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Conventional MedicineIn this tradition CFIDS is considered a complex chronic illness for which there is currently no medical cure. There are drug treatments for specific symptoms, but no one treatment has been found successful for the syndrome as a whole. The greatest hope from the point of view of conventional medicine is for research to find a single cause, such as a virus, for which a drug can then be developed.
Chinese Medicine From the perspective of Chinese medicine, CFIDS is considered a "chi deficiency" disease. "Chi" is the vital energy or life force that enlivens the human being and energizes our healing processes. Treatment may involve acupuncture and Chinese herbs, for the purposes of building and harmonizing chi. The hope is that with the proper restoration and balance of chi flowing through the body, healing will then take place naturally as the body's various systems come back into harmony.
Ayurveda This is the health care tradition of India, and has been popularized in the U.S. by Deepak Chopra, M.D. It holds that CFIDS is a result of imbalances in our vital energy caused by inappropriate diet, stress, and build-up of toxins in the body. The main treatments in Ayurveda are a diet that is individually tailored according to your unique energetic nature (your "dosha"), ayurvedic herbs, detoxification, and stress reduction practices such as meditation.Naturopathic MedicineNaturopaths usually view CFIDS as a result of nutritional deficiencies, poor digestion, build-up of toxins in the body, and possibly infection with yeasts and intestinal parasites. They use a combination of herbal medicines, nutritional supplements, dietary therapy, hydrotherapy, exercise, and stress reduction practices. Some naturopaths are also trained in other traditions. Rather than treating disease, their focus is on strengthening the body's resistance to illness so the body can heal itself.HomeopathyHomeopathy is not as concerned with the name of the disease as with observing the unique pattern of symptoms in the individual patient. After this close observation, a homeopathic remedy is selected. Two people with CFIDS may get entirely different remedies. The remedies are extremely dilute quantities of natural substances, in tiny pills. They work by subtly provoking or stimulating the body's healing responses to a higher level.
Mind/Body MedicinePractitioners of mind/body medicine may be physicians, therapists, or any other health care discipline. It has been found to effectively reduce the pain of fibromyalgia, and improve immune functioning p; such as increase natural killer cell function which is depressed in CFIDS. It uses meditation, relaxation training, imagery, biofeedback and breath therapy. One of the advantages of mind/body medicine is that it can be used easily at home in the form of daily self-healing practices.
Osteopathic MedicineOsteopaths (D.O.'s) are fully licensed physicians like M.D.'s. Their training is the same, except that they receive additional training in therapeutic manipulation of the musculoskeletal system. Many osteopaths practice conventional medicine only. Some however specialize in manipulative therapies, and research has found osteopathic manipulation helpful with fibromyalgia. Some also use other forms of natural medicine.
ChiropracticChiropractors primarily treat the health of the body through spinal manipulation. Such manipulation improves the functioning of the nervous system, which is a key to health in all the body's organs and tissues. Regarding CFIDS, the hope is that by improving the flow of energy through the nervous system, the body's healing mechanisms, including the immune system, will restore harmony and work more effectively.Massage Therapy & BodyworkThese therapies are effective in relieving stress that is held in the body, improving blood and lymph circulation, and creating an overall feeling of well-being. They can also help to remove blockages to the flow of vital energy through the body in the form of muscular tension and holding patterns. Research is underway at the University of Miami in the effects of massage therapy for CFIDS.
How Do We Choose?Given all these options, how do you choose what's right for you? Every healthcare tradition has its advocates who will passionately argue that theirs is the best approach, superior to the others. However, with CFIDS, the reality is that people have been helped by all of the above traditions. With each and every approach, there are former PWC's who will tell you they owe their recovery to it.In my experience, the best advice is to be open to trying a variety of approaches. If one tradition doesn't seem to help, don't give up and consider yourself untreatable. Different traditions work for different people. An integration of two or more traditions may prove to be the best answer for you. Fortunately, in America today we are blessed with an abundance of health care options.To learn more about alternative medicine, see my new book, The American Holistic Health Association Complete Guide to Alternative Medicine (WarnerBooks, January 1996).


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subset: commoncrawl


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Dec. 8, 2006
The Lipscomb Bisons got better as a basketball team, but they would have liked to have added a win to go along with that improvement.
Thursday night at Memorial Gym the Bisons fell 59-50 to Vanderbilt University in the first meeting for the two teams in men's basketball since 1955. It was the second game for the Bisons against a Southeastern Conference school this season. They have one more, a trip to Alabama on Dec. 29.
"We are young program trying to build our identity," Lipscomb coach Scott Sanderson said. "Playing a school like Vanderbilt is a great plus for us. I wanted to win the game, but our players learned a lot from this game. I think they got better. I was proud of our effort. Hopefully, they can continue to build on this game."
The Bisons played a solid first half shooting 40.7 percent from the field. The Bisons held Vanderbilt to 30 percent from the field (9-of-30) and went into their dressing room at intermission with a 27-21 advantage.
"I definitely thought we had a chance at it after the first half," Sanderson said. "We had the tempo of the game exactly where we wanted it for a long time. We wanted to run when we could. We wanted to be selective on our shot selection.
"We were on offense in the first half for 13 or 14 minutes. In the second half we were on offense maybe eight minutes."
In the second half the Bisons shooting went cold, hitting 33.3 percent (8-of-24). Vanderbilt shot 45.5 percent (10-of-22).
"I liked our shots in the first half," Sanderson said. "But we didn't get quality shots in the second half. We have to get Brian Fisk and Eddie Ard better looks at the basket."
The Bisons lost the battle of the boards 37-27 after holding a 20-16 first half edge.
"They out-rebounded us by 14 in the second half including eight offensive rebounds," Sanderson said. "We told our players at halftime that Vanderbilt was going to be crashing the boards. They shot it and they went and got it in the second half."
But the biggest stat for Vanderbilt in the second half was their 15-of-18 performance at the free throw line as Vanderbilt did not score a field goal until almost six minutes into the second half.
"You lose games on the road at the free throw line," Sanderson said.
Ard led the Bisons in scoring with 14 points. Point guard Trey Williams added 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Vanderbilt guard Derrick Byars scored a game-high 18 points and hauled in a game-high nine rebounds. Forward Ross Neltner added 13 points.
Ard, Williams, Brian Fisk and Jason Hopkins all played more than 30 minutes. Only one Vanderbilt player played more than 30.
"I thought we got tired," Sanderson said. "We stopped moving, We settled for contested threes which is not good. Some of our guys played too many minutes which is my fault. We have to continue build our bench and play some our players four or five minutes less."
The Bisons are 6-3 overall. Vanderbilt is 4-3.
The Bisons are taking a few days off for final exams. They return to action at Allen Arena Dec. 14 when Nichols State visits.
"We have to roll up our sleeves and get back to work," Sanderson said.


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The Israeli soldier at the controls of the bulldozer that crushed the pro-Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie
told a court today that the first time he saw her was when fellow
protesters were already tending to her dying body in the dirt.
Giving evidence for more than four hours in the civil case brought by Corrie's family against the state of Israel,
the former soldier repeatedly insisted that had not seen the
23-year-old American standing in front of his 66-tonne Caterpillar
bulldozer before she was fatally hit.
"I didn't see her before the incident," he told the court in Haifa. "I saw people pulling the body out from under the earth."
soldier, named only as YB, gave evidence from behind a screen after a
ruling by the judge for "security reasons". A gagging order was imposed
on identifying details, although it was disclosed in court that YB is a
38-year-old Russian immigrant who learned Hebrew after arriving in
Israel at the age of 23 and now works for a food processing company.
Corrie family had requested that they be given dispensation to see YB
give evidence, which was refused. "I do feel that the state of Israel is
saying [we] are security risks and I am affronted by that," Cindy
Corrie, Rachel's mother, said after the hearing. "I wanted to be able to
see the whole person, not just hear the words."
Rachel Corrie was protesting against the demolition by the Israeli military of Palestinian houses in Gaza
when she was crushed to death in March 2003. An internal military
investigation concluded that no charges should be brought and the case
was closed.
YB, who was in communication with his unit command and
a second bulldozer on the scene, told the court that he was told
through his headphones that he had hit someone. "I reversed … There was
this thought that something wasn't right … It looked like I hit
someone. I didn't understand what had happened."
In evidence that
frequently contradicted his own earlier affidavits, YB said he reversed
the bulldozer 25-30 metres. "After I reversed I saw they took out a
body." He was "absolutely certain" Corrie's body was between the
bulldozer and a mound of earth he had been ordered to flatten,
contradicting earlier evidence given by two other military witnesses.
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if anyone from his unit went to the aid of the fatally injured
protester, YB said: "No, we weren't allowed to leave [the vehicle]."
Asked why he didn't call a military ambulance over his radio, he said:
"That's not my level of command."
He recalled being warned that
morning that there were civilian protesters in the area, and some might
be armed. "Did you see any of them armed?" asked Hussein Abu Hussein,
the family's lawyer. "I can't answer that, I don't remember," said YB.
Abu Hussein asked: "Did they carry anything that made them look like
terrorists?" YB said: "They carried a loudspeaker and a sign."
"Did you suspect they were dangerous?" YB said: "I suspect everyone."
had offered no explanations, said Abu Hussein. "You continued driving
forward, you pushed the dirt and you buried her. You didn't see anyone.
You have no explanation of how [Corrie] was killed."
After the
hearing, the lawyer told reporters: "The more we hear the more the
impression is that someone tried to whitewash what happened."
Corrie said she was "glad to get this day behind me". Although the
driver was a key witness, she said, "my sense is that there are other
people on the ground and in the rear who also have responsibility and
were giving orders, and allowed these things to happen to Rachel and
continue to happen".
She had brought the book of her daughter's
writing to court, she said. "I wanted to keep Rachel's humility and
compassion for everyone in my heart today, but it was very hard as I did
not hear one word of remorse from this witness today. That saddens me."


