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Recent month i have been trying to write together with Mauri Kaipainen about the "Narrative ecology" course results. In principle, we come up with some theoretical baseline how writing narratives happens in new hybrid ecosystems, and how it may be represented ontologically and used for detecting more about the new standards of writing stories in Web 2.0.
Finally it has to be a book chapter, but since it is not ready it is about a time to show some of it.
Swarming to write narratives in hybrid ecosystem
Kai Pata
Mauri Kaipainen
1. Hybrid narrative ecosystem
1.1. Defining hybrid ecosystems
For describing what we mean by storytelling with participatory media, the concept of hybrid ecosystem is useful. The term conveys two ideas. First, hybrid refers to the property of the world that is achieved by active hybridization of physical spaces with digital media spaces (eg. blogs, microblogs, wikis, social repositories and -networks). These borders can be blurred or eliminated whenever purposeful, allowing embedding artifacts across borders for creating an augmented and more interactive reality. The second key term is that of an ecosystem with its explanatory subconcepts ontoplace and niche.
Individuals develop places when they add various artifacts such as images, impressions, historical content, marketing information to augment certain geographical locations, and increase their ability to perceive places as meaningful spots individually. Place is assumed to have not only geographical coordinates but also ontocoordinates, that is other defining characteristics for a place (Kaipainen, et al., 2008). Ontocoordinates enable to identify ontoplaces that are unique for each individual. The concept of ontoplace refers to the context of events, objects, emotions and actions of an individual in the place, and includes both natural, e,g, geographical elements as well as conceptual constructions. Individuals with similar cultural background form communities that may have a similar perception of ontoplaces because they are involved in similar activities or share common meaning making principles. We use niche concept for determining such shared ontoplaces and -spaces.
Niche concept is used in biology for describing an abstract space in which certain species has optimal living conditions for performing all actions related to their life. Hutchinson (1957) defined niche as a region (n-dimensional hypervolume) in a multi-dimensional space of environmental factors that affect the welfare of a species. These environmental factors (eg. optimal temperature amplitude or daylight period) may be related with geographical aspects (eg. latitude, altitude) or may be determined by other non-geographical aspects (eg. chemical components of the soil, specific prey objects of other species in the area etc.). Niches appear as generalizations, they become evident if many similar individuals live, interact and evolve in certain conditions. Each individual is constantly adapting itself to the niche of the species.
In our discourse we look individuals who share certain joint activities as a community. We determine a community as an equivalent of the species. This community is influenced by the various environmental factors in hybrid environment. Different artifacts, perceived action possibilities or people available in the physical or virtual places create environmental factors for the communities that determine their possibility of taking community-specific actions. Environmental factors influence individuals physically as well as emotionally or cognitively. The determination of ontocoordinates of ontoplaces individually by community members creates conditions for the emergence of niches with shared ontocoordinates that facilitate taking certain community-specific actions. For example, Hoffmeyer (1995) coined the term of semiotic niche to signify the semiotic spaces that are actualized by certain organisms in species' specific semiotic processes when interacting with their environment. Magnani (2008), and Magnani and Bardone (2008) use the term cognitive niche to mark the distributed space that people create by interrelating individual cognition and the environment through the continuous interplay through abductive processes in which they alter and modify the environment. Niches represent generalized ontoplaces and -spaces for communities – groups of individuals with similar cultural background and perception. It must be noticed that niches may have but do not necessarily have geographical coordinates in real world.
An ecosystem is a unit of interdependent species, which share the same habitat. Another view to the ecosystem is niche based – one habitat may provide various partially overlapping or separate niches for species to coexist. In our case hybrid environments form a particular habitat in which various communities create and alter their activity niches. The niches for writing hybrid narratives appear if individuals who share some common Web 2.0 storytelling culture determine for themselves ontoplaces in the hybrid ecosystem and use them as triggers of their narratives. It must be noted that such facilitating niches for storytelling appear in hybrid environments when several people find, use or embed digital contents for perception and action as part of their daily interaction with the hybrid ecosystem. On one hand, narratives created in this ecosystem may have geocoordinates connecting them with physical world. On the other, in the virtual environment, narratives possess ontocoordinates, thus determining optimal abstract niches for storytelling. By adding their contents to the environments, participants create the evolutionary feedback loop to the niche (Magnani & Bardone, 2008; Pata, 2009; 2010). Participatory media environments together with real places can be conceptualized as a hybrid ecosystem, provided that participants of social media have ecological dependence of the particular set of "tools" that they use as their niche for taking action. The concept of tool here should be interpreted as it is used in an activity theory (see Leontjev, 1978), which considers various artifacts (eg. digital narratives, images), software (eg. social software tools) and language (eg. user-created ontologies, tags) as mediators of action. Ongoing narrative activity by many individuals in hybrid environment influences and shapes the characteristics of available niches in the ecosystem and allows a habitat for communities.
1.2. Representing hybrid ecosystems
Next, we will discuss some methods of representing various coordinates of hybrid ecosystems. The initial idea of bringing place-information to the active use in participatory media environments was to associate contextually meaningful information and metadata with the geo-coordinates of the places. For capturing, storing, retrieval, analysis and display of spatial data GIS as a computer-based system was developed. It was discovered soon that the methods of mapping geographical space by GIS geo-coordinates do not match the way people think about their world. For this reason, Jourdam Raubal, Gartrell and Egenhofer (1998) suggested that integrating a model of how people conceptualize and perceive places into GIS would enable to use GIS to make important decisions about places. They suggested that physical features of objects in places, actions that people take at places, narratives that are related to the places, symbolic references of the places (eg. names, metaphors), cultural factors of the place and the typologies of places given by people could be used for advancing GIS. They presented a methodology to model places with affordances that they saw as user-centred perspectives of the place. However, this technical innovation did not get much attention because for every person places contain different action and emotion potentialities, and manually annotation of this action- and meaning-specific metadata directly with places would have reduced the community-based applications of hybrid places.
The recent emergence of different participatory media has brought in ways of describing the conceptual nature of content collectively. One of the most popular methods is so called tagging, that is, adding descriptive terms associated with content by members of the community, and the complementary addition of geographical position information. Tags are related with meaning and activity dimensions of the communities. Using tag-based search, certain dimensions of the virtual places could be discovered and brought to the active use. Some social software environments (eg. Flickr.com) now enable the simultaneous use of tags and GIS information for mapping digital contents location-based to real world. Yet, many commonly used software types (eg. blogs, wikis) still lack this possibility. Using tags and GIS concurrently has opened another, more flexible way how communities can mark their meaningful places with artefacts independently of other communities, and interact at the physical locations with the virtual contents left by other communities. Geotagging systems make it possible to create locative content by mobile devices, situated both in real and virtual environment (Tuters & Varnelis, 2006). Locative content is media content applied to geographical places, any kind of link to additional information set up in space together with the information that a specific place supplies, which is triggering real social interactions with a place and with mobile technology (Tuters & Varnelis, 2006; Hanzl, 2007, Kaipainen & Pata, 2007). With positioning technologies e.g GPS-chips built in telephones, or by searching locations on digital maps (eg. Flickr.com, Google.maps.com, Brightkite.com), people can gain access to of the place-related digital artefacts. They can use them for learning, playful activities, marketing and other ways.
As to our approach, we take that the proper model of hybrid narrative ecosystems consists of a hybrid geo-conceptual-temporal ontospace. Hybrid ecosystem functioning at individual and community level causes the emergence of an ontospace. To ground this concept, on a general level we adopt the concept of ontology from IT systems, in the broad sense referring to specification of conceptualization (Gruber 1993) of the content dealt with, or to the manner of existence of the content, pointing at the old philosophical traditions related to ontotology. However, we find it difficult to apply the standard ontologies of IT, e.g. OWL, to the purposes of hybrid ecosystems, because their hierarchical and rigid nature does not support the emergence of new narrative tracks (we need to define tracks first) as we propose. Assuming that tagging involves the actual conceptual structure of the metadata, as with the activity of storytelling, the resulting ontology needs to be 'soft', that is, not fixed a priori but evolving in the course of the activity. Moreover, we assume that the created patterns or tracks are ontologically fundamental, that is, we want to allow that they can constitute new ontological categories.
As a consequence, we rather choose to apply in hybrid ecosystems the ontospatial approach of Kaipainen et al. (2008). This approach describes the domain of inquiry in terms of descriptive feature dimensions (ontodimensions) that altogether constitute an ontological space (ontospace), also referred to as soft ontology. In this model, the number of ontodimensions is not fixed, but can vary dynamically, allowing new defining features to emerge in the process.
Ontodimension is one dimension in ontospace that can be perceived and followed when collecting and storing artifacts in hybrid ecosystem. Such dimensions may be perceived only by one individual or by many individuals. The more strong ontodimensions are perceived the more probable is that they are followed and used in new narratives.
Note. It is the way how we can later connect it to the swarming behaviour (making and following the signal trace means basically that people notice ontodimensions and start accumulating/monitoring these ontodimensions).
As another crucially important feature for modeling hybrid ecosystems is that the model does not assume any a priori hierarchical structure, but considers all descriptive features to be of equal ontological importance. It is the observer's perspective that priorizes the ontodimensions and determines the perceived order.
The ontodimensions that a person has previously noticed as meaningful, and used in his/her actions, will narrow his/her perception and help to focus only on certain ontodimensions of the ontospace. If noticing such dimensions is common for more than one individual, these ontodimensions become community-specific. Ecologically, certain ontodimensions start to facilitate some community specific actions more than the others, and enable to form an abstract community specific niche. Niche is a community specific and community determined part of an ontospace. Niche is a meaningful place for the community, and we may call it an abstract ontoplace of the community. Ontoplace for a community is optimal for certain activity, beyond a mere geographical place.
The niche as a community place in hybrid ecosystem is never stabile and static but is always in the stage of evolvement as the community members perceive and use various ontodimensions.
An ontospace is a means to relate the existence of entities of a domain to each other and to the domain to which they belong in terms of similarity, in turn defined as proximity in the ontospace. Formally, coordinate system O=(x1,x2,…xm) defines m-dimensional ontospace A of domain D. Each entity i of domain D, for example §, is represented by an m-tuple Ai=(ai1, ai2,…aim) , were aij stands for the salience value of property j that can be determined or specified for entity I in the data collection process. Altogether, Ai constitutes the ontocoordinates of entity i and expresses the position of i in ontospace A.
The virtue of this formalism is that aij§ can represent any type of description, be it a tag, or the geoposition, or a time stamp of an event, and they can be blended and referred to in various hybrid ways.
In addition, it allows the description of stories as a trajectories across the ontospace.
Furthermore, we can represent an ontodimension as an affordance, which enables to give another, ecologically interpreted explanation of how people perceive and interact with the hybrid ecosystems.
1.3. Embodiment of hybrid ecosystems
The ways people interact with the hybrid ecosystem – augmenting artifacts and accessing virtual information associated with places – extend the human capabilities of action and perception. Perception in hybrid ecosystem involves expectations and meanings (Gibson, 1979) and is a continuous, active and embodied process (Gibson, 1979; Michaels, 2003; Zhang & Patel, 2006). Varela, Thompson & Rosch (1991, p. 149) associate the capacities of understanding with biological embodiment, but are lived and experienced within a domain of consensual action and cultural history. They coined the term embodied action to point at the idea that cognition depends upon the kinds of experience that originate from having a body with various sensory-motor capacities. They also emphasized that that these individual sensory-motor capacities are themselves embedded in a more encompassing biological, psychological, and cultural context. The authors assumed that sensory and motor processes, perception and action are fundamentally inseparable in lived cognition (p. 172-173). Using the term enaction they focused on two points: 1) perception consists of perceptually guided action, and 2) cognitive structures emerge from recurrent sensory-motor patterns that enable action to be perceptually guided (Varela et al., 1991, p. 173). The enactive cognition framework (e.g. Maturana & Varela, 1987; Varela, et al., 1991) emphasizes cognition and knowledge as active construction of a subject, rather than passive representation of an external reality. From the viewpoint of writing stories in hybrid environment this assumption is important. The narratives of the hybrid space are not representations of events that are described by digital means. The stories emerge as part of the places and are constantly enacted in various ways, depending of the 'reader' of the story. Communities may compose locative narratives, which will perceptually guide this community, but also the other communities.
Ecological psychology (eg. Gibson, 1979) can be applied as a theoretical framework to explain how people conceptualize and perceive hybrid places. Ecologically oriented approach regards perception more as a direct process of translating environmental action potentialities into action. Information processing according to this view states that when a given stimulus from the environment is frequently coupled with a given response, the information derived from that stimulus will become associatively enriched with response produced cues that then will help to discriminate this stimulus from other ones coupled with other responses (Hommel et al., 2001). The most important claim of the ecological perception theory is that neither the properties of the place nor the physical properties, action goals, memories, or emotions that people have beforehand, would alone suffice to provide the interaction potentialities for the place.
Gibson (1979) originally coined the term affordances for marking this complementarity of the environment and organisms (Gibson, 1979, p. 127). He (1979, p. 129) wrote: "An affordance is neither an objective property nor a subjective property; or it is both if you like. An affordance cuts across the dichotomy of subjective-objective and helps us to understand its inadequacy. It is equally a fact of the environment and a fact of behaviour. It is both physical and psychical, yet neither. An affordance points both ways, to the environment and to observer." Affordances are not properties, resources nor features of the environment. Instead they are "relations between particular aspects of animals and particular aspects of situations" (Chemero, 2003, p. 184). Coupling happens between the place-related and culturally defined affordances, and internal personally relevant goals, emotions and memories of previous interaction. It is the very mutuality between actor and environment that constitutes the basis for the actor's perception and action (Albrechtsen, Andersen, Bodker, & Pejtersen, 2001). Barab and Roth (2006) assume that in the perception-action cycle of coupling each new action potentially expands or contracts affordances as active interaction possibilities of the place. Magnani (2008), and Magnani and Bardone (2008) note that human and non-human animals "modify" or "create" affordances by manipulating their cognitive niches. According to Heft (2001): "we engage a meaningful environment of affordances and refashion some aspects of them… These latter constructed embodiments of what is known – which include tools, artifacts, representations, social patterns of actions, and institutions – can be called ecological knowledge. Ecological knowledge through its various structural, material culture, human setting manifestations becomes an integral social and cultural part of 'the environment', with these social and cultural affordances constituting effective, largely material, forms of knowledge with their own functional significance, cultural transmission, and adaptation implications."
Affordances emerge when people use social software tools, collecting stories in the geographical places, developing and embedding digital artifacts or interacting with the augmented space. The term of affordance marks the dynamic process by which people in the course of action accommodate themselves with their surroundings and simultaneously shape these surroundings. For example Bruner (1996) refers to such an accommodation process when cultural identity is found by meaning making and writing narratives. Affordances appear for every individual differently, but as long as individuals are part of certain communities and cultures, they evoke similar sets of affordances (Pata, 2009). In the present context we may consider affordances as abstract dimensions of the space by which activity and meaning niches of the communities may be described (Pata, 2009; 2010). Affordances of the hybrid narrative ecosystem emerge in the course of storytelling. The sets of affordances that many individuals perceive and use in storytelling will reveal the potential storytelling niches of the hybrid ecosystem.
2. Writing narratives in hybrid ecosystem
2. 1. Appearing new storytelling standards in Web
New technology, such as microblogging (eg. Smallplaces in Twitter http://twitter.com/smallplaces; Twiller http://twiller.tcrouzet.com/), mobile text-messaging (eg. Novel Idea http://www.mobfest.co.za/novelidea/default.html) or blogs has been used to write stories. A typical application is segmenting and serializing the story into small tweets and making it available to broad audience. Jay Bushman has been experimenting in developing re-imaginings of famous authors' stories into the microblogging format (eg. The Good Captain http://www.loose-fish.com/waifpole/the-good-captain/) aiming to create embedded fiction between the streams of nonfiction that is constantly arriving to our daily lives. His goal is to blur the line between the real world and the story world (reference). The common "space" characteristic of the stories and human geography is reused in hybrid ecosystems. On one hand, human geography is filled with emotions about places, on the other, stories contain a set of geographical data and play a key role in shaping people's geographical imaginations (Crang, 1998). Using this characteristic extensively, some authors (eg. Carlos Ruiz Zafon, "The Shadow of the Wind" http://www.carlosruizzafon.co.uk/shadow-walk.html) have embedded their novels into the real geographical locations and provide itineraries for exploring the novels parallel in real and virtual world to enable for the readers embodiment of the fictional story as part of city reality.
All these are examples of reintroducing old formats of fiction in the new hybrid ecosystem. In our experiment, instead of bending old novel format into the hybrid ecosystem, we wanted to explore the new evolving narrative formats of this hybrid space. For example, Crang (1998) has noted that different modes of writing may express different relationships to space and mobility. Kurland (2000) provides the following general characteristics of traditional stories. They have plot, a geographical setting, where and when story takes place, and characters who are involved into the plot by taking actions. The plot of the story usually involves conflicts and its resolution. Stories are generally read and appreciated only in their entirety, to understand the story we must follow the complete unfolding and resolution of the plot. The structure of the story may be linear progressing from unfolding the conflict, rising action, climax and resolution. Alternatively, the patterns of actions and interrelationship of characters may occur throughout the story. The author of a story plays often an active role in the story either as the first person narrator who participates in the story as an observer, minor character or even the major participant or the third person narrator who stands outside the story itself and can be all-knowing and might describe action from many character's viewpoint, evaluating people and actions in the story. These characteristics of novels are culturally deeply rooted in our minds and may reappear in the transformed shape if different modes of writing are used in hybrid ecosystem. In the experiment we aimed at collecting evidence of new standards how narratives appear in hybrid ecosystem.
2.2. Swarming as a bio-metaphor for writing narratives
While looking for the models to depict the nature of storytelling in hybrid ecosystems we arrived to another biological phenomenon – swarming (Bonabeau, et al., 1999; Kennedy, Eberhardt & Shi, 2001). Many activities in hybrid ecosystems can be characterized as swarming phenomena. Swarming refers to self-organizing behavior in populations such in which local interactions between simple decentralized agents can create complex organized behavior. A swarm is a community in which every agent is only responsible for its individual actions, but the actions altogether cause shared intelligence to emerge. Such swarming systems can accomplish global tasks and form complex patterns through simple local interactions of autonomous agents. Individuals in swarms have ecological relations to the collective. They maintain their individuality and viability in case if the collective swarm intelligence and viability emerges (Sauter et al., 2005). Swarming relies on using the environment as a shared memory, and on reading information both from the environment and from the swarm members's signals to maintain individual wellbeing. Thus, swarming is one of the main mechanisms how hybrid ecosystems function and evolve. In other ways swarming mechanisms can be viewed as the creation of an ontospace, and extracting certain signal ontodimensions from this space.
The particular activity that is focused on as an example of swarming in this study is writing narratives in a hybrid ecosystem. A hybrid narrative ecosystem can be described like viewing foraging ants through a prism. The foraging example was taken because it provided a generalized model for the various behaviors that have been observed in social software environments when people create and use textual and visual artifacts. "A central place food foraging" is a swarming behavior that consists of two main phases: an initial exploration for food, followed by carrying it back to the nest (Sudd & Franks, 1987). The foraging ant is randomly searching to explore new area. If an ant collides with some food it picks it up and leaves a certain pheromone on the trail. If foraging, each ant is alert for this pheromone as a food marker that may have been left by other ants in the trail for finding food. They are always moving towards the direction where there is a greater concentration of that pheromone.
Note! This may be related to the trajectory and gradient in ontospace)
However, the pheromone dissipates over time. If there are not enough ants collecting food and dropping pheromone on the way home, the trail may disappear. The system of diffusion and evaporation leads of a competition among food sources for available ants, because the number of ants is limited and the trails need a steady walking of ants along them to stay stable. The shorter the distance of a feeding place to the nest, the shorter is the trail, the more often ants walk from nest to feeder and back per time unit. This leads to a stronger positive feedback loop and race conditions among the feeders, selecting for the nearest one.
Note! This may be related to the trajectory and gradient in ontospace, why movig towards gradient is more effective behaviour.
The pheromones similar to those signaling about food may also be used to allure ants from the track. An enemy trying to conceal the search target, may spread false signals to attract the ants to a location of little interest. To avoid this trap, the signal is responded only if it reaches to certain threshold value (Marshall, 2005).
Note! Can ontodimensions reinforce each other? In niches it is possible that niche dimensions may reinforce each other if they appear together. So if some ontodimensions appear simultaneously they provide a stronger signal to the narrator to add some content, to do action)
Figure 1. Swarming: Foraging behavior of ants and writing narratives in hybrid ecosystem.
As an analogue to ants' foraging behavior, human storytellers in their hybrid ecosystem search for and are influenced by the attractor objects (eg. interesting aspects of the environment). When finding something of interest, the objects are captured in textual or digital image format using microblogging programs (Brightkite.com, Zannel.com) in mobile phones. Alternatively, digital cameras could be used and artifacts would be uploaded later. Microblogging environments enable to pull digital contents automatically also to the social repositories (Flickr.com) or social networks (Facebook.com). Stories uploaded from microblogging environment can be mashed using special tags, and pulled as RSS feeds to the other social software environments for monitoring. This may be done for extracting various stories from the collected artifacts individually or for the community. The artefacts can be locatively geotagged in microblogging systems (eg. Brightkite.com, Zannel.com), and connected to stories either by simple linking, tagging with keywords or merging them and providing longer explanations in personal blogs. The attention of emerging story is caught by various trace-leaving techniques like mashing, pulling and aggregating, tagging for social retrieval, social awareness technologies or hybrid maps etc. These collected and personally meaningful artifacts with tags serve as signal trails for the narrators themselves to continue with certain story aspects, and also for other storytellers to contribute for this story or to trigger their own stories. The application of microblogging environments and social mashups with tags enables for other people an immediate access to the new signals of potential attractors, causing selective noticing in the hybrid ecosystem. Following the signal trail opens the possibility of accumulating more content for a particular story, especially if several individuals start to strengthen the signal. The more similar content is accumulated, the more attractive and visible the story trail becomes as a trace in the narrative ecosystem. This trace attracts other individuals and thereby reinforces itself. Strong signal trails may also be attacked and reused, for example by alluring the crowds away from the original trail with various similar signal baits. The initial story may thus become modified into many paths.
Adopting traces of other individuals of the swarm depends on analogy or closeness of the attractor narratives to one's own. Various forms of collaboration may appear. One is agglomerating stories in the manner comparable to how termites build the nest (Kennedy et al., 2001). Termites build high dome-like termite nets following the swarming behavior. They take some dirt in their mouth moistening it and then start to move in direction of the strongest pheromone concentration. They deposit dirt when the smell is strongest. After some random movements searching for a relatively strong pheromone field, the termites will have started a number of small pillars. The pillars signify places where a greater number of termites have recently passed, and thus the pheromone concentration is high there. The pheromone dissipates with time, so in order for it to accumulate, the number of termites must exceed some threshold; they must leave pheromones faster than the chemicals evaporate. This prevents the formation of a great number of pillars. As termite pillars ascend and termites become increasingly involved in depositing their loads, the pheromone concentration near that pillars increases. The termites are attracted to let the dirt between the pillars that attract them from several sides.
Note! Can ontodimensions reinforce each other? In niches it is possible that niche dimensions may reinforce each other if they appear together. So if some ontodimensions appear simultaneously they provide a stronger signal to the narrator to add some content, to do action)
Termite arch-building contains two kinds of behaviors: cue-based and sign-based. In the cue-based case the change in the environment provides a cue for the behavior of other actors (eg. growing pillars provide such cues). In the sign-based swarming the pheromones are used as signals.
In the hybrid narrative ecosystem the tags (like pheromones) are glued to the soil material (geotagged content of the narrative pieres, text, images). This provides signals and makes story elements attractive. The artifacts that are marked with same tags or artifacts that contain certain significant elements for the storytellers will be noticed and integrated into stories. However, these stories are not linear, but can be viewed rather as story dimensions.
Note! Here we must write about moving along perceived ontodimension trajectory when they write or monor other people stories. Aso moving alog the gradient is interesting here?
Secondly, such artifacts from certain story dimensions that are available in the geographical locations will become gateways to other geographical locations where artifacts with similar tags have been embedded. Such geo-locative story dimensions form an ecological knowledge of the hybrid narrative ecosystems, influencing how people will interact with the environment.
New geo-locative stories are granular and consisting of little content portions. The story may become evident and appear as a result of accumulation of these portions. Popular social software tools often lack sufficient interoperability to provide automatic pingbacks between different software platforms that would enable to trace the story elements across the hybrid ecosystem.
The emergent story may not have a start and end. It is a flow of impressions that may eventually obtain a storyline, or even several story lines for different people. Yet, providing the visibility of stories as linear sequences and composing story plots is technologically unaided.
Note! Again place for ontodiemnsion trajectory?
Individuals tend to mutate their narratives as a result of ecological perception. Sometimes these may initially be mere errors that take place if individuals try to repeat an existing narrative in another virtual environment (for example if adding descriptions and tags to the Flickr images uploaded by means of Brightkite mobile microblogging). Also deliberate reinterpretation of artifacts takes place. Most often if the narrative is transformed from one environment to another (eg. from microblogging environment to the blog) authors tend to elaborate it. If artifacts are borrowed from one individual to another, the new person and different context will cause different perception of this digital entity. This kind of evolution of stories may eventually change the attractor tag concentration to the extent that the original story trace will be lost and the individuals would need to start the search for new narrative resources as new attractors.
Note! Moving from one trajectory to another, can we elaborate this
It is important to note that swarm-like collaboration does not assume an initially decided goal, but suffices for collaborative patterns to emerge. Cloning narrative pieces by analogy may also make the trace of the narrative more visible, similarly like pheromone traces are agglomerated due to the swarm activity. Thus cloning will "hype up" some stories.
2.3. Narrative swarming from ontospace perspective
If we talk about writing narratives in a community of an hybrid ecosystem, the niche ontodimensions are determined by the most frequently selected ontodimensions that people perceive (eg. food, buildings, graffitti, emotions, contrasts, happyness, particular software beyond others, particular geographical locations beyond others). Within this niche certain ontoplaces are more preferred than the others, and start triggering collaboration.
When writing hybrid narratives, each person moves along personal trajectory in the ontospace, creating particular ontoplaces. This trajectory is not predetermined with the story plot. This trajectory is currently observable for the others only by means of participatory surveyllance in social software, and not as a detectable path in ontospace.
Often the trajectory as a storyline is determined by and combines from a limited set of ontodimensions that the person highlights, and a small number of hybrid locations where the person walks in daily life. It usually fluctuates between the limited number of closely situated ontolaces in the ontospace.
The triggers of perceiving new ontodimensions and discovering new ontoplaces are received from monitoring the hybrid ecosystem where other people write narratives in the same niche. Such use of same sets of ontodimensions in the community causes narrative swarming phenomena that are observable as the emergence of closely situated ontoplaces in ontoplace.
NB! Evidences of the activity may be seen from the previous posts.
Here is just a table to compare how narrative swarming in hybrid ecosystem differs from writing a traditional story.


