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FitzHugh-Nagumo model
Eugene M. Izhikevich and Richard FitzHugh (2006), Scholarpedia, 1(9):1349. | doi:10.4249/scholarpedia.1349 | revision #123664 [link to/cite this article] |
The FitzHugh-Nagumo model
\[ \begin{matrix} \dot{V} & = & V-V^3/3 - W + I \\ \dot{W} & = & 0.08(V+0.7 - 0.8W) \end{matrix} \]
is a two-dimensional simplification of the Hodgkin-Huxley model of spike generation in squid giant axons. Here,
- \(V\) is the membrane potential,
- \(W\) is a recovery variable,
- \(I\) is the magnitude of stimulus current.
This system was suggested by FitzHugh (1961), who called it "Bonhoeffer-van der Pol model", and the equivalent circuit by Nagumo et al. (1962; see Figure 1).
Contents |
Principal assumptions
The motivation for the FitzHugh-Nagumo model was to isolate conceptually the essentially mathematical properties of excitation and propagation from the electrochemical properties of sodium and potassium ion flow. The model consists of
- a voltage-like variable having cubic nonlinearity that allows regenerative self-excitation via a positive feedback, and
- a recovery variable having a linear dynamics that provides a slower negative feedback.
The model is sometimes written in the abstract form \[ \begin{matrix} \dot{V} & = & f(V) - W + I \\ \dot{W} & = & a(bV - cW) \end{matrix} \] where \(f(V)\) is a polynomial of third degree, and \(a\ ,\) \(b\ ,\) and \(c\) are constant parameters (notice that a constant term in the second equation can be removed by a linear shift of \(V\) or \(W\ ;\) also one of the constants, \(b\) or \(c\) could be assumed to be 1).
FitzHugh modified the van der Pol model to explain the basic properties of excitability as exhibited by the more complex HH equations. The nullclines of the van der Pol equation are a vertical line and a cubic that intersect in a single rest point which is always unstable. In order to resemble a real nerve, this new model should also have only one restpoint, now basically stable, and display a threshold phenomenon for a parameter change that preferably should look like 'current stimulation'. He realized that the slope of a rotated version of the linear isocline figures in the stability condition of the restpoint (FitzHugh (1961), eqs 9 and 10). That enables the construction of a model with a stable restpoint by the addition of a linear term \(cW\) to the second equation of the van der Pol model. FitzHugh restricted that slope \(b/c\) to the set of cases with only one intersection with the cubic, staying out of the complexities of a more general case.
Adding a constant term to the second equation allowed him to shift the restpoint along the cubic. That restpoint is now always stable on the ascending parts but with the parameters involved in the stability properties on the descending middle limb. One may verify that adding a(nother) constant term to the first equation instead of adding one to the second has the same effect. Formally, this would be a minimal and sufficient parametrization to display all the properties explained below. However, to make the model a bit more palatable for physiologists, both equations got a constant term\[I\] in the fast equation, mimicking the experimental injection of external current into the membrane; the second equation got another, mathematically redundant, constant \(c\ .\) It ensures that the restpoint for\(I=0\) (no stimulation) lies on the right ascending branch and is stable.
Explained phenomena
While the Hodgkin-Huxley Model is more realistic and biophysically sound, only projections of its four-dimensional phase trajectories can be observed. The simplicity of the FitzHugh-Nagumo model permits the entire solution to be viewed at once. This allows a geometrical explanation of important biological phenomena related to neuronal excitability and spike-generating mechanism.
The phase portrait of the FitzHugh-Nagumo model in the figure depicts
- \(V\)-nullcline, which is the N-shaped curve obtained from the condition \(\dot{V}=0\ ,\) where the sign of \(\dot{V}\) passes through zero,
- \(W\)-nullcline, which is a straight line obtained from the condition \(\dot{W}=0\ ,\) where the sign of \(\dot{W}\) passes through zero, and
- some typical trajectories starting with various initial conditions.
The intersection of nullclines is an equilibrium (because \(\dot{V}=\dot{W}=0\)), which may be unstable if it is on the middle branch of the \(V\)-nullcline, i.e., when \(I\) is strong enough. In this case, the model exhibits periodic (tonic spiking) activity.
Most of the labels in the figure are explained in the text. The "no man's land" region of the phase space is highly unstable, containing trajectories starting very close to the quasi-threshold.
Absence of all-or-none spikes
The FitzHugh-Nagumo model explained the absence of all-or-none spikes in the HH model in response to stimuli, i.e., pulses of the injected current \(I\ .\) Weak stimuli (small pulses of \(I\)) result in small-amplitude trajectories that correspond to subthreshold responses; stronger stimuli result in intermediate-amplitude trajectories that correspond to partial-amplitude spikes; and strong stimuli result in large-amplitude trajectories that correspond to suprathreshold response -- firing a spike.
Absence of threshold
Similarly to the HH model, FitzHugh-Nagumo model does not have a well-defined firing threshold. This feature is the consequence of the absence of all-or-none responses, and it is related, from the mathematical point of view, to the absence of a saddle equilibrium (FitzHugh 1955). The apparent illusion of threshold dynamics and all-or-none responses in both models is due to the existence of the ''quasi-threshold'', which is a canard trajectory that follows the unstable (middle) branch of the N-shaped \(V\)-nullcline. Nearby trajectories diverge sharply away from the canard trajectory to the left or right, producing an apparently "all-or-none" response and threshold-like behavior. (A point moving along a canard trajectory is like a tightrope walker walking slowly along a rope; if he loses his balance, he quickly falls away from the rope to one side or the other.)
Excitation block
The FitzHugh-Nagumo model explains the excitation block phenomenon, i.e., the cessation of repetitive spiking as the amplitude of the stimulus current increases. When \(I\) is weak or zero, the equilibrium (intersection of nullclines) is on the left (stable) branch of \(V\)-nullcline, and the model is resting. Increasing \(I\) shifts the nullcline upward and the equilibrium slides onto the middle (unstable) branch of the nullcline. The model exhibits periodic spiking activity in this case. Increasing the stimulus further shifts the equilibrium to the right (stable) branch of the N-shaped nullcline, and the oscillations are blocked (by excitation!). The precise mathematical mechanism involves appearance and disappearance of a limit cycle attractor, and it is reviewed in detail by Izhikevich (2007).
Anodal break excitation
The FitzHugh-Nagumo model explained the phenomenon of post-inhibitory (rebound) spikes, called anodal break excitation at that time. As the stimulus \(I\) becomes negative (hyperpolarization), the resting state shifts to the left. As the system is released from hyperpolarization (anodal break), the trajectory starts from a point far below the resting state (outside the quasi-threshold, see the first figure), makes a large-amplitude excursion, i.e., fires a transient spike, and then returns to the resting state.
Spike accommodation
The FitzHugh-Nagumo model explained the dynamical mechanism of spike accommodation in HH-type models. When stimulation strength \(I\) increases slowly, the neuron remains quiescent. The resting equilibrium of the FitzHugh-Nagumo model shifts slowly to the right, and the state of the system follows it smoothly without firing spikes. In contrast, when the stimulation is increased abruptly, even by a smaller amount, the trajectory could not go directly to the new resting state, but fires a transient spike; see figure. Geometrically, this phenomenon is similar to the post-inhibitory (rebound) response.
Traveling waves
The FitzHugh-Nagumo equations became a favorite model for reaction-diffusion systems
\[ \begin{matrix} \dot{V} & = & f(V) - W + I + V_{xx} \\ \dot{W} & = & a(bV -cW) \qquad \qquad \end{matrix} \]
which simulate propagation of waves in excitable media, such as heart tissue or nerve fiber. Here, the diffusion term \(V_{xx}\) is the second derivative with respect to spatial variable \(x\ .\) Its success is mostly due to the fact that the model is analytically tractable, and hence it allows derivation of many important properties of traveling pulses without resort to computer simulations.
FitzHugh has prepared a motion picture (a movie) of nerve impulse propagation using computer animation techniques available around 1960 (FitzHugh 1968). The movie can be downloaded here and it is fun to watch.
