*The misapplication of a word or phrase ....

[AHD]
Dictionary.com adds that this may well be in error (two senses are conflated in this listing; the appropriate one has been singled out):

catachresis [noun]
misuse ... of words, ... occurring either in error ....

[Dictionary.com]
.............
The correct phrasings, "Whether it rains or not will determine (/ inform / influence) whether I'll wear my raincoat," sound rather rarefied, so are also better avoided in conversation.
I've not seen any evidence in the usual respected dictionaries (M-W, Collins, AHD ...) that popular usage is making the causal sense of 'depend on' acceptable.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Terry was injured in a challenge with Arsenal's Emmanuel Eboue in Sunday's 1-0 Barclays Premier League defeat at the Emirates Stadium, which left them third in the table and six points adrift of the Gunners at the top.
Last time around, it was subsequent champions Manchester United who led second-placed Chelsea both before and after Terry's mid-season injury.
As Chelsea prepare for a series of fixtures in which they ought to be able to prosper even without Terry, the England defender's availability for his country's first match under new coach Fabio Capello - against Switzerland on February 6 - becomes another imponderable.
Medical updates will therefore doubtless be sought on a daily basis - and the first of them followed scans on Monday.
"John Terry has fractured three bones in his right foot, including his third metatarsal," Chelsea reported on their website, www.chelseafc.com.
English added: "An x-ray taken in the Arsenal medical room straight after John left the field didn't show the injury.
"However, as is usual with mid-foot injuries, the fractures were revealed following scans - which were performed Tuesday afternoon," said English. "John will start his rehabilitation immediately with the Chelsea medical team, and we will continue to monitor the injury."


text:
Canadian Regulators Release Results of Hedge Fund Review
Toronto – The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) today issued Staff Notice 81-316 Hedge Funds, summarizing the findings of a sample-based review of hedge funds in Canada.
The CSA conducted the review in response to increased retail interest in hedge funds. The review was done through a combination of compliance reviews of fund managers and advisers, disclosure reviews and industry consultations. Based on the review, the CSA determined that while an appropriate securities regulatory framework exists for hedge funds in Canada, certain areas can be improved.
"Regulators in Canada recognize the increased popularity of hedge funds among retail investors," said Jean St-Gelais, Chair of the CSA and President & Chief Executive Officer of the Autorité des marchés financiers (Québec). "While we feel the necessary regulatory framework is in place, it is important to continually examine the framework against new products in our evolving markets."
The review identified areas for improvement, including issues with principal protected notes (PPNs), referral arrangements, distribution, disclosure and registration of fund managers. The notice sets out the CSA's views on how these areas will be monitored or improved.
CSA Staff Notice 81-316 Hedge Funds is available on several CSA members' websites.


text:
Find a Comic
Comics Blog
Romancelandia
Romance Blog
Title: When a Duke Loves a Woman
Heat: Re
Genre(s): Romance Historical
Tropes: Forbidden Love Virgin Heroine First Love
Tags: class differences white unconventional heroine straight
Where to Buy or Read:
Synopsis from the Creator:
Gillie Trewlove knows what a stranger's kindness can mean, having been abandoned on a doorstep as a baby and raised by the woman who found her there. So, when suddenly faced with a soul in need at her door—or the alleyway by her tavern—Gillie doesn't hesitate. But he's no infant. He's a grievously injured, distractingly handsome gentleman who doesn't belong in Whitechapel, much less recuperating in Gillie's bed . . .
Being left at the altar is humiliating; being rescued from thugs by a woman—albeit a brave and beautiful one—is the pièce de résistance to the Duke of Thornley's extraordinarily bad day. After nursing him back from the brink, Gillie agrees to help him comb London's darker corners for his wayward bride. But every moment together is edged with desire and has Thorne rethinking his choice of wife. Yet Gillie knows the aristocracy would never accept a duchess born in sin. Thorne, however, is determined to prove to her that no obstacle is insurmountable when a duke loves a woman.
[This is second in the Sins of All Seasons series.]
Review: When a Duke Loves a Woman, by Lorraine Heath
[fa icon="calendar"] Sep 25, 2018 8:30:00 AM / by Suzanne
As I mentioned in my mini-review of the first book in this series, Beyond Scandal and Desire, Lorraine Heath writes emotional, soapy historical romances with plots that can be over-the-top at times. This means that the author's entire body of work is hit or miss for me, but this one was a hit.
The series follows a group of children left with a widow as infants. They're referred to repeatedly as bastards, which is as much an insult back then as it is now. It's also repeatedly noted that the laws of the time punish children born out of wedlock, as though it's the children who are responsible and not their parents. The first book pairs Mick Trewlove with an aristocratic woman who is engaged to his (legitimate) brother. This second follows one of Mick's adoptive sisters, Gillie and, you guessed it, a duke.
The Widow Trewlove dressed Gillie as a boy for years in order to keep her safer as she worked as a step cleaner and did other menial tasks around London. Between this and Gillie's tall stature, she's never thought of herself as particularly appealing to men and hasn't sought them out for fear of rejection. Instead, she focuses on herself and making sure that she's never in the situation to produce babies like herself - unwanted and unattended. Mick gives her the seed money to buy a tavern (the whimsically named Mermaid and Unicorn) and she runs it with skill and grace.
We meet the hero, Thorn (the Duke of Thornley) when he's set upon by a group of thugs out to rob him. He gives them everything but a pocketwatch, the only thing he has left of his father, who died of syphilis when Thorn was a young teen (due to being a philandering ass). So Thorn gets the snot beaten out of him and is nearly dead before Gillie rescues him and nurses him back to health.
As it turns out, Thorn was in that part of town because he was looking for his wayward fiancee, who left him at the altar. He wasn't in love with her, but he does want to make sure she's safe and, since he has now learned firsthand just how dangerous this part of town is, he wants to find her and tell her she can get out of the engagement as long as she comes home. To that end, he enlists Gillie to help him with the locals - find information, follow leads, that sort of thing.
And, of course, you know what happens next.
This is a romance full of pining and angst. Both Gillie and Thorn are responsible people who want to treat the others in their lives with respect and care, so it's particularly tricky for them to want so badly to be with a person they know can't be part of their respective world. Heath writes Thorn as a man who is impressed with Gillie's business acumen and her compassionate heart, without somehow exoticizing Gillie. Gillie falls for Thorn very much against her intentions, but she's never ashamed of her romantic feelings or her physical desires. It's a very fine line and Heath draws it well.
I won't tell you how the conflict is resolved, but I will say that I was guessing up until the very end, because both Gillie and Thorn were determined to "do the right thing." Their relationship felt deeper and somehow more based on friendship than a lot of historical romances I've read, and it reminded me of why I keep reading Heath's books when they're so hit or miss for me.
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text:
\section{Introduction}

In the past few years, deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have significantly improved the performance of visual object tracking, by providing frameworks for end-to-end representation learning~\cite{HCF,Danelljan2016}, online correlation filter learning~\cite{KCF2015,CCOT}, and discriminative classifier learning ~\cite{ECO,Qi2016,Nam2015,Nam2016,Han}.
However, CNN-based trackers suffer the performance degradation caused by the multi-target occlusion, appearance variance and/or background noise. Especially during the tracking procedure, the neighboring targets and background noise could introduce progressive interference and result in the vital model drift, as shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:motivation}(up), particularly when objects have scale variations and complex motions.

To mitigate the interference, the Siamese network structure was introduced to improve the discriminative capacity of trackers by extensively training the network~\cite{Tao2016,Xu2017}.
EArly-Stopping Tracker incorporates object representation decision-making policies with the reinforcement learning method~\cite{Huang2017}. Nevertheless, these approaches usually rely on using additional data for offline training and lack the capability to adapt trackers adaptability in complex conditions.