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Welcome to my site....I am a British TV, Film & Theatre Actress and Writer. Many know me from the TV series Hollyoaks, Holby City, Poirot, Only Fools & Horses, Doctors and Casualty but a browse through this site will highlight many West End theatre roles, my recent collaborations with writer/director Steven Berkoff and my diverse feature film roles.
You can also play my voice over work, movie clips & find out more about my extensive career so far.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Orioles complete sweep, beat Rangers 4-2
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Chris Tillman pitched into the ninth inning in his return from the All-Star game and the surging Baltimore Orioles beat the Texas Rangers 4-2 on Sunday night to sweep a three-game series between 2012 playoff teams.
Matt Wieters had two hits and scored twice to help the Orioles (56-43) move a season-high 13 games over .500 with their seventh victory in eight games. They sure seem comfortable in Texas, where Baltimore won last year's AL wild-card game.
Consistent starting pitching has been the key to this run. Tillman (12-3) gave up two runs and six hits while striking out seven, making Baltimore starters 7-1 in the last eight games.
The 25-year-old righty was added to the AL All-Star team as an injury replacement but did not pitch Tuesday night at Citi Field.
He looked plenty fresh over eight-plus innings in Arlington, holding the slumping Rangers in check until Adrian Beltre chased him with a leadoff homer in the ninth. That sent Tillman to the dugout three outs shy of his first career complete game.
Darren O'Day got two outs against his former team to earn his second save.
YARD CLIPPINGS:Who's trending around MLB?
Texas has dropped four straight and seven of eight.
Martin Perez (3-3) pitched 6 1-3 innings for the Rangers, giving up four runs and nine hits. He didn't get much help from his defense.
Neal Cotts, Joakim Soria and Cory Burns came out of the bullpen to combine for 2 2-3 shutout innings. Texas relievers have thrown 19 2-3 consecutive scoreless innings.
It was the bottom half of the Baltimore lineup that did the most damage. The last five hitters in the order scored all four runs, drove in three and had seven of the Orioles' 10 hits.
Nate McLouth led off the game with a single for the third straight game, but Baltimore didn't really get going until the second inning. That's when Rangers left fielder David Murphy lost Chris Davis' fly ball in the sun for a leadoff double. Davis scored on Wieters' single for a 1-0 lead.
Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus made an error on potential double-play grounder that instead left the bases loaded with nobody out. Brian Roberts singled to make it 2-0, but Perez got out of the jam with consecutive strikeouts and a groundout.
In the third, Wieters doubled past a diving Beltre at third base and J.J. Hardy put the Orioles up 3-0 with a double that sailed over Craig Gentry's head in center field.
Baltimore added its fourth run in the fourth. Roberts started the inning with a double and scored on Manny Machado's single that caromed off Perez's glove and into center field.
Texas scored in the fifth on Ian Kinsler's RBI single to right, but Murphy got caught in a rundown between third and home and was tagged out by Wieters. That made it twice in three games that a Rangers runner was thrown out after rounding third and trying to get back to the bag.
Beltre's home run was the first by a Rangers player since his two-run shot in the ninth inning against Detroit on July 13.
NOTES: Rangers LHP Matt Harrison, on the disabled list because of a herniated disk that required two operations in late April and early May, threw a 45-pitch bullpen session Saturday and will throw 60-65 pitches Monday. The team's opening day starter said he plans to throw batting practice Wednesday. "My goal is the end of August or early September, but if things go good, maybe we can speed that up," Harrison said. ... Rangers RHP Alexi Ogando (shoulder inflammation) is slated to come off the disabled list Tuesday and start against the New York Yankees. His last appearance was against Boston on June 5.