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Prep schools succumbing to more than economic reality
In recent weeks the yobiko Yoyogi Seminar announced that it would be closing 20 of its 27 schools nationwide by March of next year. The reason is clear and has been for years: enrollment is dropping with no bottom in sight.
The term "yobiko" is sometimes translated as "cram school" and sometimes as "prep school," and so they tend to be mixed up with juku, another education-related term translated as "cram school." Practically speaking there is no real difference, since both forms of enterprise prepare students to take entrance tests for higher institutions of learning. But juku tend to be associated with elementary school and junior high school students, while yobiko are more often attended by high school students who want to get into name universities.
Just as often they are used by high school graduates who are doing the same. Since these grads are not attending a for-credit school at the time, they are referred to as ronin, the word that described masterless samurai in the past. And in a sense it is the loss of ronin that made Yoyogi Seminar realize its future was in jeopardy. This past spring, according to the education ministry, 80,000 ronin took college entrance tests. In 1994, the number was 280,000.
The obvious reason for the loss of ronin is that the so-called "narrow gate" for entering universities has widened over the years. As the birthrate continues to remain low the number of available students has dwindled, and at the same time the number of universities has actually increased, from 552 20 years ago to 781 as of the beginning of this year. Schools, especially those lower on the prestige scale, are desperate for paying students and thus have eased requirements for admission. Some don't even require tests any more, but accept recommendations or school performance records. And without the entrance testing system most yobiko have no reason to exist.


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Home >> Course Descriptions >> College of Business Administration
Managerial Finance.
Three semester hours.
An examination of short-term as well as long-term managerial financial decision. The material to be covered will include: working capital management, capital budgeting theory and analysis, capital structure theory and decisions, and dividend theory and policy. Prerequisite: FIN 3310.
Home - General Information - Student Services -
Academic Undergraduate Regulations -
Undergraduate Degrees - Academic Graduate Regulations -
Graduate Degrees - Course Descriptions - Faculty -
Appendix A - Appendix B - Appendix C - Appendix D


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PRESSURE SWITCH 575VAC 1HP F +OPTIONSShow more characteristics >
* Price is "List Price" and may be subject to a trade discount – check with your local distributor or retailer for actual price.
Product availabilityNon-Stock - Not normally stocked in distribution facility
- Price*29.00 USD
Add to My Products Remove from My Products
The maximum number of products that can be compared is 4
Main device short nameFHG enclosure typeStandard environment enclosure indoor factory modification2-way pressure release valve product specific applicationControl small electrically driven air compressors quantity per setSet of 20 range of productSquare D Pumptrol type of packingBulk Complementary adjustable range on rising pressure100...200 psi contact code designationA600 depth2.78 in device compositionBlack cover electrical connectionScrew clamp terminal fixing modeBy brackets fluid connection type0.25 inch NPSF internal height2.8 in materials in contact with fluidNitrile (Buna-N) diaphragm maximum pressure220 psig motor power hp1.5 hp 115 V AC 1 phase2 hp 115 V AC 3 phases1 hp 460/575 V AC 3 phases2 hp 230 V AC 1 phase3 hp 230 V AC 3 phases number of poles2 permissible voltage<= 575 V AC pressure actuatorDiaphragm pressure setting range175 psi for off product weight1.13 lb(US) scale typeFixed differential switch functionDPST width3.76 in Environment approximate fixed differential35 psi NEMA degree of protectionNEMA 1 product certificationsUL listed file E12158 CCN NKPZCSA LR25490 class 3211 06 Ordering and shipping details Category21531 - 9013 FHG (BULK PACK - DISCOUNT CP7) Discount ScheduleCP7 GTIN00785901746102 Nbr. of units in pkg.20 Package weight(Lbs)0.87 ReturnabilityN Country of originMX Offer Sustainability California proposition 65WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals including: - - - - - - - Substance 1Lead and lead compounds, which is known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. - - - - - - - More informationFor more information go to www.p65warnings.ca.gov Contractual warranty Warranty period18 months
Technical FAQsNo results found.Unfortunately, related FAQs are unavailable due to temporary technical issues. Please try again later.


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Very mellow, enjoyable
More posts
- 2012 Oakridge Winery 'Old Zin Vines' - Lodi Zinfandel. Very Jammy, chocolate and coffee notes. OK. Casual & versatile.
- Old Zin Vines by Oak Ridge Winery called Lodi Zin (Zinfandel) from Lodi, CA *Berry flavor
- Incredible red zin, hints of mocha a berry. LOVE THIS! But almost $20, only for special occasions.
- Wine place Santa Ana
- Oak Ridge OZV. An amazing and full bodied wine. I am a wine club member at this fabulous Lodi-based winery.


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Insurance News
August 09, 2011
High-risk health insurance pool reduces rates by nearly 25 percent
Coverage available for Missourians with pre-existing conditions
Jefferson City, Mo. - Missouri's new high-risk health insurance pool is offering a significant reduction in rates. The board of directors of the Missouri Health Insurance Pool has announced a 23 percent reduction in rates for new and existing policyholders in its federally funded pool.
The pool guarantees health coverage for Missourians with pre-existing medical conditions, many of whom are unable to buy a policy from private insurance companies. The pool is funded by an $81 million federal grant, and has been operated by MHIP since July 2010.
"Our aggressive rate reduction is intended to make this much-needed health coverage more affordable," said John M. Huff, director of the Missouri Department of Insurance and an MHIP board member. "This pool is now insuring more than 550 Missourians who previously had no health coverage because they could not find affordable coverage in the commercial market. This premium reduction will make comprehensive health care coverage more accessible to Missourians with pre-existing medical conditions."
Huff says monthly premiums range from $137 to $601, depending on the consumer's age and which deductible is chosen. In addition to the federal grant, the program is funded by premiums paid by policyholders. No state funds are used by the pool.
To be eligible for the federally funded pool, applicants must be Missouri residents, have a pre-existing medical condition and be uninsured for at least six months.
Consumers can apply online for insurance coverage at mhip.org or by calling toll-free 800-821-2231.
This new pool is the second operated by MHIP in Missouri. Since 1991, MHIP has run a high-risk pool for Missourians, established by state law. The state pool has more than 4,100 members. That pool is funded by premiums paid by policyholders and by fees assessed on health insurance companies operating in Missouri.
MHIP is governed by a nine-member board of directors, appointed by the director of the Missouri Department of Insurance. The current board represents a broad cross-section of stakeholders, including the insurance director, insurers, consumer advocates and health care providers.
About the Missouri Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions & Professional Registration
The Missouri Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions and Professional Registration (DIFP) is responsible for consumer protection through the regulation of financial industries and professionals. The department's seven divisions work to enforce state regulations both efficiently and effectively while encouraging a competitive environment for industries and professions to ensure consumers have access to quality products.


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Source: http://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1053624881354449
* To download right click on the button and select save as.
DownFacebook is a free online Facebook Video Downloader. This tool generate video download link to save Facebook videos online without any install required. Video download is available in two resolution wherever available i.e. High-Definition (HD) videos and Standard-Definition (SD) videos. HD videos are better than SD videos in terms of quality and also bulkier in file size.
Both formats can be played on wide range of devices like MAC, PC, laptop, mobiles, etc. Download links may be served via SSL (HTTPs) protocol for better security Each link is valid for 3 hours maximum after that it will expire and not work. To download video again, simply enter the FB video URL in the input box above and generate the download link by clicking on 'Download' button. Download service is totally free and there is no limit on the number of downloads
Copyright content: All the videos and another related content are hosted on Facebook.com. If you are a company that want to ask us to remove any video found on this site, please refer to original fan page or user page on Facebook.com, and use this form to complete a copyright claim (attach the video link: http://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1053624881354449). Once the affected video is deleted on Facebook.com, it will dissapear from our site because we are just linking the Facebook.com video content on the fly. We are not the owners of the fan pages or user pages that upload the content to Facebook.com, We can't delete videos on Facebook.com.


