text:
B.J. Upton, Braves agree to 5-year, $75M deal
ATLANTA Free-agent outfielder B.J. Upton and the Atlanta Braves have agreed to a five-year contract, CBSSports.com Insider Jon Heyman reports.
Once finalized, Upton's deal will be worth $75.25 million over five years, Heyman reports. That would be the largest free-agent contract in team history.
Upton, 28, hit .246 with 28 homers, 78 RBIs and 31 stolen bases for Tampa Bay last season. He will replace free agent Michael Bourn as the Braves' center fielder and provide a needed right-handed power bat for the lineup.
Upton made his debut with Tampa Bay in 2004. His first full season was 2007, when he hit a career-best .300 with 24 homers and 22 stolen bases.
The speedy outfielder's home run totals have increased in each of the last three seasons, but he has hit below .250 with more than 150 strikeouts in four straight years.
Bourn was the Braves' leadoff hitter, but Upton is not expected to fill that role. The Braves might shop for a left fielder to hit leadoff, with Martin Prado expected to move from the outfield to third base following Chipper Jones' retirement.
Young shortstop Andrelton Simmons, who hit .289 with a .335 on-base percentage as a rookie, could be an option to bat leadoff. Prado was the normal No. 2 hitter.
The deal with Upton comes only five days before the start of baseball's winter meetings in Nashville, Tenn.
Upton is an expensive addition, but the big move is not a surprise.
General manager Frank Wren said after the season he would have funds available to make a notable offseason acquisition. Jones had a $14 million base salary last season and Bourn's was $6,845,000.
Wren said he entered the offseason with "a pretty narrow focus" because he only had to replace Bourn and Jones.
"Beyond that, our club is pretty solid," Wren said after the Braves' wild-card playoff loss to St. Louis.
Upton adds to what Wren said is a "dynamic young core" of players. He will join first baseman Freddie Freeman, right fielder Jason Heyward, catcher Brian McCann and second baseman Dan Uggla as power hitters.
McCann's status for the start of the season is uncertain. He had surgery on his right shoulder in October. The rehabilitation could carry into the first month of the season.
Gerald Laird signed a two-year, $3 million deal with Atlanta earlier this month to serve as McCann's backup. Laird, who hit .282 with AL champion Detroit, could open the season as the starter if McCann is not ready.
Upton's agent, Larry Reynolds, did not immediately return messages seeking comment.


text:
Breastfeeding the Newborn: Clinical Strategies for Nurses
Mosby, 1999 - Breast feeding - 464 pages
In the environment of short hospital stays, breastfeeding is an important concern to new mothers. They depend on nurses to deliver quality education and instruction in successful breastfeeding techniques. BREASTFEEDING THE NEWBORN: CLINICAL STRATEGIES FOR NURSES focuses on "what to do," rather than "what to know" about breastfeeding techniques, delivered in a highly personable and easy-to-read style. Real-life case studies, practical solutions, and insights help the nurse apply results of research to clinical practice.
* A logically organized and easy-to-read format, offering practical solutions and insights to the most common breastfeeding concerns. * Photographs and line drawings enhance the text, depicting relevant anatomy, physical assessment skills, positioning techniques, common and special breastfeeding holds, and pertinent equipment. * Special chapter on breastfeeding the unhealthy infant, Chapter 7, assists the nurse with guidelines for breastfeeding the preterm infant, the infant with cardiac problems, the neurologically compromised infant, and the infant with cranio-facial defects. * Priorities for Care boxes summarize the most salient breastfeeding recommendations in bullet-point format. * Research Highlight and Historical Highlight boxes summarize and critique selected research studies and show how the results are applied to clinical practice. * Clinical Scenario boxes offer real-life case studies that promote critical thinking and generate possible management strategies. * The comprehensive and useful appendices provide breastfeeding education, promotion, and support resources for both the professional and the breastfeeding client.
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Psychological Factors
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Breastfeeding the Newborn: Clinical Strategies for Nurses, 2nd Edition
Marie Biancuzzo
No preview available - 2002
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Academy of Pediatrics American Academy areola artificial feeding artificial milk assessment audible swallowing baby bilirubin bottle feeding breast milk breastfed infants breastfeed breastfeeding breastfeeding management breastfeeding mothers Chapter Child cleft Cleft Palate Clin clinical colostrum continue discharge donor milk drug effects engorgement excreted express milk factors fant fluid frequently Geddes Productions gestation glucose Health Education Associates hormones hospital human milk hypothermia increase infection initiate intake inverted nipple jaundice kangaroo care La Leche League lactation lactogenesis latch-on maternal medication metabolism milk bank milk transfer milk volume Mosby needs newborn nurse Nutr nutrients occur oral oxytocin palate Pediatrics position postpartum pregnancy preterm infants problems prolactin protein pump quantity discounts available risk rooming-in shown in Figure skin sore nipples stimulation strategies sucking suckling supplementation surgery technique tion tissue Videotape vitamin weaning weeks weight gain WIC Nutrition Coordinator woman women

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Al Gore has been known for his climate change warnings since the 2006 film "An Inconvenient Truth."
But the former vice president, speaking Saturday in Kansas City, cited many more recent examples how heavy use of fossil fuels is contributing to extreme weather events and trends, in his view.
Gore filled a Westin Crown Center ballroom with a 90-minute presentation, using photos and videos to illustrate a litany of floods, wildfires, torrential rains, droughts, dust storms, rising sea levels and increasing world temperatures.
To those attending the Folk Alliance International conference, he noted examples of flooding in locations both remote and closer to home, such as in Manitou Springs, Colo., where high water barreled down mountain highways last year, carrying cars along with it.
"They had never seen anything like this in Manitou Springs," Gore said.
Read more here:http://www.kansascity.com/2014/02/22/4843012/al-gore-brings-climate-change.html


text:
IDH mutations and their role in the progression of low grade gliomas
Suche in Medline nach
|28. April 2011
Objective: Somatic mutations in the gene encoding isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) and 2 (IDH2) are frequently found in secondary malignant gliomas and are of prognostic value. In primary glioblastoma (pGBM), IDH1 and IDH2 mutations are rare. It is yet unclear whether IDH1 and/or IDH2 mutations are associated with recurrences of low grade gliomas (LGG) or with their malignant transformation.
Methods: In our population, patients with LGG and their concurrent recurrencies as malignant gliomas were investigated. The genomic regions around IDH1 codon 132 and IDH2 codon 172 were PCR amplified and directly sequenced. The data were categorized according to clinical data (age, gender, etc.), tumor-related factors (location, histology, proliferation, MGMT promoter methylation), and therapy related factors (adjuvant treatments, type of XRT, time to progression, survival).
Results: The entire population consisted of 67 patients. Sufficient material was available from 30 nonpilocytic low grade gliomas including 6 oligoastrocytomas WHO II° and from 67 malignant gliomas (24 anaplastic astrocytoma and 43 secondary glioblastomas). The IDH1 mutation was found in 20/30 LGG (66.6%) and in 49/67 (73.1%) malignant gliomas. In 20/30 (66.6%) of the cases, the mutation was detected in the LGG as well as its malignant transformation to a malignant glioma. The presence of IDH1 mutation in the LGG correlated with a significantly longer progression-free (80.9) and overall survival (OS) (122.3) compared to the wildtype group (39.6 vs. 46 months, respectively). After progression to a malignant glioma, the median OS in the IDH1 mutated group was also superior (105.7 vs. 73.8 months). IDH1 mutations were found to be prognostically important in the radiotherapy- and the radiotherapy/chemotherapy-treated patients, for OS, but not for the progression-free survival independently of the adjuvant therapy after malignant transformation. Furthermore, IDH1 mutations were strongly associated with MGMT promoter methylation.
Conclusions: In this group of patients with low grade gliomas and their progression to malignant gliomas, the presence of IDH1 mutations was found to carry a very strong prognostic significance for OS without evidence of a predictive significance for longer progression-free survival after malignant transformation.


text:
The dry leaves seem to contain more chocolate brown coloured leaves and present one with a smell of deep foresty muscatel. Within this, there is a hidden floral sweetness that reminds one of the turning spring.
One mindfully prepares this tea, scooping the leaves out of the foil with bamboo. The sound of the leaves hitting the bottom of the pot further relaxes ones mind. The sound of hot water hitting that same bottom pushes ones mind deeper.
One sips at this tea from little Korean ceramic cups. The first time one brewed this tea using the same perimeters as the other first flushes, it didn't turn out so well. One added less leaf this time. And upon first sip it seems much better. There is a nice full soft coating mouthfeel with very floral taste and backnotes of classic Darjeeling muscatel where last session just held a smokey, bitterness without much taste at all. The colour of the liquor is not so vibrant, a gritty yellow, an 'intoxicated morning after urine' kind of gritty yellow.