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Browsing the Range of Bicycles Available
So you've decided to take up cycling, but you're missing that vital piece of kit – a bike! Unless you already know exactly what type of bike you want, a good piece of advice is to take your time and really consider what you'll be doing with your bike and where you'll be riding it, or you might come away with something that isn't a good match.
Check out this list of different bike styles and consider the things they're good for before you make that trip to the bike shop:
Road bikes: These bikes are meant for riding fast, in a bent forward position, on roads. They have curved handlebars and can be very light – and very expensive. Road bikes are good for racing, training and fast commuting.
Mountain bikes (MTBs): These tough bikes either have front or dual (front and back) suspension. They have wide, knobbly tyres to grip any surface and gearing to help with steep uphill climbs. MTBs are great for trails and off-roading, but you can also use them for a comfortable, less speedy commute (although you might want to think about getting smoother tyres for commuting).
Cruisers: The curvy frames, wide saddles and colours of these bikes create a style statement that can't be denied. Cruisers generally have no gears, or just three, a back-pedal rear brake and are great for short trips but not usually ideal for fast or long journeys.
Comfort bikes: These bikes are a safe and steady option for anyone who wants a gentle and comfortable ride. They usually have a wide, low saddle, often with seat suspension, and allow you to ride in an upright position. Some are made with better quality components that enable longer rides.
Hybrids, city bikes, exercise bikes and flat-bar road bikes: While the definitions for these bikes may blur and merge a little, all are designed for medium-paced to slightly faster cycling. They have straight handlebars and allow a more upright riding position than a road bike.
Touring bikes: These bikes are meant for covering long distances while also carrying all your kit. They tend to have drop handlebars, to give you a variety of positions to stop you from getting tired, and racks to clip your bags to. The frames and wheels are strong and they have lots of gears to get you over any mountain range that stands in your way. Touring bikes make a good all-round choice for a keen rider.
Folding bikes: You can fold and pack up these bikes in a matter of seconds – and you can ride pretty fast and far on them, too.
BMX bikes: These bikes may be small, but they're not just for kids. BMXs are great for flips, rolls and grinds, but not the best for travelling further than the local skateboard park.
Fixies: These bikes look like road bikes, but they have no gears and the fixed-wheel system means you can't freewheel, so if the back wheel is turning, so are the pedals. Fixies are great for being cool and urban.
Tandems: These bikes offer two saddles, two sets of pedals and handlebars, two wheels and two riders. While often chosen by lovers, tandems are also great for people who can't (for medical or physical reasons) ride a bike on their own.