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Meet at the Information Desk for a tour of the highlights of the permanent collection of paintings and sculpture led by one of our friendly, knowledgeable docents. No reservations are required.
Meet at the special exhibition entrance for a guided tour of The Polaroid Project. This exhibition surveys the history of the innovative photographic company Polaroid and its intersection with art, science, and technology during the second-half of the twentieth century. Featuring a wide-ranging group of artists, the exhibition showcases the diversity of works produced over several decades.
Prior to the program, read Thor Hanson's The Triumph of Seeds: How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, and Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History (2016). During the program, readers and museum educators gather in the galleries and discuss the book's connection with the photography exhibition Dornith Doherty: Archiving Eden.
Refreshments will be provided after the discussion.
The first twenty registrants receive a free copy of the book. Registration is required. Registration for this program opens July 1. Call 817.989.5013 or email email@example.com to register and get information on receiving your book.


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Published in partnership with the Association for Feminist Anthropology, Gender and Race Through Education and Political Activism: The Legacy of Sylvia Helen Forman is edited by Dena Shenk. Purchase the book at a special AAA member rate of $10.00.
Highlights of the book include:
On Sylvia Forman, Intellectual Progeny, and American Struggles: An Overview – Kay B. Warren
`Verticality': Concept and Practice, Past and Future – Sylvia Helen Forman
Conflict, Coffee, Cattle and Corn: Inversion of Gender through Development in Rural Honduras – Libbet Crandon-Malamud
Planning and Training to Improve Service Delivery for Older African American – Sue Perkins Taylor
The Politics of Advocacy in Anthropology: Organizing the Human Rights and Environment Study – Barbara Rose Johnston
Women's Groups in Belize, Central America: The Quest for Female Autonomy – Irma McClaurin
Hear You Tell It: Teaching Anthropology in Prison – David Glyn Nixon
See the Table of Contents for complete details.


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Staff writer
Paige Booten of rural Goessel enrolled at Tabor College this year because she really liked the community feel of the campus when she visited prior to her making her college choice. The people she met convinced her Tabor was the place for her.
"All the people I met here were so friendly," she said. "They made me feel like I was more than just a number. They cared about who I was as a person and wanted to help me grow."
Booton was one of 613 students who enrolled at Tabor College's Hillsboro campus this year. With an additional 155 students enrolled at Tabor College's Wichita campus, the total 768 students create a historic high for the college.
"For the past five years, more and more students have sought out Tabor College, both in Hillsboro and Wichita because of the rich learning environment in a decidedly Christian atmosphere," Tabor College President Jules Glanzer said.
Tabor College Wichita experienced a 27 percent increase from 2011 enrollment.
Wichita campus student Anna Lena Schneider of Bison said she enrolled at Tabor because of their online advanced nursing degree program.
"I live in a rural area near Hays," Schneider said. "I work full time as a nurse and seriously checked out all my options for getting my advanced degree. Others were either way too pricey or so unorganized; I would wait for days to get an answer to my questions. Tabor has the program set up so that I didn't have to worry about getting the right classes; they planned it all out for me. They even automatically shipped the right books I needed to my door."
Schneider said she really appreciated the quick and personal service she got when asking questions and investigating Tabor College.
"These people are so personable," she said. "I think it really is a reflection of their Christian background. They really do seem to care about me."
Dorothy Deckert, director of the nursing program at Tabor's Wichita campus said Tabor's BSN degree program was special because classes could be set up to completed online, or tailored to meet students' needs with only morning classes or evening classes.
"We've made it possible for returning adults who want to complete their degree to be able to fit it in with an already full-time job or family responsibilities," Deckert said. "The federal government is pushing by 2020 to have all registered nurses also earn a bachelor of science in nursing degree. We are one of the few programs that offer that online."
Glanzer said recruitment was a joint effort at the college, in which faculty, staff, student life, and facilities all played important parts.
"The enrollment management team with the leadership of Rusty Allen (vice president) has worked hard to bring this about. A record enrollment means that we have the opportunity to impact more lives that can go into the world and influence it to be more of what God intended it to be."
On the Hillsboro campus, there are 279 students from Kansas, with 32 additional states represented. There are 17 international students from six countries. The top four states sending students to Tabor College include Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas, and California.


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Google launched a new logo on Thursday, following in the footsteps of Yahoo and Bing.
The new logo looks much like the old one, except the company did away with the textured font, creating a flatter look. The colors are brighter and some of the shading was removed.
"As part of this design, we've also refined the color palette and letter shapes of the Google logo," the company said in a blog post.
The search giant also freshened up their Google bar for a more "streamline" experience across products and devices.
Earlier this month, Yahoo adopted a new logo for the first time since the company's founding 18 years ago.