Shortly after the publication of Hodgkin and Huxley's equations for the squid giant axon, Richard FitzHugh was working at the Biophysics Laboratory of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. He undertook an analysis of the mathematical properties of their equations. He used the new techniques of nonlinear mechanics which had been developed by Russian mathematicians led by A. A. Andronov. This was before digital computers became easily accessible. John Moore and FitzHugh started by planning how to program an analog computer which could be used to solve the Hodgkin-Huxley equations. The equipment needed included operational amplifiers, function generators, multipliers, and an ink pen plotter. The laboratory purchased the computer, which occupied four floor-to-ceiling relay racks, full of vacuum tubes. These were continually failing, and FitzHugh had to find and replace several tubes a week, requiring some detective work. The heat from all these tubes sometimes overloaded the air conditioning, so that on hot summer days he had to take off his shirt and wear shorts to be comfortable.
With this computer he plotted solutions of the HH equations. The operation of the analog computer required the skill of an electronic engineer as well as those of a mathematician.
In this analog computer, the variables in the HH equations, V, m, h, n, are represented by voltages. Each variable was transformed into a voltage with a separate scale factor. These voltage signals were passed from one unit to another.
One of the basic units of the computer was the operational amplifier (Op Amp). Each one occupied a metal box about six inches long with six vacuum tubes on top. (Today one can buy a tiny solid-state chip with several Op Amps in it.) To these Op Amps one could connect highly accurate resistors and capacitors to perform the mathematical operations of addition, subtraction and also integration of the signals representing first derivatives with respect to time. Another type of unit was the function generator. There were six of these, for the alpha and beta functions in the HH equations. The voltage value of each function was set into the unit at the evenly spaced points, at intervals of ten volts, between which the function was approximated by straight line segments. This was not accurate enough for the computation. To provide smoothing of the function curve, a high frequency zigzag signal of ten volts peak-to-peak amplitude from a signal generator was added to the input. This was of too high a frequency to appear in the slowly changing voltage passed to the plotter. The effect was to average the function locally, to produce a smooth curve, which however no longer exactly fitted accurately at the set points. Finally, after readjusting the output to accurately fit the function curve at the original set points, an accurate fit to all the function was obtained.
All the units were connected by the maze of wires shown in the photo of
FitzHugh operating the computer. The wires protrude from an insulated
board, underneath which they made contact with terminals connected to
the various units. To change the connections on the board, for a
different problem, it was disengaged from its position, exposing the
terminals behind. The computer power supply delivered voltages from
-100 volts to +100 volts, and if one of the terminals was accidentally
touched, one might receive a nasty shock.
The first thing to do in the morning was to turn on the computer and let it warm up until the voltages from the power supply stabilized. Then computation could begin.
In order to distinguish between the physical basis of the HH equations, in terms of the flow through the axon membrane of sodium and potassium ions, on the one hand, and the phenomena of excitation above a threshold value of stimulus, and propagation along the axon, on the other, it seemed that it would be useful to simplify their equations in order to isolate these properties from each other. At the suggestion of his lab chief, Dr. Kenneth S. (Kacy) Cole, FitzHugh modified the van der Pol equations for the nonlinear relaxation oscillator. The result had a stable resting state, from which it could be excited by a sufficiently large electrical stimulus to produce an impulse. A large enough constant current stimulus produced a train of impulses (FitzHugh 1961,1969).
These equations were similar to those describing the electronic circuit called a monostable multivibrator. At about the same time, an electronic circuit was built by the Japanese engineer Jin-Ichi Nagumo, using tunnel (Esaki) diodes; see Figure 1. These diodes have a current-voltage curve similar to the cubic shape used in FitzHugh's equations. These equations have since become known as the FitzHugh-Nagumo equations, though they were originally called "Bonhoeffer-van der Pol model" by FitzHugh. Reprogramming the analog computer for the FitzHugh-Nagumo equations was much simpler. Only two multipliers and no function generators were needed.
A note on the corresponding electronic circuits may be helpful. Some textbooks (e g Hirsch, Smale and Devaney, Strogatz) use a circle of a capacitor, inductor and nonlinear element in series to 'derive' the van der Pol and BVP models. The nonlinear element then has its voltage as cubic function of the current across it. The fast variable in such a circuit is the current and the thing is really fast when the capacitor is big compared to the inductor. In the original circuits of van der Pol and Nagumo, like in the excitable membrane, the three elements are in parallel. Now the nonlinear element has a current that depends cubically upon the voltage across it, the fast variable is the voltage and the capacitor is relatively small. Again, neglecting the tricks that are needed in practice to get the cubic into the desired quadrant, both circuits lead to the same abstract set of equations.
Aside from mathematicians in the computer division and in John Rinzel's mathematical biology section, there were few people at NIH who were interested in the application of mathematics to biological problems. Most did experiments only. FitzHugh fulfilled his obligations in such work by going each summer to the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole Massachusetts, where he assisted Cole and Moore in their experiments, using Cole's voltage clamp technique on the squid which were caught at sea there. Otherwise, at NIH there was not much interest in mathematical models.
Within 30-40 years of this first forage by FitzHugh and co-workers into mathematical neuroscience whole communities of mathematicians, physicists, and engineers studying nonlinear dynamics of biological systems have started and matured. Over that time the Fitzhugh-Nagumo model has remained the prototypical example of an excitable system and new discoveries with this system are still being made.
- FitzHugh R. (1955) Mathematical models of threshold phenomena in the nerve membrane. Bull. Math. Biophysics, 17:257--278
- FitzHugh R. (1961) Impulses and physiological states in theoretical models of nerve membrane. Biophysical J. 1:445-466
- FitzHugh R. (1968) Motion picture of nerve impulse propagation using computer animation. Journal of Applied Physiology, 25:628-630
- FitzHugh R. (1969) Mathematical models of excitation and propagation in nerve. Chapter 1 (pp. 1-85 in H.P. Schwan, ed. Biological Engineering, McGraw-Hill Book Co., N.Y.)
- Izhikevich E. M. (2007) Dynamical Systems in Neuroscience: The Geometry of Excitability and Bursting. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
- Nagumo J., Arimoto S., and Yoshizawa S. (1962) An active pulse transmission line simulating nerve axon. Proc IRE. 50:2061–2070.
Internal references
- John W. Milnor (2006) Attractor. Scholarpedia, 1(11):1815.
- Jeff Moehlis, Kresimir Josic, Eric T. Shea-Brown (2006) Periodic orbit. Scholarpedia, 1(7):1358.
- Philip Holmes and Eric T. Shea-Brown (2006) Stability. Scholarpedia, 1(10):1838.
Further reading
- Izhikevich E. M. (2007) Dynamical Systems in Neuroscience: The Geometry of Excitability and Bursting. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
- Rocsoreanu C., Georgescu A., and Giurgiteanu N. (2000) The FitzHugh-Nagumo Model: Bifurcation and Dynamics. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, 2000.
See also
Hodgkin-Huxley model, Relaxation oscillator, Canards, Periodic orbit, Reaction-diffusion systems, Traveling wave, van der Pol oscillator
External links
- Interactive FitzHugh-Nagumo. Java applet, includes phase space and parameters can be changed at any time.
- Interactive FitzHugh-Nagumo in 1D. Java applet to simulate 1D waves propagating in a ring. Parameters can also be changed at any time.
- Interactive FitzHugh-Nagumo in 2D. Java applet to simulate 2D waves including spiral waves. Parameters can also be changed at any time.
- Interactive FitzHugh-Nagumo in 3D. WebGL to simulate 3D waves including scroll wave instabilities. Parameters can also be changed at any time.


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MORENES: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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Cooking Time: 18-20 mins
Spice Level: Mild
Recipe Level: Easy/Beginner
Serves: 3-4 people
Shelf Life: 2-3 days when refrigerated
Serving Suggestion: With flavoured or plain rice or with any Indian flat bread
1 large Eggplant, diced into 1 inch cubes
1 large Onion, finely chopped
1 inch Ginger, peeled and finely chopped/grated
2 Green Chillies, slit
½ cup Thick Coconut Milk
2-3 tbsp Coriander Leaves, finely chopped
Salt to taste
Spices Used:
¼ tsp Turmeric Powder
½ tsp Jeera/Cumin Powder
1 tsp Coriander Powder
For Tadka/Tempering:
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 Dry Red Chilli, broken
Few Curry Leaves
A big pinch of Hing/Asafoetida
1 tbsp Oil
- Dice eggplants to 1 inch cubes and immerse them immediately in a bowl of water with little salt to prevent discolouration.
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Sia's Notes:
- You can add a teaspoon of Garam Masala if you like your curry spicy or increase the amount of green chilli used to your taste.
- Once the coconut milk is added, be careful while stirring the eggplants as they should retain their shape and not turn mushy!
- This Eggplant Curry with Coconut Milk tastes even better on next day!


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For 40 years, the Cheonggyecheon stream was covered with pavement and used as a road. Only those who saw the waterbody before it was filled in and covered over even knew it was a stream until the early 2000s when a project to unearth and restore it to its original glory came about. Two years and $281 million later, the stream became a beautiful urban park that improves the water quality and dramatically helps reduce urban heat island effect in the CBD. Symbolically, the river restoration reunifies the two sides of the city and is built from materials sourced from around the country.
The ChonGae Sunken Stone Garden serves as the entry point and source of the water for the canal. Mikyoung Kim designed two superblocks within the corridor, including the stone garden. The firm's design visually expresses the level of the water pouring out from the source and is a way for the residents of Seoul to see the state of the water. Water rises and falls over the unique sloped and stepped stones element, which can be read as water levels. Now serving as the veritable heart of Seoul's CBD, ChonGae has become an important space for festivals, concerts, events, concerts, fashion shows and a great place to take a leisurely stroll!
Images ©Taeoh Kim


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Splendor in the Grass – Droog's Kinesthetic Camping Ground sets the Museum of Sex on fire!
Droog presents their experiential sensorium Splendor in the Grass, produced under commission for the New York Museum of Sex's Kinesthesia award.
Flirting with the complexities of sexuality, the installation transforms the Museum into an immersive 'erotic camping ground'. The work intoxicates and activates visitors' visual, auditory and kinesthetic senses through the symphony of five interactive tents.
A surreal adult-playground invites guests to connect with the various phases of human sexuality. The tents are designed around our visceral relationship with nature and eroticism – ranging from a girl made from grass whispering in your ear; an ice-oven tent that warms as your basal body temperature rises; enticingly tactile gloryholes; to a steamy cloud-chamber filled with the fever of scent.
Edith Gruson of Droog explains the concept of the installation, "..here you will experience feelings which are intensified by memories of your body and nature. How does it feel to walk through wet grass, the water embracing your body…the sensation of warm and cool on your skin."
The five camping tents are designed to seduce curiosity, prompting visitors to explore the exotic thrill of arousal. Mark Snyder, Director of Exhibitions at the Museum of Sex explains; "Through our Kinesthesia Art Commission award we hope to push the boundaries of traditional Museum-going experiences and encourage patrons to appreciate physical art..expect to use your entire body when you visit Splendor in the Grass."
Whether the space harnesses movement or tactility, the physical or emotional, fantasy or reality – each contemporary bivouac will, in combination, weave together the diverse sum of sexuality.
About the Museum of Sex
The mission of the Museum of Sex (MoSex) is to preserve and present the history, evolution and cultural significance of human sexuality. Since opening in 2002, the museum has collaborated with world-renown cultural institutions, artists, and academics to create more than 20 exhibitions and three interactive programs that explore the best in current scholarship in the arts, sciences and humanities. From fine art to historical ephemera, its permanent collection is comprised of more than 15,000 sexually significant artifacts.
For more information, please visit www.museumofsex.com.
About Studio Droog
Renny Ramakers founded Studio Droog in 2011. The studio creates concepts, spaces and products, all based on our key principles: respect for the existing, context/relevance, beauty and playfulness. Distilled to the simple idea of less+ more. The studio addresses client commissions as well as in house assignments.
The studio is committed to deliver design with a strong identity. We believe that utility and relevance do not have to come at the expense of beauty and fantasy. Every design starts with a radical re-think of a particular subject or product. Each outcome is unique and tells a story of its own.Droog brings beauty, simplicity, relevance and playfulness to everything they do, distilling each project down to the simple idea of less+ more.
For more information, please visit www.droog.com.
New York Museum of Sex
233 Fifth Avenue (at 27th Street),
New York City.
Opening Hours
The Museum is open 7 days a week:
Sunday to Thursday from 10:00am to 8:00pm;
Fridays and Saturdays from 10:00am to 9:00pm.
The official launch of the exhibition will be on the 25th of June, 2015 and will run for approximately one (1) year.
Tickets may be purchased at the ticket counter or online at the website.
Note to press
For more information please contact:
Museum of Sex: Lisa Hanock-Jasie at [email protected], or 212.689 6337 Ext. 125
Droog: Lara Mikocki at [email protected], or +31 (0)20 523 50 58.


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Contact: Jesse Mainardi, (415) 252-3100
For release: August 18, 2015
The San Francisco Ethics Commission announced today that it raised the Individual Expenditure Ceiling of two publicly financed candidates in District 3. The Individual Expenditure Ceiling for Julie Christensen was raised to $280,000 because on August 18, 2015, the Total Supportive Funds for Aaron Peskin in District 3 totaled $288,945. The Individual Expenditure Ceiling for Aaron Peskin was raised to $270,000 because on August 18, 2015, the Total Supportive Funds for Julie Christensen in District 3 totaled $276,132. Accordingly, by law, the Ethics Commission was required to raise the Individual Expenditure Ceilings of these publicly financed candidates in District 3.
A table reflecting the Individual Expenditure Ceilings of all publicly financed candidates is updated as ceilings are adjusted and is posted on the Ethics Commission website at (https://www.sfethics.org/ethics/2015/06/expenditure-ceilings-november-3-2015-election.html).
A candidate running for the Board of Supervisors who seeks public funding must abide by his or her Individual Expenditure Ceiling, which begins at $250,000, and may be raised in increments of $10,000 based on the sum of opposition spending against the participating candidate and the total supportive funds of the candidate's opponents. A candidate is required to file the Threshold Form within 24 hours of receiving contributions or making expenditures that equal or exceed $100,000 and for every $10,000 thereafter. During the 90 days prior to an election, any person (including a committee) making independent expenditures, electioneering communications, or member communications that clearly identify a candidate for city elective office is required to file FPPC Form 496, SFEC Form 162 or SFEC Form 163 within 24 hours of each time the person spends $1,000 or more per candidate.
– – – – – – –
The Ethics Commission, established in November 1993, serves the public, City employees and officials and candidates for public office through education and enforcement of ethics laws. Its duties include: filing and auditing of campaign finance disclosure statements, lobbyist and campaign consultant registration and regulation, administration of the public financing program, conflict of interests reporting, investigations and enforcement, education and training, advice giving and statistical reporting.


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Research Team Discovers 'Rubber Material' That Could Lead to Scratch-Proof Paint
The unique qualities of the material could be used to create flexible and almost unbreakable smart devices, as well as scratch-proof paint for cars
Photo courtesy of Queen's University Belfast
A group of researchers from Queen's University Belfast have discovered a stretchy miracle material that could be used to create highly resistant smart devices and scratch-proof paint for cars.
Led by Dr. Elton Santos from the university's School of Mathematics and Physics, an international team of researchers have found superlubricity in a few layers of graphene—a concept where friction vanishes or very nearly vanishes. The experts also found that a few layers of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) are as strong as diamond but are more flexible, cheaper, and lighter.
The findings, which have been reported in Nature Communications, reveal that the h-BN layers form the strongest thin insulator available globally and the unique qualities of the material could be used to create flexible and almost unbreakable smart devices, as well as scratch-proof paint for cars.
Dr. Santos explains: "We have all at some point in life stepped on a slippery surface where we have to steady our balance so that we don't fall. In most cases, liquid such as water or oil is the cause and this slippery state is what we describe as superlubricity—there is basically no friction on a surface.
In graphene, this superlubricity state comes from atomic orbitals that compose carbon atoms. Normally, to generate friction some orbitals must overlap and heat, or some energy, must be released. Surprisingly, our research shows that graphene does not require this process, it just spontaneously slides on top of other layers but does not release heat. This means that graphene, which is 300 times stronger than steel, becomes mechanically weaker and can easily break."
Related Article: Physicist Discovers New 2D Material That Could Upstage Graphene
The research findings around the h-BN layers show that its mechanical properties are similar to diamond but are much cheaper, more flexible, and lighter. It can easily be integrated in tiny electronic circuits or to reinforce structures as it is more robust against shocks or mechanical stress.
Dr. Santos commented: "It has been a privilege to work with global researchers to predict and measure multilayer graphene and h-BN in an unprecedented way. It is nearly impossible at present to make major breakthroughs in science without working in collaboration. At Queen's University we have advanced our knowledge of these layered materials and have made some major discoveries, which could help to tackle many global challenges within our society.
Our key finding is that bilayer graphene develops a super-lubricity state where no heating is generated as the layers slide on top of each other. Just a few materials have these features and it looks like graphene has joined this exclusive club. During this process, we also discovered that h-BN, a common lubricant used in several automotive and industrial applications, developed a mechanical strength in a few layers. These are as strong as diamond, measured in terms of a quantity called Young modulus. This is a truly ground-breaking finding as even an insulator with thin layers could not keep its Young modulus at such high magnitudes."
"There are several possibilities for application of our discoveries which could have a positive impact in the real world. We are looking at a timeline of around five to ten years to transform the discoveries into real products but we could see benefits such as material reinforcement to mixture in solutions such as ink for paint, which would give further strength against corrosion and could potentially mean scratch-proof cars in future.
"This stretchy material could also be used in electronic devices and motor engines to make friction very low, as no heat is released."
Unique features
Dr. Santos added: "In electronics, several companies are currently integrating h-BN in prototypes together with graphene for the creation of smart-devices such as iPads and Androids with unique features. These companies are also incorporating h-BN with polymers to give additional strength for novel mechanical applications such as aerospace, sports and civil engineering.
We are currently looking for other combinations of 2D crystals which could be used for similar applications. So far, graphene seems the best candidate but there is still much to be explored within the library of layered materials. The future is bright for 2D materials because of the development, progress and research currently being performed worldwide."
The findings have recently been published in world-leading nanoscience journal Nature Communications and were discovered by an international collaboration of researchers including: Australia, Deakin University (Dr. Luhua Li, Professor Chen); United States, University of Texas (Professor Qian); Korea, Unist (Professor Ruoff); Japan, Nims (Professor Watanabe); China, Northwestern Polytechnical University (Dr. Zhang), Wenzhou University (Dr. Yang); and Queen's University Belfast (Dr. Santos and Declan Scullion).


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So you've gotten the unsavory task of rewriting the SMS Gateway because the old one is coded in the C equivalent of level 1 code? You have extremely few specs and the old code makes you run for aspirin? What the hell do you do? Here is the walk through:... Read More
Tags: anjuta, c++, emi, kannel, kdev, postgresql, smppcxx, sms gateway, triggers, ucp Posted in Back End | 7 Comments »


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It's the Math
Certainly I'm not the only one who watched with bemusement as Karl Rove objected when his own Fox News analysts when they called Ohio for President Obama. He seemed genuinely shocked. The guys who use the real math got the call right, however, and President Obama carried the state by 1.9 points, very close to what the polls showed.
As it turned out though, Ohio didn't matter. Neither did Virginia. And likewise Florida. Had President Obama not won any of these, he still had more than the necessary 269 electoral votes. He won the route through New Hampshire, Iowa, and then Nevada and Colorado. Combined, he won these states by nearly three times his national margin, by more than six points when his national advantage was only 2.5.
Since 1992, Democrats have prevailed in the popular vote in 5 of the last 6 presidential elections. In terms of the total two-party vote over that time, Democrats have garnered 51.5% and Republicans have received 48.5%. That seems pretty close, doesn't it? Just a knife's edge of difference between them? It's tempting to believe that a small adjustment here or there, whether in demographic appeal or in simply becoming less social-issue oriented might cure all that ails the Republican brand. But this thinking masks a fundamental---and now nearly insurmountable---problem.
Let's look at these elections in a different way. Since 1992, Democrats have prevailed by 2003 electoral votes to 1223. Nearly twice as many for the Democrats as the Republicans. The races have not been competitive when viewed through this lens. Republicans eeked out a couple of field-goal wins while Democrats have won by touchdowns.
The starting electoral map in 2012 offered Democrats 431 ways to win and 76 for the Republicans. This includes Wisconsin as a swing state, which I think we have learned it never really was, campaign bluster aside. Discounting that state, it was 230 ways for the Democrats to the Republican's 26 (and that includes ties!). From the first day, 2012 was played entirely on the Republican side of the 50 yard line wether they wish to acknowledge it or not.
Since 1992, New Hampshire has only gone red only once, in 2000. Similarly, Iowa has only gone for red once in 2004. Of the total 60 electoral votes during six election cycles, Republicans have only won 10 of them and it wasn't even during the same election. Does 'swing state' really apply then, when you lose 85% of the time? With the base of states that Democrats have won in 6 straight elections of 247 and adding in New Hampshire and Iowa, it appears Democrats can routinely count on starting with 257 electoral votes, just 13 shy of a win.
Such a beginning electoral map would leave Republicans with 3 paths to the White House and one of them involves winning both Colorado and Nevada, states Democrats have now won twice in a row by fairly large margins.
There is no shortage of finger pointing, but those people who argue that some minor adjustments to the Republican party will make them viable again are gravely mistaken. If they don't broaden their regional appeal, which is now concentrated almost exclusively in the deep south, every election will be a defensive one where even a strong candidate will need everything to go perfectly to win. Meanwhile, as Mr. Obama showed this year, Democrats can make errors and still prevail.
Nate Silver recently calculated that Mr. Obama could have lost by as much as 3% in the popular vote, yet still won the electoral college. That should frighten every Republican out of their small thinking. As someone who has voted Republican in the past and hopes to again in the future, I want Republicans to confront the magnitude of their problems and move to correct them. Small adjustments in demographic appeal, vote supression, and catching up to the Democrats in micro-targeting won't do that. They must offer up plans and ideas that appeal to a broader region of the country.
Indy is a frequent commenter on frumforum.com and talkradiosucks.com.


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"Even for those of us who may be focused on the cities as zones of intervention, we can't understand what is going on within them unless we look outside them, far outside them."1
—Neil Brenner
Logistical Ecologies is an urbanization strategy for northeastern Illinois derived from planetary logistics networks and regional ecologies with an emphasis on biodiversity, agriculture, and hydrology. The strategy co-locates housing, retail, warehousing, distribution facilities, and intermodal freight facilities to leverage dynamic environmental processes, regional land uses, and transportation infrastructure.
Background: Since the deregulation of the transportation industry in the 1980s, the use of the shipping container for transporting goods manufactured in newly industrializing Asian countries to sites of consumption in the United States has transformed swathes of North America's hinterlands into vast logistics landscapes. This back-stage network of rails, warehousing, and distribution facilities sustains the front-stage lifestyles commonly occurring within municipal city boundaries.
Logistical Ecologies develops analytical categories rooted in the fields of ecology, landscape architecture, transportation geography, and critical urban theory to uncover new methods for design and sites of intervention for their deployment. By confronting the complexities of twenty-first century urbanization head on, the strategy is both a critique of and an alternative to design's existing theoretical frameworks.
With even modest projections indicating that containerized freight throughput at United States coastal ports will more than double by 2030, the North American hinterland is poised to be radically transformed by the construction of expanded logistical infrastructures like double-stack corridors and intermodal freight facilities.2 Nowhere in the United States will these effects be felt more acutely than in northeastern Illinois, where six of North America's seven Class I railroads meet. The importance of this region in national and planetary logistics networks is exemplified by the adjacent inland ports of Joliet, IL (Global IV, Union Pacific) and Elwood (Logistics Park, BNSF), constituting the third largest container port in the United States; this inland behemoth lags only behind the coastal Port of Long Beach / Port of Los Angeles and the Port of New York and New Jersey.3 While nearly half of the containers passing through the region annually are destined for other domestic or international markets, the rest originates or is consumed in the region.4
As we move forward into an era of unpredictable climates, increasingly frequent storm events, new biodiversity trends, and ongoing pollution from the agro-industry, these logistical transformations and the market-driven development they enable—all largely devoid of ecological and hydrological sensitivity—put our economic and ecological future at great risk.
Logistical Ecologies is an alternative strategy for urbanizing northeastern Illinois in response to these issues. It is not only aware of hydrological and ecological concerns, but uses them as the very drivers of new processes of urbanization. The strategy comprises three phases.
Logistical Watersheds
As volumes of containerized freight in the United States continue rising, developers and railroads in northeastern Illinois are building larger intermodal freight facilities beyond Chicago's historic core. Combined with the rail and highway infrastructure binding them together, these new inland ports (#3, #18, #19) enable 21st century urbanization in the region.
The Bison Mosaic is the primary organizing framework for the strategy, and is established over a ten-year period by converting underperforming and degraded cropland into tallgrass prairie and wetlands. The conversion, initiated by prescribed prairie burns and perpetuated by a combination of burns and bison grazing, gradually connects existing regional bison strongholds at Nachusa Grasslands and the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.
Freeport Central
A prescribed prairie burn converts degraded cropland into the Bison Mosaic near the Freeport Central clustered development. A riparian corridor buffers fire from an expanded double-stack corridor, slows down stormwater, and curbs topsoil erosion. Over time a regenerated tallgrass prairie is monitored for transition back into cropland. Bison (Bison bison) roam freely.
The second phase begins ten years after the Bison Mosaic takes shape and proposes the clustering of hybrid logistical developments along heavily-used double-stack rail corridors that cross the interface between the most and least profitable agricultural land in northeastern Illinois. The typologies are combinations of residential, commercial, and agro-industrial buildings directly connected operationally, and in close physical proximity, to an intermodal freight facility and associated warehousing and distribution facilities. These programs and their architectural forms are hybridized through a series of ecological relationships. Each set of adjacencies leverages ecological and economic processes to produce new public space and new settlement typologies, helping accommodate projected pressure from increased containerized imports and population increase.
Kittredge Median
Buildings at Kittredge Median help direct stormwater towards nearby croplands, while bison (Bison bison) enrich soils through patch grazing and creating wallows. Over time the wallows—created by bison dust bathing—become seasonal pools and attract other animals. Milkweed species (Asclepias spp.) planted beside transportation infrastructure creates Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) habitat.
As clustered logistical developments continue to take form, now intertwined ecologically and economically with regional and planetary logistics networks, ongoing efforts to monitor crop suitability within a changing climate and prairie / cropland rotation continues.
Camanche Lateral
Agricultural products are passed through grain transloading facilities at the Camanche Lateral to fill empty containers for export to markets in Asia. Recreational bike paths wind through tallgrass prairie where bison (Bison bison) graze nearby, enriching soils. Over time this prairie will again become cropland, as it cycles between ecological and economic uses.
1. Genoa Transect
Located in the Kishwaukee watershed in Northern Dekalb County, this early logistical development leverages the interface of cropland, the Bison Mosaic, and an expanded east-west Canadian Pacific and Canadian National double-stack corridor intersection. [pop. 1,000,000; 4 million TEUs / year]
2. Deer Grove Extension
Located in the Green watershed along the border of Whiteside, Lee, and Bureau Counties, this second logistical development is smaller in size than the first. Deer Grove Extension straddles a newly expanded Union Pacific north-south line, taking advantage of the interface between the Bison Mosaic and productive cropland. [pop. 250,000; 1 million TEUs / year]
3. Freeport Central
Located in the Rock watershed between present-day Freeport and Rockford along an expanded east-west CN double-stack corridor, Freeport Central leverages the interface of the Bison Mosaic, productive cropland, and existing transportation infrastructure. [pop. 250,000, 1 million TEUs / year]
4. Kittredge Median
Straddling the Mississippi and Rock watersheds in northwestern Carroll County, the Kittredge Median is a linear development along an expanded east-west Canadian Pacific Railway corridor. Given its dual watershed location, this development has significant hydrological potential. [pop. 250,000, 1 million TEUs / year]
5. Camanche Lateral
As the Bison Mosaic expands, outlying clusters of logistical developments like the Camanche Lateral are made possible. Located in the Mississippi watershed in eastern Clinton County, Iowa, along an expanded Union Pacific east-west line, this hybridized settlement typology is unique due to its location along the Mississippi River, allowing it to enhance waterborne and terrestrial freight opportunities. [pop. 1,500,000, 6 million TEUs / year]
6. Kankakee Easterly
At the outskirts of the Bison Mosaic in Kankakee County, the Kankakee Easterly straddles the Kankakee and Grundy watersheds along the Norfolk Southern and CSX east-west line. This linear logistical development interfaces leverages the prairie / cropland interface as well as a thick web of highways, rail, and the Kankakee River. [pop. 750,000, 3 million TEUs / year]
Hinterlands Urbanism and Landscape
Conor O'Shea (Founder and Principal) and Chris Bennett (Architectural Collaborator).
MODUS Collective
Luke Hegeman (Founder).


