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Hiroshima University, Department of Information Science, Graduate School of Engineering, 1-4-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8527, Japan
Graduate School of Information Science, NAIST, 8916-5, Takayama, Ikoma, Nara 630-0192, Japan
We present a framework for optical tomography based on a path integral. Instead of directly solving the radiative transport equations, which have been widely used in optical tomography, we use a path integral that has been developed for rendering participating media based on the volume rendering equation in computer graphics. For a discretized two-dimensional layered grid, we develop an algorithm to estimate the extinction coefficients of each voxel with an interior point method. Numerical simulation results are shown to demonstrate that the proposed method works well.
Optical tomography1–8 is known as a safer alternative to x-ray tomography. Usually, tomography consists of a light source generating penetrative light and a detector capturing the light, which allows to estimate the inside of the object through which the light is passing. The most important application is x-ray computed tomography (CT), where x rays are used due to their penetrative property. The balance between the radiation exposure of the human body and the quality of the obtained results has been debated since the early days when x-ray CT was invented. Therefore, there is an urgent demand for a safer medical tomography, such as optical tomography.
Modeling the behavior of light plays an important role in optical tomography, and in the mesoscale, in which the wavelength of light is close to the scale of tissue, the radiative transport equation (RTE) is used for describing the behavior of light scattering.5,9 At the macroscale,6 the time-independent or dependent RTE is often approximated with a diffusion equation.
Similarly, the computer graphics community has the used time-independent RTE, and in contrast to the (surface) rendering equation,10,11 often calls it the volume rendering equation (VRE).10,12Display Formula
In this paper, we propose an optical tomography method using path integral as a forward model and solving a nonlinear inverse problem that minimizes the discrepancy between measurements and model predictions in a least-squares sense. To the best of our knowledge, the discretized path integral has not been used in optical tomography before. In our work, we simplify the path integral with some assumptions. The path integral, as the name suggests, gathers (or integrates) the contributions of all possible paths of light.17,18,20–23 We approximate the integral of an infinite number of paths with the sum of a finite number of paths, discretize a continuous medium into voxels of a regular grid, and continuous light paths into discrete ones (i.e., polylines). We deal with anisotropic scattering having a peak in the forward direction, which is different from other discretization methods using discrete ordinate or spherical harmonics.13,24,25 In this work, we focus on estimating the spatially varying extinction coefficient σt(x) at each discretized voxel location of the medium while fixing scattering properties (e.g., scattering coefficients σs and phase functions fp). By separating the scattering properties from our problem, we formulate optical tomography as an optimization problem with inequality constraints solved by an interior point method.
An interior point method26 is an iterative method to solve an optimization problem with inequality constraints describing a feasible region in which the optimal solution must reside. To this end, a series of nonconstrained optimization problems are constructed by combining the constraints and the original objective function and are solved by an ordinal gradient-based (Quasi-Newton) method.
To summarize our contribution, we reformulate the problem of optical tomography by combining a path integral with several simplifying assumptions to model the light transport in the participating media. This paper is an extension of our previous conference version27,28 with additional theoretical background and additional experiments and discussions, and is structured as follows. In Sec. 2, we briefly review previous work related to path integrals and optical tomography. In Sec. 3, we describe how to model the light transport in participating media and turn optical tomography into an optimization problem. In Sec. 4, we show how to solve the optimization problems. Section 5 reports some simulation results, and Sec. 6 concludes the paper.
In this section, we briefly review related work on optical tomography and path integrals in computer graphics.
Optical tomography4,5 (or inverse transport,6,7 inverse scattering,29 scattering tomography30,31) is a problem in medical imaging using light sources to reconstruct the optical properties of tissue from measurements (time-dependent or stationary, angular-dependent or independent) at the surface boundary. Analytically solving the RTE [Eq. (1)] with boundary conditions is difficult, however, and approximations, such as discrete ordinates and N'th-order spherical harmonics (PN approximation), are often used and solved numerically by, for example, finite element methods (FEM) or finite difference methods. The famous diffuse approximation5,6 (DA) is a P1 (thus first-order) approximation with the assumption on a phase function being isotropic. The DA is an approximation to RTE at a macroscopic scale when scattering is large while absorption is low and scattering is not highly peaked. Diffuse optical tomography (DOT) is based on DA and today represents the frontier of optical tomography32,33 with many clinical applications.34 DA, however, does not often hold in realistic participating (scattering) media; absorption may not be small compared to scattering, and the shapes of the phase functions can be highly peaked in the forward direction, which is often modeled by Henyey-Greenstein,35 Schlick,36 or Mei and Rayleigh phase functions.10,12,37,38 Experimental evidence39 also suggests a highly peaked shape of the phase functions in biological media. DOT works, but is still limited; therefore, other methods have also been studied for cases when DA does not hold.
Statistical Monte Carlo methods are used for media in which the assumptions do not hold; however, they are computationally intensive and inefficient for solving the forward problem,4–7,34 i.e., solving the RTE with given parameters. Therefore, Monte Carlo based approaches have been used for estimating the spatially constant (not varying) parameters in homogeneous media, such as paper,40,41 clouds,42 liquids,43 plastics,44 or uniform material samples.45 Another difficulty of Monte Carlo based inverse methods is that an analytical forward model prediction is hard to obtain when we want to minimize the difference between the prediction and measurements except for very special structures.46,47 A gradient based least-square approach has been proposed but only for spatially constant parameter estimation,40,41,48 while model-free approaches have relied on genetic algorithms,42,44 numerical perturbation,49,50 voting,51 or even simple backprojection.52 One of the contributions of the current paper is to enable us to use a gradient based optimization approach for estimating spatially varying parameters, which is extensible by using many optimization methods.
Similar to optical tomography, modeling light transport plays a very important role in computer graphics. Our own work on optical tomography is inspired by Monte Carlo based statistical methods. In the last two decades, methods based on path integrals17–19,53–55 have provided models of light transport for efficient volume rendering. For solving RTE, a path integral has been used for a forward problem solver,16,56,57 and has also been applied to optical tomography, but under the diffusion assumption.58,59 Our proposed method is based on a path integral to explicitly express the forward model prediction, which is very suitable for solving the inverse problem with gradient based methods. This is an advantage of our method over existing methods because the paths used in the forward model can be generated by either a deterministic or statistical (Monte Carlo) method. To achieve an efficient forward model, we introduce a simplified layered scattering model that uses a limited number of deterministic paths instead of Monte Carlo simulated ones.
We deal with the following optical tomography problem [this is a conceptual formulation and the actual problem is shown in Eq. (29)]. Display Formula
In the forward problem, as we mentioned before, we use a path integral to build a mathematical model for the light transport. Here, we follow the notation developed in the computer graphics literature17,23,53,60 to introduce the path integral. Sections 3.2 to 3.6 will show the simplified model we propose.
Given a space R3, a light source is located at x0∈R3 and a detector at xM+1∈R3, and in between them is the participating media ν⊂R3 with boundary ∂ν and interior volume ν0≔ν∖∂ν. A light path x˜ connecting x0 and xM+1 of length M+2 consists of M+2 vertices xm∈R3 for m=0,1,…,M+1, denoted by x˜=x0,x1,⋯,xM,xM+1. Thus, absorption, scattering, or reflection events happen at x1,…,xM. The set of all paths of length M is denoted by ΩM. The path space Ω is the countable set of all paths ΩM of finite length. Display Formula
A direction is denoted by ω∈S2, where S2 is a unit sphere in R3. A unit vector ωxm,xm+1 is the direction from vertex xm to vertex xm+1 in a path x˜.
Veach20 introduced a framework representing the rendering equation in the form of a path integral for scenes without participating media (i.e., no scattering), and later, Pauly et al.17 extended it to the volume rendering equation with scattering. The amount of light I observed by the detector is given by the path integral Display Formula
Here, the bidirectional scattering distribution function fs(xm−1,xm,xm+1) is used for locations on the surface of objects, and the scattering coefficient σs(xm) at xm and the phase function fp(xm−1,xm,xm+1) are used for those inside the medium. G(xm,xm+1) is a generalized geometric term. Display Formula
Putting all together, we have a path integral of the following infinite sum of all possible path contributions. Display Formula
Note that all vertices {xm} depend on a path k; different paths have different sets of vertices. In the equation above, however, we omit the path index k for simplicity. Later, we will again use k as the path index.
As our target is optical tomography, we restrict the model to deal with inside the participating media. To do so, we assume that the light source x0 and detector xM+1 are located on the surface, and the other vertices x1,x2,…,xM,xM+1 are inside the medium, that is, x0,xM+1∈∂ν and x1,…,xM∈ν0. Then the transmittance is simplified as Display Formula
Furthermore, we assume that the observations are ideal and the camera response function is the identity, We(xM,xM+1)=1.
Apart from the assumptions above, we rewrite the geometric term and the differential measure. The definitions above use area measures dA(xm) and volume measures dV(xm) along with the squared distance geometric term;17,23,53 however, steradian measures dω(xm) and the identity geometric term is equivalent and also widely used.10,12,60Display Formula
Therefore, we employ the steradian measures and rewrite it as follows: Display Formula
Now, Eq. (12) is written as Display Formula
For numerical computation, we first discretize the medium into voxels of a regular grid, where each voxel has its own extinction coefficient σt[b] (b is the index of the voxel) as shown in Fig. 1.
Illustration of a discretization example. (a) Voxelization of the medium into a regular grid of size 5×5. Voxels are indexed in raster scan order in this example, from left to right, and top to bottom. Each voxel b has extinction coefficient σt[b]. (b) A path segment between vertices x1 and x2. Voxels involved in the segment are shaded. (c) Lengths d12[b] of the involved voxels b=2,3,8,9. Here we denote d12[b] instead of dx1,x2[b] for simplicity.
With this voxelization, the paths of light are also divided into segments, as explained below. First, we explain the integral [Eq. (11)] along a single segment xm,xm+1 of a path x˜. It describes the attenuation of light along the segment due to the extinction coefficients of the voxels involved. Because of the discretization of the medium, Eq. (11) can be written as a sum of voxel-wise multiplications. Display Formula
For the second equality, b is the index of a set Bxm,xm+1 of all voxels involved by segment xm,xm+1, and dxm,xm+1[b] is the length of the part of the segment xmxm+1 passing through voxel b. This is illustrated in Fig. 1(c). The extinction coefficient σt is now a piece-wise constant function because of the voxelization; then the integral turns into a sum (the idea that this integral can be turned into a sum has been discussed before,61 however, not in the context of tomography).
This simplifies the computation; however, the sum over a set Bxm,xm+1 is not preferable in terms of implementation and optimization. We propose here to use a vector representation of both extinction coefficients and segment lengths, which is the third equality of the above equation. The first vector σt stores the values of the extinction coefficients σt[b] of all voxels. This vector can be generated by serializing the voxels on the grid in a certain order. The second vector dxm,xm+1 contains the values of the lengths dxm,xm+1[b] for all voxels. We should note that this vector is very sparse; most of the voxels have no intersection with the segment xm,xm+1. Hence, only a few elements in dxm,xm+1 have nonzero values, and the other elements are zero because those voxels b have no intersection and dxm,xm+1[b]=0.
