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Angelina Jolie Fan Who Had 50 Surgeries Speaks Out
Last week we heard about a teen named Sahar Tabar, who has allegedly undergone 50 surgeries in a bid to look like her idol, Angelina Jolie.
The instagram photos shocked the world - and people were curious whether she had used prosthetics or actually undergone the surgeries.
The look is extreme, there's no doubt about that - but after choosing to make her instagram account private, she's allegedly spoken out to her followers:
'Hello relatively dear followers, the picture that you're scrutinising, even though I didn't like it, I kept it in … I must say I only had [indeterminate number of] surgery, not 50 surgeries, and foreign sites and channels were very biased in the way they talked about my photos.
I thought these people are probably living in the 18th century and they haven't seen or heard of technology or makeup and they are really surprised.'
A Reddit user has since taken to social media and pointed out the photoshop work that had gone into one photo in particular, which has done the rounds online.
It showcases the blurring and warped background, which is indicative of photo meddling.
It seems pretty obvious that although she's almost certainly had some work done, a lot of it is merely a lot of make-up and photoshop.
Source: UNILAD


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CoolMax LCD Power Supply Tester (PS-228) plus User Manual
Product discontinued Oct 2018. Details remain here for the support of existing customers
The CoolMax LCD Power Supply Tester (PS-228) is the easiest method to test or diagnose faults with your PC Power Supply Unit (PSU) without risking damage to the motherboard or other PC components.
This model introduces the new 8-pin PCI-Express connector and features clearer connector labels.
The CoolMax LCD Power Supply Tester includes the following features:
More details
Related Software
Please note that power supply testers are not designed or intended for continuous use and should not be used to continuously test for more than a minute. As such, they may not be an adequate test for intermittent power supply instabilities over time or under load.
For the detection and diagnosis of intermittent hardware problems, we recommend BurnInTest Professional to stress test your machine for endurance, reliability and stability.
Prior to the release of PS-228, PassMark Software was offering the PS-224 model of the CoolMax Power Supply Tester at the same price. Model PS-224 has now been superseded by model PS-228.
There are several versions of the PS-228 device. Some have an aluminum case, some have plastic cases depending on the production run. There are also variations in the printing with some runs have embossed writing and others having white printed text. All variants are identical in function however.
Please contact for more ordering details.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
- Research
- Open Access
A neural tracking and motor control approach to improve rehabilitation of upper limb movements
- Michela Goffredo1Email author,
- Ivan Bernabucci1,
- Maurizio Schmid1 and
- Silvia Conforto1
© Goffredo et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2008
- Received: 04 January 2008
- Accepted: 05 February 2008
- Published: 05 February 2008
Restoration of upper limb movements in subjects recovering from stroke is an essential keystone in rehabilitative practices. Rehabilitation of arm movements, in fact, is usually a far more difficult one as compared to that of lower extremities. For these reasons, researchers are developing new methods and technologies so that the rehabilitative process could be more accurate, rapid and easily accepted by the patient. This paper introduces the proof of concept for a new non-invasive FES-assisted rehabilitation system for the upper limb, called smartFES (sFES), where the electrical stimulation is controlled by a biologically inspired neural inverse dynamics model, fed by the kinematic information associated with the execution of a planar goal-oriented movement. More specifically, this work details two steps of the proposed system: an ad hoc markerless motion analysis algorithm for the estimation of kinematics, and a neural controller that drives a synthetic arm. The vision of the entire system is to acquire kinematics from the analysis of video sequences during planar arm movements and to use it together with a neural inverse dynamics model able to provide the patient with the electrical stimulation patterns needed to perform the movement with the assisted limb.
The markerless motion tracking system aims at localizing and monitoring the arm movement by tracking its silhouette. It uses a specifically designed motion estimation method, that we named Neural Snakes, which predicts the arm contour deformation as a first step for a silhouette extraction algorithm. The starting and ending points of the arm movement feed an Artificial Neural Controller, enclosing the muscular Hill's model, which solves the inverse dynamics to obtain the FES patterns needed to move a simulated arm from the starting point to the desired point. Both position error with respect to the requested arm trajectory and comparison between curvature factors have been calculated in order to determine the accuracy of the system.
The proposed method has been tested on real data acquired during the execution of planar goal-oriented arm movements. Main results concern the capability of the system to accurately recreate the movement task by providing a synthetic arm model with the stimulation patterns estimated by the inverse dynamics model. In the simulation of movements with a length of ± 20 cm, the model has shown an unbiased angular error, and a mean (absolute) position error of about 1.5 cm, thus confirming the ability of the system to reliably drive the model to the desired targets. Moreover, the curvature factors of the factual human movements and of the reconstructed ones are similar, thus encouraging future developments of the system in terms of reproducibility of the desired movements.
A novel FES-assisted rehabilitation system for the upper limb is presented and two parts of it have been designed and tested. The system includes a markerless motion estimation algorithm, and a biologically inspired neural controller that drives a biomechanical arm model and provides the stimulation patterns that, in a future development, could be used to drive a smart Functional Electrical Stimulation system (sFES). The system is envisioned to help in the rehabilitation of post stroke hemiparetic patients, by assisting the movement of the paretic upper limb, once trained with a set of movements performed by the therapist or in virtual reality. Future work will include the application and testing of the stimulation patterns in real conditions.
