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Bethany Contact:Gayle Kneupper 512-785-5331
Current Projects/Dates:On the dates below, we will be preparing and delivering meals using MLF food trucks.
Special Donation Needs:
Ministry Description: Utilizing a Mobile Loaves and Fishes food truck which we borrow from Riverbend Church, we make 2 or more evening runs per month to distribute food and clothing to the homeless. MLF has designated 'drop points' identified and we select the 1 to 3 stops to make in an evening delivering sandwiches, fruit, chips and drinks.
Types of Volunteers Needed:There are 2 teams of 5 persons each involved in each evening's distribution run. The first team meets about 4:00 PM to prepare approximately 200 sandwiches and load the truck with food and drink items. The second team leaves in the loaded truck at approximately 5:15 PM to make the designated stops to distribute the food and clothing, returning to the church at approximately 8:00 PM.
How to volunteer: Contact Gayle Kneupper
Website: mlf.org
© Bethany United Methodist Church. All rights reserved. 10010 Anderson Mill Road - Austin TX - 78750 [Get Directions] Phone: (512) 258-6017


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A few days ago a man called "Pretty Mike" (not sure if that is what his mother calls him) decided to attend a wedding. I'm presuming he wasn't content with his general swag getting him the desired attention, and so he decided to put some women in dog collars. These women walk several steps in front of him as he makes his grand entrance. Of course, tongues begun to wag. Social media was set ablaze and the incident made several headlines.
Well it seems like the news reached the doorstep of Governor Ambode of Lagos State and a few days later, Mr Pretty, or is it Mr Mike, was picked up for violating Chapter 21 of the Criminal Code which deals with Offences Against Morality.
As you can imagine, Nigerians have come out in their masses to question the validity of this law and many have brought Bobrisky's open conduct into the mix.
This article aims to highlight the key elements of the law and distinguish Bobrisky's conduct from Pretty Mike's conduct.
What does the law say?
Chapter 21 of the Criminal Code mostly deals with :-
- carnal knowledge against the order of nature (same sex sexual acts and sexual acts against animals);
- sexual contact with underage or incapacitated persons;
- persons in care of such persons, cited in (b) above, found guilty of encouraging these persons to engage in sexual acts;
- persons who attempt to have sexual contact with a woman against her will; and
- persons knowingly supporting prostitution or operating brothel like establishments.
The majority of this law is not applicable in this instance. However, Chapter 21 (231) of the Criminal Code goes further to say:
"any person who
- wilfully and without excuse does any indecent act in any public place; or
- wilfully does any indecent act in any place with intent to insult or offend any person;
is guilty of a misdemeanour and is liable to imprisonment for two years"
I believe Pretty Mike would fall into the category of such persons.
Moral obligations and citizens of the Nigerian society
Many people have described this law as vague and have questioned the rate at which it has been successfully enforced. These people have stressed that morality and indecency is a subjective matter, which often varies from individual to individual and place to place. However, I must stress that although true, there are many principals governing right and wrong behaviour which are generic and applicable to all societies. Generally, where a term is truly ambiguous the Courts will apply the reasonable man test (i.e would the reasonable man behave in such a manner if placed in the same circumstances).
An individual's private conduct is not deemed as the concern of the government or of society at large. As Nigerian citizens, we are protected by Chapter 4 of the Nigerian Constitution which deals with Human Rights, specifically the right to privacy of all citizens and their homes. Thus, when morality is discussed it generally refers to an individual's moral conduct as it affects the society at large. Many societies have ethical standards which, although varying from place to place, are valid and enforceable by either law, religion or social pressures.
Thus, based on this premise, as Nigerian citizens, it is established case law that we have a moral obligation to the society in which we belong to desist from conducting ourselves in a manner which might be deemed as being offensive to the people around us.
Bobrisky vs Pretty Mike
As a fallout of Pretty Mike's conduct and his subsequent arrest, many people have exclaimed and questioned why Bobrisky has not been picked up for the same violation of Chapter 21 of the Criminal Code – Offences Against Morality. (for those who might not know, Bobrisky is heavily bleached young man who likes to dance, fixes artificial nails and wears heavy makeup)
These people are of the belief that his conduct on social media is grossly offensive and goes against the unwritten moral rules of Nigerian society.
However, here I must stress that a person's constitutional right to freedom of expression supersedes their moral obligation to an unwritten societal rule. I know you're probably thinking: "what about the Anti-Gay law?"; well, Bobrisky has on many occasions specifically claimed that he is not indeed gay and that his conduct on social media is purely for the pleasure of his audience and to sell his skin care products. He has emphasized that he likes wearing makeup and fixing his nails, and in many societies, this will be deemed as a way of him expressing his creativity.
To those who believe Bobrisky is gay, the onus is on you to prove it by providing evidence to support your claim.
In the case of Pretty Mike on the other hand, there is photographic and video evidence of him behaving in a manner which might be deemed by many as being highly insulative and offensive. The truth is Pretty Mike put dog collars on fellow human beings, and this act was deemed by the Lagos state Government as dehumanising. I am sure if Pretty Mike had worn the dog collar on himself I would not be addressing it right now.
A general rule in Public Relations is that there is no such thing as bad publicity; because of this, around the world we have seen people doing outrageous things for want of attention and social recognition. There is no question of a doubt in my mind that Pretty Mike is just trying to be sensational, in order to make his night club more popular. Bobrisky, too is trying to sell his creams. Guess what? We are all talking about both of them, so I think it worked.
On another note, whilst researching for this article I came across a clause in the Criminal Code which states
"Any person who conspires with another to induce any woman or girl, by means of false pretence or other fraudulent means, to permit any man to have carnal knowledge of her is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for three years"
It got me thinking about the various "Yoruba Demons" and the things they often do… but, abeg that's another article.

subset: commoncrawl


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Black Tie Cocktail Napkins
$ 5.50
These Black Tie Cocktail/Dessert Napkins make your celebration fun! Polka Dots on front, stripes on the back. Small 3-ply napkins; perfect for cocktails or dessert. Coordinating cups + plates in other photos are sold separately.
Quantity: 20 3-ply napkins
Plate size: 4.5 x 4.5 inches


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Issue 3, Summer 2011
Research bites
Paintings for patients
The hospital environment can be many things – sobering, moving, sterile – but it's not often thought of as pleasant or welcoming. That all seems to be changing, however, thanks to the growing phenomenon of art in hospitals. Associate Professor Lindsay Farrell, who has just been awarded a Smithsonian Scholar position at the American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC, is leading a team of ACU researchers to investigate the impact of art in healthcare settings. "Many people have general notions that art in hospital is good for patients," he said. "However, despite numerous art in hospital projects, there is an absence of research in Australia which measures the outcomes." The Art Research in Catholic Healthcare project (ARCH) will evaluate the impact that art has on the spiritual wellbeing of patients, including their sense of meaning and purpose. The study will build on Associate Professor Farrell's earlier longitudinal study which analysed the impact of art using three groups: patients, staff and families. "To our knowledge, this is the first time that the impact of art in the healthcare setting on spiritual wellbeing has been formally measured, and a survey tool has been developed," he said. Associate Professor Farrell said he hoped the results would encourage further use of art in hospitals, and the establishment of more permanent measures to assess effectiveness.
Tracking the tiger
The last known Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, died on 7 September 1936 in Hobart Zoo. While its demise can be attributed to hunting and habitat destruction by European settlers, it has long been suspected that disease may also have contributed. ACU's Dr Robert Paddle is setting out to investigate further with his research project Disease as a causative factor in mammalian extinctions: A case study of the Tasmanian tiger. "The most significant factor in the decline of the thylacine was the government's bounty scheme which ran from 1888 to 1909 and paid out 2,209 bounties for thylacines that were killed during those years," he said. "This was largely due to the belief that they were killing a significant amount of sheep." "There was also a perception that Australia's indigenous animals were inferior to those that had been brought with the early settlers."
Dr Paddle's study will involve the examination of archival records from zoological gardens and museum curators. Dr Paddle said he hoped to not only confirm whether disease played a part in the Tasmanian tiger's demise, but also contribute mto the understanding of how extinction in mammals occurs. "My findings may also help reduce the rapid decline of the ,mTasmania Devil, which is currently being decimated by devil facial tumour disease – a devastating disease which is sweeping through the population."


