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Guides & Tutorials
Convention Centers
Event Planning
Virginia Convention and Event Planning
A Simple Wish
, Ashburn, VA, (703) 729-7919
A Simple Wish is a formal event planning company specializing in weddings, social events, and corporate events. We provide a wide range of services to accommodate each of our. Virginia Event Planning. 153 views in the past three months.
A Simply Perfect Event
, Virginia Beach, VA, (757) 567-1988
Virginia Event Planners. We are the perfect beginning to your happily ever after! Our team makes your dreams a divine reality with the decorations, favors, or wedding packages to fit your every need! 258 views in the past three months.
A Touch of Sass
, Alexandria, VA, (703) 717-5048
A Touch of Sass is a full service wedding and event consultation and coordination service. Virginia Event Planner. 123 views in the past three months.
, Richmond, VA, (804) 714-3453
Virginia Event Planning. Give AccountOne a call for your event planning needs! We specialize in conventions, conferences, meetings, public relations, marketing and more! 143 views in the past three months.
Aida's Creations
, Fairfax Station, VA, (703) 819-3549
Aida's Creations specializes in corporate event planning. From small events to large scale, we can do them with over 12 years of experience. Virginia Event Planning. 93 views in the past three months.
All About Presentation
, Midlothian, VA, (804) 308-4418
Virginia Event Planners. All About Presentation is a full service meeting and event planning company with planners that can meet your party or event needs.
Allison Nichole
, Ashburn, VA, (678) 386-1177
We are Wedding Day Coordination Specialists. This is one of the most important days of your life - don't leave it to chance! Specializing in wedding day coordination, Allison. Virginia Event Planner.
Angela's Elegant Events
, Richmond, VA, (804) 814-6245
Virginia Event Planning. Angela's Elegant Events provides custom wedding planning and coordination packages. We will assist with full, partial, or "day- of" services. We offer quality service and.
Anne's Creation
, Charles City, VA, (804) 307-3618
Annes Creation is a full- service event planning company located in Charles City, VA serving the Richmond, Tri- Cities and the Tidewater area. Virginia Event Planning.
Antonia Christianson Events
, Virginia Beach, VA, (757) 650-2152
Virginia Event Planners. Antonia Christianson Events is a full service event planning and design firm. We specialize in intimate weddings, large corporate functions, memorable galas and Bar/ Bat Mitzvahs.
April Showers Parties and Events
, Charlottesville, VA, (434) 806-1165
April Showers Parties and Events is a full service event planning and management company based in Charlottesville, Virginia. Virginia Event Planner.
Artistic Occasions & Events
, Richmond, VA, (804) 852-4258
Virginia Event Planning. So, you're getting married, throwing a party, or just in the mood to celebrate, but don't no where to begin or how to bring your concept to reality?
Ashley's Custom Events
, Dinwiddie, VA, (804) 920-4143
As a certified wedding specialist, I am here to take the stress away from you and your family so you can enjoy your special day! Virginia Event Planning.
August Events & Promotions
, Sterling, VA, (703) 297-7886
Virginia Event Planners. August Events & Promotions, LLC is the Washington, DC areas special event dream team!
Ayr Hill Events
, Alexandria, VA, (703) 964-6786
We provide unforgettable weddings and special events in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. Virginia Event Planner.
, Arlington, VA, (703) 553-4412
Virginia Event Planning. Bash provides planning for DC weddings and events.
Beach Bridal Bliss
, Virginia Beach, VA, (757) 412-9872
We provide wedding planning and bridal consultation suited to any style or budget. Virginia Event Planning.
Black Diamond Events
, Richmond, VA, (631) 721-6936
Virginia Event Planners. Event coordination for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
Brandy Faulkner Weddings and Special Events
, Blacksburg, VA, (540) 257-5211
Brandy Faulkner Weddings and Special Events is a full-service wedding and special events organization, delivering superior quality and creating lasting memories. Virginia Event Planner.
Breathless Elegance
, Manassas, VA, (540) 287-1965
Virginia Event Planning. Event planners for your occasions. Leave your event in our capable hands. Servicing all of Northern Virginia, Manassas, Maryland, Stafford, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Orange,.
Events to Remember
, Alexandria, VA, (571) 215-1144
Events to Remember is a full service event management company with a mission to provide each client an "Event to Remember". Virginia Event Planning.
, Glen Allen, VA, (804) 784-5455
Virginia Event Planners. We are an event and meeting management company for meetings, conventions, conferences, private parties and gatherings.
F & B Solutions
, Falls Church, VA, (703) 336-3562
Full service event and food & beverage facilities management. Virginia Event Planner.
Factor 110 Event Planners
, Arlington, VA, (202) 664-3202
Virginia Event Planning. Our experienced staff can help plan and execute your event from beginning to end, all while respecting your mission and budget. We factor in your needs and help you explore.
Finishing Touch Events
, Hayes, VA, (757) 876-9699
We at Finishing Touch Events know that planning the perfect event can be trying, Let us help and you can enjoy your event along with your guest. Virginia Event Planning.
For All Occasions
, Fairfax, VA, (703) 222-5912
Virginia Event Planners. For All Occasions offers wedding planning and coordination services and a distinctive selection of invitations and accessories for all events.
Funtime Party Planning
, Virginia Beach, VA, (757) 965-5391
We provide all-imclusive party packages. Virginia Event Planner.
Gaines Weddings and Events
, McLean, VA, (703) 589-7838
Virginia Event Planning. With years of experience in the industry and the finest, most reliable vendors, you will be well taken care of. Whatever you envision, we can provide you with the guidance,.
Hot Cakes
, Charlottesville, VA, (434) 295-6037
We will work with you to provide the highest quality, most enjoyable event within your budget. Virginia Event Planning.
Huqa Entertainment
, Fairfax, VA, (703) 870-8455
Virginia Event Planners. Huqa Entertainment offers event planning and management for events all sizes and budgets. Working out cost efficient ways to produce a flawless production which will make your.
I Do Weddings
, Leesburg, VA, (703) 314-0606
Have a wedding without worries by having a trained, Certified wedding specialist handle the details of your wedding. Virginia Event Planner.
I Event Planning & Management
, Burke, VA, (703) 801-2223
Virginia Event Planning. We are here to provide a professional and trained staff at your will before, during, and after your special event.
In Any Event
, Virginia Beach, VA, (757) 214-9127
We specialize in all of your special events. Virginia Event Planning.
In The Details
, Fredericksburg, VA, (540) 372-6963
Virginia Event Planners. In The Details is a full service event planning business specializing in weddings and other bridal services. Our services include an array of coordination packages including.
Indigo Seven
, Hampton Roads, VA, (757) 297-9752
Indigo Seven is a full service event company that provides complete consulting, planning and coordinating services for all types of events. Virginia Event Planner.
Inspired Occasions
, Centreville, VA, (443) 878-2655
Virginia Event Planning. We provide affordable luxury wedding planning to suit your desires!
Isha Foss Events
, Chesapeake, VA, (757) 410-3436
Isha Foss Events is a full-service wedding and event planning company serving Hampton Roads, Virginia. We offer budget planning, etiquette advice, guest accommodations, vendor. Virginia Event Planning.
Isis Events
, Yorktown, VA, (757) 870-0509
Virginia Event Planners. From corporate meetings to elegant weddings, Isis Events can create it all. We have worked with companies around the country to help make meetings, retreats, weddings, and.
J&M Event Planning
, Abingdon, VA, (703) 659-1663
J&M offers full service event planning. We offer floral, catering, and specialty decor services to our clients. Virginia Event Planner.
Jan Davis Entertainment & Evens
, Alexandria, VA, (703) 461-7253
Virginia Event Planning. No one forgets a Jan Davis Entertainment Event! Let us do as little or as much as you need. If you just don't have the time to plan your event, let us create an event that will.
Simply Elegant Events and Design
, Glen Allen, VA, (804) 458-7718
We are a wedding and event planning company that prides itself in planning an upscale, carefree event for you. Virginia Event Planning.
Skyline Events
, Harrisonburg, VA, (540) 421-2685
Virginia Event Planners. A full service wedding and event planning company. From Proposal to I do we can help your wedding dreams come true.
Smith Mountain Lake Weddings
, Hardy, VA, (540) 890-9441
Wedding coordinator. Virginia Event Planner.
Smith Mountain Lake Weddings
, Hardy, VA, (540) 890-9441
Virginia Event Planning. We help brides and grooms locate local wedding businesses in the Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia area.
Society Scene Special Events
, Glen Allen, VA, (804) 304-3433
We offer complete event coordination & meeting planning, and onsite management, from big productions to intimate gatherings. Virginia Event Planning.
Soiree Special Events
, Springfield, VA, (703) 980-4473
Virginia Event Planners. We are Washington DC's newest event coordination service specializing in weddings. Whether you have 4 or 400 guests, we provide peace of mind on your wedding day. We have.
Solia Events
, Falls Church, VA, (571) 205-7625
I'm a Certified Event Planner and Wedding Specialist with more than 10 years coordinating events & weddings. So, relax & enjoy being the guest of honor at your own event or. Virginia Event Planner.
Something Elegant
, Richmond, VA, (804) 467-1804
Virginia Event Planning. Something Elegant offers a full range of wedding planning services, creative ideas and advice for all styles and sizes of weddings.
South American BBQ "Asado"
, Fairfax, VA, (571) 251-9439
Treat and surprise you guests with a typical South American BBQ. "Asado criollo" (Uruguay-Argentinian style). Virginia Event Planning.
Southern Classic Events
, Virginia Beach, VA, (757) 407-4039
Virginia Event Planners. Southern Classic Events creates successful events with classic style and elegance throughout Virginia and North Carolina. SCE offers coordinating, consulting and creative design.
Special Affairs
, Fredericksburg, VA, (540) 785-7508
Full service, wedding, social and business event planning, including destination weddings and events. Events include mitzvahs, birthdays, anniversaries, fundraisers, tradeshow. Virginia Event Planner.
Style Events
, Virginia Beach, VA, (757) 282-6938
Virginia Event Planning. Style Events is a licensed and insured special events company. We have a professional and very talented staff with over thirty years of experience in planning, designing,.