This sparsity of the vector facilitates the construction of a whole path x˜ because path segments can be added as follows: Display Formula
Using this notation to rewrite Eq. (17), we have Display Formula
As a first attempt, we design a two-dimensional (2-D) layered grid, instead of the three-dimensional (3-D) one. Since we voxelize the medium into a regular grid, the 2-D medium consists of parallel layers. Hereafter, a 3-D direction ω between vertices is written as a 2-D direction θ and a steradian measure dω as an angular measure dθ.
As shown in Fig. 2, we assume a particular layer scattering having the following properties. First, vertices x1,⋯,xM of path x˜ are located at the centers of each voxel. The light source x0 is located on the boundary of the top surface of the voxels in the top layer. Similarly, the detector xM+1 is located on the boundary of the bottom surface of the voxels in the bottom layer. Second, directions θx0,x1 and θxM,xM+1 at the beginning and end of a path are perpendicular to the boundary. This means that scattering begins at x1 and ends at xM. Third, forward scattering happens layer by layer. More specifically, light is scattered at the center of a voxel in a layer and then goes to the center of a voxel in the next (below) layer. Scattering is assumed to happen every time the light traverses voxel centers. Even if the next voxel is just below the current voxel and the path segment is straight, it is regarded as scattering. Fourth, the scattering coefficient is uniform, σs(x)=σs.
Proposed two-dimensional layered model of scattering. This example shows path x˜ consisting of vertices x1,⋯,xM located at the centers of voxels in a grid with M parallel layers. x0 is a light source located on the top surface, and xM+1 is a detector at the bottom. At each vertex, the light scatters to voxels in the next layer, and possible scattering directions are indicated by arrows.
By ignoring paths exiting from the sides of the grid, the number of all possible paths is NM, where M is the number of layers and N is the number of voxels in one layer.
We use a Gaussian model fp(θ,σ2) as an approximation of the phase function Display Formula
First, existing phase function models10,12,35–38 are those for 3-D scattering, not for 2-D. This means that those functions are normalized for integrals over the unit sphere S2: ∫S2fp(ω)dω=1. Most of the phase functions assume isotropy (rotational symmetry), and hence, the function has a form taking angle θ as an argument; however, ∫−ππfp(θ)dθ≠1. These functions, therefore, are not adequate for our case.
Second, our assumption of layer-wise forward scattering does not allow scattering to happen backwards or sideways, and the Gaussian model is suitable for it. As shown in Fig. 3, the Gaussian model has the form of forward-only scattering (no backwards or sideways) in a reasonable range of σ2, and it is almost normalized; ∫−π/2π/2fp(θ,σ2)dθ≈1. Other 2-D phase functions exist which are not forward-only. For example, Heino et al.62 introduced a 2-D analog of Henyey-Greenstein's phase function,35 shown in Fig. 3. Although the parameters are different, the two functions in Fig. 3 have similar shapes. The most important difference is that Heino's function has backward scattering, but our Gaussian model does not. More realistic scattering rather than the layer-wise forward scattering introduced here needs Heino's or Henyey-Greenstein's phase function.
Comparison of two-dimensional phase functions. The upward vertical direction is θ=0, and horizontal directions are θ=±(π/2). (a) Gaussian approximated phase functions with σ2=0.1,0.2,…,1.0. The tallest and narrowest shapes correspond to σ2=0.1, and the shape becomes shorter and rounder for larger values of σ2. (b) Heino's two-dimensional analogs62 of Henyey-Greenstein's phase function with parameter g=0.1,0.2,…,1.0. The tallest and narrowest shapes correspond to g=1.0, and the shape becomes shorter and close to a hemisphere for smaller values of g.
We should note one further simplification in our layer-wise forward scattering model. The angle θm in the phase function is usually defined between θxm−1,xm and θxm,xm+1, that is, the difference of directions changed by the scattering event. Instead of dealing with such an exact difference of directions, we use the angle between θxm,xm+1 and the vertical (downward) direction for efficiency of computation. This assumption enables us to discretize the Gaussian phase function much more easily. Since fp(θ) integrates to (approximately) one, such a normalization can be discretized with a sum as follows: Display Formula
An illustration of angle measure Δθb for voxel b in the next layer. For the center voxel of the upper layer, voxel b (shaded) in the next layer subtends an angle of Δθb, which is used for the angle measure in Eq. (24).
The above equation can be considered as the energy distribution from a voxel in one layer to the voxels in the next layer. For a voxel b at direction θb, the value of fp(θb,σ2)Δθb describes what percentage of the energy will be scattered to this voxel. Figure 5 shows plots of the values corresponding to two phase functions with different parameters. We can see that, due to forward scattering, most of the energy is concentrated in the voxel just below, and a small part goes to the adjacent voxels.
(a) The phase functions with parameter σ2=0.2 (dashed line) and σ2=0.4 (solid line). Plot of the value fp(θb,σ2)Δθb for each voxel b for (b) σ2=0.2 and (c) σ2=0.4. Note that index b is relative to the voxel in the next layer just below the voxel in consideration. The voxel just below is b=0, the voxel on its right side is b=1, and that on the left side is b=−1.
The contribution Hk in Eq. (22) now needs to be rewritten so that it deals with the Gaussian phase function and the discretized energy distribution discussed above. First, we reorder the measure Display Formula
Note that the factor dA(x0)Δθx0,x1σsM is common for all paths because we assumed that the grid is uniform so that dA(x0) is constant, and the direction θx0,x1 (or ωx0,x1) is perpendicular to the top surface, and σs is constant.
Suppose the 2-D layered medium is an M×N grid; it has M layers, each of which is made of N voxels. We now construct an observation model of the light transport between a light source and a detector: emitting light to each of the voxels at the top layer, and capturing light from each voxel from the bottom layer. More specifically, let i∈B1 and j∈BM be voxel indices of the light source and detector locations, respectively. By restricting the light paths to only those connecting i and j, the observed light Iij is written as follows: Display Formula
In the above equation, k indexes the light paths, which share the same i and j. Due to the layered scattering model in the N×M grid, the number of different paths between i and j is Nij=NM−2. This is, however, too large even for small N and M, e.g., N=M=10. Therefore, we exclude paths having small contributions from the computation. This is done by a simple thresholding while computing Hijk as shown in Algorithm 1. This results in generating fewer paths; Nij≤NM−2. For example, there are Nij=742 paths for N=M=20 with σ2=0.4 when th=0.001, which enables us to reduce the computation cost.
Next, we propose a method for the inverse problem of the forward model [Eq. (28)] to estimate the extinction coefficients of the 2-D layered model. As we mentioned before, we fix the light paths and assume that the scattering coefficients and parameters of the Gaussian phase function are uniform and known in advance.
In the M×N 2-D layered medium described in Sec. 3.6, we had assumed a configuration of a light source and detector similar to the left-most one shown in Fig. 6; the light source is located above the medium and the detector is below, and the observed light is Iij, where i,j are the voxel indices of the light source and detector locations. By sliding the light source and the detector, we can obtain N2 observations, resulting in the following least-squares equation: Display Formula
Four configurations of light sources and detectors. From left to right, we call configurations T2B (top-to-bottom), L2R (left-to-right), B2T (bottom-to-top), and R2L (right-to-left), which represent locations of light sources and detectors.
Furthermore, as shown in Fig. 6, we have four configurations of light sources and detectors by changing their positions. This gives us four different sets of observations Iij and paths ijk. These four different sets lead to four objective functions (fT2B, fL2R, fB2T, fR2L) as shown in Fig. 6. Since the four objective functions share the same variables σt, we can use all of them at the same time by adding them to form a new single function f0 at the expense of additional (factor of four) computation cost. Display Formula
Since the inverse problem [Eq. (31)] is nonlinear, we employ an interior point method,26 an iterative optimization algorithm for problems with constraints. Here, we first review several key points in optimization; then we will develop an algorithm to solve Eq. (31) along with the required first- and second-order derivatives of the cost function.
First, we review optimization without constraints, which is used inside the interior point method. The general form of unconstrained optimization is Display Formula
To solve it, an iterative procedure begins with an initial guess σt0 and generates a sequence {σtk}k=0∞. It stops when the change of solutions is small enough. The information about function f at σtk or even previous estimates σt0,σt1,⋯,σtk−1 is used to calculate a direction pk to move with a step size αk. A line search is often used to determine the step size by searching along the direction starting from σtk for finding σtk+1 with the least value of the objective function Display Formula
Once we find the step size, the estimate σtk+1 is updated as σtk+1←σtk+αkpk. The direction is pk=−Bk∇f(σtk) for the Newton's method, where Bk=∇2f(σtk)−1 is the inverse of the Hessian.
The Newton's method is well known for its second-order convergence and accuracy. However, when the dimension of the problem is large, calculating the Hessian and its inverse is computationally expensive. Therefore, Quasi-Newton methods are often used, where the inverse Hessian is updated by incremental approximations in order to reduce the computation cost. The Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno (BFGS) update rules are well known.63Display Formula
When the conditions yTs>0 and B0≻0 (where ≻0 means positive definite) are satisfied, the BFGS update guarantees the positive definiteness of Bk. Algorithm 2 shows the Quasi-Newton method.
Here we introduce a constrained optimization with inequality constraints of the form Display Formula
The idea is to approximate it as an unconstrained problem. Using Lagrange multipliers, we can first rewrite Eq. (37) as Display Formula
Equation (38) now has no inequality constraints, while it is not differentiable due to I.
The barrier method26 is an interior point method that introduces a logarithmic barrier function to approximate the indicator function I as follows: Display Formula
The barrier method solves Eq. (42) iteratively by increasing the parameter t. At the limit of t→∞, the above problem coincides with the original problem [Eq. (38)].
Algorithm 3 shows our algorithm, which uses a barrier method with Quasi-Newton for solving the inverse problem. We should mention the following parts where we have modified the original algorithm.26
Warm start: For each inner loop, the Quasi-Newton method needs an initial guess of the inverse Hessian B0. Instead of fixing B0 for every inner loop, we reuse the Bk of the last inner loop to accelerate the convergence (shown in lines 4 and 19 in Algorithm 3).
Checking feasibility: Since the Quasi-Newton method and line search estimate without constraints, the next estimate σtk+1 may go beyond the constraints; in our case, each element σtk+1[b] in σtk+1 must be inside [0,u] after the step size has been determined. Therefore, in line 8, we check the feasibility of the estimate σtk+1 for the current step size αk. If it exceeds the boundary of the feasible region, we pull the estimate back into the feasible region by halving the step size. If it is still outside the feasible region, then the step size is halved again. Why do we not just set the step size so that σtk+1 is exactly on the boundary? The reason is the log-barrier: if σtk+1 is on the boundary, in other words, σtk+1[b] is either 0 or u, then log(σt[b]) or log(u−σt[b]) becomes infinite, which results in numerical instability. Therefore, the procedure described above is needed.
Checking for positive definiteness: The BFGS update rules guarantee Bk to be positive definite if yTs>0 and B≻0 are satisfied. While the latter is satisfied by giving an appropriate initial guess, the former depends on the updates at each iteration. If it is not satisfied, then the BFGS updates are no longer valid, and we reset the inverse Hessian Bk to a scaled identity63 at line 16.
Here, we represent the Jacobian of the objective function f0 in Eq. (29). Note that the objective function f0 in Eq. (31) can be derived in the same manner.
We first rewrite the objective function f0 as follows: Display Formula
To simplify the equation, we use the following notation: Display Formula
Now, f0 and the gradient can be represented as Display Formula
In this section, we report the results obtained by numerical simulations using the proposed model.
The following parameters have been used in Algorithm 3: tinit=1.0, μ=1.5, ϵ=10−2. For the line search, the range for the step size was αk∈[0,100]. For the initial guess, we used