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REGISTER This is the first installment of EPA's IAQ Knowledge-to-Action Professional Training Webinar Series. Webinar participants will learn how to— Successfully
REGISTER The 32nd Annual Conference of the New Jersey Earth Science Teachers Association will take place on Saturday, March 19th, 2016 at Rowan University and will feature a field tri
REGISTER The Rutgers Monmouth County Master Gardeners are holding their second annual School Garden Conference at the Agriculture Building off Kozloski Road in Freehold. This year's theme is
Middle and High School Students who reside in the Northern New Jersey regional area are invited to participate in the "Hackathon" sponsored by Bergen Community College, Division of Continuing Educatio
Students in grades 1-6 who reside in the Northern New Jersey regional area are invited to participate in the Student Challenge: How Can You Use a Recycled, Repurposed or Reclaimed Item or Object
REGISTER Learn about Sustainable Jersey for Schools' actions that relate to outdoor classrooms: Biodiversity Plans and Projects School Gardens Education for Sustainabi
The conference aims to assist schools, after school programs, and community youth groups in starting a garden. These gardens can be used to teach math, science, and nutrition. $25.00/person i
(For educators of grades K-12) WOW! The Wonders of Wetlands features 70 pages of background material followed by more than 40 cross-referenced lessons. Lessons focus on wetlands definitions, wetl
REGISTER Participants will also learn about wetland functions and values by utilizing K-12 cross curricular, inquiry based activities. Leave with a wetland resource guide with over 50 hands-o
REGISTER Learn about the energy efficiency actions in the Sustainable Jersey for Schools program which can help your school to understand its energy use and reduce its greenhouse gas


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Normally, PR firms are pitching us start-ups, not creating them. That's not the case with Twendz, a new Twitter tool from the folks at Waggener Edstrom. It pulls in the latest tweets on any given topic, and shows you what the overall user sentiment is, be it positive or negative.
This is cleverly wrapped up into an ever-flowing stream of new user tweets, the speed of which you can control anywhere from a slow crawl to two new tweets per second. It's also able to dig up a past history of how many people have posted something on the topic which goes back five hours. Each hour also shows you whether the overall sentiment was good or bad, which on a long enough timeline can tell a story.
Beyond streaming in new Twitter messages, which Twitter's own search can do (albeit requiring the user to refresh the page), the user sentiment engine is where the tool really shines. For instance, the new Apple iPod Shuffle, currently the top trending topic on Twendz, is getting an overall positive user sentiment. However, the tool also shows some of the main gripes people are having, both through the use of a tag cloud and often-repeated keywords.
My only beef with the tool is that it goes through a little song and dance each time you start monitoring a new keyword. The results that begin to filter in are two hours old, and finally catch up to near-real time in about a minute. It would be nice to simply skip to the latest tweets and analysis while cutting out the older messages. It would also be fantastic to be able to pit two trends against one another in the same window.
In the meantime, this is a great way to figure out what people are talking about without actually having to read their tweets, something that Twitter's own search lacks and third-party software tools like TweetDeck haven't quite nailed.
Thanks to @Dsilverman for the tip!


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Trading Radar: Treasury Forecast to Run a Surplus in April
Economics, earnings reports, and market events for the week ahead.
Coincidentally, Friday's report appears to have swung too far in the other direction. A few things stand out in that regard. April's ADP report stands at 119,000, which is a decent difference from the BLS private payrolls data, especially now that the ADP report is technically more accurate. Additionally, a combined look at the employment subindexes for regional and national manufacturing and service surveys over the last month showed the third lowest level of payroll growth in the last 13 months, which is even more troublesome considering the recent growth we've had in payrolls especially. Though, to be fair, goods producing jobs fell by 9,000 last month, so it is possible that some of the weakness showed up in the report.
The other place for concern was the outsized decline in average weekly hours worked. Average weekly hours declined to 34.4 hours from 34.6 the month prior, below the 34.4 consensus estimate. The largest decline came in the retail sector with hours dropping to 30.0 from 30.3. Also, Americans earned $3.39 less on average over the week, down to $821.13. We have two theories to link to this decline. First, with the push to implement new health care reform into law, companies have reduced employees' hours in order to avoid paying higher costs; this could be passing through to average overall hours. Second, government jobs declined by 11,000 in the past month, which is certainly linked to layoffs associated with the sequester and a reduction in hours.
Dealing with the Treasury market in particular, we experienced a borderline tail event with the 10-year cash note falling more than 1 point, which is something that is not seen very often. One data point in particular links to the violence of the sell-off today: the Stone-McCarthy Money Managers survey that was released on Wednesday. Within the survey, Treasury allocations rose to 28.2%, the highest point since September 2007. Additionally, CRT Capital's NFP survey indicated an overall bias to sell on the report, especially if it traded higher. 50% of respondents had a bias to sell a positive report vs. the 34% average and 7% to buy vs. a 19% average. Overall, economic growth data has made a bullish fundamental case for Treasuries, and that shouldn't change drastically in the near-term. The 1.82%-1.83% area of the 10-year cash yield looks much more appetizing to add long Treasury positions as it has been a major inflection point of Treasuries over the past 18 months, and more than a few investors need to get shaken out here.
As for the technicals, Treasuries had a very weak weekly range. After breaking out above last week's range, an outside bar down was recorded and what appears to be a bearish engulfing bar was also recorded. This would indicate from the technicals that the selling could continue into next week before we find some level of support around the 1.83% area.
Looking forward to next week, the economic calendar is very bare. March consumer credit will be released on Tuesday; it is expected to grow at a seasonally adjusted rate of $16 billion. The last report saw very negative growth in the non-seasonally adjusted data from revolving financial credit and depositors with the only positive data coming from growth in federal government credit and very marginal growth in nonrevolving financial credit.
On Friday, we will see the Treasury monthly budget statement for April. Usually this kind of information wouldn't garner any attention, but for the second quarter, the Treasury has forecast to run a net profit (for lack of a better word) due to lower tax refunds and higher tax receipts than expected. April's budget is expected to show a surplus of $106 billion. Unless the administration brushes this off as a transitory effect, look for this to weigh on certain tax issues such as the expiration of the payroll tax cut and even moreso for financial markets; this should reduce the amount of discussion on whether or not to remove the tax exempt status of municipal bonds.
Next week, there is the 10-year and 30-year refunding auctions. These will be first issues of both at larger-than-normal sizes of $24 billion and $16 billion respectively. At last month's second refunding, both the 10-year and 30-year tailed by 1bp. Additionally, direct bidder allocations were largely above normal.
In global economics, the main highlight is the Bank of England, given all of the central bank's fireworks this past week. For the past two months, the core members of the central bank have advocated for more asset purchases, but have been outvoted 6-3 for the past two months. With economic data improving over the last month, look for a more moderate rhetoric as the GBPUSD has rebounded from 1.49 to 1.5567 today.
Also on the calendar is the G-8's meeting on Friday. With the USDJPY rising from 76 to 99 recently, G-8 countries have been lax in their attitude toward Japan's fiscal and monetary policy. Given the relative non-movement and relatively toned down comments from the Bank of Japan, we are unlikely to see much change.
Earnings season will start to die down next week with 80% of S&P 500 companies having reported up to this point. Notable earnings reports for the week include Disney (NYSE:DIS), Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN), Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN), News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA), and Liberty Media (NASDAQ:LMCA).