To conquer the issue, the dynamic Siamese network~\cite{Guo2017} uses a fast transformation learning method to model target appearance variation and handles background suppression from previous frames. The ATOM tracker~\cite{ATOM} combines offline pre-training with online learning in a multi-task learning framework by incorporating the objectives of target localization and target-background classification.
While incorporating high-level knowledge into the target estimation through extensive offline learning, these methods remain overlooking the progressive interference from context area in a systematic manner. How to directly model the interference and regularize the tracking response distribution is still a open problem.

In this paper, we propose a simple-yet-effective approach, referred to as SPSTracker for robust object tracking. Our motivation is based on the observation that most failure tracking is caused by the interference around the target. Such interference produces multi-peak tracking response, and the sub-peak may progressively ``grow" and eventually cause model drift. Therefore ,we propose suppressing the sub-peaks to aggregating a single-peak response, with the aim of preventing model drift from the perspective of tracking response regularization.

Specifically, we introduce a Peak Response Pooling (PRP) module, which concentrates the maximum values of tracking response into the geometric centers of targets, as shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:method}. The pooling procedure is implemented by an efficient maximization and substitution operation on the tracking response maps. During the network forward procedure, PRP aggregates multiple sub-peaks into a single centered peak for target tracking. During the backward propagation procedure, the response map with a single peak guides the online learning (fine-tuning) to explore discriminative features.

Based on PRP, we further propose the Boundary Response Truncation (BRT) operation to clip the response map by simply setting the values of the pixels far away from the peak response to be zero. The operation reduces the variance of feature response map meanwhile further aggregates the single-peak response. If the response map is approximated as a Gaussian distribution, PRP targets at aggregating the mean values while BRT reducing the variance. RPR together with BRT facilitates the model to learn an enforced response map for robust object tracking.

SPSTracker is built upon the CNN framework with a target classification branch and a target localization branch atop the convolutional layers.
The classification network, equipped with the PRP and BRT modules, identifies the coarse locations (bounding boxes). These coarse locations are further fed to the target localization branch to estimate the precise target location.

The main contributions of this work can be summarized as follows:
\begin{itemize}
    \item An Sub-Peak Suppression tracker (SPSTracker) is presented to reduce the risk of model drift by online suppressing the potential sub-peaks while aggregating the maximum peak response.
    \item A simple-yet-efficient Peak Response Pooling (PRP) module is proposed to aggregate and align discriminative features, and a Boundary Response Truncation (BRT) module is designed to reduce the variance of feature response.
    \item Our proposed tracker achieves leading performance on six benchmarks, including OTB2013, OTB2015, OTB50, VOT2016, VOT2018 and NFS. In particular, we improve the state-of-the-arts on the VOT2016 and VOT2018 benchmarks with significant margins.

\end{itemize}

\section{Related Work}

The research about visual object tracking has a long history. Modern object trackers were usually constructed on three kinds of methods, including correlation filtering, online classification, and metric learning. With the rise of deep neural networks, these methods have been integrated with feature learning in an end-to-end manner.

\textbf{Correlation Filters.} The filtering procedure refers to matching templates with the Gaussian distribution to track targets of various appearance variation. The key to their success is the ability to efficiently exploit available negative data by including all shifted versions of a training sample. By introducing CNNs, the representative capacity of correlation filters has been greatly improved. DeepSRDCF~\cite{SRDCF} fed the features from the pre-trained CNN to a correlation filter and introduced spatial regularization on the basis of KCF~\cite{KCF}, mitigating the boundary effect. CCOT~\cite{CCOT} and ECO~\cite{ECO} proposed the implicit interpolation model to pose the learning problem in the continuous spatial domain, leading to efficient integration of multi-resolution deep features.

\textbf{Online Classification.} Tracking can also be formulated as an online classification problem. DeepTrack~\cite{DeepTrack} leveraged a sample selection mechanism and a lazy updating scheme to learn online classifiers. FCNT~\cite{FCNT} utilized hierarchical convolutional features to construct a network which handles various interference. CNN-SVM~\cite{CNN-SVM} used the pre-trained deep convolutional network to extract features of the target, and then used SVM to perform online target-background classification. These methods fully utilized the representation capabilities of deep learning features and the discriminative capacity of online classifiers. However, they often overlook the problem of accurate target state estimation.

\textbf{Metric Learning.}  To facilitate state estimation, the tracking problem was formulated in the metric (similarity) learning framework. Classification and state estimation were integrated into a Siamese network~\cite{SiamFC} that measures the similarity between the target and the candidates for tracking. Semantic branches and appearance branches were constructed in the dual Siamese network~\cite{SASiam}, and saliency mechanisms were introduced in the attention-based Siamese network~\cite{RASNet}. SiamRPN~\cite{SiamRPN,SiamRPN++} combined the Siamese network with the region proposal network (RPN) to allow trackers estimating target extent when positioned accurately. SiamMask~\cite{SiamMask} involved a unified framework for visual target tracking (VOT) and video object segmentation (VOS). To put it simply, a tracker is trained offline, which relies on the position specified by the first frame for semi-supervised learning to achieve target tracking and mask estimation.
\begin{figure*}
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width= 1.6\columnwidth]{1495-Figure2-PRP.pdf}
\end{center}
  \caption{Illustration of Boundary Response Truncation (BRT) and  Peak Response Pooling (PRP) modules. First, with BRT, we clips the feature response map meanwhile aggregates the single-peak response. Then ,with PRP, we sum the horizontal and vertical pooling maps to aggregate multiple sub-peaks(the surrounding small dots in pooling maps) into a single centered peak(large dot) for target tracking. (Best viewed in color)}
\label{fig:method}
\end{figure*}
Despite of the efficiency, Siamese trackers are less robust to the interference from background due to ignoring offline training. ATOM~\cite{ATOM} solved this issue by using a large number of samples for offline training. Nevertheless, with multiple sampled features, the target response map could have multiple sub-peaks, which aggregates the risk of model drift, particularly when there is interference from target appearance variation and/or background noise.

\section{Methodology}
We propose the Sub-Peak Response Suppression tracker (SPSTracker), with Peak Response Pooling (PRP) and Boundary Response Truncation (BRT) modules, to aggregate the multiple sub-peaks on a tracking response map into a single enforced peak, as shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:method}. SPSTracker is built upon the ATOM tracker~\cite{ATOM}, with a target classification branch and a target localization branch. The classification branch converts the feature map into a response map and provides the coarse locations of the target. The localization branch uses the bounding-box regression to localize targets. Upon the classification branch, the PRP and BRT modules are applied in a plug-and-play manner, as shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:flowchart}.

\subsection{Tracking Response Prediction}
The classification branch is a CNN online structure, which learns from minimizing the tracking response and Gaussian priori $y_j$. Denote the feature map of a current video frame (the test image) from CNN as $x$. The classification branch is a 2-layer fully convolutional network parameterized with $w$, which predicts the tracking response map $f(x;w)$, as
\begin{equation}
f(x;w)=\phi _{2}(w_{2}\ast \phi _{1}(w_{1}\ast x)), \label{E1}
\end{equation}
where $w_{1}$ and $w_{2}$ denote parameters for first and second convolutional layers, respectively, the symbol of $*$ denotes standard multi-channel convolution, and $\phi _{1}$ and $\phi _{2}$ are the activation functions.

During object tracking, the parameters of the classification branch are updated by minimizing the following objective function:
\begin{equation}
L(w)=\sum_{j=1}^{m}\gamma _{j}\left \| f(x_{j};w)-y_{j} \right \|^2+\sum_{k}\lambda _{k}\left \| w_{k} \right \| ^2 \label{E2},
\label{eq.cls}
\end{equation}
where $j$ denotes the index of training samples,  $x_{j}$ denotes the features from the $j^{th}$ sample, $y_j$ set to a sampled Gaussian prior at the target location~\cite{ATOM},as shown in Fig~\ref{fig:method}(Gaussian prior).
$\gamma_{j}$ denotes the weight of the corresponding training sample, and $\lambda_{k}$ is a parameter to trade-off the contributions of the two terms.