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As it stands, there are only two candidates for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2014 that have a reasonable chance of leaving Roanoke with the nomination: Former RNC Chairman, former RPV Chairman and former Romney campaign adviser Ed Gillespie, and former Treasurer of RPV's 10th Congressional District Committee and former USAF tanker pilot Shak Hill. Both men have been absolute gentlemen in my admittedly limited contact with them.
What separates the two men? Their ideology and their records. Ed Gillespie has a record of supporting the Medicare Part D boondoggle, supporting the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP, the bailout), supporting "comprehensive immigration reform" (amnesty), supporting the passage of HB 3202, the ultimately unconstitutional taxing plan as chair of the Republican Party of Virginia, helping found American Crossroads with conservative bête noire Karl Rove, lobbying for Enron, and long-term association with the Republican establishment. A partial list of these would be enough to seriously damage his conservative credentials; the complete list makes a mockery of them. Now he claims to be a pro-liberty conservative. But hey, he did raise a few million dollars for Rand Paul's Senate campaign. So he's got that going for him.
Shak Hill is on record opposing the bailouts, the stimulus, HB 3202, and amnesty, and cannot be accused of being a tool of the national Republican establishment. He also brings a compelling personal story to the table involving his wife's victorious battle with cancer, and fostering of over 40 children, along with his service during the Gulf War. He's a very strong supporter of gun rights, having gotten the endorsement of Gun Owners of America Political Victory Fund. He's gotten the endorsement of longtime conservative activists like Jim Bowden and D.J. McGuire, and today he receives mine as well. I am proud to endorse Shak Hill for United States Senate.