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How to Use
the Readings
Inquiry Question
Reading 2: The Generals' Report on the Battle
Cornwallis to Lord George Germain, March 17, 1781:
My Lord,
Compiled from Walter Clark, ed., State Records of North Carolina, vol. XVII (Goldsboro, N.C., 1899), 1002-1007.
Nathanael Greene reports to Governor Abner Nash of North Carolina Camp near the Iron Works, March 18th, 9 a.m., 1781:
Time will not permit me to be very particular, and therefore I shall only Confirm the account of there having been an action on the 15th. The battle was fought near Guilford Court House. It was long and severe. We gave up the ground and were obliged to leave our artillery, all the horses being killed. We retreated in good order....The Enemy loss is very great, much more than ours. We ought to have had a victory, and had your Militia stood by their officers it was certain. However the enemy have gained no advantage, except the ground and field pieces. Their operating force is diminished in such a manner, that I am not without hope of turning their victory into defeat, if the Militia don't leave me....
Quoted from Richard K. Showman and Dennis M. Conrad, eds., The Papers of General Nathanael Greene, vol. VII (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1994), 448.
On March 16, Greene's adjutant, Col. O. H. Williams compiled a list of casualties to send to Samuel Huntington, President of Congress:
NOTE: Most of the missing Americans were militiamen who simply went home after the battle. For this reason, most authorities figure total American casualties as 264 killed and wounded.
Compiled from Banastre Tarleton, The Campaigns of 1780 and 1781 in the Southern Provinces of North America (London, 1787), 317-20.
Questions for Reading 2
1. Does Lord Cornwallis sound like a victorious general? Does he claim the victory?
2. Does Greene sound like a victorious general? Does he claim the victory?
3. Based on the total casualty figures for both armies, what would be your assessment of the winner and loser of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse? Explain your answer. Now compute and compare the percentages of killed and wounded British and American soldiers. How would you assess the outcome of the battle based on these figures? Do you think numerical analysis is the best way to answer this question? Can you suggest other grounds on which to assess the outcome of the battle?