By optimizing Eq.~(\ref{eq.cls}) with a conjugate gradient descent method, the model predicts the target response map, as shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:method}. Due to the response map is a weighted sum of response maps from multi-scale samples and thereby appears a multi-peak distribution. This makes the maximum response not consistent with the target geometric centers, thus increasing the classification error and the risk of model drift.

\subsection{Sub-Peak Response Suppression}

To conquer the issue that Sub-Peak Response causes the model drift, we propose Sub-Peak Response Suppression method, which can prevent the sub-peak from ``growing" into the main-peak.
 Specifically, we directly operate the target response map predicted by $f(x_j;w)$ and reformulate Eq.~(\ref{E2}) as
\begin{equation}
L(w)=\sum_{j=1}^{m}\gamma _{j}\left \| f'( x_{j};w)-y_{j} \right \|^2+\sum_{k}\lambda _{k}\left \| w_{k} \right \| ^2,  \label{E3}
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
f'( x_{j};w) = \beta_{j} [ f ( g ( x_{j} ) ; w )+ P ( f (g ( x_{j}) ; w))],
 \label{E4}
\end{equation}
where $P$ denotes the Peak Response Pooling applied on each sampled response map, $g( x_j)$ denotes the feature after Boundary Response Truncation (BRT) operation which decreases the variance of target response and reduces the boundary effect, and $\beta _{j}$ denotes the weight for the $j^{th}$ sample. By using PRP and BRT, we can apply feature fusion to aggregate the response maps from multiple samples into the target response map, as well as guaranteeing the the response map has a single peak centered at the target.
\begin{figure*}[!t]
\begin{center}

{\includegraphics[width=1.4\columnwidth]{1495-Figure3-SPSTracker.pdf}}
\end{center}
   \caption{The flowchart of the proposed SPSTracker. It has a target classification branch and a target localization branch. The classification branch converts the feature map into a response map and provides the coarse locations of the target. The localization branch uses bounding-box regression to localize targets. Upon the classification branch, the PRP and BRT modules are applied in a plug-and-play manner.}
\label{fig:flowchart}
\end{figure*}

By minimizing the objective function of Eq.~(\ref{E2}), we can force the response map $f(x_j;w)$ to approximate the Gaussian priori $y_j$. However, for the targets of partial occlusion or background noises, $f(x_j;w)$ could be acenteric and unlikely to be a Gaussian distribution. The operations of PRP and BRT in Eq.~(\ref{E4}) make $f'(x_j;w)$ close to the Gaussian prior $y_j$ via Eq.~(\ref{E3}), and eventually facilitates the online learning procedure.

\subsubsection{Peak Response Pooling (PRP)}
We propose a Peak Response Pooling (PRP) module, which concentrates the maximum values on the tracking  response map to the target geometric center.
On the target response map output by the classification branch, horizontal PRP is first performed to concentrate the response map into a horizontal pooling map. This procedure is done by finding the maximum response in each row of the response map and assigns all pixels of the line the maximum response value.
In a similar way, vertical PRP is performed in each column on the response map to obtain the vertical pooling map. As a result, the element value of the response map after the PRP operation can be calculated as
\begin{equation}
\widehat{x}_{pq}\!=\!\max(x_{p1},x_{p2},...,x_{pn})+\max(x_{1q},x_{2q},...,x_{mq}) \label{E5}
\end{equation}
where $x_{pq}$ denotes the original response value at the location of the $p^{th}$ row and the $q^{th}$ column.
The horizontal and vertical pooling maps are summed to obtain the rectified response map, which tends to aggregate large response values to the target geometric center.
After multiple learning iterations, the target response is concentrated to approximate a 2D Gaussian distribution, which fits the Gaussian priori distribution for robust object tracking, as shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:method}.

The Peak Response Pooling (PRP) is inspired by the center/corner pooling~\cite{CenterNet2019,CornerNet2018} developed for object detection. However, PRP is different from the center/corner pooling from the following two aspects: 1) PRP targets at aggregating the response map to a single-peak distribution so that the Gaussian prior distribution can be well fitted. In contrast, the center/corner pooling aligns features to handle the appearance variance of objects; 2) PRP leverages more efficient row- and column-wise maximization operations to aggregate the large response to target centers, while the center/corner pooling uses comparison and substitution operations.

\subsubsection{Boundary Response Truncation (BRT)}
When recognizing objects and determining an objective boundary, the human visual system does not align objects with some fixed data points but uses Fovea in eyeballs that concentrate peak response to central regions for object localization~\cite{kong2019foveabox}. This concentration procedure inspires us to develop the BRT module for object tracking.

During tracking, for the pixel on the extent of the target but far away target centers could have ambiguous features (either background or foreground). The PRP module can concentrate the target response to the target centers but does not consider the variance of the target response. In complex scenes, the response maps could have large variance for the significant response from the target boundary, which is called the boundary effect. Considering that a single-peak response map with small variance could alleviate the boundary effect and improve the tracking robustness, we further introduce the Boundary Response Truncation (BRT) operation.

As shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:method}, BRT is a simple clip operation, which sets the pixels far away from the peak response to be zero. This operation discards the response at the target boundary and reduces the variance of the response map. With BRT, we may miss some informative target response. However, it is experimentally validated that clipping the response map by 10\%; we lose 4\% foreground information and 12\% background information, \textit{i.e.}, BRT reduces more ambiguous response while enhancing the classification ability of the tracker.

\subsection{Object Tracking}

SPSTracker is built upon the state-of-the-art ATOM tracker~\cite{ATOM}, with a target classification branch and a target localization branch. The classification branch produces coarse region proposals by evaluating the target response map. The target localization branch fine-tunes the network parameters to fit the reference target box with multiple region proposals~\cite{ATOM}. Upon the classification branch, the PRP and BRT modules are applied in a plug-and-play manner, as shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:flowchart}.

Note that the ATOM tracker uses only the last convolutional layer of ResNet-18 (Block4) as feature representation. Shallow convolutional features are more important for extracting some low-level information such as color and edge, while deep convolutional features are rich in high-level semantics. The fusion of multi-scale (shallow and deep) features enforces the representation capability, but it produces sub-peaks on response maps and deteriorates the tracking performance.

By introducing the PRP and BRT modules, the multi-scale features can be well integrated for target representation and tracking. As shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:sps}, the multiple sub-peaks produced by multi-scale features can be concentrated into a maximum peak, which bridges the gap between $f'(x_j;w)$ and $y_j$ and facilitates robust tracking.

\begin{table}[t]
\begin{center}
\resizebox{\columnwidth}{!}{
\begin{tabular}{ccc|cccc}
\hline
BRT & PRP & MF & EAO & Accuracy & Robutness & FPS\\
\hline
& & & 0.401& 0.590 & 0.204 &\textbf{40} \\
\checkmark &  & &0.414& 0.601 & 0.189 &\textbf{40} \\
  & \checkmark & & 0.420&  0.609 & 0.191 &39 \\
& & \checkmark & 0.411 & 0.605& 0.184 &35\\
\checkmark & \checkmark & &  0.424& 0.610 & 0.179 &39\\
\checkmark & & \checkmark  &0.419 & 0.604  & 0.187 &35\\
& \checkmark & \checkmark &  0.424 & 0.612  & 0.174 &35\\
\checkmark& \checkmark& \checkmark  & \textbf{0.434}& \textbf{0.612} & \textbf{0.169} &35\\
\hline
\end{tabular}
}
\end{center}
\caption{Ablation study of SPSTracker on the VOT-2018 benchmark. ``BRT'' denotes Boundary Reponse Truncation, ``PRP'' denotes Peak Response Pooling, and ``MF'' multi-scale feature fusion. The baseline performance is reported by the state-of-the-art ATOM tracker.}
\label{tab:ablation}
\end{table}

\section{Experiment}
In this section, we first describe the implementation details of SPSTracker. We then present the ablation study to validate the PRP and BRT modules proposed in this paper. At last, we evaluate the SPSTracker on commonly used benchmarks and compare it with state-of-the-art trackers.
All the experiments are carried out with Pytorch on a Intel i5-8600k 3.4GHz CPU and a single Nvidia GTX 1080ti GPU with 24GB memory.