Monday, May 6
US Economics (Time Zone: EDT)
No major economic data
11:00 Fed buying $2.75b - $3.5b notes in 7 to 10-year range
11:30 Treasury selling $29b 3-month bills, $24b 6-month bills
Global Economics (Time Zone: GMT)
01:30 AUD Retail Sales
08:00 EUR Services PMI (2nd estimate)
09:00 EUR Eurozone Retail Sales
14:00 CAD Ivey PMI
Sysco (SYY)
Tyson Foods (TSN)
Apollo Global (APO)
Anadarko Petroleum (APC)
First Solar (FSLR)
EOG Resources (EOG)
Frontier Communications (FTR)
Tuesday, May 7
US Economics (Time Zone: EDT)
10:00 IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism – consensus 47.0, prior 46.2
10:00 JOLTs Job Openings – prior 3925
3:00 Consumer Credit – consensus $16B, prior $18.139B
11:00 Fed buying $1.25b-$1.75b notes in 23 to 30-year range
11:30 Treasury selling 4-week bills
1:00 Treasury selling $32b 3-year notes
Global Economics (Time Zone: GMT)
01:30 AUD Trade Balance
04:30 AUD RBA Rate Decision
10:00 EUR German Factory Orders
11:30 Germany selling EU1b inflation linked bonds
Molson Coors (TAP)
Fossil (FOSL)
Louisiana Pacific (LPX)
HollyFrontier (HFC)
Nationstar Mortgage (NSM)
Discovery Communications (DISCA)
Walt Disney (DIS)
Marathon Oil (MRO)
Electronic Arts (EA)
Whole Foods Markets (WFM)
Zillow (Z)
Wednesday, May 8
US Economics (Time Zone: EDT)
07:00 MBA Mortgage Index
11:00 Fed buying $3b-$3.75b bonds in 5.5 to 7-year range
1:00 Treasury selling $24b 10-year notes
Global Economics (Time Zone: GMT)
CNY Trade Balance
10:00 EUR German Industrial Production
12:15 CAD Housing Starts
22:45 NZD Employment Changes
11:30 Germany selling EU5b 5-year notes
Vivus (VVUS)
Wendy's (WEN)
News Corp (NWSA)
Activision Blizzard (ATVI)
Monster Beverage (MNST)
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR)
CF Industries (CF)
Tesla Motors (TSLA)
Groupon (GRPN)
Rackspace (RAX)
Liberty Media (LMCA)
Thursday, May 9
US Economics (Time Zone: EDT)
08:30 Initial Claims – consensus 352K, prior 352K
08:30 Continuing Claims – consensus 3060K, prior 3068K
10:00 Wholesale Inventories – consensus 0.4%, prior -0.3%
11:00 Fed purchasing $1.25b-$1.75b bonds in 23 to 30-year range
1:00 Treasury selling $16b 30-year bonds
Global Economics (Time Zone: GMT)
01:30 AUD Employment Change
05:00 JPY Leading Index
08:30 GBP Industrial and Manufacturing Production
11:00 GBP BoE Rate Decision
14:00 GBP NIESR GDP Estimate
9:30 Spain selling 3, 5, and 13-year notes
Dean Foods (DF)
Carlyle Group (CG)
Apache (APA)
Nvidia (NVDA)
Sotheby's (BID)
Stifel Financial (SF)
priceline.com (PCLN)
Universal Display (PANL)
Skechers (SKX)
Cablevision (CVC)
Friday, May 10
US Economics (Time Zone: EDT)
2:00 Treasury Monthly Budget Statement
11:00 Fed buying $1.25b-$1.75b notes in 23 to 30-year sector
Global Economics (Time Zone: GMT)
CNY New Yuan Loans and Money Supply
08:30 GBP Visible Trade Balance
12:30 CAD Employment Changes
Hecla Mining (HL)
Twitter: @MichaelSedacca
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text:
Parkinson's Disease
Volume 2011, Article ID 605607, 10 pages
Deep Brain Stimulation of Caudal Zona Incerta and Subthalamic Nucleus in Patients with Parkinson's Disease: Effects on Diadochokinetic Rate
1Division of Speech and Language Pathology, Department of Clinical Sciences, Umeå University, SE-90185 Umeå, Sweden
2Division of Clinical Neuroscience, Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Neuroscience, Umeå University, SE-90185 Umeå, Sweden
3Rehabilitation Research Chair, King Saud University, Riyadh 11433, Saudi Arabia
4Division of Clinical Oral Physiology, Department of Odontology, Umeå University, SE-90185 Umeå, Sweden
5Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh 11433, Saudi Arabia
Received 15 March 2011; Revised 23 June 2011; Accepted 23 July 2011
Academic Editor: Tara Whitehill
Copyright © 2011 Fredrik Karlsson et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The hypokinetic dysarthria observed in Parkinson's disease (PD) affects the range, speed, and accuracy of articulatory gestures in patients, reducing the perceived quality of speech acoustic output in continuous speech. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) and of the caudal zona incerta (cZi-DBS) are current surgical treatment options for PD. This study aimed at investigating the outcome of STN-DBS (7 patients) and cZi-DBS (7 patients) in two articulatory diadochokinesis tasks (AMR and SMR) using measurements of articulation rate and quality of the plosive consonants (using the percent measurable VOT metric). The results indicate that patients receiving STN-DBS increased in articulation rate in the Stim-ON condition in the AMR task only, with no effect on production quality. Patients receiving cZi-DBS decreased in articulation rate in the Stim-ON condition and further showed a reduction in production quality. The data therefore suggest that cZi-DBS is more detrimental for extended articulatory movements than STN-DBS.
1. Introduction
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is an established and effective treatment for motor symptoms associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). However, effects of STN-DBS on speech motor function are varying, and minor improvements, as well as stimulation-induced deterioration, have been reported [1–3]. This is also the case regarding DBS in the nucleus ventralis intermedius (Vim) of the thalamus, which is sometimes used for parkinsonian tremor, but most often for other forms of tremor [4]. Recently, the Zona incerta (Zi) has been suggested as an alternative target to the STN and Vim in PD [5, 6]. As part of a larger study we have therefore decided to evaluate the effects of Zi-DBS on speech and to compare these with the effects of STN-DBS.
Speech impairment is a frequently observed feature of PD [7]. The hypokinetic dysarthria associated with PD involves reduction in movement range in articulatory gestures [8] and, in contrast to both ataxic and spastic dysarthria, a normal [9] or indeed accelerated voluntary articulation rate [10, 11] in simple connected speech tasks. In the limited time frame available during connected speech, the active articulator often fails to reach the target location, resulting in reduced perceptual quality in the resulting speech signal.
Frequently used experimental tasks in controlled studies of speech production proficiency involve the production of repeated syllables in a fast rate (diadochokinesis, DDK). The task is administered either in the form of repeated /pa/, /ta/, or /ka/ syllables (alternating motion rate, AMR) or the repetitive production of the full sequence /pataka/ (sequential motion rate, SMR) [12]. In the first form (AMR) the speech articulation task measures the maximum rate in articulatory movement in the jaw combined with movements in the lips or anterior or posterior parts of the tongue [12]. As such, the AMR task estimates the maximum articulation rate of syllable-sized units involving maximally extended articulatory movements in the syllable onset.
In contrast, the SMR task involves an alternation between places of constriction in the vocal tract, placing a higher load on patients' sequencing of articulatory movements [12]. Thus, although not aimed at serving as proxies for patients' production of fluent speech [13], the two DDK tasks are well suited to investigate effects in patients' articulatory proficiency and control.
Specifically for patients with PD, Tjaden and Watling [13] argued that the AMR and SMR tasks provide a complementary description of articulatory proficiency in the patients compared to normal controls. For the AMR task, results have shown that PD patients may have a higher articulation rate compared to healthy controls [10, 13] demonstrating that PD patients are able to manifest continuous articulatory alternations of even higher frequency than normal controls performing the same simple task. In the more complex SMR task, however, PD patients have shown a slowed articulation rate compared to normal controls [13]. Thus, it is likely that the relationship between speech articulation ability in PD patients to that of normal controls is dependent on the demands of the articulation task and consequently that articulation rate in PD patients is best evaluated using both AMR and SMR tasks [13].
A high articulation rate does not, however, necessarily indicate an increased articulatory proficiency. It has been proposed that an alternative way of achieving an increase in articulation rate is by increasing the articulatory undershoot in speech gestures, a feature that has been observed in PD patients' speech [8, 14, 15]. Patients would be able to increase the number of CV alternations per second by approximating the full articulatory target (articulatory undershoot), at the expense of acoustic quality.
