text:
The helicopter Kawasaki OH-1 Ninja. Specifications. A photo.
Kawasaki OH-1 Ninja - Japanese attack helicopter developed in 1996, the company «Kawasaki Aerospace Company».
Kawasaki OH-1 Ninja photo
Designing combat attack helicopter model Kawasaki OH-1 Ninja Japanese aircraft manufacturers started because of the need to develop a new, more efficient means of air that can replace its functionality model of the American helicopter Hughes OH-6 Cayuse. Earlier in service with the Japanese army helicopter deal with the tasks could not be effectively and more than 25-year-old age is clearly evidenced that over the next 10 years, the aircraft need to be replaced.
The first work on the design of the Kawasaki OH-1 Ninja attack helicopter began by Japanese aircraft manufacturers in the early 90s of the last century. Initially, it was assumed that an improved multipurpose analogue would be built on the basis of the American aircraft, however, in the end, the Japanese Ministry of Defense proposed to create an exclusively shock version of the aircraft, which would increase its reliability in combat use and, in turn, reduce the development cost.
Its first flight model Kawasaki OH-1 Ninja produced in 1996 year, and most of the required tests, this model has been very successful, however, in the aircraft design had some flaws, due to which, in series production helicopters Kawasaki OH-1 Ninja It came a few years later. In 2000-year, helicopter Kawasaki OH-1 Ninja was officially presented, and military representatives of Japan have uncovered much of its flight performance.
Photo Kawasaki OH-1 Ninja
Despite the fact that the helicopter Kawasaki OH-1 Ninja qualifies as shock aircraft, this model has several in its application restrictions, in particular, the aircraft is effective in its application only against armored vehicles and a number of air targets, due to a very limited number of used weapons, which includes:
- Automatic aircraft gun;
- Includes anti-tank missiles;
- Set missiles to combat air targets.
The crew of the helicopter Kawasaki OH-1 Ninja consists of two people - a pilot and an arrow at the same time due to the fact that the aircraft belongs to a class of combat aerial vehicles, carrying on board of persons and goods is not possible.
Among other things, the helicopter Kawasaki OH-1 Ninja can also be used as a patrol aircraft means, aided by very high rates of speed and flight range.
The power plant model Kawasaki OH-1 Ninja, includes two gas turbine engine of the brand Mitsubishi TS1-M-10, each of which has a thrust of 890 hp Through the use of these engines, the helicopter can carry out flights on distances of up to 720 kilometers at a cruising speed of 220 km \ h., With the ability to accelerate to speeds in 280 km \ h.
Helicopter Kawasaki OH-1 Ninja
There are two main option helicopter Kawasaki OH-1 Ninja:
- Kawasaki XOH-1 Ninja - A prototype for initial testing and modernization of aircraft. In contrast to the production version, it has a less productive power plant;
- Kawasaki OH-1 Ninja - The basic production version of the aircraft.
Specifications Kawasaki OH-1 Ninja.
- Crew: 2 person;
- helicopter length: 12 m .;
- The height of the helicopter: 3,8 m .;
- The diameter of the rotor: 11,6 m .;
- Weight of empty helicopter: 2450 kg. (Depending on version);
- Maximum takeoff weight: 4000 kg .;
- Cruising speed: 220 km \ h. (Depending on version);
- Maximum flight speed: 280 km \ h. (Depending on version);
- Maximum flight distance: 720 km .;
- Maximum flight height: 4880 m .;
- Power plant: 2 × Mitsubishi TS1-M-10 (depending on modification);
- Power: 2 × 890 hp (Depending on version).


text:
Neuropsychologist at the Inpatient Unit of the Brain Injury Service
My work consists in studying the neuropsychological (emotional, behavioural and cognitive) disorders associated with acquired brain injury to develop custom treatments that help improve the quality of life of both patients and their families.
Helping people who have difficulties functioning in daily life is a privilege. Learning about different disorders and realities is a professional and personal challenge to me. Finally, working together with other members in our team towards the same goal gives me the chance of sharing, questioning different aspects of my job, and advancing my career.
I provide specialist neuropsychological assessment, develop cognitive rehabilitation plans for individuals and groups, and apply programmes using behaviour modification techniques and cognitive-behavioural methods (social skills training, psycho-education, stress management). Along with other members of our team, I offer support to the patients' families too.
In addition to the clinical tasks mentioned above, I coordinate the work of the speech-language therapy and occupational therapy areas, and I take part in various training programmes.
Academic background
– Psychologist. University of Deusto. 1997-2002.
– Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology. University of Deusto. 2002-2004.
– Postgraduate course in Clinical Neuropsychology. ISEP Formación. 2006-2007.
– Diploma of Advanced Studies (PhD programme). University of Deusto. 2003-2004.
– N. Mimentza, A. Jiménez, and J.I. Quemada. "Abordaje conductual de alteraciones comportamentales en el daño cerebral adquirido," Informaciones Psiquiátricas, 187(1), 2007, 5-18.
– J.I. Quemada Ubis, N. Mimentza, A. Jiménez, and I. Sánchez Cubillo. "Tratamientos no farmacológicos de las alteraciones conductuales en el daño cerebral," in Avances en neuropsicología clínica, Madrid, Fundación Mapfre Medicina, 2006, 275-299.
Teaching activities
– Master's Programme in Mental Health and Psychological Treatments. Professor. University of Deusto. 2007-present.
– Master's Programme in Gerontology. Professor. University of Deusto. 2008-2010.
Courses, conferences, seminars
– 3rd National Neuropsychology Conference. FANPSE. Oviedo. 2010.
– Advances in traumatic brain injury treatment: Approaching behavioural disorders. Guttmann Institute, Barcelona. 2010.
– Family and brain damage. Beata María Ana Hospital, Madrid. 2010.
– Advances in the study of anosognosia & principles of neuropsychological rehabilitation ten years later. Donostia-San Sebastian. 2009.
– 3rd Workshop of the Basque-Navarre Society of Neuropsychology, "Children Neuropsychology." University of the Basque Country, Donostia-San Sebastian. 2009.
– 6th Workshop of the Spanish Neurorehabilitation Society, "What is Neuropsychological Rehabilitation? Outcome measurement in neuropsychological rehabilitation." Barcelona. 2008.
– Dysarthria: Assessment and rehabilitation. Seminar. Bilbao. 2008.
– Neuropsychological rehabilitation in patients with brain injury: A practical approach. Seminar. Bilbao. 2008.
– Prefrontal cortex: From research to intervention. Bilbao. 2007.
– Course in Psychopathology. Madrid. 2007.
– Brief and short-term psychotherapy targeted at PTSD in neuropsychiatric patients. Course. Bilbao. 2007.
– 1st International Conference, "Advances in Clinical Neuropsychology." Madrid. 2006.
– "Assessment and cognitive rehabilitation programmes for patients with language impairments." Seminar. Bilbao. 2005.
– Behaviour and the frontal lobe. Seminar. Bilbao. 2004.
Work experience
As an undergraduate student, I started working as a leisure time instructor for children and psychiatric patients.
During my Master's studies at the University of Deusto, I worked as a clinical psychologist in areas such as psychiatry and geriatric psychology.
Since October 2004, I have been working at the Inpatient Unit of the Brain Injury Service of the Aita Menni Hospital in Mondragón.
Hobbies and interests
I enjoy meeting people from different cultures, speaking and spending time with people form other countries. Whenever I can, I pack my luggage and board a plane with friends. I try to work out as often as the weather permits. Besides, I do volunteer work at several social organisations.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
PRESS RELEASE – 6 June 2019
Stefania Lucchetti launches her firm – Lucchetti – LawCrossBorder
Based in Milan, the firm provides all-round advice on:
- corporate and commercial matters,
- joint ventures and M&A, local and cross border
- corporate governance
- technology and IP commercialization
- distribution, supply chain.
The firm handles complex and demanding cross border transactions and complex negotiations for clients in Italy and around the world, helping clients achieve their business goals through our technical excellence combined with real, worldwide experience and commercial aptitude.
Its practical and proven ability to deal with cross border transactions is enhanced by partnerships in place with leading boutique law firms and prominent practitioners worldwide, for which the firm is truly able to provide clients with significant global reach.
The firm also deals with private client and family matters.
Stefania Lucchetti is qualified to practice law in three jurisdictions (Italy, England and Wales and Hong Kong) and has two decades of experience across Italy, United Kingdom, and Hong Kong and substantial transactional experience in most European jurisdictions as well as South East Asian jurisdictions acting for major multinationals operating in the region.
Her practice has developed since 1998 in Europe and Asia in tier 1 law firms and inhouse departments of corporations in both the high tech and the financial industry. She was previously a Partner with international law firm King & Wood Mallesons, and Of Counsel at Italian primary firm BonelliErede.
Lucchetti Studio Legale – Lucchetti Law Firm
Email: email@example.com . Tel: +39 02 49426795


text:
By Ann M. Rieger & Mark J. Andres
Tax season is upon us. Individuals and businesses are collecting year-end tax statements and have begun the task of completing 2017 income tax returns. These returns will be filed under the "old" rules which predate the adoption of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that was passed by Congress and signed by President Trump in late December 2017 (the "2017 Act"). This annual tax reporting ritual may serve as an opportunity for taxpayers to consider the impact the 2017 Act will have upon their tax situation in 2018. Below is a brief summary of key provisions of the 2017 Act that will apply commencing with the 2018 tax year.[1]
- Individual Tax Rate Modifications
The 2017 Act retained seven tax brackets but adjusted them downward. Tax brackets for 2018 ordinary income under the 2017 Act will be as follows:
This represents a reduction from the prior brackets which had been at 10%, 15%, 25%, 28%, 33%, 35% and 39.6%.
- Increased Standard Deduction and Elimination of Personal Exemptions
The 2017 Act increases the standard deduction from $6,350 to $12,000 for individuals and from $12,700 to $24,000 for married couples. However, the personal exemption is eliminated. The net effect is a modest increase in the overall tax savings for those taxpayers who did not previously itemize deductions. By way of example, prior to the 2017 Act, a married couple without children would have been able to claim a $13,000 standard deduction and two personal exemptions of $4,150 each (total of $8,300), resulting in an aggregate offset of $21,300.