The second infusion is good and tastes much like when one brewed it with more leaf but this time there isn't the strong overpowering bitterness. There is still a slight tail of bitterness in the mouth that it is just as noticeable but not as strong. This is a very Darjeeling cup of tea with a nice balance of flower, grape, and muscatel. By the second infusion ones stomach grumbles under the mean energy of this tough tea.
The third infusion is chalky, gritty, and mostly bitter which trumps most of its nice flavor. This tea dies before it even gets going. Unfortunately, less leaf doesn't prevent the inevitable. By the time the third infusion comes along there really isn't much left of this tea.
Nonetheless, one pushes on with this now almost flavorless tea. If anything this tea teaches us to savor what we got while we have it. So when we don't, we'll appreciate it all the more.
This tea would benefit from the old English style of making tea. Its suffering is only agonized by the flogging gong fu session.


text:
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Negative Residual Variance
Mplus Discussion
Confirmatory Factor Analysis
Stacey Farber
posted on Monday, February 21, 2005 - 10:47 am
Hello. I am conducting a CFA (MLR estimator) with three, continuous indicators across 4 groups. For one of my groups, I get one non-significant, negative (near zero, within 95% CI) residual variance when my intercepts are freely estimated and factor mean is set to 0 for all groups (my Model 1). I could set the residual variance to 0, but then I get a standardized factor loading and r-square of 1.000, which I consider non-"useful" information. If I re-run Model 1 for just that group, I get the same results.
But, when I constrain factor loadings to be equal across groups (free intercepts, factor mean at 0) for my Model 2, I get a positive residual variance for that variable and group (.609), which is a value still within the original 95% CI of Model 1. To re-run Model 1, might I set the residual variance for that variable for that group to .609 instead of zero so that I might get "usable" estimates?
posted on Saturday, February 26, 2005 - 4:54 pm
If the model with invariant loadings fits well, you could make an argument that what you propose is reasonable - you are borrowing information from the other groups to get a better estimate for that residual variance. It is a bit ad hoc, however, since the fixed value of .609 has sampling variability so the resulting SEs of the model might need to be taken with a grain of salt (i.e. work with conservative tests of parameter significance).
posted on Saturday, February 18, 2006 - 9:06 pm
I and trying to confirm the factor structure of 2 second order CFA's with 5 factors each. For some reason the residual variance for one of the factors is negative. Would you recommend deleting that factor? What steps should be taken to handle this situation.
posted on Sunday, February 19, 2006 - 2:45 pm
You could fix that residual variance at zero. That would mean that that first-order factor is a perfect indicator of the second-order factor - this happens in some instances.
posted on Sunday, February 19, 2006 - 4:27 pm
How would I fix the residual variance to zero. This is my model statement:
f1 by var2-var3;
F10 by var27-var30;
exper by f1-f5;
behav by f6-f10;
Should I just say
below the final statement. Thanks
posted on Sunday, February 19, 2006 - 4:42 pm
That's right.
posted on Tuesday, March 21, 2006 - 7:41 am
I�m trying to use a CFA model to test convergent and discriminant validity. Though, almost all the residual variance are non-significant. If I fix them at zero, indexes such as "composite reliability" or "average variance extracted" or any other reliability index will be inflated. What should I do?
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Tuesday, March 21, 2006 - 7:44 am
I would not fix insignificant residual variances at zero. Having residuals is well-motivated and the fact that they are non-significant may merely mean that you have a smallish sample size.
Renee Thompson
posted on Sunday, March 18, 2007 - 5:21 pm
After looking through various discussion boards, I figured out how to fix my problem of having a negative residual variance for my variable dep3. I just added a line
to the model command:
USEVAR = dep1 dep2 dep3 critsen1 critgf1 das1;
MODEL: i s |
i s ON critsen1 critgf1 das1;
I am pleased to have figured out how to fix the problem. However, I do not fully understand why setting that residual variance to zero allowed the model to run. Can you offer me any help in understanding this at a more applied level? Thanks!
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Monday, March 19, 2007 - 10:33 am
Fixing a negative residual variance is done if the residual variance is a small negative value and not signficant. Othwerwise, the model should be changed.
The reason that this is a problem is that variances cannot be negative by definition.
Suzanne Jak
posted on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - 1:09 am
I'm fitting 2 first-order and 1 second-order factor on 7 continuous observed variables. Using scaling in lambda, the residual variance of de first factor is negative. My model runs well when I fix the variance of this factor to 1, and remain the factorlading of the first factor to be 1.
Q1: Is this bad practice?
Q2: I thought it is useless to have 1 indicator for a factor, so I regressed de variable 'kub' direct on de 2-order factor. Is this ok?
This is my input:
Title: factormodel met weging sommen op 2 factoren, f1 fixed op 1
Data: FILE IS schaal.dat;
Variable: NAMES ARE ana cijf fig kub som syl voc w;
WEIGHT IS w;
Analysis: ESTIMATOR = MLR;
Model: f1 BY fig ana syl cijf som;
f2 BY som voc;
f3 BY f1 f2 kub;
Output: sampstat standardized modindices tech4 tech1;
Thanks! Suzanne
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - 8:27 am
You should not set the metric of the factor by both fixing a factor loading to one and fixing the factor variance to one. If you relax one of these restrictions, the model is not identified. You need a minimum of three first-order factors for the model to be identified without making perhaps unrealistic restrictions on the model.
posted on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 - 9:28 am
I'm conducting a CFA of a four factor scale with ordinal indicators using wlsmv estimation. One of the factors has only 2 indicators and for these indicators there is limited variability in responses
item s:
Category 1 0.969
Category 2 0.026
Category 3 0.004
Category 4 0.001
item o:
Category 1 0.975
Category 2 0.016
Category 3 0.006
Category 4 0.002
My fit statistics are reasonable (CFI, TLI >0.95, RMSEA, SRMR = 0.07). However, I get a warning about theta not being positive definite and there is a negative residual variance for item s (-0.003). Would dropping this factor be reasonable given the limited variability in responses and the negative residual variance? What would you suggest as next steps?
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 - 9:16 am
In my opinion a factor with two indicators is not generally believable given that it is not identified without borrowing from other parts of the model. In your case, I would use one of the factor indicators as an observed variable in the model.
Nicholas Mian
posted on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 - 8:53 am
I am trying to establish measurement invariance in a measurement model before proceeding to a multi-group structural model. THere are two latent variables and two groups.
When I ran it constraining the factor loadings to be equal, it ran fine, but when I free the factor loadings for the unconstrained model, I get one negative residual variance in one group (leading to the "not positive definite" error message). The intercepts are also freed. The fit indices for the unconstrained model are chi sq=15.899, df=12, CFI=.993, rmsea=0.043, srmr=0.033. Can these results be interpreted with a neg residual variance?
Thank you!
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 - 9:16 am
You should first find that the factor model fits well in each group before proceeding to test for measurement invariance. It sounds like this is not the case. You might want to start with an EFA in each group to establish the the same number of factors is found in each group and then proceed to a CFA in each group.
Nicholas Mian
posted on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 - 10:13 am
Hi Linda,
Thanks for your reply. I did run separate CFAs for the two groups individually first, to establish configural invariance. Both seem to be good fits for the data. The fit indices are:
Girls only Chi sq 6.083 df 6 CFI 1.00 RMSEA 0.009 (0.000-0.101) SRMR 0.021
Boys only Chi sq 9.816 df 6 CFI 0.981 RMSEA 0.060 (0.000-0.125) SRMR 0.042
The negative residual variance is in the boys group.
Nicholas Mian
posted on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 - 10:31 am
Hi again Linda,
I forgot to add that even though I have good fit in both groups, you are correct in that the same error message occurs for the boys group (the group with the negative residual variance).
I will run an EFA for the boys group and I am also considering parcelling these indicators.
Thanks for your help,
Matt Thullen
posted on Monday, July 27, 2009 - 11:26 am
I have a 6-factor CFA model with 13 indicators. In the first 6-factor model I fit one indicator had a negative residual variance that was very small (.05) and non-significant which I fixed at zero without any theoretical rationale , just figuring that it was small enough to justify as zero and proceed with this good fitting model. After testing the first, proposed model against several others with slight theoretically informed adjustments, a new model with one indicator loading on two factors shows a better fit. When I removed the zero residual variance constraint from the one indicator the actual variance in the newer model is more negative (@.11). If having this model constraint was justified in the first place, would it still be justified in the newer model with the increase in the negative residual variance?
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Monday, July 27, 2009 - 4:23 pm
It sounds to me like you should start with an EFA of your factor indicators to see if the items are behaving as expected. Making adjustments to a CFA model without previously doing an EFA to study the items can result in a misspecified model. A factor with two indicators is not identified without borrowing information from other parts of the model. I would hesitate to use such a factor.
Matt Thullen
posted on Monday, July 27, 2009 - 9:42 pm
Thank you Linda.
What do you mean by misspecified? I understand how a factor with two indicators is not indentified but if the model as a whole is identified what does misspecification mean?