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Tynor Insole Full Silicon (Pair) K 01 Large
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The Vietnam national GIS conference 2016 was well organized by the Hue University (University of Science and University of Agriculture and Forestry). The Geoinformatics Group of the Rapid Planning team (University of Tuebingen) was invited to give a workshop on "Urban Flood Mapping" using Sentinel-1 data and the free SNAP tools of the European Space Agency.
Besides of the workshop, the Geoinformatics Group was also invited to give the Keynote on "Recent Developments in Urban Remote Sensing". The innovative research concept of the Rapid Planning project was one of the case studies of the speech. In addition, the conference paper "Change monitoring of a heterogeneous urban landscape using RapidEye data – DaNang, Vietnam" was published in the conference proceedings.


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|Digital Photo Tools
Play With Pictures$39.95
Quick Specs
Total Downloads:18,639
Date Added:Feb. 03, 2009
Price:Free to try (15-day trial); $39.95 to buy (Buy it now)
File Size:4.37MB
Downloads Last Week:8
Current Version3.0
out of 5 votes
All Versions3.0
out of 5 votes
My ratingWrite review
Results 1–5 of 5
"Simple and powerful way to make picture collages..."
February 03, 2009 | By seleye
2009-02-03 16:12:24 | By seleye
| Version: Play With Pictures 1.0.1
wow - the hair extraction. Was looking for something like this for a party invitation I was doing the other day...wish I had it then.
Not enough features to satisfy me - still need my Photoshop
It is v simple way of doing a v difficult job - making collages of my images. I do this a lot, making pics of my friends in compromising situations! lol. There was no manual but I picked it up quickly and was surprised by the results.
Comparisons: the extraction is out there. None...I see from their websites that they have a product called Fluid Mask - it must be a derivation of this.
Bottom line: have been looking for something like this to make my picture collages. Needs a few more features. But not bad for a first attempt.
"Totally Lame!"
February 03, 2009
2009-02-03 15:27:47
| Version: Play With Pictures 1.0.1
Not difficult to use...
$39.95? Seriously? Not worth that at all, especially when there is freeware that does this and much more.
If you want to have this ability and so much more, use GIMP. It is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
It takes a bit of getting used to, but there is a ton of documentation. Just Google whatever you need to learn. For instance, in GIMP, you can use the path tool to extract images and add them to a new background. It isn't as good as Photoshop, but for free, it is by far the best.
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Reply by seleye on February 3, 2009
yeah its v simple...but it does the really hard thing I hate like a dream. The path tool in the GIMP is a dog and Photoshop's lasso isnt much better. What's wrong with simple? What's right with "takes a bit of getting used to"? It won me on the hair thing.
"Easy and Quick! Stop using MS Paint to Cut Out Images!"
February 03, 2009 | By sagelwwa
2009-02-03 14:13:14 | By sagelwwa
| Version: Play With Pictures 1.0.1
As a MS Paint user, cutting out images is really a PITA. This tool works really well on images that are taken with proper backgrounds and lighting. Working with poorly lit images with backgrounds of monotonous colors will still requires manual work.
Not able to adjust line drawing characteristics. The line drawing this program does is pretty good, but it would be best to be able to adjust it as the specific image requires.
Overall, this is a tool that any do-it-yourself image editor needs. Take it from someone who does their image editing in MS Paint, no matter how intense the job... lol. This saves a lot of time when working with the right image. Highly recommended to anyone not using a ridiculously expensive piece of software like Adobe. I must say I have Corel Draw and Corel Trace and this program is my preferred replacement for image trimming because it makes it so easy. Sure Corel may do a better job and have more adjustments, but it is a pain to use. This is quick and easy. Point and click ease and usability.
"Easy and fun, painless cutting out and layering."
February 03, 2009 | By Andy_187
2009-02-03 12:47:45 | By Andy_187
| Version: Play With Pictures 1.0.1
Simple, easy interface. I found it easy to cut out pictures, layer and adjust basic object properies. I particularly liked the canvas slider which allows you to adjust the size of the image based on megapixels.
I'd like to see more editing features.
What it lacks in an abundance of features it more than makes up for with a really powerful extraction tool and incredibly simple layering.
I can see myself and my children having hours of fun cutting out and creating fun pictures.
Not sure why the previous reviewer was unable to re-edit his cut-outs? I found the button on the objects panel without any difficulty. Hovering over any icon gives you a description and keyboard shortcut.
Along with the basic cutting out and layering you can add speech bubbles, annotations and adjust the transparency and color tinting of your cut-outs.
A nice feature was the ability to duplicate and resize any cut-out as many times as you like.
Certainly worth downloading and giving it a try! I'll be putting together some tounge in cheek pictures of my colleagues while I watch the clock counting down on Friday afternoon.
"Not ready for sale or if it is, not worth it"
February 03, 2009 | By stevemehere
2009-02-03 11:03:47 | By stevemehere
| Version: Play With Pictures 1.0.1
Seems simple, but that isn't really anything to brag about if it is lacking.
Nothing special. The hype for ease of use is not true. You seen these same tools before. It is lacking functions. After doing a cutout, there was not way to edit There was no instructions with the program or on the site. I would not buy.
when a product does not provide a way to edit your cutout, it is not well thought out. You will waste a lot of time if you can not edit a cutout by having to start over. There should be a way to edit a cutout at all times during the process, even when finished.
The hype in the description of ease of use is misleading. I have seen other similar tools and there is nothing special about this product that makes it easier to use than the others. It could be from a lack of instructions, both with the program and on the site, is reason it wasn't evident if there was something special about this product. But from what I could see, it had the standard tools to outline what you wanted to cutout or preserve, tools to make corrections, but once you finished your cutout, you COULD NOT go back and edit if you later you noticed some flaws. Very poorly done. I would stay away from a product that does not provide support or documentation.
It isn't ready for being on the market as a trial product let alone as a purchase.
Updated on Feb 3, 2009
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Reply by sagelwwa on February 3, 2009
You can in fact edit your cutout. Simply click the image and then on the right side of the screen click the cutout logo and you go back to the trimming screen. It is true you cannot adjust the line drawing which makes this tool unusable for certain images. The support site is in fact non-existent.
Reply by sagelwwa on February 3, 2009
You can in fact edit your cutout. Simply click the image and then on the right side of the screen click the cutout logo and you go back to the trimming screen. It is true you cannot adjust the line drawing which makes this tool unusable for certain images. The support site is in fact non-existent.
Reply by Barkingmad_007 on February 3, 2009
I find this review innacurate,. I have played much with this program and find it extremely easy to use and so straighforward that instructions really are not needed. One only has to hover ones mouse over an option choice for an explanation to appear. The programs analysis of photos is very good, and one can definitely go back and edit your cut-out, numerous times if you want to. One can make multiple cut-outs from any number of different photo's and place, resize and arrange them in layers them on any background of choice. It is a great program for both young and old alike - anyone who wants to play with pictures by cutting out specific items to make a new picture or collage - be it from one photo or from many photo's.
Reply by Andy_187 on February 3, 2009
I found the process of re-editing my cut out rather simple. There was a button on the right hand side properties panel which allowed you to go back and re-edit any object you had previously cut out.
I can see my kids having hours of fun with this, although anyone wanting to do serious advanced image editing may want a few more features.
Overall a simple, easy to use editor that allows you to do exactly what it says.....play with pictures.
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Full Specifications+
|Publisher web site
|Release Date
|February 03, 2009
|Date Added
|February 03, 2009
|Digital Photo Software
|Digital Photo Tools
|Operating Systems
|Operating Systems
|Windows XP/Vista
|Additional Requirements
|Windows XP/Vista
|Download Information
|File Size
|File Name
|Total Downloads
|Downloads Last Week
|License Model
|Free to try
|15-day trial


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In contrast, the Bank of England held interest rates at an all-time low of 0.5% as it tries to revive the sluggish UK economy.
Italy's third-quarter gross domestic product grew 0.6%, after five quarters of contraction. That growth is a bit higher than the eurozone average of 0.4%.
The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee has had interest rates at 0.5% since last March. It said today that it would continue with the £200 billion quantitative easing scheme - designed to increase the supply of money in the economy.
Stephen Boyle, Head of RBS Group Economics said: "The MPC has dished out many gifts to the economy throughout the year These presents are gifts that will help to get the economy back on its feet in the New Year."
Not everyone agrees with Boyle. James Hughes, chief economist at Black Swan Capital wealth management, said: "The market has voiced its opinion on the future of the UK economy: it's going down. Highly indebted countries can only rescue themselves from economic misery by pulling off a growth miracle, which seems unlikely."Reuse content


text:
Big dipper is a jumbo sized pool floatie. Covered with vinyl and made with closed cell foam. This pool float has 6 inch diameter and is 43 inches long. Suitable for kids and adults. Vinyl coating is hygienic.
On Jun 18, 2016,
T. S. from Wadsworth, IL said: Thanks, love the big dipper noodles Great product at a great price, much better than the floats from Frontgate.
On Sep 17, 2015,
B. D. from Eddyville, IA said: ordered from pooltoysmart that says on the website that it is a 53 inch and they send you a 43. Website is not accurate need to get it chandged or say out of stock
On Sep 1, 2015,
B. D. from Eddyville, IA said: need to have different sizes not just a couple ordered a bigger size and was sent a smaller one. If it was out of stock then just say, don't send something i didn't order.
On Jul 28, 2015,
M. M. from Taunton, MA said: The Big Dipper float is great! My family enjoys floating around the pool with them. I wish they were a little longer so you could sit on them and float. Overall they are a great purchase and glad I purchased them! Great customer service. Delivered within a few days
On Sep 11, 2014,
J. G. from Palm Bay, FL said: I expected something entirely different than what I received. The pool floats are big, bulky and hard to manage in the water. At almost $100 for the two of them, I thought they'd be more flexible and pliable in the pool. They are not. Prompt response to my order. Arrived quickly and in good condition.