\subsection{Implementation details}

SPSTracker is implemented upon the ATOM architecture~\cite{ATOM}, by using ResNet-18~\cite {ResNet} pre-trained on ImageNet as the backbone network.
The Block3 and Block4 features extracted from the test image are first passed through two Conv layers. Regions defined by the input bounding boxes are then pooled to a fixed size using pooling layers. The pooled features are modulated by channel-wise multiplication with the coefficient vector returned by the reference branch. The features are then passed through fully-connected layers to predict the Intersection over Union (IoU). All Conv and FC layers are followed by BatchNorm and ReLU. The target response map is obtained by fusing the response obtained by ResNet's block3 and block4.
\begin{figure}[t]
\includegraphics[width=.95\columnwidth]{1495-Figure4-SPS.pdf}
\caption{Comparison of the target response maps of the ATOM tracker (up) and SPSTracker (down). }
\label{fig:sps}
\end{figure}
\subsection{Ablation Study}

For the proposed PRP and BRT modules, we perform ablation analysis to investigate their impact on the tracking performance. We also analyze the impact of the multi-scale features in SPSTracker. All the ablation studies are carried out on the VOT2018~\cite{vot2018} benchmark.

\textbf{Peak Response Pooling (PRP).} From the results in Table ~\ref{tab:ablation}, we can see that the introduction of PRP module to the classification branch significantly aggregates the tracking performance. Specifically, it improves the expected average overlap (EAO) value by 0.19 (0.401 to 0.420), which is a significant margin, considering the strong baseline ATOM. It also improves the tracking accuracy and robustness as indicated by the last two rows of Table ~\ref{tab:ablation}.

\begin{figure} [t]
\centering
\subfloat{
 \label{fig:a}
\includegraphics[width=0.45\columnwidth,height=0.40\columnwidth]{1495-Figure5-OTB2015_P.pdf}
}
\subfloat{
\label{fig:b}
\includegraphics[width=0.45\columnwidth,height=0.40\columnwidth]{1495-Figure5-OTB-2105_S.pdf}
}
\quad
\subfloat{
\label{fig:c}
\includegraphics[width=0.45\columnwidth,height=0.40\columnwidth]{1495-Figure5-OTB2013_P.pdf}
}
\subfloat{
\label{fig:d}
\includegraphics[width=0.45\columnwidth,height=0.40\columnwidth]{1495-Figure5-OTB2013_S.pdf}
}
\quad
\subfloat{
\label{fig:e}
\includegraphics[width=0.45\columnwidth,height=0.40\columnwidth]{1495-Figure5-OTB50_P.pdf}
}
\subfloat{
\label{fig:f}
\includegraphics[width=0.45\columnwidth,height=0.40\columnwidth]{1495-Figure5-OTB50_S.pdf}
}
\caption{ The precision plots and success plots on OTB-2015, OTB-2013 and OTB-50 benchmarks.}
\label{fig:otb}
\end{figure}

\begin{figure}[!ht]
\begin{center}
   \includegraphics[width=.95\columnwidth]{1495-Figure6-VOT2016.pdf}
\end{center}
   \caption{EAO ranking of the tested trackers on VOT2016.

}
\label{fig:vot2016}
\end{figure}

\begin{figure}[!ht]
\begin{center}
   \includegraphics[width=.95\columnwidth]{1495-Figure7-VOT018.pdf}
\end{center}
   \caption{EAO ranking of the tested trackers on VOT2018.

   }
\label{fig:vot2018}
\end{figure}
\textbf{Boundary Response Truncation (BRT).} The BRT module improves the EAO value by $0.13$ ($0.401$ to $0.414$), as reported in Table ~\ref{tab:ablation}, which is also a significant margin. This validates that the truncation operation is able to eliminate response variance and benefit online classifier learning by filtering out ambiguous samples.

We test the truncation size and validate that the best performance is obtained when clipping $10\% \sim 12.5\%$ width/height of the response map. For all the experiments, we clip a $10\%$ height/width of the response map.

\textbf{Multi-scale Feature Fusion.} By using the multi-scale feature fusion, we improve the EAO value by $0.1$. Combining feature fusion with PRP and BRT modules, we can improve EAO by $0.33$ ($0.434$ vs. $0.401$), as reported in Table ~\ref{tab:ablation}. The significant performance gain demonstrates that the proposed PRP and BRT modules facilitate the fusion of multi-scale features, and reduce the negative effect brought by the multiple sub-peaks and the feature fusion.

\begin{table}[!t]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{l|ccc}
\hline
Tracker & EAO & Accuracy & Robustness \\
\hline\hline
SPSTracker  &{\color{red}{0.459}}  & {\color{blue}{0.625}}  & {\color{red}{0.158}}  \\
\hline
SiamMask & {\color{blue}{0.433}} & {\color{red}{0.639}} &  {\color{blue}{0.214}}\\
DWSiam & {\color{green}{0.370}} & {\color{green}{0.580}} & 0.240\\
CCOT & 0.331 & 0.539 &0.238 \\
TCNN & 0.325 & 0.554 & 0.268 \\
SSAT & 0.321 & 0.577 & 0.291\\
MLDF & 0.311 & 0.490 & {\color{green}{0.233}}\\
Staple & 0.295 & 0.544 & 0.378\\
DDC & 0.293 & 0.541 & 0.345\\
EBT & 0.291 & 0.465 & 0.252 \\
SRBT & 0.290 & 0.496 & 0.350\\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\caption{Performance comparison on VOT2016.}
\label{vot2016}
\end{table}

\begin{table}[!t]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{l|ccc}
\hline
Tracker & EAO & Accuracy & Robustness \\
\hline\hline
SPSTracker  &{\color{red}{0.434}}& {\color{red}{0.612}}& 0.169  \\
\hline
SiamRPN++ & {\color{blue}{0.414}} & {\color{green}{0.600}} & 0.234\\
ATOM & {\color{green}{0.401}}&  0.590 & 0.204 \\
SiamMask & 0.380 & {\color{blue}{0.609}}& 0.276 \\
LADCF &  0.389 & 0.503 & {\color{green}{0.159}}\\
MFT & 0.385 & 0.505  & {\color{red}{0.140}}\\
DaSiamRPN & 0.383& 0.544 & 0.276\\
UPDT &  0.378 & 0.536 & 0.184\\
RCO &0.376  &  0.507  & {\color{blue}{0.155}}\\
DRT &0.356 & 0.519 & 0.201\\
DeepSTRC &  0.345 &0.523  & 0.215\\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\caption{Performance comparison on VOT-2018. }
\label{tab:vot2018}
\end{table}

\textbf{Sub-peak suppression.}
In Fig.~\ref{fig:sps}, we compare the target response maps of the ATOM tracker and SPSTracker. It can be seen that SPSTracker suppresses multiple sub-peaks while producing the response map of a single peak centered at the target. The peak response can well fit a Gaussian distribution prior $y_j$.

\textbf{Tracking speed.}
With a single GPU, the proposed SPSTracker achieves a tracking speed at $35$ fps. Compared with the speed ($40$ fps) of the baseline ATOM, SPSTracker achieves significant performance gains with a negligible computational cost overhead.