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In a "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" type paradox, this multifunctional smartphone accessory has mysterious origins. Did someone slap a backup battery on a mediocre Bluetooth keyboard as a redeeming feature, or was a Bluetooth keyboard added to a backup battery for added value and more incentive to carry it around?
As a keyboard its boxy design makes it a little awkward-looking to hold and type, but it should be adequately usable when placed flat on a table. And an included—but bulky—smartphone stand will keep your device's display at a usable angle in that setup. Its most practical feature is a 2,000 mAh battery that should provide enough power to top off a dead smartphone, but if you're still on the fence as to whether this jack-of-all-trades/master-of-none is worth your $46, the revelation that it's also packing an LED flashlight is sure to win you over, right?
[Brando via The Red Ferret Journal]


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Strange how memories work
August 15, 2012 by © Joan Miller - Luxegen Genealogy.
Filed under genealogy, Saskatchewan
This post was originally written as an email to an Aussie friend after an action packed weekend to small town Mount Magnet in remote Western Australia in October 2000. I recently came across it in my Memories file. >At 05:52 PM 30/10/00 -8, you wrote: I was driving home from work tonight while [...]


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Workplace diversity analysis shows Asians most satisfied, those with disabilities less.
Women in the federal workforce report feeling less empowered than their male colleagues, while Asians, of all the surveyed minority groups, experience the highest job satisfaction, according to an analysis set for release Friday by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service and Deloitte.
The latest in a series titled "Best Places to Work in the Federal Government," the new installment on "Diversity and Inclusion" includes for the first time responses on quality of work life from veterans and employees with disabilities, with the latter reporting more negative views than co-workers who claim no disability.
Using responses to questions on leadership, support for diversity goals and satisfaction levels by ethnic group from the 2012 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, analysts culled patterns and offered recommendations to managers for taking better advantage of the country's demographic trends.
"The largest male-female gap regarding leadership centered on employee perceptions of fairness," the report said. "Women, for example, scored five points lower than men when asked if they felt comfortable disclosing violations of laws."
The widest gender gap on diversity issues emerged on a question asking how well supervisors and managers worked with employees of different backgrounds. "Women rated their supervisors and managers 3.6 points lower than did men, indicating some room for managers, team leaders, and supervisors to grow in this area," the report said.
Federal workers with disabilities were less satisfied overall with their workplace than those without disabilities by a 7.2-point margin; their scores were also lower on their evaluation of agency leadership.
Trends in the responses varied by agency. While there was little overall difference between the views of veterans and non-veterans, veterans reported lower satisfaction than the governmentwide index by 9.6 points at the Federal Trade Commission, by 9.1 at the Securities and Exchange Commission, by 8.3 at the Federal Communications Commission and by 7.4 at the Commerce Department. "At the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and a handful of other agencies, veterans scored higher than non-veterans," the analysts observed.
Women scored nearly four points lower in the index score than men at the Labor and the Army departments. By contrast, female employees scored 13.1 points higher than men at the Federal Election Commission, where overall satisfaction for men and women was lower than for other agencies.
To put the data to use, the report recommends that managers:
- Analyze the data and use it to drive decision making while soliciting employee feedback, for example;
- Establish a shared vision, shared values and practices among agency leaders to connect diversity and inclusion to agency mission;
- Actively recruit and develop a diverse workforce, including development of leaders; and
- Build a culture of commitment to diversity and inclusion, such as support for employee participation in affinity groups.
Statistically, the report breaks down the federal workforce as 56.7 percent male; 65.7 percent white; 17.9 percent African-American; 6.2 percent Hispanic; 5.3 percent Asian; 2 percent Native American and the remaining 2 percent Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander or multi-racial. Employees with disabilities make up 11 percent, and veterans comprise 29.2 percent, the report said.
(Image via Africa Studio/Shutterstock.com)


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Found 48 resultsAuthor Title Type [ Year]
Filters: Author is Gu, Lianhong [Clear All Filters]
Response of a deciduous forest to the Mt. Pinatubo eruption: enhanced photosynthesis. Science. 299:2035-2038.. 2003.
Fast labile carbon turnover obscures sensitivity of heterotrophic respiration from soil to temperature: A model analysis. Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 18(1). 2004.
The 2007 Eastern US Spring Freeze: Increased Cold Damage in a Warming World. BioScienceBioScience. 58(3):253-262.. 2008.
A novel approach for identifying the true temperature sensitivity from soil respiration measurements. Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 22(4). 2008.
Characterizing the Seasonal Dynamics of Plant Community Photosynthesis Across a Range of Vegetation Types. Phenology of Ecosystem Processes: Applications in Global Change Research. :35-58.. 2009.
Environmental controls on water use efficiency during severe drought in an Ozark Forest in Missouri, USA. Global Change Biology. 16(8):2252-2271.. 2009.
Estimating nocturnal ecosystem respiration from the vertical turbulent flux and change in storage of CO2. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. 149:1919-1930.. 2009.
The MODIS (Collection V005) BRDF/albedo product: Assessment of spatial representativeness over forested landscapes. Remote Sensing of Environment. 113:2476-2498.. 2009.
The Phenology of Gross Ecosystem Productivity and Ecosystem Respiration in Temperate Hardwood and Conifer Chronosequences. Phenology of Ecosystem Processes. :59-85.. 2009.
Climate control of terrestrial carbon exchange across biomes and continents. Environmental Research Letters. 5:034007.. 2010.
A continuous measure of gross primary production for the conterminous United States derived from MODIS and AmeriFlux data. Remote Sensing of Environment. 114:576-591.. 2010.
The Great 2008 Chinese Ice Storm: Its Socioeconomic–Ecological Impact and Sustainability Lessons Learned. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 92:47-60.. 2011.
Observed increase in local cooling effect of deforestation at higher latitudes. Nature. 479(7373):384-387.. 2011.
Reconstruction of false spring occurrences over the southeastern United States, 1901–2007: an increasing risk of spring freeze damage? Environmental Research Letters. 6(2):024015.. 2011.
The fundamental equation of eddy covariance and its application in flux measurements. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. 152:135-148.. 2012.
A model-data comparison of gross primary productivity: Results from the North American Carbon Program site synthesis. Journal of Geophysical Research. 117(G3). 2012.
A numerical issue in calculating the coupled carbon and water fluxes in a climate model. Journal of Geophysical Research. 117(D22). 2012.
On the temporal upscaling of evapotranspiration from instantaneous remote sensing measurements to 8-day mean daily-sums. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. 152:212-222.. 2012.
Thermal optimality of net ecosystem exchange of carbon dioxide and underlying mechanisms. New Phytologist. 194(3):775-783.. 2012.
Artefactual responses of mesophyll conductance to CO 2 and irradiance estimated with the variable J and online isotope discrimination methods. Plant, Cell & Environment. 37(5):1231-1249.. 2013.
Asymmetrical effects of mesophyll conductance on fundamental photosynthetic parameters and their relationships estimated from leaf gas exchange measurements. Plant, Cell & Environment. 37(4):978-994.. 2013.
An eddy covariance theory of using O2 to CO2 exchange ratio to constrain measurements of net ecosystem exchange of any gas species. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. 176:104-110.. 2013.
Data-driven diagnostics of terrestrial carbon dynamics over North America. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. 197:142-157.. 2014.


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A commercial supply ship is on its way to the International Space Station.
The California-based SpaceX launched its unmanned Falcon rocket from Cape Canaveral on Sunday night. Aboard the rocket was a Dragon capsule holding 1,000 pounds of cargo, including chocolate-vanilla swirl ice cream for the three station residents.
This is the first Dragon launch under a $1.6 billion contract between SpaceX and NASA. The contract calls for 12 resupply missions.
A Dragon flew to the space station in May, but it was a test so nothing vital was aboard. The newest Dragon is hauling key experiments and other precious gear.
Dragon will reach the orbiting lab Wednesday. It will remain docked for nearly three weeks before returning to Earth with an even bigger load.


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From the bringer of good food, to the lovers of good food - Welcome to my humble pantry! I hope you enjoy your stay...
Email me at: email@example.com
posted by Chris The Baker at 2:59 AM
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As black as your stone cold heart!!!!
I think not, you're a T4 owner you don't have a heart 😂😂😂
Sling a pic up prove me wrong
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War and Foreign Policy
Monopoly and CompetitionValue and Exchange
Competition and cooperation and not two things in conflict. They are both essential ingredients in a society based on voluntary action instead of violence.
Capitalism isn't just about rich guys owning the means of production. It's about workers and everyday people also owning their own labor and their own bodies.
Decentralization and Secession
"Free private cities" are similar to microstates but are based on the idea of explicit contractual agreements between residents and the city government. How would these entities function?
Political TheoryValue and Exchange
Being resentful about a business transaction after the fact isn't the same thing as being exploited or abused.
Big GovernmentFinancial MarketsGlobal Economy
Since 2008, China has amassed a mountain of debt, and continues to operate countless "zombie" companies and money-losing factories.
"Those in government see solutions to problems they are certain will work. Yet …when their solutions are adopted and enforced the problems either get worse or create other problems worse than the ones for which the solution was designed."
Philosophy and Methodology


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UK network operator National Grid spent 77% less in 2012-13 less than the previous year on wind constraints: £7 million (EUR 8.2 million) was paid out, which accounted for 4% of total constraints, compared with £31 million — 9.5% of total constraints across all forms of electricity generation — in 2011-2012.
The amount of wind constrained dropped from 206GWh to 67GWh. That is about 0.5% of all electricity generated by onshore wind over the year.
There is less need to constrain wind thanks to reinforcements made to the transmission network, a spokeswoman for National Grid said.
Also, a change of wind farm licencing rules has driven down the average price paid per megawatt hour of wind constrained to £113 in 2012-13, compared with £165 in 2011-12.
National Grid does not reveal data on payments to individual wind farms. However, according to anti-wind organisation the Renewable Energy Foundation, RWE Npower's Farr wind farm near Inverness, Scotland, has received the most money to shut down so far: £4.8 million to stop operating for 25,124MWh.