text:
Great service, disappointed with Zika
Sail Date: May 02, 2016
Reviewed: 1 year ago
Traveled As: Couple
Room Type: Oceanview
We loved our cruise experience, however we didn't realize that the area was going to was affected by the Zika virus, and since my wife is pregnant that really limited our possibilities. It was great other than that though. Can't wait to go again!
Category Ratings
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|Cabin / Stateroom
|Great cabin. We were at the back of the ship which allowed a quieter place and wider hallway. It was fun watching the last port slowly fade out of view.
|Embarkation and Disembarkation
|Get there early and they may let you on before they say they will. We were on board having the buffet by 11am! Leave your luggage out the last night and then you can enjoy a leisurely breakfast that day as well!
|Ship Quality
|Destinations and Excursions
|Few options for pregnant women.
|Onboard Activities
|Would have liked to have had more shows and movies.
|Watch out for the evening shows, as they may be a little more revealing than anticipated. Not all family friendly. The comedy was also sub par using old jokes and crass humor to get a laugh.
|Service and Staff
|Food and Dining
|Awesome service and great food. Frog legs, alligator, and escargot were featured.
Port Ratings
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|Long Beach (Los Angeles), California
|Catalina Island, California
|Electric bikes are the way to go. Cheapest and can still get you all around the island at nearly 20mph.
|Ensenada, Mexico
|A shuttle for a couple dollars can take you in to town. The port from the ship is less than impressive.
Can't decide on only one dessert? Ask for a plate to go and they can send you out the door with an extra dessert instead of ordering room service at 1am. We were also told passengers on Carnival get a free visit to see the Queen Mary ship just feet away from the Carnival Port, not sure if true.
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014 Chris Weisman & Greg Davis 'Northern Songs'
Cat.No: home n014
Release date: April 2nd, 2010
Edition number: 1000 (digipack)
Release description:
Northern Songs is the blissful sound of Chris Weisman leaving his body and dissolving into the universe; he sounds very free. Greg Davis (electronic music composer, fractal maker) helps the usually obsessive Chris (psychedelic four-tracker, music artist) surrender to the void. The falling away of self is quite literal: Chris recorded a batch of songs, then turned the tapes over to Greg without instructions for completion (there's a special luxurious bath you get to take when you stop deciding). Rather than perfecting the material, Greg's treatments make it radically and beautifully incomplete; the pop song is unmastered, its closed forms opened to nature (this music has no inside and no outside (this guitar solo sounds friendly and tall (these computer sounds are showing me the thing in the tree that makes it alive
You might've heard/there's a crystal under Brattleboro. Yet Chris and Greg also know that radioactive tritium is leaking from the 40 underground pipes beneath the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. In this sense, their music is post-psychedelic: it is Vermont music of peace and patience, but it is not make-believe (the world is scary and darkening; it is also the home of love). We may dwell deeply in moments of imagination (and they are breathtaking) but the lesson is to listen beyond the rainbow space of the headphones (the world is forever changing (music in the expanded field (life is dispersed among the many things (2012 never knows (something gentle may happen
Carl Davulis
all songs written and played by chris weisman & greg davis
except 'it's all too much' which was written by george harrison
ruth garbus plays clarinet on 'we won't survive'
recorded between november 2008 – march 2009 in brattleboro & burlington VT
drawings by ryan storm
You can listen to, share, and buy 'Northern Songs' here:
Here's a sample of 'Northern Songs' which is free to download:
Boomkat – Album of the Week
Northern Songs is a collaboration between the great drone maestro Greg Davis and Chris Weisman, a member of Sub Pop's Happy Birthday and a seriously underrated songwriter in his own right, perhaps best known for his Tape Walk album on Davis' Autumn Records label. In fact, Northern Songs was originally released via that label last year, but this reissue on Ian Hawgood's Home Normal imprint gives the album an entirely justified fresh airing. Blending Weisman's Beatles/Big Star-influenced lo-fi song style with Davis' far-out sound designs and abstract compositions, Northern Songs merges these seemingly very separate disciplines in a variety of impressively original fashions. 'New Americans' announces itself with the wild, twittering scrawl of oscillator noise before Weisman's simply strummed guitar and voice clears the rubble only to be consumed by blaring, reedy drones during a tumultuous second half. While on this introductory piece Weisman seems to be fighting against the more abstract components of the mix, everything slots into place during the almost Elliott Smith-like 'Christalline', whose filtered, hiss-cloaked production transforms into an amazing Magical Mystery Tour-inspired psych-pop foray. The shadow of The Beatles looms fairly prominently over this record, and another of the album's standout cuts is an assured reading of George Harrison's 'It's All Too Much', which ambles melodiously and faithfully through the first three-and-a-half minutes until a collision with a wayward electric violin sends the track spiralling off into an electroacoustic maelstrom. 'Crystal Under Battleboro' closes the album in the finest fashion, capturing the duo at their harmonious best as Weisman takes the lead with another impeccable acoustic pop number before Davis' bank of synths take hold for an arpeggiating, bloop-heavy vintage odyssey worthy of the Ghost Box label. Brilliant stuff – highly recommended.
Norman Records – Recommended
Home Normal presents an album constructed by the gents known as Greg Davis & Chris Weismann. I should put their names in the order they appear on the CD but they fell out of my head in that order so that's what yer get. If you want to argue the toss, i'll see you outside in 5 minutes. Just gotta do this review. This is quite lovely stuff, untypical of this ambient/drone/sound-art label. Hazy, dreamy experimental folk with some beautiful psychedelic/tropical embellishment and wispy, spangled vocals – the second tune 'Christalline' is quite an extraordinary thing indeed with this "waapworpwaapworp" thang going on, I want one of those instruments whatever it is. There's a song which is seemingly punctuated by the sound of some mad children prising open a box of frogs (I reckon), a wicked cover of the George Harrison penned Beatles choon 'It's All Too Much', and the essence of a slightly twisted sunny day is dotted throughout by means of strategically placed field recordings. Another winner from this powerful experimental cannon.
Robin Hilton – NPR
NPR Music producer Lars Gotrich and I rarely share the same taste in music (check out one of his guest DJ stints on 'All Songs Considered'. But I immediately fell in love with a new album he recently passed along to me called Northern Songs. It's a beautifully unpredictable collection of lo-fi, neo-psychedelic folk songs by Chris Weisman and Greg Davis, two songwriters from Vermont.
Northern Songs opens with a glitchy mix of shortwave radio static and something that could only be described as laser guns, before melting slowly to a gently strummed guitar and distant vocals. The rest of the album is very spare. Weisman and Davis mostly stick to a single guitar with two-part harmonies and maybe some simple bells or a synth line. It makes the mix feel a little rough around the edges, but warm and inviting.
P*Dis / Inpartmaint – Staff Monthly Recommendation
greg davisのautumn recordsからのアルバムも記憶に新しい米ヴァーモント在住のシンガー・シングライターchris weismanとgreg davisのふたりによるコラボレーション・アルバム。元 々はautumn recordsより2009年に100枚限定のCD-Rでリリースされた作品のリイシューで、home normalレーベル初の全編ウタモノ作品です。まずchrisがアコースティックギターでレコーディングした曲のテープをgregに渡し、一切の指示も せず、そのすべてを委ねました。gregが施した職人芸のサウンド・トリートメントはchrisの静かでジェントルな歌を見事なまでにキラキラと輝かせ、 まるで水を与えられた植物のように瑞々しくナチュラルなサウンドはとても力強く感動的です。自由で幸せなサイケデリアが渦巻いたピースフルな大傑作!ふた りとも仏教徒として有名ですが、同じく仏教に傾倒していたジョージ・ハリソンの「It's All Too Much」の名カバーを収録しています。また、ruth garbusが1曲クラリネットで参加。
初期のCarparkを代表する アーティストとして、良質なフォークトロニカ作品をリリースしていたGreg Davis。中でもBeach BoysやIncredible Strings Bandのカヴァーまで収録した2004年の『Curling Pond Woods』は、フリー・フォークとの共振を感じさせる作品として印象に残っているが、彼の来日公演を観に行って、前座扱いだったAnimal Collective(その時はPanda BearとDeakinの二人だけだった)に衝撃を受けたことも、個人的には忘れられない出来事だ。
そんなGreg Davisと、先日Sub PopからデビューしたHappy BirthdayのメンバーでもあるChris Weismanとのコラボレーション・アルバムが本作。 基本的にはChris Weismanの弾き語りによるフォーク・ソングをGreg Davisに送り、その上にGregが様々なエレメントを加えるという"ポスタル・サービス"形式で制作されているそうで、シンプルな楽曲の上に唐突に振 り掛けられる電子音が、なんともビザールな印象を与えている。純粋なコラボレーションというよりは、むしろリミックス・アルバムに近い作品なのかもしれな い。
仏教に改宗し、Krankyからエクスペリメンタルなドローン作品を発表している近年のGreg Davis。仏教に改宗したミュージシャンといえば、Akron/FamilyのメンバーだったRyan Vanderhoofが思い出されるが、実際GregはMegafaunのメンバーと一緒に、Akron/Familyの一員としてツアーを回っていたこ ともある。そしてもう一人、仏教に傾倒していたミュージシャンとして忘れてはならないのが、BeatlesのGeorge Harrison。本作ではGeorgeのBeatles時代の曲である「It's All Too Much」をカヴァーしているが、アルバムのタイトルである『Northern Songs』からして、ビートルズの楽曲を管理する出版会社の名前だという懲りようである。
というわけで、ところどころで聴こえてくるハルモニウムや銅鑼といった楽器の響きがスピリチュアルなムードを醸し出してはいるものの、ポップなメロ ディと Chrisのジェントルな歌声も手伝って、全く難解な印象は与えない。蝉や鳥の鳴き声といった環境音もアンビエントな雰囲気を作り出していて、喩えて言う なら、Beatlesの「Sun King」をBrian Enoがカヴァーしているような、そんな穏やかな作品。彼らの地元であるヴァーモント州バトルボロの地下にはクリスタルが眠っている、という神秘的なエピ ソードを元にしたラストの「Crystal Under Battleboro」は、スケールの大きな名曲だ。
Pure Pop
I was 'that' guy…and spilled my cocktail on the edge of the merch table at the Akron Family show the other night. Man, I'm never that guy – luckily they had a rubberish tablecloth so it spilled right off, no damage done, other than a drop that spilled on one or two of Greg Davis's CDs. Seeing the look of perturbation on his merch-girl's face, I kindly asked to buy one of the narrowly dampened discs.
Now I couldn't remember if I had ever really seen Greg Davis perform live before. I know he opens up at numerous local concerts I attend, but I'm notoriously late for everything so I don't think I've ever caught his set. Wait, maybe once. I know I saw Akron play when he was with them. Anywho, I had a vision of him being some completely aloof noise manipulator guy without any depth, and I have to apologize. For I really enjoy this album I picked up.
Northern Songs with Chris Weisman and Greg Davis only touches on the aloof noise manipulation scene. It's really more of a modern folk-sonic vibe with a touch of bipolar psychedelics. It drifts, but never gets dull or too self-indulgent. A few tracks remind me of mellow Animal Collective or maybe an Akron Family meets Blind Melon feel. There's moments of Byrne-ish Africana, and flips of 8-bit burnouts, and sometimes the weird sounds seem thrown in just for the sake of being weird. The tunes are at their best when they're more straight forward folk, and "It's All Too Much" works a perfect balance of everything they're trying to do. However, the few times they take it out in a more layered, cycling, and focused rabbit-hole drop, it really makes me want to get out to some of these shows earlier.
Speaking of Davis, the third Home Normal release finds the sonic magpie teaming up with Chris Weisman for the psychedelic song cycle Northern Songs. We're informed that Weisman recorded a batch of songs, and then passed them on to Davis for him to work his own particular magic on them. That modus operandi is consistent with how the music sounds, as stripped of the material's baroque instrumental touches one would be left with pop songs that are fairly straightforward in their structure. As a result, "Christalline" would otherwise be a charming enough folk tune were it not for the resonant bell strikes that resound and render it all the more memorable. Ear-catching too is "New Americans" which, following a psychedelic opening flourish of squeals and starbursts, eases into a dreamy vocal section before a mutant cavalcade of bleating horns takes charge. Elsewhere, a lunatic circus band briefly disrupts the otherwise laid-back trippiness of "Hat of Night," but probably the most entrancing vocal melodies appear during "We Won't Survive" amidst field recordings of birds and a lovely clarinet cameo by Ruth Garbus.
The choice of album title is an interesting one for multiple reasons. On the one hand, Northern Songs refers, of course, to the company established in 1963 to look after for The Beatles' music publishing business. Certainly there is a trippy Sgt. Pepper-ish vibe to the songs but in truth the material evokes more the George Harrison end of the spectrum rather than the more familiar Lennon-McCartney (that the duo each owned 15% of the company's shares and Harrison just 0.8% prompted the latter to compose "Only a Northern Song," which appeared in both the 1968 film Yellow Submarine and subsequent soundtrack album). That affinity is literalized in the choice of Harrison's "It's All Too Much" as Northern Songs' centerpiece, which Weisman and Davis re-create faithfully (trainspotters will also catch the lyric snippet—"with your long blonde hair and your eyes of blue"—that re-surfaces in The Mersey's 1966 hit "Sorrow," also covered by Bowie on his 1973 covers disc, Pin Ups). Other influences suggest themselves too, never more so than when "Steaming Bowl" evokes the loopiness of The Beach Boys' "Vegetables" in particular and the Smile period in general. Production strategies and influences aside, Northern Songs is one of the most accessible collaborations Davis has issued to date and straight-up one of the most enjoyable too.