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The Internal Security Assessor program teaches you how to perform internal assessments for your company and recommend solutions to remediate issues related to PCI DSS compliance. Assessors are sponsored by their companies, so when you receive this qualification you will be able to act as a liaison with external PCI auditors and manage interactions with a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA).
Benefits of the course include:
You are an experienced internal auditor, or an internal security or risk assessment professional at a retailer, institution, acquiring bank or processor.
"The instructor did an excellent job, I highly recommend him for all future trainings."
"Loved the training. I learned a lot and made many notes on what I need to do for 2013 SAQ."
"PCI isn't the most exciting or entertaining material. With the instructor's humor and real world experience, learning PCI and how to be an ISA was a good experience."
Internal Security Assessor (ISA) training is a two-part program. The first is a seven-hour prerequisite course and exam about PCI Fundamentals. It's followed by an in-depth course (that can be taken via either instructor-led or online eLearning format) and exam.
PCI Fundamentals assures that all candidates attending the ISA training course have the same baseline understanding. The PCI Fundamentals course must be completed within thirty days of initial access and a minimum of one week prior to the start of an on-site training class. This prerequisite course covers:
Candidates who successfully complete the prerequisite PCI Fundamentals course may move on to the ISA qualification course. This course builds on the knowledge gained in PCI Fundamentals and delves into the actual PCI DSS requirements, testing procedures, compliance reports and more. The Internal Security Assessor course covers:
The instructor-led course includes case studies providing a simulation of assessment scenarios that may help you in solving common problems within your own payment environment.
Prior to beginning the PCI Fundamentals training, you should familiarize yourself with these publications on the PCI website:
The online prerequisite course concludes with a 60 question multiple-choice exam. Once the candidate has completed the PCI Fundamentals training and exam, the Primary Contact will be notified of either a passing or failing grade. If the candidate failed the exam, he or she will be allowed two additional attempts to take and pass without being charged an additional fee.*
*If the candidate receives a failing grade for the PCI Fundamentals course after the third attempt, his or her seat at the instructor-led session will be forfeited. If he or she wishes to try again, the candidate will be required to pay the full course fee for a second time and receive a passing grade in the PCI Fundamentals course to be allowed to attend the two-day instructor-led session. There will be no exceptions made and by paying the invoice, you agree to these terms.
This two-day classroom instruction provides:
Taking the exam - The certification exam is given immediately following the instructor-led course. The only document you will be allowed to reference during the testing is a translation dictionary, if needed. No electronic devices may be used during the exam. This is a closed book exam. The exam consists of 75 multiple choice questions. You will have 90 minutes to complete it.
The Primary Contact at the Sponsor Company will be notified of results within two weeks after the ISA candidate attends the instructor-led PCI SSC ISA training and exam. Candidates who fail this exam may pay $165 and retake the exam at a Pearson VUE Testing Center within 30 days of failing status notification. Candidates who wish to enroll in a second class will be required to pay the full costs for the chosen location and will be required to retake and pass PCI Fundamentals. If the candidate passes, the Sponsor Company will be sent a certificate that validates the candidate's active ISA status for the next 12 months.
This self-paced online eLearning course offers:
Taking the exam - Upon completion of the eLearning curriculum, the student will take the qualification exam at one of over 4,000 Pearson VUE Testing Centers worldwide. The student will receive a voucher number to be redeemed in Pearson VUE's online registration system; testing location and time are selected by the student. The exam must be completed in one sitting and must be taken within 90 days of the candidate being given the information on how to schedule the exam.
Candidates who fail this exam may pay $165 and retake the exam at a Pearson VUE Testing Center within 30 days of failing status notification. If the candidate fails the second exam, he/she is required to pay for and retake the entire course, including PCI Fundamentals, in either instructor-led or eLearning format.Find a Testing Center
If you have a group to train, please consider our Corporate Group Training instructor-led option, where an expert PCI instructor comes to your facility (or any location you choose) to deliver the course. We offer volume discounts - the more you train, the more you save! Please click below to learn more, or contact us now for a custom quote.Learn More Contact Us
In addition to an eLearning format available 24/7, the Council also offers scheduled two-day instructor-led classes.
Registrants must have significant relevant security audit and assessment experience (including but not limited to Network Security, Application Security and Consultancy, System Integration, and Auditing). A minimum of five years experience is recommended.
Complete and Submit an Application
ISA training candidates must be sponsored by their employer.
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Phoenix: Burgers and Duck Fat Fries Done Right at The Wright Bar
The Wright Bar
2400 East Missori Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 850161 (map); 602-381-7632; arizonabiltmore.com
Cooking method: Grilled
Short Order: A delicious, super-sized premium burger that's more than large enough to share
Want Fries With That? Yes! The thin-cut fries are pretty much perfect, and they come standard
Price: The Biltmore Burger, $15.85
With 32 acres of gardens and inspiring architecture, Arizona Biltmore is a destination onto itself. The fact that several of the on-site restaurants serve a solid (and substantial!) premium burger only sweetens the deal. If you visit for lunch, I'd stick with sitting indoors to escape the sometimes searing heat, but for dinner, there's no better place to mow down a Biltmore Burger than on the patio of The Wright Bar.
Just check out the view and you'll see why I'm advocating for an outdoor seat.
Now, on to the burger. Official word from the kitchen is that it's eight ounces, but that might be after cooking. It could just as easily be 10. The patty is crafted from a blend of Black Angus chuck, short rib, and brisket from Creekstone Farms. You might balk at the price—nearly $16—but considering the fact that the burger is more than large enough to share, comes with a bucket-sized portion of fries, and you get to eat it while staring, slack-jawed, at some gorgeous scenery, it's a bargain.
The loosely-formed Angus beef gets a nice speckling of char from the grill while remaining moist and juicy inside. It has a classically beefy flavor: rich and fatty, with just the right amount of seasoning. Underneath the beef, there are the standard lettuce, tomato, and onion—all crisp and fresh—and a pickle spear on the side. The bun is soft, yet sturdy, and holds up to the beef juices to the last bite. I'd call this one a classic burger done to exacting standards. And we haven't even begun to discuss the fries.
Oh, the fries. The thin-cut, skin-on, duck fat-poached, sea salted fries. You want these. Luckily, they come standard, and are generously portioned. There are enough to share, but I'd still get protective of them if there's more than one other person at your table. Once you taste them, it's impossible to stop. The flavor of the crisp, salty spuds completely obliterates even the strongest willpower. A carb coma is pretty much inevitable, especially when combined with one of the bar's potent cocktails, so you might want to choose a table with high-backed chairs. After all those fries and a good-sized slosh of booze, you'll need the extra support.
Love hamburgers? Then you'll Like AHT on Facebook! And go follow us on Twitter while you're at it!
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The Smell of Deceit
Over at Greg Sargent's blog, Adam Serwer (who also blogs at the American Prospect) has a good post up on the GOP reaction to President Obama's executive order requiring contractors who do business with the federal government to disclose their political donations.
I predicted the GOP would react this way in an earlier post, but I didn't expect the additional layer of irony that is John Yoo arguing for "a right to political privacy" in the Wall Street Journal. John Yoo, you'll recall, is the guy who said the President could order a village massacred. He's the guy who wrote the torture memos and argued that the fourth amendment doesn't apply to the War on Terror. That exemption was the basis for the warrantless wiretapping program exposed by the New York Times in 2005. And the final sign that Yoo is way out on a limb here is simply that Justice Antonin Scalia disagrees with him:
[R]unning a democracy takes a certain amount of civic courage. And the First Amendment does not protect you from criticism or even nasty phone calls when you exercise your political rights…
So, to recap, according to John Yoo, the American people don't have any right to privacy. The government can seize your phone records, lock you away forever, have you tortured, and whatever else seems like it might stop the terrorists. But should Uncle Sam ask contractors that stand to benefit financially from their campaign donations to disclose who they're giving to–well, that would be government overreach.
Since this issue is complicated, let me boil it down to a few key facts:
- The Supreme Court has explicity rejected the argument that disclosure "chills speech." When you speak using your voice, people know that it's you speaking. The same should be true when you speak using your money.
- In Citizens United v. FEC, the Supreme Court specifically called for disclosure: "[w]ith the advent of the Internet, prompt disclosure of expenditures can provide shareholders and citizens with the information needed to hold corporations and elected officials accountable for their positions and supporters… citizens can see whether elected officials are 'in the pocket' of so-called moneyed interests."
- The Republican Party has blocked off all other avenues for protecting disclosure. The DISCLOSE Act "failed" in the Senate, as a 59-39 majority in favor of it was insuffient to overcome a Republican filibuster. And our General Counsel has written extensively about the way in which the 3-3 Republican-Democrat split in the FEC has rendered the body impotent. The executive order was hardly the preferred option.
Those three facts and the choice of John Yoo as messenger should tell you everything you need to know about the sincerity, coherence and good intentions that underlie the GOP's position on disclosure.
Read the editorial, it's a masterwork of mendacity, a cavalcade of calumnies, a fraudulent fantasy penned by a man who shouldn't have an iota of credibility on matters of speech, privacy or democracy. On a personal note, I find the sickest thing about Yoo's editorial to be its view that the assault, imprisonment and murder of Civil Rights supporters and disclosure laws are equally injurious to our democracy. Taking a beating in the press is in no way the same as actually taking a beating.


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Menuet is now Charityware. This means that you can download/register Menuet as you like, but will also remember to donate to a charity of your choice in the near future. Click here to find out more.
Menuet is a companion to iTunes that not only offers a variety of fun and efficient alternative control methods, but also extends iTunes with some highly requested features.
Navigate through your music library... Menuet offers several effortless and alternative ways to control your music. whether by hot keys, the built-in control click menu, smart browsing,
What's New in Menuet
Requirements for MenuetMac OS X 10.4 or later
*Previously available here


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A pair of monkeys at the University of Pittsburgh have taken a major step forward in futuristic prosthetics: they can now feed themselves by controlling a robotic arm with their brains. Using primitive brain implants that record activity in the primates' motor cortex, the monkeys showed they could manipulate a robotic arm to pick up marshmallows and other tasty treats.
As Pittsburgh researchers report in this week's issue of the journal Nature, humans have shown in the past that they can move cursors on a screen using a similar brain-machine interface. But by grabbing food and bringing it to their mouths, the monkeys are paving the way towards advanced neuro-prosthetics for people with permanent paralysis. Further down the road, you even could imagine able-bodied people using the technology to manipulate robo-arms or even full exoskeletons with their thoughts.
Source: Nature via PhysOrg
Images: University of Pittsburgh, The New York Times