\textbf{OTB.} The object tracking benchmarks (OTB)~\cite{otb2013,otb2015} consists of the three datasets, namely OTB-2013~\cite{otb2013}, OTB-50 and OTB-100 which consist of 51, 50 and 100 fully annotated videos, respectively. OTB100 includes OTB2013 and OTB50. All sequences belong to 11 typical tracking interference properties.
\begin{table*}[ht]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{l|ccccccccccc}
\hline
 &Ours& ATOM & UPDT & CCOT &ECO & MDNet & HDT &DaSiamRPN & FCNT & SRDCF  &BACF \\
\hline
AUC&60.0 &59.0&54.2&49.2&47.0&42.5&40.0&39.5&39.3&35.3&34.2\\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\caption{Performance comparison on the NFS dataset.}
\label{tal:nfs}
\end{table*}

\begin{figure*}[ht]
\begin{center}
  \centerline{\includegraphics[width=1.8\columnwidth]{1495-Figure8-results.pdf}}
\end{center}
\caption{Qualitative results of state-of-the-art trackers on sequences \emph{Box, Matrix, ClifBar, Ironman, Deer and CarScale}. SPSTracker can localize objects with interference from either foreground or backgrounds. In contrast, other compared methods have failure cases. (Best viewed in color with zoom in)}
\label{fig:res}
\end{figure*}

Two evaluation metrics, success rate and precision, are used on OTB. The precision plot shows the percentage of frames whose tracking results are within a certain distance, which is determined by a given threshold. The success plot shows the ratio of successful frames when the threshold changes from 0 to 1, where a successful frame indicates that its overlap is greater than the given threshold. The area under the curve (AUC) of each success plot is used to rank the tracking methods.

By using the success rate and precision plot in the one-pass evaluation (OPE) as the evaluation metric, we compare the SPSTracker with state-of-the-art trackers including ATOM~\cite{ATOM}, DaSiamRPN~\cite{DaSiamRPN}, ECO-HC~\cite{ECO}, SiamRPN~\cite{SiamRPN}, CF2~\cite{CF2}, CNN-SVM~\cite{CNN-SVM}, SRDCF~\cite{SRDCF} and Staple~\cite{Staple}. As shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:otb}, the proposed SPSTracker achieves the best performance on the three benchmarks, by obtaining $0.692$, $0.703$ and $0.658$ AUC scores on OTB-2015 and OTB-2013, OTB-50, respectively. Compared with ATOM~\cite{ATOM}, SPSTracker improves by $2.1\%$, $4.4\%$ and $3.0\%$, respectively.

\textbf{VOT2016 and VOT2018.}
From the visual object tracking (VOT) benchmark, we select VOT2016~\cite{vot2016} and VOT2018~\cite{vot2018} to evaluate the trackers. VOT2016 contains 60 challenging videos, while VOT2018 includes 10 more challenging sequences.  Whenever the tracking bounding box drifts way from the ground truth, the tracker re-initializes after five frames. The trackers are evaluated by the EAO metric, which is the inner product of empirically estimated average overlap and typical sequence length distribution. In addition, accuracy (average overlap) and failures/robustness (average number of failures) are used for evaluation as well.

SPSTracker is compared with 10 state-of-the-art trackers on VOT-2016, as shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:vot2016}. SPSTrack achieves the leading performance and significantly outperforms other trackers. Table~\ref{vot2016} reports the details of the comparison with  SiamMask~\cite{SiamMask},DWSiam~\cite{DWSiam}, CCOT~\cite{CCOT}, TCNN~\cite{Nam2016}, SSAT~\cite{vot2016},MLDF~\cite{vot2016}, Staple~\cite{Staple}, DDC~\cite{vot2016}, EBT~\cite{EBT} and SRBT~\cite{vot2016}.
The EAO score of the proposed SPSTracker is $0.459$, which is significantly higher than the peer trackers.

SPSTracker is also compared with the 10 state-of-the-art trackers on VOT-2018. As shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:vot2018}, SPSTracker also obtains the best performance. Table~\ref{tab:vot2018} shows the details of the comparison.

SPSTracker achieves an EAO score of $0.434$, which is significantly better than that of SiamRPN++~\cite{SiamRPN++}, ATOM and other state-of-the-art trackers. Particularly, it outperforms the state-of-the-art SiamRPN++ by $2$ , ATOM  by $3.3$ and SiamMask by $5.4$, which are significant margins for object tracking on the challenging benchmark.

\textbf{NFS.}
The Need for Speed (NFS)~\cite{NFS} dataset consists of 100 videos (380K frames).
All frames are annotated with axis-aligned bounding boxes, and all sequences are manually labeled with nine visual attributes, including occlusion, fast motion, background clutter. We evaluate the trackers on the 35 FPS version of the NFS dataset. Table~\ref{tal:nfs} reports the AUC scores of the compared trackers. SPSTracker slightly outperforms the baseline ATOM tracker, while significantly outperforms other state-of-the-art tracking methods.

Fig.~\ref{fig:res} shows tracking examples on the OTB benchmark, from which we can see that SPSTracker correctly localizes the targets under serious interference from foreground and backgrounds. In contrast, other trackers have failure cases.

\section{Conclusions}

Visual tracking has been extensively investigated in the past few years. Nevertheless, the problem about how to model interference from multiple targets, appearance variance and/or background noise remains unsolved. In this paper, we proposed  modeling the interference from the perspective of peak distribution and designed a rectified online learning approach for sub-peak response suppression and peak response enforcement. We proposed plug-and-play Peak Response Pooling (PRP) to aggregate and align discriminative features, and designed Boundary Response Truncation (BRT) to reduce the variance of feature response. Based on PRP and BRT, we integrate multi-scale features in SPSTracker to learn the discriminative features for robust object tracking. SPSTracker achieved the new state-of-the-art performance on six widely-used benchmarks, which verifies the effectiveness of the proposed peak response modeling approach.

{\small
\bibliographystyle{aaai}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
C. Jerry Kutner
Time to get this blog rolling. "Let loose the Kraken!" as Larry Olivier would say. (Clash of the Titans – 1981.)
On June 18, 2006, a Father's Day, Isabella Rossellini's short film, My Dad is 100 Years Old, made its American television premiere on the Sundance Channel. The film is about Isabella's father, Roberto Rossellini, who would be 100 this year, if he were still alive.
Synchronistically, on the same day, veteran Warner Brothers director Vincent Sherman passed away, just a few weeks shy of his 100th birthday. It turns out that a lot of significant film people were born in 1906 – not only Roberto Rossellini and Vincent Sherman, but Luchino Visconti, Anthony Mann, Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder, and Carol Reed, among others.
But back to the Rossellini film. It is written by and stars Isabella Rossellini, and was directed by Canadian independent/avant-garde filmmaker Guy Maddin, best known for his feature The Saddest Music in the World, also starring Ms. Rossellini. My Dad is 100 Years Old is a kind of Socratic dialogue in which Isabella and her father debate Alfred Hitchcock, David O. Selznick, Federico Fellini, and Isabella's mother, Ingrid Bergman, concerning the nature of cinema – and the value, if any, of Rossellini's particular brand of cinema. Selznick represents the cinema of storytelling, derived from theater and the novel; Hitchcock represents the cinema of emotion, of fear and desire; Fellini, the cinema of dreams. As opposed to the "escapist" artifice of Hitchcock, Selznick, and Fellini, Rossellini's cinema is driven by the mind and its need to know Reality. "I am not an artist!" Rossellini proudly declares. All of the parts, with the partial exception of Roberto, are portrayed by Ms. Rossellini. Roberto is visually portrayed by a giant belly (the way Isabella remembers him) for which Isabella provides the booming voice.
The film begins in a foggy black and white limbo out of which Roberto's belly emerges like a firmament from the primordial waters. Stylistically, the opening resembles the opening of Welles' expressionistic Macbeth, with the clay figure of MacBeth emerging dripping from the fog-shrouded cauldron of the Three Witches. When Rossellini's antagonist, Hitchcock, enters the debate, the film congeals into a more solid reality, an abandoned movie theater, where Hitchcock is an orating silhouette on a balcony, and Ingrid Bergman appears as an image (an uncanny impression by Isabella) projected on a tattered movie screen.
The charm of the film lies in its divided soul. Its loyalties are hopelessly torn between Isabella's mother's cinema, the cinema of artifice, and her father's Cinema of Reality. Content-wise, the film belongs to her didactic father – it has no story, it is a presentation of conflicting ideas – but visually, the film aligns with Fellini's cinema of memory and dreams.
Tags: Alfred HitchcockDavid O. SelznickexperimentalFederico FelliniGuy MaddinIngrid BergmanIsabella RosselliniOrson WellesRoberto Rossellini
— C. Jerry Kutner
C. Jerry Kutner is a frequent contributor to Bright Lights Film Journal. Visit his website at home.earthlink.net/~cjk5.
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Ozon Meets Fassbinder: Water Drops on Burning Rocks (2000) October 1, 2000
Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds: Film Kills October 31, 2009
Floating Bridges: Caution: Children Crossing August 1, 2006
Miracles and Mysteries: On Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives January 31, 2011