text:
From the Department of Medicine, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York
1998 by the American College of Chest Physicians
A 69-year-old man with advanced prostate cancer was receiving antiandrogen therapy (bicalutamide [Casodex]). He developed dyspnea, peripheral eosinophilia and bilateral pulmonary interstitial infiltrates. Transbronchial biopsy confirmed pulmonary eosinophilia. Withdrawal of bicalutamide and initiation of steroid therapy resulted in clinical improvement.
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Next Program
|Jan. 23, 2017 at 8pm
- 1/23 at 8pm: Goal Setting Workshop & Accountability Kick Off
- 1/21 at 12pm: Fitness Check-In (optional)
- Life-Coaching Workshop
- Finale and Yoga Class
Program Details
Offered several times a year
Private Facebook Group for support and motivation
Kick off with fitness check-in (optional) and free breakfast
Two, interactive, one-hour lifestyle- coaching workshops
Guidance to choose keystone habits to begin creating real change
In depth support from your coaches and fellow members
Space for your goals on our PDA (Public Display of Accountability) wall
Finale to celebrate goals reached, lessons learned, and plan new goals
What's required of me?
- Daily Facebook check-in with your accountability coach
Why Accountability Works
The Numbers
The Science
|Researchers at Stanford University conducted a study in 2007, where two groups of people were given an exercise program (1). 50% of that group received weekly 'accountability' phone calls (where participants were called once per week to check on their progress), and the other 50% did not. The Stanford research showed a 59% increase in weekly exercise for those who received phone calls compared to those who did not.
Virginia Virginia Polytechnic University also conducted a similar study which showed that after 24 weeks, 63% of the participants receiving the weekly phone calls were still exercising, compared to just 4% of those who were not (2). Those who received the weekly phone calls were 1600% more likely to stick to their exercise program than those who did not!
1. Ongoing Physical Activity Advice by Humans Versus Computers: The Community Health Advice by Telephone (CHAT) Trial - Abby C. King, Robert Friedman, Stanford University


text:
I'm a girl from Germany who loves LONDON, the Lolita fashion, Yuri/Shoujo-Ai, Musicals (most favourites: Phantom of the Opera, Elisabeth, Rebecca, Wicked, The Three Musketeers, Sweeney Todd, "Die Päpstin", "Elisabeth - Legende einer Heiligen", "Tanz der Vampire", The Lion King, The Lord of The Rings, Rocky Horror Show, Sera Myu Productions, Starkid Productions and some more) and photography.
At the moment I'm in an apprenticeship as commercial artist.
Favourite genre of music: Symphonic/Gothic Metal, Punk
Favourite style of art: Photography, Photomanipulation, Digital Art
MP3 player of choice: SONY NWZ-S516


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We would love to hear your feedback and any suggestions you may have for our new VWVortex store.
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Here's something you don't see every day. Take one DKW Munga, built by Auto Union during the 50s primarily for military use. Paint it yellow, fit it with mudder tires and rally lights, swap in an aircooled VW boxer four and you have one very unique beach buggy. We've just found this beast for sale in Fort Lauderdale, FL and listed on Ebay.
Bidding is only at about $3K but there is a reserve so we've emailed the owner


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Anyone know where I can get one? Online manuals anywhere?
Any help is great,
Reason I'm asking, a buddie of mine just got a '99 R6 and the guy who had it before him put aftermarket blinkers on it and screwed the turnsignal wiring. the rear blinkers are now running lights/ blinkers, meaning they stay on all the time and the blinking is very erratic. also the turnsignal indicator isn't working. I dont know how you could possibly screw up two wires to each signal anyways I think it's got to be the relay, but I would like to see the schematic to see what could have gone wrong.


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By STEVE KALLING
Does it drive you nuts the way Christmas songs start seeping into the background earlier and earlier every year? Are you maddened by hearing it at the post office, at the mall, in the airports and during each and every commercial everywhere? Have you tried to make a call to some major corporation, say the airlines, only to hear the magic words, "If you have a touch-tone phone please press one now and wait for your options before we put you on hold and play Muzak versions of bad Christmas songs until you scream for Prozac."
If you, like me, feel sick every time you hear the first notes of all-too-familiar classic songs, then you may well have the rerun Christmas music blues. This year, though, I vow to fight back. I won't buy into any of the usual Christmas music crap. I have the cure for the rerun Christmas music blues. I am making my own tradition with my own choices of music for the holidays.
After all, is there any hope for a society which produces classics like "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer," and then turns them into Muzak and rams them into the unsuspecting ears of its citizens? Compounding the profanity, this diet of lite music begins far in advance of the true season. Days before Halloween, I was hearing "Holly Jolly Christmas" on Delta's customer disservice wait line.
Given my history of interactions with Delta, this may have been an isolated event aimed at me personally, possibly in retaliation for the Ritz cracker incident in Salt Lake City last March. But I can't rule out the possibility that Delta may have been trying to embitter others as well.
When I hear Christmas music, I want to be free to surrender to the glad memories of growing up and gathering around the ol' tree (okay, the Chanukah shrub, but we went through the motions) at Gramma's, not held captive in some slow-moving line or being softened by retailers trying to put me in the Christmas spirit.
The albums we are going to be playing a lot these last few days before the big day -- and, remember, these make great gifts too -- are John Coltrane's My Favorite Things, Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, Al Green's Let's Stay Together, Tom Waits' Night Hawks at the Diner, and (here I break down and go with the season) Louis Armstrong and friends' What a Wonderful Christmas.
My first step toward selecting any of this music was to imagine the players dressed up in Santa suits: Miles Davis and John Coltrane, okay; Al Green, easy enough; Tom Waits... hmmm... a little scary, but balanced by the vision of Louis Armstrong in a red suit with a white beard. As for the ritual that follows, feel free to improvise.
Set up your tree and, while decorating, let Tom Waits' whiskey and gravel voice spin a few tales about people who are not lucky, whose lives are not any where near as good as our own. Waits tells as good a story as anyone and does it with humor and groove. This is a good time of year to remember your fortunes and keep a tender space for those who have none.
When people come over, spin the Armstrong and friends disc -- new this year, with old classics by stellar performers. It is music familiar enough to illuminate the season, but good enough to listen to over and over. The high point for me is somewhere between Duke Ellington's "Jingle Bells" and Satchmo's version of "Winter Wonderland." "Zat you Santa clause?" is another favorite, but I love them all.
After the crowd thins out and the glasses washed, turn out all the lights except for the ones on the tree and toss another log on the fire. Put on Al Green's Let's Stay Together, and slow dance with your sweet one. If you make it through side two, you are guaranteed to sleep warm and deep when you finally get there. (Warning: excessive indulgence in Al Green can lead to procreation which may ultimately interfere with your ability to sleep in on Christmas morning.)
As Christmas dawns, it's time to open a few presents. With coffee and fresh-baked muffins steaming by the stove, put on John Coltrane's My Favorite Things, and tear into those packages all tied up with string. This is one of the greatest albums of all time, and there are two tunes most everyone can hum at least the beginning of. By the time Coltrane starts into "Summertime," you won't care much that summer is half a year away.
Once the day drifts deep into the afternoon, it's time once again to get cozy by the fire and watch the shadows grow. As the light goes all soft Miles' Kind of Blue provides a gentle winding-down soundtrack. If you own only one jazz record it should be this one. There is almost no occasion for which it is not the perfect music and this day as the room dissolves into dusk, and fire light, is the best of all best times to hear it.
Hold somebody tight and watch the fire dance and you will have beaten the holiday music rerun blues for good. Trust me on this one. Life is too short to listen to bad music.
By EDNOR THERRIAULT
Reverb Deluxe
The Derailers
As the year comes to a close, the new millennium comes even closer and Bill Gates moves toward installing a chip in every citizen, there remains one, constant, unassailable source of comfort and pleasure for those of us not ready to cross the Bill Clinton Memorial Bridge to the 21st century.
What is this magic balm, you ask? Roots music, of course.
Americana, grange, no depression, new traditionalism (an insulting oxymoron) -- whatever trendy label Big Media feels compelled to slap on it, there is a growing number of clear-eyed purists, who play straight ahead, old school country songs that evoke the early, innocent days of rock and roll when grown-ups feared hillbillies and embraced Pat Boone and Frank Sinatra.
Just witness the output of BR5-49, High Noon and Wylie and the Wild West, and you know where I'm coming from. Add the Derailers to that list, crisp as a newly minted sawbuck and true as a straight razor, and you'll soon find out where I'm headed.
Based out of the whammy bar Mecca of Austin, Texas, the Derailers stake out their throwback country with a Sun Records sound located somewhere between country and rockabilly. The first record bolted from the chute with a fully formed vision of Music the Way God Meant It.
Although there are no killed-me-on-the-first-listen bombshells like "She Left Me Cold," the long awaited second effort, Reverb Deluxe, delivers.
The album's cover in this case is a good metaphor for the Derailers' sound. It's a close-up of a grungy bridge assembly on a sparkling, blue metal-flake Fender Telecaster. The Derailers aren't afraid to let a few rough edges show in the glistening, rich honky tonk.
The Buck Owens influence is obvious and powerful, yet these boys are no mere Bakersfield revivalists. Producer and ex-Blasters guitarist Dave Alvin adds muscle and resonance to the twangy gee-tars, meandering fiddles and swelling pedal steel that recall early Merle Haggard. The clean production also showcases the soaring, Louvin Brothers-style harmonies of Tony Villanueva and Brian Hofeldt.
Reverb Deluxe -- taking its title from a classic Fender tube amp, by the way -- finds the band sticking mostly to its proven formula on traditional country shuffles such as "Tears in Your Eyes" and "Pawnshop Wedding Rings." Elsewhere the Derailers stretch their boundaries a bit, infusing several tunes with a '60s West Coast pop sound, most notably on "California Angel."
If you love roots music, these songs will sound familiar and brand new, because the band plays with such authority that the players can relax and let their personalities shine through. Nowhere is this more evident than on the obligatory, hidden track, a tambourine-popping, guitar-jangling rave up of Prince's "Raspberry Beret."
In one song, the Derailers do what Dwight Yoakam couldn't pull off using his entire last album ("Train in Vain" being a possible exception) and turn a well-known rock (pop? dance?) standard into butt-twitching country. The funky bass-and-drums break in the middle of "Beret" shows that these boys can color outside the lines.
But the Derailers are at their best when they're breathing new life into a well-worn genre, sounding like a fresh, energy packed time capsule from a time when music was pure, honest, just a little bit dirty and a whole lot of fun.