The plosive group of consonant speech sounds has been identified as particularly sensitive to the effects of articulatory undershoot [16]. In order for a plosive to be perceived, a silent interval followed by an acoustic transient is a required feature of the acoustic output. In order for this acoustic output to be produced, a full closure between the active and the passive articulator is required. After a period of pressure build-up driven by the lungs, the plosive is released, creating an instantaneous drop in pressure and resulting in the acoustic transient [17]. Thus, due to its strong dependence on a full range of motor action of the active articulator and a continued full closure between the articulators during the build-up of supraglottal pressure, the hypokinetic dysarthria associated with PD is very likely to have strong negative impact on the consonant produced, possibly failing to produce a stop consonant at all. In a prevocal position, where phonation is expected to follow the release of the plosive, an interaction between subglottal and supraglottal pressure may either afford or prevent phonation to occur due to the coordination of the articulatory movements involved, placing further demands on the articulatory control of the speaker.
The acoustic measure of Voice Onset Time (VOT) has successfully been employed as a yardstick for an acceptable plosive produced in prevocalic position [18]. VOT has been defined as the distance in time between the acoustic release of the plosive and the onset of voicing of the following vowel [19]. Thus, the measure requires both the presence of a detectable acoustic transient and an onset of voicing in order to be calculated.
VOT values have been shown to be difficult to measure reliably across raters in PD patients [20]. Possibly due to this fact, studies of VOT differences between PD patients and normal speakers have produced variable results, where PD patients were found to have a longer VOT [21], shorter VOT [22], or no significant difference [23, 24] compared to normal geriatric controls. Thus, the VOT measure itself has not provided conclusive results concerning the super- and supra-laryngeal control and coordination in PD patients due to the difficulty involved in making the acoustic measurements. However, it has been argued by Özsancak et al. [25] that a more simple judgment of whether a VOT measurement could be made or not may provide a more suitable quantification of this aspect of speech production in dysarthric patients [25]. Özsancak et al. [25] argued that the relative frequency of which VOT measurements are afforded by the produced plosives correlates with the articulatory control and precision in the patient: a positive speech outcome in the disease is argued to lead to an increase in percent measurable VOT. In addition, Özsancak et al. [25] found positive correlation between measurability of VOT and Intelligibility Scores in dysarthric patients. Thus, the measure is taken to provide a productive quantification of speech motor effects due to the progression of the disease.
DBS is an established treatment for patients with PD and has been shown to reduce cardinal symptoms of PD related to motor function and control [26, 27]. For speech motor proficiency, however, the results are more mixed. In studies including the unified Parkinson's disease rating scale (UPDRS) [28] patients have been reported to show a positive effect on speech motor scores [29, 30], a differential progression in DBS-STN effect due stimulation parameters [31], or a short-term positive effect seen in 6-month [32, 33] and 1–3-year followups [33, 34], which may disappear later in the progression of the disease [26, 33]. Negative effects of DBS-STN on speech-related UPDRS motor scores (UPDRS-III) have been found both in patients treated with unilateral left hemisphere [35, 36], as well as bilateral stimulation [2, 37, 38].
More detailed investigations have been conducted concerning the nature of speech-related effects of STN-DBS. Positive outcomes have been shown in some studies for voice parameters such as mean pitch [39, 40], pitch range [39], and various measures of voice loudness and stability [39–41]. Patients have also been shown to improve in force in articulators in isolated motor tasks [42, 43] and in the variability of laryngeal and supraglottal coordination timing [39] due to STN-DBS. Other studies have reported a significant positive effect on voice intensity and pitch variability when combined with L-dopa treatment [41], but no effect of STN-DBS alone.
STN-DBS has however also been proposed to have strong adverse effects on speech production proficiency. Several investigations have found stimulation-induced worsening in speech articulation primarily in bilateral STN stimulation [44, 45] or for patients stimulated unilaterally in the left hemisphere [35, 36]. Thus, despite the positive effects achieved by stimulation on general motor proficiency [26], specific features of speech articulation may be worsened in patients stimulated in STN.
The STN is, however, not the only target in DBS for PD. Recently, a nonrandomized study demonstrated the caudal zona incerta (cZi) to be a more efficient target regarding UPDRS-III than the STN [5]. The cZi target was also described by Plaha et al. [5] as not having the adverse effects on speech and balance as other areas closer to the STN. The cZi might therefore be considered a promising target for DBS in terms of speech outcomes.
The aim of the present study was to investigate the articulatory proficiency in terms of articulation rate and accuracy in a syllable repetition task in PD patients treated with cZi-DBS compared to patients treated with STN-DBS.
2. Method
2.1. Patients
Fourteen consecutive patients (10 males and 4 females, aged between 49 and 72 years) with idiopathic PD were included in this prospective nonrandomized study. The patients had been selected on clinical grounds for DBS surgery. Thus they were not recruited into the current study on the basis of their speech status. The patients were operated on between 2005–2007 (STN group) and 2008-2009 (cZi group). The clinical selection criteria for the patients' suitability for surgery were the same for both groups.
These patients also participated in an accompanying study on the comparative effects of cZi-DBS and STN-DBS on voice intensity [46].
The surgical procedures for the respective targets have been previously described in detail [4, 5]. Seven consecutive patients were implanted bilaterally (5) or unilaterally (left) (2) in the STN, followed by seven implanted bilaterally in the cZi. An overview of patients is presented in Table 1. The study has been approved by the Regional Ethical Review Board in Umeå (Dnr: 08-093M; 2008-08-18).
2.2. Surgical Procedure
Targets and trajectories were identified on MRI using the Frame Link planning station (Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN, USA). In the STN the target was chosen at a line connecting the anterior borders of the red nucleuses, at the level of their maximal diameter, 1.5 mm lateral of the medial border of the STN. The target in the posterior subthalamic area (PSA) was chosen at the same level and slightly posteriorly medially to the STN [11]. The electrode implantation was performed in local anesthesia, and the effect was evaluated using macrostimulation. A stereotactic CT was performed during surgery, and the images were fused with the preoperative MRI for identification of the electrode position.
2.3. Speech Samples
The speech material was selected from recordings made in three clinical conditions: at baseline before surgery where the patient was medicated with a levodopa test dose equivalent to 1.5 times their normal levodopa dosage, and then Off and On stimulation (one hour after the stimulation was switched off and on, resp.) 12 months after surgery. The postoperative recordings were made within the optimal period of the patient's normal medication cycle.
The recordings were made in a sound-treated booth, using a calibrated head-mounted microphone (Sennheiser MKE 2 P-C), with a 15 cm mouth to microphone distance. The samples were recorded on a digital audio flash recorder (Marantz PMD 660) or in the case of some early recordings a digital audio tape recorder (Panasonic SV 3800). A calibration tone (80 dB, 1 kHz) was used at the beginning of each recording.
The speech material used in this study consisted of a syllable repetition task. In the early recordings the patients were instructed to repeat each syllable /pa/, /ta/, and /ka/ as fast and for as long as they could. In the more recent recordings, the instructions were refined so that the patients were given more specific information with an auditory model of the task, and they first practiced by repeating the syllables evenly at normal tempo, before proceeding to their fastest possible even tempo. This refinement in instructions was made in collaboration with other research centers in Sweden to ensure comparability of speech data collected from PD patients. Five STN patients received the earlier instructions in all testing conditions, and six cZi patients received the refined instructions in all conditions. The remaining two STN and one cZi patients received the earlier instructions for the preoperative test and the refined instructions for the postoperative tests. The procedure was performed in two sequences, first using sequences of identical syllables /pa/, /ta/, and /ka/ (AMR) and then again using a basic pattern /pataka/ which was then repeated in the same way (SMR).