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If a person's
HIV infection progresses, you may be called on to
provide home care for that person. A home care course may give you the
knowledge, skills, and confidence to provide the care needed. Contact your
local Red Cross chapter, Visiting Nurse Association, or AIDS service agency to
find out about home care training offered in your area.
When possible, get to know the person's doctor, nurses, social
worker, and other care providers so you can:
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Last Revised:
April 5, 2012
Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine & Peter Shalit, MD, PhD - Internal Medicine
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.
To learn more visit Healthwise.org
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text: BROWNING Hi Power Mark III Model Pistol,... BROWNING HI-POWER SILVER CHROME .40 S&W ... Browning Hi Power 9 m/m Belgium Browning Gold Classic 9mm Belgian FN Browning Hi-Power 9mm (Mfg 19... Guns Pistols Browning Pistols Hi Power Browning Hi Power Renninsance Unfired in soft case | 106 | 106 | Lc | 109.3766ms View Category Browning Hi Power "Renninsance" Unfired in soft case For Sale from Legendary Guns | Positive feedback: 97% View | Verified Seller | 4308 Completed Sales View Sellers Items /UserImages/3220/925228339 4059967.jpg /UserImages/3220/925228339 4059968.jpg /UserImages/3220/925228339 4059969.jpg /UserImages/3220/925228339 4059970.jpg /UserImages/3220/925228339 4059971.jpg /UserImages/3220/925228339 4059972.jpg /UserImages/3220/925228339 4059973.jpg /UserImages/3220/925228339 4059974.jpg /UserImages/3220/925228339 4059975.jpg /UserImages/3220/925228339 4059976.jpg Description: Browning Hi Power "Renninsance" Unfired in soft case Complete engraveing from the top of the slide to the base One of the most beautiful pistols we have ever seen, and We have now (3) of these beautiful pistol. All come a collector, and have been sitting in a safe for years. We have price these a $2695 each, If you want a group price please call. LEGENDARYGUNS 3 Day inspection, 15% restocking charge if returned. Firearm must be returned in the same condition. We do not refund shipping. No extra charge for Credit cards Read More Condition: Never fired Caliber: 9mm Luger Location: AZ Trades Accepted: Sorry we no longer do any trades on the internet. Read More Legendary Guns Inc., an FFL dealer, was founded in 1988 in Phoenix Arizona to meet a growing demand for quality new, used & antique firearms and accessories. Since then we have consistently grown to become one of the largest stocked gunshops in Arizona. We also have a large inventory of Cowboy Action Shooting guns and accessories and we also support SASS. Our policies are: We don't engage in internet trades. We take all major credit cards or Bank Checks.We DO NOT charge extra for credit card payments. We Try to ship the same day your FFL arrives assuming payment has been secured. We do not ship outside of the USA. We charge $35.00 shipping. In the Continental USA, Alaska and Hawaii are extra. We allow a 3 day inspection period starting from delivery date. We do not reimburse for shipping charges either ship to or ship back fees. A 15% restocking fee may apply on all returns. Please call 602-242-1195, ask for Internet sales, for details and questions before purchasing. We aim to please and are happy to answer any and all questions to avoid returns and disputes. Hours of operation: Mon-Fri 10-6, Sat 10-5, Sunday closed. Shipping Notes: We send Long guns via UPS Ground and Hand gun's ground USPS, unless We are instructed otherwise.extra cost are part of the Sale. All Sales that require a FFL go to a FFL dealer Read More Share Item Item #: 925228339 Stock No.: 15400 Legendary Guns Seller Since: Jun. 2001 Identity Verified ( PHOENIX, AZ ) Trusted Seller This seller is an FFL City: Phoenix State: AZ Price: SOLD Shipping: $30.00 (or FREE in-store pick up!) Accepted Payment Methods: Returns: 3 Days Your Recently Viewed Items


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Home building up in March
U.S home construction rose in March to the highest level in three months as builders resumed work at the end of a frigid winter. But applications for building permits slid, clouding the outlook for future construction.
The Commerce Department says builders started work on 946,000 homes at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in March, up 2.8 percent from 920,000 in February. Construction of single-family homes rose 6 percent, more than offsetting a 3.1 percent drop in the construction of apartments, condominiums and town houses.
As the weather moderated, construction rose 30.7 percent in the Northeast and 65.5 percent in the Midwest. But it fell in the South and West.
Applications for building permits, a gauge of future activity, fell 2.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 990,000.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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You see, my aunt will soon be moving. The card was a very simple plain white card. The front of the card contained a pen and ink sketch of her new home. Beneath the sketch, printed on the card was her new address (I've removed the address).
Inside the card was a greeting that said
From now on Santa can find me at this new address
and now you can too!!!"
And the best surprise of all? On the back was a note that said
Wanda Edwards
[town, state]
My cousin Wanda is an artist. She created the drawing of the new house for the Christmas card. Not only did I get a lovely Christmas card with notice of change of address (address included) and a drawing of the new house but the card was also drawn by a relative.
Whether my aunt intended it or not she produced a perfect family keepsake.
Think about whether you can incorporate your family into your holiday cards. Don't have a professional artist in the family? Try using a drawing or photos that your kids created. And remember to give them credit on the back of the card!
And this reminds me that I need to get cracking on my own holiday cards before it's too late....


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These games teach valuable skills and have a high fun and educational rating.
Your child develops exploration and curiosity skills as well as building narratives and object identification by playing a variety of games and being a creative contributor to the environment.
Your child develops knowledge of anatomy and physiology by watching this playful skeleton storybook video.
Your child learns about rhyming while watching two characters create a story that incorporates as many -ate words as they can think of.
Your child develops an understanding of rhymes by creating their own endings to the verses.
Your child will practice investigation skills by scanning Dora's room for certain objects. Walking around her house, your child will play a variety of games such as dressing up Dora, helping her mother cook, and fetching her dog.
Your child will develop basics in reading books, sighting words and attention/listening skills by helping the Wonder Pets save a baby triceratops.
Your child develops tons of different literacy skills, including reading comprehension, spelling, word decoding, rhyming, and much more!
Your child develops reading and word recognition skills as they play on a game show with Moose and Zee.
Your child learns all about tractors. Blippi will explain every part while showing them.
Your child develops pattern recognition skills and learns the names of common foods by helping Cookie Monster complete food patterns in the check-out line.
Zoodles 11.8.7 Copyright (c) 2014 Inquisitive Minds, Inc. All rights reserved.


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Everyone has the right to feel good about providing well for their families—that's why we created Just Between Friends. We have helped over 1 million families—just like yours—afford the brands and styles they want, all while saving hundreds of thousands of dollars across North America. At your local sales event, you'll find all the brands and equipment you need at prices that fit your budget—so you can raise confident, stylish, good-looking kids!
We understand: Everyone wants the BEST for their kids, but we don't want to break the family budget! That's where Just Between Friends comes in. At a Just Between Friends event, you can:
SHOP rows and rows of baby and children's shoes, toys, clothing, maternity, and baby equipment at 50 to 90% off retail
SELL your items as a consignor and earn from 60 to 70% on your item sales
HELP OUT at the sale and make new friends—plus you get a lot of OTHER perks too!
And it's not just about saving money and making money. It's about building community—a group of involved, caring friends, families, and neighbors that come together to support one another for these twice-a-year, safe, clean, organized sales events.
Helping Local, Family-Supporting Charities
Another HUGE part of JBF is the local charities with whom we partner to reach even MORE people within our communities. Each sales event donates items and goods to these local organizations which help local women, children, and families. We serve groups that provide clothing closets, crisis centers, transitional emergency care, food banks, and so many other wonderful services.
Why We Do This
Since 1997 our Mission Statement has been the same. We still pursue this mission today:
To glorify God by bringing communities and families together in a welcoming, friendly venue that allows them to care for children and be good stewards of what they have been given.
We do not take for granted the good that comes from each sales event or the trust our families place in our commitment to hold safe, family-supporting events, season after season. We are dedicated to our communities because we are a part of these communities. We are moms, dads, aunts, uncles, and grandparents who are invested in making our small parts of the world a better place. We are bargain lovers, of course, but beyond that, we believe in being good stewards of our resources—taking care of each other and the environment—and reaching out a hand to those who need it (as we all do at one time or another).
How It Started
Even from its small beginnings as a living room sale back in 1997, local Tulsa, Oklahoma families brought items to sell while other families shopped to purchase items they needed. Since then, the economy has brought challenges which have left some struggling to make ends meet. We hear story after story about how Just Between Friends has helped make that happen—giving families a way to provide quality items at bargain prices for their kids. And while some families sell items to have money for extras, for others, JBF can make the difference in being able to cover their bills.
What Matters to Us
The core of our business is a reflection of the core of who we are—as business owners, parents, and community builders. So what is that, exactly? We've summed in up in three core values:
1. Just Between Friends is a God-led company, seeking first the Lord's guidance in all situations.
2. Just Between Friends treats all people with honor, dignity, and respect—seeking win/win solutions for everyone. We thrive on feedback: Praise encourages us and complaints serve as disguised opportunities to create raving fans.
3. Just Between Friends empowers people to create brighter futures for themselves and others. We provide ways for families to make money and save money so they can do more with what they have and have more of what they need.
We believe that everyone deserves to feel good about providing well for their families—on any budget.
Join Us!
If this is something you believe in, we invite you to join us. Find a local sales event and get involved! Or click here to find out more about starting a Just Between Friends franchise in YOUR area! Join us on our mission to help families everywhere overcome high prices and save hundreds of dollars as they do their best to raise confident, stylish, good-looking kids.