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Vintage (1977) Avon Gold Tone Snowflake Pierced Earrings
- Sold for: Start Free Trial or Sign In to see what it's worth.
- Item Category: Jewelry
- Source: eBay
- Sold Date: Jul 08, 2014
- Channel: Auction House
This vintage pierced earring set in the ORIGINAL BOX is from the 1977 Avon Collection. The earrings have surgical steel posts.


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Anam Cara Holistic Centre
150 Streetly Lane
Sutton Coldfield
West Midlands
2 Buckton Close
Four Oaks
Sutton Coldfield
West Midlands
07890 324583
Anam Cara Holistic Centre
150 Streetly Lane
Sutton Coldfield
West Midlands
2 Buckton Close
Four Oaks
Sutton Coldfield
West Midlands
07890 324583
Please note: I am a NATUROPATHIIC NUTRITIONAL THEAPIST and a GAPS PRACTITIONER. I am NOT a massage therapist.
Find the cause - heal the symptom! Naturopathic Nutritional Therapist / Certified GAPS Practitioner / Reiki Level 2 . Seeking the cause of your symptoms is my priority and using naturopathy, nature and natural means to restore balance to your body. A rebalanced body is a healthy body. Complex case welcome. Sutton Coldfield.
Specific interest is with the gut as this is where all dis-ease starts and nearly everyone has gut issues today! Over 60% of the immune system is located in the gut, and the gut is also known as the second brain. No wonder gut issues play havoc with your health.
I deal with all issues of health including preventive and support of diagnosed conditions. Each person is individual and may require several combined approaches to restore balance. I have a wide experience and knowledge of many naturopathic therapies such as detoxification, cleansing therapies, juicing therapy, stress management techniques which are included in my treatment plans.
I spend a lot of time listening to your story, finding out exactly what is going on in your body. I occasionally use laboratory testing but as this can be expensive this is not my first choice unless specifically requested. There are lots of in house tests and test you can carry out at home that provide useful information.
So whether your concern is chronic long term or a recently new development, gut related, neurological, intolerances, stress, weight management or anything else give me a call.
Naturopathic Nutritional Therapist
Certified GAPS Practitioner
Reiki Level 2
90 minute Initial Nutritional Consultation £65
includes: analysis of 7 day diet diary, nutritional questionnaire, health questionnaire, and any blood tests from a nutritional (not diagnostic) viewpoint. An in depth Treatment Plan, follow up email or phone support. Every treatment plan acknowledges that each client is individual, there is no one size fits all. Recommendations made are personal to your issues, situation and goals.
60 minute Follow Up Consultation £45
recommended 6-8 weeks after first consultation to evaluate progress; tweak and adjust programme to individual requirements. Some clients can manage vast changes others may need baby steps depending on severity of imbalances. Nutritional Therapy can be a couple of specific steps for some and for others the first step of awakening to a whole new world of health education.
90 minute GAPS Consultation £75
I am also a fully certified GAPS Consultant, personally trained by Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride. The GAPS Diet was initially devised to support the gut and brain issues in autism. As more than 60% of the immune system is located in the gut, the GAPS protocol, which focuses on healing and sealing the gut, has beneficial advantages for many conditions. As Hippocrates said all disease begins in the gut!!
As gut health starts at birth (and before conception!), many of us today are born with disadvantages. We are now on the precipice – we can learn to not just love our guts – but learn about them and this way we can improve the health and the future of the human species – our children, and our children's children.
GAPS consultations may require more time for discussion. I will advise you, from the information disclosed before the consultation, if I feel that you fit the GAPS (Gut & Psychology Syndrome) and allow time after the initial 90 minutes should you wish to extend the consultation. If you do not it is not a problem because I can do the administration from your consultation anyway, so you are under no pressure. Additional time charges at £25.00 per 30 minutes. This covers a very in depth Treatment Plan which includes food lists, food sources, meal plans for each stage, detoxification therapies and much more. Everything you need to complete both the GAPS Introductory Diet and/or Full GAPS Diet.
Disease does not just happen, it takes years to manifest. I believe that disease starts when the body becomes imbalanced and yes, we can be born unbalanced. Genetics do play a part but it is our environment, both internal and external, that has the ability to switch our genes on or off.
Therefore, what we encounter in our day to day life has a dramatic effect on our health. Unfortunately, we cannot escape some of the "chemical soup" we have created, but we all have the ability and opportunity to find and provide ourselves with the best ammunition we can so we can function happily and healthily within this environment.
It is my aim to provide you with this ammunition; all you have to do is use it.....
If you have been diagnosed with or suspect you may have a pre-existing medical condition you should consult your GP for advice, diagnosis and treatment and always inform your health professional before starting any alternative or additional therapies, treatments or making any major changes in your diet or exercise programme.
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Bibliographic Details
Title: Delaware's Role in World War II - 2 Volumes
Publisher: Public Archives Commission, State of Delaware
Publication Date: 1955
Binding: Hardcover
Book Condition: Fine
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
Both vols: Fine cloth hardback, gilt lettering, no DJ. Cover with minimal shelf wear. Binding tight. End papers and pp look unused, as new. Small owner's tag pasted on FFP. 8vo, with b/w photos, appendices and extensive indices. Vol. I: 327 pp with 29 pp index. Vol. II: 229 pp with 21 pp index. Bookseller Inventory # 2041
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AbeBooks Bookseller Since: August 15, 2012
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We guarantee the condition of every book as it's described on the Abebooks web sites. If you're dissatisfied with your purchase (Incorrect Book/Not as Described/Damaged) or if the order hasn't arrived, you're eligible for a refund within 30 days of the estimated delivery date. If you've changed your mind about a book that you've ordered, please use the Ask bookseller a question link to contact us and we'll respond within 2 business days. William Crittenden is the sole proprietor and owner of CRB...[More Information]
Orders usually ship within 2 business days. Shipping costs are based on books weighing 2.2 LB, or 1 KG. If your book order is heavy or oversized, we may contact you to let you know extra shipping is required, especially for books being shipped out of the USA.
Store Description: A brick and mortar shop that opens regularly each week, with a growing number of books entered on our web page as well as with listing services such as ABE.