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The madness has already begun
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Review Date: Wednesday, October 31, 2012
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) launched the Mental Health National Anti Stigma Campaign to encourage, educate, and inspire young adults to support their friends who are experiencing mental health problems.
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How you act when you're angry can make a situation better or worse. Here are some tips to help you handle your anger in a positive way.
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Considering Ted Thompson wasn't in attendance at the recent NFL Owners Meeting earlier this week because he couldn't travel, it might be unlikely that Packers general manager attends the pro day at his alma mater at SMU on Friday.
The workout at Southern Methodist is one of three on the schedule for Friday. The others are taking place in Atlanta for Georgia Tech and Georgia State.
SMU doesn't have many top prospects in this year's draft class, but their best is probably quarterback Garrett Gilbert, who transferred from Texas earlier in his college career.
Considering the uncertainty at the Packers backup quarterback position, it's possible a player like Gilbert could interest them as an undrafted type. He has prototypical size at 6-3 and 223 lbs. and statistically had the best season of his career as a senior, completing 335 of 504 passes (66.5 percent) for 3528 yards with 21 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Other players on display at SMU include cornerback Kennth Acker and wide receiver Jeremy Johnson.
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Point of View GTX 570 TGT Ultra Charged review -
Final words and conclusion
Final words and conclusion
There's no doubt that we like the GeForce GTX 570 Turbo Charged edition from Point of View very much. The product caters that very a-typical audience, the folks that just does not want to overclock themselves, yet do yearn for the additional performance. The TC edition comes pre-overclocked and that falls within its nice 3 year warranty. As such it is a hassle free experience, you pop the card in and bam ... you gain extra performance. Make no mistake though, it is nothing you could not tweak out of a card yourself, even at default GPU voltages.
The flipside of that coin is also that the TC version will likely be 50 EUR more expensive. That's give or take 400 EUR and there, the danger lures in the fact that the GeForce GTX 580 is actually slowly coming into vicinity price wise. So pricing wise it sits smack down in the middle of the 570 and 580 reference cards. That is something you need to keep in the back of your head alright.
Now honesty, and common sense needs to be applied her as well, see there is another thing you do need to take into account, AMD is about to release their Radeon HD 6900 series graphics cards. Knowing AMD, they will match or surpass performance with hopefully an aggressive price, and that might bring some more balance and or confusion into the pricing. Who knows.
Other than that, there are just no concerns with the GTX 570 UC edition. The temperatures are an itsy bitsy high yet remain under control, the product remains darn silent and it surely offers more than plentiful game rendering performance for any game to date and then some more. High resolutions are not an issue, and combined with even the most stringent Antialiasing and image quality settings you are very safe up-to a monitor resolution of 1920x1200.
Alright, time to round up this review. The GeForce GTX 570 is just a lovely graphics card to play any game to date on. You flick on high image quality settings and can play brilliantly at say 1920x1200 with everything cranked open image quality wise.
The baseline performance level of the DirectX 11 class GeForce GTX 570 has gotten a little better with this version, it will likely attract a lot of you guys and gals. If you can find it at the right price, then we without any hesitation would like to recommend the card to you. Please do make sure you have a PC to match a card of this caliber, any decent mid-range processor from the last two years will do fine and make sure you have a power supply of 500 Watts or better. Oh, on that topic, power consumption might still be a little bit on the high side but remember, all other variables are right, heat, noise, performance and features.
The GeForce GTX 570 Turbo Charged edition graphics card from Point of View is impressive and has all the key elements and variables right, Point of View will top off your purchase with a free game as well, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction, which is a terrific game alright. So yeah, it's a keeper !
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Today a review on the ProTAB 2 XXL 10" tablet from Point of View from their Mobi range. With a price of only 169,- EUR the specs are decent enough alright. Interesting enough for graphics, the ProTab2XXL also comes with an additional MALI-400 3D graphics chip. Now we never heard of it before tbh, and very little can found about it on the web. But we can certainly measure it's performance and it does allow for FullHD playback. The Mali graphics chip even allows to drive a mini HDMI v1.4 port.
Point of View GTX 570 TGT Ultra Charged review
Today's offering is of course a GTX 570, we nicked it out of the Eindhoven warehouse from the good people at Point of View. See, their TGT team is chunking out several new SKUs based on the GTX 570. Today we'll have a peek at their Ultra Charged model. The UC version is a guaranteed stable factory overclocked product that is overclocked towards a pretty impressive value. See, the default core clock frequency of the GTX 570 is 732 MHz, the TC version is clocked at a blistering 810 MHz, which is a pretty decent overclock. Memory wise spot an increased clock frequency on that 1.2 GB GDDR5 memory as well, taken from 3800 towards 3960 MHz.
Point of View Ion 330 motherboard review
We test an ION 330 based motherboard - ION is a relatively low cost GPU assisted solution that will allow this industry on very short notice to have netbooks with full HD playback quality, in multi-channel HD audio. A solution that even supports CUDA and therefore some simple PhysX functionality, but since it's CUDA compatible, it'll also allow encoding and acceleration of popular video content. A platform that supports Gigabit Ethernet, dual-link DVI (high resolution monitors), acceleration in Photoshop CS4 and heck... you can even play a couple of games or make a mini HTPC out of it, it's just really interesting as the product might be little, yet offers a lot.
GeForce 9600 GSO 384 MB review | Point of View
NVIDIA replaced the GeForce 8800 GS with the GeForce 9600 GSO. The 9600 GSO is still based on the same G92 core with 96 stream processors that the 8800 GS has, but NVIDIA gave card makers a bit more freedom in their designs in terms of own PCB design to and determine their own clocks. This 'old' card will still have 384 MB of GDDR3 memory over a weird 192-bit memory interface. Cards like these will sell for less than 99 Euro, and considering the performance you get returned for that, you'll love it.