- Video Sequence
- Motion Estimation
- Functional Electrical Stimulation
- Rehabilitation Exercise
- Stimulation Pattern
Rehabilitative practice in stroke survivors has strengthened its empirical foundation on the basis of the recent advances in neuroscience methods, which led to deeper understanding of motor control and learning mechanisms, also on the basis of the recent discoveries regarding cells injury and regeneration [1]. In particular, long-term potentiation (i.e. where synapses are able to encode new information to represent a movement skill) is considered to have a key-role for the restoration of impaired functions. A critical element for the success of these mechanisms resides in the repetition of similar inputs for the motor cortex: these inputs, in fact, act as a biological teacher for the neuronal acquisition of novel skills. This process could be easily implemented through experience and training, which induce physiological and morphological plasticity, by strengthening synaptic connections between neurons encoding common functions [2]. Thus, the key concept behind the neurological rehabilitation is the repetition of movements in a learning-by-examples paradigm: by repeating movements, in either passive or assisted way, the brain is exposed to reinforcement and the neurons strengthen their connections.
To accomplish this purpose, the restoration of motor functions in people recovering from cerebrovascular diseases is typically achieved by means of adaptive equipments and environmental modifications [3, 4]. Significant improvement is being made in understanding the cellular and molecular events of cell injury and regeneration, and the paradigm of the massive repetition of movements to strengthen functional outcome is a necessity thus forcing new clinical treatments to exploit these new discoveries [5–10].
Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) is one of the most used technologies for restoring the functions of patients affected by neurological pathologies. By electrically activating the muscular system, FES is increasingly recognised as therapy and treatment for subjects impaired by stroke, multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy [11, 12]. The electrical stimulation has overcome the simple functional limb substitution [13], and has been proved as a successful therapy tool both in lower [14] and in upper limb movements [15]. These encouraging results have recently brought to the development of FES-assisted rehabilitation programs for hemiplegic patients [16], thus disclosing the idea of functional electrical therapy, FET [17]. Currently, FET systems make use of residual motor functions [18] or EMG recordings from muscular activity [19]. Recent technologies include non-invasive stimulators, like the handmaster [20] and the bionic glove [21], but the presence of external devices does not appear desirable for patients with neurological injuries. Novel and more sophisticated technologies, able to convey FES-based rehabilitation programs in an automatic and non-invasive way, are thus needed.
Following this objective, a new non-invasive FES-assisted rehabilitation system for the upper limb is here presented: the electrical stimulation is controlled by a biologically inspired neural inverse dynamics model, fed by the kinematics associated with the execution of a planar goal-oriented movement. The system, called smartFES (sFES), exploits the recent neurological discoveries on the effect of the repetition of rehabilitation exercises for the recovery of motor functions in stroke survivors.
As a proof of concept, in the current paper only the markerless silhouette tracking algorithm and the neural controller for the execution of point to point planar movements of the upper limb will be presented. In fact, these steps are crucial in designing a system which could help patients in recovering movements through FES, because they estimate the movement and solve the inverse problem in terms of the pattern of stimulation needed for accomplishing the desired movement. For the HMI different approaches are possible, while the implementation of the FES stimulator is the next step in our research program.
The use of a markerless motion estimation method for controlling a FES-based rehabilitation exercise is a novelty in the research area. There is a rich literature on various human motion analysis techniques which estimate limb poses from video sequences for different purposes, like video surveillance [22], human-computer interaction [23], gesture recognition [24] and biomechanical applications [25]. The approaches can be grouped in model-based and model-free methods (see [26] for a review). The first group uses human body models in order to estimate the limb poses from the video sequences. These approaches generally need more than one video camera capturing the movement of the entire body and present high computational costs. On the other hand, model-free methods rely on the motion estimation of single pixels belonging to the body limbs [27], or on the extraction of the body silhouette [28]. The first approach is basically sensitive to noise and light changes, and needs an initialization phase for the selection of the pixels of interest. Conversely, the silhouette-based motion estimation appears a good compromise between computation time, automatism and robustness. Edge detectors [29] can be extracted robustly and at low cost, but they are unsuitable to deal with cluttered backgrounds or textured clothing. Therefore, silhouettes are usually located with contour or shape approaches that are more accurate than edge detecting techniques in tracking non-deformable objects [30, 31]. A recent optimization of the Snake algorithm [32], which allows to extract the silhouette of deformable objects, like human body limbs, had been proposed by the authors of this paper [33]. The method, called Neural Snake, appears to be a sound choice for the sFES system where a trade-off between computation time and accuracy is needed.
The second block of the sFES system is a biologically inspired controller of the stimulation waveforms for the arm. Even though some pioneering work has been found in literature [34], a neural FES controller has not yet been deeply investigated. For this purpose, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), which have been firstly hypothesized as biologically reasonable controllers [35], are proven to be an efficient tool for the resolution of the inverse kinematics [36]. The aim of the ANN is therefore to replace a controller activated step-by-step by the patient (for instance, with the contraction of residual muscles) with a high level motor controller driven by the action to be implemented (i.e. move the arm from position A to B, reach an object and so on) [37]. For this purpose, after receiving the information regarding the desired movement, the stand alone neural controller drives the stimulator block to make the assisted arm move in the requested way. Therefore, the rehabilitation exercise will be composed of movements shown by a "healthy teaching arm" and reproduced by means of the neural driven sFES.
The markerless motion estimation method
The first step of the proposed sFES system is the markerless motion estimation of the healthy arm pose. For this purpose, silhouette approaches, like Active Contour Models (Snakes), offer a partial solution because they imply that the shape has to be preserved during the movement. However, in human movement analysis it is often needed to track silhouettes whose shape is largely changing from frame to frame, and dealing with this issue is increasingly more demanding in presence of low acquisition frame rates with respect to the velocity in the execution of movement. Therefore, in order to apply the Snake algorithm in the dynamic context, the present study introduces a new approach, called Neural Snakes (NS).