Here is where I my questioning is coming from: I proposed that a certain factor structure would arise via prinicipal components or EFA but it was strongly suggested that I use CFA. In looking at it both ways 6-factors will not converge in an EFA but when I run a CFA with the proposed structure the model is a good fit with the exception of the small negative residual variance. So should I take the non-convergence in EFA as a strong hint that 6-factors are not appropriate at all or is there a possibility that a confirmatory model with 6 factors is still feasible? I was hoping to move to factor mixture analysis with this CFA but that may not be a good idea either...
Thanks again - I really appreciate your assistance
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 - 7:56 am
A misspecified model is a model that does not correctly represent the data which I think you know. Beyond that I am saying that often CFA models are proposed based on theory and estimated using data that may not well measure the constructs represented in the theory. An EFA can often help in seeing this.
If you have to modify the CFA by for example fixing residual variances to zero, this may point to a problem with the model. If a 6-factor CFA fits the data well but a EFA will not converge, the CFA may be a fragile model that will not be replicated with other data.
Note that factor mixture analysis usually has less factors that a regular CFA.
Matt Thullen
posted on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 - 8:58 am
I definitely had an idea that my issue was something bigger than a negative residual variance. Thank you for helping me clarify that.
Laura Valadez
posted on Thursday, October 29, 2009 - 11:13 am
Hello again,
I now have a question with regard to negative residual variances. This is the model I have:
PHYSIO BY haz4 waz4 baz4 haemo2;
MENTAL BY WJ3 WJ2 WJ5 stpea;
MOTOR BY carty_1a carty_3a carty_5a car2b car6b car4b;
MOTOR ON age;
comp1 by CD1 CD12 CD2 CD4 CD6;
comp2 by CD5 CD7 CD8 CD9 CD18 CD19;
comp3 by CD3 CD11 CD13 CD14 CD15 CD16 CD17 CD20 CD25;
comp4 by CD21 CD22 CD23 CD26 CD24;
comp1 on sex;
comp2 on sex;
comp3 on sex;
comp4 on sex;
motor on sex;
mental on sex;
SUBJ BY comp1 comp2 comp3 comp4;
SUBJ on ANIO_INC TIPO_LOC LOCAL;
OBJ on ANIO_INC TIPO_LOC LOCAL;
All of the indicators are categorical, except the ones in MENTAL.
I am getting negative residual variance for WAZ4. I have tried changing the model, specifically the PHYSIO part by:
(a) splitting it into 2 latent variables, but I get theta not positive definite involving waz4, and psi not positive definite involving one of the new latent constructs.
(b) taking out waz4 from the model. With this, I get no error messages but the loading of baz4 changes from being significant to non-significant.
Any suggestions?
I really appreciate your help,
thank you very much and best regards,
Laura Valadez
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Thursday, October 29, 2009 - 11:45 am
I would start with an EFA to see if the CFA you specify is valid. If so, I would do the CFA with no covariates in the model until I get a well-fitting CFA model. Only then would I add covariates.
Laura Valadez
posted on Thursday, October 29, 2009 - 12:22 pm
Dear Linda,
Thank you for your response.
Following the recommendations I read in the forum, I conducted EFAs beforehand, for each of the latent constructs and then for all the indicators.
The EFA for PHYSIO comes out with the following: The maximum number of factors is set to 1. So the 4 indicators come out in 1 factor where WAZ4 bears a considerably high loading.
For this, Chi-Sq = 12.587 (df=2), CFI=.997, TLI=.994, RMSEA=.053.
When I run EFA for all the indicators, haz4 and haemo2 share their highest loadings with indicators of MENTAL. However, haz4=height-for-age and haemo2=haemoglobin concentration and the indicators for MENTAL are results of memory/cognitive tests. This makes me think that -following theory- I should still keep them under PHYSIO.
When I did the CFA without controls, I got the following:
Chi-Sq= 1175.263(df=260)
and PSI not positive definite for MENTAL.
Does all of this means the model is seriously misspecified?
thanks again, your help is invaluable!
Laura Valadez
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Thursday, October 29, 2009 - 2:35 pm
If in EFA certain variables do not load on the expected factors, then their validity is questionable. If you force them on the expected factors in CFA, the model will not fit well. I think you need to consider the validity of the items that you are using.
Laura Valadez
posted on Thursday, October 29, 2009 - 6:24 pm
Thank you very much, this is really helpful. I will re-examine the indicators that I have got.
Isaiah Baker
posted on Monday, May 10, 2010 - 11:24 am
I have a one-factor CFA with 4 indicators. The error variance of one indicator is negative but very small and non-significant. I know this is not what is supposed to be. But everything else looks good, though with a warning message. And I like the results. Is it appropriate that I just leave the results there and proceed to explain them with some reasonable arguments? Thanks for your attention.
Erin Madden
posted on Friday, July 30, 2010 - 4:09 pm
Hello. We�re carrying out an EFA followed by CFA with covariates. There are 12 dependent variables and they are categorical (binary and ordinal). Based on EFA results, it appears that there are 4 factors, but the 4th factor only has two items and so was modeled as a correlation between those two items.
When I try to add a binary covariate to the model I run into problems. First, there is a negative residual variance for one of the items (avoidanc). I looked and the residual variance is very close to zero. But, when I set that residual variance to zero (using theta parameterization), I get an unidentified model. If I remove the culprit item (avoidanc) from the model it runs without any errors. However, the avoidanc item, which is problematic, is also theoretically important and should remain in the model. So, I�m not sure how to proceed.
Here is what the MPLUS model statement looks like:
MODEL: tbi BY dizzy@1 headache irritabl sleep memory visual ;
ptsd BY nightmar@1 avoidanc onguard detached irritabl ;
dep BY LittlInt@1 depress detached sleep ;
onguard with sleep ;
tbi ptsd dep on AUDC ;
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Friday, July 30, 2010 - 4:20 pm
Please send two full outputs, the one without the ON statement and the one with the ON statement, and your license number to
Siran Zhan
posted on Wednesday, October 19, 2011 - 1:30 am
Hi Dr. Muthen,
I have a model with 8 first-order factors and 3 second-order factors. I'd like to clarify if I can specify them in two equivalent ways.
One way is that I fix one of the first-order loadings to 1 by default, e.g.:
F1 by V1 V2 V3;
F8 by V22 V23 V24;
F9 by F1 F2;
F10 by F3-F6;
F11 by F7-F8;
Another way is fixing the first-order latents' variance to 1, e.g.,
F1 by V1* V2 V3;
Could you tell me if both ways of specification are correct and equivalent?
Thank you!
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Wednesday, October 19, 2011 - 6:26 am
They are correct and equivalent.
SY Khan
posted on Sunday, March 02, 2014 - 10:09 am
Hi Dr. Muthen,
My EFA results show that there are 4 factors for binary observed variables. When i conduct CFA on just one of my factors (which has 3 items)I get a meesgae of covariance matrix not being positive definite.
I tried fixing the starting values of the problem variable (JOBDSCRT)with the following three commands (two of which dont work):
JOBCTRL; (this produces negative variance for JOBCTRL)
JOBCTRL @1; (this again results in Neagtive variance)
JOBCTRL; (this one works in the indvidual CFA of this factor).But I realised that the diagram does not show any anchor variable which could be wrong. Is that so?
How should I solve this problem?
Further, if I use AUTOJD BY
in my overall model CFA with the remaining 10 constructs used in my model-- It works.
Kindly advise what am I doing wrong? How can I get the approriate result for my individual construct AUTOJD without loosing an item?
Many thanks
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Sunday, March 02, 2014 - 5:03 pm
You should focus on why your CFA gives a negative residual variance and change the model. It seems that you did not translate the EFA into an appropriate CFA.
SY Khan
posted on Monday, March 03, 2014 - 2:41 am
Hi Dr. Muthen,
Thanks for your prompt reply. Sorry, I did not expalin myself clearly above.
The EFA suggested 4 factors and CFA confirmed those 4 factors. But when I ran individual CFA's on each four factors seperately I get a negative residual variance for an item on one of the factors i.e. AUTOJD which has three items, JOBVARTY, JOBDSCRT, JOBCTRL.
The negtaive variance for JOBDSCRT:
JOBDSCRT Undefined 0.11371E+01 -0.137
I have read from posts above that when the -ve variance is not significant, it can be fixed to zero. so I have done the following:
1- Doing this I get the results. Is this correct?
2- Also with the above command the diagram shows that all error terms are the same for all items? please can you explain why?
3-Which is better way of dealing with -ve variance i.e. fixing -ve variance =0 or giving a new starting value?
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Monday, March 03, 2014 - 10:16 am
It sounds like your model is very fragile if separating the factors reveals this problem. Fixing a residual variance to zero is for continuous variables only. This cannot be used with categorical variables. It should also be used only for small non-significant values. I don't believe -.137 falls into this category.