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South African Journal of Science
versão On-line ISSN 1996-7489
versão impressa ISSN 0038-2353
S. Afr. j. sci. vol.104 no.7-8 Pretoria Set./Ago. 2008
The spinning pipe gas lens revisited
C. MafusireI, II; A. ForbesI, II, *; G. SneddenIII; M.M. MichaelisII
ICSIR National Laser Centre, P.O. Box 395, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
IISchool of Physics, University of Kwazulu-Natal, Private Bag X54001, Durban 4000, South Africa
IIICSIR Defence Peace Safety and Security, P.O. Box 395, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
The graded index (GRIN-like) medium generated by gas inside a heated steel pipe when rotated about its longitudinal axis has the ability to focus a laser beam. While the effective focal length of such a system has previously been studied, there is little information on optical phase aberrations and no study to date on the propagation parameters of the laser beam, but has rather remained rooted in the domain of ray optics. We revisit the spinning pipe gas lens in this paper with new perspectives on the propagation of optical waves, and show how the position of the focus is not a measure of the focal length of the lens. We make use of both the intensity and phase information carried by waves to accurately measure the salient parameters of the lens, and complement our experimental findings with a computational fluid dynamics model.
The device discussed in this paper is a horizontal heated steel pipe, rotated (spun) about its horizontal axis, forming a radially-graded refractive index profile in the gas within this pipe. The profile allows for wave guiding under certain conditions, and with a judicious choice of pipe length, an output beam that converges in space can be obtained. When this happens, the system is deemed to act as a lens, and is referred to as a spinning pipe gas lens (SPGL). Interest in this type of gas lens began in the early 1960s, when scientists at Bell Laboratories developed gas lenses for use as waveguides.15 More recently, gas lenses have been proposed as the final optical device in laser fusion and laser propulsion systems, where high average flux would otherwise cause expensive damage to solid-state lenses.6 The early gas lenses did not guide beams by being spun, but rather by a laminar flow of gas that was injected axially into a heated, stationary pipe and exhausted radially.25,7,8 The concept of rotating a heated metal pipe was introduced in 1975 by Martynenko,9 who showed both theoretically and experimentally that the lens overcame the asymmetric nature of the temperature field and it removed aberrations caused by free convection.
However, most of the studies carried out at that time, and since, have concentrated on the lensing aspect alone, for example, to focus intense laser beams for the drilling of holes in metal sheets, and as telescope objectives.1014 These studies disregarded the effect the SPGL had on the wavefront of the propagating laser beam.
This paper considers the use of a ShackHartmann wavefront sensor to measure defocus on the optical wavefront. This sensor was developed by the US military as part of their adaptive optics programme. Laser light, traversing thousands of pinholes, is simultaneously sampled to yield phase shift data across the beam. The next section discusses some established theories of the SPGL as a waveguide. A calculation of focal length dependence on beam waist location based on an ABCD formulation is covered in the following section. A computational fluid dynamics model is subsequently presented to complement these findings, followed by the presentation of experimental results from a ShackHartmann wavefront sensor.
Spinning pipe gas lens
In the case of an SPGL with a density gradient which is sufficiently large, a beam propagating along the axis can be converged several times per unit distance, waveguiding it along the length. By making a judicious choice of wall temperature and pipe rotation speed, a beam will be in focus on exit, like a lens. Previous studies have shown that the SPGL imitates a graded index (GRIN) medium, with a refractive index which is maximized along the axis, and decreases parabolically with radial distance towards the walls:11,13,15,16
where r is the radial distance from the axis, γ is a radial refractive index parameter, which is a measure of the power of the SPGL, and n0 is the refractive index along the axis. The parameter γ implies that the SPGL focuses a beam g times per unit distance. This means it is possible to get either a diverging, collimating or converging laser beam after passing it through an SPGL. To obtain a converging or focused beam, the GRIN medium inside must be in the process of focusing the beam on exit, as would be the case if the SPGL terminated at point X, as shown in Fig. 1.
We started by repeating previous experiments16 with variation of the SPGL's beam waist location (the point where the beam size is a minimum) with changing pipe rotational speed at selected temperatures. The results are given in Fig. 2. The measurements were made by recording the intensity of the light after the SPGL. The data clearly indicate an inverse relationship between the pipe rotational speed and the resulting waist location. An empirical formula for the waist position, z', behind the lens was derived as:
where T represents the SPGL wall temperature in kelvin and w is the pipe rotational speed the number of revolutions of the pipe per second and is measured in hertz. The graph also shows that with increasing temperature, the beam waist moves closer to the gas lens for a given rotational speed. The same trend is noted when increasing the rotational speed at constant temperature. If the input field to the lens is large, with a small divergence, then the effective focal length of the lens will be given approximately by the new waist distance according to Equation (2). This has been the assumption in all prior work on SPGLs. But this is not generally the case, and in the next section we derive an equation for the relationship between the focal length of the lens and the waist location z .
Laser beam propagation
The relationship between the effective focal length of the SPGL and the new waist location of the beam after the lens can be found by applying the ABCD matrix representation17 of the system. Assuming a parabolic refractive index profile, a gas lens has the matrix:
for an SPGL of length L. For a laser beam of Rayleigh range z0, whose waist, of size w0, is a distance z in front of the SPGL, the corresponding output waist position and Rayleigh range, z' and , respectively, can be acquired from:17
The waist of the output laser beam, of size , is located at a distance z' and has a Rayleigh range given by for a vacuum wavelength of λ.
In this model, z' is positive or negative depending on whether the output waist is in front of or behind the SPGL, respectively. The Rayleigh range can be defined as how well a beam has been collimated; the larger it is, the more collimated is the laser beam. Equating the real parts on both sides of Equation (4), we have the relationship:
For any focusing ABCD system, the effective focal length is given by17
By combining Equations (3)(6), we derive the following expression for the focal length of the lens in terms of the input and output beam waist positions:
This is a significant result, as it exposes the deficiency in the past approach by many authors in assuming that the waist location after the lens is equivalent to the focal length of the lens. It also expresses the focal length in terms of measurable quantities, thus allowing an indirect route to determination of the focal length. This indirect route involves careful measurement of the beam intensity change during propagation after the SPGL in order to determine the new waist location. The intensity is measured and the beam size extracted at each propagation distance after the SPGL. One can determine the waist size and waist location by plotting the change in beam size with propagation distance. This approach, while very accurate, can be tedious as it requires the measurement of the beam size at numerous positions after the lens.
A more direct route is through measurement of the wavefront, or phase, of the laser beam. Lenses introduce a quadratic phase change across the wavefront of the light, the magnitude of which increases with lens strength in a well-known relationship.15,18 This wavefront curvature is termed as defocus, and is quantitatively described by the Z20 Zernike polynomial with weighting coefficient A20. Other higher-order terms also exist,19 which give rise to optical aberrations, having a deleterious affect on the propagation of the focused laser beam.
Computational fluid dynamic model
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of a simplified test system was executed using the commercial CFD code, STARCD. Assumptions included the removal of the mounts and other three-dimensional geometry features that would complicate the geometric model. The tube, however, is accurately reproduced with the further assumption that the mounts act as a heat sink and thus the tube ends are unheated. A fully transient solution is presented in which the tube is spun up from a heated steady-state buoyancy-driven solution, and held at fixed speed until a steady state has been reached.
As indicated by Figs 3 and 4, rotation of the pipe initiates a weak longitudinal flow structure by discharging air out of the end of the pipe, close to the wall, air replacement occurring at the centre. This longitudinal flow structure is an order of magnitude weaker than the rotational flow structure (depicted in an exaggerated form in Fig. 4). It develops, with longitudinal decay of this effect, towards the middle of the pipe, where a mirror-image structure from the opposite end meets it. The development of the flow structure and its influence on the focusing function can be controlled to a limited extent by the choice of pertinent parameters such as the diameter and length of the section of unheated pipe, as it is a function of boundary layer development and pipe flow theory, albeit in a complex three-dimensional flow-field, dominated by the out-of-plane rotational effect. Turbulence is modelled using the kε model,20 which involves numerical solution of two coupled equations, a turbulent kinetic energy (k) equation and an energy dissipation rate (ε) equation.
Figure 5 indicates the focusing effect caused by the interaction of the longitudinal flow structure with the thermal boundary layer of the heated pipe length. Hot gas is expelled at the outer boundaries, and cold environmental flow replaces it via the rotational axis or core of the pipe. The full thermal effect is localized to a few pipe diameters up- and downstream of the hot/cold interface at the bearing block. The initial density gradient is determined by the highly unstable interaction of buoyancy and gravitational forces, as the pipe interacts with the environment in a free convection mode. Small changes in the angle of the pipe will result in vastly different density gradients and patterns.
Examining the transient results, as the pipe settles into a near steady-state flow pattern, there is clear evidence of unsteadiness in the density pattern across the bearing block interface. This unsteadiness is caused by the relatively large rotational viscous forces created by the rotation of the pipe in relation to weak longitudinal flow. This results in a slow oscillation of the cold (denser) core around the pipe centre, rather than a perfectly symmetrical situation with the core perfectly stationary in the centre. Viewing from a strictly fluid dynamic point, it is clear that the longitudinal flow is the weakest of all the forces in the model, and yet it is this that drives the focusing function of the lens.
This gas dynamic behaviour provides an understanding of why the SPGL becomes a stronger lens, not only with a higher wall temperature, but also with a higher pipe rotational speed. As this speed increases, air is centrifuged and driven more quickly from the ends, and is also entrained further down the tube. The 'effective length' of the gas lens, namely the length over which there is an appreciable thermal gradient, increases. The gas dynamic model also explains why the SPGL, like conventional drawn-air lenses, suffers from aberrations. The approximately parabolic refractive index profile is the result of integration along the optical path length through a variety of non-parabolic sections, some more strongly differentiated than others. The ShackHartmann wavefront sensor allows one to measure the extent to which the SPGL differs from a perfect gas lens by providing inter alia a measure of all the known primary aberrations, such as tilt, defocus, coma and spherical aberration.
Wavefront measurement and results
Experimental setup
A stainless steel pipe of length L = 143 cm, with an internal diameter of 3.66 cm, was used. Ambient air was the gas phase. A heater tape was wound along a 93-cm middle section of the pipe, with bearing blocks on either side, separating the heated section from a 25-cm unheated section at each pipe end. A HeNe laser beam, expanded to about 6 mm in diameter, was directed through the gas lens. The waist position was located by observation of the distance at which the beam diameter was a minimum, inserting a removable mirror in the beam path after the lens. Without the removable mirror, the laser beam passed through the SPGL and onto the ShackHartmann sensor, from which frames were transferred to a computer for processing. The sensor was placed about 10 cm from the gas lens exit in order to obtain an accurate determination of the wavefront after the lens (optical wavefronts change during propagation, so free-space propagation was minimized). Suitable neutral density filters were used to avoid saturation of the wavefront sensor.
A non-rotating and unheated pipe was used as a reference device. The test pipe was heated successively to wall temperatures of 348 K, 373 K, 398 K and 423 K. At least 15 sets of wavefront measurements were acquired at each of the four temperatures and selected rotational speeds. These were averaged and the reference data subtracted to obtain a contribution from the SPGL alone. The experimental setup is shown in Fig. 6.
We refer to the direct measurement of the beam waist by observation of the intensity of the beam as the intensity method, whereas the indirect calculation of the new waist position by using the ShackHartmann wavefront sensor is termed the phase method. The raw wavefront data are shown in Figs 7(a) and (b), where the near-flat wavefront is observed when there is no lensing action. When the SPGL is active, the wavefront takes on a well-defined curvature associated with the defocus aberration. The magnitude of this defocus increases monotonically with both pipe-wall temperature and pipe rotational speed, as shown in Fig. 8.
The new waist location after the SPGL was determined from a wavefront measurement, and then converted into an effective focal length using Equation (7). The phase method results are shown in Fig. 9. Comparison of these results with those in Fig. 2 (intensity method) shows that the two methods (intensity and phase) are in excellent agreement. The two data sets are collated in Fig. 10 as a parametric plot, showing a close linear relationship with slope of 1. The poor agreement at long focal lengths (low rotational speeds and low pipe-wall temperatures) is probably because a weak gas lens forms in a beam with a large Rayleigh range, thus increasing the uncertainty in beam waist location. Returning to the empirical law of Equation (2), we compare the phase and intensity methods in their respective predictions (see Table 1). The two methods agree within experimental uncertainty. This validates the single measurement wavefront approach, using the phase method. The advantage of this new approach to measuring the properties of an SPGL is that all the propagation parameters and aberrations can be determined by a single measurement.
This study approaches the SPGL from a new perspective, incorporating the full laser beam propagation through the system and the resulting wavefront changes. A CFD numerical model has shown that the pipe ends contribute significantly to overall focusing, and future work could exploit this new CFD model to determine the wavefront aberrations expected from an SPGL. A direct measurement of the wavefront of the laser beam after the SPGL, using a ShackHartmann wavefront sensor, confirms the lensing capability of the gas lens, and is in good agreement with previous intensity-based methods. An analytical equation relating the focal length to the measurable waist position has been derived, and should serve as a preliminary starting point for future research on such lenses.
1. Siegman A.E. (1999). Laser beams and resonators: The 1960s. IEEE J. Special Topics Quant. Elect. 20(5), 100108. [ Links ]
2. Marcuse D. (1965). Theory of a thermal gradient gas lens. IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Technol. MMT-13(6), 734739. [ Links ]
3. Steier W.H. (1965). Measurements on a thermal gradient gas lens. IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Technol. MMT-13(6), 740748. [ Links ]
4. Gloge D. (1967). Deformation of gas lenses by gravity. Bell Sys. Tech. J. 46(2), 357365. [ Links ]
5. Kaiser P. (1967). Measured beam deformations in a guide made of tubular gas lenses. Bell Sys. Tech. J. 47, 179194. [ Links ]
6. Michaelis M.M., Kuppen M., Prause A., Forbes A., Viranna N. and Lisi N. (1996). Progress with gas lenses. Laser & Particle Beams 14(3), 473485. [ Links ]
7. Aoki Y. and Suzuki M. (1967). Imaging property of a gas lens. IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Technol. MMT-15(1), 28. [ Links ]
8. Ghatak A.K., Malik D.P.S. and Goyal I.C. (1973). Electromagnetic wave propagation through a gas lens. J. Mod. Optics 20(4), 303312. [ Links ]
9. Martynenko O.G. (1975). Aerothermooptics. Int. J. Heat Mass Transf. 18, 793796. [ Links ]
10. Michaelis M.M., Forbes A., Conti A., Nativel N, Bencherif H., Bingham R., Kellet B. and Govender K. (2006). Non-solid, non-rigid optics for high power laser systems. In Proc. High Power Laser Ablation VI, SPIE, Bellingham, ed. Claude R. Phipps, 6261, pp. 626115. Taos, New Mexico. [ Links ]
11. Michaelis M.M., Notcutt M. and Cunningham P.F. (1986). Drilling by a gas lens focused laser. Opt. Commun. 59, 369374. [ Links ]
12. Michaelis M.M., Cunningham P.F., Cazalet R.S., Waltham J.A. and Notcutt M. (1991). Gas lens applications. Laser & Particle Beams 9(2), 641651. [ Links ]
13. Michaelis M.M., Notcutt M., Cunningham P.F. and Waltham J.A. (1988). Spinning pipe gas lens. Opt. Laser Technol. 20(5), 243250. [ Links ]
14. Michaelis M.M., Dempers C.A., Kosch M., Prause A., Notcutt M., Cunningham P.F. and Waltham J.A. (1991). A gas lens telescope. Nature 353, 547548. [ Links ]
15. Forbes A. (1997). Photothermal refraction and focusing, pp. 6, 124142. Ph.D. thesis, University of Natal, Durban. [ Links ]
16. Mafusire C (2006). Gas lensing in a heated rotating pipe, pp. 2428, 50. M.Sc. thesis, University of Zimbabwe, Harare. [ Links ]
17. Gerrard A. and Burch J.M. (1975). Matrix Methods in Optics, pp. 57, 149, 156. John Wiley, London. [ Links ]
18. Mafusire C., Forbes A., Snedden G.C. and Michaelis M.M. (2007). Characterisation of a spinning pipe gas lens using a ShackHartmann wavefront sensor. In Proc. Laser Beam Shaping VIII, SPIE, Bellingham, eds F.M. Dickey and D.L. Shealy, 6663, pp. 66630H, San Diego, CA. [ Links ]
19. Mafusire C., Forbes A., Michaelis M.M. and Snedden G.C. (2008). Optical aberrations in a spinning pipe gas lens. Optics Express 16(13), 98509856. [ Links ]
20. Davison L. (2003). An Introduction to Turbulence Models. Chalmers University of Technology. Online: www.tfd.chalmers.se/~lada/postscript_files/kompen dium_turb.pdf [ Links ]
Received 12 February. Accepted 15 June 2008.
* Author for correspondence. E-mail: aforbes1 @ csir.co.za