The algorithm is based on the design of a specific ANN (ANN1 in the following) which works in a two-steps basis: firstly, it predicts the deformation of the contour shape on a frame by frame basis, then this coarse estimation of the silhouette position is refined by means of the Snake algorithm described in [32]. In this way, the NS algorithm is able to track the changes in the silhouette far better than the simple Snake algorithm.
The edge points are then used as contour points (CP) for the Snake algorithm where their matching to the image contour is achieved by minimizing a cost function, defined "energy". As explained in [32], the contour is a controlled discrete spline function that can be parametrically represented by a sequence of samples v(s):
v(s) = (x(s), y(s)) (1)
and where α and β are respectively the measure of elasticity and stiffness of the Snake. The first derivative term makes the Snake act like a membrane, where the constant α controls the tension along the contour. On the other hand, the constant β and the second order term drives the rigidity of the curve (if β is zero, the contour is discontinuous in its tangent, i.e. it may develop a corner at that point).
The external energy of the Snake, E ext , is derived from the image data to make the Snake be attracted to lines, edges and terminations:
E ext = E line + E edge + E term (4)
and f(x, y) is the image intensity, θ(x, y) is the gradient direction along the contour and n r is an unit vector perpendicular to the gradient direction.
The application of the described energy minimizing procedure on the N contour points extracted from the controlled video sequences generates the training set of the ANN1. The resulting horizontal and vertical positions of the contour points, together with their velocities and accelerations, are used to estimate the dynamics of shape.
Therefore, in an uncontrolled video sequence, the arm movement is firstly predicted by the trained ANN1 and then corrected with a fine estimation by using the Snake algorithm. For each frame i, the output of the predictor (the N predicted contour points) and the i-th frame of the video sequence are processed by the Snake algorithm in order to minimise eq. (2). The result is the silhouette pose estimation over time. Moreover, the CP positions obtained with the NS approach allow the estimation of elements characterizing the kinematics of the gesture, such as the position of the wrist as the end point, or the shoulder joint behaviour.
The NS had been previously tested on synthetic video sequences with different values of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) [33] in order to evaluate its accuracy: the results showed a RMSE lower than 1 cm and almost independent on the SNR. Moreover, comparative tests on real video sequences had shown the improvement of NS in tracking deformable shapes as compared to the Snake algorithm.
Therefore, the proposed markerless silhouette tracking algorithm can be confidently used for the estimation of the arm position, which drives, together with a HMI, the neural motor controller.
The neural controller of the upper limb model
The arm model is composed of two joints (two degrees of freedom) and four muscle-like actuators (agonist and antagonist pair for both shoulder and elbow joint), which execute the planar movement on the basis of the muscular activations. The skeletal structure of the simulated biomechanical arm consists of two segments, with lengths L1 and L2, which represent the forearm and the upper arm respectively, connected through two rotoidal joints. The planar joints that connect the two segments can assume angular values in the range [0, π]. These values are in correspondence with the Cartesian coordinates of the free end in the working plane by means of well known direct kinematic transformation. The muscular structure is simulated by means of four Hill's type muscle-like actuators, and establishes the dynamic relationship between the position of the arm and the torques acting on each joint [40]. Body segment anthropometrics and inertias of both upper arm and forearm are obtained from the scientific literature, taking into account the specific body height and weight [41].
The network has been trained by a Resilient Back Propagation algorithm. Around 200000 epochs are necessary to train ANN2. Details on the implementation of the neural controller can be found in [36].
Two steps of the non-invasive FES-assisted rehabilitation system for the upper limb have been presented. In synthesis, once acquired a video sequence of an healthy arm movement, the neural controller makes it possible to extract the muscular activations that are necessary to make the synthetic arm execute the presented task.
Experimental tests
The video sequence used for training the Snake predictor ANN1 has been acquired at 60 fps and the arm movements have been executed slowly.
After the ANN1 training phase, two video sequences of natural arm movements have been acquired at 30 fps (frame rate commonly used in commercial low costs digital cameras), the proposed NS method has been applied and the close hand and shoulder positions have been estimated over time.
Experimental trials have been performed for assessing the capability of the neural controller to make the synthetic arm execute movements corresponding to those determined by the markerless algorithm. In order to evaluate the performance of the two system blocks, a number of parameters have been extracted from the trajectories of the different movements.
The Cartesian coordinates of the three targets reached by the subject's arm have been expressed in a reference system centred in the shoulder, and the obtained values have been fed to the neural controller. Both the starting and the ending points of the three trajectories have been estimated via the NS algorithm. For each pair of points, ANN2 has been run to generate the neural excitations that enable the biomechanical arm model to execute a movement similar to the video-acquired one.
Indicating with P j = (p xj , p yj ) the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the target point j (j = 1, 2, 3) and with T j = (t xj , t yj ) the trajectory executed leading to the target point j, two measures have been considered as indexes of accuracy of the NS algorithm and the neural controller.
where the estimated target position is indicated with the superscript e and the true one with the superscript t.
where the estimated trajectory is indicated with the superscript e and the reconstructed one with the superscript r.
and the denominator is the distance between the starting and arrival points of the j-th trajectory.
Table 1
Via-points of the overall trajectory
PE i (cm)
Table 2
Single segments of the overall trajectory
Curvature of the estimated movement
Curvature of the reconstructed movement
The mean curvature is 1.03 for the movements estimated by NS and 1.06 for the ones reconstructed by the neural controller. These values are in accordance to the results reported in [42]. Therefore, the obtained movements show a good agreement, not only for the final points but also for the trajectory.