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Peter Zemsky
Dean of Executive Education/Dean of Innovation
Professor of Strategy
The Eli Lilly Chaired Professor of Strategy and Innovation
Email: email@example.com
Phone: +33 1 60 72 43 76
Campus: Fontainebleau
Research Areas
Value-Based Strategy, Formal Foundations of Strategy, Industrial Organisation, Competitive Strategy
Teaching Areas
Competitive Strategy, Blue Ocean Strategy, Industry Evolution
Industry Sectors
Information Technology, Leisure, Entertainment & Hotels, Media & Photography, Retailing
Professor Zemsky has been part of the INSEAD leadership team since 2010. He has had global responsibility for Faculty and Research, Degree Programmes including MBA and EMBA, IT and Digital Communications, and the development of the school's Middle East campus. He has served as Acting and Interim Dean of the school. He led the creation of the school's Degree Programmes department, a doubling of the school's EMBA programme including the launch of a Singapore section, and the creation of an MBA period in Abu Dhabi. As the Deputy Dean, he currently plays an important role in external relations especially in Europe and leads the Executive Education department. As Dean of Strategic Initiatives and Innovation, he is responsible for the school's digital strategy including the development of its online education capabilities and offerings. Professor Zemsky is directing the Strategy in the Age of Digital Disruption Programme.
As an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania, he was recognised as the outstanding graduating economics major and then pursued his doctoral studies at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was supported by a prestigious National Science Foundation graduate fellowship. Today, Professor Zemsky is a leading scholar in the economics of strategy, with numerous academic publications in the top strategy and economics journals. Areas of research include disruptive technologies, resource accumulation, the sustainability of competitive advantage and the choice of generalist versus specialist strategies. His research has played an important role in the development of a value-based approach to strategy with rigorous economic treatments of traditional verbal theories of strategy. His doctoral students have been recognised three times by the Academy of Management for having the best dissertation in strategy, and have been hired by leading business schools including Wharton, NYU, HEC and IESE.
Professor Zemsky has taught core strategy courses across the school's educational programmes, with a particular focus on shaping and responding to disruption and industry dynamics. He has several nominations for best MBA core teacher, including when he was a visiting Professor at Wharton in 2003. He has recently developed online courses on strategy and digital disruption for leading companies, including Microsoft and Accenture Strategy, that have been completed by over ten thousand participants. His online solutions were recognised in 2015 by the Chief Learning Officer's Learning in Practice Awards for "Excellence in Blended Technology" (Gold) and for "Excellence in Content" (Silver), and by Brandon Hall Awards for "Best Results of a Learning Program" (Gold) and "Best Unique or Innovative Learning and Development Program" (Gold).
After over twenty years living in France, Professor Zemsky is a dual US and French citizen. He has four children.
- WORKING PAPERS - Value Creation and Value Capture under Moral Hazard: Exploring the Micro-Foundations of Buyer-Supplier Relationships
- JOURNAL ARTICLES - Some Like It Free: Innovators Strategic Use of Disclosure to Slow Down Competition - Strategic Management Journal
- JOURNAL ARTICLES - Value Creation and Value Capture with Frictions - Strategic Management Journal
- CASE STUDIES - Pfizer and the Distribution of Pharmaceuticals in Europe in 2009
- WORKING PAPERS - Time Consuming Technology Development: How Imitation and Spillovers Affect Competitive Dynamics
- JOURNAL ARTICLES - The Timing of Resource Development and Sustainable Competitive Advantage - Management Science
- JOURNAL ARTICLES - The Horizontal Scope of the Firm: Organizational Tradeoffs vs. Buyer-Supplier Relationships - Management Science
- JOURNAL ARTICLES - A Demand-Based Perspective on Sustainable Competitive Advantage - Strategic Management Journal


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See our full list of stations.
We want everyone to be safe whilst at our stations and we constantly work to make sure that your station is the safest place it can be. Some of our stations have yellow lines painted on the platforms, where they do it's important that you stand behind this line until your train has come to a stop.
The information below should help give you information on what to expect at our stations.
See our full list of stations.
We now have fast, easy and FREE WiFi at some of our stations...


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At its core is a well-worn objection to a philosophical theory to which nobody has subscribed for at least 50 years. That theory is logical positivism, a stridently anti-metaphysical philosophy that, originating in Vienna in the Thirties, was popularised in this country by A J Ayer in his first book, Language, Truth and Logic (1936). In its crudest form (the only form in which Hailsham discusses it), this theory holds that all talk of ethics, aesthetics, religion and the meaning of life is meaningless because it fails to pass the criterion of meaning provided by the so-called 'verification principle'. This says that a sentence is meaningless unless some method exists of 'verifying' it, that is, of determining by empirical evidence whether it is true or false. The well-worn objection to this theory is that the verification principle itself is not verifiable and therefore that logical positivism undermines itself. The force of this objection was eventually acknowledged by the original proponents of logical positivism, which is why nobody has subscribed to the crude form of the theory for a generation or more.
Lord Hailsham rehearses this stale argument without seeming to realise that he is pushing at a door that has been open for a very long time. To him, logical positivism represents the rarefied intellectual version of a widespread and corrosively sceptical belief whose adherents also include 'the criminally minded, the feckless, the dwellers in cardboard boxes, the drug dependent, the violent, and a host of others'. The scepticism ascribed to this ragbag collection of undesirables takes the form of denying the objectivity of moral and aesthetic judgements and insisting that they are but expressions of personal feeling. Lord Hailsham believes he has undermined the intellectual foundations of this pernicious doctrine, and thereby paved the way for a correct view of 'natural morality', and gone some way towards providing a 'cure' for the disastrous collapse of values.
In all sorts of ways - psychologically, sociologically and philosophically - this analysis of the current situation is alarmingly simple- minded. People do not become criminals and drug-takers because they are convinced of the subjectivity of moral judgements, and all those now homeless would remain homeless even if they suddenly became convinced of the objectivist position favoured by Lord Hailsham.
The argument advanced by Lord Hailsham against the subjectivist view is glaringly inadequate. To establish the objectivity of moral judgements, it is not enough to show what everyone admits anyway, that the verification principle is untenable. One must also show that just as there are physical and psychological facts, so there are moral facts.
On this point Lord Hailsham depends not on argument but on assertion, and occasionally on straightforward abuse. 'I would say,' he declaims in typically bulldog fashion, 'that anyone who has lived through the age of Hitler or Stalin, the Holocaust of the Jews, or the Katyn massacres, if he tries to say seriously that there is no difference in value or meaning between kindness and brutality, or truth and falsehood, or virtue and vice, I will tell him to his face that it is he who is talking nonsense and that he will find no reputable or intelligent human being to join him'. This piece of shameless rhetoric misses the point: no one would deny that there is a 'difference in value and meaning' between these things; the debate is rather over how such a difference is to be analysed.
Curiously, although the central message of the book is to affirm the objectivity of moral judgements, it is presented in a way that serves only to emphasise that it is the expression of a personal point of view. It is printed not in type, but in a facsimile of Lord Hailsham's handwriting, producing an effect on the reader akin to that of reading someone else's diary, which is compounded by the autobiographical way in which Lord Hailsham begins his argument. 'The origin of this book,' he writes, 'lay in a mood of deep depression into which I fell towards the end of 1992.' He then goes on to claim that this depression was not, as he had first thought, brought upon by the dire political and economic situation at home and abroad, it had 'a deeper underlying cause' which, it turned out was the evidence around him of the collapse of all values. Finally, upon further reflection, he realised: 'the question at issue is: what is the status, what is the objective validity and what are the practical implications of the value judgements which we constantly make every time we speak of the true, the beautiful, the good, the right, the just?'
Thus was one man's depression transformed into a fundamental philosophical question. And his book invites us to turn this transformation back upon itself, and to insist that what we have here, in the guise of an 'objective' philosophical treatise, is a very personal expression of one man's outlook.
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These SUPER by RETROSUPERFUTURE cat eyes are crafted in a multi colored acetate then finished with lime green accents and exposed lenses.
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[sublimevideo poster="https://archive.org/download/IAIBSpotlight25TomMerrittInterview/iaib25.jpg" src2="(hd)http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp4/archive.org/download/IAIBSpotlight25TomMerrittInterview/IAIBSpotlight25TomMerrittInterview.mp4″ uid="55ad8001″ id="55ad8001″ width="620″ height="349″ settings="autoresize: fit;sharing-url:http://gfq.co/iaib25;"]
Andrew Zarian Interviews Tom Merritt. Tom shares how his career in Journalism and Podcasting began at an early age when he worked at a radio station. Tom also talks about his time at ZD TV, Cnet, Tech TV, and TWiT. How did Buzz Out Loud get it's start at Cnet? Tom gives tips for podcasting and what he's doing now after leaving TWiT. What technical challenges has Tom faced doing Daily Tech News Show on his own? And Tom shares how he is getting support from fans of Cordkillers and DTNS through Patreon.
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