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Now available from Tronixlabs Australia are 1M Ohms SMD 1% Metal Film Resistors in packs of ten. Also available in reels of 5000.
For more information on finding the resistors you need - please visit tronixlabs.com.au/resistors. Image of resistor is for illustration only and does not represent resistor value.
SMD Resistor Value Markings:
Identified by a 4 digit figure, the first 3 digits are the value followed by the multiplier, or number of zeros. ie. 1503 printed on the resistor equates to 150 + three zeros = 150,000Ohm or 150KOhm.


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Global IT services outfit Dimension Data has bagged a contract to design network and telephony infrastructure for Chevron's massive Wheatstone Project, a liquefied natural gas (LNG) development in Western Australia's Pilbara region.
Wheatstone is one of Australia's largest resource projects and includes two LNG liquefaction and purification facilities with a combined capacity of 8.9 million tonnes per annum as well as a domestic gas plant.
Under phase one of the contract, Dimension Data is designing Chevron's network and telephony infrastructure for Chevron's offshore platform and the onshore processing facility at Ashburton North, near Onslow in Western Australia.
"This phase includes establishing a lab environment for validating the detailed design features of the network," said Dimension Data's CEO, Rodd Cunico.
The majority of the manufacturing work for this contract will be completed in Australia, said Cunico.
"Under this agreement, we also expect to create additional positions to add to our Perth operations," he said.
Dimension Data is also providing "design assurance services" for Chevron's subcontractors for any work they perform that interfaces to the Chevron network.
The contract will potentially run for five years.
Follow CIO Australia on Twitter and Like us on Facebook… Twitter: @CIO_Australia, Facebook: CIO Australia, or take part in the CIO conversation on LinkedIn: CIO Australia
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.


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Kumquat Preserves
As promised, here is the recipe for the kumquat preserves that I used with the homemade yogurt (without using a yogurt maker) that I made a few weeks back.
Surprisingly, whereas the best part is the skin while eaten fresh, the inside white membrane of the kumquat becomes the best part of the fruit once it's preserved. It has a creamy sweetness to it. The kumquat-infused syrup is a perfect sweetener for any desserts or drinks. Be creative!
Yields: 2 cups4 cups kumquats
4 cups sugar
1/4 cup water
4 star anise seeds
1 tsp anise extract
2 1/2-pint Mason jars
Wash the kumquats and half them using a sharp chef knife. Discard all the seeds.
Place the halved kumquats, water and sugar in a pot. Let the sugar macerate for at least 3 hours in a cool area. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a medium low and cook until the fruit becomes transparent and the syrup thick (about 10 minutes). Remove from the heat. Remove and discard the star anise seeds. Cover, set aside and let it sit overnight (at least 6 hours) at room temperature.
The following day, bring the kumquat syrup to a gentle boil. Stir every now and then using a wooden spoon. Skim any foam that develops on the top before pouring into the Mason jars. Add the anise extract.
Fill a big pot of water and bring to just under a boil. Place the Mason jars, lid, heat-proof funnel and tongs in the pot and let it boil for 10 minutes. Be sure to read the instructions that come with your Mason jars. They'll give you exact time and techniques.
Remove the jars from the water and fill with kumquat preserves leaving about a 1/4-inch head space or whatever your canning directions say. Carefully place the lid on the jar. Tighten the collar around each jar. Bring your big pot of water to a boil and place all the sealed jars in it for 15 minutes.
Remove the jars from the water. If the top of the lid still pops, the vacuum didn't form and you'll need to consume the product in the next couple of weeks, storing it in the refrigerator. Otherwise you can store it in your pantry for up to a year.
To insure a good sterilization of the product, I stack a dozen magnets together to create a stick and use it a gripper to place the lids on the jars without touching them. Just make sure the magnets are clean!
The next day, when you bring the preserves back to a boil, your candy thermometer should read 220°F. Remove from the heat and start canning.
The preserves will taste better if you let the sealed jar sit for at least a week before opening. Patience is a virtue.
Published By: on April 7, 2009.


text:
Thanks to Alastair Forbes for hosting SPF. Also thanks to Paul of Poet's Pub for hosting a #dVerse poem in the form of a blessings poem.
There are days,
I cannot think, I'm trapped,
Cornered as a sleek red fox,
The Predator's main course.
Searching for my escape,
Running through the woods.
Tripping on my,
Shaking aching legs.
Adrenaline quicksilver,
Sliding through my veins.
Lungs gasping;
A haunted, hunted child.
By chance, by divinity,
A blessing found,
My 'hobbits hole.'
My home sweet home;
A hiding place,
To wait out enemies,
Gnashing, clashing,
With pointed teeth.
Vicious men of ill repute,
Fortune or fate despise.
A crook in a fallen tree;
A hole to spy for danger,
As I veil myself beneath,
Thick leaved branches,
Cut from surrounding trees,
Snuggled in my hobbits hole,
Wishing Lord God,
Bless me in my tiny hiding place.
Leave me unconfronted,
Unfound, an illusion —
Of invisibility to threats.
Basking in your security,
Graciously provided,
Let this not be the end.
And I could've been wrong,
I could've lost hope,
I could've been dinner;
Torn apart by savage beasts.
But serenity entered,
On angel's transparent wings,
Calmed my heart, quickening.
While the peace that —
Passes all understanding;
Surrounded and enfolded me.
When the dread made,
My skin crawl.
When I bit my lip drawing blood,
Sharp teeth approaching,
A beast breathing heavily,
A brutal carnivore.
Wickedness sure to devour;
But he found me not,
I was blessed, I was safe.
Invisible to the lion,
Remaining in my hobbit hole,
Fortitudes fortress,
My hiding place.
And when all was safe,
Morn's light illuminated.
The dread of frights,
Of the forest night,
The predators that maim,
And kill, disappeared into,
The earth's bowels.
I prayed, gave thanks,
And into sunlight I fled,
The prey who survived.
So blessed with life,
Living to fight another night,
Another beast,
Serenity my companion,
My relief.
©Mandobelle16. (2017) All Rights Reserved.


text:
|Condoles is not a valid Scrabble word.
|Condoles is not a valid Words with Friends word.
Above are the results of unscrambling condoles. Using the word generator and word unscrambler for the letters C O N D O L E S, we unscrambled the letters to create a list of all the words found in Scrabble, Words with Friends, and Text Twist. We found a total of 0 words by unscrambling the letters in condoles. Click these words to find out how many points they are worth, their definitions, and all the other words that can be made by unscrambling the letters from these words. If one or more words can be unscrambled with all the letters entered plus one new letter, then they will also be displayed.
|Definition of "condoles" found in the Merriam Webster dictionary
|Definition of "condoles" from The Free Dictionary
|Definition of "condoles" from Dictionary.com
|Words that start with condoles
|Words that end with condoles
|Words that contain condoles