The proof of concept of a new non-invasive FES-assisted rehabilitation system for the upper limb has been presented. In the system, called smart FES (sFES), the electrical stimulation, necessary to assist a goal-oriented planar movement of one upper limb, is controlled by a biologically inspired neural controller, a HMI and a healthy arm motion detector. Four main blocks compose the overall system. The first one is dedicated to the markerless analysis of the healthy arm during planar movements from which information regarding the trajectory and the current position of the "healthy teaching arm" is obtained. In the second block a HMI based on gaze tracking and interpretation (not described here) will give information regarding the intention of the subject (which position the arm is going to). Then, the neural controller uses the outputs of the first and the second blocks for generating the specific outputs, which are the stimulations necessary to make the FES-assisted arm execute the movement.
In this paper, the markerless motion estimation method and the neural controller have been presented. The approach has been tested on real data and comparative results between the real, the estimated and the reconstructed target positions have been reported. Experimental results shows mean errors lower that 2 cm and are particularly encouraging for the future development of the system. Moreover, from the comparison of the arm trajectories estimated by the markerless algorithm and the ones reconstructed by the neural controller it emerged that curvature indexes are comparable and in accordance with the values found in literature.
In the future, the other two blocks of sFES will be designed. In particular, a HMI system, based on gaze identification, will process the subject motion intention in order to define the arm trajectory. Moreover, the neural controller outputs will be used to generate the electrical stimuli of the FES system that will make an assisted arm perform rehabilitation exercises.
The fruitful discussions with, and the suggestions of Prof. Maurizio Inghilleri, Università di Roma La Sapienza, are gratefully acknowledged. This work has been partially supported by MiUR (Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca).
Authors' Affiliations
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This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


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What Are The Advantages To Vocational Education And Coaching?
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Darky Roots have released their 2nd Ep 'Journey' on Rudekat Records. 'Journey' is a generous 8 tracks of finely crafted songs featuring stand out tracks Only You, Positive Energy and Worth Fighting For. Included are two bonus remixes by One Rude Ape and Drew-Id. The EP was recorded and produced by Paulie B, one of Australia's top reggae producers at the Tanuki Lounge in West End and is available for download or mail order on our music page.<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HutQJ9wM0OY?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HutQJ9wM0OY?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
New Island Vibe design available on girls singlets, unisex tees and hoodies. Order now, sizes range from Small to XXL. Colours - Black and Sand.
Darky Roots' new EP "Journey' is a generous 8 tracks of finely crafted songs featuring stand out tracks Only You, Positive Energy and Worth Fighting For. Included are two bonus remixes by One Rude Ape and Drew-Id. The EP has been recorded and produced by Paulie B who is one of Australia's top reggae producers.
Darky Roots will be launching Wrong Place at the Stepp Inn at Brisbane's Fortitude Valley on Saturday October 23 alongside some of Australia's greatest reggae bands, Melbourne's The Red Eyes and Byron's Raz Bin Sam.
Journey and Wrong Place are both available for sale and digital download here.
Rebel Hi Fi Presents... Lotek - The Rudest Dude.
This was discovered in a old film can, in a storage unit gathering dust in Jamaica.
From raw beginnings as a young punk playing with The Gastric Chunks and Acid Moon, Morgyn Quinn (aka Rudi Quinzalez) started his career at underground festivals such as EarSex and monthy noise gigs at the local community centre.
In 1999 Rudi toured Japan as bass player with Gudju Gudju and stayed as a guest with the Ainu people of Hokkaido. In 2001 Rudi visited the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago, researching the origins of Rastafarian culture and satisfying a deep love of reggae music.
In 2003 Rudi settled in Brisbane and founded Rudekat Records and going on to play in such acts as Hot rubber Glove, The Dynamic Thrills, Die Rude, The RudeKat Sound System and The Senors alongside such players as Paulie B (The Beautiful Girls, Bobby ALu), Lachlan Mitchell (Laneous & The Family Yah), D KazMan (Dubmarine, and Sunny Dread (The Zionites).
What started as an ethical clothing label specializing in original screenprints, the company soon expanded to include live events and music releases.
As well as being an avenue to release Australian reggae and independent music, Rudekat Records has been the creative force behind the Kuranda Roots Festival (2003 - 2013), West End Carnivale (2009 - 2010) and Island Vibe Festival (2006 - 2013). Rudekat also co-developed a DIY Event Management course for Youth at the Byron Bay YAC.
Rudekat Records has always been a strong supporter of environmental groups and causes, donating popular tee shirt designs to The Wilderness Society and The Australian Marine Conservation Society. Island Vibe has a strong environment record and has been twice awarded by the prestigious international A Greener Festivals Award. Wherever possible, Rudekat uses recycled materials for posters and CD manufacture, promotes recycling and DIY composting at festivals, and abstains from sweat-shop produced merchandise.
A trademark of Rudekat events is a cross fertilization of cultures, with a strong focus on Indigenous and Pacific artists and World Music. Rudekat has been proud to work with a stunning line up of star acts over the years including Archie Roach, The Easy Star AllStars (US), Prince Alla (Jamaica), JipaJiroa (Vanuatu), Opiuo, Spoonbill, Blue King Brown, Katchafire (NZ), Nicky Bomba, Chali 2na (US), The Black Seeds (NZ), House of Shem (NZ), Olmecha Supreme (NZ), Ladi 6 (NZ), Little Bushman (NZ), 1814 (NZ), The Beautiful Girls, Mista Savona, Grace Barbe, Oka, Dubmarine, Kooii, Kingfisha, Electric Wire Hustle (NZ), Zennith, Mantaka, The YuluBarribah Dancers, The Groote Eylandt Dancers amongst many others.