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Microsoft released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14946 for PC and Mobile to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring, here's what you need to know
What's new in Build 14946
Customizing your precision touchpad experience (PC): Last week, we announced that we'd been working on refining your touchpad experience. This week, we're taking that one step further. When you go into Settings > Devices > Touchpad, you will now find a section called "Other gestures". In this section, you now have basic customization options for your three and four finger gestures. For taps, you can select between Cortana, Action Center, play/pause or middle mouse button, and for left/right swipes, you can select between switching apps or switching virtual desktops. Try it out and let us know what you think!
image: https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2016/10/touchpad-1.png
However, we know that some of our Insiders prefer even more control over their experience, so for those Insiders (and power users) we have added a new Advanced Gestures Configuration page. The page can be accessed via a link at the bottom of Touchpad settings page.
image: https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2016/10/touchpad-2-advanced.png
The Advanced Gestures Configuration page has more configuration options, including hooking gestures up for next/previous song, creating/deleting virtual desktops, or snapping windows. In addition to these new options, we've also updated the Touchpad settings to include reference diagrams to remind you of what to expect when you swipe with three or four fingers in a particular direction.
Known issues to look out for with your touchpad: since the last flight, we've fixed the issue resulting in touchpad scrolling being too sensitive in Windows 10 apps – appreciate everyone who shared their feedback on the subject. There's one other known issue we're looking into right now that click and drag with your precision touchpad might get misrecognized as right-click in this build. You'll also notice that there's a "custom keyboard shortcut" option in settings – that hasn't lit up yet, but we'll let you know when it does. Keep the feedback coming!
Separate screen time-out settings when using Continuum for Phone (Mobile): Today, we are happy to announce the availability of a top user request for Continuum for Phone. With this update, you will now be able to turn off whichever screen you are not using with Continuum – saving battery and preventing screen burn-in. If you are working on a Word document, your phone screen will sleep without any impact on your Continuum session. If you make a call, hang-up, or press the phone power button, you can keep right on working in Word with Continuum. And, if you prefer longer or shorter timeout values, you can change them independently for the phone and connected screen, using the settings found under Settings > Personalization > Lock screen. Have fun, and keep sending us great feedback on Continuum!
Updated Wi-Fi Settings page (PC and Mobile): We continue to make Settings more similar across Windows devices. We have added a new setting to the Wi-Fi settings page. When you go to Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi on your PC, then turn Wi-Fi off, you can now select a time under "Turn Wi-Fi back on" to have it turn on automatically after the amount of time you choose. It's set to Manually by default in this build.
image: https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2016/10/wi-fi-turn-back-on.png
We are also continuing to move functionality from the Wi-Fi (legacy) screen to the new Wi-Fi settings screen on Mobile. After you turn off Wi-Fi, choose a time under Turn Wi-Fi back on to have it turn on automatically after the amount of time you choose. Based on what we heard from customers in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, we changed the default setting from "In 1 hour" to Manually in this build.
Option to prevent autocorrection (Mobile): On your phone, if you see that an autocorrection is going to happen (i.e. the first candidate is bolded) and it's not what you intended, you will now see what you originally typed as the second candidate. Tapping on that candidate will prevent the autocorrection, and the system will learn your vocabulary and get smarter over time.
Option to remove a word from user dictionary (Mobile): We learn from your typing on the phone and build up a local user dictionary that adapts the keyboard prediction, autocorrection and shape writing experiences to your language style. Sometimes you may type a misspelled word and send it as is, sometimes you may tap on a red squiggled word and then tap the "+" sign by accident. Both save the unwanted word into your user dictionary, and it may appear when you type something similar in the future. Now you have a way to manually remove bad entries: tap on the word you don't like in the text box, and you will see a candidate that is the word with a "-" sign before it. Tapping on that candidate will remove the word completely from your user dictionary and no longer suggest it.
[ADDED] Expanding our to text prediction to more languages: This has been an exciting build for keyboard improvements, and we're excited to announce one more – with this build, we've updated the following keyboards to now support text prediction: Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, Slovene (also called Slovenian), Bulgarian, Albanian, Macedonian, Afrikaans, Galician, Basque, Swahili, Bangla in Bangladesh, Georgian, Azerbaijani (also called Azeri) (in Latin script), Kazakh, Armenian, Hausa (in Latin script) and Uzbek (in Latin script). If you speak any of these languages, we'd love for you to try it out and let us know how it feels (specific examples really help, if you have any). We'll be watching the feedback closely and plan to update this work based on what we hear from you.
Important note about a change to automatic backups of your phone (Mobile): We have changed the frequency of scheduled backups for Mobile to once a week. Initiating a backup manually by clicking the "Back up now" button remains unchanged and works as expected. You can do this via Settings > Update & security > Backup and clicking the "More options" link at the bottom. As always, it's good to do a backup of your device before updating to a new build.
Other improvements and fixes for PC
- Optional components such as Hyper-V and Bash should remain installed after updating to this build.
- We have fixed the issue where signing into games that use Xbox Live would not work. You should be able to sign-in to Xbox Live in games in this build.
- We fixed the issue causing Microsoft Edge to sometimes crash on launch, or when you type in address bar or try to open a new tab. You no longer need to run the PowerShell script.
- We fixed the issue causing touch scrolling to be too sensitive in Windows 10 apps, such as Microsoft Edge.
- We fixed an issue where Explorer.exe would hang when attempting to open considerably large .MOV files.
- We fixed an issue that could result in the network icon occasionally getting into a state where a red X would display in the taskbar despite an active internet connection, until the device had been restarted.
- We fixed an issue where if the device's brightness was automatically adjusted after being woken from sleep, the brightness level shown in the Action Center's Brightness Quick Action might not reflect the current brightness of the device.
- We fixed an issue leading to Narrator not tracking focus on the Start Menu All apps list or tiles.
- We fixed an issue potentially resulting in the "Open with…" dialog displaying with two entries for Calculator after tapping the Calculator key on a keyboard or running the Calculator app.
Other improvements and fixes for Mobile
- We fixed the issue causing you to get into a state where text messages will fail to send.
- When your phone is connected to your PC, long lists of captured photos will now load significantly faster in File Explorer.
- We've updated Narrator's reading order for Windows 10 apps which display an app bar on the bottom of the app, for example OneDrive, so now the contents of the page will be read before the contents of the app bar
- We fixed an issue resulting in video thumbnails sometimes not being shown in WhatsApp – videos received from this build onwards will display a thumbnail.
- We fixed an issue resulting in Camera app video recordings having a slight crackle to their audio in recent builds.
Known issues for PC
- If you have 3rd party antivirus products such as Bitdefender, Kaspersky Antivirus, F-Secure Antivirus and Malwarebytes installed on your PC – your PC might not be able to complete the update to this build and roll-back to the previous build.
- Larger Windows Store games such as ReCore, Gears of War 4, Forza Horizon 3, Killer Instinct and Rise of the Tomb Raider may fail to launch.
- [ADDED] PCs that are capable of Connected Standby such as the Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 may bugcheck (bluescreen) while in Connected Standby.
Known issues for Mobile
If your phone has additional speech packs installed – this build will fail to install on your phone with an 0x80188319 error. This is why we polled Insiders about language pack usage this week. Based on the response, we decided to push forward and send the latest bits. This issue will be fixed in the next build we release. NOTE: Removing speech packs will not correct the issue. Your device will continue to try and download and install the update and fail. It is recommended you move to the Slow ring until this issue is fixed.UPDATE – this issue has been mitigated.
Getting misconfigured PCs up to date
Some Windows Insiders who have pre-release builds on their PCs are not targeted correctly for receiving updates because they have not opted into receiving Insider Preview builds by having selected a valid ring or are in some other misconfigured state. To re-target these PCs, we are making a server-side change that will put these PCs in the Slow ring so that they can receive updates. Specifically:
- Going forward, any build from our Development Branch installed on a PC will be put into the Slow ring. This includes if you installed a Development Branch build from an ISO or later reset the device.
- For PCs on the Windows 10 Anniversary Update that were previously opted in to receiving builds but see a "Fix me" button on the Windows Insider Program settings page because they no longer have a registered Microsoft account attached will be put in the Release Preview ring.
If you would like to adjust these settings or suspend getting Development branch build updates temporarily (7 days), you can do so by going to Settings > Update & security > Windows Insider Program. To move to the Fast ring, a Windows Insider registered Microsoft Account must be attached to the PC. For enterprises running Insider Preview builds, you can manage this via these Group Policies documented here.
Read more at Windows Blogs


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731 East Cumberland Street, Lebanon, PA 17042
As a business owner, every transaction you complete is fraught with peril.
Protecting your business from the impact of potential customer lawsuits should be the first order of business. And while only a precisely crafted liability insurance policy can shield your business from this expense and stress, it's usually the last thing business owners handle.
Liability insurance covers the costs of legal fees. Imagine the peace of mind you'd have knowing that in the event of a claim, your assets are safe.
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text: Beginning his higher education in Athens, Greece and continuing his studies and service in the Boston area, Metropolitan Iakovos was appointed Archdiocesan Vicar of the Diocese of Detroit by Archbishop Iakovos in February 1968. One year later he was elevated to the rank of Bishop by the Holy See of Constantinople. He was consecrated Bishop of Apameia (an Auxiliary Bishop of Archbishop Iakovos) on Christmas Day of 1969, and appointed to the Diocese of Detroit as Bishop of that district. In 1971 he was appointed President of Hellenic College and Holy Cross School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts, while remaining as administrative overseer of the Diocese of Detroit. He simultaneously served as the Bishop of the New England area during his five-year tenure as President of Hellenic College and Holy Cross School of Theology. Following the reorganization of the Archdiocesan Districts into Dioceses, Bishop Iakovos was enthroned by His Eminence Archbishop Iakovos of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America on May 1, 1979, as the Bishop of Chicago at the Annunciation Cathedral. In November 1997, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate elected His Grace Bishop Iakovos of Chicago to the active Metropolitanate of Krinis and Exarch of Ionias. In this capacity, His Eminence continued to serve the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Chicago as its Presiding Hierarch. In December of 2002, the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate elevated the Dioceses of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese to Metropolises of the Archdiocese and elected all of the Hierarchs of the Dioceses as Metropolitans of their respective Metropolises, thus Metropolitan Iakovos was elected Metropolitan of Chicago. The Metropolis of Chicago consists of thirty-four parishes in Illinois, with another twenty-five parishes in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, northern Indiana, and eastern Missouri; as well as two monastic communities. The general offices of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago are located in Chicago, Illinois. Since his assuming the position of Hierarch of the Chicago Metropolis, Metropolitan IAKOVOS has characterized his tenure by his many initiatives. Under his leadership the Metropolis has increased its efforts to assist the homeless and those in need, as witnessed in the labors of the Metropolis Philanthropy Committee. He has founded new Youth programs, established various local Dialogue Commissions with other faith communities and continues to work with other area Religious Leaders in promoting justice and truth in our society. Various other programs of the Metropolis established by Metropolitan IAKOVOS include the Bishop IAKOVOS Scholarship Assistance Program; the Bishop's Task-Force on AIDS; the Metropolis Jr. Olympics; the Festival of Orthodox Books; as well as numerous programs in religion and Greek education. The family of His Eminence Metropolitan Iakovos of Chicago originated in Alatsata. He has acted with great love for the homeland of his parents. Source:Metropolis of Chicago


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It's all about the shrilk. When Ivan Chavez and Andrea Lagos were announced finalists in this year's Donald Reynolds Governor's Cup in Little Rock, it was the result of a lot of intense work and an evolving project that began with a new form of organic plastic called shrilk and a business start-up plan to attract investors.
The business plan created by Ivan Chavez and Andrea Lagos was a finalist in the "Innovation" category of the Donald W. Reynolds Governor's Cup Business Plan Competition.
"It was a lot of work at the beginning," said Chavez. "We had to write a full business plan in less than two weeks, which included all the research and then writing the proposal, budget, PowerPoint presentation - in other words, the whole business plan, to present to investors to get capital to fund the company. The business plan contained elements of marketing, PR, finance, and management, in other words basically a lot of the material we've covered in our classes here. We submitted the plan at the end of February and after that we had to wait to see if we were selected as finalists for the next round. As it turned out, we were finalists for the Governor's Cup in the 'Innovation' category. The three possible categories were 'Overall Business Plan,' 'Agriculture,' and 'Innovation.'"
Chavez and Lagos were one of only three teams out of 54 that qualified in the "Innovation section."
The Donald W. Reynolds Governor's Cup business plan competition encourages students attending any Arkansas two- or four-year college or university to act on their ideas and talents "in order to produce tomorrow's businesses," as their web site describes it.. Since the competition was started in 2001, more than 1,300 students representing 22 Arkansas colleges and universities have participated.
But back to the Shrilk. "It was discovered just a few months ago at Harvard," said Chavez. "Andrea Lagos and I were just googling around when we ran across it. The material is called 'Shrilk' because it is composed of fibroin protein from silk and from chitin, which is commonly extracted from discarded shrimp shells. It's also called 'insect cuticles.'"
Chavez describes Shrilk as similar in strength and toughness to an aluminum alloy, but only half the weight. "It is biodegradable and can be produced at a very lost cost, since chitin is readily available as a shrimp waste product," he said. "It is also easily molded into complex shapes, such as tubes. By controlling the water content in the fabrication process, the researchers were even able to reproduce the wide variations in stiffness, from elasticity to rigidity. As a cheap, environmentally safe alternative to plastic, Shrilk could be used to make trash bags, packaging, and diapers that degrade quickly. As an exceptionally strong, biocompatible material, it could be used to suture wounds that bear high loads, such as in hernia repair, or as a scaffold for tissue regeneration. As part of decomposition it can be used as a fertilizer."
This latest presentation by the two students was not, however, their first attempt. "I think the single most important thing we did that made us finalists this time was that we had put a lot of effort into evolving the project," Chavez said. "We had presented it at two previous competitions. The first time was a Walmart-sponsored competition called Walmart Better Living Business Plan Challenge, which took place at University of Missouri in Columbia. We competed against Ph.D. students the first time - we were the only undergrad school that was there. The judges were really tough because it was our first time and we had some uncertainly. But that helped us improve for the second competition, which was called an 'elevator pitch.' That was organized by Centuria Ventures, in Fort Smith. An 'elevator pitch' is a short summary used to quickly and simply define a product, service, or organization and its value proposition, which is part of a business strategy. The name 'elevator pitch' reflects the idea that it should be possible to deliver the summary in the time span of an elevator ride, or approximately thirty seconds to two minutes."
In their case, the team had one minute to lay out the entire business plan. "It's really tough," said Chavez. "A full 30 pages of business plan in one minute. There's a clock ticking down the time on the wall right in front of you, too! But you have to get it all in there in one minute. Those two competitions helped enormously to prepare us for this one, as results have shown."
Both students described the most difficult part of the project initially as finding the basic information they needed because of the recent discovery of the product. "Actually," said Chavez, "it was due to the help of Patrick Morgan and Stuart Stelzer at our library that we were able to accomplish our project. The article that contained all the information we needed for the paper was only available four places in total. We asked for help and it took a little while, but they came through."
Andrea Lagos agreed, adding, "I gained a lot of experience of the real professional business world through our Shrilk project because we interacted not only with judges, but also with real investors who were interested in our ideas and were willing to invest in us and our companies. In addition to both the professional and academic learning involved, in the course we took that most directly impacted this project, our 'Business Plan' class, I got to visit different places, meet different people, and learn a little more about life that you can't learn from books. And it is all paying off."
Topics: Business Administration


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This beautiful, high-quality greetings card features the iconic artwork of Sue Shields, originally created in the 1970s for the Welsh Arts Council Poster Poem collection. The card illustrates the poem 'Cofio' by Waldo Williams and contains the full poem inside. The reverse of the card also features biographical details of the poet and a brief appraisal of the poem, each written by Meic Stephens in both Welsh and English.
Suitable for any occasion, each card has space inside for your own message. Card size 157 x 157mm.
Contains a single 'Cofio' poem card and envelope.
Poem Card series includes:


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Shel Design gives your business a professional and competitive edge by creating quality graphic design that enhances your business branding. We deliver our services with attention to detail, design advice and recommendations, plain English communication and great customer service. Our portfolio showcases the variety and quality of work we produce, and our regular, long-term clients speak volumes about the service we offer.
Shel Design is located in Glenmore Park and provides graphic design services to clients in Penrith, Blue Mountains, Western Sydney, The Hills and across Australia. We support and value local business and champion small enterprises.


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Under the leadership of PT alumni and through the support of local United Methodist churches and conferences, Project Transformation has grown to provide programming for nearly 370 young adults and over 3,200 children annually in 43 host churches and communities. Programs are operated through seven affiliated Project Transformation Chapters in Arkansas, Central Texas, North Texas, Oklahoma, Rio Texas, Tennessee, and Washington DC.
Following the successful replication of the original Dallas-based program in other cities and through the support of the Young Clergy Initiative of the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, a national organization was created in 2015 to facilitate the sustainable replication of the PT model and support the continued growth and development of chapters.
We are excited to continue to expand Project Transformation's model of ministry in new places! New chapters are created in collaboration with local church and community leaders along with interested PT alumni and are approved by the Project Transformation National board of directors. Please review Project Transformation's Guideposts for New Chapter Development and contact Eric Lindh in the PT National office to learn more about starting a new chapter of Project Transformation.


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Each cart is built by a skilled tradesman using the highest quality materials, which means nothing less than the best for our customers. These carts are designed to work for you, and most importantly, make you money!
Nothing leaves the shop without a seal of approval first. Our quality control is top notch. We personally test every faucet, battery, gas line etc. before reaching you. Your cart also comes with a one year warranty, and an easy-to-understand users manual written by the owner himself (who has served many hot dogs in his day!)
We offer continuous support. Just because you have received your All American cart, doesn't mean we're done doing business. Our team is there to guide you through the process. Don't know how much supply you need for your first week on the job? Problem lighting your burners on a windy day? Call us 24 hours a day. We know the ins and outs of this unique business and we want you to succeed!


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On May 1 2012 Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) President Nina Bassat appeared on JOY 94.9FM with Doug Pollard and Rod Swift. The interview is available online here and the podcast can be downloaded here.
During this interview Doug Pollard asked if there had been any developments arising from the report the JCCV's GLBT Reference Group put out in November 2011. Nina's response (at 4:20) was:
"We're not a body that can actually bring in change on the ground. It's up to our affiliates to do that."
This response needs to be considered in relation to the JCCV's Youth Alcohol Program that has been running for a few years now. I include some statements from various sources relating to the YAP:
"Last year, the JCCV also set up the Youth Alcohol Project and has been working with our schools to combat issues like teenage binge drinking, something to which Jewish kids are certainly not immune." — Malki Rose on Galus Australis
"The JCCV has responded strongly to information that Jewish youth as young as eleven and twelve are drinking alcohol in excessive amounts, Jewish teenage binge drinking appears to be rising and young Jewish females are drinking alcohol at a rate equal to the general teenage community." — John Searle (via the JCCV)
"This month the JCCV Youth Alcohol Project Officer Debbie Zauder hosted Focus Groups for Year 6 Jewish School students and another for parents of Year 6 Jewish School students. The Focus Group aims were to inform the Youth Alcohol Project and the curriculum that the JCCV will deliver to the Jewish community in its forthcoming educational program on alcohol. Participants in both Focus Groups commented on the social, peer and in an increasing fashion parental pressure that Jewish youth experience to drink alcohol." — Debbie Zauder (via AJN)
In addition, there have been a number of stories about the JCCV's YAP in the Jewish print media recently. I attach one such story from June 22, 2012 at the end. In particular it's worth noting this paragraph:
Debbie Zauder, JCCV Youth Alcohol Project (YAP) manager, explained that the DAW 2012 theme, "Look After Your Mind", fits perfectly with the YAP education programs for Jewish schools. The programs offer students and parents the chance to hear experts in the alcohol and drug field discuss the short and long term effects alcohol has on the adolescent brain.
It seems, to me at least, that there's a significant disconnect between the words that Nina Bassat said on JOY and what her organisation is actually doing. A more honest answer that Nina could have given Doug would be something along the lines of:
"The JCCV can't actually be seen to be promoting homosexuality for fear of backlash from the Orthodox bloc of organisations that effectively control the JCCV. My hands are tied and as much as I would like to see intolerant behaviour toward homosexuality stamped out in the Jewish community, just like we are actively intolerant of anti-Semitism in the wider community, I have a job as President to keep and don't want to risk a vote of no confidence that would see me being asked to step down. And that's why you have seen no outcomes initiated by the JCCV further to the report."
Whilst I'm on the topic of Orthodox, Nina Bassat went on in the interview to say (at 10:20):
"I think the Orthodox community is very open to discussion. … I don't think our community is closed."
To which I ask Nina why the JCCV has shut down all discussion about the submission that the Rabbinic Council of Victoria made to the Australian Senate stating their opposition to marriage equality. This submission goes against the recommendations of the JCCV's report and is clearly an embarrassment to the JCCV.
Double standards much?
22 Jun 2012
The Australian Jewish News Melbourne edition
Community unites to topple teen tipple
"Recent research proves alcohol … does permanently affect the development … of the adolescent brain."
Debbie Zauder
YAP manager
JEWISH community leaders have joined together to show their support for this week's Drug Action Week (DAW).
The Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV), Rabbinical Council of Victoria (RCV), David Southwick MP and Chevra Hatzolah have all spoken out in support of the initiative from the Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia (AODCA).
Debbie Zauder, JCCV Youth Alcohol Project (YAP) manager, explained that the DAW 2012 theme, "Look After Your Mind", fits perfectly with the YAP education programs for Jewish schools. The programs offer students and parents the chance to hear experts in the alcohol and drug field discuss the short and long term effects alcohol has on the adolescent brain.
"Recent research absolutely proves that alcohol, especially binge drinking which is popular with Jewish teenagers, does permanently affect the development and condition of the adolescent brain," Zauder said.
Nina Bassat, president of JCCV, said the media coverage of a Purim party in Melbourne earlier this year, in which several teens were treated for drunkenness, should serve as a stark reminder of the perils of binge drinking among our youths. model appropriate drinking behaviour and to fully discuss with their children their family's values and expectations in relation to alcohol," she said.
Rabbi Yaakov Glasman, RCV president, commented that "Excellent work has been done in educating school students through the YAP program, but clearly the message hasn't got through to many older teens and adolescents."
Member for Caulfield David Southwick said the state government was taking appropriate steps to educate parents.
"Thanks to the state government's leadership here in Victoria we have legislation which makes it crystal clear that parents are responsible for ensuring young people do not engage in unsafe drinking practices. Parents can now face fines up to $7167 for allowing their kid's friends to drink in their homes without parental consent, an act that was legal under previous laws."


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In a move looking to change the way Global 2000 corporations, leading law firms, and government regulators cull and manage information from day-to-day interactions, United Kingdom–based infrastructure software company Autonomy has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire San Jose, Calif.–based content management solution provider Interwoven for $775 million. The deal works out to approximately $16.20 in cash per outstanding Interwoven share of stock. According to statements released by both vendors, the deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2009.
According to a statement released by Autonomy, the combination of the company's meaning-based computing technologies, known as IDOL, with Interwoven's suite of products focused on managing the interactions of people and content, can create a new set of technologies that will allow users to identify specific customer interactions and gauge what they actually mean. Autonomy also suggests that the combined customer base of more than 20,000 will provide additional scale and significant cross-selling opportunities, in addition to accelerating the delivery of next-generation software for managing unstructured information.
For Autonomy, the acquisition also marks a global push into the legal and compliance industry. "The combination...will continue the extension of IDOL as a key element of the regulatory, legal, and compliance industries," said Mike Lynch, group chief executive officer of Autonomy, in a statement. "We are very familiar with Interwoven, its product base, and management team through our partnership and joint customers over the years and see this transaction as an exciting opportunity to extend the chain of Autonomy's solutions."
The move also takes into consideration regulatory changes that since 2006 have been forcing law firms to change the handling of information from daily interactions. One such change was introduced to the U.S. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, requiring larger volumes of content to be processed between the client and the law firm.
The news apparently came as a surprise to many analysts, in part because Interwoven had been doing well independently, according to Kathleen Reidy, senior analyst at global information technology analysis and consulting firm The 451 Group. "I wasn't expecting the company to be acquired by a vendor that really isn't all that much bigger than [itself]," Reidy says of the move.
Even so, Reidy says the move makes great sense for Autonomy. "Interwoven has a couple of things [Autonomy] wants," she says. "The main [one] being the document- and records-management software Interwoven sells to the legal industry. The company owns the industry from [that] perspective." Numbers back up her claim: Interwoven's 4,600 customers include 1,200 law firms, nine of BusinessWeek's top 10 global brands, and 21 of the Forbes Global 30.
Questions remain, though, about what will happen to the other half of Interwoven's business, a high-profile role in content management. The company powers 100,000 Web sites, intranets, and extranets, Reidy says, adding that she believes that business line is still going strong for Interwoven but doesn't jibe with what Autonomy has been investing in.
Interwoven, Reidy says, has traditionally kept the legal and compliance-search side of its business separate from the Web content management side -- which she says she expects will still run autonomously. "It probably will remain fairly independent," she says. "The question will come in terms of whether or not Interwoven or Autonomy invest in new areas of online marketing that it would have if [the former had] remained independent."
While inquiries to Autonomy went unanswered and an Interwoven representative could not be reached by press time, a statement from Joe Cowan, Interwoven's chief executive officer, reflects the optimism for future innovation with the new pairing: "We believe customers will benefit from the combination of Autonomy's industry-leading technology with [our] unmatched position in our target markets. We are extremely excited with the unique possibilities for future product direction that will arise through the integration with Autonomy's technology."
Reidy believes that, overall, this move reflects an emerging -- and growing -- emphasis in the broader information management market. "It's definitely on the compliance, risk management, and e-discovery pieces of the [industry]," she says.
News relevant to the customer relationship management industry is posted several times a day on destinationCRM.com, in addition to the news section Insight that appears every month in the pages of CRM magazine. You may leave a public comment regarding this article by clicking on "Comments" at the top; to contact the editors, please email email@example.com.
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Black Raspberry Vanilla 14-pack Bath Bomb Fizzies (round balls)
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