The increase in the standard deduction and the elimination or limitations placed on various itemized deductions as outlined below, is expected to result in significantly fewer taxpayers who itemize deductions.
Charitable Deduction Implications. The 2017 Act did not eliminate deductions for charitable contributions other than those made in consideration for university seating rights associated with athletic events. Prior to the Act, charitable contributions made in consideration for the ability to purchase tickets to collegiate sporting event were 80% deductible. Deductions for contributions in consideration of such seating rights are now eliminated. While the 2017 Act made few changes to the deductibility of contributions[2] in other situations, the increase to the Standard Deduction noted above, will result in fewer taxpayers benefiting from the deductibility of charitable contributions on an annual basis. This is because a charitable deduction only provides a tax benefit to a taxpayer who itemizes deductions. Individuals who will not typically accumulate deductions in excess of the standard deduction, but who wish to obtain a tax benefit from ongoing charitable contributions, may wish to consider "bunching" deductions for multiple years into a single tax year or utilizing donor advised funds. A donor advised fund permits a taxpayer to make a large donation into a fund that will be used to facilitate contributions to donor recommended charities in the future. The contribution to the donor advised fund is deductible when made notwithstanding the fact that charitable distributions may be made over time.
- Child Tax Credit Modifications
The 2017 Act increases the child tax credit from $1,000 for each qualifying child (under age 17) to $2,000. More significantly, it increases the income threshold at which the availability of the credit will phase out to $400,000 for married taxpayers and $200,000 for others. The combined effect of these changes could result in significant savings for taxpayers with large families. The tax credit is refundable up to $1,400 per child.
- Limitations on State and Local Tax Deductions
The deduction for state and local taxes ("SALT") unrelated to a trade or business has been limited to $10,000 per year for both married[3] and unmarried individuals. This limitation may be significant for taxpayers living in states with high levels of income, sales and/or property tax, but could be somewhat offset by reductions in alternative minimum tax (AMT) for taxpayers previously paying AMT due to large SALT deductions.
- Modifications to the Individual Alternative Minimum Tax
Despite efforts to eliminate the alternative minimum tax (AMT) for individual taxpayers, the AMT has been retained. The 2017 Act, however, increased the exemption to $500,000 for single taxpayers and $1 million for couples. This increase in the exemption and the limitation placed upon deductibility of state and local taxes, is expected to result in far fewer taxpayers being subject to the individual AMT.
- Mortgage Interest and HELOC Limitations
Home mortgage interest for debt incurred to acquire or improve a residence incurred after December 15, 2017, is limited to the interest on $750,000 of principal. This applies to first and second residences but represents a decrease from the prior $1,000,000 principal limitation. Debt incurred prior to December 15, 2017, is grandfathered.Interest related to home equity lines of credit (HELOC) loans will no longer be deductible, regardless of when incurred, unless funds are used for home improvement or acquisition.
- Kiddie Tax
For many years, the Internal Revenue Code has imposed special rules of taxation on the unearned income of children under age 18, as well as certain other dependent children under age 24. If triggered, portions of the unearned income were subject to taxation at the parents' (typically higher) rate of tax. The Kiddie Tax continues under the 2017 Act, but with the imposition of tax at a fixed rate equal to those imposed on trusts and estates rather than at the parents' tax rate. The newly applicable rate tables will often result in a larger tax burden than under the old rules.
- Education Modifications
Despite much discussion regarding the elimination of various education tax credits, each of the credits (American Opportunities, Lifelong Learner) lives on, as does the deduction of student loan interest. At the end of the day, the most significant change may be the expanded use permitted under Section 529 accounts (known as Edvest in Wisconsin). For tax years beginning in 2018, the definition of "Qualifying Distributions" will now include tuition at public, private or religious elementary or secondary schools, limited to $10,000 per student during any taxable year. This greatly expands the potential use of Section 529 accounts. However, it is important to note that the 2017 Act only affects the federal tax treatment. States are reviewing the impact of the federal change to determine whether they will adopt a similar approach and whether legislation is required to implement such a change at the state income tax level.
- Estate and Gift Tax
The 2017 Act maintains the pre-Act estate and gift tax scheme but doubles the exemption previously available to taxpayers. This results in a federal estate and gift tax exemption of $11.2M per person through December 31, 2025. Estates of decedents dying after December 31, 2025, will be subject to prior levels of taxation which impose tax at the rate of 40% for amounts exceeding $5.6M (subject to indexing). The presence of a much larger gift tax exemption through the end of 2025 may present gift planning opportunities for high net worth individuals whose estates could be subject to increased taxation in the event of death after 2025.
- Individual Health Mandate
The 2017 Act eliminates the individual health care mandate penalty tax that was imposed by the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") beginning in 2019. Note that the penalty tax remains in effect for calendar year 2018.
- Corporate Tax Rate Modifications
The corporate tax rate is now a flat 21% tax rate (rather than graduated rates from 15% to 35%).[4] This significant change in the tax code will compel many pass-through entities (sole proprietorships, partnerships, limited liability companies, or S corporations) to consider electing to be taxed as corporations, rather than at the tax rates for individuals.
- Treatment of Business Income of Individuals, Trusts, and Estates
- Deduction for Qualified Business Income (IRC §199A)
The 2017 Act adds Section 199A of the Internal Revenue Code ("Section 199A"), which provides for tax favored treatment of business income from pass-through entities. Section 199A addresses the wide discrepancy of the top rates at which business income would be taxed, depending on whether a business is taxed as a corporation or pass through entity. This section allows for individual taxpayers to deduct up to 20% of "qualified business income" derived from a "qualified trade or business". This deduction is available to individuals who itemize as well as individuals who claim the standard deduction.
- Qualified Business Income
Qualified Business Income ("QBI") includes the net domestic business taxable income, gain, deduction, and loss with respect to any qualified trade or business. QBI specifically excludes investment-type income such as dividends, investment interest income, short-term and long-term capital gains, and similar items. QBI also excludes reasonable compensation of a taxpayer in the case of an S corporation. In the case of a partnership, it excludes guaranteed payments for services and payments to a partner outside of his or her capacity as a partner. A taxpayer who has a net loss when computing QBI, can carry the loss forward and treat it as a loss from a qualified trade or business in the following year.
- Qualified Trade or Business
A qualified trade or business for purposes of Section 199A includes any trade or business other than a "specified service trade or business". The deduction does not apply to specified service businesses in the fields of health, law, accounting, actuarial science, performing arts, consulting, athletics, financial services, brokerage services, or any trade or business where the principal asset of such trade or business is the reputation or skill of one or more of its employees. Furthermore, the deduction does not apply to service businesses that involve investing and investment management, trading or dealing in securities, partnership interests, or commodities. The deduction cannot be claimed if an individual is performing services as an employee.[5]
- Limitation on the Section 199A Deduction
The Section 199A deduction is limited at the lesser of (1) 20% of qualified business income or (2) the greater of 50% of taxpayer's allocable share of the W-2 wages paid in respect of such qualified trade or business or (b) the sum of 25% of taxpayer's allocable share of the W-2 wages paid in respect of such qualified trade or business plus 2.5% of the unadjusted basis immediately after acquisition of qualified property used in such qualified trade or business. The total amount of the Section 199A deduction claimed in any taxable year cannot exceed the taxpayer's taxable income (less net capital gain) for the year.
- Exception to Section 199A Deduction Based on IncomeThe Section 199A deduction can be claimed by taxpayers with taxable income of less than $157,500 (or $315,000 in the case of a joint return) without regard to the nature of their business and without regard to wage or asset based limits. However, limitations on the Section 199A deduction are phased in as taxable income increases above those income thresholds. Limitations on the Section 199A deduction become fully applicable to individuals with taxable income that exceeds $207,500 (or $415,000 in the case of a joint return).
- Cost Recovery and Increased Expensing of Capital AssetsThe 2017 Act provides for increased expensing under Section 179 of the Internal Revenue Code. The limitation on immediate expensing of Section 179 "qualifying property" is generally increased to $1 million (from $500,000). The phase-out threshold for Section 179 deductions is increased to $2.5 million (from $2 million). There is also increased expensing under Section 168(k) of the Internal Revenue Code. First year bonus depreciation is increased from 50% to 100% for qualified assets.
- Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)The corporate alternative minimum tax (AMT) has been repealed. However, unused AMT credit carryforwards are refundable for tax years beginning after 2017 and before 2022.
- Business Interest Expense Limitations
The deduction for business interest income is limited to 30% of adjusted taxable income, for small businesses with revenues of less than $25 million. Any disallowed interest deductions can be carried forward indefinitely.
- Net Operating Loss (NOL) Deductions
Net Operating Loss (NOL) deductions are limited to 80% of taxable income. The NOL carryback period has been repealed and the NOL carryforward period has been made indefinite.
- Corporate Dividends
The 2017 Act reduces the 70% and 80% Dividend Received Deduction (DRD) to 50% and 65%, respectively, for dividends that a C Corporation received from another C corporation, with the distinction in rates based upon the ownership interest of the corporation receiving the dividend.
- Like Kind Exchanges
Like Kind Exchanges under Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code are limited to exchanges of real property and no longer apply to any other property, including personal property associated with real property.
- Entertainment Expenses
The deduction for business-related entertainment is repealed. However, businesses can still generally deduct 50% of the cost of qualified meals.
- Executive Compensation
The $1 million limitation on the tax deduction for executive compensation, under Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code, is further restricted with the repeal of the performance-based compensation exception to this statutory limit. Covered employees under Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code include the principal executive officer, the principal financial officer, and the three most highly compensated officers for the taxable year (excluding the principal executive officer or principal financial officer). In a move intended to level the playing field with non-profit organizations, the Tax Act also imposes a 21% excise tax on compensation above $1 million for each of the five highest-paid employees of a nonprofit organization.
- Local Lobbying Expenses
Local lobbying expenses are no longer deductible.