In estimating the factors together, you draw on information from other parts of the model which you do not do when you estimate each factor separately. You can consider using the four-factor model if it fits well. Given these issues, I suspect it does not.
The error terms are the same because you have constrained them to be equal by placing (1) behind each one of them.
SY Khan
posted on Tuesday, March 04, 2014 - 6:41 am
HI Linda,
Thanks very much for explanation. After reading your reply I thought that the solution would be to drop JOBDSCRT (binary variable).
But when I tried PARAMETERIZATION=THETA it didn't give negative residual. However, the overall fit indices reduced a bit (were better with DELTA).
With Theta I get CFA for AUTOJD BY JOBVARTY, JOBDSCRT, JOBCTRL seperately too.
Please advise if:
1-I can proceed with THETA parameterization? if yes, then do I need to have THETA parameterization in all the subsequent CFAs and SEM ananlysis? OR is it ok to change back to DELTA where it works without a problem?
2- What would be the impact on the quality and legitimacy of result if I did not use same parameterization consistently?
3- I am asking this question becaues my inedepndent variables are binary (4 factors of which one is AUTOJD). Other three independent variable factors work fine with Delta parameterisation).
My intermediate and outcome variables are CATEGORICAL(for CFA). But I run SEM with Latent variables (of binary items) and aggregated variables which are treated as continuous observed variables in SEM. These aggregated variables are generated by adding items identified through CFA of categorical items.
Sorry for the lengthy question and many thanks for your guidance.
SY Khan
posted on Tuesday, March 04, 2014 - 8:50 am
Hi just to add a clarification to the above. I simply changed the parameterization=THETA without constraing the model in any other way or to give new starting values.And it worked.
Rest of my questions remain as above.
Thanks very much
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Tuesday, March 04, 2014 - 10:36 am
I have no further comments other than that I would not use the Theta parametrization unless the model could not be analyzed using the Delta parametrization.
Ting Dai
posted on Monday, March 10, 2014 - 10:37 am
Dear Drs. Muthen,
When trying to fix a Heywood case, I could 1) fix it @0;
2) constrain it to be equal with another similar residual variance;
Is there a third way, for example, still have Mplus estimate it but set it to be non-negative?
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Monday, March 10, 2014 - 10:50 am
You can constrain it to be greater than zero using MODEL CONSTRAINT.
Dave M�wisch
posted on Wednesday, March 18, 2015 - 5:55 am
which method or test you use for testing the significane of negative residual variance?
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Wednesday, March 18, 2015 - 6:38 am
A negative residual variance makes the results inadmissible.
Dave M�wisch
posted on Wednesday, March 18, 2015 - 7:32 am
Hi Linda again,
I know that negative residual variance makes the results inadmissible. But i read an article [Chen, F., Bollen, K. A., Paxton, P., Curran, P. & Kirby, J. (2001).lmproper solutions in structural equation models: Causes, consequences, and strategies. Sociological Methods & Research, 29, 468-508.], that describes different tests to check the significance of the negative residual variance and in the Outout in Mplus there isn�t any information about the test, wihich Mplus is using.
Thanks again - I really appreciate your assistance!!!
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Wednesday, March 18, 2015 - 5:46 pm
Mplus simply reports the z-test: Est/SE.
Jane Doe
posted on Saturday, January 23, 2016 - 3:03 am
I have a model where for one of the latent factors, for theoretical reasons I need to fix all factor loadings to 1:
f BY
Where f1-f4 are themselves latent factors estimated within the model.
But I get negative variance for f. (All other results make both statistical and theoretical sense.)
If I fix the variance of f to 1 then it works OK.
f BY
But I am not sure if it is OK to fix both the factor loadings and factor variance to 1. Fixing the factor variance to zero doesn't seem to solve the problem. I still get the same error message, which makes even less sense.
If I drop f from my model, it works fine.
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Saturday, January 23, 2016 - 6:15 pm
Sounds like f1-f4 have some negative correlations among them and that is picked up by the f variance.
Jane Doe
posted on Sunday, January 24, 2016 - 11:30 am
Thanks a lot. This makes sense. And yes there is a negative correlation between two of the factors. Allowing for that fixes the issue.
Jack Johnny
posted on Sunday, April 17, 2016 - 12:08 pm
Dear Dr.Muthen,
I am running an SEM with one of the latent factors "F2" has a negative residual variance according to the warning message. When followed your advice above by fixing it to 0, I receive the following message:
Parameter 64, F3 ON F2
The original identified model can't be identified now. May I know why this happened? What should I do then?
Best regards,
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Sunday, April 17, 2016 - 4:01 pm
Try to re-specify your model so that you don't get a negative residual variance for F2.
Jack Johnny
posted on Monday, April 18, 2016 - 2:41 am
Dear Dr.Muthen,
Great thanks for your prompt reply!
I don't quite understand what you meant by re-specifying the model. The model is based on a theoretical framework that I want to test. If I re-specify it, then the intended hypotheses will be changed. I think the codes (see below) which I used are OK, according to Mplus manual. Is it because I used pseudo data (borrowed from another study) for the variables tested in my model that caused the negative residual variance?
The commands are as follow:
variable: Names are EP1-EP4 ER1-ER4 AG1-AG18 EN1-EN10 AC;
usevariables are EP1-AG3 EN1-EN10 AC;
analysis: estimator is MLM;
F1 by EP1-EP4 ER1-ER4;
F2 by AG1-AG3;
F3 by EN1-EN10;
output: sampstat stdyx tech1 tech4;
Looking forward to your idea!
Best regards,
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Monday, April 18, 2016 - 10:20 am
Run only the BY statements as a first step to see if your measurement model fits. This data may not be valid measures of the constructs the theory is based on and therefore not be correct for this data.
Jack Johnny
posted on Monday, April 18, 2016 - 1:58 pm
Dear Dr.Muthen,
I ran the model with only the BY statements and received the same warning of the negative residual variance for "F2". Moreover, I also ran a BY statement with only the latent factor "F2". As it has only three indicators, I first constrained the two residuals of AG2 AG3 to be equal. The model was identified without the warning message, though the TLI index was negative. Then I tried to constrained the two factor loadings of AG2 AG3 to be equal, which resulted in a warning message that stated a negative residual variance from AG1.
Based on the above info, can I say all the warnings regarding the negative residual variance is caused by the invalid data?
Best regards,
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Monday, April 18, 2016 - 3:54 pm
The model does not fit the data.
Jack Johnny
posted on Tuesday, April 19, 2016 - 12:23 am
Thank you so much!
posted on Sunday, March 19, 2017 - 9:09 pm
I am fitting an bifactor ESEM model and obtain a negative residual variance. How can I constrain it to be positive?
The following code is not working:
G by i1-i10 (*1);
S1 by i1-i4 (*1);
S2 by i5-i10 (*1);
0 < rv5;
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Monday, March 20, 2017 - 5:23 pm
Please send your output to Support along with your license number.
Christopher Wiese
posted on Monday, July 24, 2017 - 10:30 am
Throughout this thread (and others), there has been discussion concerning not fixing residual variance to zero if it is significant.
Is there a certain threshold one should consider?
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Monday, July 24, 2017 - 2:49 pm
No, this is done a bit ad hoc, using trial and error. If it is "too big", change the model.
Robert Archer
posted on Wednesday, December 26, 2018 - 8:41 am
Hello Dr. Linda and Bengt Muthen, I have been reading in this post that: "Fixing a negative residual variance is done if the residual variance is a small negative value and not signficant. Othwerwise, the model should be changed." I want to ask if this should be interpreted from the standardized or unstandardized output? Also, could you specify when the negative residual variance should be set to zero versus set to one? Thank you in advance and happy holidays.
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Thursday, December 27, 2018 - 9:12 am
Use the unstandardized solution. You don't want to set it to one.
Robert Archer
posted on Thursday, December 27, 2018 - 9:17 am
Okay, thank you.
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Published On : Jan 2017
Category : Multimedia
No. of Pages : 106 pages
Multimedia is referred to the content that employs an amalgamation of different forms of content such as video, animations, images, audio, text, and other interactive content. Multimedia contrasts with the media that employs only fundamental computer displays such as conventional forms of hand-produced orb printed material. Multimedia can thus be played and recorded, accessed, interacted with, or displayed by data content processing equipment such as electronic and computerized devices. Multimedia can also be a part of a live performance or streaming. Multimedia equipment are electronic media devices that are used for storing and experiencing multimedia content. Multimedia has applications in several fields such as scientific research, business, mathematics, medicine, engineering, entertainment, education, art, and advertisements among others. It is used for creative, commercial, fine arts and entertainment, education, journalism, engineering, scientific and mathematical research, and medicine. With hectic schedules and the need for easy streaming of information, the multimedia industry is likely to expect a brighter future.
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CollectiveSollutions needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
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This book is a very exciting book. Chester and Harold get to solve a great mystery. It is just like a Cam Jansen book. Both of them are mystery books. Chester is just like Thomas in the Cam Jansen series. They are both smart.