Get it by 23,90€ buying 2 or more units.
Continuing with the exceptional success achieved by Big Eyes, the first mask in the world with raked front lenses and a huge downward visual field, and the continued success of the Horizon, with 4 lenses, the new Matrix is now presented, representing a new benchmark in the world panorama of masks.
The Cressi patented raked lenses and a special ?inverted drop? shape to them has been developed further.
The lenses are now as close as possible to the eyes, with increased visibility that reaches incredible values.
A hypoallergenic silicon skirt with a new design, complete with internal seal ring, provides a perfect fit to the face and excellent comfort. The seal is optimal for a wide variety of facial structures, including those of women and youths.
The new design frame has a minimum thickness and is completely invisible in the entire lower part of the mask.
New research into materials have made it possible to create this frame with a perfect combination of polished polycarbonate and rubber material. This black material has a strong grip and covers the sides and upper arch of the frame providing a protective and at the same time aesthetic effect.
The adjusting buckles for the strap are new, incorporated into the structure of the frame and enable easy and immediate adjustment simply by pressing with a finger.
A new strap made from very soft silicon completes the mask, and it has a particularly extensive purchase on the neck, for comfort without precedents.
Even with these excellent features the internal volume of the mask is so low that it is less than many well-known scuba-diving masks.
The weight of Matrix is record-breaking: only 174 grams so it won?t cause fatigue even after prolonged use.


When Marcus Riedner of Happiness By The Acre in Calgary surveyed his customers they said they buy salad greens. He developed a salads-only CSA, but many who said they'd guy it didn't. The lesson is to not bet the farm on on new product.
WHAT NEW PRODUCTS ARE BACKYARD FARMERS HAVING SUCCESS WITH/ FIND OUT IN THE SPIN ONLINE SUPPORT GROUP. RECEIVE A FREE TRIAL MEMBERSHIP WITH THE PURCHASE OF ANY SPIN GUIDE.
Once these initial plantings are up, I will wait for development, and then put in more sub-segment plantings right through June. By staggering the timing of plantings this way, I can have continuous production and sales throughout the summer. Then I'll relay the area to another crop.
I've grown broad beans for years, and they have always been a good niche crop. But now that there is a new generation that partly defines itself by how adventurous they can be with their eating, there is even more demand. Just don't call them broad beans. Call them fava beans. They're a good crop to try to attract a new market, or see if you can inject some new enthusiasm into your existing one.
Aspiring agripreneurs can always count on receiving this advice: never plant anything without first identifying your market. "Grow what you sell, don't sell what you grow" is pretty much conventional wisdom now, and that's progress.
Here's an anecdote to make the point. A Philly boxer, Bernard Hopkins, is getting ready to meet his next opponent, Sergey Kovalev. The fight will take place in Atlantic City later this fall. The promoters chose AC because of a big Russian demographic on the east coast, to be sure to draw a crowd. So if I were a SPIN farmer on the east coast, I'd be on the lookout for a new demographic in town and start learning some Russian.
The right to food used to be thought of in terms of having sufficient quantities, or proper nutrition. But in a multicultural world, it is also being defined as having diversity of selection. This is right up a SPIN farmer's alley because identifying and serving niches is what they are all about. They are not only situated close to their customers, but they also have the rapid response capability to capitalize on new markets. Being small and nimble allows you to cater to a broad range of culinary niches. And that's a big advantage, sort of like punching above your weight.
I had several $10 bags of horseradish in my market cooler yesterday, which I did not set out on my table. Two people who looked eastern European came by and asked, "Are you Wally?" I said "Yes", and they said, "Do you have horseradish?" I told them I had some, $10/bag. They both take a bag. So word is getting out that I have horseradish. Eastern Europeans also crave green garlic.


text:
Pixar Animation Studios co-founder, Mr Loren Carpenter appointed advisor to VR Education Holdings
Suir Valley Ventures first investment, VR Education Holdings has today announced the appointment of Mr. Loren Carpenter, co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios and Academy Award winner, as an advisor to the company.
Speaking about the appointment via the London Stock Exchange, Mr Carpenter said, "I've been thoroughly impressed with the meticulous approach VR Education has taken in all of their projects. It's refreshing to see such attention to detail and I admire how much the company has achieved from its inception, just three years ago."
Mr Carpenter offers decades of experience to VR Education including being the co-invention of the Reyes rendering algorithm which is used in 3D computer graphics to render photo-realistic images, and as one of the authors of the PhotoRealistic RenderMan, a software used to render all of Pixar's movies.
David Whelan, CEO of VR Education, said "We are incredibly pleased to have Loren – a luminary of the industry on board. Having grown Pixar from a small company to a multi-billion-dollar business by the time it was acquired by Disney, his advice will be invaluable to VR Education when we take our next steps. As always, our mission remains to provide world class educational platform and experiences to people across the globe and we're thrilled that now we have Loren to assist us."
Pixar Studios is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney company and has been a pioneer in computer-generated animated movies. Pixar launched its first feature film in 1995 with the release of their first feature film, Toy Story. Not only was Toy Story the world's first computer animated feature film, it was also the highest grossing film of the year making over $362 million worldwide. Pixar's own IPO took place just days later and was the largest IPO of the year.
Head of Stockbroking at Shard Capital, Gareth Burchell, commented, "The appointment of Mr. Loren Carpenter as an advisor is an outstanding sentiment to the potential for VR Education and their VR experiences revolutionising education. We are extremely impressed with their growth and their future ahead."
http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/VRE/13596086.html
www.pixar.com
Suir Valley Ventures first investment lists on AIM
Sure Ventures plc – Information on investment approach and loan facility


As we approach the final stages of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, and inevitably find ourselves in conversation with friends who oppose our views, we should prepare ourselves by looking at some of the issues which could be raised.
Several different questions might arise. The first is the claim that the conceptus (the product of conception) consists of no more than a cluster of undifferentiated cells, and so has no basis for special treatment. Another is that it is possible, at least before the formation of the primitive streak (about 14 days), for the conceptus to split into two identical twins, so that one cannot speak of an individual before that point. The third is that to speak of this conceptus as a person, and thus having the rights of a person before it is sufficiently formed to have a nervous system, let alone a brain capable of processing a person's functions such as intelligence and free will, is plain nonsense.
Unsurprisingly, it is not helpful to respond merely by saying that the Church has held since earliest times that abortion is gravely wrong, and that the Catechism teaches that the human being has the right of a person from the time of conception, and also quote biblical passages to support this. Why should such an authority hold any weight with an unbeliever? It is necessary to answer with a little science and a little philosophy, expressed very simply of course, to show that our belief has a sound basis. And that is what I propose to do here.
The first moment for consideration is when a sperm enters the egg, shutting out its competing brothers. Quite recent research (of which many scientists seem to be unaware) demonstrates that the point of entry is related to the eventual axis of the baby. So we know that a rudimentary unity of organisation is present from the very beginning.
This is followed by a process in which the sperm and the egg, which each carry one of the original two sets of chromosomes, fuse these two sets resulting in daughter cells which carry the chromosomes of both father and mother, so creating unique instructions which form the blueprint for individual development until the day we die.
This human being is dependent on, and interacts with, the environment of the mother just as we continue to interact with different environments throughout our lives. It is in the mother, but not part of her; indeed it is even necessary for substances to be produced in order to control the mother's immune system to stop the conceptus being rejected as a foreign body. Deliberately ejecting this individual from the only environment in which it can survive is not morally different from refusing it the necessities of life after it is born. However it may be emotionally different – which is why we have to keep clear, rational heads.
We all know that the major characteristics of a person are consciousness of self, intellectual understanding and freedom of will. And it is clear that at the early stages of development these faculties are not present. But they are still not fully present at much later stages. For example, moral responsibility – or the perception that we ought to do the good and avoid the evil – only develops in childhood. The severely mentally disabled may never develop them, and those who have developed them may lose them at some later stage. But we do not deny that a young child or someone who has lost his reason have rights as persons.
Following conception, the child holds these faculties in potential. I mean by this that it is ordered in such a way as to develop these faculties. No outside agent injects them, so they are inherent from the first stage, awaiting the time when gradual biological development gives them the means through which to work. No microscope, however powerful, can detect them because they are essentially spiritual: we only come to know them through their effects. In many hours of debate I have never met anyone who could explain how they could come about through biological evolution or even what form such an explanation could take.
I like to look at this from the other end too. Some 74 years ago I was no more than a conceptus. The cells of my body and brain have replicated over and over again. And yet I am the same person with the same continuing identity. I know that because if someone had snuffed me out at that stage I would have been deprived of a full life (and so would my children and grandchildren). Nor would I be writing this column.
The comparatively rare event of the conceptus splitting into identical twins, at least in the first few days of development, need not delay us long. In the days of Dolly the Sheep we are all familiar with the idea of cloning which can produce two separate individuals with identical DNA. There was one individual before, and two after. End of story.
I promised you a simple explanation, and I hope that I have provided one that could be understood by a child with little adult help. Of course those who are well-read in such matters might want to raise a number of points. But in the end I would claim it comes down to these simple ideas. But I am sure that users of this blog will want to comment, and so fill out some of the points I have not had space to make.
This entry was posted in Bio-ethics, Catholic Herald columns, Church and Society, Moral judgment, Philosophy. Bookmark the permalink.
I'm sorry to be one of the first to comment when other people will no doubt have greater scientific knowledge. Thank you for a straightforward statement of the issues which I can use to back up my reasoning and instinct. Over the years I have thought a lot about this. I have friends who have had abortions (I suspect they tell me because they know I will combine a realisation of the emotional seriousness of what has happned combined with I hope, Christian charity). I come back to the same conclusion. Life begins when the sperm hits the egg. It's the natural order. I see no other way round it.
In the whole sequence of human development, from sperm/egg onward, there is no single event so dramatic as that of conception. – no event, I mean , which so strongly justifies the view that "before this, there is no human being; after it, there is a human being". Anyone arguing for abortion at or before a particular stage of development surely needs to be able to demonstrate why the embryo/foetus is not a human being before that stage yet is one after it.
the idea of one + one equals one.
and chasity for a living for example.
rejected becoming swallowed and packaged and withered.
to abortion, contraception et al.
one + one equals one.
Quentin's account seems to me to be correct. But I think that much of the debate will take place on the question of viability. The issue wiill be about abortion at later stages when no one can deny that the baby is a clear and developing human being. Very worrying is the continuabce of legislation which allows a baby to be aborted right up to term, if it happens to be disabled. This is clear discrimination against disability (which need only be quite minor). I think this could be described as barbarism. In fact the Spartan practice of exposing new borns to the elements so that only the strongest would survive was not only more intelligent but also more excusable.
Are we aware of the arguments against the position which Quentin defends? I have been checking on the House of Lords Select Committee report on stem cell research. It records that Catholics, Muslims and Hindus teach that personal rights begin at conception. The Church of England favours the idea that the assumption of personhood is gradual. The Jewish view is that personhood only takes on reality at birth. In these two last cases it is argued that though the conceptus does have a special status this is only as 'potential persons'. Thus the use of pre-14 days potential persons (embryos) may be used to, say, provide opportunities for research which is intended to help those who are undoubtedly persons.
'Following conception the child holds these faculties in potential', we read later in the article. Couldn't we also say that from the very beginning the cluster of cells which splits to become identical twins has had the potential of the two individuals? Or could the process be manipulated at that stage to become one or two persons?
In the matter of the ongoing renewal of all bodily cells — every seven years or so, I believe — with the same person remaining, is it not true that the brain cells don't renew themselves in this process? Could any reader elucidate on this point.
The cells of the different organs of the body are renewed in cycles of varying length. But the brain is different. The answer here is no and yes. We are born with around a hundred million neurons, making up the cerebral cortex. There is no evidence that these are renewed, and the changes which take place are in the connections they form. But there is evidence that some new neurons appear in the part of the hippocampus at the point where new sensory information is received. The neurons here are susceptible to damage, and so need to be renewed – although they only have short life. And new neurons have been found in the olfactory bulb, which processes smell. It's possible that this also occurs in other areas, but this is a matter of dispute. All this work is quite recent so no doubt the picture will clarify, or be revised in certain respects. Other areas of no cell renewal are the cells of your eyes' inner lens and possibly muscle cells of the heart.
The potential of the development of the faculties of the soul are, so to speak, built in from the beginning. In other words the conceptus is so ordered that, given the natural environment, they will develop. I lean to the view that the potential to form identical twins is of a different kind – more like that it 'can' happen rather than that it is so ordered. It's an interesting question – particularly since if Dolly, and adult, could be cloned so in theory can we.
As Catholics, we have a fundamental theological argument to make in favour of the moment of conception being the moment at which human life begins.
For us, the Feast of the Annunciation, when we commemorate Our Lady's 'yes' to God's Word, sent to her through the message of the Archangel Gabriel, is, more importantly, the Feast of Our Lord's Conception. For the moment Mary uttered the words 'Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum', 'Be it unto me according to thy word', the Word of God was made flesh within her womb.
This was the precise moment of the hypostatic union, the incarnation, when the two natures of Christ, divine and human, were united in His one person. The Second Person of the Trinity had a human soul, and a human body – even though that 'body' only consisted of a single, fertilised ovum!
What applies to Jesus Christ as regards His humanity, applies also to us. The moment of 'ensoulment' takes place at conception. This is a theological, metaphysical fact. You cannot see, hear, touch, taste or smell souls. They cannot be weighed or measured. They are not material things, they do not have physical energy or occupy space – but they do define us as human beings.
Ultimately, whether you believe this or not is a matter of faith. For the Christian – the genuine Christian, the genuine Catholic, as opposed to the merely nominal one – it is de fide. For the materialist, it is all nonsense. Non-material things, by definition, do not and cannot exist. What then, of such things as numbers, or justice, or love? Do they exist, or do we only imagine them? And what of the things we imagine, our dreams and our thoughts? What is their ontological status?
As soon as you start to ask questions like these, it quickly becomes apparent how utterly impoverished a philosophy materialism really is.
There is a useful brief interview on the HFE Bill with a moral theologian in the Malta Independent today. Worth a read.
A grown woman can decide when she wants or doesn't want a baby.
A fingernail size foetus may squirm from the death probe and so will a full grown animal in the abatoir.
A rabbit caught by my dog dies like a warrior. The soul inhabits the dog's as long as the material flesh .
Love creates an entity not a soul.
Human sperm or egg that gets created to an entity will be inhabited by soul.
Catholic's have a corporate soul. It excludes. The corporate soul inhabits only living entities.
The Real allows people to do what they like.
If you want to talk to the living Christess you'd better be Christ.
Everyone seems so smugly happy on this question that I am tempted to look at some contrary issues.
First. If the provision by God of a soul is purely spiritual, how can be really sure when it takes place? The Church was wrong about this before, why not now?
Second. The various scriptural quotations were quite happily applied when it was thought that the human soul was not present until 40 days after conception. If they were consistent then, they are consistent now, irrespective of exactly when the soul is infused.
Third. Everyone seems to be agreed that body and soul are integrated into one person. Surely it makes better sense for God to infuse a soul when the new life is sufficiently developed for a soul to be relevant.
Fourth. A large proportion of conceptions do not implant, and are carried away at the next menstrual period. God can foresee this. That he should infuse a soul before implantation seems extraordinarily wasteful. Will these rise again as glorified mature human beings or as glorified early embryos? I am not being facetious but making a serious point.
Fifth. If the conceptus really is a human being from the start, even those Catholics who use contraception cannot use the coil because that is an abortifacient. And I understand that many, if not all, versions of the pill quite possibly work by affecting the ability of the womb to receive implantation.
Blue has made an interesting point about the large number of conceptions that end in early miscarriage. Do they have souls? We will never know, but to say it is wasteful of God to ensoul these embryos is hardly our business! Nor can we discount this, for God's ways are not our ways….
Of relevance on this point is the event of the Visitation. As soon as Mary knew she was pregnant, "she hastened to the hill country" to visit her much older cousin, Elizabeth, who was about six months pregnant with John and that "babe in her womb leapt for joy" in the presence of what must have been (in today's terms) the embryo of Christ.
He was His own person….even only a few weeks (or even days) after conception. And so are we.
And Blue,we all know that the coil is an abortifacient and too the pill, which messes with women's hormones…so no good Catholic should ever consider one or t'other. And I use the adjective "good" to distinguish from the bad Catholic, just as Jesus had to describe Himself as the Good Shepherd to distinguish Himself from the bad shepherds who did not look after their flocks. And what St Bernadette feared more than anything else in this world were bad Catholics.
So we must be strong and pro-life and not succumb to the philosophies of materialism and utilitarianism that stalk Britain and the world today.
Juliana's story of the scan of her grandchild is inspiring. No wonder that the pro-abortionists attack the publication of pictures of babies in the womb. It's odd that they are happy to make appeals to the emotions themselves, but strongly resent their opponents from doing so.
In the nature of things it is quite hard to study miscarriages that occur at the first period following conception, but those that have been done show a wide variation (from about 30% to 70%). I suppose 50% makes a good round number. However there may be a number of these in which no true embryo has, per accidens, actually been formed – and this is the reason for the miscarriage.
Taking her point about 'messing around' with women's hormones, I understand that progesterone only methods, taken at the right dosage, do in fact prevent ovulation, and so the question of miscarriage through thinning of the endometrium does not affect the issue. However women react differently, both psychologically and physically, to different formulations – so it's a tricky path.
The science of all this , so eloquently made, is surely lost before it begins because there is no arguement, moral or scientific, that will ever persuade those who are determined to treat unborn life as a mere commodity, of the inherent sanctity and value of unborn life at any point in its gestation.
Hence the taking of life up to the very moment of birth.
Sadly, in my experience, abortion is not an issue of that much importance, in the general sense, even for many Catholics.
True there has been strong leadership from Popes and some Bishops but this does not extend to parish priests, or if it does, they are in a minority when it comes to any kind of pulpit denunciation.
I distribute the Life magazine and the 'uptake' is a mere handful of those attending Mass. Many look at you as though you are weird!
So , dismiss the science as mere semantics, concentrate on the morality.
On the whole I agree with Blue, in particular with 'Third.' – this was, as I understand, St Thomas's position.
One day I found a tiny egg-shaped object – a sparkling translucent gel encased in a transparent membrane.
When I drew the attention of my midwife colleague to it she insisted on cutting it open to baptize the tiny primitive streak.
For some reason I felt this to be almost a desecration.
Somewhere, I think, St Terese of Lisieux considers the question of the salvation of pagans. Seeing heaven as God's garden, she says God may well want some wild flowers in his garden, – these being the pagans she is concerned about.
Maybe also He wants whole lawns and hillsides of tiny plants; those many infants who are miscarried early in pregnancy.
I have a rather different story to the sad one from Horace. A friend of mine had a miscarriage at about 2 months. There had been warning symptoms. She was alone in the house (her husband had taken the other children out for a walk). But in great physical and emotional distress she managed to baptise the baby. My friend continues to mourn that baby, and looks forward to meeting it in Heaven.
I prefer my story to Horace's story.
I loved Iona's comment following on from St Therese's idea of wild flowers, that maybe God wants "whole lawns and hillsides" of tiny plants…..as an idea for what happens, perhaps, to all the miscarried and aborted babies. It has created a beautiful picture in my head!
But equally,maybe they all realise their full potential in the Heavenly Kingdom. Whatever happens to them, I'm sure that God would not waste them.
On Blue's fourth point, I'm afraid God is extraordinarily wasteful. He's produced an enormous volume of space that seems to be almost completely empty, except for us – and He keeps on enlarging it. Many of the things He does are difficult to understand (I confess to feeling very nervous about doctrines that seem to be supported primarily by the proposition that God 'must have' acted in a particular way). Has we been present at Creation, many of us might have been tempted to advise Him to think more carefully about allowing men free will – look at all the problems that's caused! But perhaps He knows better than us.
What the glorified bodies of the unborn will look like is a fair question, not beyond all conjecture, but not one to which we need (or look likely to get) a definitive answer in this life.
I haven't understood the point about the Church's view on the start of life. The technical facts weren't known when St Thomas reached his conclusions. It is now clear that there is a specific living human being from the moment of conception. The Church (I say) teaches that human beings consist of a unity of body and soul, until death separates them, a unity which is restored at the Resurrection.
As to Blue's fifth point, yes. In any case, regardless of whether it is abortifacient, many Catholics believe (I would say, correctly) that artificial contraception is forbidden them.
Let me explain my Fourth Devil's Advocate point to Tim. We have often quoted evidence from Scripture that the conception of Christ was immediate at the Annunciation. RBlaber refers to this in his 12 October post.
Aquinas believed that the conceptus had first a vegetable soul which was then transformed into an animal soul (by the action of sperm which he thought, following Aristotle, was the active agent, the contribution of the mother being passive), and then, by God's fiat into a human soul. We have known, since the 19th century that in fact the development of the conceptus is organically continuous. However the Scriptural quotations were not regarded as sufficient to prove Aquinas wrong before this was known. How can they now be used to prove the Church's modern understanding?
Blue, thank you for your explanation, and apologies for overlooking it until now.
As I see it, RBlaber's text doesn't constitute a complete and unambiguous proof, but an argument in favour of the position we support – probably one of a number of 'powerful and concurrent reasons', to use Newman's phrase. Counterarguments could no doubt be made: for example, that Our Lord was a special case, in this as in several other respects. But now that we know that there is a unique event when sperm joins ovum, and that development from then on is continuous, St Thomas's scheme is deprived of plausibility. The text could have been used against St Thomas's view earlier, no doubt, but would have been less convincing than it is now.