2.4. Acoustic Analysis
All speech measurements were made from the display of the acoustic waveform presented by the Wavesurfer (version 1.8.5) software package [47]. The measurements were performed by the second and third authors in a random order in terms of patient and treatment condition in order to reduce the possibility of systematic measurement effects across patients. All syllable sequences were examined to determine their suitability for inclusion. The criterion for inclusion of a sequence was that it must have consisted of at least 6 syllables (AMR) or 4 syllables (SMR), where a syllable was defined as measurable if it consisted of an increase of energy followed by a period of silence or reduced energy in the waveform [13]. In the AMR productions, acoustic measurements of syllable duration were collected for syllable repetition 2–11 (10 syllables) or as many syllables the patient was able to produce (a minimum of 6). The first syllable was excluded because the initial silent closure phase in plosives in word-initial position makes it not comparable to medial and final plosives in terms of measurable duration. Articulation speed was then estimated by the total duration of the measured sequence divided by the number of syllables in the sequence (syllables/s). Landmarks for VOT measurements (release transient and voicing onset [19]) were also identified and their combined presence in the signals noted as VOT being measurable (both features present) or not measurable. Syllables where either a release transient or voicing onset was not present were marked as not measurable. Continuously voiced plosives were also marked as it signifies a lack of control in laryngeal functioning, resulting in a nonplosive (an approximant of voiced fricative) being produced. The percent measurable VOT metric was then calculated as the number of syllables meeting the VOT criteria, divided by the total number of syllables in the sequence, expressed as a percentage.
In the SMR material, the full /pataka/ production sequences were measured in terms of their duration, discarding the first sequence due to the effect of the utterance-initial silent phase. Up to 10 full sequences were measured if present. A minimum of 4 full sequences was set as a lower limit for inclusion of the sequence in the data set in order to ensure that each mean estimate was based on at least three points of data. Similar to the AMR productions, articulation speed was estimated by the total duration of the measured sequence divided by the number of syllables in the sequence (syllables/s). In addition, VOT landmarks were identified for the (up to 30) produced syllables in the selected production sequences and their combined presence in the signals noted as VOT being measurable or not measurable. As in the AMR data, continuously voiced plosives resulted in the plosive being judged as not measurable, as VOT is not defined for this production pattern. The percent measurable VOT metric was then calculated as for AMR.
2.5. Reliability
The measurements of relative frequency of measurable VOT and speech rate were repeated for 10% of the samples by two independent raters (the second and third author) in order to estimate the interrater agreement. The exact agreement in ratings of measurability of VOT was established at 93.8% . Differences in estimates of speech rates were within 0.047 syllables/s in 75% of the cases, within 0.21 syllables/s in 83.3% of the cases, and within 0.69 syllables/s in 100% of the cases.
2.6. Statistical Analysis
Between-within (2 × 3) analyses of variance were conducted to test for statistical significance of differences in articulation rate and degree of measurable VOT related to stimulation target (STN versus cZI) and recording condition (baseline, Stim On, and Stim Off) as well as interactions between these variables. Within the data collected during the AMR speech task, effects of syllable type (/pa/, /ta/, or /ka/) were included in the analysis in a 2 × 3 × 3 ANOVA. The relationship between articulation rate and the relative frequency of measurable VOT was investigated using linear regression models.
3. Results
3.1. Articulation Rate
The articulation rates in the AMR and SMR tasks were analyzed for treatment effects separately for cZi and STN patients On and Off stimulation compared to baseline. The results are presented in Figure 1, divided according to articulation task (AMR or SMR), stimulation condition (baseline, Stim OFF, or Stim ON), and stimulated target (STN or cZi). Within the AMR data, separate analysis was performed for the different syllable types (/pa/, /ta/, and /ka/) produced by the patients.
For the STN patients, mean number of syllables per second increased from 5.13 to 5.54 in the AMR task, but remained at 5.63 in the SMR task. In the cZi patients, the results from the AMR task showed a decrease in number of syllables produced per second Stim ON compared to Stim OFF. In the SMR task, the number of syllables per second decreased from 4.90 in Stim OFF to 4.70 in Stim ON. In the AMR task, STN-DBS stimulation increased the mean articulation rate for all syllable types (5.05 to 5.85 for /p/, 5.06 to 5.44 for /pa/, and 4.99 to 5.32 for /ka/). The cZi-DBS group results were more mixed (4.95 to 5.25 for /p/, 4.95 to 4.72 for /pa/, and 4.87 to 4.53 for /ka/).
The articulation rates in the two tasks and three stimulation conditions were tested using a 2 × 3 × 3 ANOVA, with condition and task interaction included. The results showed a significant main effect of stimulation condition ( = 5.98, P = 0.003) and of stimulated target ( = 5.35, P = 0.02), but no significant main effect or interaction effect involving syllable type. A Tukey "Honest Significant Differences" post hoc test confirmed the significant increase in articulation rate in the AMR task due to STN stimulation ( = 5.84, P = 0.004) and the overall (task independent) reduced articulation rate in cZi compared to STN Stim ON ( = 5.84, P = 0.024) but no other investigated contrast.
A separate analysis into articulation rate effect in the bilaterally and unilaterally operated STN-DBS patients showed no systematic effect of laterality. The two patients treated with unilateral (left) stimulation showed tentative signs of opposite treatment effects. Further, for each of these observed effects, a similar effect in both size and direction could be observed in at least one bilateral STN-DBS patient. Thus, no support for a differing effect of bilateral and unilateral (left) STN in terms of articulation rate was provided by the present data.
3.2. Percent Measurable VOT
The quality of articulation was estimated using the relative frequency of measurable VOT metric, and the results are presented in Figure 2. For the STN patients performing the AMR task, mean rate of measurable VOT was 77.7% in Stim OFF and was reduced to 65.8% in Stim ON. In the SMR task, 76.6% of the syllables contained the necessary criteria for VOT measurement in Stim OFF, compared to a mean rate of 73.4% in Stim ON.
For the cZi patients, 81.0% of the productions were measurable in the AMR task under Stim OFF, but only 51.0% in Stim ON. In the SMR task, the patients performed worse compared to the AMR task (63.5% in Stim OFF), which was then reduced to a value similar to the AMR task in Stim ON (55.3%).
Statistical testing using a 2 × 3 × 3 ANOVA with articulation task, stimulation condition, stimulated target, and syllable type (including interactions) showed a significant main effect of stimulation condition ( = 7.9, P < 0.001) only. A Tukey "Honest Significant Differences" post hoc test confirmed the significant reduction in rate of measurable VOT in cZi patients ( = 3.72, P = 0.037), but no other investigated contrasts.
A separate analysis of differences between the bilaterally and unilaterally operated STN-DBS patients showed no systematic effect of laterality. The two patients treated with unilateral (left) stimulation showed a similar effect in both size and direction to what was observed for at least one bilateral STN-DBS patient. Thus, no support for a differing effect of bilateral and unilateral (left) STN in terms of articulation data was provided by the present data.
3.3. Association between Articulation Rate and Percent Measurable VOT
The association between articulation rate and articulatory precision was investigated by the correlation between the computed numbers of syllables per second produced and the relative frequency of measurable VOT values in the plosives produced using the Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficient. The results showed a significant ( = −3.57, P < 0.001) negative overall correlation between articulation rate and relative frequency of measurable VOT (ρ = −0.37). A more detailed analysis of correlations between measurements within cells created by combinations of stimulation condition (baseline, Stim ON, and Stim OFF) and stimulated target showed a significant correlation only in postsurgery conditions for cZi patients (Stim ON: ρ = −0.60, = −2.59, P = 0.023; Stim OFF: ρ = −0.604, = −2.63, P = 0.021). No significant correlation was found for STN patients.
The association between the two quantities was further investigated using linear regression fitted to the data within cells created by combinations of stimulation condition and target where a significant correlation had been shown. The regression line fitted to the data showed a slope of −0.010 (SE(slope) = 0.0038) for Stim OFF (adjusted = 0.313) and −0.014 (SE(slope) = 0.0054) for Stim ON (adjusted = 0.306). Thus, a clear impact of an increase in articulation rate on articulatory precision was observed. As the standard errors of the slope estimates overlap almost completely, the association between articulation rate and articulatory precision (as measured by relative frequency of measurable VOT) was considered equal between postsurgery conditions for the cZi patient group.
The effect of the refinement of instructions given to the patients was evaluated using Welch two-sample t-tests comparing the articulation rate in patients receiving an auditory model and patients not receiving an auditory model in the baseline recordings, for each task and repeated syllable separately. The results showed no effect of the auditory model ( = −1.4373, P = 0.18 for /pa/, = −1.7843, P = 0.10 for /ta/, = −0.9014, P = 0.38 for /k/, and = −0.6301, P = 0.54 for /pataka/) between the groups. Further, no indication of an effect of instruction modification was perceived within the treatment groups: patients receiving the other set of instructions (earlier or refined depending on treatment group) did not make up extremes within the groups, and for each of these patients a comparable patient in terms of mean and variation in articulation rates could be observed in the data set. Thus, the results reported here did not show evidence of a systematic effect of the refinement in instructions given for the tasks.
4. Discussion
The present aim was to investigate and compare the speech production rate and accuracy in patients treated with STN and cZi DBS, as quantified by mean number of syllables per second and relative frequency of measurable VOT in plosive consonants [25]. Two speech tasks were investigated, the AMR task and the more complex SMR task.
The results indicate an increase in articulation rate in STN patients performing the AMR task in the stimulated condition and a decrease in articulation rate in cZi in the same condition, regardless of task performed. At Off stimulation the patients did not perform significantly differently compared to the presurgery baseline. Thus, the results indicate a reduction in articulation rate due to cZi stimulation and an (task dependent) increase in rate of articulation due to STN stimulation.
In terms of articulatory precision, the STN group appears not to be significantly affected by stimulation. No significant differences were obtained between conditions or between tasks for this group. For the cZi group, however, a significant decrease in relative frequency of measurable VOT was observed in Stim ON. Thus, with stimulation turned on, cZi patients showed signs of a significant increase in articulatory undershoot [48] and a reduction in the articulatory control needed to achieve a plosive with the appropriate perceptual characteristics.
The articulatory undershoot was also shown to be partly dependent on the rate of articulation in the task, but only significantly so in specific conditions. In the postsurgery recording for cZi patients, productions were significantly reduced in articulation quality with increase in articulation rate. The linear regression applied indicated that an increase in articulation rate with one syllable per second caused, on average, a reduction in the relative frequency of measurable VOT for the cZi group of 25 or 35 points on a percentage scale. While the data to which the linear regression was fitted show a substantial variation, with a 0.306–0.31 R2 value for the fit, the results show a significant overall correlation between the articulation rate and the production quality which is attributed to a strong correlation between the two quantities in the cZi patients in both Stim ON and Stim OFF.
Two of the patients in the STN-DBS were under unilateral stimulation, while the other five patients were bilateral patients. Lateralization effects of STN-DBS on various aspects of speech have been reported previously [35, 49]. Wang et al. [49] showed a significant increase in syllable rate in STN-DBS (right) compared to STN-DBS (left) patients. However, bilateral data was not provided by Wang et al. The investigation by Santens et al. [35] provided no acoustic measurements, but was based on perceptual measurements. In their results, unilateral (left) STN-DBS provided no significant differences between judgments of speech prosody, articulation, and intelligibility by trained professionals compared to bilateral stimulation. Thus, in as far as the articulation results from Santens et al. [35] are comparable to the percent measurable VOT metric presented here, inclusion of unilateral patients is unlikely to have affected the outcomes of the present study. Furthermore, we found that removing the unilateral patients from the data set still afforded the same conclusion and also for each one of the two unilateral patients, a similar treatment effect (both in size and direction) could be observed in a bilateral STN-DBS patient. We therefore feel assured that the unilateral patients do not differ significantly from the bilateral patients in (supraglottal) articulatory control, which seems to be in agreement with the Santens et al. data [35].
The measurements of measurability of VOT and articulation rate were derived from the acoustic signal and were conducted in a randomized procedure, but the experimenters were blinded only to the treatment localization of the patient and not to the stimulation condition. The lack of blinding of the experimenters has the potential of being a confounding factor in the results. However, the data presented here were obtained directly from the physical properties of the acoustic signal using specific criteria, and the measurements were repeated with high level of interrater reliability. Thus, the risk of the blinding factor influencing the results is highly reduced due to the nature of the data. Further, the results presented here involve interactions between the task performed, stimulation condition (to which raters were not blinded) and targeted localization (to which the raters were blinded). Further, no comparable speech data had been made available in the literature for cZi patients at the time the measurements were made. With a randomized procedure, experimenters being blinded to at least one factor in the significant interactions and not having any information on which to base expectations, the chance of the lack of blinding being a confounding factor in the results presented here is judged to be very small. Thus, we concluded that the blinding of experimenters was not a confounding factor in our results.
The instructions given to the patients were refined in later recordings to include a practice run and an auditory model. This refinement was made to ensure comparability of our data with data collected from PD patients in other centers across Sweden. The impact of this potential confounding factor was investigated for statistical differences in articulation rate between patients receiving the two versions of instructions. The results showed no evidence of a significant effect of instructions in on the articulation rate in the speech task, and no evidence was found for patients deviating from the treatment group trend due to the instructions received. Thus, it is concluded that the change in instructions given to the patients was not a confounding factor in the present data.
Our results suggest a differentiated treatment effect of STN and cZi stimulation in terms of articulatory proficiency based on acoustic measurements. STN patients increased in articulation rate (in the simple AMR task) ON stimulation, while cZi patients decreased in articulation rate in both tasks in the same condition. Further, the quality of production decreased with cZi stimulation, but showed a much smaller (and not significant) effect of stimulation in the STN.
These findings are in accordance with previous findings. Dysarthria is common in PD, and STN-DBS has previously been reported to improve certain aspects of speech in some patients [39–43]. Further, dysarthria in PD in positron emission tomography (PET) studies has been linked to an overactivation in the SMA and DLPFC and an underactivation in the cerebellum and primary motor cortex. A normalization of these changes by STN-DBS has been demonstrated in one study in patients where STN-DBS improved speech [45, 50]. Concerning deterioration of speech following Zi-DBS, it has recently been demonstrated that dysarthria in STN-DBS is more likely to be caused by electrodes placed more medially in proximity to the anterior Zi [2, 51], and dysarthria constituted a problem in patients implanted in the anterior Zi [5]. This side effect is probably caused by an affection of the cerebellothalamic fibers in the area. Affection of these fibers, passing into the Vim, is probably also responsible for many cases of dysarthria following Vim-DBS [51], which previously has been attributed to a spread of current to the internal capsule [52].
The acoustic results presented here have been interpreted in terms of articulatory proficiency. The quantification of articulatory proficiency (measurability of VOT) was chosen primarily because it involves a complex coordination of articulatory gestures in the glottal and supraglottal structures, and it has been used in previous research for dysarthric speakers [25]. Additionally, DDK results and measurability of VOT in particular have all been linked individually to intelligibility of speech [25, 35, 53]. Furthermore, acoustic measures are capable of detecting subperceptual speech changes and are not subject to influences of auditory perceptual bias [54]. The results from the current study provide evidence of a direct effect of STN-DBS or cZi-DBS on the patients' articulatory proficiency. As such, they indicate advances and worsening in motor control and proficiency in PD patients due to DBS-STN or DBS-cZi.
However, it is difficult to evaluate the present results in terms of a communicative setting (such as intelligibility or comprehensibility of the speech produced). Perceived articulatory precision in patients with PD, DDK results, and measurability of VOT in particular have all been linked individually to intelligibility of speech [25, 35, 53], but it is also possible that the changes reported here are below the perceptual threshold. It is beyond the aim and scope of this paper to investigate perceptual effects of observed changes in the motor proficiency in the listener. The perceptual impact of the treatment effects found here should be targeted by further research using suitable speech material and procedures that specifically address these issues.
5. Conclusion
This paper has provided evidence of a DBS-induced increase in articulation rate in the AMR task for STN patients, with no significant negative effect on production quality, but a decrease in both articulate and production quality across both tasks for cZi patients. A related study [46] that used essentially the same patient groups has also shown a differential response between cZi- and STN-DBS for voice intensity. Thus, it is concluded that cZi stimulation might be more detrimental for articulatory proficiency in patients compared to stimulation of the STN. Our results must, however, be interpreted with caution, as they are based on a limited number of patients.
The authors wish to acknowledge the support of grants from Magnus Bergvall's Foundation and the Swedish Research Council. They would like to thank DBS nurse specialist Anna Fredricks for assistance in providing patient information and research engineer Anders Asplund for preparation of the speech recordings.
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Nigella's telly cooking show The Taste turns off viewers
NIGELLA Lawson's new TV show The Taste has lost almost half of its audience in a single week.
The second episode of her Channel 4 series got just one million viewers on Tuesday, 800,000 fewer than its opener.
It is a fresh nightmare for Nigella, 54, whose image has taken a battering following drug confessions.
Viewer James Murphy tweeted: "It's absolute sh*t. Boring and she comes across as a right cowbag."
The show was up against BBC1's Death In Paradise, which drew 7.1million.
A Channel 4 chief said: "We're proud of the show but it faced stiff competition."


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Having problems with your Digital Cameras ?
I have a Canon Rebel XTi which seems to "lock up" ie will not allow a second picture to be taken after the first when used in "portrait" mode. I was shooting a wedding with it last week and sometimes it would do this and sometimes it was OK. Sometimes it would shoot three or four consequetive pictures. Only turning it off and then back on would start it again. Sometimes even this did not work for more than ten seconds
Is this a fault? Why does it only happen sometimes? I'm not sure if it do
Answers :
Your memory card could be corrupt or not making a good connection. Try reseating the memory card and/or formatting it.
\015\012Check the cards gold contacts to make sure they are clean also.
\015\012Check the cards gold contacts to make sure they are clean also.
try hard resetting once leaving the battery removed for a over night.
try hard resetting once leaving the battery removed for a over night.
Repair Help & Product Troubleshooting for Digital Cameras
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I have a Canon Rebel XTi which seems to "lock up" ie will not allow a second picture to be taken after the first when used in "portrait" mode. I was shooting a wedding with it last week and sometimes it would do this and sometimes it was OK. Sometimes it would shoot three or four consequetive pictures. Only turning it off and then back on would start it again. Sometimes even this did not work for more than ten seconds Is this a fault? Why does it only happen sometimes? I'm not sure if it do
Your memory card could be corrupt or not making a good connection. Try reseating the memory card and/or formatting it.\015\012Check the cards gold contacts to make sure they are clean also. ... Digital Cameras
My canon sd1100 IS camera won't turn on. it started off when i would try and take pictures and it would turn off with the lens stuck open, then i could turn it back on and thelens would go back and i could take pictures again. now it won't even turn on at all no matter what i do.
... Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS Digital Camera
We just received our brand new canon t3i in the mail. We formatted the card (a 2GB 700X Professional High Speed Error Free (SD) Memory Card Class 10) and immediately started shooting to test out the camera. Everything seemed to work fine until we tried to apply a filter to one of the photos. The entire camera froze. We even tried turning the camera off and it would not shut off. We ended up having to take the battery out and put it back in. When we did and turned the camera back on we received a
Sounds like there was an error while the camera was writing information to the card. You can try reformatting the card using a computer and a card reader, then replace it in the camera and format it from the menu. If that doesn't work and the camera ... Canon EOS 600D Rebel T3i Digital Camera
Focusing problems???? Yes my camera I have had for less not even close to a year and it is acting up on me now.For some reason when I turn it on sometimes the lens come out sometimes it doesn't then I have to turn it off and turn it back on not only that but everytime I turn it on it is telling me I have a focus error I have tried to everything I can being I lost my manual guide I can't do to much if you could help me figure out what is going on I would appreciate it. Thanks Sarah
Cleaning the lens worked well for me ... Fuji FinePix A500 Digital Camera
Last week, i started seeing horizontal lines on the screen. sometimes it goes away and sometimes in comes back. it seems to come back when i put the camera on the sides ways or flip it upside down.
BAD CCD !see the link for free repairs from SONY dont worry if u are out of warranty and not on list just call them PLS RATE ME FIXYA for helphttp://www.imaging-resource.com/badccds.htmlhttp://esupport.sony.com/US/ ... Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-P32 Digital Camera
Problematic Camera I have a EasyShare DX4530 which has suddenly started acting funny. Here's the sequence of events: - power up works fine - lens comes out ok - green light glows steady, ready for a picture - picture takes fine - green light doesn't turn on again - no amount of pressing the shutter button will bring the green ready light back - pressing the SHARE button a couple times (sometimes 2, 3, even 4 times) will move thru the share sequence and then finally exit that function, turning
I just discovered that the real problem is a STICKY SHUTTER BUTTON, staying down after taking a picture. This prevents the green ready light from coming on until I jiggle the shutter button. It has actually started to be hard to press, making a defin ... Kodak EasyShare DX4530 Digital Camera
I have the Canon EOS 400D/ Rebel XTi digital camera. I take a lot of action pictures on sports mode. Lately, the camera started freezing in the middle of a series of shots and will read error-99. I have to shut the camera off and back on, or sometimes even reinstall the battery before I can shoot again. It had been working fine up to now - and the battery is fully charged.
Could it be your compact flash card is bad ?? ... Canon Digital Cameras
My camera will turn on and sometime it doesn't even when i put new batteries in it and i have cleaned the the battery parts and battery for good connection. I have to take the batteries out and put 'em in and it only sometime comes on. it still didn't work but even if I put new batteries in it doesn't work just takine the batteries out and put 'em back in only makes it work randomly and the battery on the negative side seems lower than the other like they're unleveled. there wasnt any corrosio
If I understood correctly ..it a 2 batteries camera ...and the reason they are not leveled is cause at one point they was wrongly inserted and forced the cover door to close...and the contact blades inside just bended in on the side of the negative . ... Kodak EasyShare C713 Digital Camera
Canon EOS Rebel XT with EFS 18-55mm lens. Trouble-free for two years. During a weekend of lots of use, suddenly the camera would not autofocus. Switching to manual focus, the camera worked. Then it started working okay in autofocus. Later that day quit altogether. (Would not release shutter even in manual mode.) Removed the lens and cleaned the contacts on both lens and camera, started working okay but only temporary. Went through several cycles of this over the weekend, so I'm not sure
... Canon Rebel XT / EOS 350D Digital Camera
My kodak m763 quit working and i was wondering if i took it apart if i could fix it ...it may have gotten too damp in the rain, but the next day it turned on fine for viewing, then the lens would not extend out all the way out or go back in and it would turn itself off. We tried to help the lens come out, but wouldn't work and then tried to help it go back in and now its stuck and won't even try. Can i take it apart (with the right tools)...already tried everything and know i need a torx tool. d
Google the words...disassemble a digital camera. ... HP Photosmart R927 Digital Camera
Error message I have a panasonic DMC-LC33 digital. A system error message would show the minute I turned it on. The lens would come out. Then within 4 seconds the lens would go back in. I tried the on/off several time but the results were the same. I put the camera away for later. When I tried it the other day, it would not even turn on. The batteries are fully charged. Help!!!!!! I need my camera for my work.
*&%[email protected]#%^&*&^% !!"It's working!!!!\015\012\015\012Turn your camera on and put it near your ear. Did you hear a softly motorized sound in the lenses area and the green LED is flashing? If you hear this sound do this.\015\012\015\012Do it under your own ... Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC33 Digital Camera
Error message I have a panasonic DMC-LC33 digital. A system error message would show the minute I turned it on. The lens would come out. Then within 4 seconds the lens would go back in. I tried the on/off several time but the results were the same. I put the camera away for later. When I tried it the other day, it would not even turn on. The batteries are fully charged. Help!!!!!! I need my camera for my work. hi expert i m suffring in this error on my panasonic DMC-LC33 when i switched on
Try \015\012\015\012Klomtrix trick this worked with my camera\015\012thanks klomtrix ... Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC33 Digital Camera
Brand new S230, son changed "language" to something foreign. Can't even navigate menus to change back to "english" cause menus are in wrong language. Can't even do a "reset" (for same reason), and don't if that would even work? Thanks---kelly
Hi,You could Download the Manual from :-http://www.nikonusa.com/pdf/manuals/noprint/S230ENnoprint.pdfNow,There are 12 Languages here. So Press Menu button. There would be 2 Tabs. Go for the Lower One. 5 ... Nikon COOLPIX S230 Digital Camera
So I just got the Fujifilm Finepix XP60 Series, it's working fine and all but whenever I press the playback button it blacks out. Sometimes it works but most times I have to try over and over again for it to work. For example I take a few pics and I press the playback button. First you see the little pink squares then it blacks out. I press the flash button on top for the screen to go back to taking pictures. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt. Another example would be when it's off and I p
If you have just purchased this new camera then it would be under warranty. I suggest you return it to the shop for a replacement or warranty repair. If you try to fix it yourself then you most likely void your warranty. ... Digital Cameras
I am having SONY DSC W80 7.2 MP camera. since long back it was not in operation. now to day when i using it its flash not working properly. sometimes flash works sometimes not, some times photo comes dark sometimes very bright even if it flash is on auto mode or in always on mode. kindly advise is it any setting problem or technical problem.
There is problem with flash unit.you have to replaced flash unit.if you know that how replaced then buy from your near service center and replaced by opening your camera.if do not know then best to replaced by sony service center. ... Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W80 Digital Camera
I have a D300...Mirror locks up 100% time and will not shoot in focused shots..BUT in Live View..will shoot perfect. Had serviced..shutter replaced of 12/09...but problem started back up...Shoot 10 shots..Mirror would lock UP...Then 5 mirror would lock up..and so on...NOW Mirror Stays Locked up.... IS it Shutter? Can't be..because it would NOT take a picture in Live View? HELP. thanks
@samanthas636\015\012\015\012 It's the aperture lever that has to be replaced and NIKON will do it at no cost to you.I just got mine back from NIKON's Melville Repair Center.They are great because they have backed their product and their servic ... Nikon D300 Body Only Digital Camera
My cameram each time it starts makes me have to chooose where i live the time and the month again, i just bought the camera a few months ago brand new. i did all the settings and click ok but when i power up it does th whole start up setting again, why is this happening. i tried seting to default but still nothing. i took the battery out and put it back in. still. any help would be great to ge tit to keeop the date and not start the setup again. its a casio exilim 7.2 megapixel ex-z75
The same thing is happening to me with my ex-z75. i don't know what caused it and i'm also having trouble getting it to stay. ... Casio Digital Cameras
I have a Canon Rebel XSI. Lately, when I try to turn it on, nothing happens. I know there's a charged battery -- two, actually, because there's a battery grip. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. And sometimes the white balance button will flash repeatedly, even when the power is set to off. I've tried it without a lens. I've tried it without the grip. I've cleaned the gold contacts around the lenses and batteries. Any help would be appreciated.
Try replacing the battery. If that not works then go to any service centre and try removing the static charges. ... Canon EOS Rebel XSi Digital Camera
I was at a game shooting pictures with my Canon rebel EOS xsi a friend picked up the camera... started shooting pictures and when he handed the camera back the autofocus wasn't working and the shutter would only occasionally close. How do I get back to the original manufacturers settings... I think he may have played with the buttons when he was trying to get the shot... so th setting may be off... I'd like go back to the original setting and try it from there
Restoring the default settings is pretty easy.Please refer to page 100 of this manual(right-click here and click save target as to download) ... Canon EOS 400D / Rebel XTi Digital Camera
I have a Canon PowerShot S5 IS, and a few months ago I started getting a lense error whenever I went into phototaking mode. Every once-in-a-while when I went into the "view pictures" mode, the lense would retract itself, but when I tried to take pictures again, the lense would go out and "lense error. restart camera" would appear on the screen. A few weeks ago I finally got my camera fixed at a shop. I got the camera back and used it for about a week, now the same problem is happening. I've
HelloThe problem is that the lens has become stuck in the barrel. There are some DIY solutions you could try, but the \012probability is that you will have to get it fixed by a professional. ... Canon PowerShot S5 IS Digital Camera
My Samsung NX200 camera keeps freezing on playback and I have to take the battery out and put it back in again to start it up again.
... Samsung Nx200 20. mp Digital Slr Camera 16gb Kit
I have a panosonic TZ3 and i can not upload the JPG or video image files to my imac. I have followed all instructions and even when the computer is turned off camera will not mount or activate an untitled folder to the desk top when using the usb connection and turning the computer back on. the mode dial on the camera is set to play back but nothing happens. Would appreciate any advice!
Use a card reader to download your pictures to a folder you create on your desktop. ... Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 Digital Camera
I am traveling through Brazil with my Nikon Coolpix S220. I had it in a ziploc bag in my sports bra. I took it out and started to look at photos when the screen turned white with gray lines. I continued to take pictures w/out the screen working and uploaded them. They appeared fine. The next day when I turned the camera on, the screen was still white and now the on button started to flash. It would not take any pictures. Now it won't even turn on. Is there anything I can do? I am traveling for t
Hi there, some how the the screen pressed and the LCD get damaged.\015\012After that you use is continue. You are lucky because camera does not sense the damaged parts. But now your camera memory detect the LCD is damaged & stop working. Th ... Nikon Digital Cameras
Two days ago, I took pics with my Samsung NV3. Pics showed up on the display just fine. I turned camera off, put it in a case and in my purse. Yesterday, the camera would not even turn on. I fully charged the battery and put it back in the camera. Still the camera won't even turn on. What's up?
One of the solder joint (contacts) inside the camera was probably defective and is not making contact anymore, therefore the camera is not starting.\015\012\015\012Check camera warranty status. If warranty is OK, then contact Samsung and have t ... Samsung NV3 Digital Camera
I have a Canon sd630.The camera works great except that it won't remember its settings. Upon turning on the camera,it would say it's in manual mode, but if I change it to automatic and then turn it off. It would be back in manual mode again. I have reset the camera and even taken apart to replaced the internal battery. Still no luck. Appreciate any help. f.y.i I have tried looking for a firmware update, but no luck either. I was wondering if I could flash my camera with the sd500 firmware? I ju
Try to follow the route up the circuit from the battery on the motherboard.\015\012maybe the battery is ok but the power not rich to the mother board or memory chip.\015\012take more attention on the connectors. ... Canon PowerShot SD630 Digital ELPH / IXUS 65 Digital Camera


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Conical flask holding green liquid
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You never know where you'll stumble across Civil War material. I came across some interesting info at the National Music Museum, which has a short bio of Avery Brown, said to be the youngest man (boy?) to enlist during the war.
Although they seldom rate a mention, musicians were an important part of the army. The long roll got men ready for battle, their drums kept time for the march and attack, and the bands lifted the spirits of the men. Although they did not fight their lives were far from being "bombproof." They were expected to act as stretcher bearers, which often led them up to the front lines.
The museum also has a collection of Civil War instruments on display, as well as a bass drum that belonged to the Pennsylvania Bucktails, and a violin played by a New York officer on which he carved his wife's name.
Much more information on Civil War bands, with photos, on this very informative web page. Did you know that by the end of 1861 the Union army had 618 bands comprised of some 28,000 musicians?
Here's a band from a Zouave unit—the 114th Pennsylvania—taken at Petersburg in 1864.
***Check out the Siege of Petersburg Online for daily posts on battle accounts in newspaper articles, diary entries, letters and more!
What are your Top 10 Gettysburg Books? See what a panel of bloggers said recently.
Want to read some interesting Civil War content from amateurs and pros alike? Check out the Top 10 Civil War Blogs and Top 10 Civil War Blogs: 11-20.


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Microsoft: Windows 10 builds soon get new features
Microsoft will soon again make new features in Windows 10. The software company on Wednesday released a new version for Insiders, but which only includes optimizations under the hood and no new features.
The optimizations are in OneCore, says the company. OneCore is the 'core' which is the Windows versions on all devices, including desktops, tablets, smartphones and the Xbox One, share. Build 11 099 is an update to users in the so-called 'fast', but the option for quick updates of the possibility that the builds have big bugs.
Microsoft said earlier that the Fast Ring updates would contain more bugs and that shows. Because there are problems logging on Citrix XenDesktop, Microsoft recommends that users of them to step up to the Slow Ring. Also crashes may occur in applications that use Flash, such as Skype.
Microsoft says it builds again in a few major new features expected in Windows 10. A few days ago the Redmondse software maker released an update to its smartphone operating system Windows 10 Mobile.Viewing:-316
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