Swanky Productions
, Alexandria, VA, (202) 577-1989
Virginia Event Planning.
Sweets and Soirees
, Richmond, VA, (894) 564-4322
Virginia Event Planners. We are a full service event design, management & consultation firm devoted to creating an unforgettable event! We offer full to day- of coordination, floral and decor services.
Tapestry Services
, Norfolk, VA, (757) 623-9236
Corporate event planning. Virginia Event Planner.
Tasteful Treasures by Donna
, Vinton, VA, (540) 354-8648
Virginia Event Planning. Bridal showers, party favors, gift baskets.
Texture Design Studio
, Staunton, VA, (434) 294-0372
Creating atmosphere is our business. Virginia Event Planning.
The Event Company
, Charlottesville, VA, (434) 974-6500
Virginia Event Planners. The Event Company offers services ranging from week of event management to full service needs. Catering, specialty furniture rental, decor and production are among our management.
The Finer Points
, Leesburg, VA, (703) 728-5585
The Finer Points works under the philosophy that each event is unique and deserves our greatest respect and consideration. We provide the best and most creative design resulting. Virginia Event Planner.
Truly Unforgettable
, Richmond, VA, (804) 218-3008
Virginia Event Planning. Truly Unforgettable is a formal event planning company that provides exceptional event planning, design and production services for your social and corporate events.
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From a handy portable device to a computer, MP3 players download, store and play back digital music. Unlike the portable CD, MP3 players need to connect with a PC to operate. So any spyware o malware that may be lurking in your PC can affect the installation of the MP3 player. So need some extra caution the next time when you install an MP3 player.
Scanning your computer before installing the MP3 player is advised by the computer help team. Virus scan checks if any virus vulnerability and security threats are there. Before installation you need to check the reference manual provided with the device. When installing you need to install software disc first, then plug in your device and follow instructions.
Ensure that you have updated the related software and firmware. You need to consult the related websites to find out the latest updates important for the best performance of the MP3 player result.
Make sure that the battery is properly charged. If you want to hire any vendor for professional help on MP 3 player related issues you need to see if they are Microsoft Certified technicians or not. The tech support team can remotely access your MP3 player through the Internet and provide you with 24/7 assistance all year round.
The professional experts can provide you help in setting up and installing your MP3 player, customizing your MP3 player's software and settings, ensuring the latest drivers and updates on your MP3 player, and most importantly, they can help you making play lists and downloading music for you.

subset: commoncrawl


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Dad has just cleaned the floors and warns the muddy Ludovic and Walla not to go inside. But Walla can't resist the temptation of a bowl of seeds that he sees on the kitchen counter. So he sneaks inside and makes a muddy mess. It's up to Ludovic and a playful bucket, scrub brush and rag to clean up before his Dad finds out.
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A nutritious meal plan provides proper nutrients to your body in an appropriate way to keep your calorie intake in control for maintaining body weight. A Miami meal plan can lower the risk of heart problems as well as other health issues. A healthy meal plan includes all green vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and some low-fat or no-fat dairy products. Low-fat meat, fish, eggs, beans, or nuts.
Calories intake
- If you want to lose or gain weight, then it's necessary to look at your body's calorie intake.
- For women, the calorie intake for a healthy body should be between 1200-1500 each day.
- For men, the calorie intake for a healthy body should be between 1500-1800 each day.
Any healthy meal follows three basic principles:
- Minimizing the intake of sugar in your body.
- Avoiding artificial trans-fat in your meal.
- Overall, focus on vegetable intake in your meals.
Benefits of healthy meal
Any healthy meal can help in preventing some diseases like heart disease, stroke, or even diabetes. The risk of cancers also gets minimized by taking healthy meals every day. You can even recover from your sickness by taking healthy foods every day. A major problem in today's society is overweight and obesity, and you can even prevent this major problem by having a healthy diet daily. A healthy diet is important in day-to-day life, but a regular workout is also a must to keep yourself fit and healthy.
Your everyday meals to keep yourself healthy:
Breakfast is the most important meal of the whole day, and you must have it every day, but it's not good to have high fat or high-calorie food in your breakfast. An afternoon meal that is called lunch is also important, but it's the time when most of the people are at their work, so they are not able to get it properly. Dinner is the meal when most people overeat as they only have to sleep after the meal, but it's not a good choice.
Things to come up
In this fast-moving world where no one has the time to take care of the meals, they eat for a healthy body as caring needs a lot of your quality time. Everyone doesn't have time to work for a healthy body, so they end up eating fast foods or prefer driving instead of walking and no workout. All these things can make you unhealthy. No one can help you with your workouts as it can only be your choice, and you will only have to work for it, but you can get healthy food as your daily meal. There are lots of services available that provide a healthy meal in Miami. You can take benefits of any of these services and can get a healthy meal every day. Miami meal plan services are available for every person living there, and you even get home delivery of the food so that you can make use of your quality time.


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San Diego Zoo
Today was well spent day at the San Diego Zoo. It was very hot and crowded but that didn't stop us from having a lot of fun. My favorite attractions were the snow leopard, the pandas, the koalas, the egzotic birds and the skyfari aerial tram. That gorgeous pink!
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Mill Creek Entertainment kicked off the New Year with the Complete Series debut of "THE MINDY PROJECT" which is now available in its entirety as of January 14, 2020, on Blu-ray and DVD -- Yes, you get all 117 episodes, across the show's 6-season run! :-)
More about The Mindy Project:
"Dr. Mindy Lahiri (Mindy Kaling) is a talented obstetrician navigating the tricky waters of her chaotic personal life as she pursues her dreams of becoming the perfect woman, finding happiness and getting her perfect romantic comedy ending.
Watch the first 5 minutes of the pilot episode now :-)
I have been waiting for the complete series to arrive on Blu-ray and DVD, so that I could pick up and start watching it again from the very beginning. My husband started watching the series with me when it was picked up on Hulu, so he missed the first 3 seasons. I told him that once the complete series came out, we would get and binge watch all over again, right from the start, and he could see what he missed. Thanks to the folks at Mill Creek Entertainment, we now get to do just that. After the girls go to bed each night, we have been watching a few episodes. While we have not watched all 117 episodes yet, we are almost through the third season, and loving all the laugh out loud episodes. And once we are done watching all the episodes, we will be watching the deleted scenes and gag reel, which are an added bonus to the recent Blu-ray and DVD complete series releases.
While most people think of chocolates and flowers as proper gift ideas for Valentine's Day, why not think outside the box, and gift that special someone with the new The Mindy Project: The Complete Series on Blu-ray or DVD? This is one of those gifts that lasts long after the flowers die, and the chocolate is eaten, and can be enjoyed during an at home date night, or when you want to snuggle up with that special someone after a long day and get in a few laughs, before you drift off to bed. My husband and I love watching The Mindy Project, and it gives us something to look forward to each night, after a long day.
You can learn more about The Mindy Project: The Complete Series, which was released back on Jan. 14th from Mill Creek Entertainment by visiting: https://www.
About Mill Creek Entertainment:
Mill Creek Entertainment is the home entertainment industry's leading independent studio for Blu-ray, DVD, and digital distribution. With direct sales pipelines to all primary retail and online partners, Mill Creek Entertainment licenses, produces, markets and distributes a dynamic array of film and television content to over 30,000 retail stores and thousands of websites reaching millions of customers across North America. Mill Creek Entertainment's expansive library includes Oscar®-winning theatrical feature films, Emmy®-winning classic and current TV series, original documentary productions and pop-culture favorites that enlighten, educate and entertain. Mill Creek Entertainment also owns and operates movieSPREE, an on-demand transactional streaming service offering movie bundles, complete TV series and premium entertainment options with apps available on Roku, AppleTV, Amazon Fire TV, Android and iOS. Mill Creek Entertainment is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. For more information, please visit www.millcreekent.com or www.movieSPREE.com
Disclosure: I was sent a screener from the vendor in exchange for an honest review. All views shared are mine and mine alone.


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Ukraine is Not a separate country - It was not registered as such, it is a part of Russia, meaning Russia can enter at any time.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations has stated that Ukraine has not applied for border registration since 1991, so the state of Ukraine does not exist....
And we don't know about it!!!
04/07/2014 UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made a stunning statement, the distribution of which in Ukrainian media and the Internet is banned. The conflict between the two countries was discussed at the session of the UN Security Council. From this, the following conclusion was drawn:
Ukraine has not registered its borders since 12/25/1991. The UN has not registered the borders of Ukraine as a sovereign state.
Therefore, it can be assumed that Russia is not committing any rights violations in relation to Ukraine.
According to the CIS Treaty, the territory of Ukraine is an administrative district of the
USSR. Therefore, no one can be blamed for separatism and forcibly changing the borders of Ukraine.
Under international law, the country simply has no officially recognized borders.
In order to solve this problem, Ukraine needs to complete the demarcation of borders with neighbouring countries and obtain the agreement of neighbouring countries, including Russia, on their common border. It is required to document everything and sign treaties with all neighbouring states.
The European Union has pledged its support to Ukraine on this important issue and has decided to provide all technical assistance.
But will Russia sign a border treaty with Ukraine? No of course not.
Since Russia is the legal successor of the USSR (this is confirmed by the decisions of international courts on property disputes between the former USSR and foreign countries), the lands on which Ukraine, Belarus and Novorossiya are located belong to Russia, and nobody has the right to be without them Russia's consent to dispose of this area.
Basically, now all Russia has to do is declare that this area is Russian and that everything that happens in this area is an internal matter of Russia.
Any interference will be seen as a measure against Russia. On this basis, they can annul the elections of May 25, 2014 and do what the people want!
According to the Budapest Memorandum and other agreements, Ukraine has no borders. The state of Ukraine does not exist (and has never existed!).
Alexander Panin


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Amazon may have just confirmed that it would be laying off employees, but it seems to still have room for a Steve Aoki concert. On Wednesday evening, the superstar DJ performed a live concert for what appeared to be a group of Amazon warehouse employees, and the whole thing was streamed on the AmazonVestLife Twitch channel.