text:
New Mardi Gras has announced the signing of a new sponsorship agreement making Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Blue Airlines Group official airlines for the Sydney event.
Virgin Blue is sponsoring the Sydney Mardi Gras
Virgin Blue Airlines group includes new long-haul international airline V Australia, long-time New Mardi Gras supporter Virgin Blue and sister airline Pacific Blue which flies to New Zealand, South-East Asia and the South Pacific Islands.
The new four year agreement, designed to target growth in visitor numbers to the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, will see the airlines assist in promoting the event across a growing network now spanning 28 Australian cities and towns and 13 international destinations including the USA, South Pacific and South-East Asian countries.
"Mardi Gras is an amazing, spectacular, international celebration and across our network our team understand the significance and importance of it," said Heather Jeffery, general manager of media and communications for the Virgin Blue Airlines Group.
"Many of our Virgin Blue team members have had enormous fun supporting Mardi Gras for the past three years. With our expanding network, we look forward to bringing more international and local visitors to experience the colour, creativity and community which underpin this iconic Sydney event," she said.
"I am so proud that Virgin Blue is back for another term and tremendously excited that V Australia has come on board," said New Mardi Gras CEO Anna McInerney.
"We have a very clear goal and that is to make the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras the world's number one gay event for the benefit of locals and visitors alike. This partnership will help us get the message out to a much bigger international audience."
"It demonstrates the value Virgin sees in the partnership it has had with New Mardi Gras over the last three years, while the addition of V Australia will mean expanded support in international markets.
"Through this exciting new partnership, patrons will be able to access a range of great flight options through Virgin Blue, V Australia and Pacific Blue.
"We will be encouraging people to fly with New Mardi Gras friendly airlines and Virgin Blue and V Australia's booking facilities will be easily accessible via the New Mardi Gras website so that patrons can easily find flight prices and times for their trip to Sydney.
In August, Events NSW research showing that Mardi Gras brought over 21,000 visitors into New South Wales in 2009, generating almost $30 million in new money for the State. Of these visitors New Mardi Gras estimates that just under half are international travelers with the US and UK each accounting for just under a third of the total.