Rudekat events are also supportive of emerging artists, youth and showcasing various artforms, including circus, cabaret, spoken word, comedy, dance and visual arts.
Welcome to Rudekat Records - Brisbane's iriest online Reggae and Roots music store! Join our mailing list for news on free music, latest releases and wicked festivals!


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Hideo Kojima is one of the most respected game developers in the industry and fans are eager to get a new look at the upcoming Death Stranding. Well, during the Game Awards 2016 Hideo Kojima brought a little gift for the fans, which is a new Death Stranding trailer.
This new Death Stranding trailer does not give us much in terms of game's world and story but there are some interesting things in it. First of all, Mads Mikkelsen has been confirmed to be playing an important role in the game but it is unclear if he is the villain or he will be helping the protagonist.
Death Stranding trailer starts with a familiar shot from the first trailer and then we see a character carrying something in his hands and that character is none other than Guillermo del Toro.
The trailer also has an easter egg for the die hard Metal Gear Fans. Later in the trailer we see a doll floating towards Mads Mikkelsen's character. If you look closely the doll has a blue eye, the other is closed, has a metal arm and there is a shard in the forehead.
I think you have guessed it by now that is is a direct reference towards Big Boss from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
However, Hideo Kojima is not going to stop here as it has been previously announced that Kojima will be present at PlayStation Experience and will reveal further details about the game, most probably a gameplay trailer will be revealed.
Death Stranding is an action game in development at Kojima Productions and will launch exclusively for PlayStation 4.


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The Trial of Joan of Arc (Procès de Jeanne d'Arc)
Dir: Robert Bresson
France, 1962, 65min, 35mm
Cast: Florence Delay, Jean-Claude Fourneau
A foundational story of French identity with complicated questions of God and nation. Bresson follows the narrative of the country maid led by God to save France as a knight but brought down by prejudice and treachery. Yet, he reinvents it through his use of non-professional actors and his negation of actorial artifice (for which he condemned Carl Dreyer's 1928 version of the story) in the quest for spiritual truth, on and off screen.
1962 Cannes Film Festival, Special Jury Prize
Post-screening seminar with Long Tin and Li Cheuk-to
Further reading:
Filmmakers on Bresson_Andrei Tarkovsky, From Robert Bresson by James Quandt (Toronto: Cinematheque Ontario, 1998)
Filmmakers on Bresson_Jacques Rivette, From Robert Bresson by James Quandt (Toronto: Cinematheque Ontario, 1998)
Robert Bresson, The Sublime Minimalist
Buy ticket 03/06/2017 (Sat)
Buy ticket 08/07/2017 (Sat)
- Hong Kong Arts Centre Louis Koo Cinema (Venue)
- HK Science Museum Lecture Hall (Venue)
- Hong Kong Film Archive (Venue)
- The Grand Cinema (Venue)
- The Metroplex (Venue)
- Festival Grand Cinema (Venue)
- the sky (Venue)
- Broadway Hollywood (Venue)
- UA Cine Moko (Venue)
- MCL Telford Cinema (Venue)
- Grand Windsor Cinema (Venue)
- Tai Kwun (Venue)
- Chinese Subtitles
- Category III
- Post-screening discussion with the director
- Director and/or actor(s) will meet the audience
- Post-screening talk
- Full House
- Introduction
1. Unless otherwise stated, all films (except English-speaking films) are subtitled in English.
2. Screenings at HK Science Museum: There is no URBTIX Outlet at the venue. Tickets are available at URBTIX till one hour prior to respective screenings. Door ticket counter opens 30 minutes before the screening. Limited tickets to non-sold out screenings will be available at the door, subject to availability (Cash Only).
3. While it is the HKIFF's policy to secure the best possible print of the original version for all its screenings, HKIFF will appreciate its patrons' understanding on occasions when less than perfect screening copies are screened.


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We're Costin & Roxana, a 30-something couple from Romania who have been traveling together since 2016. Although both of us have regular 9 to 5 jobs, we're adventure-loving and culture-seeking, so we have started this blog to help people get out of their comfort zone and have great adventures without breaking the bank.
Both of us have traveled separately to more than 40 countries, flown thousands of kilometers, seen a few of the modern world wonders like the Pyramid of Giza, Colosseum, and the Taj Mahal, tried weird, made friends along the way, and learned that you do not need to spend a fortune to travel.
In the last year together we have had great adventures in Zanzibar, Cuba, Germany, Italy, Greece, China, the Maldives and there are a lot more to come.


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I am realizing more every day how much I am OVER this summer season. Mainly because being near the beach means your clothes magically disappear into thin air. They are burned or confiscated, or stolen, apparently, because why else would you walk into a store, or post office, or restaurant in 15 square inches of semitransparent clothing? It MUST be because you have nothing to wear over it, and your money has been stolen so you can't buy new clothes. Oh wait, you definitely have money, because you just pulled a wad of $100 bills out of your size two bikini on your size twenty frame to buy your fifteen dollar beer.
God give me grace.
To distract myself from the borderline nudists that swarm front street, I am daydreaming often of the country we will soon be moving to where boots and scarves and "jumpers" abound. Where modesty is appreciated and necessary to ones survival of all things damp.
35 days! We have 35 days until we wave goodbye to our friends and family here in Avalon. Only 50 days until we fly to Dublin!
We got some GREAT news this week regarding our DTS. They have dropped our tuition again by another $2,000! Holy smokes!!!
As things sit today, we are looking at needing to raise only $5,000. This counts the anticipated funds we have already raised plus income from our current jobs. We are looking at two different fundraising opportunities available to us. Since Justin knows how to handle himself in the kitchen, we are trying to plan a benefit dinner here on the island, as well as one in Oakhurst before we head out.
Please consider partnering with us in this new adventure by supporting us through prayer, and if God leads you, financially. You can visit our support raising site here. Please read our story and the different ways available to you regarding donations.
Justin's birthday was just last week and it was a great week of parties, food and just overall fun. On Tuesday, we had all of our island friends over at the Canby's and we celebrated his 27th with smoked pulled pork sandwiches, homemade BBQ sauce, on homemade Hawaiian sweet rolls, homemade coleslaw, potato salad and lots of yummy appetizers. Justin celebrated his day eating good food with the people he loves.
A little earlier this week we got an out of season thunder and lighting storm and RAIN! It was glorious and hilarious as we watched tourists, scantily clad, rush to get their things under cover. The brief storm also gave us a renewed sense of hope in the power of prayer and our outcry during worship.
All in all, God is still doing really awesome things here in Avalon and we are blessed to be a part of His work while we are here...even if we have endure indecent exposure ;)


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In September, Changing Times Vitamins announced that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding with World Class Events, giving the company the exclusive rights to promote the popular World's Strongest Man Super Series in the United States. Changing Times plans to do 4 events in the next year including one in their home state of Arizona and one at Madison Square Garden (MSG) to follow up the successful event held there last year.
Shortly after that agreement, the company announced that baseball superstar Manny Ramirez, a two-time champion, signed on as the leading spokesperson. A former world championship series MVP and a 12-time All-Star selection, Ramirez has led the league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in. Ramirez will appear in commercials, make personal appearances, and attend other events on behalf of the company's product.
Changing Times Vitamins has also signed on UFC Fighter Marcus "Maximus" Aurelio and Popeye(R), the cartoon sailorman. So what is the product attracting all this excitement? RecoveryX, a revolutionary sports drink that contains clinically tested, patent pending algae extract known to reduce edema (swelling/inflammation) and could support a compromised immune system.
The beverage has no empty calories, caffeine or sugars, unlike other energy drinks that often lead to a debilitating crash after providing a quick rush. The company is poised to do well in the future as more athletes discover the benefits of including RecoveryX in their daily exercise routines.
Let us hear your thoughts: Changing Times Vitamins, Inc. Message Board


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A link directory to Australian political parties policies on tourism, envvironment and sustainability, plus local and international environmental groups and issues
Big Volcano Ecotourism Resource Centre
Activism: Australian Political Parties, Environmental Campaigns
"You know how I'm always trying to save the planet"*
See also: Online Activism || Environmental Campaigns || Democracy & Human Rights
Hint: The majority of links below go to external sites. Use your right mouse button to open a new window to these sites, or use your back button to return here. NB Amazon titles will open a new window.
Australian Political Parties
This is intended only as a quick guide to the policies (where they exist) of the major Australian federal political parties (* as at 26/08/13).
Online Activism
A new sub category, these are sites where you can create a petition for your cause, or join an existing online movement for change. Also check out the enviromental organisations and their campaigns below, as they often host associated petitions directly.
See also Democracy & Human Rights, Development and Environment and Humanitarian Aid, Non Government Agencies
Environmental Campaigns
The Americas
See also Sustainable Design & Management, Development and Environment, Ecologically Sustainable Development and Volunteer and Community Tourism
* ref. "... save the planet": Film - Independence Day, 1996, David Martin (Jeff Goldblum)
Google Ads
Copyright 1997 - 2018 by
Big Volcano® Tourism Marketing & Media.
All rights reserved.
This page updated: 28 May, 2018


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As a basketball personality, he could be eighteen years old. In every play, the sneakers the players always performed an important role; help all of them take over the long-time plan. If not able to pay back in time, you have to inform the lender, he will prolong your repayment period to be able to next month for some extra cost.
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There are numerous companies that specialize in armed forces payday loans. Plus, if you are planning to drink at the party, the feet will likely swell some, leading to your shoes to become also tighter. LeBron's signatures shoes are usually popular among the market and the golf ball fans due to his private attractive characteristics, a focused and power performance within the court. Most new moms continue to be at home with their baby and might not have the proper source of income to stay a borrowing position.
Aside from Cinderella outfit, additional options to select from like Little Princess Jasmine, Rapunzel, Belle, Resting Beauty and Princess Erica. As to what Bryant thinks of this, it is so far unclear. Instant cash progress is small duration mortgage aid that does not need any collateral. Dogs are the most popular family pet to get but are also probably the most high maintenance.
I have a feeling few years coming from now, they will stop folks from using it and just allow people take pictures from it, and they will charge you for that. Another thing to confirm before you submit an application for payday loans is that you must have an operating bank account. Hobo is a brand that will speak of luxurious design and sophistication. The dark style allows them to be put on with any outfit plus color., They are perfect for sports activities and for doing lots of strolling. Apart from using PPC ads, also you can invade forums, social networking sites, and even blogs.
It's nevertheless a limited edition, but with the particular distribution method reaching the majority of the traditional stores, they should be accessible. You can rapidly treat the particular toenail fungus with a medicine you can purchase at the pharmacy, or possibly have your health care provider treat it. During the whole year, Sort did not forget his term and willing.
Women tend to fork out a lot of time prepping their hair plus making the right choice about their particular clothes and when women had been younger they played with their particular girl toys. Furthermore, reinforce them so that they never consider that footwear would be the key ingredient to their achievement in athletics. The color scheme beautifying this top looking shoe a mix of white, black and maroon.
Copyright 2019 Buywptemplate


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© Sara Cameron Links | Terms and conditions
Originally produced for UNICEF
"Before, we were helpless. We hardly left our homes. We never spoke to strangers. We couldn't lift our heads. We hid our mouths when speaking and our heads under our saris when we were eating. We walked stooped over, our shoulders bent and our eyes on the ground. We were timid and terrified and believed that if we went outside the confines of our homes then we would become characterless."
Chandrakanti spoke these words in front of a room full of women from her village Chauhatta in West Champaran, Bihar. She stood straight as she spoke, making direct eye contact with me, behaviour that a few years ago would have been unthinkable. Even that gathering of women, all members of the mahila samiti (women's group) would have been inconceivable. In front of everyone, Chandrakanti imitated the way she used to walk, with her shoulders hunched, her face hidden and bowed. The room erupted with laughter and the underlying message was clear - they would never walk like that again.
West Champaran lies in the far north west of the State of Bihar in India. It is a place of flat wheat lands and thatched villages that are cut off by floods almost every monsoon season. The landless peasantry and tribal peoples like the Tharu and the Oraon are share-croppers who work the land for absentee landlords, taking only a small portion for their families. For much of the year the men, and sometimes whole families, migrate to work as brick-makers on clay-rich lands elsewhere in the state.
The family economy is cut close to the bone. The slightest additional burden such as a sudden illness or a daughter's marriage sends many families spiraling into even greater poverty and indebtedness to moneylenders who charge exorbitant rates, as high as 120% per annum. Villages that border jungle areas and the frontier with Nepal are also prey to dacoits who rape, murder, kidnap for ransom, and extort donations of rice and other commodities from peasant families.
Children worked long hours in the fields or in the home. Girls were regarded a as burden on family resources. A boy might be taken to see a doctor if he was sick, but girls rarely were. Most were married while still very young.
Some villages had primary schools but children of low caste families did not attend. In any case, teachers were frequently absent although they continued to draw salaries. Nurses were supposed to visit the villages to provide immunizations but they also rarely showed up. In some villages, water pumps had been installed but were not maintained. There was no system for monitoring services that the government had promised to provide, and most poor families were unaware that they had rights to receive them or that education, for example, was of any value.
The Convergent Community Action strategy was devised by the Government of India and UNICEF to address the situation of the nation's poorest and most excluded populations, such as those in West Champaran (COCA began in West Champaran in 1992 under the name Community Based Convergent Services). It aimed to reverse the prevailing top-down development approach by organizing and empowering women's groups, strengthening the Panchayat Raj or local government, and establishing a cooperative framework in which women's groups, the Panchayat Raj and the various sectors of the State could work together on community-specified plans-of-action. The approach drew strength from the 73rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution which gave rights to communities to determine their own development path.
In 1992, implementation of CCA began in several Indian states, but from the beginning it faced major obstacles in Bihar. The legacies of an intensely feudal economic system, corruption, the power of the patriarchy, the submissiveness of women, the absence of participatory development processes and a heavy emphasis on top-down planning all provided significant challenges. While higher officials of the Indian administrative Service in Bihar were often enlightened about the advantages of community-driven development, the concept was foreign to many others in the extremely hierarchical administration, many of whom regarded it as a threat to their power and an insult to their status. In addition, there was no effective local government, since the Panchayat had been out of operation in Bihar for 22 years (elections were eventually held in April 2001 in Bihar). And, in the early phase of the programme, banks were sceptical about micro-credit and were reluctant to provide the group-loans that were necessary to fulfil economic aspects of the strategy.
Yet between 1994, when group formation got underway, and 2000, CCA in Bihar has brought major gains including freeing tens of thousands of families from dependence on moneylenders. More than 65,000 women in nine districts in Bihar and Jharkhand** have joined CCY self help groups. By the end of 2000, they had cumulative savings of more than eight million rupees (almost $200,000). Savings that were at first as small as Rs. 5 per week (about 20 US cents) have transformed family economies and, with access to group credit, have even led to the establishment of viable small businesses.
The self-help groups have also begun to break gender stereotypes, have raised the status of girls and women, put more girls into school, acted as a force to reduce early marriage and domestic violence and have helped to improve justice, education and health in their communities.
The alliance behind these achievements includes dedicated NGOs, enlightened government officials and determined executives of NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development). While operating from very different perspectives and with different mandates, these partners form a vanguard that struggles to transform an unwieldy and at times intransigent system, into one that is responsive to children, women and communities.
But the real success story of CCA lies with women themselves, and the enormous courage they have brought to their journey out of oppression into a force that is increasingly aware of its collective power to win justice and to fulfil their rights.
**In November 2000, the former State of Bihar was divided into the states of Bihar and Jharkhand. The capital of Jharkhand is Ranchi
Convergent Community Action (CCA) in Bihar and Jharkhand
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Many mobile enthusiasts have been waiting for the day when we'll simply dock our smartphones and it would turn to a full-fledged desktop OS to be used natively like you would your regular Notebook PC or desktop computer.
There have been quite some notable attempts with one of the latest being Microsoft's Continuum for it Windows mobile smartphones.
The implementation is rather a nifty work — although, still in progress — and essentially functions in with a dock where the phone simply needs be placed; connect a monitor and basic peripherals – mouse and keyboard – and you're good to go.