We learned this was happening at all thanks to the New York Times' Karen Weise, who tweeted about the performance shortly before it wrapped up. But it seems the concert wasn't exactly a secret, as the "amazonvestlife" Instagram (which, like the Twitch channel, describes itself as the "official account for Amazon associates") posted a story featuring Aoki to promote the show earlier on Wednesday. The DJ gave a shoutout to "Amazonians" and said the show would be streaming on Twitch.
If this "hold a concert right after laying people off" thing rings familiar to you, you're not alone; WeWork reportedly hosted an in-office concert featuring Darryl McDaniels of Run-DMC a few weeks after CEO Adam Neumann fired 7 percent of the staff.
Amazon didn't immediately reply to a request for comment.
The cuts announced Wednesday by Amazon SVP Dave Limp affected the company's devices and services organization, and spokesperson Kristy Schmidt characterized the layoffs to me earlier as a very small percentage of the team. But that division isn't the only one affected, as Vox reported that some employees in the company's HR division have received a buyout offer. The New York Times reported Monday that Amazon plans to lay off approximately 10,000 corporate and technology employees in total.


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Interfacing with C#
When you compile a Cell program, the compiler does not generate a binary executable. Instead, it generates a number of text files containing code in the chosen output language. We'll examine the C# code generator here. If you define a Main(..)
procedure in you Cell code, the generated code can then be handed over to a C# compiler to generate an executable file. That's how for instance the Cell compiler itself is built, and also the simplest way to build a program that tests your automata. But if you don't define a Main(..)
procedure, the compiler will just generate a set of classes, one for each type of automaton in your Cell code, that can be used to instantiate and manipulate the corresponding automata from your C# code. The compiler will produce four files, runtime.cs
, generated.cs
, automata.cs
and typedefs.cs
. The first one contains the runtime library and the second one the core generated code. The last two files are created only when you don't define a Main(..)
procedure in the Cell code, and they contain the definition of the classes you'll be working with in your own C# code. automata.cs
contains the definition of the classes that correspond to the automata defined in your Cell code. The interface of those classes is documented in pseudo-C# in another generated file, automata.txt
. The purpose of the last file, typedefs.cs
, will be discussed later.
It's often a good idea not to use the classes in automata.cs
directly, but to derive your own classes from them, and add new methods (and/or member or class variables, if needed) there. Another slightly more laborious alternative is to write a wrapper class for them. Among other things, if a method of the generated classes requires some sort of manual data conversion, you really don't want to repeatedly perform those conversions all over your codebase: it's much better to have all of them in just one place. The best thing to do is probably to define an overloaded version of the same method, or a similar one, in the derived class, and have it take care of all data conversions before and/or after invoking the generated one.
Data conversion
The biggest issue one encounters when interfacing two languages as different as Cell and C# is converting data back and forth between the two native representations. Fortunately, the compiler does most of the heavy lifting for you. For starters, there's a number of simple Cell data types that are mapped directly to a corresponding C# type. They are shown in the following table:
Cell | C# |
Int | long |
Float | double |
Bool | bool |
String | string |
Date | DateTime |
Time | DateTime |
Symbol | string |
(field1: T1, field2: T2, ...) | (T1 field1, T2 field2, ...) |
any_tag(T) | T |
Maybe[T] | T / null |
The first six entries in the above table are self-explanatory. The mapping for Cell sequences and sets is also straightforward, as both are mapped to C# arrays. For example, the Cell type Int*
is mapped to long[]
in C#, and [Date]
is mapped to DateTime[]
. Similarly, maps and binary relations are mapped to arrays of 2-tuples, and ternary relations to arrays of 3-tuples. Cell tuples are mapped to tuples in C#, and Cell records to named tuples. The last two entries require a bit of an explanation.
- Tagged types can be mapped directly to a C# type only if the tag is a known symbol. In this case, the tag is simply ignored and the mapping of the untagged value is used. A type like
, for example, will be mapped to along
in C#, and the generated code will take care of adding or removing theuser_id
tag as needed. - The
type is mapped directly to the type of its parameter, and the value:nothing
is mapped tonull
, for example, is mapped toString
, and the value:just("Hello!")
is returned as the C# string"Hello!"
. Primitive types likelong
are replaced with the corresponding nullable types:Maybe[Int]
for example, is mapped toint?
, andMaybe[Float]
Not all types can be handled using the above mapping and that includes important practical cases like polymorphic and recursive types. We'll see how to deal with those more complex types later.
Relational automata
Let's now take a look at the classes that are generated when a relational automaton is compiled. We'll make use of a very simple one we've seen before, Counter
This is the interface of the corresponding C# class generated by the Cell compiler:
As you can see, the generated C# class has the same name of the Cell automaton it derives from, and is declared in the Cell.Automata
namespace. The first three methods, Load()
, Save(..)
and Execute(..)
, and the two delegate fields, OnSuccess
and OnFailure
, are the same for all relational automata. All other methods are different for each automaton, and are used to send specific types of messages to it or to invoke its (read-only) methods.
The Save(..)
method is the equivalent of the Save(..)
procedure in Cell, in that it takes a snapshot of the state of the automaton, which is written to the provided System.IO.Stream
. The state is saved in the standard text format used for all Cell values.
is used to set the state of an automaton instance, which is read from a System.IO.Stream
, and is the equivalent of the Load(..)
procedure in Cell. It can be used at any time in the life of the automaton instance, any number of times. The new state has to be provided in the standard text format. If the provided state is not a valid one, Load(..)
will throw an exception. In that case, the automaton instance will just retain the state it had before, and will still be perfectly functional.
is used to send the automaton a message, which has to be passed in text form. A few examples:
Errors handling works in the same way as with Load(..)
. If an error occurs an exception will be thrown, but the automaton will remain fully operational, and its state will be left untouched.
The next four methods, Incr()
, Decr()
, Reset()
and Reset(long)
provides another way to send messages to the automaton:
They are a lot faster than Execute(..)
, and usually they're more convenient too. There are cases though when the ability to generically send a message of any type to an automaton is crucial, so that's why the compiler provides two ways of doing the same thing.
When updating an automaton instance keep in mind that Cell does not (yet) provide a way to incrementally persist its state: every time you call the Save(..)
method the entire state of the automaton is saved. That's an expensive operation so typically you'll be performing it only once in a while. That means that you would have unsaved data in memory most of the time, which is of course at risk of being lost in the event of a crash. One simple and efficient way to avoid that is to store the list of messages that were received since the last save. If the application crashes, all you need to do when you restart it is to load the last saved state and re-send all the messages it received after that. That will recreate the exact same state you lost in the crash.
The OnSuccess
delegate field is meant to help with that. If it's not null
(which is the initial value) the delegate it points to is called every time a message is processed successfully, and the message itself is passed to it in textual form. The other delegate, OnFailure
, on the other hand is invoked whenever a message handler fails. Saving those failed messages is not necessary for persistence, but it's typically useful for debugging.
The last four methods, Value()
, Updates()
, IsGreaterThan(..)
and CopyState(..)
, are just wrappers for the corresponding (read-only) methods of Counter
You can see how in the signatures of the methods of the generated class the types of both arguments and return values are derived using the rules described in the previous paragraph. For example, is_greater_than(..)
takes an argument of type Int
and returns a value of type Bool
, which become long
and bool
respectively in C#. Similarly, copy_state
returns a record in Cell, which is mapped to a named tuple with the same fields in C#, and the types of those fields are in turn mapped from Int
to long
More on data conversions
What happens when the type of an argument or the return value of a method (or message handler) is too complex to be dealt with using the mapping described earlier? Here the default behavior of the compiler is to use the standard textual representation of Cell values as the data exchange format. Let's illustrate this with an example:
In this example, shapes_at(..)
return a sequence of values of type Shape
, which is a polymorphic type. By default the generated Canvas
class will look like this:
As you can see, the return type of ShapesAt(..)
is string[]
. Each string in the array is the textual representation of the corresponding Cell value. That is, if shapes_at(..)
returns the following Cell value:
then the caller of ShapesAt(..)
on the C# side will get back the following C# object:
Exchanging data in text form is not particularly elegant nor efficient, but it's at least simple and straightforward, and in some cases it works just fine. It tends to work better when passing data from C# to Cell than in the other direction, since strings are easy to generate but difficult to parse.
As an alternative, you can ask the compiler to generate an equivalent C# class for some of the types defined in your Cell code base. What you need to do is create a text file (let's call it types.txt) containing the list of types you want to generate (one type per line). Let's say for instance that you want to generate C# classes for the Point
and Shape
types above. The content of types.txt would then look like this:
When you compile your code, you'll have to point the compiler to that file using the -g
cellc-cs -g types.txt <project file>
The interface of the generated Canvas
class will now look like this:
As you can see, the return type of ShapesAt(..)
has now become Shape[]
. You'll find the definition of Shape
in the generated typedefs.cs
The definition of the Point
class at the top is straightforward: the type Point
, which in the Cell codebase is defined as a tagged record with two fields, x
and y
, of type Int
, is mapped to a C# class by the same name with two member variables x
and y
of type long
The mapping for Shape
is a bit more complicated, since that's a polymorphic type. The compiler here has created three classes, Square
, Rectangle
and Circle
each of which corresponds to one of the three alternatives in the Shape
type definition. Shape
in C# is defined as an empty interface, which is then implemented by the three concrete classes, so that they can be manipulated polymorphically.
All the classes in typedefs.cs
are defined as partial
, which means that you're free to add new methods or member variables to them if need be. You can also directly edit the generated class definitions, as long as you don't change the signature of the generated constructor, and of course the name, namespace and inheritance hierarchy of the generated classes.
Note that at the moment these generated classes are used only when moving data from Cell to C#, but not in the other direction (that is, they're used in the return types of the generated methods, but not in the types of their arguments). For example, the argument of shapes_at(..)
is of type Point
in Cell, but its type in the generated ShapesAt(..)
is (long x, long y)
rather than Point
In order for the compiler to be able to generate a corresponding C# class for it, a Cell type definition has to obey a number of restrictions. Non-polymorphic types have to be defined as (possibly tagged) records with no optional fields or (possibly tagged) tuples. Any of the following definitions for Point
, for example, would allow the generation of a corresponding C# class:
but the following ones would not:
since the field z
is optional (in this case though you can achieve the same result by making z
mandatory and changing its type to Maybe[Int]
). The rules are even more restrictive for polymorphic types: each alternative in a type union must be a tagged record or tuple, and the tags have to be different. You're free to define each alternative as a separate type though. Shape
for example could have been defined as follow, without affecting the ability of the compiler to generated a corresponding C# class for it:
Reactive automata
We'll use Switch
as our first example. We defined it in a previous chapter as follows:
This is the interface of the corresponding C# class:
The first thing to note here is the two enumerations Input
and Output
, whose elements are the uppercase version of the names of the inputs and outputs of Switch
. These are used in conjunction with the methods SetInput()
and ReadOutput()
as shown here:
As an alternative to SetInput(..)
and ReadOutput(..)
, which can operate on any input or output and use the textual representation of a value as an exchange format, the generated class also provides another set of methods each of which can manipulate a single input or output, but that are more convenient to use in most cases. The above code snippet can be rewritten as follow:
takes a snapshot of the state of the automaton and returns it in textual form. SetState(..)
does the opposite: it sets the state of the automaton to whatever state is passed to it. Here too the new state has to be provided in textual form. When working with time-aware automata both methods are subjects to the limitations that we've already discussed in a previous chapter. The method ChangedOutputs()
provides a list of outputs that have changed (or have been active, in the case of discrete outputs) as a result of the last call to Apply()
The last thing we need to see is how to deal with time-aware automata. We'll use WaterSensor
, whose definition is copied here:
This is the interface of the generated C# class:
The only differences here, apart from the input setters and output getters which are obviously specific to each automaton type, are the two extra methods SetElapsedSecs(..)
and SetElapsedMillisecs(..)
and the fact that Apply()
now returns a boolean value. The former are the equivalent of the elapsed
instruction in Cell, and the value now returned by Apply()
has the same meaning as the one returned by the apply
instruction in a Cell procedure. Here's an example of how to update an instance of WaterSensor


text:
Abnormal behaviors are a collection of behaviors that are not considered to be normal for a mouse. There are several different types of abnormal behaviors which can be observed across a variety of situations and circumstances.
Abnormal behaviors are a type of active behavior. Depending on the abnormal behavior, it may be further classified as a grooming behavior or a maternal behavior, for example.
A behavior can be abnormal and affect a mouse and/or its cagemates on many different dimensions, including physiologically, socially, or psychologically. So, any behavior that can be destructive or seriously disturbing to a mouse's well-being and/or its cagemates' is considered to be an abnormal behavior.
Abnormalities can be observed due to two major factors: genetics and/or environment.
Malfunctional Behaviors: Abnormal behaviors due to genetics
Abnormalities that are observed with a genetic cause are most likely to be categorized as a malfunctional behavior. Mice that are abnormal genetically are likely to be abnormal behaviorally, as well. Such is predominantly the case with barbering where mice compulsively groom. There are many genetically abnormal mice that demonstrate higher levels of barbering behavior than normal wild-type mice.
Table of Contents
- Definition
- Overview
- Behaviors Associated with Abnormal Behaviors
- Types of Abnormal Behaviors
- Function of Abnormal Behaviors
- Application of the Behavior
- Research Techniques
- Behavioral Tests
- Pharmaceutical Studies on Abnormal Behaviors
- Mouse Strains Exhibiting Abnormal Behaviors
- Disease Models of Abnormal Behaviors
- Do Abnormalities Affect Behavioral Assessment?
- Summary
- References
Maladaptive Behaviors: Abnormal behaviors due to environment
Abnormalities that occur due to the environment are typically classified as maladaptive behaviors. On the other hand, an abnormal environment may elicit abnormal behaviors as well. This is obvious in some instances of infanticide. Infanticide is likely to be observed under extrenuating environmental conditions, such as extreme cold temperatures. Thus, an environmental stimulus triggers an abnormal behavior.
Behaviors Associated with Abnormal Behaviors
Abnormal behaviors are complex and are composed of other behaviors. Below is a brief overview of behaviors which make up abnormal behaviors:
- Biting: In the case of abnormal or aggressive forms of grooming behaviors, a mouse may bite itself or another mouse and subsequently remove fur and/or whiskers. Excessive biting can be observed in the instance of barbering.
- Scratching: A mouse will perform scratching motions using its forelimbs or hindlimbs in order to alleviate the feeling of itchiness. Ulcerative dermatitis is the abnormal behavior associated with excessive scratching levels.
- Jumping: A mouse will use its limbs to push off the ground and suspend itself momentarily in the air. High levels of repetitive jumping is a commonly observed stereotypy in mice.
- Bar-mouthing: Bar-mouthing, also known as 'bar-biting' or 'bar-gnawing', is an abnormality that can occur as a form of stereotypy. A mouse will bite the bars of its home cage repetitively. Obviously, this is a stereotypy that can only be seen in captivity.
- Circling: Circling refers to a mouse's motion. The mouse is moving repetitively and following a circular path. Circling is typically classified as a stereotypy.
- Route-tracing: Route-tracing is a less common form of stereotypy, but it still happens. When route-tracing, a mouse is essentially following or running over the same cage pattern three times or more.
- Chewing: Chewing is the repeated biting motion done in the context of feeding behaviors. As a stereotypy, chewing is performed in excess and under inappropriate circumstances.
- Climbing: Climbing is also displayed as a stereotypy. A mouse climbs by using props in its environment to move vertically in space in an upwards direction.
Types of Abnormal Behaviors
The following behaviors are considered to be different kinds of abnormal behaviors which a mouse is susceptible to exhibit.
- Barbering: Barbering is a grooming behavior wherein a mouse plucks or excessively grooms itself or another mouse. Depending on the context, barbering may be either an abnormal behavior or agonistic behavior. A mouse may barber itself or, in the case of cage-mate plucking or 'social barbering,' it may barber other mice.
- Self-grooming: When self-grooming is performed in excess, it is considered to be an abnormality because, as a result, the mouse may suffer from self-inflicted wounds and lesions.
- Infanticide: Whenever a pup is killed by its parent or an unrelated mouse, it is considered to be a case of infanticide or infanticidal behavior.
- Impulsive/Compulsive Behaviors: Compulsive behaviors are goal-directed (unlike stereotypies) and involve more flexible/variable goal-directed behavior. These types of behaviors are classified under the term of Abnormal Repetitive Behaviors (ARBs), a category of abnormal behavior that is characterized by repetition.
- Stereotypy: Rodent stereotypy is an abnormal behavior that broadly refers to any type of abnormal behavior that is repetitive in nature. Stereotypic behaviors are sometimes used in obsessive compulsive disorder models. In the research field, mouse stereotypies are considered to be good models for human stereotypies, especially for models of autism and schizophrenia. Stereotypy is another type of ARBs, but is performed without a goal or function.
- Ulcerative dermatitis: Ulcerative dermatitis is a type of skin disorder that is associated with bacterial flora. The disorder occurs due to excessive (thus, abnormal) levels of scratching which causes a lesion. Eventually, ulcerative dermatitis manifests. It is a serious condition that occurs frequently in animal research using mice.
- Depressive-like behaviors: Depressive-like behaviors are a collective bunch of behaviors which as a group are believed to be representative of depression as seen in humans. Depressive-like behaviors are characterized by immobility, interaction deficits, and exploration deficits.
- Anxiety-like behaviors: Anxiety-like behaviors are a group of behaviors which collectively represent the phenotype of anxiety as it is observed in humans. Anxiety-like behaviors are assessed in mice using a battery of specialized mazes and apparatuses.
Function of Abnormal Behaviors
Since abnormal behaviors are considered to be outside the range of normal or acceptable behaviors for a mouse, their function is poorly understood. Some behaviors may not even have a functional role while others may, somehow, end up serving a beneficial, evolutionary purpose in certain situations, as is the case for infanticide.
- To increase their own pups' chance for survival: Recent research is making the argument that non-parental infanticide may be an adaptive behavior. Male (or female) mice which perform infanticide on other mice's pups invariably increase their own chances for reproductive success. By killing others' pups, there will be more resources available for their own pups, thus increasing the chance of survival.
- To reduce overcrowding: Infanticide is also exhibited during stressful or overcrowded conditions. By killing their own pups, mothers are ensuring their own survival during tough times when resources are limited, in order to get a chance to reproduce at a later point in time.
Application of Abnormal Behaviors
Depending on the type of abnormal behavior, it may be observed under a variety of situations.
- A mouse has genetic mutations or physiological issues: Many abnormal behaviors have some genetic ties. Although, environment also plays a role in the development of abnormal behaviors, genetic correlations and mutations have been linked to a multitude of abnormalities in mice.
- Under environmental stress: Environment is another major factor influencing the development of abnormal behaviors in mice. Stressful living conditions are liking to illicit abnormal behaviors such as infanticide.
- Under laboratory conditions: Being under superficial laboratory conditions is another factor that is likely to influence the development of abnormal behaviors. Certain abnormalities like ulcerative dermatitis are seen in high numbers in mice living in captivity.
- In group housing: Higher rates of abnormal behaviors are seen in group housed mice when compared to mice living in individually housed cages.
Research Techniques
Since abnormal behaviors vary far and wide in their characteristics, there are many research techniques that can be used to study abnormal behaviors. In order to study abnormal behaviors, research techniques must be employed based on the experimental question or variable of interest. These techniques and methods are used for studying abnormal behaviors:
- Behavioral studies: Behavioral studies are very useful for studying abnormal behaviors because they enable the researcher to profile, describe, and quantitatively assess abnormal behaviors across mouse strains and interventions.
- Pharmaceutical studies: Pharmaceutical studies are used when studying the effect of certain drugs or supplements on abnormal behaviors. This is done in order to determine how a drug will affect the manifestation of an abnormal behavior's phenotype. Since abnormal behaviors in mice typically model diseases seen in humans, pharmaceutical studies play a key role.
- Genetic studies: Genetic studies are useful for identifying potential genes involved in the etiology of abnormal behaviors. Through genetic studies, a better understanding can be gained of the reasons that an abnormal behavior manifests.
- Video recording: Video recording is used across most, if not all, behavioral studies, especially those studying abnormal behaviors. The reason for this is that videotapes can capture and record behavior, allowing the researcher to observe and count all instances of the behavior, ultimately reducing the frame of error. This is especially useful since some abnormal behaviors, such as stereotypy, can occur in rapid succession, making it difficult to quantify all expressed behaviors in real-time.
Behavioral Tests for Abnormal Behaviors
A variety of behavioral tests can be used in order to study the different types of abnormal behaviors.
- The Open Field Test: In the Open Field Test, mice are placed in a cage that is closed at the sides (in order to prevent escape) but open from above. This test is used in order to investigate anxiety and exploratory behaviors. Some research studies utilizing the Open Field Test may take note of instances of self-grooming behaviors if they occur during the observational period.
- Social Interaction Test: The Social Interaction Test is useful for observing grooming behaviors which happen in a social context. In this test, two mice are placed together in the same cage and their behavior is observed. Allogrooming and cagemate barbering, since they are types of grooming behaviors which occur in a social context, are likely to be observed within a social interaction between two mice.
- Three-Chamber Test: The three-chamber test, sometimes referred to as the Sociability Chamber, is used to evaluate cognition expressed through general sociability using both familiar and novelty mice. A mouse will spend more time exploring a novelty mouse in the chamber than it will spend exploring a familiar one. This test helps in identifying deficits related to sociability in mice. Even though the three-chamber test is reserved for studying social interaction, grooming behaviors will naturally be expressed during the observation period and a researcher may choose to quantify them as a part of their analysis.
- The Tube Dominance Test: Social or cagement barbering can be observed in an agonistic setting, such as the ones created in the Tube Dominance Test. In this test, two mice are placed in a tube from either end and can only move forwards.
- The Resident-Intruder Test: In this test, when an unknown mouse is placed in the cage in which a single mouse resides, an agonistic encounter is extremely likely to occur. In this case, barbering may be performed by the more dominant mouse.
- Parental Behavior test: In the parental behavior test, mice are tested for their parental behavior instincts. One day before the test, a mouse is provided with extra material (such as cotton), in order to make a nest. Then, the next day, a newborn pup is placed in the corner of the cage that is far away from the nest. The experimental mouse is measured by its reaction, whether it retrieves the pups, ignores it, or attacks (and kills) it. Typically, foster pups are used for this test. However, it is also possible to use pups which are genetically related to the test subject.
- Infrared Beams: The use of behavioral monitoring systems, such as the SmartCage System, is becoming more and more popular in behavioral neuroscience. These systems can detect and quantify motion via infrared beams automatically (thus, eliminating the possibility of investigator bias that's present when measuring recorded videos). When the infrared beams are interrupted (due to motion) the system detects those changes and quantifies the stereotypical motion. Thus, many variables can be automatically measured, including sleep/inactive states, wake/active states, various locomotion parameters (like travel time and travel distance), rearing counts, movement patterns (such as rotation or cycling), and regional distribution. Thus, a lot of data is automatically acquired in preparation for the behavioral analysis. Such automated systems are useful for studying phenotypes of abnormal mice, stereotypy, toxic compounds and their effect on abnormal behavior, as well as pharmaceutical and supplemental treatments for abnormal behavior. However, there are some general limitations to using automated systems, such as if the mouse's behavior is breaking/interrupting the same beams, the behavior may be registered as a stereotypy when it is not (like grooming or nibbling).
- Rating systems: Rating systems classify the extent of certain behaviors into predefined categories. This enables researchers to measure and quantify behaviors and compare them across groups and/or treatment conditions. For more on this topic, check out the following: Rating Systems in Stereotypy and Rating Systems in Ulcerative Dermatitis.
Pharmaceutical Studies on Abnormal Behaviors
Since abnormal behaviors are in general considered to be unwanted granted that they are not in line with a mouse's normal behavioral profile, there are plenty of pharmaceutical studies done that try to minimize or eliminate these behaviors in mice. Many of the abnormal behaviors which exist in mice serve as a model of human diseases which gives further incentive for trying to reduce their abnormality through pharmaceutical since this may eventually lead to a breakthrough that would also substantially help humans too. This section is an overview of findings from pharmaceutical studies.
Barbering and Pharmaceutical Studies on Abnormal Behaviors
- Clomipramine reduces barbering in trichotillomania mice: Clomipramine is a tricyclic antidepressant that is able to inhibit serotonin reuptake system. Mice which have a genetic mutation that knockouts the nitric oxide synthase (NOS2) gene are used as an animal model of trichotillomania due to their high levels of barbering behavior. However, when given clomipramine, these mice will barber significantly less after 10-20 days of treatment when compared with untreated NOS2 mice. More information will be given about NOS2 mice in the upcoming Mouse Strains section.
- Estradiol injections reduce barbering in trichotillomania mice: Trichotillomania, defined as repetitive hair-plucking, is related to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and is a common disorder in women. Not much is known regarding the disorder's mechanisms and biological causes. In mice, barbering is a hair-plucking behavior that has been validated as a model for trichotillomania. Correlations have been found between the onset of trichotillomania and changes in reproductive physiology, leading to the hypothesis that reproductive hormones may play a role in the disease. Estrogen doses are able to influence the brain's catecholamines and endogenous opiates that are known to regulate and interact with corticostriatal loops, which are implicated in motor and planning behavior. 17β-estradiol benzoate injections reduce barbering in females when compared to females on a vehicle solution. The effect of estrogen injections implies that sex hormones are critical for determining the onset of trichotillomania.
Oxytocin Reduces Infanticide
It is estimated that roughly 60 to 90% of female house mice will kill unrelated pups. Subcutaneous and intracerebroventricular injections of oxytocin are able to significantly lower infanticidal behavior, possibly by acting directly on the central nervous system.
Stereotypies and Pharmaceutical Studies
- Clorgyline MAO-A inhibitor reduces stereotypy: Pretreating a mouse up to 2 hours with this substance at 0.1mg/kg intraperitoneally prior to methamphetamine administration reduces stereotypy and leads to more locomotor activity across the horizontal plane. As a result of this MAO-A inhibitor, mice will have a delayed onset of stereotypical behavior (increased latency) and will display stereotypies of lower intensity than untreated mice injected with methamphetamine. This effect is observable only at this low dose of clorgyline.
- GBR 12909 increases route-tracing stereotypy: GBR 12909, also known as vanoxerine, is a selective dopamine reuptake inhibitor that can bind to a dopamine transporter's target site. When GBR 12909 is given to a mouse at 3 mg/kg, non-significant effects are seen. However, at dosage levels of 10 and 30 mg/kg, mice will have about double the locomotion activity (measured by distance) within their home cages when compared to mice that are given a vehicle solution or 3mg/kg of GBR 12909.
Ulcerative Dermatitis and Pharmaceutical Studies
- Lithium supplementation increases ulcerative dermatitis incidence: Ulcerative dermatitis has an unknown etiology. But, it may be somehow caused or influenced by the insulin signaling pathway. Lithium acts as an insulin mimetic. A lithium enriched-diet in healthy wild-type mice has been shown to increase their susceptibility to developing ulcerative dermatitis. This indicates that insulin, which lithium mimics, is somehow implicated in the manifestation of ulcerative dermatitis in mice.
- Maropitant citrate decreases ulcerative dermatitis severity: Maropitant citrate is a tachykinin neurokinin 1 (NK1) receptor antagonist and prevents binding to occur on the NK1 receptor. Substance P (SP) is a neuropeptide that has been linked to the itch-scratch behavior. Administration of maropitant citrate prevents SP from binding to NK1 receptors. Mice that are given 1 mg/kg maropitant citrate will have at least 10% improvement in their lesion size when compared with controls given only water or with mice given 5 mg/kg of the same substance. A significant difference in lesion size is observable after 15 days of treatment. Although the exact mechanism of ulcerative dermatitis remains unknown, it is possible that inhibiting SP binding led to a decrease in the itch sensation which, in turn, reduces scratching behaviors and, ultimately, the skin trauma associated with ulcerative dermatitis.
Mouse Strains Exhibiting Abnormal Behaviors
The different abnormal behaviors will be exhibited by different mouse strains in different ways.
Barbering in Mouse Strains
- NMRI mice: NMRI mice have been used in behavioral research for almost a century now for general studies as well as for pharmacology or toxicology. NMRI are commonly used as a control or comparator breed but as they increase in age they may develop tumors spontaneously or even renal disease. Social barbering will be exhibited by NMRI mice even if they are housed together since weaning. Social barbering is common in NMRI mice for both males and females. However, in same-sex cages, barbering is also associated with fighting in males, but not in females. If NMRI mice are socially housed together for the first time, barbering will still be observed within 2-5 days of grouping. Barbering within this strain is characterized by head and snout denuding, as well as whisker removal.
- C57BL/6 mice: C57BL/6 mice will begin to demonstrate social barbering at about 14 weeks of age. At 20 weeks of age, this strain will begin to demonstrate whisker-plucking specifically if housed in pens containing 8 mice or more. In general, C57BL/6 mice are regarded as a strain which demonstrates high levels of barbering and are usually used as a comparator strain in behavioral studies.
- 129S1 mice: 129S1/SvImJ mice, simply referred to as 129S1 mice, are commonly used as a background strain in behavioral research (as C57Bl/6 mice are) and are known for their anxiety-like behavioral tendencies and learning variabilities. Furthermore, 129S1 mice are also popular in behavioral research as they can be easily used to produce targeted mutations since they have multiple embryonic stem cell lines available. When it comes to barbering, 129S1 female mice are more likely to exhibit social barbering behaviors amongst each other than males under housing conditions, which include group housing since weaning.
- S-COMT deficient mice: Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is responsible for catalyzing or breaking down the O-methylation of important catecholic compounds that are found in the brain, such as L-dopa, catecholamines, and also their hydroxylated metabolites. COMT is an enzyme that has two forms, either as soluble (S-COMT) or membrane-bound (MB-COMT) isoforms, but both are known to be products which come from the same gene. In rodents and humans alike, S-COMT is more available, but in the human brain, there is about a 2.5-fold higher amount of MB-COMT than S-COMT. It has been found that mice which lack both forms of COMT have a two-fold increase in the time it takes to eliminate dopamine from the prefrontal cortex. In S-COMT deficient mice, it has been established that subtle social interaction changes occur including increased barbering behavior and decreased sniffing time of another mouse.
Infanticide in Mice
- C57BL/6J Mice Exhibit High Levels of Infanticide: C57BL/6J mice are known to be highly prone to killing unknown young pups. The degree with which C57BL/6J male mice perform infanticide varies with age, beginning to be significantly more aggressive than other strains when they are as young as 35 days old. The tendency for infanticide significantly lowers when C57BL/6J males are castrated. Similar findings exist for female C57BL/6J mice, averaging a 60% chance of exhibiting infanticide.
- DBA/2J Mice Exhibit Low Levels of Infanticide: Infanticide is much lower in the DBA/2J male mice than the C57BL/6J male mouse strain. In fact, adult DBA/2J mice, when they are in their prime, kill as many pups as C57BL/6J when they are only 2 months of age. More comparisons need to occur across mouse strains and genders, such as between female DBA/2J and C57BL/6J mice, in order to establish behavioral parameters.
Stereotypies in Mice
- ICR mice: ICR (CD-1) mice are known to spend prolonged periods of time exhibiting stereotypies with bar-related behaviors such as bar-mouthing. The high tendency for bar-related stereotypies increases with age, peaking in adulthood by taking about 40% of the mouse's activities. Furthermore, some studies have observed that female mice spend twice as much time as male mice do, climbing on the housing cage lid.
- C57BL/6 mice: C57BL/6 mice are typically used as comparator mice in stereotypic research. So, this mouse strain does not display a significantly high percentage of excessively repetitive behaviors. Instead, these mice display a normal, rich variety of general activity behaviors like grooming or general locomotion.
- Down syndrome Ts65Dn mice: Ts65Dn mice are genetic models of Down Syndrome. This mouse strain is known to display stereotypic behaviors. In a litter of about 20 mice, 25% are expected to display repetitive jumping which takes about 22% of their time. About 20% of mice are expected to demonstrate repetitive twirling which takes up about 21% of their time. General stereotypy is expected in about 45% of Ts65Dn mice, compared to about 10% of diploid controls.
Ulcerative Dermatitis in Mice
- IRs1 deficient mice: Mice which are deficient for the insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRs1) gene have been found to be completely resistant to the development of ulcerative dermatitis. IRs1 is a key component of the insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF) signaling pathway. Thus, if mice which lack this receptor do not develop ulcerative dermatitis, it indicates that IRs1 may somehow be implicated in the etiology of this inflammatory skin disorder.
- iNOS deficient mice: Mice which lack the gene of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) will develop significantly more ulcerative dermatitis when compared to other strains. iNOS-deficient mice have about 50% incidence of ulcerative dermatitis, much higher than the 5% incidence in C57BL/6 strain. Ulcerative dermatitis appears in iNOS-deficient mice around 16 to 20 months of age. iNOS is involved in skin repair. It's absence and the subsequent high prevalence in ulcerative dermatitis in mice suggests that it may be involved in the etiology of the disease.
Disease Models of Abnormal Behaviors
Barbering Disease Models
NOS2 knockout mice serve as a trichotillomania mouse model. NOS2 knockout mice model trichotillomania and demonstrate high levels of barbering. Trichotillomania is an impulse control disorder which is commonly studied in behavioral research since it is estimated to affect 1-3.5% of the human population. Trichotillomania is characterized by the urge for hair trimming or pulling and can be modeled in mice either through genetic induction or spontaneously. If you'd like to learn more about the trichotillomania mouse models, check out our barbering article.
Infanticide Disease Models
Gabrd−/− Mice Model Postpartum Psychosis. The Gabrd−/− mouse strain is commonly used for modeling postpartum psychosis. In this model, high rates of infanticide are said to be indicative of the disease's phenotype. Current research is geared towards determining whether this mouse strain may also be used to study postpartum depression.
Stereotypy in Disease Models
Stereotypy can happen spontaneously, if the right genetic model is used, or it can be induced through well-established methods. In this section, we cover the different ways that stereotypy is modeled in behavioral neuroscience research.
Environmentally-Induced Models
Stereotypy can be environmentally-induced. Any stereotypy that manifests as a response to a changed environment is classified as an environmentally-induced stereotypy. Thus, it is possible to manipulate the environment in a controlled fashion in order for mice to develop stereotypy.
Environmentally-induced stereotypies can be achieved through the following experimental approaches:
- Housing in restrictive cages: Mice that are housed in restrictive and barren cages are very likely to display stereotypic behaviors.
- Food restriction: Certain mouse strains develop specific stereotypies as a result of food restriction, such as the DBA mouse strain described previously.
Drug-induced Stereotypy Models
In addition to inducing stereotypy through environmental means, it is possible to induce repetitive behaviors also through drug administration. The most commonly used drugs for inducing stereotypy are:
- Cocaine: Cocaine is used to induce stereotypy in mice. The dosage varies from experiment to experiment, but a dose of 40 mg/kg can significantly increase stereotypy counts in wild-type mice.
- Methamphetamine: At certain doses, methamphetamine produces stereotypic behaviors such as excessive chewing. Typically, researchers use 10 mg/kg injections of methamphetamine in order to induce stereotypies
For more stereotypy disease models, visit the ethogram page dedicated to Stereotypy.
Ulcerative Dermatitis in Disease Models
High-fat Induced Obesity and Ulcerative Dermatitis
Obesity is induced in mice through a high-fat diet. This also translates to human cases of obesity, since a large proportion is caused due to following a high-fat diet chronically. Some mice that are induced with obesity through a high-fat diet will demonstrate ulcerative dermatitis. Since ulcerative dermatitis can also be caused through a high-fat diet, as mentioned previously, some mice that are used to model obesity are likely to develop this skin inflammation disorder.
Skin Picking Disorder and Ulcerative Dermatitis
Ulcerative dermatitis, as a spontaneously developing skin inflammation condition, is used as a model of skin picking disorder. In humans, skin picking disorder affects about 4% of the general population. Ulcerative dermatitis shares some overlap with skin picking disorder in the following domains: epidemiology, behaviors, and similarity to hair pulling with regards to mechanisms and comorbidity. The relationship between skin picking disorder and ulcerative dermatitis was recently suggested, thus it is a model that is still under scientific scrutiny and in the process of developing.
Do Abnormalities Affect Behavioral Assessment?
Abnormalities, by definition, constitute a range of behaviors that are beyond a mouse's normal set of behaviors. Thus, abnormal behaviors are bound to have an effect on behavioral assessment.
In fact, most, if not all, abnormal behaviors are bound to have a significant effect on behavioral assessment. For example, mice that display anxiety- or depressive-like behaviors have a significantly different behavioral profile than normal, healthy mice.
The same occurs in mice that have other malfunctional or maladaptive behaviors, such as infanticide.
When abnormal behaviors are observed during an experiment, they must be handled appropriately. Usually, when studying abnormal behavior is not the experimental goal, these mice are removed from the experiment with abnormal behaviors being cited as the reason why.
- Abnormal behaviors are a collection of behaviors which are not considered to be normal for a mouse.
- A behavior can be abnormal and affect a mouse and/or its cagemates on many different dimensions, including physiologically, socially, or psychologically.
- Abnormal behaviors are classified into malfunction behaviors (abnormal behaviors caused by genetics) and maladaptive behaviors (abnormal behaviors caused by environmental factors).
- The following behaviors are associated with abnormal behaviors: biting, scratching, jumping, bar-mouthing, circling, route-tracing, chewing, and climbing.
- The following behaviors are the major types of abnormal behaviors: barbering, self-grooming, infanticide, impulsive/compulsive behaviors, stereotypy, ulcerative dermatitis, depressive-like behaviors, and anxiety-like behaviors.
- Since abnormal behaviors are considered to be outside the range of normal or acceptable behaviors for a mouse, their function is poorly understood.
- Depending on the type of abnormal behavior, it may be observed under a variety of situations, including when a mouse: has genetic mutations or physiological issues, is under environmental stress, subjected to laboratory conditions, and is living in group housing.
- Commonly used research techniques for studying abnormal behaviors include: behavioral studies, pharmaceutical studies, genetic studies, and video recording.
- The following behavioral tests are used frequently for the purposes of studying abnormal behaviors: the Open Field Test, the Social Interaction Test, the Three-Chamber Test, the Tube Dominance Test, the Resident-Intruder Test, the Parental Behavior test, infrared beams, and rating systems.
- Pharmaceutical studies have been able to significantly alter abnormal behaviors. The following are some highlights of what pharmaceutical studies have accomplished for the various types of abnormal behaviors:
- for barbering:
- clomipramine reduces barbering in trichotillomania mice
- estradiol injections reduce barbering in trichotillomania mice
- for infanticide:
- oxytocin reduces infanticide
- for stereotypies:
- clorgyline MAO-A inhibitor reduces stereotypy
- GBR 12909 increases route-tracing stereotypy
- for ulcerative dermatitis:
- lithium supplementation increases ulcerative dermatitis incidence
- maropitant citrate decreases ulcerative dermatitis severity
- Abnormal behaviors vary according to mouse strain. Below are some examples of how abnormal behaviors are found from mouse strain to mouse strain:
- for barbering:
- Social barbering will be exhibited by NMRI mice even if they are housed together since weaning
- C57BL/6 mice will begin to demonstrate social barbering at about 14 weeks of age
- 129S1 female mice are more likely to exhibit social barbering behaviors amongst each other than males
- for infanticide:
- C57BL/6J mice exhibit high levels of infanticide
- DBA/2J mice exhibit low levels of infanticide
- for stereotypies:
- ICR (CD-1) mice are known to spend prolonged periods of time exhibiting stereotypies with bar-related behaviors such as bar-mouthing
- C57BL/6 mice are typically used as comparator mice in stereotypic research
- Ts65Dn mice are known to display stereotypic behaviors like repetitive jumping or twirling.
- for ulcerative dermatitis:
- IRs1 deficient mice are completely resistant to the development of ulcerative dermatitis.
- iNOS deficient mice have very high levels of ulcerative dermatitis.
- Abnormal behaviors are modeled in animal research using disease models.
- To model barbering behaviors, NOS2 knockout mice serve as a trichotillomania mouse model.
- Gabrd-/- mice model postpartum psychosis and they display infanticide.
- Stereotypy can be indicted environmentally through food restriction or housing in restrictive cages.
- Stereotypy can also be induced through drug administration such as cocaine or methamphetamine.
- Ulcerative dermatitis disease models can be modeled through skin picking disorder and high-fat induced obesity.
- Abnormalities are known to affect behavioral assessment.
- for barbering:
- for barbering:
- http://mousebehavior.org/abnormal-behaviors/
- Aizawa, Fuka, et al. "The deletion of GPR40/FFAR1 signaling damages maternal care and emotional function in female mice." Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin 40.8 (2017): 1255-1259.
- Atkins, Alison L., et al. "Stereotypic behaviors in mice selectively bred for high and low methamphetamine-induced stereotypic chewing." Psychopharmacology 157.1 (2001): 96-104.
- Bonasera, Stephen J., et al. "A novel method for automatic quantification of psychostimulant-evoked route-tracing stereotypy: application to Mus musculus." Psychopharmacology 196.4 (2008): 591-602.
- Cabib, Simona, and Nunzio Bonaventura. "Parallel strain-dependent susceptibility to environmentally-induced stereotypies and stress-induced behavioral sensitization in mice." Physiology & behavior 61.4 (1997): 499-506.
- Casarotto, Plinio C., et al. "Inducible nitric oxide synthase (NOS2) knockout mice as a model of trichotillomania." PeerJ 6 (2018): e4635.
- Coleman, Ruth A., et al. "A practical method of chronic ethanol administration in mice." Alcohol. Humana Press, 2008. 49-59.
- Garner, Joseph P., et al. "Barbering (fur and whisker trimming) by laboratory mice as a model of human trichotillomania and obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders." Comparative medicine 54.2 (2004): 216-224.
- George, Nneka M., et al. "Antioxidant therapies for ulcerative dermatitis: a potential model for skin picking disorder." PloS one 10.7 (2015): e0132092.
- Gross, Alexandra N., et al. "Cage-induced stereotypies, perseveration and the effects of environmental enrichment in laboratory mice." Behavioural brain research 234.1 (2012): 61-68.
- Heiming, Rebecca S., et al. "Living in a dangerous world decreases maternal care: a study in serotonin transporter knockout mice." Hormones and behavior 60.4 (2011): 397-407.
- Horii, Yasuyuki, et al. "Hierarchy in the home cage affects behaviour and gene expression in group-housed C57BL/6 male mice." Scientific reports 7.1 (2017): 6991.
- Husk, Sarah Elizabeth Hess. "The role of estrogen in the onset and performance of plucking behavior in a mouse model of trichotillomania." (2010).
- Kalueff, A. V., et al. "Hair barbering in mice: implications for neurobehavioural research." Behavioural processes 71.1 (2006): 8-15.
- Kastenmayer, Robin J., Michele A. Fain, and Kathy A. Perdue. "A retrospective study of idiopathic ulcerative dermatitis in mice with a C57BL/6 background." Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science 45.6 (2006): 8-12.
- Koh, HY., et al. "Deficits in social behavior and sensorimotor gating in mice lacking phospholipase Cβ1." Genes, Brain and Behavior 7.1 (2008): 120-128.
- Liu, Lumei, et al. "The effects of Dietary Fat and iron interaction on Brain regional iron contents and stereotypical Behaviors in Male c57Bl/6J Mice." Frontiers in nutrition 3 (2016): 20
- McCarthy, Margaret M. "Oxytocin inhibits infanticide in female house mice (Mus domesticus)." Hormones and Behavior 24.3 (1990): 365-375.
- Neuhaus, Brit, et al. "Experimental analysis of risk factors for ulcerative dermatitis in mice." Experimental dermatology 21.9 (2012): 712-713.
- Nevison, C. M., J. L. Hurst, and C. J. Barnard. "Why do male ICR (CD-1) mice perform bar-related (stereotypic) behaviour?." Behavioural Processes 47.2 (1999): 95-111.
- Nicholson, Anthony, et al. "The response of C57BL/6J and BALB/cJ mice to increased housing density." Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science 48.6 (2009): 740-753.
- Sarna, Justyna R., Richard H. Dyck, and Ian Q. Whishaw. "The Dalila effect: C57BL6 mice barber whiskers by plucking." Behavioural brain research 108.1 (2000): 39-45.
- Schmidt, Julia, et al. "Reproductive asynchrony and infanticide in house mice breeding communally." Animal behaviour 101 (2015): 201-211.
- Strozik, E., and M. F. W. Festing. "Whisker trimming in mice." Laboratory animals 15.4 (1981): 309-312.
- Svare, Bruce, et al. "Infanticide: accounting for genetic variation in mice." Physiology & behavior 33.1 (1984): 137-152.
- Svare, Bruce, and Martha Mann. "Infanticide: genetic, developmental and hormonal influences in mice." Physiology & Behavior 27.5 (1981): 921-927.
- Tatsuta, Tomohiro, et al. "Effects of monoamine oxidase inhibitors on methamphetamine-induced stereotypy in mice and rats." Neurochemical research 30.11 (2005): 1377-1385.
- Tur, M. A., and I. V. Belozertseva. "Effect of Spontaneous Partial Sensory Deprivation on the Behavior of Male C57BL/6N Mice." Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology(2018): 1-7.
- Turner, Cortney A., et al. "Spontaneous stereotypy in an animal model of Down syndrome: Ts65Dn mice." Behavior genetics 31.4 (2001): 393-400.
- Vom Saal, Frederick S., and Lynn S. Howard. "The regulation of infanticide and parental behavior: implications for reproductive success in male mice." Science 215.4537 (1982): 1270-1272.
- Weber, Elin M., et al. "Pup mortality in laboratory mice-infanticide or not?." Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 55.1 (2013): 83.
- Williams-Fritze, Misty J., et al. "Maropitant citrate for treatment of ulcerative dermatitis in mice with a C57BL/6 background." Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science 50.2 (2011): 221-226.
- Zafar, Tabassum, and Vinoy K. Shrivastava. "Effect of cold stress on infanticide by female Swiss albino mice Mus musculus: a pilot study." Journal of animal science and technology 60.1 (2018): 7.


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…Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord; and I will heal him.
Isaiah 57:19
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
Colossians 3:15
I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints:…
Psalm 85:8
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:7
And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.
Isaiah 32:17
…Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.
Luke 7:50
Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.
Psalm 37:37
Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means….
2 Thessalonians 3:16
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
John 14:27


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Energy, environment and sustainability
Measuring and modelling the state of the environment and its sustainability
The distinctive focus of our research cluster is two-fold:
- on environmental knowledge – including 'knowledges' embodied in practices and institutions
- on energy transitions
Systems of energy supply and use are transforming in the face of urgent concerns over climate change. The changes involved are deeply socio-technical, and are often contested and disruptive, but policy decisions (and societal consent of these decisions) are nevertheless needed.
Our research directs attention to fundamental questions about how we know, measure, or model the state of the environment and its sustainability, as well as the role that energy systems play within it.
In turn, these questions have strong implications for the analysis of environmental and energy policy options.
Our research focus also opens up characteristic questions about the scope for citizen engagement in knowledge-making or in the assessment of knowledge claims.
Our work draws on Science, Technology and Innovation Studies' roots in: Science Studies, Technology and Innovation Studies, the Sociology of the Environment, and Climate Change and Participation Studies more generally.
Our research
Our research work includes:
- understanding expert differences on energy transitions
- citizen engagement with science and technology in environmental topics, including citizen science
- the sociology of climate knowledge
- participatory engagement, citizenship and democracy
- doing interdisciplinary research for energy transitions
- systematic evidence reviews for policy effectiveness
- energy regulation: who pays for transitions?
- the history and politics of electricity markets
- just transition: repurposing Europe's oil and gas clusters
- energy justice and its whole-systems applications
- intersections between gender and environmental sustainability
Our partners and funders
The group works with a range of partners and funders, including:
- National Centre for Energy Systems Integration (CESI)
- Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
- UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC)
- ClimateXChange
- Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
- Scottish Government
- The Research Council of Norway
- Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS)


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What makes a girl look beautiful? The answer could be the natural glow of her skin and what better way to achieve that than with glowy makeup. Less is more when it comes to this old yet very popular style as it actually highlights a girl of natural beauty quite effectively. If you are really keen on harnessing the power of glowing natural makeup, then look out for these tips and it all begins at home. It may not be easy starting from scratch but if you are really determined you will get there.
You can get your glowy look with less makeup by using a concealer that contains translucent powder, some shimmery powder, and then use a little bit of a blush brush to blend the powder into the skin. To get a luminous finish, make sure the concealer you use is matte. Next you need to decide what type of foundation you want to wear along with your shimmery powder and blushes. For a really nice natural glow apply the darkest color first followed by a medium color which will provide a good base for your other makeup products.
Once you have your base color you can then apply the concealer and highlight colors in succession. To give your glowing natural glow makeup look, apply a second coat of concealer that will help you cover up any mistakes made in the application of the first coat. Next dab some shimmery powder onto your finger and blend into the concealer using a small sponge. Next put your powder into the circular motion of blending and blend the colors together well. Finally put a third of the blush on top of your third layer of concealer and blend well.
If you want to make your glowy makeup look really natural, you may choose to use a liquid foundation rather than a cream or powder foundation. To create a more natural glow apply the liquid makeup using an old plastic spatula rather than a sponge. Start at the bottom and work your way up to the top using a circular motion. Next pat the excess makeup off and wait for it to dry. You should be left with a very clean appearance. To make a truly amazing natural glow, you should consider purchasing a mineral makeup to match your natural minerals.
After you have completed your basic cosmetics you will need to decide if you want to purchase one single concealer color or several different ones. If you purchase several concealers you can change your shades whenever you like, but if you purchase one single color you can get away with using the same shade throughout your entire makeup collection. The only time you should change concealer shades is when you have an opportunity to alter the overall tone of your skin tone.
To complete the natural look you should use either a highlighting powder or a sheer blush. A highlight setting spray goes well with the natural look because it gives your eyes definition and softens the area around your eyes. A blush brush is used to fill in your cheekbones and blend the rest of your makeup in. Last but not least, a light dusting of loose powder foundation completes the look.


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San Diego Gas & Electric urged the public on Tuesday to beware of scams that exploit people's reliance on essential services to cheat them out of money, a type of crime that has become more common amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year alone, SDG&E customers have reported more than 25,000 such crimes, a figure that averages out into nearly 80 per day, the utility reported as part of Utility Scam Awareness Week, a nationwide campaign to spread the word about utility impostors.
"With more people staying at home or possibly facing financial difficulty, scammers try to take advantage of the situation," SDG&E warned.
If a caller claims to work for SDG&E and asks for payment over the phone, it is a scam, according to the utility. SDG&E urges customers to only provide financial information by telephone if they initiated the call themselves.
One common tactic of utility scammers is one in which they pose as employees of a government or state agency and threaten to cut off service unless they get immediate payment, according to SDG&E.
Another involves scammers impersonating a utility's billing department and asking for payment via Green Dot MoneyPak, a way of sending cash via prepaid or debit cards. Known as the "Pay by Phone" or "Green Dot" scam, the crime also centers on threats of immediate power shutoffs to scare customers into making bogus "payments."
Once victims purchase the debit cards, or make wire transfers based on the thieves' instructions, they are asked to call another phone number to provide the card information, which allows the perpetrators to steal the money.
In some cases, a phone number provided by the scammers plays a recorded message and menu options that mimic SDG&E's official customer service line. When victims call the number, they may hear a recorded message that tells them they are calling SDG&E's business line and gives them menu options, including paying their bills or reporting a gas leak or power outage.
"Customers should know that SDG&E does not ask (them) to pay using methods such as Green Dot MoneyPak or cryptocurrency," the utility advised. "Additionally, SDG&E will never proactively contact customers requesting their credit card, banking or other financial information or threaten immediate disconnection. Even if you have a past-due balance ... we will always provide past-due notices in writing before shutting off service and offer payment-plan options."
SDG&E has implemented protections for customers who are struggling to pay their bills, including flexible payment plans for up to 12 months, suspending disconnections for nonpayment and waiving late fees for businesses.
According to the utility, SDG&E will never:
- call a customer to ask for payment information. Customers may receive communications directing them to pay their bill via their MyAccount at sdge.com, use the Billmatrix system, or to call and use the automated pay-by- phone option at 800-411-7343.
- request that a customer use prepaid debit cards for payments or such cryptocurrencies as Bitcoin to pay their bill.
- send emails with an online payment method with a QR matrix barcode.


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The Prime Jewelry Group said that seven new supplier firms have joined the group and will be exhibiting in the organization's 2009 buying events. The new firms are Bergio, De Hago, Frederic Sage, Jenny Perl, Leslie's, Sethi Couture/Manak, and Philip Andre.
Prime Jewelry Group stages two invitation-only events for independent retail jewelers annually. This year, the 2009 events will take place Aug. 23 and 24 at the InterContinental Hotel in Boston, and Oct. 4 and 5 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Sarasota, Fla.
Qualified retailers can select which event to attend, as well as their level of participation based on their buying commitments. Retailers are rewarded with luxury hotel accommodations, roundtrip airfare for two, airport transfers, breakfast, gourmet lunch buffets, cocktails and beverages during the show, a cocktail reception opening night, and other social events.
"Prime is a luxurious buying experience, and an alternative to the larger shows. Our attendees prefer it because Prime provides an opportunity for retailers to take care of all their buying needs while forging stronger relationships with their suppliers," said Elly Adler, principal of Elma•Gil and Marketing Chairman for the Prime Jewelry Group. "It gives us a chance to recognize and reward independent retailers with a luxurious show experience. The vendors are carefully selected firms, representing nationally advertised brands with a proven record of consumer demand."
Prime Jewelry Group events have been "by invitation only" to a group of retailers who do business with Prime Group exhibitors. Beginning in 2009, retailers interested in attending Prime who were not previously on the guest list may apply for admission. Retailers may select participation levels which range from a $15,000 to $50,000 buying commitment, with rewards rising as their buying level increases. A Day Pass option is also available, which requires pre-approval and pre-registration, but no buying commitment. Day Pass participants enjoy all of the hospitalities of the event offered in the exhibit area. The events are staged and managed by the Southern Jewelers Trade Association for Prime Group members and there is no on-site registration.
Retailers interested in attending may contact Libby Brown at firstname.lastname@example.com, or call 1-800-241-0399.
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sigma//StoreM extends DEWAS III, sigma//Store and SiSu by providing central data management for back office and POS systems that are not linked to an ERP-system.
Building such functions into an ERP-system is always very costly and time consuming.
sigma//StoreM extends the central system with functions needed for data maintenance and the supply of data of the stores without expensive modifications.
sigma// Store offers the additional functions that are most frequently requested and not available in the ERP systems.
Discount actions
Based on the master data available in the ERP-system, discount actions can be planned, managed and send to the connected POS systems.
User data
Create and maintain user records in the remote POS systems including attached scales.
Customer master data
Administration and updating of customers records on a per store basis.
User interface, layout and parameters
Maintenance and updates of the touch screen layout and positioning of the virtual keys can be done easily using sigma//MC.


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The Best APIs in Real Estate Investing: 3 APIs You're Not Using but Should
With tons of data available, investors can use machine learning algorithms to more quickly interpret data and create more accurate predicting models. While this might seem daunting, one way to automate data processing is by accessing APIs—application program interfaces. An API is a way for applications to interact/interface with one another. Using APIs alongside traditional data allows investors to pinpoint hyperlocal trends that can predict potential growth. It's important to remember that the data alone won't do much if you aren't able to use it to create a fast strategy.
Click here to read more about other non-traditional data sets you might want to consider
As I previously wrote, accessibility to points of interest is a great predictor of a positive investment. Understanding all of these elements allows investors to see a fuller picture of the neighborhood and be on the forefront of trends, leaving more money on the table for you and your investments.
Proximity and Accessibility as Non-Traditional Predictors:
Proximity seems like a no-brainer, but it's the right mix of community features that equates to a good investment. For instance, having two specialty food stores correlates with increased property prices, while four correlates to lower prices. Using APIs allows investors to better analyze this nonlinear relationship to pinpoint the "sweet spot" between density and proximity to amenities.
Here are three APIs that provide non-traditional data points that could help you predict potential real estate growth:
Yelp API
In its most basic format, Yelp is a business directory and crowd-sourced service that is free (up to pre-set 24-hour limits) and easy to use. As of 2017, Yelp API provided data and information for over 50 million businesses.
What does this API provide?Yelp provides data for developers, no matter their size or background, that allows them to extract local business information to pinpoint the "sweet spot" for points of interest. While Yelp is probably best known for its restaurant-related data, it also provides information for a wide variety of businesses in the form of business reviews, phone numbers, transaction types, and more.
How can investors use this data to predict a profitable investment?Proximity to amenities and the changes in neighborhoods give investors a mid-to-long-term view about how their investments may evolve. For instance, if your buyers are looking for peaceful open land, but the neighborhood is becoming more noisy—observable by seeing a snapshot of new developments popping up—the residential valuation down the road may decrease.
According to Investopedia, a truly great neighborhood will have accessibility, appearance, and amenities. If people have to drive far, your investment may not be as profitable. However, looking at what amenities are popping up and the tone of reviews on Yelp will help you predict the future of your investment.
Walk Score API
Similar to Yelp, Walk Score gives neighborhood information. It measures the walkability between points of interest on a scale of 0-100 (with 0 being non-walkable and 100 being very walkable). Walk Score also offers two other features that can be crucial in the decision-making process for investors:
- Bike Score employs a similar 0-100 scale and measures the bikeability of locations. When compiling a score, the following factors are taken into consideration: the availability of bike lanes, hills, bike commuting mode share, and road connectivity.
- Transit Score measures how well a location is served by public transit on a scale of 0-100.
What does this API provide? For developers, Walk Score—and its companions, Bike Score and Transit Score—can be valuable tools to better understand how real estate investments can be affected by how "walkable," "bikeable," and public transit-friendly local businesses are to a current or potential investment's address. For all three features, the higher the score, the better as far as investing is concerned.
How can investors use this data to predict a profitable investment? Especially in more urban areas, where walking, mass transit, and biking are the preferred (and sometimes only) modes of transportation, understanding these three scores can really make or break an investment. And even in more suburban areas, knowing these scores can definitely affect successful investing since most people don't want to spend unnecessary time getting from point A to point B and back home again.
SchoolDigger API
One crucial aspect of the profitability and sustainability of a real estate investment is the quality of schools that serve the locale of that investment. This is the kind of information that SchoolDigger provides. Better schools usually equate to a sounder investment, and SchoolDigger is an API that rates the performance and quality of K-12 schools.
What does this API provide?SchoolDigger API provides K-12 data like test scores, demographics, and rankings for over 123,000 schools. It also shows district boundaries.
How can investors use this data to predict a profitable investment? Since the quality of schools in an area is usually a top priority for potential tenants, knowing the SchoolDigger score of a potential investment can play a huge part in deciding whether or not to invest in a property AND when deciding whether or not to sell an investment property if the score starts to decline.
The API shows not only the best and worst schools, but also the most improved. Cross-referencing this with traditional data may populate a geographic area that is up-and-coming. It's important to keep in mind that all classes of potential tenants use school-related statistics when deciding whether or not an area is right for them: those without children (including the retired population) who want to live in a safe area, those who are planning to start a family, and those with children currently in school.
Accessing APIs can be an important part of your investment puzzle, and understanding how to use this data to best benefit your real estate investment portfolio can pay off now and into the future. If you need help successfully maneuvering APIs or any part of your real estate investment puzzle, contact us. We're happy to help.