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User:Michiexile/MATH198/Lecture 9
From HaskellWiki
1 Recursion patterns
Meijer, Fokkinga & Patterson identified in the paper Functional programming with bananas, lenses, envelopes and barbed wire a number of generic patterns for recursive programming that they had observed, catalogued and systematized. The aim of that paper is to establish a number of rules for modifying and rewriting expressions involving these generic recursion patterns.
As it turns out, these patterns are instances of the same phenomenon we saw last lecture: where the recursion comes from specifying a different algebra, and then take a uniquely existing morphism induced by initiality (or, as we shall see, finality).
Before we go through the recursion patterns, we need to establish a few pieces of theoretical language, dualizing the Eilenberg-Moore algebra constructions from the last lecture.
1.1 Coalgebras for endofunctors
Definition If is an endofunctor, then a P-coalgebra on A is a morphism .
A morphism of coalgebras: is some such that the diagram
Just as with algebras, we get a category of coalgebras. And the interesting objects here are the final coalgebras. Just as with algebras, we have
Lemma (Lambek) If is a final coalgebra, it is an isomorphism.
Finally, one thing that makes us care highly about these entities: in an appropriate category (such as ω − CPO), initial algebras and final coalgebras coincide, with the correspondence given by inverting the algebra/coalgebra morphism. In Haskell not quite true (specifically, the final coalgebra for the lists functor gives us streams...).
Onwards to recursion schemes!
We shall define a few specific morphisms we'll use repeatedly. This notation, introduced here, occurs all over the place in these corners of the literature, and are good to be aware of in general:
- If is an initial algebra for T, we denote a = inA.
- If is a final coalgebra for T, we denote a = outA.
- We write μf for the fixed point operator
mu f = x where x = f x
We note that in the situation considered by MFP, inital algebras and final coalgebras coincide, and thus inA,outA are the pair of isomorphic maps induced by either the initial algebra- or the final coalgebra-structure.
1.2 Catamorphisms
A catamorphism is the uniquely existing morphism from an initial algebra to a different algebra. We have to define maps down to the return value type for each of the constructors of the complex data type we're recursing over, and the catamorphism will deconstruct the structure (trees, lists, ...) and do a generalized fold over the structure at hand before returning the final value.
The intuition is that for catamorphisms we start essentially structured, and dismantle the structure.
Example: the length function from last lecture. This is the catamorphism for the functor given by the maps
u :: Int u = 0 m :: (A, Int) -> Int m (a, n) = n+1
cata :: (F a b -> b) -> T a -> b cata phi = mu (\x -> phi . fmap x . outT)
We can reframe the example above as a catamorphism by observing that here,
data F a b = Nil | Cons a b deriving (Eq, Show) type T a = [a] instance Functor (F a) where fmap _ Nil = Nil fmap f (Cons n a) = Cons n (f a) outT :: T a -> F a (T a) outT [] = Nil outT (a:as) = Cons a as lphi :: F a Int -> Int lphi Nil = 0 lphi (Cons a n) = n + 1 l = cata lphi
1.3 Anamorphisms
An anamorphism is the categorical dual to the catamorphism. It is the canonical morphism from a coalgebra to the final coalgebra for that endofunctor.
Here, we start unstructured, and erect a structure, induced by the coalgebra structures involved.
Example: we can write a recursive function
first :: Int -> [Int] first 1 = [1] first n = n : first (n - 1)
This is an anamorphism from the coalgebra for on generated by the two maps
c 0 = Left () c n = Right (n, n-1)
and we observe that we can chase through the diagram
to conclude that therefore
f 0 = [] f n = n : f (n - 1)
which is exactly the recursion we wrote to begin with.
MFP define the anamorphism by a fixpoint as well, namely:
ana :: (b -> F a b) -> b -> T a ana psi = mu (\x -> inT . fmap x . psi)
We can, again, recast our illustration above into a structural anamorphism, by:
-- Reuse mu, F, T from above inT :: F a (T a) -> T a inT Nil = [] inT (Cons a as) = a:as fpsi :: Int -> F Int Int fpsi 0 = Nil fpsi n = Cons n (n-1)
1.4 Hylomorphisms
The hylomorphisms capture one of the two possible compositions of anamorphisms and catamorphisms. Parametrized over an algebra and a coalgebra the hylomorphism is a recursion pattern that computes a value in A from a value in A by generating some sort of intermediate structure and then collapsing it again.
It is, thus the composition of the uniquely existing morphism from a coalgebra to the final coalgebra for an endofunctor, followed by the uniquely existing morphism from the initial algebra to some other algebra.
MFP define it, again, as a fix point:
hylo :: (F a b2 -> b2) -> (b1 -> F a b1) -> b1 -> b2 hylo phi psi = mu (\x -> phi . fmap x . psi)
First off, we can observe that by picking one or the other of inA,outA as a parameter, we can recover both the anamorphisms and the catamorphisms as hylomorphisms.
As an example, we'll compute the factorial function using a hylomorphism:
phi :: F Int Int -> Int phi Nil = 1 phi (Cons n m) = n*m psi :: Int -> F Int Int psi 0 = Int psi n = Cons n (n-1) factorial = hylo phi psi
1.5 Metamorphisms
The metamorphism is the other composition of an anamorphism with a catamorphism. It takes some structure, deconstructs it, and then reconstructs a new structure from it.
As a recursion pattern, it's kinda boring - it'll take an interesting structure, deconstruct it into a scalar value, and then reconstruct some structure from that scalar. As such, it won't even capture the richness of hom(Fx,Gy), since any morphism expressed as a metamorphism will factor through a map .
1.6 Paramorphisms
Paramorphisms were discussed in the MFP paper as a way to extend the catamorphisms so that the operating function can access its arguments in computation as well as in recursion. We gave the factorial above as a hylomorphism instead of a catamorphism precisely because no simple enough catamorphic structure exists.
1.7 Apomorphisms
The apomorphism is the dual of the paramorphism - it does with retention of values along the way what anamorphisms do compared to catamorphisms.
2 Further reading
- Erik Meijer, Maarten Fokkinga, Ross Paterson: Functional Programming with Bananas, Lenses, Envelopes and Barbed Wire [1]
- L. Augusteijn: Sorting morphisms [2]
3 Further properties of adjunctions
Proposition If F is a right adjoint, thus if F has a left adjoint, then F preserves limits in the sense that .
Example: .
We can use this to prove that things cannot be adjoints - since all right adjoints preserve limits, if a functor G doesn't preserve limits, then it doesn't have a left adjoint.
Similarly, and dually, left adjoints preserve colimits. Thus if a functor doesn't preserve colimits, it cannot be a left adjoint, thus cannot have a right adjoint.
The proof of these statements build on the Yoneda lemma:
Lemma If C is a locally small category (i.e. all hom-sets are sets). Then for any and any functor there is an isomorphism
where we define .
The Yoneda lemma has one important corollary:
Corollary If yA = yB then A = B.
Which, in turn has a number of important corollaries:
Corollary Adjoints are unique up to isomorphism - in particular, if is a functor with right adjoints , then U = V.
Proof homC(C,UD) = homD(FC,D) = homC(C,VD), and thus by the corollary to the Yoneda lemma, UD = VD, natural in D.
3.2 Functors that are adjoints
- The functor has right adjoint . The universal mapping property of the exponentials follows from the adjointness property.
- The functor has a left adjoint given by the coproduct and right adjoint the product .
- More generally, the functor that takes c to the constant functor constc(j) = c,constc(f) = 1c has left andright adjoints given by colimits and limits:
- Pointed rings are pairs of rings and one element singled out for attention. Homomorphisms of pointed rings need to take the distinguished point to the distinguished point. There is an obvious forgetful functor , and this has a left adjoint - a free ring functor that adjoins a new indeterminate . This gives a formal definition of what we mean by formal polynomial expressions et.c.
- Given sets A,B, we can consider the powersets P(A),P(B) containing, as elements, all subsets of A,B respectively. Suppose is a function, then takes subsets of B to subsets of A.
- Viewing P(A) and P(B) as partially ordered sets by the inclusion operations, and then as categories induced by the partial order, f − 1 turns into a functor between partial orders. And it turns out f − 1 has a left adjoint given by the operation im(f) taking a subset to the set of images under the function f. And it has a right adjoint
- We can introduce a categorical structure to logic. We let L be a formal language, say of predicate logic. Then for any list x = x1,x2,...,xn of variables, we have a preorder Form(x) of formulas with no free variables not occuring in x. The preorder on Form(x) comes from the entailment operation - f | − g if in every interpretation of the language, .
- We can build an operation on these preorders - a functor on the underlying categories - by adjoining a single new variable: , sending each form to itself. Obviously, if f | − g with x the source of free variables, if we introduce a new allowable free variable, but don't actually change the formulas, the entailment stays the same.
- It turns out that there is a right adjoint to * given by . And a left adjoint to * given by . Adjointness properties give us classical deduction rules from logic.
4 Homework
- Write a fold for the data type and demonstrate how this can be written as a catamorphism by giving the algebra it maps to.data T a = L a | B a a | C a a a
- Write the fibonacci function as a hylomorphism.
- Write the Towers of Hanoi as a hylomorphism. You'll probably want to use binary trees as the intermediate data structure.
- Write a prime numbers generator as an anamorphism.
- * The integers have a partial order induced by the divisibility relation. We can thus take any integer and arrange all its divisors in a tree by having an edge if d | n and d doesn't divide any other divisor of n. Write an anamorphic function that will generate this tree for a given starting integer. Demonstrate how this function is an anamorphism by giving the algebra it maps from.
- Hint: You will be helped by having a function to generate a list of all primes. One suggestion is:
primes :: [Integer] primes = sieve [2..] where sieve (p:xs) = p : sieve [x|x <- xs, x `mod` p > 0]
- Hint: A good data structure to use is; with expected output of running the algorithm:
data Tree = Leaf Integer | Node Integer [Tree] divisionTree 60 = Node 60 [ Node 30 [ Node 15 [ Leaf 5, Leaf 3], Node 10 [ Leaf 5, Leaf 2], Node 6 [ Leaf 3, Leaf 2]], Node 20 [ Node 10 [ Leaf 5, Leaf 2], Node 4 [ Leaf 2]], Node 12 [ Node 6 [ Leaf 3, Leaf 2], Node 4 [ Leaf 2]]]


text:
Vacation With Baby Like A Pro
Photo credit: x3rviar/iStock / 360/Getty Images
Streamline your luggage
Whether you're flying, driving or taking a cruise, packing all of Baby's accoutrements like his pack-and-play, stroller, swing and car seat can take up a lot of space and may cost you more to tote along. When booking hotel rooms or ship cabins, inquire as to whether they can provide your room with a crib or pack-and-play. Consider leaving behind the stroller and only packing the carrier. If you're going to visit friends or family, ask what baby equipment they can round up (or borrow from friends) to use during your stay.
Pack more than enough supplies for Baby
During travel, a newborn may drink more than usual as the sucking can be comforting for him during a new experience like a first-time flight or long road travel. If you're flying, come prepared with a nursing apron for breastfeeding. If you're on a long drive, be prepared to make more stops than usual as you may need to pull over to nurse or give Baby a bottle.
Along with milk, it's important to have plenty of wipes, diapers, changes of clothes and an extra layer — even though it's hot outside, airplane cabins are often kept chilly; or you may like the air conditioning in your car blasting, but it could be too much for baby. Don't forget all-important essentials like a favorite blankie, lovey, pacifier, rattles and soft toys to keep Baby entertained.
Consider when you go
Scheduling your travel time appropriately can make all the difference between a happy baby and a cranky one. If motion helps Baby fall asleep, arrange your travel time around nap or bedtime so Baby can sleep through much of the duration of the trip. If he's not one for sleeping anywhere but his crib, plan the travel after a long nap and meal so he's full, rested and in a good mood.
When you get there
When you arrive at your destination, make an effort to keep Baby's schedule for eating, napping and sleeping largely intact. Plan breaks between activities so Baby (and you!) can have some down time.
More on your newborn
The first 24 hours with Baby
How many diapers does a newborn need?


text:
1963 Lambretta Li125 Series III
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In the wee hours of Dec. 3, University of Colorado graduate art student Clarissa Peppers installed two of her pieces in the lobby of the school's Visual Arts Complex.
Related Stories
The works, entitled "I Don't Whistle" and "When in Rome," were both looping videos of a swinging bell and cyclamen flowers, respectively, below female genitalia.
"A lot of the way I work is just by intuition and impulse," said Peppers, 24. "I was thinking of a part of the female body that, to certain people, may be seen as having a singular use...My mind immediately went to the vagina."
A few hours after setting up her exhibition, Peppers returned to the VAC to find that the screens displaying her work were blank, and the extension cords she'd used were nowhere in sight. Some viewers of her art, she would soon learn, were so offended that the chair of CU's Department of Art & Art History thought it best to remove the exhibit altogether.
"When I arrived the morning of Dec. 3, I immediately received a number of complaints," said department chair Kirk Ambrose. "It's a space that is used by all sorts of individuals, not just art students. Weighing that, and the fact that I received four complaints, I contacted my building proctor. We decided the best thing to do would be to relocate the work to a space with a warning sign that gives people a choice."
The exhibit was moved to a corner of the VAC's basement – a less-than-prime spot.
Peppers said she views the individual complaints as artistic responses, not cause for relocation.
"I don't feel that, as an artist, I'm responsible for the reactions of the viewers," she said.
The decision to relocate Peppers' exhibition sparked a months-long controversy, in which fellow students, faculty members and national anti-censorship advocates spoke out in support of the artist. The saga culminated with Peppers re-applying for the VAC lobby space and, ultimately, reinstalling her work there last week — albeit with the accompaniment of cautionary signage and a floor-to-ceiling curtain to protect people who would be offended.
Her work came down on Saturday, the scheduled end of its run.
"The work is not even sexually explicit. It's a human body, which we all have," said Dr. Svetlana Mintcheva, director of programs at the National Coalition Against Censorship. "It's a very damaging cultural message to say that the body is shameful. It's not a healthy perception."
The issue at hand, however, had less to do with the exhibit's vaginal imagery than with the decision to censor a student who broke no rules. CU students pursuing their master of fine arts in Studio Arts are eligible to sign up to display their work in the VAC lobby, which is a designated studio space. Peppers' supporters cited that fact, as well as the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
"Everybody says they're for freedom of expression, until the moment comes," said Jeanne Liotta, an assistant professor in the film studies department at CU. "These are important protections we have as Americans, and they're tricky. We have to have public discourse about them."
Peppers sees the opportunity for open discussion as a silver lining. No other student has ever been censored in the same manner she was, so CU has never established a procedure for handling controversial or potentially offensive works of art.
"What I'd like to come of this is for there to be some kind of policy. The fact that this is the first time this has come up has become a learning experience for everyone, which is great. I'm happy to facilitate that," Peppers said.
Though the censorship of Peppers' work may lead to positive dialogue and increased preparedness from CU, some feel that the damage is already done.
"People are trying to make what was an embarrassment into something more positive for future students," said Taylor Dunne, a classmate of Peppers'. "I think it's a really depressing aspect of our culture that we can't get
past this.
"I think that by trying to censor that sort of thing it just further illustrates the problem with society in general. I can't believe that any part of the human body could be considered explicit at this point."
While many were upset by what they see as a violation of Peppers' right to free expression, Peppers says she was also disturbed that the school would deny her the chance to share her art with an audience.
"I felt robbed of that, which is why it felt necessary to push to have my work shown again in the exact same space," she said. "If I knew there were any restrictions as far as the content of my work goes, I couldn't have
come here."
Added Mintcheva: "It's important for them to be able to show their work, because it's part of the educational process. It's not only about creating the work, but it's about seeing how people will respond to it."
CU administrators will continue to work toward a policy for student art, which may include a permanent sign outside the VAC, warning visitors that the building's exhibits may be offensive.
But Peppers worries that a sign would prejudice viewers, and is also uncomfortable with potentially generalizing language on such a sign.
"Warning people that the content inside may or may not offend – I think that can come from a wide range of work," she said. "That's why I'm so confused that the vagina we were all birthed from has been, and is still,
such an issue."
Contact Camera Staff Writer Alex Burness at 303-473-1361 or email@example.com.


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Senior Scientist Don Anderson of the WHOI Biology Department was invited to deliver the Bruun Memorial Lecture in June at the 23rd annual meeting of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the United Nations Educational, Social, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The keynote lecture is named for noted Danish oceanographer Anton Frederick Bruun, the first chairman of the IOC. The lectures address important developments in solid Earth studies, physical and chemical oceanography, meteorology, and marine biology.
In his lecture at UNESCO House in Paris, Anderson spoke about the ecology and oceanography of harmful algal blooms (popularly known as "red tides"), as well as interdisciplinary approaches to their research and management.MIT/WHOI Joint Program alumna Laura Kong, director of the International Tsunami Information Center, presented the N.K. Panikkar Memorial Lecture 2005 on a "people-centred tsunami warning system and the challenge of building preparedness."
WHOI biologist Don Anderson delivered the annual Bruun Lecture at the 2005 meeting of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. (Photo by Aurora Mateos, UNESCO)


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I, Davros - Coming Soon
Sorry, no releases could be found that matched your search.
He is the man who made the Daleks - the greatest threat the universe has ever seen. But what made the man? This series of four full-cast audio dramas chart the rise to supremacy of the infamous Davros.


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Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Glutino Gluten Free Dark Chocolate Candy Bar
Finding gluten free candy isn't all that hard any longer, but a gluten free candy bar that also has a crispy cookie-like center? I'll bet there are lots of folks looking for that.
The Glutino Gluten Free Candy Bar comes in Milk Chocolate and Dark Chocolate varieties. I couldn't seem to find them in single serve purchase size so I had to buy a full box of them - which was $4.99. So I picked the dark chocolate ones since it appeared by the ingredients list that they're also vegan.
The candy bar is rather simple, a potato-flour wafer stack with chocolate cream centers is covered with dark chocolate. It reminded me of the old Bar None except it doesn't have crushed peanuts.
The bar is crispy, the foamy wafers are rather flavorless but provide a rice cake type crunch. The cream in between is smooth and melts well; it's more buttery and sweet than chocolatey. The chocolate coating is rather thick on the top and bottom so there's a lot more chocolate than I expected. It's nicely tempered, so it had its own crunch. The flavor was mellow, like semi-sweet chocolate chips - rather woodsy.
I liked them and for a gluten free and vegan bar it doesn't taste like there are any compromises in there. Sure there are palm oils in the cream filling, so that's something to be aware of but it is organic (I don't know about the sustainability of organic palm oil). But as far as taste and texture profile, if you didn't know it was gluten free, you wouldn't know the difference.
As one bar is under an ounce, it's not quite satisfying. The box was rather weird, as you can see from the top photo, it's much taller than it needs to be so I'd say there's an overpackaging issue (I wonder if they have standard size boxes and just kind of shrugged it off). So I felt a little duped by that. Also, the nutrition panel says that a bar has 140 calories. That doesn't make sense to me. It's less than an ounce, which should put it at about 110 or even 100 calories considering the fact that it has those fat-free wafers in there. Even a solid bar of dark chocolate has about 145 calories per ounce.
There are five bars in the box which cost $4.99, so the bars are expensive for something that's a "snack size" and not a "dessert size". I'll finish the ones I have but unless I needed to have a bar that fit the gluten free parameter, I'll probably stick with the Q.bel Double Dark.
Related Candies
POSTED BY Cybele AT 11:59 am All Natural • Candy • Review • Chocolate • Cookie • Kosher • 7-Worth It • Israel • Whole Foods •
Monday, February 19, 2007
Short & Sweet: Gums
I'm a little sick, just bronchitis, nothing to block my enjoyment of candy but I'm a little tired. I'm spending more time on the computer and just read an interesting article about some of the benefits of gum to help build memory or as a delivery method for supplements. (Link to LATimes.)
So I thought I'd profile a few gums today, just in short because, well, it's just gum.
I picked this Cool Cola Hubba Bubba up at Munchies here in Los Angeles. I rather enjoy cola flavor, though I rarely drink soda. This gum is from Israel and I can't tell you what the label says beyond the flavor.
The chew is soft like Hubba Bubba but has a really good rounded cola flavor, complete with a tangy lemon element and the spicy cola notes. The flavor doesn't last very long, but as it peters out it does taste a bit like old cinnamon gum, which isn't unpleasant at all. The bubble blowing is pretty good too. I can't say that the color is as appealing as regular pink bubble gum, but the size of the bubbles can be impressive. While I wasn't a huge fan of this, I really think it should be marketed in the US, it fills a gaping hole in the flavor range of our bubble gums.
(A little housekeeping note, I like to put on some lip balm before blowing bubbles to keep the gum from sticking to my lips.)
Rating: 6 out of 10
I bought this gum in a Family Guy tin with Stewie on the front last summer at Powell's Sweet Shoppe. It mostly bought it for the tin and this one was the least offensive of the Family Guy sayings there. (Not that I don't like Family Guy, but this is a family-friendly blog.)
The little gum pieces are as cute as can be, light orange and shiny. The flavor says it's orange, but I'd call it a juicyfruit plus orange. It's not very strong gum and not really that good. It sticks to my teeth (I have fillings) and doesn't last very long. But I liked the tin and will find something to stuff in there at some point when I bring myself to finish the gum that's probably all tacky and stuck to the bottom now.
Rating: 4 out of 10
Talk about your unimaginative names. Cafe Coffee Gum! Whee!
I picked this up because I was actually curious about the new Wrigley Kona Coffee gum, but I'm not gonna buy that, because it's got artificial sweeteners in it. So when I saw this, and that it had sugar, I figured it was destiny. And though I make fun of the name, the package design was rather pleasing.
It's not strongly flavored, but rather nice and mildly sweet coffee-flavored. The flavor doesn't last very long and when it peters out along with the sugar it's rather musty tasting. But swapping for another piece solves that problem. I can go through a pack of gum in a matter of an hour that way.
Rating: 4 out of 10
Monday, February 12, 2007
Frankford Marshmallow Hearts
I don't actually have much to say about these Marshmallow Hearts except that I was surprised and pleased, especially after the tragically untasty experience of the SpongeBob SquarePants Yogurt Covered Raisins last week (also made by Frankford).
I didn't realize that these were made by the same company, which is probably a good thing. And now Frankford has redeemed itself in my book and is no longer a "bad candymaker" and only an "uneven candymaker" ... one more in either direction and my opinion will be cemented.
One of the best things about these marshmallows was the price: 79 cents on sale. This makes them, per ounce, about the same price as Jet Puffed, but far cuter.
I'm not a huge consumer of plain marshmallows, but I have to say that these are adorable and just the right size (about 2/3 the size of a regular marshmallow). A few of these floating at the top of a cup of hot cocoa seems like it'd be a nice way for a parent to give some unconditional love or a sweetheart to give you a little unexpected treat.
They're vanilla flavored, not strawberry (as I feared before I read the package). They are pink on the outside, so there is some food coloring in there, and yes, it does have a slight bitter aftertaste for me. If you're not one who's prone to that, then hey, no problem for you. I didn't notice it at all when combined with hot cocoa, just when eating them by themselves. I preferred them a little stale, so they were chewy on the outside but still soft inside.
Note: Made in Israel ... however the package doesn't rate them as Kosher.
POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:58 am
Monday, January 23, 2006
Elite - Black, Peanut Butter & Red
Pesek Zman means "Time Out", kind of like the tagline for KitKat bars is "Give me a Break". They are, in fact, a nice little respite from a busy day and like the KitKat, easy to break off a piece and share (if you must). The shape of the bars and packaging is really cool, too.
The Black bar is dark chocolate with crispy wafers with a chocolate nut paste filling (hazelnuts and cashews). This is a pretty sassy bar. It has the light crisp, the nutty flavor of the nuts and the smooth creamy combination of the cream and the smooth dark chocolate. It's lot of flavors and textures all at once, but very successful. It's very sweet, but the hazelnut has a strange cooling sensation on the tongue that keeps it from being cloying and sticky.
The Peanut Butter bar is pretty much the same as the Black bar, only it has milk chocolate instead of dark and instead of hazelnut cream, it has peanut butter. It's a good thing I'm typing this review, because I wouldn't be able to talk while eating this bar. The peanut butter is very sticky, as in "sticks to the roof of your mouth." My solution to this was to turn each piece upside down before I ate it, meaning that the peanut butter layer was on my tongue instead of the top of my mouth. It was much more successful that way, but the peanut butter in this bar is quite overwhelming in its texture and flavor dominance.
I have to say that this is a unique bar. I've never seen anything quite like it. It reminded me of the Kliks, in that it's a toasty cookie rolled up, but this one was far more delicate and had some more complex flavors going for it. The center of the bar is a loose, flattened roll of crisp waffle cookie (like a ice cream sugar cone). Then it's covered with chocolate that can be sectioned off. When you break the sections, you can see right through the middle of the bar, just like the photo shows. The caramelized wafers are crispy and flavorful and there's a good hint of hazelnut in the chocolate itself. It's a very tasty bar with no real equal in any other brand I've seen. Of the three bars, it's the one I finished first. The bar is slightly smaller than the others at only 42 grams instead of 45, but I wasn't missing a thing.
If I were at an airport or international market and saw these, I'd definitely grab a few of the Reds. Even though the center was delicate, the bar traveled extremely well, making it all the way from Israel and then I carried it around in my "tasting bag" for weeks and it still looked factory fresh when I unwrapped it.
POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:55 am
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Elite Aerated & Lotte Airs
Before CandyBlog came into my life, I was completely unaware of the wonders of flaked and aerated chocolate. How can this be? I'm the kid who seemed to have as much fun blowing bubbles into my chocolate milk as I did drinking it.
It seems that the UK does not have the corner on the market when it comes to bubbly chocolates, I've now discovered these from Israel and Japan:
Elite Aerated Bittersweet Chocolate: This is the first semi-sweet bar I've tried that's bubbly. I'm not even sure if Nestle or Cadbury make one anymore. This bar is large, about the size of a 100 gram one, but weighs only 85 grams. The pieces are oddly light in the hand and melt quickly on the tongue. The bubbles are very consistent and I think a little smaller overall than the ones in the Aero bars. Very sweet at first and with a nice sweet smell but perhaps a little too much fake vanilla to it. It's very buttery on the tongue, though with a little grain towards the end but a nice crisp finish. This bar is 48% cocoa solids.
Lotte Airs: This isn't a bar at all. Inside the box, after opening the plastic pouch you'll find a tray with little pieces. (12 in all.) Kind of like the Dars I tried before. The Airs bar is milk chocolate but what's really different about it is that there's also hazelnut paste in there. It gives the bar a wonderful nutty aroma that mixes well with the dairy milk taste that might make it a little too sticky otherwise. The bubbles in them are very small, which gives it less of an airy feeling on the tongue, but it still has a good cool sensation. I love that it's in pieces, which makes it easy to share. Also, the other aerated bars tend to be a little messy when you break off a piece. Lotte is so clever.
See these other reviews: Nestle Aero, Nestle Mint Aero and Cadbury Dairy Milk Bubbly.
POSTED BY Cybele AT 4:31 pm
Friday, January 6, 2006
Paskesz Klik
There are two things that are great about tasting international candies (well, more than two, but two that I'm going to point out here). The first one is finding new and exciting candy with combinations or ingredients I've never had before. The second one is finding the same thing that we have available here in the States. And you wonder why I find the latter a great thing? It's because it's a confirmation of the universality of candy. Whether it's the same megaglobalcorp making it elsewhere or a spontaneous expression of convergent evolution, it's all a reminder to me that candy is the Great Uniter.
I'm still plowing through the huge box of goodies from Israel, so expect weekly groupings of goodies for at least through February.
These fun little popables are kind of like those Pirouline cookie sticks. They're a little wafer cookie tube covered with chocolate. There are little holes in either end (most of the time) that makes them look like chocolate macaroni that you could string up and wear (and eat!). This is one of those rare instances where the candy shown on the package looked exactly like what was inside. They were glossy milk chocolate that smelled like sweet, milky chocolate. They're also very light since they're crunchy, hollow cookies. That amount of air in there is actually, I think, a good thing as it makes you feel like you're eating more and also allows the flavors and aroma to mix. The chocolate is very sweet but really smooth and a little sticky with a hint of the European style of milk chocolate. The crispy cookie center is airy and with a hint ofcaramelized sugar to give it a little contrast to the vanilla sweetness of the chocolate.
It's easy to just keep eating these. It's such a simple idea, it makes me wonder why we don't have something like this in the States. There's a huge variety in theKlik line, including chocolate corn flakes, which reminds me of the Ritter Sport Knusperflakes.
This sounds like an unlikely bar: Extrafine Milk Chocolate with Cookies and Crunchy Wheat Germ. Let's face it, most of us grow up thinking things like wheat germ are yucky. But think of it like Grape Nuts. In fact, why isn't there a chocolate bar with Grape Nuts? These cookie and wheat germ aren't as big as Grape Nuts but they're very tasty and add more than texture to the bar. The wheat germ has a wonderful malty quality that gives the bar a nutty punch and moderates some of the sweetness. The chocolate here is also the same very sweet but exceptionally smooth milk chocolate.
It's also a really pretty bar. When I opened it up I was pleased to see that it's molded in the shape of a bunch of bubbles. It makes it easy to break off pieces, but they're not little squares, instead they're nice little domes which means more room for crunch.
Even though I don't read/speak Hebrew, I was easily able to pick out the Klik items from the box from Michal. I credit this to the vibrant design and packaging. I know I'm not going to run across these again, but I know I'll recognize them if it does happen.
Note: Israeli Kliks are nothing like the American Kliks which are a candy dispenser similar to Pez but they dispense Smarties ... the American Smarties, not the UK ones ... sigh, it's tough being global.
POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:27 am
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Max Brenner Chocolates
Name: Max Brenner Chocolates: Dark Chicao, Waffle & Milk Chocolate Cubes
Here's a little Hanukkah treat for everyone, some Israeli chocolates! The Max Brenner package says "Creating a New Chocolate Culture" and I'm inclined to hop on board this philosophy. Michal, a candyblog.net reader, sent me these wonderful treats and I'm very impressed by the combination of flavors, textures, the simplicity of ingredients and most of all, the playfulness of the packages and formats.
Dark Chicao: Dark chocolate thins with Ecuadorian cocoa bits. These are rather similar to the Scharffen Berger Cacao Nibs I tried and loved recently. I was a little scared when I took them out of the tin because they looked a little chalky, but we can chalk that up to their trip half way around the planet to get to me. They were a little bruised but tasted phenomenal. Dark, dark chocolate with crunchy nibs. The chocolate is buttery with a strong woodsy essence and a slight dry finish. Because there's so much cacao in there and not much sugar they don't get me hyped up the same way a chocolate bar does. At 75% cacao though, they're probably giving me some sort of theobromine high.
Waffle: Crispy Belgian waffle in milk chocolate praline. I've had many bars like this and they've usually ended up being too much cookie and not enough chocolate or too waxy or greasy. Here's a wonderful balance of chocolate, soft flavors and crispy waffle with a hint of hazelnut. The box is fun (the size of a pencil box with a tray/sleeve to pull out and reveal the candies) and the size of the little drops is just right, two bites for me. The Max Brenner milk chocolate is very rich, with 52% cacao, it's darker than many consumer dark chocolates.
Milk Chocolate Cubes: Michal was good enough to translate the boxes for these. They're minitruffles I'm guessing, one set is "Milk Chocolate Cubes filled with Hazelnut Praline and Caramelized Pecan Bits" and the other is Milk Chocolate Cubes filled with "Caramel Hazelnut Praline and Roasted coconut" (well, those are not really cubes, more like spheroids). The hazelnut/pecan one is sweet and toasty, like a hit of toffee only in a milk chocolate with just a few flakes of crispy to it. They're very rich and sticky and should probably be consumed with some strong coffee. (Or the Dark Chicaos!). The coconuts were amazing fun. Instead of soft coconut like you'd find in a Mounds of Bounty bar, this is crispy coconut that adds a bit of crunch and chew to the sweet milk chocolate. The boxes are cool because they're designed to be a greeting card or favor of sorts. You can write a little message on the back like those Valentines boxes of candy that we used to exchange in junior high.
I'm digging Mr. Brenner's new chocolate culture. Their packaging is interesting and not overdone. The little mylar packs kept everything fresh and the design on them is really inventive, slightly self-deprecating and sets it apart from a lot of other candy that I've seen that positions itself in this part of the upscale market.
Rating - 9 out of 10 (now I just need to find a source in the States)
Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.


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Fugitive banker wanted for fraud caught
A former Georgia banker who left a suicide note and vanished while under suspicion he embezzled $21 million has been captured 18 months after he vanished.
A former Georgia bank director who left a suicide note and vanished while under suspicion of embezzling $21 million has been captured 18 months after he disappeared.
Sheriff's deputies arrested Aubrey Lee Price, 47, during a traffic stop on Interstate 95 near Brunswick, Ga., on Tuesday after noticing the windows of his Dodge pickup appeared to be tinted too darkly to comply with state law, Glynn County Sheriff E. Neal Jump said.
Price disappeared soon before his indictment in Georgia on one count of bank fraud in July 2012 and left behind a written confession and a note for family and friends saying he planned to kill himself, authorities said.
When he was discovered earlier this week, he had several identification cards in his truck and failed to say which one correctly identified him, Jump said.
"The gentleman's story just didn't add up," the sheriff said.
Price was charged with giving false information and taken to jail, where he told authorities his correct name, Jump said.
At a federal court hearing on Thursday, a U.S. magistrate judge ordered Price to remain in police custody until a detention hearing set for Monday in Savannah, court records showed.
A U.S. marshal told the judge that Price said he was homeless and lived as a migrant worker, accepting cash for odd jobs, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
The bank fraud charge carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
Price previously controlled an investment group that put $10 million into Montgomery Bank & Trust, a small bank in Ailey, Ga., according to the federal indictment.
After being named a bank director, he "fraudulently obtained over $21 million of MB&T funds, which he then misappropriated, embezzled and lost in speculative trading and other investing," the indictment said.
In an effort to hide the fraud, Price provided bank officials with fabricated account statements, the indictment said. Regulators later shut down the bank's two branches.
He was indicted in New York last year on securities and wire fraud charges connected to the scheme.
Before his arrest on Tuesday, Price was last seen boarding a ferry in Key West, Florida, in June 2012. Investigators at the time speculated that he either committed suicide or fled to Venezuela.
The FBI had put him on the agency's Most Wanted list and continued to search for him.
Price's wife believed he was dead, her attorney said on Thursday. She asked a Florida judge to declare her husband deceased last year for estate planning purposes and now will seek to have the declaration set aside, lawyer John Holt said.
Rebeka Price does not know where her husband spent the last 18 months, Holt said.
"She's been completely in the dark," the lawyer said.


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