The most recent attempt however that was showcased at CES 2016 is is a PDA-sized device that is essentially a dual-boot computer with similar specs as you might see in an average notebook and smartphones alike crammed in a body that measures a mere 5inch in diagonal.
Apparently, the device packs two powering chipsets underneath the hood one of which is an intel Z3745 Baytrail processor and the other an ARM-based Freescale i.MX6 Quad ARM Cortex-A9 SoC clocked at 2.0Ghz.
The Atom chipset is backed by 4GB of RAM and it's exclusively windows while the latter is meant to power the Android system.
Memory wise, the Windows side will come with 256GB Solid state drive while the other will come with an 8GB NAND flash and the device will support 4G LTE connectivity amongst the regular bells and whistles.
The Nitro Duo prototype runs Windows 7 alongside Android KitKat 4.4 and it comes with multiple physical buttons on the side – one of which will allow you to easily swtich to the other OS without the need to reboot.
The CEO and founder Lewis, mentioned that you'll be able to easily install another operating system with the greatest of ease — whatever Linux distro of choice might appease to you.
Watch Brad Linder's hands on with a Nitro Duo unit
The prototype is however extremely buggy but it shouldnt be too far off before we see a finished product from the startup.
Whatever the case may be, we will update you as needed.


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New & Used Volkswagen Dealer in Conejo Valley CA
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After all, there's a reason why we serve drivers throughout the Conejo Valley. We take great pride in serving the area with quality care, detailed attention and a friendly experience. Moreover, our team of experts is knowledgeable about Volkswagen and will be able to meet your needs with satisfaction. So, take a look at some of the cities we serve outside of Thousand Oaks CA. Even if you don't see your city listed, give us a call or pay us a visit and let us prove to you that Neftin Volkswagen really is a dealership experience that strives to go above and beyond your expectations.
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Let us show you just how enjoyable working with Neftin Volkswagen can be. When you make us your preferred new and used Volkswagen dealer in Conejo Valley CA, you'll be treated with care, respect and honesty. We look forward to meeting you and welcoming you into the VW family.


text: Australian Bush Flowers - Calm & Clear - Organic Mist - 50ml £11.21 Was £14.95 saving you 25% 112 reward points UK Delivery £1.95 - Free when you spend £15 In stock -This product will ship today if ordered within the next 30 minutes. Multi-buy discounts Buy 2+ Buy 3+ Buy 5+ 5% off7% off10% off 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 Add to basket 100% Secure Shopping Vegan Vegetarian Product code: 10469 Description Contents Ingredients Usage Reviews Questions Description The Calm & Clear Mist cleanses, rehydrates, tones and nurtures your skin with balancing flower essences and botanicals. Its exotic oils and essences will soothe your skin and uplift your emotions. Australian Bush Flowers Australian Bush Flowers (ABF) meet the great need for remedies that help people address the health and beauty issues that can sometimes arise in the 21st century. Australian Bush Flowers were created as a means of healing and promoting health benefits that anyone can use or provide to others without the need for a prescription. Flower essences have been used for thousands of years, but Australian Bush Flowers have been able to utilise the power of flower essences and convert them into remedies for the modern era. Contents Australian Bush Flowers - Calm & Clear - Organic Mist - 50ml Ingredients Organic Aloe barbadensis leaf juice, Organic alcohol, Organic glycerin, Aqua, Polyglyceryl-10 Laurate*, Glycerin*, Lavandula angustifolia (Lavender) oil, Citrus aurantium (Neroli) flower oil, Pogostemon cablin (Patchouli) oil, Citrus aurantium dulcis (Orange) oil, Tetratheca ericifolia essence, Boronia ledifolia essence, Callistemon linearis essence, Epacris longiflora essence, Crowea saligna essence, Jacaranda mimosaefolia essence, Actinotus minor essence, Carica papaya essence, Chamomilla recutita (Matricaria) flower extract, Calendula officinalis flower extract, Organic Arnica montana flower extract, Echinacea purpurea root extract, sodium anisate*, sodium levulinate*, potassium sorbate, citric acid*, farsenol^, geraniol^, limonene^, linalool^. *botanical source. ^from essential oils. Usage Gently mist or spray into the air as required. Safe for use on skin. Reviews Below are reviews of Australian Bush Flowers - Calm & Clear Mist - 50ml by bodykind customers. If you have tried this product we'd love to hear what you think so please leave a review. Leave a review Score Comments Name Email Submit review Questions & Answers Below are questions that bodykind customers have asked us about this product. If you want to know more about this product please don't hesitate to ask us a question. Ask us a question Question Email Confirm Email Submit question


text: Here's the deal. I am seriously considering rooting my Hero to achieve one main goal: speed. I hear that rooting the Hero will let it run very smoothly and with almost zero lag. Now about my favor. Can anyone record a video of their rooted Hero so I can see exactly how fast it is? If you have rooted your Hero, removed Sprint apps, installed apps on SD, and all that jazz, and now have a lightning-fast Hero, I would really really appreciate if you showed me. Please record things like... - swiping between homescreens - scrolling in the main apps menu - scrolling/browsing the People apps - keyboard's acceleromter rotation - dialer lag (or lack thereof) - browsing/pinchzoom on browser - browsing through Music app - opening/browsing albums - speed of opening apps in general I know this seems like a lot to ask for, but I am not very knowledgeable in rooting, and I dont want to risk ruining my phone that I have to use for the next 2 years unless I can see that the results are going to be worth it. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!