Opportunities for Businesses with Changes in Corporate Taxes
Given the changes to corporate tax provisions, almost all businesses are presented with a tax advantaged environment to build and grow their respective businesses. However, particular attention should be given to the choice of business entity, to fully realize the tax advantages of the flat 21% corporate tax rate or the benefits of the Section 199A Qualified Business Income deduction. In particular, business owners will want to be mindful of the level of their taxable income and the extent of W-2 wages paid to employees, if they are to operate as a pass through entity and claim the Section 199A deduction. Further tax saving opportunities are presented to all businesses through increased expensing, credits, and deductions. A thorough review of business entity structure and related tax advantaged business opportunities, should be undertaken in light of the new corporate tax provisions. Please contact your Davis & Kuelthau attorney, the authors noted above or any member of our Tax Team for further information on the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
[1] Most of the individual changes highlighted in this article will expire December 31, 2025, at which time the 2017 tax law will once again become the law of the land.
[2] The previous limitation on deductible cash contributions to public charities has been increased from 50% to 60% of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) defined "contribution base" which is largely tied to Adjusted Gross Income with a few modifications. More importantly to those individuals who are college sports aficionados, the 2017 Act eliminated any deduction for charitable contributions for university athletic seating rights.
[3] Married individuals filing separately are limited to a $5,000 SALT deduction. Note that this creates a marriage penalty when compared to the available $10,000 SALT deduction for unmarried persons.
[4] This change in the corporate tax rate is permanent and not set to expire, unlike the changes in the individual tax rates which expire in 2025.
[5] The Section 199A Deduction does not apply to amounts paid as reasonable compensation to shareholders as W-2 salary or guaranteed payments paid to members in a partnership. These payments to employee-owners are excluded under the definition of QBI that is subject to the Section 199A Deduction.


text:
Background: I am focusing on $G=GL_{2}(\overline{\mathbb{F_q}})$ here. If you wonder why I am interested in this, I am trying a problem relating to the Deligne-Lusztig varieties defined over local rings by Stasinksi, and this background theory is relevant there. The definition I am using is this:
- The first definition I have of Deligne-Lusztig varieties is this: Consider the Lang map $L(g) = g^{-1} F(g)$. Let $T$ be an $F$-stable maximal torus of $G$, and $B$ a Borel subgroup containing $T$ (not necessarily $F$-stable), and $U$ the unipotent radical of this Borel subgroup. Then the Deligne-Lusztig variety is defined as $X = L^{-1}(U)$
Question Roughly: Using these definitions (I am not sure exactly to what extent these two definitions are "compatible"), how do I explicitly compute the Deligne-Lusztig variety for $GL_{2}(\mathbb{F}_{q})$ to be the Drinfeldt curve $xy^{q} - yx^{q} = 1$ in the non-split case? More precisely:
If I pick a torus that is not maximally split, $T$, and a Borel subgroup $B$ containing $T$, then apply the definition $1$ above - how do we relate this variety to the Drinfeldt curve? Do we explicitly get the Drinfeldt curve, and if not what do we get? If it is not the Drinfeldt curve that we get using this definition, how do we express this variety "nicely" (with a view towards counting $F_{q}$ points on it).
Roughly speaking (not explicitly!) how would I go about doing this for $GL_{3}(\mathbb{F_q})$? Is this computationally feasible? Are there any tricks that would help significantly with the computation? Even better, are there any references you know which do this?
I understand Deligne-Lusztig varieties, and these tori, correspond in some sense to Weyl group elements. Are there any specific Weyl group elements in $S_n$ for which the Deligne-Lusztig variety always has a "nice" / "tractable" description, or do they get out of hand very quickly?
My Attempts at (1)
(I'm not entirely sure how to write matrices in Latex here, so I did it crudely by writing it as $4$ numbers, Row 1 followed by Row 2).
Pick $\alpha, \beta \in F_{q^2}$, so that $(x- \alpha)(x- \beta)$ is irreducible over $F_{q}$. Then a unipotent subgroup of a Borel subgroup for a non-split torus by conjugating the ordinary unipotent subgroup of strictly upper triangular matrices, by the matrix $M$ with entries $(1, 1, \alpha, \beta)$. This is because we can obtain the matrix with entries $(0, 1, -\alpha \beta, \alpha + \beta)$ (lying inside $GL_{2}(\mathbb{F_q})$ as $M^{-1} X M$, where $X$ is the matrix with entries $( \alpha, 0, 0, \beta)$. Since when we conjugate the nilpotent matrix with entries $(0, 1, 0, 0)$ by $M$ we get a scalar multiple of the matrix with entries $ ( - \alpha, 1, - \alpha^2, \alpha)$, the end result of this calculation is that our non-split maximal torus consists of matrices of the form $(1-s \alpha, s, - s \alpha^2, 1 + s \alpha)$.
Now if $g = (a,b,c,d)$ (i.e. the matrix with those 4 entries), then $g^{-1} = \frac{1}{ad-bc}( d, -b, -c, a)$, $F(g) = (a^q, b^q, c^q, d^q)$, and $g^{-1} F(g) = \frac{1}{ad-bc} (da^q - bc^q, db^q - bd^q, -ca^q + ac^q, -cb^q + ad^q)$, so equating that $g^{-1} F(g)$ lies in the subgroup calculated in the last paragraph gives the following description of the Deligne-Lusztig variety (let $D = ad-bc$), by comparing entry by entry:
- $ \frac{1}{D} ( da^q - bc^q -cb^q + ad^q ) = 2 $
- $ -ca^q + ac^q = - \alpha^2 (db^q - bd^q) $
This might be easy but I cannot see how to finish off from here: why is this related to the Drinfeldt curve? All I can see from a first glimpse is that the terms $db^q - bd^q$ appears, but I don't know how to get rid of everything else. How can I simplify the defining equations of this variety (hopefully in a suitably simple version, so that counting $F_{q^{k}}$ points is straightforward, which is what I really need to do).


text:
Trying to Help in Haiti
As a teenager, I began sponsoring a poverty-stricken boy in the Caribbean. Twelve years and thousands of dollars later I flew down to meet him—and to learn if my efforts did any good at all.
Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! Download the app.
The cinder-block school has no windows and no doors, just a string of incandescent lightbulbs hanging down the center of the ceiling like the spine of a great whale. It's hot and humid, and the room throbs with the voices of 200 Haitians who have paused from fishing, gardening, or painting the sides of handmade wooden sailboats to come see the special visitor who has traveled 1,500 miles to Île de la Tortue, an island where the hills are green and lush and the sand is sugar white and the small children play with shells that line the shore by the thousands.
They have been waiting all day under this tin roof, watching one local man set up his old Casio keyboard and another tune the heads of his bongos, so that they can see the blan, the white man, the first ever to visit the school on this nearly roadless island five miles north of the Haitian mainland. In short, they have come to see me. And I have come to see one of them: Ervenson, the Haitian boy whom I have been sponsoring for 12 years.
Every month since the fall of 2000, I've sent roughly $35, or about $5,000 in total, through a Christian organization called Compassion International. Compassion funnels money to children all over the world to pay for things like tuition, schoolbooks, clothes, food, medicine, and sneakers. I sent the money to give him a better life. And I'm here to see if it actually made any difference.
The only contact Ervenson and I had during that time was through handwritten letters. I wrote the first one when I was 15 and included a photo of myself in a ball-chain necklace, my braces sparkling in the camera's flash, a few dozen zits covering my face. With his response, I received multiple copies of the same photo of him, one that I can only barely remember now. He was five, with a shaved head and a baggy, short-sleeved shirt that buttoned up in the front. His lips were pinched tight against a smile.
Often the letters would pass each other in the mail, so they never became much of a conversation. They were more like questionnaires. How did he like school? What did he do with his friends? What was the weather like? Each letter was translated by someone working for Compassion, and there were times when I felt like I was getting updates about a relative through an aunt. Oh, Ervenson? He's a soccer star, and he loves the color purple.
As I sit at the front of the schoolroom, a keyboard amplifier blasting in my ears, I wonder whether we'll have anything to talk about. Will he like me? And then there's the larger question: Did the money do any good? Each month I sent a check, trusted that it was being put to good use, and forgot about the transaction entirely.
At this precise moment, however, I am most worried that I won't recognize him. Because for as long as I've known Ervenson, the only pictures I've seen of him have been small headshots. He could be any of the teenage boys in the room. So I smile at everyone, just to be safe. And then, in a lull in the dancing and singing, the translator leans over and says, "Here is the boy." And here he is. Ervenson. Pimply faced and thin. His eyes are wide. His arms are like piano strings, stretched wide to welcome me.
When I started sponsoring Ervenson, I was camping at a Christian alt-music festival in rural Illinois, where bands played concerts for sweaty mosh pits of Jesus-loving teens. Between two of the shows, someone from Compassion International got on stage and talked about how difficult it was to be a child in places like Haiti. They described the lack of clean water, the rampant disease, the voodoo ceremonies on every corner. Even then I was vaguely aware of my privilege as a white American male and felt a little guilty about it. Plus, I had a part-time job at a guitar store, which meant that I had enough spending money that I wouldn't miss thirty-odd dollars out of my monthly paycheck. I signed up as soon as I got home. All I had to do was get online, do a quick search by age, country, or birthday (in case I wanted someone who shared mine), and then click that I agreed to send the checks.
Almost immediately, Compassion sent an e-mail suggesting that I write to Ervenson. Many child-sponsorship organizations actually support villages, not children—the child that you "sponsor" actually just lives within that village. Not Compassion. My money went directly to him, less 20 percent for overhead. It's one of the few organizations in the $3.4 billion child-sponsorship industry where you can exchange letters and develop a relationship.
Which I tried to do—until I was a junior in high school. Until that point, I'd been as Christian as you could get. I "witnessed" to friends, trying to get them to accept Jesus as their savior. I led praise and worship at See You at the Pole, an annual event where Christians gathered in front of their high schools and prayed before classes started. I held a Bible study in my house once a week.
But at 17, I rejected my faith. Mostly because it stopped making sense to me. Jesus was friends with prostitutes and the poor, he wanted to help the outcasts. But it seemed to me that many churches—or at least the ones I'd been to—were missing the point. The larger a church was, the more money it spent on sound systems and video equipment and massive buildings with large water features out front instead of helping people who needed clothes or food or a place to live. It began to feel more like a rock concert or a gala—a place people went to be seen or to impress other people.
So, in the black-and-white thinking of youth, I gave up. I felt like a hypocrite when I sang praise and worship songs in front of other kids, because I didn't believe a word of it. Instead, in 2002, I started smoking pot, became a Democrat, and stopped writing Ervenson. The letters had begun to feel a little fake. When I asked questions, he rarely answered them; when he wrote, it sounded like he was being prompted. I later found out that Compassion makes the kids write three letters a year. Besides, Compassion International is a Christian organization, and though I wasn't quite clear how, I knew that they were evangelizing to him. I didn't stop sending my monthly 35 bucks, which seemed cruel. But I did stop caring.
The only time I really thought about him was when I got another letter. They didn't say anything important, but they made me think. About him. About being a Christian. I thought about whether God was being shoved down his throat. I wondered if that was a fair trade-off for getting an education.
Even though I had my doubts, I kept sending money. It felt good in that pat-yourself-on-the-back, first-world-guilt-assuasion sort of way. It was maybe the one selfless thing I did with regularity, and I believed that being a good person required selflessness. I had started to think that that was what Jesus was really getting at anyway. Don't judge people. Love others like you would yourself. If you have money or food or clothes and someone else doesn't, help them out. I hoped that's what I was doing with Ervenson.
Don't get me wrong. I still got angry that megachurches built stadium-size sanctuaries when people in their communities were homeless. And I still couldn't see any reason why Christians would make it into heaven but other good people—be they Buddhist or Muslim or atheist—were doomed to hell. But I realized that I could be a different type of Christian than that. And in my own faith, sending Ervenson money was exactly the type of thing I felt I should do. I started writing to Ervenson again. It was still boilerplate stuff—it's snowing here, study hard—but it made me feel a little less shame for not being involved.
It did not, however, help me know him better. When the earthquake hit Haiti in January 2010, I stood in my apartment in front of the TV with a bowl of oatmeal and tried to remember where he lived. Port-au-Prince? La Gonave? I had thrown away each of his letters as I read them, so there was no way of going back to see. And though I worried a little, I didn't take the time to call Compassion to find out.
Then, in late 2011, I got an e-mail. Ervenson would like to meet you, it said. It was a form e-mail, something every sponsor gets on occasion, but it was the first time I had received it. If I wanted to, I could pay Compassion to join a handful of other sponsors to meet our respective kids. By then, Ervenson was 17, and I was 26. In a year, he'd be an adult and I'd no longer support him. This was my last chance to see him. I decided: Yes, I did want to meet him.
I expect Haiti to look poor. I expect vast tent cities sprawled out on the hillsides and buildings half demolished by the quake and people picking through garbage for food. I do not expect it to be beautiful. When I arrive in Port-au-Prince in April 2012, one of a dozen Compassion sponsors here to meet their kids, the Caribbean is the sort of blue I've rarely seen. The mountains seem to cover the length of the island. People are everywhere, dressed in bright purples and oranges and yellows. Tap-tap truck taxis painted in pseudo-psychedelic patterns careen through the streets, bouncing over potholes, the people inside swaying in unison like a choir.
[quote]Tap-tap truck taxis painted in pseudo-psychedelic patterns careen through the streets, bouncing over potholes, the people inside swaying in unison like a choir.[/quote]
We see our first tent city as the road curves north around the bay. A patch of sea blue tents and tarps appears on a denuded hillside. Beyond the tents, stones are arranged in acre-large squares. "Are those fields?" I ask, thinking that perhaps Haitians have used the after-earthquake chaos to start new agricultural ventures.
"Those are mass graves from the earthquake," says Ben Depp, an American-born photographer who has spent the past five years in Haiti.
"There were so many dead, we had to burn some of them," adds Jeannot, our Haitian translator, who was himself trapped for two days in the rubble.
After the earthquake, money poured into every NGO working in Haiti, including Compassion. The organization sponsors more than 75,000 children here. There are programs for babies, kids in school, and college students, but they all work roughly the same. Donors send a check, Compassion routes it to its in-country offices (staffed almost entirely by Haitians), and they in turn give 80 percent of the cash to the kids to spend on various specific things: food, health care, books, supplies, tuition at Christian schools, things like that.
Thankfully, I learn that kids do not have to accept Jesus in order to attend school, though they do have to attend a weekly meeting called Club, where they learn about Jesus and how to be a moral person. But I appear to be alone in my concern about evangelism.
On that first night, all of the visiting sponsors gather at the hotel for a quick talk. "OK," says Yvonne, our wispy tour leader, who wears a permanent smile. "What did you see today?"
The group is quiet for a minute before one woman finally speaks up. "There's a spiritual darkness here," she says. Heads nod in agreement throughout the circle.
Ben and I look sideways at each other, my eyes trying to say, Can you believe this? Granted, it's been only one day, but I've seen more churches than public-service buildings.
"Voodoo has such a stronghold," she adds. (In the mind of most evangelicals, voodoo is pure evil, though it's really an amalgamation of West African animism and Roman Catholicism.) And so the group prays that Compassion's programs will help lead people out of voodoo and into Christianity.
Thankfully, I have Ben as a roommate. Like me, he grew up in a conservative Christian home in the States and moved strongly to the left in college. And like me, he was a little uncomfortable with the meeting. So we sneak away after the prayer and step onto our third-floor balcony overlooking the Caribbean.
While working as a photographer for outlets like The New York Times and Newsweek, Ben's been present at some of Haiti's most pivotal moments in recent history. When the earthquake hit, he and his wife were at home in Petionville, a leafy neighborhood in the hills outside Port-au-Prince. Dressers, tables, and chairs fell over; pots and pans hit the floor. The three-story hotel behind them crumbled, but their house stood. Much of the poorer parts of the city weren't so lucky. He said there was dust in his teeth, throat, and eyelashes. Once the ground stopped shaking, Ben grabbed a pickax and helped dig through the rubble looking for bodies. "It was like the apocalypse. The dead and the injured were everywhere," he says. "Everybody was helping dig strangers out from under collapsed houses and caring for the injured."
Ben's most haunting photos came from the cholera epidemic, introduced, tragically, by UN peacekeeping troops who came to the country after the earthquake. "I was on my motorcycle, trying to see what the situation was like," he tells me. "People were literally dropping dead in the streets." Cholera causes rapid fluid loss. To date, more than 8,000 Haitians—men, women, and many, many children—have died of it. Victims look like corpses even before they die. Ben once found the body of a dead ten-year-old on a rubble-strewn stretch of road. "His mother hadn't understood how quickly cholera could kill him," he said. "She didn't have money to do anything with the body, so she put him in the road for the government body collectors to find."
The earthquake and the resulting cholera epidemic are only the most recent disasters here. Haiti has suffered through 200 years of brutal dictatorships, military invasions, and natural disasters. The chaos doesn't stop people from trying to understand and fix it. Haiti's streets are full of young, white do-gooders in shiny Land Rovers, many from NGOs, governments, or other secular outfits. But every day another group of Christians in matching T-shirts arrives to spend a week building churches or playing with kids. Ben says he hasn't seen them make a real impact.
"A lot of Christian organizations send groups here for quick trips," Ben says. "They build a latrine or a school and then head home." Their efforts may provide some relief in the short term, but they don't create jobs or a lasting infrastructure—things Haitians desperately need.
It's not just Christian organizations that come up short, though. Haiti has been called the NGO Republic. As many as 10,000 of them operate in the country, and they're often criticized for making the situation worse. "It's one thing to provide water for six months," says Jake Johnston, who studies aid in Haiti for the Center for Economic and Policy Research. "But they're not going to provide a public water system for the future of the country."
NGOs don't have to coordinate with the government and often start projects without consulting a community. Once construction is under way, much of the money never makes it into Haitian hands. Of the $450 million USAID has spent here since the earthquake, more than 70 percent has gone to U.S. contractors. "It's hard to have a strong state when NGOs are doing much of the work," says Johnston.
Remarkably, no one had ever really looked at whether child sponsorship helped or hurt the people it supported until three years ago, when Bruce Wydick, a developmental economist at the University of San Francisco and a Compassion sponsor himself, decided to study the organization. He found that sponsored kids are nearly 27 percent more likely to graduate from high school, have a better chance at getting a white-collar job, and make an average of $14 to $19 more each month. When nearly two-thirds of the country lives on less than a $1.25 a day, as they do in Haiti, that's a substantial improvement.
"It's a pretty cost-intensive way of addressing poverty," Wydick says. It costs more than buying a mosquito net or building a water pipe, for example. "But it works."
Yet, Wydick's research hit upon another important aspect of sponsorship. "Compassion does a good job of addressing the internal issues, which we're finding to be just as important as external." In other words, self-confidence may be just as crucial to finishing school (and overcoming poverty) as infrastructure. And a big part of addressing those internal issues, Wydick says, is the letters the kids get from their sponsors.
"They have these people telling them, 'Study hard and you can be successful,'" says Wydick. "And they believe it."
Ervenson and his family live in a seaside shack on Île de la Tortue (Turtle Island), Haiti's northernmost island, a 69-square-mile speck five miles north of the mainland. Three hundred and fifty years ago, its primary occupants were a band of European pirates called the Brethren of the Coast. The Brethren are gone, but the island doesn't look much different today. There are few cars and even fewer roads; the only way to get there is by boat. But first Ben, Jeannot, and I must get to Saint-Louis-du-Nord, on the north shore of the mainland.
After a two-hour wait for the six-seater plane, a one-hour flight, a stop for chicken and rice (Haiti's national dish), and an hour in the car, we finally reach the dock in Saint-Louis. Live goats hang upside on the sides of pickup trucks, and small tin-sided shacks sell lottery tickets linked to numbers drawn in the States or Venezuela. The sun washes out the colors, making everything look Instagrammed. A small motorboat with a suspect Yamaha engine is waiting for us. But there are two problems: it's already late afternoon, and our hotel is here in Saint-Louis. Meaning we'll have to turn right back around from La Tortue—90 minutes away—if we want to make it back before sunset.
Jeannot doesn't think we should go. "We won't have time to see him," he says. "We should go in the morning."
"How much time would we have on the island tomorrow?" I ask.
"A couple hours," he says.
After 12 years, I want more than two hours. "Can we stay on the island?" I ask him.
Jeannot and the pastor and the boat captain and a committee of men whose roles I'm not sure of converse in Creole. Ben whispers a translation to me.
"There's no hotel on the island," he says. "They don't know where we can sleep."
I'm prepared to sleep on the boat if I have to. Eventually, their desire to please the foreigner outweighs their concerns. We go tonight.
Shirtless men with sea salt dried on their backs carry us on their shoulders like children, 30 yards through the water to the boat. After nearly a week in Port-au-Prince's dust-choked streets and the endless mud of everywhere else, the water here is shockingly blue and clear. The captain spears a bit of meat with a hook and trails it off the boat, searching for fish. A dolphin briefly swims alongside us, weaving in and out of our wake.
After 90 minutes, we reach La Tortue. Lush hills rise up from the sea. Giant trees line the shore. Boats bounce through the waves, their sails made of tarps, billboard scraps, old sheets, anything they can use. On shore, a small crowd waits for us. Pastor Eustache, a short bald man in glasses who runs the school and church here, shakes my hand. I am the first sponsor to visit this Compassion-supported school, and the community has prepared a welcome ceremony, he says.
We walk through sandy paths lined with bamboo, until we reach the long, gray school. It feels like the whole village is here. I'm starting to get nervous about giving a speech when Jeannot says, "Here is the boy." Ervenson walks in. I start to speak, but before I can say anything, his arms are around me. Everyone cheers, like we're long-lost relatives on a daytime talk show. It's exciting to see him—but also awkward. He barely speaks English; I know only a few words of Creole. So every so often I reach over and pat his shoulder. I am your friend, I'm sorry that I haven't written as much as I should have, and I'm really happy that you look healthy.
In his last letter, Ervenson said that he recently bought a new pair of shoes with the money I sent. "Hey!" I say, pointing to his white Dexter-brand shoes. "Cool shoes!" But he covers them up, pulling his jeans over them, like I've made fun of them. Then he gets up and walks out.
Where is he going? I think. Memories of the way kids made fun of my fake Doc Martens in middle school come flooding back. Or maybe he's embarrassed because his shoes are nicer than those on the other kids I see.
When he finally reappears minutes later, he has changed shoes, though I'll never figure out why. He doesn't make eye contact as he sits down next to me, so I put an arm around him. Hey man, cultural misunderstanding there. But we're OK, right? He half-smiles, like he has no clue what I'm saying but wants to be accommodating.
After the ceremony—a half-dozen speeches, another song, an impressive breakdance performance by Ervenson and his friends—he takes me to his home. We pass shacks with thatch roofs, fishing rafts made of bundled logs, and wood-beam ships in various stages of decay. The house's frame used to be covered in a plaster-like material, but it's gone now, rotted away by time, sun, and seawater. Tin pieces cover gaping holes to keep out the wind, rain, and sand. The metal roof is rusted through in several places. The cement floor crumbles away. The family lives maybe 20 yards from the ocean, and the tide sometimes washes over the floor, forcing them to wait it out with neighbors until the water recedes.
As I look around his house, my first instinct is guilt. Right now I have $200 tucked into various pockets and my shoes. I briefly consider giving it all to him. But we've been cautioned by Compassion to avoid giving money on this trip. And part of me thinks, I gave $5,000—how do they not have a decent house? Did they never get the money? Or is the rusted tin an improvement over a thatch roof? Did I not send enough?
I set my backpack down on the floor and bring out a gift for him. A picture of my family.
"This is my mom, my sister, my brother, and my dad," I say. Now that I'm here, the picture looks like exhibit A in First World wealth, with our electric lights and aluminum siding and a front door with a holiday wreath on it. So I quickly show him a picture of me and my girlfriend instead.
"Do you have a girlfriend?" I ask.
"Is there any girl you want to be your girlfriend?" The crowd giggles as Jeannot translates.
"I have seen some," he says, lowering his head and almost, just almost, breaking a smile.
As Ervenson and I talk through Ben and Jeannot's translations, I start to piece together a picture of his life. His father's only job is selling green wood to be made into charcoal on the mainland. The family mostly live on rice and beans, but sometimes they buy a chicken when they can afford it. They don't have mosquito nets, so when the family—all 11 of them—sleep on the floor of this 150-square-foot house, they are sometimes bitten and contract malaria. Then they have to go to the mainland to get treatment. The pastor says that they're able to do that because of the money I sent, but I can't be sure he's not buttering me up.
The insects already cover my arms and legs when the pastor says we have to leave, that we'll be staying at his house tonight. It's only a five-minute walk from Ervenson's, but it's as if I walked into a house in America. He has glass windows. There's a large cinder-block wall surrounding his acre-plus property. His bedroom, which he graciously offers to Ben, Jeannot, and I, has a queen bed with a headboard, footboard, and mattress. There are two dressers, like you'd see in any American home. His wife has maybe five dozen porcelain figurines spread on every flat surface available. "This is the nicest house I've seen here," Ben says.
[quote]His life will probably resemble his father's: he will work in the fields, he will collect wood, he will build a small house on his beautiful little island with views of the sea, and over time it will slowly, inevitably fall apart.[/quote]
The next morning, Ervenson gives me a tour of the island. We see his school, with the broken tables and the benches made of planks set atop cinder blocks. We see the soccer field that floods in the rainy season, where Ervenson tells me he scored a goal from the opposite end of the field last year. We see the natural spring where Ervenson bathes before school, after school, and before bed. Through Ben's translations, we talk about his family's garden, an hour's walk deeper into the island, where they grow breadfruit, mango, spinach, beans, and potatoes.
"It's beautiful," Ervenson says of his island. "A beautiful little spot."
Does he think he'll have to leave this place if he wants to work? I ask.
Maybe, he says. For a job. "I would really like to work in an office," Ben translates. Then Ervenson says he has a question for me. "Can I come visit you?"
It catches me by total surprise. I try to imagine Ervenson showing up in my tiny studio apartment back in the U.S. Sleeping on my couch. Trying to cook something on the stove while I'm at work. Deciding to stay permanently while he goes to college. It's selfish and un-Christian, but I can't imagine myself enjoying that.
I'm pretty comfortable with the current arrangement of sending money, occasionally writing a letter, and keeping my distance. Which may be the problem with the NGO-donor relationship in general. When disaster strikes, it feels good to send money, whether it's a tweet to the Red Cross or through an organization like Compassion. But most of us don't want to go beyond that.
"What do I say?" I ask Ben in English, worried that Ervenson is picking up on my hesitation.
"I can say it's difficult," says Ben. "That there are visas and documents that have to be signed. That it's not an easy thing."
"Do that," I tell Ben. So he does.
Before I leave Ervenson, he walks me to the dock, carrying my backpack from his home, past the village market, and over the beaches so thick with shells, we have to watch where we're walking.
"Do you think you'll have a good life?" I ask. He takes a moment.
"I have some hope for myself with my education," he says. "If I can finish this education and continue high school, I think that things can be good."
The trouble is, he doesn't finish high school. For the next 17 months, I write him once a month, encouraging him to study hard, trying to do what Bruce Wydick, the developmental economist, says effective sponsors do. Then, in October 2013, I get an e-mail that says:
Ervenson has left Compassion's program because [of] unjustified absence from program activities for two consecutive months. This means he is no longer able to be sponsored. Please know that your sponsorship made a difference in the life of this child, and even though he is no longer in the program, the love you have shown will continue to have a great impact.
Despite the reassurance, I don't know that it did have a great impact. I knew that high school was a stretch for him—his teacher told me he was an average student. But the point of donating the money was to give him a better life. Ervenson got roughly $28 of my money each month. That's far more than the majority of his fellow Haitians make in a month. Some of that (roughly $6.25 per month) went to pay for school, and some went to books and school uniforms. Those things are relatively cheap in Haiti. What I don't get is, how did the money not improve his life more than that?
Maybe most of it went to higher tuition, which in turn put a new roof on the church or created jobs for teachers. And really, I'd be OK with either of those. But when I look at Ervenson's home, at his father's life, at Ervenson's own future, it feels like the money failed. I believe Wydick when he says that, over time and a large enough sample size, Compassion helps people move into the middle class. Indeed, one former Compassion child is now in Haiti's Parliament.
But I also know that this island is far removed from many of Haiti's most pressing problems, such as cholera, the earthquake, and deforestation. And still, the money did not lift him out of poverty. Maybe it takes time. Maybe it takes more money. I'm not an economist. I'm just a kid who—perhaps naively—believed that I could make a difference.
The money did what Jesus asked when he told his followers to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, etc. But, as with most aid to Haiti, I don't think it will have a long-term impact, at least not in this particular case. His life will probably resemble his father's: he will work in the fields, he will collect wood, he will build a small house on his beautiful little island with views of the sea, and over time it will slowly, inevitably fall apart.
When Ervenson left Compassion, I debated whether I would sponsor again. On the one hand, I'm still not comfortable with the evangelism, and I worry about contributing to Haiti's aid problem; on the other, I believe that the money can make a difference, though there's no guarantee that it will. And then, less than two months after Ervenson left, Compassion sent me a letter from another boy named Widny. I didn't request it, but it was sent all the same. Widny is nine years old. He lives on Haiti's southern coast, about 130 miles from La Tortue. He likes math and soccer and the color yellow. I grabbed a pen, and I wrote him back.
Jonah Ogles is an associate editor at Outside.


text:
Press Releases
Elaine Smith Debuts New 2015 CatalogJanuary 1, 2015
Elaine Smith debuts the latest additions to her 2015 collection in a new catalog available now. Twelve new pillow collections have been added to the line in an array of contemporary, transitional and eclectic designs. These sophisticated pillows are designed to be layered together in groups or work interchangeably with her current collections.
Two of the new collections focus on the trending metallic color story in fashion and interior design. We wanted to offer a range of silver, gold and copper hues with the ability to mix and match across collections. Hand-crafting geometric patterns from a classic stripe, the Lustrous Lines group is a contemporary assortment in ivory, silver and copper. The fibers in this collection reflect the light, creating a metallic quality. The Metallic Block group offers a more transitional look in gold and bronze. The warmth of this palette allows the accessories to work on a variety of furniture options.
Elaine has also added to her classic collection of handmade runway-inspired designs. Her hand-twisted gladiator pillow is now available in two new colors – ginkgo and aruba. We have also created a frog's clasp and braided lumbar in both coral and taupe to add to our cruise collection. The frog's clasp and braid are hand-made embellishments which offer the same performance benefits as the rest of our line of outdoor-safe pillows.
The Elaine Smith collection of luxurious, indoor/outdoor pillows resist rain, sun and stains. She continues to lead the outdoor accessories market with her exclusive designs, unique textures, and innovative color palettes. Elaine's runway-inspired designs are elegantly chic, and are handcrafted in the USA.


text:
I just found a note I made on my phone about 6 months ago after having a lovely dinner with Adil Mendhro and his family!
I am making a bet that the holistic ROI on a well executed Random Act of Kindness from a Brand is greater pound for pound than almost any other customer interaction.
Furthermore if a system is built around the checkout or desired action experience that creates an anticipation from the user then this effect will be multiplied.
In a world where we are all empowered with digital, social voices and when the established media channels are sourcing their content from the crowd, the route to earned media is in personal PR. Brands earning authentic voice from individuals.
A system based on 'Brandomness' taps into our well established thoughts on random game reward irrationality, the neuro-chemical consequences of gift giving, the value of timing, priming and consciousness as well as connecting to our passions and what we care most about.
Adding these ingredients together and wrapping them up in a personal brand experience is, for my money, the most powerful thing a brand can do to invest in its future.
I can't prove it yet!! But making the bet is the fun part!
Ill check back in once I have demonstrated it.
Thanks for reading.
After finally writing this blog this morning I have come home to see this video which has received 15,000,000 views in 3 days! by an airline I had never heard of but now love! It is only anecdotal and doesn't capitalise on individual, social voices but certainly captures the value of timing, giving and wrapped a up brand experience to gain earned media!
Enjoy it and Happy Christmas!!!


text:
Never pay full price: A monthly guide to the best time to buy TVs, cars, furniture and more, on sale
Ever get caught in a rain storm, and felt forced to buy one of those excessively priced umbrellas from a seller who seemed appear just at the right moment? That's the power of supply and demand — deals (and ripoffs) are all in timing.
Luckily, you can sometimes benefit from this same time-dependency — by buying items during off-months: Motorcycles are cheaper in January, and gym memberships go for a song in June. Demand is lower and so, often, is cost.
Weirdly, there are also times you can get deals even at peak popularity.
The demand for a new TV may grow in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, for example, as people are thinking about gathering with friends to watch the game. Yet some of the best deals can be found then, too.
Of course you will almost always pay top dollar for the latest and greatest, and the discounted televisions in question tend to be last year's models, since stores are looking to make room for newer versions.
So if you're looking to save money, forget trying to be an early adopter. Instead, focus on the best bargain-hunter strategies: Buying off season, buying at the end of a season and dashing for the doorbusters.
Indeed, the other time you can get a deal on TVs is during Black Friday sales the day after Thanksgiving. Those deals are offered at the moment of peak demand at a steep discount to get people in the store for a deal — mainly in the hopes they'll buy other (unplanned) things as well.
But you are too smart to get sucked in by impulse purchases.
In that spirit — shopping smarter — here's a month-by-month calendar for when the greatest deals occur on products from coats to cars to candy and more.
The best stuff to buy in January
Linens, bedding and towels: Many stores hold annual "white sales" in January, a legacy of department store owner and marketer John Wanamaker — who held his first sale of linens and bedding in 1878. Stores like Wayfair, JCPenny, LL Bean and Target have had discounts as deep as 50%.
Fitness equipment: These sales, aimed at those with healthy-living resolutions, come right at the peak. The discounts can be as much as 50% off at outlets like NordicTrack, Cabela's and Running Warehouse, according to DealNews.
Flooring and carpeting: Many people buy carpeting or floor-coverings after October and up through the first week of December, in preparation for the holidays. So come January, the schedules open up and the prices drop. Other busy flooring times, according to CarpetSuperSite, are between February 20 and April 30 when people are expecting a tax refund, and between July 4 and Labor Day, when families are remodeling or getting new homes ready to move into ahead of school starting.
Christmas decor: Most typical purveyors of Christmas decorations — places like Lowe's, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, Pottery Barn or Home Depot — put them on steep discount after the holidays.
Motorcycles: For obvious off-season reasons, wintertime is the best time to buy motorcycles — and January in particular offers many good sales. The showrooms are looking to move out last year's models to make way for the new ones arriving for the spring.
Furniture: Some specific kinds of furniture have their own best times to buy, but generally January is a great time to buy furniture, as new models typically hit showrooms in February.
The best stuff to buy in February
Winter apparel: Many retailers use the Presidents' Day as a marker of when spring clothes come out — and have big splashy weekend sales to get the boots, coats and sweaters off their shelves. Deals to be found abound.
Televisions: Last year's models of televisions have their steepest discounts during the two weeks running up to the Super Bowl.
Household items: Presidents' Day sales are the biggest sales around, until Memorial Day sales come around at the end of May, according to DealNews. Household items, like stuff for the kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms (as well as home improvement products) are discounted to clear out holiday surplus.
Fine chocolate: High-end chocolate, which virtually never goes on sale, is marked down heavily after Valentine's Day.
The best stuff to buy in March
Luggage: The winter vacation season is over and stores are prepping for the summer vacation season — so March is the time to get a deal on last year's luggage models.
Phones or tablets: Tech deals are now largely dependent on Apple unveilings or consumer electronics shows. These are common from January through March. After the newest gadget hits the shelves, you'll see the most recent version marked down.
Cruises: The "wave season" runs from January through March and is the time when cruise companies offer their steepest discounts.
The best stuff to buy in April
Sneakers: Those non-serious runners who are gearing up for outdoor activities when the weather warms can find deals on sneakers this time of year.
Used cars: Many car dealers pick up used inventory at auction this time of year and look to pass it along quickly — for cheap.
The best stuff to buy in May
Refrigerators: Most appliances come down in price later in the year, but refrigerators are knocked down in price in May, when the new models arrive.
Mattresses: While mattress deals can be found year round, the spring sees quite a few reduced prices, according to Consumer Reports. Expert tip: Read Mic's ultimate guide to buying a mattress.
The best stuff to buy in June
Gym memberships: Come summer, many fitness buffs head outside for their workouts — leaving gyms trying to court new members with discounts.
Lingerie: Victoria's Secret holds a semi-annual sale, which marks down underwear by as much as 50% — and this often leads the way for other lingerie brands or clothing retailers that sell underthings.
The best stuff to buy in July
Air conditioners: This is the time to buy a window air conditioner.
Summer apparel: Summer clothes, including swimwear, have their biggest discounts in July.
The best stuff to buy in August
Office supplies and storage: As part of back-to-school sales, office supplies and office furniture are discounted.
Laptops: August is when many retailers launch their back-to-school sale for laptops and will have the deepest discounts. Apple has an educational discount, and often adds in another freebies during this time as a bonus.
The best stuff to buy in September
Gas grill: Wait until the prime grilling season is over, and purchase in September, when you can get the best deals, according to DealNews.
Patio furniture: The summer is over and thus September is the time to score a deal on your new set — to enjoy next year.
The best stuff to buy in October
Camping gear: Camping season is over in most places and retailers are looking to move inventory to make space for incoming models.
Jeans: One of the common items left in inventories after back-to-school sales, jeans are discounted in October.
The best stuff to buy in November
Candy: They may have pumpkins and ghosts on them, but the candy is still good — just at a cheaper price.
Appliances: Washers, vacuums and dishwashers have their biggest discounts in November, including deep markdowns around Black Friday.
Tools: The season has set on outdoor work — so tools are marked down.
TVs and other electronics: Black Friday deals typically offer significant discounts on TVs and other big-ticket devices.
The best stuff to buy in December
Smaller electronics: Tablets, gaming consoles, small electronics and camcorders have been marked down.
Dishwashers: As people look to upgrade their kitchen before holiday guests arrive, dishwashers are in demand and sales can be found, according to Consumer Reports.
Cookware: Pots and pans and other cookware are often at their best prices in December.
Toys: Children's toys are often among the most popular doorbusters for Black Friday sales — but the spot deals continue through December.
Sign up for The Payoff — your weekly crash course on how to live your best financial life. Additionally, for all your burning money questions, check out Mic's credit, savings, career, investing and health care hubs for more information — that pays off.


text:
Tool (PEAT) and Other Practice Exams
Many students often ask which practice exams they should take, and what the differences are with the PEATs (offered by the same company that writes the NPTE). Here you find information on the Regular Retired PEAT, Practice PEAT, Academic PEATs, as well as other practice exams (Final Frontier, TherapyEd, Scorebuilders, etc.).
Regular Retired PEAT: An old NPTE exam and has 250 questions which all came in the NPTE together (passing score is 154/200).
Regular Practice PEAT: A random assortment of questions which were made by FSBPT and may or may not have made it to the actual NPTE (it is harder to score well so passing score is 136/200).
Both Regular Retired and Regular Practice PEATs are available to anyone (DPT student or any foreign trained PT) and can be bought for $99 from FSBPT.
Academic Retired PEAT: which is an old NPTE exam and has 250 questions (passing score is 144/200).
Academic Practice PEAT: A random assortment of questions which were made by FSBPT and may or may not have made it to the actual NPTE (Passing score is 141/200).
Academic PEATs are only accessible to DPT students enrolled in CAPTE accredited programs and can be bought with a school code (4 digit code). They are usually $79 and most schools pay for their students as a group.
FSBPT released data in 2014 saying if you pass the Regular Retired PEAT, there is 99.3% chance that you will pass the NPTE on the first attempt. The Academic PEATs are more recent indicator of your preparation but FSBPT has not released recent correlations them with NPTE scores.
PEAT, Final Frontier, TherapyEd, Scorebuilders
Only Retired PEAT and NPTE Final Frontier exam publish data on NPTE correlation and both are highly recommended for everyone. Other practice exams may be useful, and should be added to a study program to gain practice question rationales, and increase testing stamina.
If you pass the retired PEAT, you should be fine and pass the NPTE!


text:
France is a country that nurtures revolutionary ideas: the Braille system, the pasteurization process, the ideals of modern democracy.
So, when computer science major Kyle Suter was struck with an inventive spark to rethink the current state of real-time strategy (RTS) video games, it was fitting that he was studying abroad at Georgia Tech-Lorraine in Metz, France.
"I had a lot of downtime [in France]," Suter remembers. "I started prototyping my first RTS. It was bland and generic. The artwork was horrible."
Enter computational media student and Suter's friend, David Neil Daniell. A competent programmer, Suter pitched his idea to Daniell in the hopes of building a partnership. Suter's plan was to streamline RTS games, which can traditionally take hours to complete, to a target time of 20-30 minutes. Kyle wanted to make his game highly customizable, but quick to play, to give it a "Mario Kart type feel that is easy to learn, hard to master."
"I thought it was really cool," recalls Daniell. "I thought it was really innovative and taking RTS in a new direction."
Suter and Daniell began work on the project in the fall of 2018. The game is designed for online play and is a multiplayer experience. Suter focused on the code while Daniell started building out the visual elements. The pair used the computational media showcase in the Clough Commons Undergraduate Learning Center to debut the game to fellow Yellow Jackets.
They arrived 45 minutes late with a rented server and fully functional game. The response invigorated them.
"Everyone thought the game was really cool," Suter says. "People were asking about a name and we hadn't even thought that yet. It was a big confidence booster to see people appreciate our prototype."
Daniell's interactions with players that day solidified the belief that the team was on to something. "The defining moment was when people started giving us advice about what we should put in the game and asking when the game was coming out," he says. "We thought, 'Hey, let's make this a game, try and sell it and make something out of it.'"
After the showcase, Suter and Daniell recognized that they needed more elements to make the
game successful. A music score needed to be created, more pixel artists brought in to keep up
with the growing game functions, and a vector concept artist to build campaigns, lore, and
splash screens.
Look to your left, look to your right. Suter and Daniell knew just where to find the talent to help form MultiPath LLLP... Georgia Tech.
"There are seven of us and six of us are Georgia Tech students with one Georgia State student," notes Suter. "Going to Georgia Tech, you know everyone has a foundation, a skill level and integrity. We also understand that Georgia Tech is kind of hard. If people are slammed because of assignments and can't finish something on time, everyone on the team understands and we can work with that."
The group convenes on campus once or twice a month to share progress and discuss the direction of the game that became known as Tiny Kingdoms - ranging from the introduction of new characters and lore to merchandising opportunities and their Kickstarter campaign.
For Suter and Daniell, creating a video game is a pursuit of passion and a doorway to future opportunities. The two are using a critical eye to put a new spin on the popular genre of real-time strategy.
"RTS games now are overly complicated and associated with the hardcore gaming community," Suter says. "Growing up, I used to play games and think, 'This is a cool game, but this game could be better.' That's why I'm even in computer science. One day I stopped just playing the games and I wanted to know how they worked."
Daniell believes that online RTS games are attractive to people because they tap into a marginally hidden cerebral pleasure. "I think people like knowing that they have a strategic advantage over somebody else, but the other person doesn't know," he says. "That core feeling is appealing and fun to have."
The process of building a kingdom takes time, and Tiny Kingdoms is still under construction.
The team launched a Kickstarter in late March and plan to release a fully functional game on
Steam, a computer platform that provides an opportunity for independent video games to be
purchased by the gaming community, in December.
Composed by Georgia Tech student Patrick Moore, the above music is the introduction track for Tiny Kingdoms.
Tiny Kingdoms' Kickstarter campaign is primarily designated to purchase dedicated servers for the game at the time of launch. Servers will maximize game play and allow for additional content to be added after it is available to the public.
Suter, Daniell and the MultiPath team plan to use the revenue from Tiny Kingdoms to supply baseline funds for designing and prototyping gaming hardware for the competitive world of e-sports.
Tiny Kingdoms is a condensed, unique version of the traditional real-time strategy game, but Suter and Daniell have big aspirations for where MultiPath can grow in the future. Still, this pair hasn't forgotten the essence of the video game experience and the effect of hundreds of hours of programming, designing, creating, and campaigning can have on just one person.
"It's so cool to sit down and code for several hours and put a game together, and you just give it to somebody," says Suter. "And you just let them play it and they're having a fun time. If you can bring that to thousands of people simultaneously, that's pretty cool."
"The fact that we could create a game and anybody in the world can get on and play - not a lot of people can do that," says Daniell.
Right now, most of the game testing is still done by Suter and Daniell, along with other members of the team. So, in the battle of the creators of Tiny Kingdoms, who wins?
"Whenever Kyle and I play, I like to absolutely destroy him," laughs Daniell. "Nobody has really beaten me so far."
In September, Suter and Daniell hope to have many challengers.


text:
The workshop focuses on the mathematical study of topics originating in physics. The talks will present recent progress on a number of issues, and are aimed at a mixed audience of students and experts, mathematicians and physicists. The meeting is co-hosted by the Mathematics and Physics Departments at the Weizmann Institute.
- Yosi Avron
Technion, Israel
- Roland Bauerschmidt
University of Cambridge, England
- Nick Crawford
Technion, Israel
- Martin Hairer
University of Warwick, England
- Elon Lindenstrauss
Hebrew University, Israel
- Christophe Sabot
Université Lyon 1, France
- Yinon Spinka
Tel Aviv University, Israel
- Herbert Spohn
Technische Universität München, Germany
- Eliran Subag
Weizmann Institute, Israel
- Li-Cheng Tsai
Columbia University, USA
- Simone Warzel
Technische Universität München, Germany
All lectures will take place at the Weissman Auditorium on the second floor of the Weissman Physics Building.


text:
Pony´s Express W/ Eric Dolphy
Pony Poindexter
Jazz Images
Warning: Last items in stock!
Availability date:
Born in New Orleans, saxophonist Pony Poindexter (1926-1988) was a much respected but scarcely recorded musician who played in the orchestras of Billy Eckstine and Lionel Hampton in the late '40s and early '50s. Like nearly all of the saxophonists of his generation, he was clearly infl uenced by Charlie Parker. Quickly assimilating the complexities of bebop, he made a name for himself on the West Coast. Poindexter played with the Wes Montgomery group in 1959, but his big break occurred in 1961, when he started a two-year engagement with the vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. This relative fame allowed him to cross the Atlantic in 1964. Released in 1962, Pony's Express (Epic LA-16035) marked one of his few albums as a leader, and fi nds him in the distinguished company of such stars as Eric Dolphy, Dexter Gordon and Pepper Adams.
New York, February-May, 1962.
TOTAL TIME: 67:30 Min.


text:
Decisions are made in order to achieve desirable outcomes. An innovation dilemma arises when a seemingly more attractive option is also more uncertain than other options. In this essay we explore the relation between the innovation dilemma and the robustness of a decision, and the relation between robustness and probability. A decision is robust to uncertainty if it achieves required outcomes despite adverse surprises. A robust decision may differ from the seemingly best option. Furthermore, robust decisions are not based on knowledge of probabilities, but can still be the most likely to succeed.
Squirrels, Stock-Brokers and Their Dilemmas
Decision problems.
Imagine a squirrel nibbling acorns under an oak tree. They're pretty good acorns, though a bit dry. The good ones have already been taken. Over in the distance is a large stand of fine oaks. The acorns there are probably better. But then, other squirrels can also see those trees, and predators can too. The squirrel doesn't need to get fat, but a critical caloric intake is necessary before moving on to other activities. How long should the squirrel forage at this patch before moving to the more promising patch, if at all?
Imagine a hedge fund manager investing in South African diamonds, Australian Uranium, Norwegian Kroners and Singapore semi-conductors. The returns have been steady and good, but not very exciting. A new hi-tech start-up venture has just turned up. It looks promising, has solid backing, and could be very interesting. The manager doesn't need to earn boundless returns, but it is necessary to earn at least a tad more than the competition (who are also prowling around). How long should the manager hold the current portfolio before changing at least some of its components?
These are decision problems, and like many other examples, they share three traits: critical needs must be met; the current situation may or may not be adequate; other alternatives look much better but are much more uncertain. To change, or not to change? What strategy to use in making a decision? What choice is the best bet? Betting is a surprising concept, as we have seen before; can we bet without knowing probabilities?
Solution strategies.
The decision is easy in either of two extreme situations, and their analysis will reveal general conclusions.
One extreme is that the status quo is clearly insufficient. For the squirrel this means that these crinkled rotten acorns won't fill anybody's belly even if one nibbled here all day long. Survival requires trying the other patch regardless of the fact that there may be many other squirrels already there and predators just waiting to swoop down. Similarly, for the hedge fund manager, if other funds are making fantastic profits, then something has to change or the competition will attract all the business.
The other extreme is that the status quo is just fine, thank you. For the squirrel, just a little more nibbling and these acorns will get us through the night, so why run over to unfamiliar oak trees? For the hedge fund manager, profits are better than those of any credible competitor, so uncertain change is not called for.
From these two extremes we draw an important general conclusion: the right answer depends on what you need. To change, or not to change, depends on what is critical for survival. There is no universal answer, like, "Always try to improve" or "If it's working, don't fix it". This is a very general property of decisions under uncertainty, and we will call it preference reversal. The agent's preference between alternatives depends on what the agent needs in order to "survive".
The decision strategy that we have described is attuned to the needs of the agent. The strategy attempts to satisfy the agent's critical requirements. If the status quo would reliably do that, then stay put; if not, then move. Following the work of Nobel Laureate Herbert Simon, we will call this a satisficing decision strategy: one which satisfies a critical requirement.
"Prediction is always difficult, especially of the future." - Robert Storm Petersen
Now let's consider a different decision strategy that squirrels and hedge fund managers might be tempted to use. The agent has obtained information about the two alternatives by signals from the environment. (The squirrel sees grand verdant oaks in the distance, the fund manager hears of a new start up.) Given this information, a prediction can be made (though the squirrel may make this prediction based on instincts and without being aware of making it). Given the best available information, the agent predicts which alternative would yield the better outcome. Using this prediction, the decision strategy is to choose the alternative whose predicted outcome is best. We will call this decision strategy best-model optimization. Note that this decision strategy yields a single universal answer to the question facing the agent. This strategy uses the best information to find the choice that - if that information is correct - will yield the best outcome. Best-model optimization (usually) gives a single "best" decision, unlike the satisficing strategy that returns different answers depending on the agent's needs.
There is an attractive logic - and even perhaps a moral imperative - to use the best information to make the best choice. One should always try to do one's best. But the catch in the argument for best-model optimization is that the best information may actually be grievously wrong. Those fine oak trees might be swarming with insects who've devoured the acorns. Best-model optimization ignores the agent's central dilemma: stay with the relatively well known but modest alternative, or go for the more promising but more uncertain alternative.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk" says our hedge fund manager. "My information already accounts for the uncertainty. I have used a probabilistic asset pricing model to predict the likelihood that my profits will beat the competition for each of the two alternatives."
Probabilistic asset pricing models are good to have. And the squirrel similarly has evolved instincts that reflect likelihoods. But a best-probabilistic-model optimization is simply one type of best-model optimization, and is subject to the same vulnerability to error. The world is full of surprises. The probability functions that are used are quite likely wrong, especially in predicting the rare events that the manager is most concerned to avoid.
Robustness and Probability
Now we come to the truly amazing part of the story. The satisficing strategy does not use any probabilistic information. Nonetheless, in many situations, the satisficing strategy is actually a better bet (or at least not a worse bet), probabilistically speaking, than any other strategy, including best-probabilistic-model optimization. We have no probabilistic information in these situations, but we can still maximize the probability of success (though we won't know the value of this maximum).
When the satisficing decision strategy is the best bet, this is, in part, because it is more robust to uncertainty than another other strategy. A decision is robust to uncertainty if it achieves required outcomes even if adverse surprises occur. In many important situations (though not invariably), more robustness to uncertainty is equivalent to being more likely to succeed or survive. When this is true we say that robustness is a proxy for probability.
A thorough analysis of the proxy property is rather technical. However, we can understand the gist of the idea by considering a simple special case.
Let's continue with the squirrel and hedge fund examples. Suppose we are completely confident about the future value (in calories or dollars) of not making any change (staying put). In contrast, the future value of moving is apparently better though uncertain. If staying put would satisfy our critical requirement, then we are absolutely certain of survival if we do not change. Staying put is completely robust to surprises so the probability of success equals 1 if we stay put, regardless of what happens with the other option. Likewise, if staying put would not satisfy our critical requirement, then we are absolutely certain of failure if we do not change; the probability of success equals 0 if we stay, and moving cannot be worse. Regardless of what probability distribution describes future outcomes if we move, we can always choose the option whose likelihood of success is greater (or at least not worse). This is because staying put is either sure to succeed or sure to fail, and we know which.
This argument can be extended to the more realistic case where the outcome of staying put is uncertain and the outcome of moving, while seemingly better than staying, is much more uncertain. The agent can know which option is more robust to uncertainty, without having to know probability distributions. This implies, in many situations, that the agent can choose the option that is a better bet for survival.
Wrapping Up
The skillful decision maker not only knows a lot, but is also able to deal with conflicting information. We have discussed the innovation dilemma: When choosing between two alternatives, the seemingly better one is also more uncertain.
Animals, people, organizations and societies have developed mechanisms for dealing with the innovation dilemma. The response hinges on tuning the decision to the agent's needs, and robustifying the choice against uncertainty. This choice may or may not coincide with the putative best choice. But what seems best depends on the available - though uncertain - information.
The commendable tendency to do one's best - and to demand the same of others - can lead to putatively optimal decisions that may be more vulnerable to surprise than other decisions that would have been satisfactory. In contrast, the strategy of robustly satisfying critical needs can be a better bet for survival. Consider the design of critical infrastructure: flood protection, nuclear power, communication networks, and so on. The design of such systems is based on vast knowledge and understanding, but also confronts bewildering uncertainties and endless surprises. We must continue to improve our knowledge and understanding, while also improving our ability to manage the uncertainties resulting from the expanding horizon of our efforts. We must identify the critical goals and seek responses that are immune to surprise.


text:
28 Apr, 2014, 12:00 ET
MCLEAN, Va., April 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The race for the No. 1 spot in the Capital One Cup standings and a combined $400,000 in student-athlete scholarships is gaining momentum and the leading schools have clearly emerged after a thrilling winter sports season. Today, Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF), an official NCAA® Corporate Champion, has announced the official winter standings for the Capital One Cup, which is awarded each year to the best men's and women's NCAA Division I athletics programs in the country. Several schools, including Florida State, Connecticut and Notre Dame, hold top-10 positions for both men's and women's standings, which makes each school a legitimate contender for a sweep of the men's and women's Capital One Cup trophies when the competition concludes after the spring athletics season.
The exciting conclusions to both the NCAA® Men's and Women's Basketball National Championship encapsulated a wild and crazy March Madness® filled with incredible upsets and poignant moments. For the second time in 10 years, the Connecticut Huskies won both the men's and women's basketball championships, catapulting the school's athletics programs high into Capital One Cup men's and women's standings.
On the strength of its BCS National Championship, and a top-10 finish in indoor track & field this winter, Florida State now leads the men's standings. Connecticut ranks second after its NCAA Men's Basketball National Championship, while Notre Dame ranks third, boosted by a NCAA Men's College Cup® title in the fall and a top-10 finish at the NCAA Fencing National Championship this winter. On the women's side, Connecticut rose to the top of the standings after winning the NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship and securing a Field Hockey championship title, overtaking Penn State, which led after the fall standings.
Below are the official Capital One Cup standings after the 2013-2014 winter athletics season, with the top-10 point earners (including ties) in men's and women's athletics listed. The complete standings can be found at: www.CapitalOneCup.com or Facebook.com/CapitalOneCup.
Men's Cup Standings
Women's Cup Standings
1. Florida State
68 points
1. Connecticut
80 points
2. Connecticut
66 points
2. Stanford
75 points
3. Notre Dame
62.5 points
3. Penn State
72 points
4. North Dakota State
60 points
62 points
5. Michigan State
51 points
5. Wisconsin
46 points
6. Florida
50 points
6. Texas
44 points
7. Cal
43 points
7. North Carolina
40 points
7. Michigan
43 points
8. Florida State
39 points
9. Auburn
41 points
9. Notre Dame
38.5 points
9. Kentucky
41 points
10. Florida
38 points
"This is what college athletics is all about -- the unpredictability of NCAA championships and teams playing at a high level, as evidenced by the Connecticut men's basketball team becoming the first ever No. 7 seed to win the NCAA Tournament," said Capital One Cup Advisory Board member and CBS college basketball analyst, Clark Kellogg. "Florida State and Notre Dame have held steady in the men's standings while Connecticut could take it all on both the men's and women's side. What makes the Capital One Cup race so thrilling is how multiple sports across multiple seasons contribute to the ultimate winning program."
"Connecticut's historic win over Notre Dame is an example of a team that kept dominating throughout the season and didn't let up for a second during the tournament," said Capital One Cup Advisory Board member and former basketball star at USC, Lisa Leslie. "For Connecticut to achieve perfection and show the poise to overcome an undefeated and highly skilled Notre Dame team in the title game was special. With the heart and determination already shown by women's athletics programs this season, I'm excited to follow the remaining NCAA championships and the race for the Capital One Cup."
"This is always an exciting time as every game and match takes on even greater importance as we head toward the end of the college sports season," said Marc Mentry, Senior Vice President at Capital One. "We are anticipating a competitive and action-packed spring sports season, which will determine who will reign supreme in the race for the Capital One Cup."
Highlights from the winter season include:
- The Connecticut men's and women's basketball programs took home national championships in the same year for the second time in school history.
- Union (NY) men's hockey delivered a first ever national championship to the school in any sport, defeating powerhouses Boston College and Minnesota on the way to the title.
- The Golden Knights of Clarkson won the school's first NCAA title with a 5-4 victory over Minnesota in women's hockey.
- Denver delivered another skiing championship, the 22nd in school history.
- Georgia edged out Stanford for its second consecutive women's swimming title.
- Penn State continued to dominate men's collegiate wrestling with its fourth consecutive national title and continued to climb the Capital One Cup standings with a record 13th national championship in fencing.
- West Virginia went back-to-back, winning its second national rifle championship in as many years.
- Sam Houston State won their first ever national championship in any sport when the women's bowling team took home the title.
Schools earn points based on their teams' top-10 finishes in NCAA Division I championships and in final official coaches' polls across 20 women's and 19 men's sports as they compete to win the Capital One Cup trophy and a combined $400,000 in scholarships for student-athletes. The Capital One Cup winners will be determined at the end of the spring season and will be honored at the ESPY Awards in July. Last year, new winners emerged when UCLA won on the men's side and North Carolina claimed the women's Capital One Cup. Stanford women and Florida men earned the Capital One Cup the first two years of the program. This is the fourth year of the Capital One Cup.
Please visit www.CapitalOneCup.com, Facebook.com/CapitalOneCup and Twitter.com/CapitalOneCup for more information and news on the Capital One Cup as well as updates on the standings.
About Capital One
Capital One Financial Corporation (www.capitalone.com) is a financial holding company whose subsidiaries, which include Capital One, N.A., and Capital One Bank (USA), N.A., had $204.5 billion in deposits and $297 billion in total assets as of December 31, 2013. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Capital One offers a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients through a variety of channels. Capital One, N.A. has more than 900 branch locations primarily in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. A Fortune 500 company, Capital One trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "COF" and is included in the S&P 100 index.
Capital One, an NCAA Corporate Champion, began its affiliation with college sports with the sponsorship of the 2001 Capital One Florida Citrus Bowl (now the Capital One Bowl) and ESPN's Capital One Bowl Week. In addition, Capital One sponsors the ABC College Football Halftime Report, Capital One All-America Mascot team, Capital One Academic All-America Program, and supports all 89 NCAA Championships including the Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Championships, and numerous other collegiate athletics programs.
NCAA is a trademark owned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. All other licenses or trademarks are property of their respective holders.
Logo -
SOURCE Capital One