text:
|2006-12-02, 23:21
|Link #2021
Name means little...
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Dec 2004
The cheesiness of that 'QUALITY' translation by MOMO is beyond belief. I can't stand how the attacks were named at all...
with Haruhi, the 'H' remains, albeit the connection is weakened. At any rate, I understand that Japanese actually don't have alot of liberty with the Kanji subset that can be used for naming their children, not because the kanji doesn't exist but because from I remember they can only select from a preset.
|2006-12-06, 12:44
|Link #2022
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Canada
Age: 34
lol, I got a mail from Kyon.
Everyone who applied to be a SOS-dan member at the official site (eons ago) got the first issue of "SOS-dan mail magazine" in their inbox today. Apparently Haruhi suddenly gave Kyon the order to write it up, at a time where everybody else has already forgot long ago that such a system even existed in the first place. Even the computer club was dragged into distributing the mail. That's Haruhi-quality for you.
The contents are no different than a regular newsletter, but written in Kyon's words. Kyon's comment about all the anime magazines with Haruhi on the cover made me laugh ("If they keep putting her up on covers here and there, Haruhi might get cocky and say something like "Next I'll go up on TIME magazine!", it's scary")
And the PC club's secret message at the end about a revenge at the end of the year sounds very interesting.
You gotta hand it to the production team, even their spam mail is fun to read.
|2006-12-07, 11:55
|Link #2023
Gone for Good
Join Date: Apr 2004
Also, in the membership application page, there is now a new option for you to "Cancel Membership", AKA "Receive the Death Penalty".
|2006-12-07, 14:24
|Link #2024
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Canada
Age: 34
The president getting revenge on Haruhi...
Ero-doujinshi popped into mind first ^^;
|2006-12-07, 16:44
|Link #2025
Dansa med oss
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Near Cincinnati, OH, but actually in Kentucky
Age: 31
|2006-12-08, 21:27
|Link #2026
Sky Warrior
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Jedi Temple, Coruscant
Age: 38
Suzumiya Haruhi Character Marriage Prospects, Version 1.0.
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen.
The following topic has enjoyed some moderate success on the Mai Hime/Otome boards, that of discussing various appeal/lack of appeal of Suzumiya Haruhi characters as (fantasy) life partners.
Until this actually gets a thread of its own, this is more or less a "Beta Test."
Each entry should include the following categories:
Warrior Skills:
Housekeeping Skills:
Father/Mother Material:
Ready, Steady, Let's Kick it off!!
__________________________________________________ _______________
Name: Asahina Mikuru
Looks: To quote from the novel, with a little personal spin: "YOWZA!! What a Looker!! Her head is crowned with a cascading waterfall of rich chesnut colored hair, beneath which is an adorable face that can have her easily mistaken for a grade schooler. Dead center are a pair of big, watery puppy-dog eyes that cry out "Please Protect Me." This appearance alone is enough to make most men hug her and say "Of course I'll take you home", even when you do not put her abundant mammery capacity into consideration. It should be noted that her future adult counterpart, though more beautiful and somewhat mature, is no less adorable.
Personality: Innocence, thy name is Mikuru. Trusting, polite, kind and above all considerate, this constituent of purity is therefore quite helpless against forceful personalities of deities like Suzumiya Haruhi. Painfully shy, she has an endearing tendency to weep when her appeal to the males of our species garners less than wanted and more than excessive attention. Warm and honest, it is a rare friend you can find who you can confide in better than her. Thankfully, though more experienced in life and less sexually-shy, her adult counterpart is no less sweet and kind. The sight of her nostalgically hugging her "old" Maid Costume really brings a warm breeze into one's heart. Her moral and loyal nature ensures that unlike many other time travellers, she would never bend the past to selfishly accomodate to personal needs and agendas.
Intelligence: Mikuru is an adequate secret agent in the fact that she does what she is told and follows textbook procedures to the letter. However, adequate hardly equates to competent. Any intelligence she may possess is eclipsed by her unassertive and considerate nature. Unlike Haruhi, Mikuru-Chan would never assert, and therefore carry out, any opinion at the detriment of other people's well being. Mikuru-Oneesan on the other hand, carrys herself a dignity and confidence that implies that she has learnt much more, and is quite capable of handling the complexities of life.
Economics: It is quite certain that by today's standards, Special Agents like Mikuru-Chan are paid an arm and a leg. Forget about asking her to tell you future lottery numbers though, first of all its mean and second of all "It's Classified Information."
Competition: An entire legion of adolescent males that is the population of her school. It has been noted that there is an unspoken oath amongst all the boys for collective vengeance should any single male dare to "have his way" with her. Of course, Mikuru being Mikuru, is scared off by such excessive attention. Kyon's affections, on the other-hand, being moderate and genuine, is fully reciprocated by her. It is quite clear on both sides that their feelings for each other are a hair's-width of crossing from platonic-respect into romantic-love, if only the necessity of sating Haruhi's rage and boredom was not in the way. Oh, and note that Haruhi's overbearing affections can be interpreted (especially amongst Yuri fans) of repressed "feelings" for our adorable sempai.
Warrior Skills: Oh deary me. She is such a soft and kind girl that to quote Kyon when the SOS was attacked by the giant cricket "I doubt she will be of any use even if she had a ray-gun from the future." Besides, if you REALLY love Mikuru-Chan, it is YOUR duty to protect her, oh Gallant Sir-Knight!!
Housekeeping Skills: Through Haruhi's grueling routine of enforcing a Maid Personality unto her, Mikuru-Chan is said to make one smashing cup of green tea, one of Kyon's few true genuine delights in the SOS.
Sex: For a girl who so easily incites feelings to perform such acts, to even approach Mikuru-Chan about such a matter would quite likely drive her into tears of terror, not to mention earn the collective wrath of 300 boys. Even if you somehow manage to initiate the act, her frailty would ensure that for both to be satisfied, you have to be nothing but slow, gentle and considerate.
Father/Mother Material: If it is the Mikuru-Chan of the "present" she has so much growing-up to do that quite likely by the time her children can walk, THEY will be the parents of the relationship. The futuristic Mikuru-Oneesan, on the other-hand, is an endless resevoir of love, warmth, care, consideration and strength that will ensure your children to grow up to be just and kind, sweet and cute as she is.
Overall: In the ragtag collection of misfits that is the SOS, Asahina Mikuru-Chan is easily the best catch of all. Incomparably sweet and endlessly huggable, protecting her from the harsh world will be a full time job, though it will be one that most men would gladly perform. Wait a few years however (who knows how long, as Mikuru-Oneesan stated that her "current" age is "classified information" and YOWZA you'll have a lady and a half by your side for the rest of your life.... no matter what timeline you're on.
__________________________________________________ _______________
Let the Fun Begin.
Last edited by Ronin Aquila; 2006-12-08 at 21:57.
|2006-12-15, 20:47
|Link #2027
Is there any slight possibility that if there is a second season, I and others might be able to enjoy it without the internet being flooded with silliness everywhere I look and it being brought up when I'm really not in the mood to hear about how awesome it is for reasons that don't convey awesomness in any way, but instead something about how the poster liked a particular pose and how it made the episode perfect, when the reasons for why a particular episode may actually be good are largely ignored and my watching of other anime suffers because it has to be compared to Haruhi every five or so posts which may consist of five or so strings of letters of which a couple are actually real words and the rest are FTW, KyoAni, OMG, LOL, HAWT, ZOMG or a combination thereof. Hold on that gave me carple tunnel syndrom symptoms.
That would be awesome cause Jeez Louise ya guys all turned the board into an AOL chatroom for 3 months the last time the show was aired and it nearly drove me and several other people I know from other boards insane to the point where me and my friend on Anime Academy occassionally flipped out on some people on our respective boards. He may not be sorry, but I am, and I really don't want all that to happen again for everyone's sake. Thanks.
|2006-12-15, 21:05
|Link #2028
Yuki FTW!
Um. That was hard to decipher..>.>
But in answer to your question, probably not. There are stupid people everywhere, and the best thing to do is just ignore them...
And, I know this is a bit....a lot....slow, but my Mandarin name's quite retarded too..>.>
|2006-12-15, 22:12
|Link #2029
Afflicted by the vanities
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Fish-shape Paumanok
Age: 31
|2006-12-15, 22:37
|Link #2030
Fairy Tale Transparently
|2006-12-16, 00:00
|Link #2031
|2006-12-16, 00:20
|Link #2032
Crazy Devout Fanboy
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: 1st Ra Cailum-class battleship Ra Cailum, port-side officer's bunks
I perfectly understand where you're coming from, Kai. Lord knows I've run into that plenty of times in various situations...
But alas, it'll be better if you start prepparing yourself for the worst. There are fans, and then there are fanboys. When it comes to big-name shows, you can't have one without the other.
Note I'm not insulting the Haruhi fanbase, of which I'm a part of. (albeit, not to as much of an extent as others ) I'm just stating a fact. There will be Haruhi forum spamming everywhere. This I can guarantee.
|2006-12-16, 00:33
|Link #2033
Dansa med oss
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Near Cincinnati, OH, but actually in Kentucky
Age: 31
For once, I actually agree with Kaioshin. I love Haruhi, and I don't really mind that everyone else does, but like he said, it has no business coming up in places where it just plain shouldn't.
Speaking of annoyance, I was thrilled when I found a Haruhi fansite in English (which shall remain nameless) very early in the series' run, but then I was largely disappointed when I found that the site was largely inhabited by idiots, had a dedicated 'H' image board, and ran polls to the effect of "what underwear color in the series is your favorite?" on the main effing page.
My piece has been said.
|2006-12-16, 02:15
|Link #2034
Afflicted by the vanities
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Fish-shape Paumanok
Age: 31
Okay, I get it. More succinctly, you're trying to say, "Yes, I know Haruhi is the best anime ever, so please stop mentioning it in unrelated posts." Good point.
|2006-12-16, 07:59
|Link #2035
|2006-12-16, 13:39
|Link #2036
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2004
Haruhi appears in Gaza strip
Someone from another forum posted this picture from a French newspaper. I can't read French, but it looks to be about some protest in the Gaza strip. In the picture, a little girl is holding a picket sign with Haruhi's picture on it.
If anyone knows Arabic, I'd be curious to know what the sign says. Or maybe the French article can shed some light on it.
|comedy, kadokawa, kyoto animation, school life, science fiction, shounen
|Thread Tools


text:
Madcap Music Review's John Golden conducted an interview with German metal queen Doro Pesch on February 22 at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, California. You can now watch the chat below.
Pesch's latest album, "Raise Your Fist", sold 585 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 65 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.
In a recent interview with Lords Of Metal, Doro stated about her expectations for "Raise Your Fist", "I will be very happy when the fans say they love the record; that's the most important for me. I really don't keep up with numbers, which are, in my opinion, great to talk about afterwards. It's nice if we will be able to make the charts again, but to me, those kind of things don't really matter. Much more important is that the fans dig the songs in a live situation and, since we already played 'Raise Your Fist' several times live, the first signs are very positive."
Capital Chaos TV has uploaded multi-camera video footage of Doro Pesch's February 21 performance at Thee Parkside in San Francisco, California. Check it out below.
Interview (video):
Performance footage: