text:
Even when the Blackhawks lose, there's a good chance Patrick Kane will be the best player on the ice.
That was the case on Sunday when Kane scored twice and had an assist in the Hawks' 6-5 loss to the Edmonton Oilers at the United Center.
Kane now has 14 goals and 30 points to lead the Hawks in both categories. He has points in 20 of the Hawks' 26 games.
"Kaner made some nice plays out there and scored some nice goals," teammate Duncan Keith said after Sunday's loss. "We know he can put the puck in the net, he's that type of player. He had a nice night, but unfortunately we couldn't get there with him."
Kane seemingly has had the puck all season, backing up his wishes to take his game to the next level with his play. He is more focused than he has ever been, more mature, and is having more fun playing the game he loves.
"I think I play better when I play creative, have the puck on my stick and am trying things," Kane said. "For me, I've got to be creative to play to my strengths, which are is kind of skill and playing with speed and trying some things.
"For me, I have to play that way and have fun. I seem to play better when I have a smile on my face."
This season Hawks coach Joel Quenneville has seen a different Kane, now in his sixth season in the league.
"He loves the puck and this year he seems to have it a lot," Quenneville said. "He's special. We don't want to take away his creativity."
Kane has shown a willingness to chip the puck in when the situation calls for it.
"He's still willing to chip a few pucks in and unload it and make direct plays if he has to, but I think he's respectful of the score and time on the clock as well," Quenneville said. "I like that fact he wants the puck because when he gets it, it usually turns into good things.
"He's had the puck a lot more this year than he ever has, and he's quicker. He's shooting the puck well, and when he's on the ice he's a threat. I think he has improved defensively as well. His overall game, he's taken it to a different level."
Kane is plus-9 and is one of the league leaders in takeaways with 25. Jonathan Toews leads the team with 34 while Marian Hossa, who was credited with 7 against the Oilers, has 31.
"I've gotten better at it as time has gone by watching Johnny and Hossa, or (Pavel) Datsyuk around the league, (Evgeni) Malkin," said Kane. "It's part of the game that can turn into offense. With the transition game we have on our team, with our speed, if we can get those quick takeaways it's only going to help our offense.
"It's something guys pride themselves on. It's a lot of different things: timing when you're going to do it, trying to hide and then get there real quick and take the puck away. There lot of different ways, you can backcheck and the defense can step up and give you that time and space to take the puck away."
Kane is part of the Hawks' core that is trying to recapture the feeling from 2010 when they won the Stanley Cup.
"The core players have gotten better, but if you look back to the year we won the Cup we had a lot of youth on our team and that made it more fun around the dressing room," Kane said. "You see guys, whether they're scoring goals and celebrating, fighting when they're small guys like (Andrew) Shaw, or coming in and playing well on the first line like Brandon Saad. The guys that have come up since the middle of last year have given us a boost."
• Follow Tim's hockey reports on Twitter @TimSassone and check out his Between the Circles blog at dailyherald.com.


text:
Academics . Jewelry + Metals . Courses
Gretchen Goss
Professor/Chair of Jewelry + Metals
Gretchen Goss's work has been supported by Ohio Arts Council Individual Artists Grants, and is shown in exhibi...more
While at CIA, you'll learn from the masters through our rigorous, world-class curriculum and connect with working professionals to begin your career.

subset: commoncrawl


text: I took some video at the Lake Greenwood State Park Primitive Area near Greenwood, SC. I would like to plan a hang here perhaps in the fall. The primitive area is in its own section of the park with a separate entrance, shelter, bathrooms and picnic area. I spoke with the park ranger who is super nice. She said they would love to have us come hang there. Although there are no showers at the primitive section, we would be welcome to use the ones in the regular camp area. A huge THANK YOU to Gresh for editing and compiling this video for me. Gresh ROCKS!


text:
Cornerbacks are a bit more tricky than other positions when it comes to their metrics. If you read a previous post on the problems with CB stats, you'll understand that the stats are rather ambiguous and can be tricky when taken at face value. I'll try to be transparent and put them in context, but there are many more confounding factors than say…with a running back.
All numbers are hand charted by me. Because a target or 'burn' may be a bit subjective, the numbers won't always line up with other stat services. However, I've used the same criteria for each player which means we can at least compare these stats to each other on an objective basis.
QB Metrics featuring Teddy Bridgewater, Derek Carr, Blake Bortles and Johnny Manziel.
WR Metrics 1.0 featuring Sammy Watkins, Mike Evans, Marqise Lee and Kelvin Benjamin.
WR Metrics 2.0 featuring Brandin Cooks, Jordan Matthews, Jarvis Landry, Odell Beckham and Allen Robinson.
The Trinity of CB Stats
These are what I like to call the trinity of CB stats. Burn rate, which is the number of completions against a defensive back divided by the total number of targets (the number below is adjusted for screens and pass interference). PD Rate which measures how often a DB gets their hands on the ball – a PD rate of 5 would mean the DB defenses the ball once every 5 targets. Finally Snaps/ Targets describes how often the DB is thrown at – the lower the number the more often a DB is targeted.
- Dennard is the clear winner here when it comes to burn rate. While he was targeted at a higher rate than the rest of the CBs, once every 5.73 snaps – he rarely let the WR catch the ball with a burn rate of 27.45%.
- Racking up maybe the most solid overall resume within the 'trinity' of stats, Jason Verrett capitalized heavily on his ball skills. He broke up one out of every 2.75 targets which makes him the best ballhawk of this group, if not the entire CB class.
- For a guy who's getting little hype, Terrance Mitchell did well across all three stat-lines. It may not seem like it, but that burn rate of 35.29% would be best for third in the entire class among the top 10 corners. The biggest concern is that while he had 5 interceptions on the year, he didn't have many other passes defensed.
- Roby by far comes out looking the worst. He certainly wasn't helped by his scheme at Ohio State getting beat on nearly 50% of his targets, but on top of that he had the worst passes defensed rate of the entire group. If one category isn't strong, you'd at least like to see another strong stat – not so here.
Where the Ball was Thrown?
This represents the total percentage of targets for each DB. Targets may not seem important when you can look at YPA/YPC, but it's important to know if those are being skewed by a number of short or long throws. Green represents a below-average amount of targets while red represent an above-average number of targets. One isn't better than the other, that's just the scale I'm using.
- Darqueze Dennard was targeted heavily on both short and deep passes. That certainly contributed to his lower burn percentage, but he still did a great job defending those passes as we'll see in the next section. He was tested deep by nearly every Big Ten school he played
- Verrett on the other hand was targeted much more in the intermediate 11-20 yard zone where 38% of his total targets came. You'd rather your DB not be giving up those crucial, NFL style throws, so we'll check in on his defensive prowess there in the next section as well.
- The scheme at Ohio State forced a lot of passes short on Roby where he was either expected to make a play on the ball, or make the tackle. We can see that nearly 55% of his targets came within 10 yards of the LOS.
- Meanwhile, Gilbert's came in the intermediate zones where he was targeted an above-average amount of times in the 6-20 yard areas.
How Did the DBs Defend Those Throws?
The completion percentage and target charts are essentially linked. It's doesn't matter if someone is getting beat 100% of the time if that only represents 5% of their total targets. Green is representative of an above-average completion percentage meaning that the DB defends those zones better than average. Red, of course, means their completion percentage is worse than average.
- Like I mentioned, Dennard while tested deep only allowed an 8.33% completion percentage when targeted 20+ yards. That's more than half the average for a top-level defensive back showing that his much-debated long speed may not be an issue.
- We can check in on Verrett's intermediate completion percentage, per the last section here. In the 11-20 yard zone he allowed a 31.58% of passes to be completed, which is above-average. Given how often he was targeted in that intermediate zone and an average completion percentage, that's definitely something to keep an eye on when watching film.
- Mitchell really succeeds at defending the intermediate and deep zones. His ability to defend those 11-20 yard passes, allowing only a 25% completion percentage is particularly impressive. That may make you feel comfortable about your ability to put him on an island with the WR.
- Justin Gilbert's inability to defend the intermediate zones combined with his tendency to be targeted there is throwing up all sorts of red flags. Does he have the ability to defend the NFL type routes or is he going to get picked on by better receivers and quarterbacks?
Where Did They Line Up?
This chart represents the technique the defensive back was playing at the start of the play. It's been simplified down, so press-bail may not represent exact press-bail technique but situations where the DB didn't get his hands on the WR. This can give you a feel for the experiences of each DB. These don't tell you about their success playing these, but just the amount they played them.
- Dennard stands out because the numbers bear out exactly what we'd expect – a physical presence at the line of scrimmage. He lined up in press the most out of the top CBs at 27% of the time and then still lined up in press-bail another 28% of the time.
- Verrett may have the least experience playing a variety of techniques. He was lined up 1-5 yards off the line of scrimmage slightly more than half the time. He still had a decent amount of snaps where he played press – around 16% of the time.
- Where Verrett may be the least rounded here, Terrance Mitchell may have the most varied experience. He still pressed the WR 24.42% of the time, but also played off-coverage another 62% of the time.
- Gilbert and Roby both rarely pressed, only doing so around 11% of the time. However where Gilbert played a variety of off-coverage, Roby lined up 6-10 yards off the LOS 67% of the time. Another place the OSU scheme put him in a position to either make a play or give up a completion on short passes.
That's the extent of the stats here, there are a few more minor stats that I've left out for the sake of brevity. I'll tweet out those and answer any questions on Twitter @NU_Gap. Thanks for reading.


text:
Solution provider Perficient has acquired CoreMatrix Systems, a Red Bank, N.J.-based consulting firm specializing in Salesforce.com-related services and solutions, in a deal valued at $21.5 million.
The acquisition, the latest in a series by Perficient this year, expands the St. Louis-based company's presence in the Salesforce services arena. In May, Perficient bought Clear Task, a San Francisco-based provider of consulting services for Salesforce.com cloud applications.
Perficient, No. 79 on the CRN Solution Provider 500, described CoreMatrix as a "$15 million annual services revenue consulting firm." The acquisition, according to Perficient, expands the company's partnership with Salesforce.com and deepens its cloud computing offerings, as well as CRM user adoption and change management services.
[Related: Salesforce, Workday Strengthen Integration For Cloud Collaboration]
"We're excited to add to our cloud computing expertise with another acquisition of a quickly-growing Salesforce.com consulting firm," said Jeffrey Davis, Perficient CEO and president, in a statement. "CoreMatrix's strong East Coast presence complements our acquisition earlier this year of West Coast-based, salesforce.com-focused Clear Task. We now have the comprehensive capacity to sell and deliver Salesforce solutions across the entire United States. Furthermore, we're excited to add another high-growth and well-run firm with excellent operating metrics to Perficient."
The acquisition also brings nearly 75 consulting, technology, sales and support professionals to Perficient's employee ranks, the company said. CoreMatrix managing members Frank McMahon and Paul Nix join the company in what Perficient described as "key leadership roles."
Perficient is paying approximately $21.5 million to buy CoreMatrix, including $18.5 million in cash and approximately $3 million in Perficient common stock.
Perficient has made a number of acquisitions in the last year or so. In addition to Clear Tasks, the company has bought TriTek Solutions, a solution provider with services in content management and business process management in the IBM market; Northridge Systems, a player in the market for SharePoint services; and Nascent Systems, a solution provider with services focused on Oracle's E-Business Suite line of ERP applications.


text:
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara men's and women's swim teams head down south to Long Beach to compete in the three-day long Arena Invitational. The event is hosted by UC San Diego and will take place at Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool starting Thursday Nov. 15.
The field this year consists of top caliber teams featuring nine men's teams and 13 for the women. The men's competition includes Air Force, Arizona State, BYU, Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield, Hawai'i, Stanford and UC Santa Barbara. The women's programs present include Arizona State, BYU, California, Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield, Hawai'i, LMU, Pepperdine, San Diego State, San Jose State, UCLA and UC Santa Barbara.
Last year the men's team took home second place finishing behind a talented Stanford squad while the women finished in seventh.
The fun begins on Thursday when the 200 freestyle relay, 500 freestyle relay, 200 IM, 50 freestyle and 400 medley relay events all take place. The preliminaries begin at 9 a.m. with the men and the women follow after all the events for the men are complete. The finals then take place at 6 p.m. that night.
Friday events are to include the 200 medley relay, 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and 800 freestyle relay.
Saturday, the final day of competition, features the 1650 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly and 400 freestyle relay.
UC Santa Barbara is coming off of two dominating meets where both the men and women swept the competition against UC San Diego on Nov. 2 and against Cal Poly on Nov. 3.
The Cal Poly meet was especially successful with UCSB winning 26 out of 32 total events. The men won all but one event they competed in.
The Gauchos will look to ride their hot streak into the Arena Invitational this weekend.
Tickets cost $15 for general admission and $5 for students and children. A three-day event pass is $35 and can only be purchased Thursday. A two-day pass is available Friday for $25.
To access the event home page click here. Live stats are also available for the event by clicking here.


text:
The lights are on
Before we get to the bad news, let's get some positive details out there. Splinter Cell: Blacklist on the Wii U will include online multiplayer, and the DLC plans align with other platforms. In almost every way, the Wii U version of the game will be the same experience as on PC and other console platforms.
Now for the bad news. Splinter Cell: Blacklist will have an offline cooperative mode, but not on Wii U. According to an interview with Nintendo Life, the feature was abandoned in order to make sure that the Wii U edition wasn't delayed. However, the co-op missions can be played as single-player encounters so the story isn't lost to those unwilling or unable to go online.
The details come from Ubisoft Shanghai's producer on the title, Liu Jun. Ubisoft Toronto is handling primary development for other platforms. "In order to ship at the same time as the other consoles, we unfortunately weren't able to delve into this feature," Jun said. "But we think Nintendo gamers will be really excited to get the game at the same time as other consoles."
The Gamepad will be used for strategic control, while also providing a handy chat mechanism for those that don't have (or don't want to use) a headset.
[Source: Nintendo Life]
Our TakeAs wonderful as the Gamepad can be for the user experience, it seems to be holding things back in this one little area for Splinter Cell: Blacklist. This also reminds of a host of questions that emerged when the Wii U was first revealed.
Will we ever be able to use two Gamepads? Will they ever be sold separately in North America? Have there been other features/modes have been excised in titles because of the trickiness of the different control schemes?
Nintendo has adeptly taken advantage of the control asymmetry in NintendoLand and Super Mario Bros. U, but it seems that symmetrical experiences are complicated (though not impossible, of course) by the Gamepad screen. The extra development around that was too much for Ubisoft Shanghai this time out. Here's hoping other studios have better luck navigating the Wii U's varied control options.
That really is a shame. At the least Nintendo fans are getting some Splinter Cell. Not sure how much extra dev time goes into the gamepad features, but I wonder if that was a factor into this decision.
The Wii U keeps getting screwed over lol


text:
A sickness is sweeping Massachusetts, and no amount of hand sanitizer will save us from it.
Its symptoms include explosive ambition, projectile self-promotion, and Potomac fever. It is serious and highly contagious. Already, it has infected roughly 100 percent of office-holders.
It is Political Norovirus.
This year's virulent variant can be traced to a couple of sources, chief among them US Senator John Kerry, the man who begat near-pandemics in 2004 and 2008, when the prospect of his leaving his job for something grander unleashed an epidemic of electoral hankering that threatened to sicken the state's entire political class.
Visions of the Senate danced in congressmen's heads. Which had state honchos suddenly contemplating Capitol Hill. Which emboldened mayors and city councilors to dream of Beacon Hill. And on it went down the line. Somewhere out there, some kid was certain Kerry's rise would finally make him math club president.
Alas, Kerry did not ascend, breaking the hearts of those who had hoped to succeed him and of those who had hoped to succeed them. It was tragic, all of that thwarted ambition, all of those bottled-up aspirations still
But now, once again, the corks look set to pop. Having been passed over for his dream job twice, Kerry finally seems set to become secretary of state. Add to his departure that of Governor Deval Patrick, who leaves office in two years, and you have more churn than our notoriously static political scene has seen in a long time.
Suddenly, the conviction that one might trade a lowly station for an office befitting one's greatness is spreading like very determined microbes. One ambitious person infects five or six others, who in their turn each infect others, and — boom! — before you know it, everybody is considering a run for something.
Let's make like epidemiologists with Kerry's seat. Say the guy who takes his place (sadly, everyone talking about it is a guy) is US Representative Ed Markey. That opens up Markey's seat, for which a bunch of folks might vie, including state Senators Katherine Clark and Will Brownsberger. Which would open up their seats for lower beings looking to rise.
If Representative Stephen Lynch of South Boston takes Kerry's seat, state Representative Marty Walsh might be among the many trying to take his place.
If Representative Mike Capuano ascends, pretty much the whole Boston City Council will be vying for his seat. Because, Lord knows, Mayor Tom Menino isn't going anywhere. A council departure would leave a vacancy for some neighborhood activist convinced her time has finally come.
Though it's two years away, the prospect of Patrick's exit has unleashed an even more serious outbreak among incumbent Democrats. Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray, born with this virus, will probably run for the top job. If he doesn't, Mayor Kim Driscoll of Salem probably will. If she wins (or becomes Murray's Murray), that will leave an opening in Witch City. If Joe Curtatone of Somerville is our next governor, the mayor's job will be up for grabs there. If Capuano decides he wants the state's top job, see above.
The likely prospect of Treasurer Steve Grossman seeking the corner office leads to another chain of infection: Auditor Suzanne Bump might aim at his job (get your calculators ready, aspiring number-crunchers); Mayor Lisa Wong of Fitchburg could take Grossman's place; Katherine Clark's name pops up here again (form a line here, aspiring state senators, Clark is on so many lists she's totally running for something).
Isn't this cool? And we're looking only at the upper levels of this outbreak. Imagine the flux in boards of selectmen and PTOs across the state as the contagion spreads.
There are, of course, some who shake hands with legions of the diseased, yet somehow avoid catching the bug. Menino, of course. And Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone, who announced Thursday that he will not run again for his office or any other (his three predecessors rose to attorney general). We should study these men. Their example might lead to a vaccine.
While those of us who are up to here with elections after last year's epic contests may feel alarm at the scale of this outbreak, one guy is positively thrilled about it. As the Democratic Party chief, John Walsh, sees it, more people running means more engaged voters. And more opportunities for women and minorities, still sorely underrepresented in state politics. If things go well, he reckons, the ferment could give rise to a whole new generation of political leaders. "This is vibrant democracy," he says. "Let it bloom."
Well, that's downright inspiring. When Walsh puts it that way, I kind of want to run for something myself. I wonder whether I should be making policy instead of trying to influence it. Perhaps I was destined for something loftier than this.
Hey, is anybody else feeling warm? My hands are clammy. My innards are churning. Suddenly, that job I had at breakfast isn't sitting so well.Yvonne Abraham is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow her on Twitter @GlobeAbraham
Correction: Because of a reporting error, an earlier version of this column provided an incorrect title for state Representative Martin Walsh. Also, in a graphic accompanying the column, former Kennedy aide Gerry Kavanaugh's name was misspelled.


text:
Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
You are not logged in.
Registrations are currently closed because of a technical problem. Please send email to
The forum administrator reserves the right to request users to plausibly demonstrate that they are real people with an interest in the topic of eggcorns. Otherwise they may be removed with no further justification. Likewise, accounts that have not been used for posting may be removed.
Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
If the long sweat through the of summer is not enough, here is a long post that ties together some disparate threads, in this case, strands of bird flu virus RNA, with debilitating levels of documentation. Birds are not ungenerous with their flu bugs; all the human pandemics are first incubated in the birds, though occasionally some porcine or equine components are added in passage. The deadly 1918 Spanish flu virus was entirely avian in origin. The terms avian flu and bird flu have been in the air recently following outbreaks in 2003 and 2005. According to the experts, the H5N1 strain of avian flu has the potential to wipe out a sizeable fraction of the human population if it ever mutates and reassorts just right. Perhaps that's why public health officials seem to jump out of their skins at the first sign of any minor outbreak, though we members of the public laugh at them and are swaggering and devil-may-care amongst ourselves. Or not. It was amusing here in Quebec at the last outbreak of swine flu to see the soi-disant celebrities trying to jump the queue for vaccine.
Wild fowl are the reservoir, usually asymptomatic themselves, of all strains of pandemic influenza, including the frankly named death flu, or 'highly pathogenic avian influenza' (HPAI to the ALM (acronym-loving microbiologists)). From this cute, fluffy, downy warm, cheery source come new strains which can infect pigs, domestic fowl, horses, dogs, seals, and whales. These epizootics can jump to humans and put the right quick. Flu is the thing with feathers, which perches in the soul.
Recent panics about SARS, swine flu, West Nile virus, and avian influenza, and their ability to spread rapidly around the world carried by hacking, mucus-erupting air travellers, have led to some interesting semantic reassortments. The most obvious is an attack not of avian, but of aviation flu.
anyone know what caused the initial outbreak ? Didn't it occur in HK originaly a few years ago ? how is the aviation flu spreading ?
Recently, new cases of Aviation flu have been found in Asia region. One 38 year old man in Indonesia recently was confirmed to have died from Aviation influenza. Currently, the problem is mostly located in Asia, but it may spread all over the world, if it can transfer from human to human (H2H).
http://www.tom-cn.com/index.php/2005/07 … hat?page=2
Advance Hygiene Hand Sanitiser—Kills 99.99% of Germs/Bacteria/Viruses
Kills Swine Flu H1N1, MRSA and Aviation Flu
Swine Flu/Aviation Flu impact this year on SFD [Smithfield Foods stock]? Does anyone know when is the best time to short this stock ?
Response: Swine/Aviation???? flu — when pigs fly I guess.
+Yahoo Finances
The spread of disease, such as swine and aviation flu and HIV/AIDs are others.
DISS, UNITED KINGDOM – NOVEMBER 13: Carcasses from the ongoing cull of around 2,600 birds, including ducks and geese, are loaded into a container lorry for disposal, supervised by DEFRA officials, following the confirmed outbreak of H5 aviation flu, at Redgrave Park Farm on November 13, 2007 in Redgrave, Suffolk, near Diss, Norfolk, England. Following further tests, DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) announced at a press conference that this particular virus does contain the highly infectious H5N1 substrain of Aviation Influenza (the fourth outbreak of H5N1 in the UK this year), which in rare cases can spread to other species, including humans.
Other emerging viruses can be infected by avian RNA. Chikungunya is a devastating malady that has recently erupted in India, causing more than 200 deaths and leaving thousands more in crippling pain. The is chilling: in the Makonde language of southeast Africa, chikungunya means "that which bends up". It refers to the cramped and stooped postures of victims who are affected by excruciating joint pain. No matter that the etiology has no avian component.
My wife is suffering from this chicken gunya thing , with severe joint pains and fever , it takes 20 minutes for her to get down from bed in the morning .
chicken gunya & ayurveda
It has been observed in cases of chicken gunya that ayurveda can play very important role in it's cure.
http://prasad176phatak.blogspot.com/201 … rveda.html
freedictionary medical has the following hits:
Chicken gania
Chicken guinea
Chicken Gunia
Chicken guniya
Chicken Gunya
Chicken gunyia
Chicken guinea is brilliant. One can only imagine how it's being pronounced. It makes a link not only to Guinea fowl, but also to the Republic of Guinea in west Africa.
What is chicken Guinea disease? what are its symptoms? what are the causes? in india in maharashtra 30 people died by this till date, over 1 lakhs has been sufeering. comman man knows little about it
Response: chicken guinea is a high fever accompanied wit joint stiffness n pains wen bit by a mutant mosquitoes (usually wit white patches over de legs n r usually seen only in de day lite)
Note: a lakh is 100,000 in the
KURNOOL: Chicken guinea was detected in seven districts of the State. Out of 362 samples collected by the National Institute of Virology, Pune, 139 tested positive, six for dengue and 15 for both, accounting for a total of 160 positive cases. The disease is rampant in Kadapa, where 38 cases tested positive for chicken guinea, four for dengue and two for both. In Kurnool, four samples tested positive for chicken guinea.
Searching for an explanation for the name "Chicken Guinea".
Questioner: dear friends, Can any one provide me more information and treatment of chicken guinea disease. This has affected many southern parts of india.
Response: Like our moderator, I could not find much about 'chicken guinea' disease on the internet other than Indian newspaper reports [referring to a disease in humans]. One of these also referred to 'monkey fever' (a tick-borne disease) and it is not clear if this is another colloquial term applied to the same syndrome (because Guinea fowl supposedly feed on ticks?)
Another take on the Fowl plague:
Avian Flu was first recorded in Italy in 1878, more than 120 years ago. Then referred to as the 'Foul Plague' it caused massive losses in poultry though never effecting domestic animals in any way. Then in 1924 'Foul Plague' left its mark in the United States. It was not until 1955 that it was discovered that the virus behind it all was identified as influenza
Health forum
Finally, aviation flu returns in its continental version, avion flu:
My take on this Avion Flu, since it's not going to happen this winter
Most people either shrug or laugh off pandemics such as Swine flu and avion flu because it's not effecting them directly
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bad-Bacon … 24?sk=info
Does anyone know someone first-hand who has been affected by any of the diseases-de-jour? Like SARS, Avion Flu, Anthrax, Y2K Bug…?
Then they got Evian flu last year. We had to execute 6 million birds and not put them to market, because of evian flu in the country here. Six million chickens and turkeys.
On the plain in Spain where it mainly rains.
I agree, chicken guinea is brilliant.
Some enterprising person should look through our posts and collect all of the misheard and eggcorned medical terms. We've had a fair number of them. The strange vocabulary of medicine, coupled with its widespread penetration into a public without Latin or Greek, ensures an abundance of interesting lapses.
Some years ago I read an article on the sense-of-humor differences between Britain and North America. The joke that showed the greatest polarization—Brits thought it howlingly funny, Americans shrugged—was about a doctor who comes into a waiting room to talk to the husband of a suffering wife:
Doctor: "I've just examined your wife."
Husband: "What's wrong with her."
Doctor: "She has acute angina."
Husband: "I know, Doctor, but what's wrong with her?"
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
Canadians like your joke a lot, Kem.
Here's another vector for avian flu. Or is it swine flu? Or some monstrous but elegant hybrid?
: there are too many humans in the world, maybe the swan flu will help to control the population.
: contagious and deadly disease like dengue, swan flu, measles, bird flu and others.
: OP: what are the symptom of swan flu? symptoms to know weather one has a swan flu, and how to prevent it.
R: Okay so ''Swan Flu'' i do know about the SwanFlu and the symptoms to that are the same as the normal flu except 2x worse
I suspect "swan" is an interpretation of "swine." In the last few decades . Makes you wonder how many people hear "you swine" and have no porcine images.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.


text:
The Families First Grant allows non-profit organizations to come into schools and teach children about cyber-bullying and Internet safety.
Northwest Middle School in Meridian held classes to help kids understand the consequences and ramifications of cyber-bullying.
"There are so many new types of technology coming out, so more kids are becoming aware of them," said Jacob Devaughn of the Mississippi Community Education Center. "So there's more stuff out there, predators and things of that sort. People trying to steal information, things like that."
The Mississippi Community Education Center is an organization designed to provide communities with education and training services on a statewide basis.


text:
|Send News. Want a reply? Read this. More in the FAQ. News Forum - All Forums - Mobile - PDA - RSS Headlines Twitter
Fallout 3 Interview on VideoGamer.com is a sit-down with Pete Hines at the Liepzig show to discuss Fallout 3, Bethesda Softworks' upcoming RPG sequel. They discuss living up to the original games, acknowledging the challenge of living up to the expectations of the series' vocal fanbase, the karma system, more on V.A.T.S., loot, the possibility of expansions, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2018 Stephen Heaslip. All rights reserved.
All trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
Privacy Policy.
News CGI copyright © 1999-2018 James "furn" Furness &
Blue's News.
All rights reserved.
Chatbear v1.4.0/blue++: Page generated 27 May 2018, 16:03.
Chatbear Announcements.


text:
Thread: Beating Gator to the punch!
Results 1 to 10 of 40
#1 Beating Gator to the punch!09-30-2010, 09:51 PM
Well he got his Big green egg and I have to stand up for my gas grillin! So here is some slow cooked smoked, very juicy Boston Butt! On a gas grill!
About 6-7 lb butt
5 or 6 cloves garlic in slivers
Your favorite rub ( I been partial to using African Bird Pepper lately as my heat!)
A mopping sauce.( I use Stubbs mopping sauce)
Chunk wood, mesquite or Hickory soaked good
Tin foil
Cut some slices all over trhe roast and stick in the garlic slivers.
Rub all over with your spice rub and refridge overnite.
OK! Time to Que!
Set GAS grill for indirect cooking, for me its left burner on and the rest off, Put a water pan under grate on cool side of grill. Put soaked wood chunks wrapped in foil on flame side. When smoke starts place roast on cool side of grill. Start opening beer!
After about 5 hours, mop with mop sauce and flip roast. after 1 more hour mop with sauce and it should be around 150-160 place in tinfoil and mop liberally and seal foil and put back on grill. Keep checking temp after another hour, when 190-195 take off and let sit for 1/2 hour. Open up and shred with two forks and chow down!!!
Start with garlic slivers!
Coming out of the fridge after rubbed all nite!
Going on the GAS grill!
Coming off the GAS grill!
:Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.
I wondered why the rock was getting larger. Then it hit me.
Heaven! Being ripped apart with two forks!!! Very tender! And it didnt take 20 hours!!! It can be done!
Buuuuurp! :D
:Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.
I wondered why the rock was getting larger. Then it hit me.
gatorGuest10-01-2010, 08:36 PM
That looks really poor. No smoke ring, no smoke. You might as well have cooked in the oven or in a crock pot. Dont even pretend that is BBQ.
I bought ribs today. I have already seasoned them and they will be ready for the smoker after church on Sunday.
Gas grills are for emergency back up heat in case of a hurricane. They have little use beyond that.
I cooked hamburgers on the Big Green Egg and not only did they have a great smoky flavor but they were also moist and juicy. Not dried out like you would have on a gas grill.
You have a lot to learn son.
There was a smoke ring! I smoked it for a few hours but I pulled it apart, If I sliced it you woulda seen the ring! Even just from the pics you can see it was tender and juicy! I can duplicate anything you can do on my GAS grill!!:D
:Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.
I wondered why the rock was getting larger. Then it hit me.
That looks like my great aunts butt!:eek:
gatorGuest10-01-2010, 10:56 PM
It probably taste OK. A good seasoned roast in the oven, crock pot or gas grill is not too bad. However, why anybody would ruin the taste of a good Boston Butt by putting garlic in it is beyond me but to each its own.
A good smoked pork roast only needs a good rub and some sauce.
Slow cooking at 220 F with wood coals will embark a flavor that gas grills can't even come close to mathcing. Putting a few woods cips in foli on the gas grill will let the cook pretend he/she is "smoking" but it isn't even close.
|« Previous Thread | Next Thread »


text:
Find Our Latest Video Reviews on YouTube!
If you want to stay on top of all of our video reviews of the latest tech, be sure to check out and subscribe to the Gear Live YouTube channel, hosted by Andru Edwards! It's free!
Start Something: Microsoft's Quest For Innovation
Posted by Jesse Easley Categories: Corporate News, PC / Laptop, Software,
Microsoft is ready to take Windows further into the digital lifestyle and they want you to do the work for them. They have announced a PC Design competition and if you are the creative type, you could walk away with $125,000.
The Challenge
Rethink the Windows-based PC experience today and the role it plays in people's lives. Envision how the digital lifestyle—from personal productivity at work or home, to entertainment, mobility, lifestyle and form—all play a part in development. Think big, be bold, and inspiring, but pay attention to sustainable technologies, and ecological and environmental innovation.
Check out the trailer for the competition - good stuff.
Read More | StartSomething PC
Griffin AirClickUSB Remote Control
Posted by Andru Edwards - Categories: Accessories, PC / Laptop, Wireless / WiFi,
Griffin has started shipping the AirClickUSB remote control for PC's and Macs for $39.99 USD. The remote works from within a 60 foot range, and does not require a line of sight for operation. The AirClickUSB ships with the ability to control a number of popular applications, including: iTunes (Mac/PC), Windows Media Player (PC), PowerPoint (Mac/PC), Keynote (Mac), QuickTime (Mac/PC) and DVD Player (Mac). Future software updates will provide support for additional applications.
Apple Responds to Tiger BitTorrent Distribution
Posted by Andru Edwards - Categories: Corporate News, Software,
As you can imagine, Apple isn't too happy about the fact that their latest OS X update, Tiger, is making the rounds on the Internet via BitTorrent. In fact, Apple has had their lawyers send cease and desist letters to a few known torrent distribution sites linking to the 8A428 Tiger release.
"Apple also demands all information related to the identity of the persons who created such torrent files and/or who uploaded the software referenced by those torrent files, as well as the identities of all individuals who participated in the uploading and downloading of Apple's software."
Apple says they will not support these illegally obtained versions of the Tiger software - nor will they support those versions that were accidentally shipped out a week early from resellers. My question is, how will they know which version you are using since they don't have any sort of activation protection?
Read More | MacRumors
Latest Gear Live Videos
- Subscribe:
- YouTube
- iTunes High Definition
- iTunes Standard Version
Unreal Tournament 2004 Halo Mod
Posted by Andru Edwards - Categories: First Person Shooters, Mods/Hacks, PC,
You gotta love it when someone is creative and dedicated enough to bring together two things which they love. The team over at Project Torlan have been hard at work bringing the worlds of Halo and Unreal Tournament 2004 together through the development of a Halo mod for UT. Simply put, "Project Torlan is a full-scale Total Conversion mod aimed at porting HaloPC into the Unreal Tournament 2004 engine. This port will be known as HaloUT".
Read More | Project Torlan
GoProxing Anonymous Proxy Browser
Posted by Andru Edwards - Categories: Internet,
These days privacy is king, especially when it comes to the Internet. Simply put, we don't like bring tracked. This is why sites like goproxing.com put a smile on our faces. Basically, it is a site that displays websites you wish to visit within its own interface. It may not look pretty, but when browsing through GoProxing's free site, you are hidden from prying eyes as you surf through anonymous proxy servers. No downloads needed, just visit and type in the web address you wish to visit. There are a few tweaks you can make as well, such as deciding to show/hide images, accept/decline cookies, as well as a few others.
Read More | GoProxing.com
Olympus CAMEDIA X-600 5 MP Camera
Posted by Andru Edwards - Categories: Cameras,
Olympus has announced a new digital still camera for the Japanese market, set to hit retail in May. The Olympus CAMEDIA X-600 seems to be your basic digicam with a 3x optical zoom along with a 4x digital zoom. As far as size goes, the camera is a mere 18.3mm in thick with a 2-inch LCD screen. There is 14 MB of onboard memory, which is really virtually nothing these days. Luckily, it also supports XD cards up to 1 GB.
Read More | Press Release (Google Translated) via Camborg
Sea Anemone Alarm Clock
Posted by Andru Edwards - Categories: Misc. Tech,
Another strange twist on the everyday alarm clock has emerged. This time it comes in the form of a rumbling sea anemone shaped device. Similar to the Clocky which rolls away when it goes off, Aaron Tang's Sea Anemone clock does the same. The difference here is that the Sea Anemone clock rumbles much like that of a child's toy. Due to its shape, it moves in random directions which means you must chase it down to turn it off. Once you find it, the device continues to rumble until you find the hidden button to turn it off.
Read More | Aaron Tang Sea Anemone Clock via Gizmodo
Mythic Entertainment's Response to StationExchange
Posted by Jesse Easley Categories: Internet, Role Playing Games,
Sony's recent announcement of their new MMORPG Auction site seems to have upset another MMORPG maker, Mythic Entertainment. Mythic Entertainment is the creator of Dark Age of Camelot MMORPG. Mythic's CEO Mark Jacobs had this to say about the decision, "I'm disappointed with the decision from a leader in the MMO industry to go down a path which in the past, has been an anathema to them and remains so to just about every other MMORPG company in the industry. I think that not only supporting the sale of in-game characters, items and currency, but also taking a 'cut' of those sales, is not only a mistake but one of the worst decisions in the history of the MMORPG industry." Jacobs also goes into discussion about how if you were to buy an item on StationExchange and Sony had to delete that item from the game, users would be pretty upset.
Read More | GameDaily
Station Exchange Everquest II Online Auctions
Posted by Jesse Easley Categories: Internet, PC, Role Playing Games,
Sony has announced a new site for Everquest II fans/players. Station Exchange is now the official online auction site for Everquest. The benefit for users using this service is that when an item or character/account is in an auction it is removed from the game until the item is sold. So no more worries about bidding on your High-Level Elvan Mage with the possibility of losing it once you win the auction. This is a great thing for EverQuest II players the world over.
Read More | Station Exchange
Click to continue reading Station Exchange Everquest II Online Auctions
Gear Live Giveaway: iRiver H320 via HandheldsFree.com
Posted by Andru Edwards - Categories: Announcements, Portable Audio / Video,
Alright guys, time for another Gear Live Giveaway. This time we have an iRiver H320 digital audio player for one of you. If you want it, simply tell us what - if anything - you would like to see on our new gaming site, Playfeed. If you have an idea about some features you would like to see on the site, let us know and you will be eligible to win the H320. A big thank you to Handheldsfree.com for sponsoring this giveaway. You can score a PalmOne Tungsten T5 from their site, which you can visit here. We are gonna give you two weeks for this one, but only if you are a United States resident. If not, no contest for you.
© Gear Live Inc. {year} – User-posted content, unless source is quoted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Public Domain License. Gear Live graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, videos, articles, blogs, forums, scripts and other service names are the trademarks of Gear Live Inc.


text:
The woman who took him will post in a few days when he's settle in, so I guess he did survive. I can now breathe a sigh of relief.
Well, I went and bought two more cement mixing tubs to replace the old storage bins I've been using for 3 years. So far, so good!!! Elan used it twice and didn't miss once! The cement bins aren't as deep as the new ones to there's ease in getting in and out for him.


text:
A Variable Transformation Method for Stabilizing Abstract Delay Systems on Banach Lattices
In this study, we introduce the concept of an abstract delay system that can be used to characterize the behavior of a wide class of mathematical models that include partial differential equations and delay differential equations. We examine the stabilization problem of an abstract delay system on a Banach lattice using semigroup theory. To tackle this problem, we take advantage of the properties of a non-negative $C_0$ semigroup on a Banach lattice. The objective of this paper is to propose a stabilization method for an abstract delay system on a Banach lattice. We derive a sufficient condition under which an abstract delay system is uniformly exponentially stabilizable. Furthermore, we provide illustrative examples to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Full Text:PDF
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5539/jmr.v4n2p2
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Journal of Mathematics Research ISSN 1916-9795 (Print) ISSN 1916-9809 (Online)
Copyright © Canadian Center of Science and Education
To make sure that you can receive messages from us, please add the 'ccsenet.org' domain to your e-mail 'safe list'. If you do not receive e-mail in your 'inbox', check your 'bulk mail' or 'junk mail' folders.


text:
Student or Learner
the context says"Where she stopped the sign read: 'Mme Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds.' One Eight up Della ran, and collected herself, panting. Madame, large, too white, chilly, hardly looked the 'Sofronie.
what is meant by one Eight up Della ran? Does it mean that Della went to aparment no. 18 in the building or what?
Pope of the Dictionary.com Forum
That particular example was a typo. The book was first published in 1906 so it is likely to contain somewhat outdated constructions and words too.
Remember - if you don't use correct capitalisation, punctuation and spacing, anything you write will be incorrect.
"Name the author" is an imperative sentence. It tells you what to do. "Name of the author" is a noun phrase that can function just like any noun.


text:
Cities near Billings
Crowne Plaza Hotel Billings is not listed as an eco friendly property
Enjoy Our Hotel's Unbeatable Views of Billings, MT With its vast open plains, interrupted only by an occasional mountain or glacial lake, Eastern Montana affords visitors an endless horizon of starry skies. Sheltered by the Rimrocks, the city of Billings offers an urban link to the expansive outdoors. Come explore Big Sky Country from the comfort of the Crowne Plaza Billings Hotel. Our location in the heart of downtown Billings makes our hotel ideal for corporate travelers. We're within walking distance of Wells Fargo and ConocoPhillips, and we're just minutes from ExxonMobil. Our hotel has 16 elegant function rooms, on-site catering, A/V equipment and such perks as a two-hour RFP Response Guarantee, making us "The Place to Meet." Outdoor recreation abounds in Billings, MT, and our hotel's near an array of activities, including hiking, biking, boating and fishing. Explore the rock paintings at Pictograph Caves or take the short drive to Little Big Horn Battlefield to learn about this historic event. If shopping is your thing, you can enjoy it, tax-free, of course, at the nearby Rimrock Mall. This Billings hotel offers all the comforts you expect. Join us for exceptional views and delicious meals at Montana Sky Restaurant. We also have an on-site Starbucks and free Wi-Fi access. At night, enjoy peaceful slumber courtesy of the Crowne Plaza Sleep Advantage Program, something not found at other Billings, MT hotels. Book your stay now! .
map this


text:
Home > Kansas
It's hard losing weight in kansas with all the burgers and fries advertised to you all over the place. But we're happy to tell you about these weight loss clinics in kansas below.
All content on the PhentermineClinics.com website is intended for educational purposes only. Always seek advice from your medical professional before making any decisions related to your health. Only your physician can perform the tests necessary to determine what's right for you. Thank you for visiting and contributing.


text:
Obituary & Guest Book Preview for Irene Challenger
Irene Challenger Obituary
Published on Pennlive.com and in The Patriot-News on Jan. 10, 2013
First 25 of 110 words
: Irene G. Challenger, 92 of Mechanicsburg, Pa, passed away Tuesday, January 8, 2013, at Messiah Lifeways, Mechanicsburg. She was born March 13, 1920, in West...
View Full Obituary & Guest Book for Irene Challenger
Irene Challenger Guest Book | View 1 of 1 Entry:
"Irene Challenger; always so kind, sweet, thoughtful, and cheerful. Rest in Peace." -
Janet Spear
View Full Obituary & Guest Book for Irene Challenger
Ways to View
Restore Obituary & Guest Book
Keep the Obituary and Guest Book online for one of these time periods:
Permanent Sponsorship
$ 79.99
One-Year Sponsorship
$ 29.99
24-Hour Restoration
$ 2.95
Print Obituary & Guest Book
Order a professionally printed copy, starting at $39.00:
Deluxe Hardcover Book
$ 79.00
Laminated Hardcover Book
$ 59.00
Laminated Softcover Book
$ 39.00
Didn't find the Obituary you were looking for?
Return to today's Obituaries for the Patriot-News.
© 2018 Legacy.com. All rights reserved.


text:
Bending investigation on carbon fiber/epoxy composites nano-modified by graphene
A. F. ÁvilaI; L. G. Z. de O. PeixotoII; A. Silva NetoIII; J. de Ávila JuniorIV; M. G. R. CarvalhoV
IUniversidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 31270-901 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil, email@example.com
IIUniversidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Graduate Program in Mechanical Engineering, 31270-901 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil, email@example.com
IIIUniversidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Graduate Program in Mechanical Engineering, 31270-901 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil, firstname.lastname@example.com ]]> IVUniversidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Graduate Program in Mechanical Engineering, 31270-901 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil, firstname.lastname@example.com
VUniversidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Graduate Program in Mechanical Engineering, 31270-901 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil, firstname.lastname@example.com
An extreme conditions situation, e.g. pre-salt deep sea exploration, requires new materials with even better performance. Nanotechnology is the new paradigm that can lead to the development of these new super materials. The effect of graphene pileups dispersion into carbon fiber/epoxy composites was investigated experimentally. The dispersion process was based on sonication and high shear mixing. XRD and SEM indicate that although the dispersion process can lead to exfoliated nanostructures, there is a saturation limit for the epoxy system, around 0.5 wt. %. The addition of graphene to carbon/epoxy composites seems to have no influence into stiffness, as the slopes of the stress-strain curves were near constant for all specimen tested. The bending strength, however, was heavily influenced by formation of graphene pileups into epoxy matrix and its dispersion around the carbon fibers. The increase on bending strength from 623.01±70.16 MPa (control samples) to 1259.92±61.73 MPa for 0.5 wt. % graphene addition represents an average improvement of 102%. This can be attributed to changes on failure mechanism, moving from intra-laminar failure to a mix failure mode where inter- and intra-laminar failure are combined in a zigzag pattern. A possible explanation for such behavior is the formation of strong bonds at the fiber/matrix surroundings due to nanostructures formation.
Keywords: graphene, nanostructures, carbon/epoxy composites, bending properties, failure modes
Introduction]]> According to Ávila et al. (2011), carbon based nano-structures, i.e. carbon nanotubes (CNT) and graphene nano sheets (GN), present remarkable mechanical, electrical and thermal properties. CNT capabilities have been observed experimentally and verified by numerical simulations. Although carbon nanotubes have great potential for applications in a large variety of usages, e.g. aerospace industry, medical and electronic devices, there is no consensus about their exact mechanical properties. Moreover, the high cost of CNT is an issue that cannot be discarded for industrial applications. Even though a large number of researchers have being using carbon nanotubes for reinforcement of composites laminates with good results. Among those researchers are Kim and collaborators (2009), whom described no significant increase on tensile properties of the addition of CNTs to carbon fibers/epoxy laminates. Nonetheless, they noticed an enhancement on flexural modulus (≈12%) and strength (≈18%) with the addition of 0.3 wt. % of CNT to the epoxy system. This increase can be attributed to changes into flexural failure mechanisms. Following the same idea, Chou et al. (2010) discussed the influence of CNTs into the failure of laminated composites. They even proposed the concept of a hybrid inter-laminar architecture that can bridge inter-laminar cracks. Wicks and colleagues (2010) actually produced the hybrid nano reinforced laminated composites proposed by Chou et al. (2010). As mentioned by Wicks, aligned CNTs bridge the plies interfaces, which can lead to an increase on toughness, for the steady state condition, 76% higher than the conventional laminated systems. Notice that for the interlayer nano reinforcement some issues must be considered, i.e. the interfacial bonds between carbon nanotubes and the fiber/matrix system and the length effect into this "grip condition". Shokrieh and Rafiee (2010) modeled the CNT length effect on reinforcement effectiveness. Moreover, they concluded that for carbon nanotubes with length less than 100 nm, the improvement on stiffness for CNT/polymeric systems is negligible. By taking into consideration Shokrieh and Rafiee (2010) conclusions and the difficulties reported by Ma et al. (2010) for dispersing carbon nanotubes into polymeric matrices, it is clear that although CNTs are a viable option for reinforcement of nanocomposites and its hybrid companions, another alternative must be investigated.
Yasmin et al. (2007) mentioned that graphene based nanocomposites can be an alternative option for engineering applications due to their outstanding specific strength and stiffness. The usage of graphene nano sheets is gaining more attention due to their good relation benefit/cost. As said by Koo (2006), CNTs and graphene nano sheets (GN) have approximately the same stiffness, around 1.0 TPa. Moreover, the cost for expandable graphite, which is the main source of graphene nano sheets, is around US$10.00/pound, while single wall carbon nanotubes (CNT) cost for one single pound is 20,000 times higher.
To be able to apply graphene nano sheets to composite materials, the issue of polymer/nanoparticle compatibility must be investigated. Park and colleagues (2008) coated carbon fibers with exfoliated graphite by electro deposition to investigate its effect on mechanical properties. According to them, a small decrease on elongation around 11% was noticed when compared against conventional carbon fiber composites. However, an increase of flexural modulus and strength was also observed. This increase was attributed to the reinforcement effect of the coated fibers. To be consistent with the coated fiber morphology, the increase on strength must be attributed to the interfacial bonds created by the coated fibers and the epoxy matrix. This could be the most likely explanation for the effect observed by Park et al. (2008). Park and co-workers did not discuss the possibility of breaking down the graphite nano sheets into graphene blocks. Drzal and his research group (Kalaitidou et al., 2007), however, introduced the idea of dispersing blocks of graphene into polymeric matrices. In their case, these matrices are thermoplastics, in special polypropylene (PP). By studying the graphene blocks dispersion into PP, Kalaitzidou et al. (2007) identified a saturation limit (around 10 wt. %) of graphene blocks for PP composites. After this limit, the flexural strength seems to reach a plateau. Li et al. (2007) went further, as they applied a surface treatment of graphite nano sheets based on ultraviolet light and ozone combination. Li and co-workers considered a nanocomposite based exclusively on epoxy and graphene based nanoparticles. They noticed a consistent increase on flexural modulus with the increase of graphene based nanoparticles up to 1.5 wt. %. Yet, a decrease on flexural strength was also identified with the increase of graphene content.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the application of graphene nano sheets and clusters of graphene nano sheets into hybrid carbon fibers nanocomposites under bending loads.
Hybrid Nanocomposites Synthesis and Characterization
As commented by Ávila and co-workers (2010), the hybrid nanocomposites can be defined as multi-reinforced laminated composites. Such multi-reinforcement can be divided in three different levels; the first one is a nano-reinforcement with formation of nano-structures due to nanoparticles dispersion into the polymeric matrix. The second level of reinforcement can be described as the bond formed between clusters of nano-structures and the macroscopic fibers. Finally, fibers themselves can be defined as the last level of reinforcement.
In this research, the hybrid nanocomposite is a carbon fiber/nano-modified epoxy system laminated with 12 layers. The fiber reinforcement is a plain weave carbon fiber with a real density of 220 g/m2. The epoxy system was made of diglycidil ether bisphenol A (DGBA) resin and an amine hardener, i.e. RemLam M and HY956, supplied by Huntsman Incorporated. The fiber/epoxy ratio is equal to 50/50. The graphene used has its origin from an expandable graphite (HC 11 IQ) supplied by Nacional Grafite Incorporated. When the HC 11 IQ expandable graphite is submitted to a 900ºC thermal gradient in a 30 second period or less, the polymeric layers between the graphite plies volatilize. This sudden reaction leads to the graphite speedy expansion. As the volume must remain constant, the graphite thickness approaches nano scale. The expanded graphite is later on functionalized using nitric and sulfuric acid solutions. The graphene nano sheets are obtained when the functionalized expanded graphite is sonicated in an aqueous solution for at least four hours, dried, and later on dispersed into epoxy matrix using a higher shear mix for at least one hour.
The hybrid composite was prepared following the procedure described by Ávila et al. (2010). A dispersant agent, acetone, was employed to improve the mixing process. A double mixing process was used during the samples preparations. The first step was sonication for one hour followed by higher shear mixing for another hour. The degassing stage was required to eliminate bubbles generated during the higher shear mixing, as well as to eliminate the dispersant agent, i.e. acetone. After this procedure, the hand lay-up with vacuum assisted cure was performed. As mentioned by Ávila and collaborators (2010b), the epoxy system has a saturation limit for nanoparticles dispersion. After this limit, nanoparticles precipitation is most likely to occur. To be able to investigate the graphene effects, four different sets of specimens were prepared, i.e. 0 wt. %, 0.5 wt. %, 1.0 wt. % and 1.5 wt. %. Although the ASTM D 790 standard (2010) suggests 5 samples for each bending test, to be able to make a statistical analysis of data, 10 specimens were prepared for each case studied.
According to Koo and colleagues (2011), during the nanoparticles dispersion into polymeric matrices nano-structures are formed. The two most common detection techniques to nano-structures identification are X-ray diffraction and electronic microscopy. In this research, X-ray diffraction (XRD) experiments were carried out on a Shimadzu XRD-6000 X-ray diffract meter with Cu (λ = 0.154 nm) irradiation at 40 kV and 30 mA using a Ni filter. Data were recorded in the range from 2 to 80 deg in a continuous scanning at 2 degrees per minute and sampling pitch of 0.02 deg. The high resolution scanning electron microscope (HRSEM) used was a Quanta 200-FEG-FEI, while the transmission electron microscope (TEM) employed was a Tecnai G2-20-FEI. During the three points bending tests, an EMIC DL10000 universal testing machine with load cell of 100 KN and electronic deflect meter of 25 mm was employed. The test procedure follows the ASTM D 790 standard (2010).]]>
Data Analysis
Two different sets of experiments were performed. The first one deals with the nanostructures formed and its identification, while the second group of tests focuses on mechanical behavior and fracture analysis. HRSEM observations shown in Fig. 1(a) identify the expanded graphite structure before sonication. The expanded graphite seems to be formed of various thin layers of graphite grouped by van der Walls forces. However, these thin layers are also multi-layer materials. The tip of one of these layers is marked with the white circle in Fig. 1(a), while Fig. 1(b) is a TEM observation of a single layer of expandable graphite, showing the pileups of graphene nano sheets. Furthermore, Fig. 2 shows the X-ray diffraction (XRD) signature for control samples (0 wt. % graphene) and the three concentrations of graphene based hybrid nanocomposites, respectively.
As it can be noticed in Fig. 2, the sharp peaks occur between 26.21º (0.0 wt. %) and 26.25º (1.5 wt. %). The usage of Bragg's law (Cole, 1970) allows us to compute a basal spacing between 0.33 nm and 0.34 nm. According to Saito et al. (2005), the basal distance for pure graphene is around the 0.34 nm value. Furthermore, the XRD intensity seems to indicate a "saturation" limit as the highest peak was notice for the 0.5 wt. % samples. After the limit was reached the XRD intensity was decaying. The 1.5 wt. % samples presented XRD energy even lower than the control samples, i.e. 5193 CPS and 5597 CPS. This behavior could suggest the formation of clusters. This hypothesis was confirmed by high resolution SEM. Clusters of graphene nano sheets with 100 nm of diameter can be observed in Figs. 3(a)-(b). Finally, the "X-ray signature" seems to be an indication that the graphene nano sheets were exfoliated in blocks.
The next step was the mechanical characterization of these hybrid nanocomposites. Notice that the carbon/epoxy composites without graphene will be considered as control samples. This research focused on bending stiffness/strength due to the possible application of these composites as sandwich structures face sheets. Note that stresses are computed based on Timoshenko Beam Theory as described in Kollar and Springer (2003). By analyzing Fig. 4 some comments can be made. First, the graphene addition provided an increase on stiffness as it can be noticed in Tables 1 and 2. In all cases, the elasticity modulus in bending is statistically different, with the largest increase (≈ 172%) for the 0.5 wt. % graphene samples. The large variation in modulus can also be due to graphene agglomeration and cluster formation as seen in Fig. 3. Second, the strength was strongly affected by the graphene addition. A boost on peak stress of 139% was noticed for the 0.5 wt. % nanocomposite. As the amount of graphene increased, i.e. 1.0 wt. % and 1.5 wt. %, the peak stresses were 109% and 80% higher than the control samples (samples without graphene). This enhancement on peak stresses can be attributed to changes on failure modes. Statistical analyses, summarized in Tables 3 and 4, demonstrate that all four groups have a normal distribution and the Bonferroni test indicates, for α = 0.05 (significance level), that there are significant statistical difference between the control sample group and the others. However, there is no difference among the groups with graphene.
According to Yasmin et al. (2007), bending failure on carbon fiber/epoxy systems is fiber dominated. Therefore, the failure propagation in all cases should be the same. However, when the test samples were analyzed, an unexpected behavior was noticed. The failure on control samples (Fig. 5(a)) was mainly intra-laminar, while the "zigzag" failure mode was observed in three sets of hybrid composites (Figs. 5(b)-5(d)). The zigzag failure mode can be described as a combination of inter- and intra-laminar failures. By allowing these two failure modes (inter- and intra-laminar) acting simultaneously the energy dissipation was improved, which leads to higher peak loads.]]> A possible explanation for such behavior can be the graphene clusters dispersion into the matrix around the fibers, which can lead to formation of strong bonds at the interface fiber/matrix. These bonds could be responsible for stress distribution through the fibers and the zigzag effect. Notice that according to Kuilla and co-workers (2010), the graphene stiffness is around 1.0 TPa, and strength is close to 130 GPa, which can provide substantial increase on stiffness and strength of the interface fiber/matrix. This increase on strength and stiffness can provide a better stress distribution around the fiber/matrix surrounding region leading to a much higher bending strength. Notice that as the amount of dispersed graphene pileups increase, the epoxy matrix is approaching its saturation limit. After this limit, in our case 0.5 wt. %, precipitation occurs, which leads to clusters formation that will act as stress concentration sites. These clusters could be the cause of the decrease on bending strength with the increase of graphene dispersion from 0.5 wt. % to 1.0 wt. % and 1.5 wt. %, respectively. These clusters were spotted in specimens with 1.5 wt. %, as shown in Figs. 3(a) and 3(b).
The addition of graphene to carbon/epoxy laminated composites seems to influence into bending stiffness as well as on bending strength. The elasticity modulus in bending increased from 27.94±2.74 GPa to 76.87±4.03 GPa when the graphene addition went from 0 wt. % to 0.5 wt. %, respectively. A moderate increase on stiffness, 38.44±4.12 GPa and 58.71±13.25 GPa, was observed for the 1.0 wt. % and 1.5 wt. % samples. This small increase can be attributed to graphene clusters formation, due to the epoxy dispersion saturation limit. The bending strength was heavily influenced by the formation of graphene pileups into the epoxy matrix and its dispersion around the carbon fibers. The increase on bending strength reached a peak of 1355.94 MPa for the 0.5 wt. % specimens. As the amount of graphene dispersed into epoxy matrix increased, the average bending strength went from 623.01±70.15 MPa (with no graphene) to 1259.91±61.73 MPa (for a 0.5 wt. % graphene), and 1143.72±72.39 MPa and 1187.53±129.54 MPa, 1.0 wt. % and 1.5 wt. %, respectively. This enormous increase on bending strength can be attributed to changes on failure mechanism, moving from intra-laminar failure to a mix failure mode where inter- and intra-laminar failure are combined in a zigzag pattern. A possible explanation for such behavior is the formation of strong bonds at fiber/matrix surroundings due to nanostructures formation.
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the US Air Force of Scientific Research (AFOSR) grant FA9550-10-1-0050, the Brazilian Research Council (CNPq) grant 303447/2011-7 and the Minas Gerais State Research Foundation (FAPEMIG) grant TEC-PPM-00192-12. The student's grants were provided by the Graduate Studies Program in Mechanical Engineering via CAPES Foundation and the CNPq. We also would like to express our gratitude to the UFMG's Center for Microscopy for providing the necessary infrastructure for the microanalysis, and the Nacional Grafite Inc. for providing the expandable graphite.
ASTM D 790, 2010, "Standard test methods for flexural properties of unreinforced and reinforced plastics and electrical insulating materials", Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 104-112. [ Links ]
Ávila, A.F., Eduardo, A.C., Silva Neto, A., 2011, "Vibrational analysis of graphene based nanostructures", Computers and Structures, Vol. 89, No. 5, pp. 878-892. [ Links ]
Ávila, A.F., Yoshida, M.I., Carvalho, M.G.R., Dias, E.C., de Ávila Jr., J., 2010, "An investigation on post-fire behavior of hybrid nanocomposites under bending loads", Composites Part B, Vol. 41, No. 2, pp. 380-387. [ Links ]
Ávila, A.F., Carvalho, M.G.R., Dias, E.C., da Cruz, D.T., 2010b, "Nano-structured sandwich composites response to low velocity impact", Composite Structures, Vol. 92, No. 3, pp. 745-751. [ Links ]
Chou, T-W., Gao, L., Thostenson, E., Zhang, Z., Byun, J-H. 2010, "An assessment of the science and technology of carbon nanotube-based fibers and composites", Composites Science and Technology, Vol. 70, No. 1, pp. 1-19. [ Links ]
Cole, H., 1970, "Bragg's law and energy sensitive detector", Journal of Applied Crystallography, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 405-406. [ Links ]
Kalaitzidou, K., Fukushima, H., Drzal, L.T., 2007, "Mechanical properties and morphological characterization of exfoliated graphitepolypropylene nanocomposites", Composites Part A, Vol. 38, No. 8, pp. 1675-1682. [ Links ]
Kim, M., Park, Y-B., Okoli, O.I., Zhang, C. 2009, "Processing, characterization, and modeling of carbon nanotube-reinforced multiscale composites", Composites Science and Technology, Vol. 69, No. 2, pp. 335-342. [ Links ]
Kollar, L.P., Springer, G.S., 2003, "Mechanics of Composite Structures", Cambridge U.P., Cambridge, Chaps. 6,7. [ Links ]
Koo, J.H., 2006, "Polymer Nanocomposites: Processing, Characterization and Applications", McGraw-Hill, New York, Chaps. 3,7. [ Links ]
Koo, J.H., Loa, S.C., Lee, J., Chen, D.Z., Lam, C., Yong, W., Londa, M., Pilato, L.A., 2011, "Morphology and thermal characterization of nanographene platelets", Journal of Materials Science, Vol. 46, No. 10, pp. 3583-3589. [ Links ]
Kuilla, T., Bhadra, S., Yao, D., Kim, N.H., Bose, S., Lee, J.H., 2010, "Recent advances in graphene based polymer composites", Progress in Polymer Science, Vol. 35, No. 8, pp. 1350-1375. [ Links ]
Li, J., Sham, M. L., Kim, J-K, Marom, G., 2007, "Morphology and properties of UV/ozone treated graphite nanoplatelet/epoxy nanocomposites", Composites Science and Technology, Vol. 67, No. 2, pp. 296-305. [ Links ]
Ma, P-C., Siddiqui, N.A., Marom, G., Kim, J-K., 2010, "Dispersion and functionalization of carbon nanotubes for polymer-based nanocomposites: A review", Composites Part A, Vol. 41, No. 8, pp. 1345-1367. [ Links ]
Park, J.K., Do, I-H., Askeland, P., Drzal, L.T., 2008, "Electrodeposition of exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets onto carbon fibers and properties of their epoxy composites", Composites Science and Technology, Vol. 68, No. 6, pp. 1734-1741. [ Links ]
Saito, R., Dresselhaus, G., Dresselhaus, M.S. 2005, "Physical Properties of Carbon Nanotubes", 2nd ed., Imperial College Press, London, 2005, Chaps. 2,5. [ Links ]
Shokrieh, M.M., Rafiee, R., 2010, "Investigation of nanotube length effect on the reinforcement efficiency in carbon nanotube based composites", Composite Structures, Vol. 92, No. 10, pp. 2415-2420. [ Links ]
Yasmin, A., Luo, J-J., Daniel, I.M., 2006, "Processing of expanded graphite reinforced polymer nanocomposites", Composites Science and Technology, Vol. 66, No. 7, pp.1182-1189. [ Links ]
Wicks, S.S., de Villanova, R.G., Wardle, B.L., 2010, "Interlaminar and intralaminar reinforcement of composite laminates with aligned carbon nanotubes", Composites Science and Technology, Vol. 70, No. 1, pp. 20-28. [ Links ]
Paper received 5 August 2011 ]]> Paper accepted 17 April 2012
Technical Editor: Fernando Rochinha]]>


text:
Today I began lessons with an experienced player, but he's someone who lacks confidence, and it got me thinking. Really, it's the "confidence" factor that seems to be something can largely dominate our ability to be a true player or not, and I guess since I exuded so much confidence in my early days, it has always seemed like a natural thing for me to have. Of course, confidence builds as you get better and better, and sometimes your personal confidence may exceed that of your musical confidence, and we all know about "those" people, whose sheer gall and "chutzpah" outweigh their real musical abilities. They may go far in the biz, but in the end, their lack of real ability will sell themselves short!
You're much better off if you can have the "real" confidence in your playing, and even if you may be shy or find it hard to "put yourself out there", it's still far better to be really well-off, musically speaking! One thing I noticed in my student today was how much he actually was missing on the fretboard. This immediately told me that his lack of confidence was, as I suspected, directly connected to his lack of musical ability. There are far too many players who like to call themselves "advanced", when really all it is that they've play a long time, not that they've musically grown a long time! This is the key…I mean, I've known players who have only played 4 years who know more and are more confident that him, and he's played for 30 years!
It's so important to start young…..because even though he's played for thirty years, that means he was 30 when he started! Well, you should never not start because of age, but by starting at age 30, he lost the most important "formative" years of his learning abilities, and instead he acquired many bad and old habits that are now extra hard for him to break! I was amazed for example, which he played only with his thumb. Well, unless you're Wes Montgomery, that's not going to get you very far, and it's going to limit your playing. So, of course, I right away tried to get him to use that thumb independently of the other fingers, and tried to get him to learn to play only the bass notes with the thumb, while playing lead with the other 3 fingers!


text:
Yoko Ono Tweets John Lennon's Bloody Glasses
(NEW YORK) -- Yoko Ono joined the U.S. gun debate when she tweeted a picture of the blood-stained glasses her husband, John Lennon, was wearing when he died. Lennon, one of the Beatles, died in 1980 after being shot in the back four times outside the couple's New York City apartment by a crazed stalker. He was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital.
The blood-spattered glasses in the image included text that brought attention to the number of people who have died from gun violence since her husband's death. The tweets were sent Wednesday morning in commemoration of what would have been her and Lennon's 44th wedding anniversary.
Ono tweeted the image four times, including different anti-violence reflections each time, saying that guns are making America into a "war zone."
She also urged her followers to "bring America back" to a "green land of peace."
Ono, 80, concluded her succession of tweets by saying that in the 33 years after Lennon's death, she and the couple's son, Sean, 37, still miss him.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio


text:
I have a seriouse problem regarding SOAP. I made a soap client which contacts a (I believe) .net soap server, and takes about 30 seconds to respond.
I have located the problem, and that is here:
I have tried this on 4 servers (2 servers on a 2gbit connection, 1 on a 100mbit connection, 1 on a 2mbit connection) which all have installed freebsd 6.1 or 6.2 and it always takes 30 seconds... but... on my friends server, installed with freebsd 6.1 on a 30mbit connection it takes about 5 seconds total.. AT MOST!
Code: Select all
// Takes less than 1 second
$client = new soapclient("path/to/my/file.wsdl");
// Takes about 15 seconds
$result = $client->myfunction($myarray);
// Takes less than 1 second
$client2= new soapclient("path/to/my/file2.wsdl");
// Takes about 15 seconds
$result2 = $client2->myfunction($myarray2);
What am I doing wrong?
I have tried the following:
* Checked my settings
* Checked my server settings
* Reinstalled server with apache and freebsd ect.
* Reinstalled server with only php (and the necesary stuff)
* Reinstalled server and used the php.ini file of my friends server
* Searched google
* Searched google
* Searched google
* Searched google
What is my problem depending on? I really need help... am on a deadline :S
Any ideas what this can depend on? Ideas on how to debug this (couldn't get xdebug to work)? Ideas on how I can outsmart this problem? PLEASE HELP!
// Paul Peelen[/list]