text:
2013 Market Research Report on Global and China Car refrigerator Industry was professional and depth research report on China Car refrigerator industry.
The report firstly introduced Car refrigerator basic information included Car refrigerator definition classification application industry chain structure industry overview; international market analysis, China domestic market analysis, Macroeconomic environment and economic situation analysis and influence, Car refrigerator industry policy and plan, Car refrigerator product specification, manufacturing process, product cost structure etc.
To check out the Complete table of contents, visit: http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/analysis-details/global-and-china-car-refrigerator-industry-2013-market-research-report
then statistics Global and China key manufacturers Car refrigerator capacity production cost price profit production value gross margin etc details information, at the same time, statistics these manufacturers Car refrigerator products customers application capacity market position Royalstarontact information etc company related information, then collect all these manufacturers data and listed Global and China Car refrigerator capacity production capacity market share production market share supply demand shortage import export consumption etc data statistics, and then introduced Global and China Car refrigerator 2009-2013 capacity production price cost profit production value gross margin etc information.
And also listed Car refrigerator upstream raw materials equipments and down stream clients survey analysis and Car refrigerator marketing channels industry development trend and proposals. In the end, this report introduced Car refrigerator new project SWOT analysis Investment feasibility analysis investment return analysis and also give related research conclusions and development trend analysis of Global and China Car refrigerator industry.
In a word, it was a depth research report on China Car refrigerator industry. And thanks to the support and assistance from Car refrigerator industry chain related technical experts and marketing engineers during Research Team survey and interviews.
To Buy The Copy of This Report Visit: http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/analysis/170112
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text:
ViaCyte Announces Executive Management Changes
Allan Robins, Ph.D., Appointed Acting Chief Executive Officer
Kevin D'Amour, Ph.D., Promoted to Chief Scientific Officer
Aug 09, 2011, 06:00 ET
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ViaCyte, Inc. today announced changes to its executive management team, including the appointment of Allan Robins, Ph.D., as Acting Chief Executive Officer, and the promotion of Kevin D'Amour, Ph.D., to Chief Scientific Officer.
Robins continues to serve as Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, and his appointment as acting CEO follows the departure of President and Chief Executive Officer John West who resigned for personal reasons. West continues his relationship with ViaCyte as a consultant and as a member of its Board of Directors. The Board has initiated a search for a new CEO.
"Allan has successfully led our process development and manufacturing operations since our merger with BresaGen in 2004 and has made a number of significant contributions to ViaCyte's research and technology platform. We're pleased to have Allan assume this important interim CEO role. We also thank John West for his leadership and for his achievements in extending our company's funding resources," said Fred Middleton, Chairman of ViaCyte.
Prior to ViaCyte, Robins served as Chief Scientific Officer at BresaGen, Inc., the United States subsidiary of BresaGen Limited, an Australian biotechnology company that has since been acquired by Hospira, Inc. Under Robins' leadership, BresaGen secured significant support from the National Institutes of Health for its stem cell research. Robins received his Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Adelaide in Australia and completed postdoctoral work at Cambridge University in England.
"I welcome the opportunity to serve in this expanded role as our forward progress continues," said Robins. Commenting on D'Amour's promotion, Robins noted:
"Kevin has been essential in the development of our scientific program and is a world renowned stem cell expert. As CSO, Kevin will lead the alignment of ViaCyte's research strategy with its business and operational goals, as well as publicly address the scientific aspects of the Company's technology platform."
D'Amour joined ViaCyte in 2002 as a scientist and, along with his colleagues, authored four pivotal papers in Nature Biotechnology. He is also the lead inventor of many of the Company's key patents, including those encompassing definitive endoderm and mesendoderm cells. D'Amour earned his Ph.D. in biology at the University of California, San Diego.
"Our research team has worked tirelessly to position ViaCyte as the front runner in developing a cell therapy to treat diabetes," said D'Amour. "I look forward to advancing our program to clinical trials."
About ViaCyte, Inc.
ViaCyte is a preclinical cell therapy company focused on diabetes. The Company's technology is based on pancreatic beta cell progenitors derived from human pluripotent stem cells. These cells are implanted using a durable and retrievable encapsulation device. Once implanted and matured, these cells secrete insulin in response to blood glucose levels. ViaCyte's goal is long term insulin independence without immune suppression, and without hypoglycemia and other diabetes-related complications.
ViaCyte is a private company headquartered in San Diego, California with additional operations in Athens, Georgia. The Company is funded in part by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
This news release may contain forward-looking statements made pursuant to the provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
SOURCE ViaCyte, Inc.


text:
Export 554 results:
How face perception unfolds over time. Nature Communications 10, (2019).
How to never be wrong. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 26, 13 - 28 (2019).
Incentives Boost Model-Based Control Across a Range of Severity on Several Psychiatric Constructs. Biological Psychiatry 85, 425 - 433 (2019).
An integrative computational architecture for object-driven cortex. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 55, 73 - 81 (2019).
Language, gesture, and judgment: Children's paths to abstract geometry. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 177, 70 - 85 (2019).
Large-scale hyperparameter search for predicting human brain responses in the Algonauts challenge. The Algonauts Project: Explaining the Human Visual Brain Workshop 2019 (2019). doi:10.1101/689844
Minimal images in deep neural networks: Fragile Object Recognition in Natural Images. International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR) (2019). at <https://arxiv.org/pdf/1902.03227.pdf>
A model for discovering 'containment' relations. Cognition 183, 67 - 81 (2019).
Neural Population Control via Deep Image Synthesis. Science 364, (2019). Author's last draft (18.45 MB)
Origins of the concepts cause, cost, and goal in prereaching infants. PNAS (2019). doi:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1904410116 Author's last draft (2.58 MB)
See, feel, act: Hierarchical learning for complex manipulation skills with multisensory fusion. Science Robotics 4, eaav3123 (2019).
The speed of human social interaction perception. BioRxiv (2019). doi:https://doi.org/10.1101/579375
Theoretical Issues in Deep Networks: Approximation, Optimization and Generalization. (2019). CBMM Memo 100 v1 (1.71 MB) CBMM Memo 100 v3 (8/25/2019) (1.31 MB)
To find better neural network models of human vision, find better neural network models of primate vision. BioRxiv (2019). at <https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/688390v1.full>
The transdiagnostic structure of mental effort avoidance. Scientific Reports 9, (2019).
Universal and Non-universal Features of Musical Pitch Perception Revealed by Singing. Current Biology (2019). doi:10.1016/j.cub.2019.08.020
Using neuroscience to develop artificial intelligence. Science 363, 692 - 693 (2019).
An analysis of training and generalization errors in shallow and deep networks. (2018). CBMM-Memo-076.pdf (772.61 KB) CBMM-Memo-076v2.pdf (2.67 MB)
Assessing Language Proficiency from Eye Movements in Reading. 16th Annual Conference of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics: Human Language Technologies (2018). at <http://naacl2018.org/> 1804.07329.pdf (350.43 KB)
At 4.5 but not 5.5 years, children favor kin when the stakes are moderately high. PLOS ONE 13, (2018).
Biologically-plausible learning algorithms can scale to large datasets. (2018). CBMM-Memo-092.pdf (1.31 MB)
Brain-Observatory-Toolbox. (2018).
Brain-Score: Which Artificial Neural Network for Object Recognition is most Brain-Like?. bioRxiv preprint (2018). doi:10.1101/407007 Brain-Score bioRxiv.pdf (789.83 KB)
Classical generalization bounds are surprisingly tight for Deep Networks. (2018). CBMM-Memo-091.pdf (1.43 MB) CBMM-Memo-091-v2.pdf (1.88 MB)
Comparing human and monkey neural circuits for processing social scenes. Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting (CNS), Boston, MA (2018).


text:
Description: Philly comedy icon Big Daddy Graham joins Flyers Legend Dave "The Hammer" Schultz for an awesome night of comedy in the elegant Buck Hotel Presidential Ballroom. Tix just $45.00 and includes a scrumptious pre show buffet.
Style: Stand-up
Date: March 8
Time: 7:30pm
Admission: Tickets Available Online or by calling 215-396-2002
Location: The Buck Hotel – 1200 Buck Road, Feasterville, Pennsylvania
Contact: Facebook Event


text:
Laser iridotomy uses a very focused beam of
light to create a hole on the outer edge, or rim, of the iris, the colored part
of the eye. This opening allows fluid (aqueous humor) to
flow between the anterior chamber, the front part of the eye, and the area
behind the iris, the posterior chamber. This opening may decrease pressure in
the eye and usually prevents sudden buildup of pressure within the eye, which
occurs during an episode of acute closed-angle glaucoma.
people feel a mild but sharp sensation in the eye during this procedure. But there
usually is no pain after laser iridotomy.
Laser iridotomy can be done without
admitting the person to a hospital. The person may need to see his or her
doctor 1 hour after laser surgery. The person will also need to see the doctor
for a follow-up exam as recommended.
Laser iridotomy is mainly used to:
Laser iridotomy can prevent further
episodes of sudden (acute) closed-angle glaucoma.
Laser iridotomy
can usually prevent slow-forming (subacute) closed-angle glaucoma in people who
are at risk for closed-angle glaucoma.
Sometimes people can take
less medicine to treat glaucoma after having laser iridotomy.
Complications of laser iridotomy may
Later complications may include:
Closed-angle glaucoma usually
affects both eyes over time. When sudden (acute) closed-angle glaucoma occurs
in one eye and laser surgery has been done on that eye, laser iridotomy is
usually done on the other eye to prevent the condition from developing. Without
treatment, there is a 50% chance that closed-angle glaucoma will also develop
in the unaffected eye.1
High pressure in the eyes may continue after laser iridotomy. The person may
need to be watched closely for this even after the procedure. Some people may
need additional treatment, such as eyedrops or surgical iridectomy, to lower the eye
Complete the surgery information form (PDF)(What is a PDF document?) to help you prepare for this surgery.
CitationsAmerican Academy of Ophthalmology (2005).
Primary Angle Closure (Preferred Practice Pattern). San
Francisco: American Academy of Ophthalmology. Also available online:
Last Revised:
February 28, 2012
Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
Adam Husney, MD - Family Medicine & Christopher J. Rudnisky, MD, MPH, FRCSC - Ophthalmology
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.
To learn more visit Healthwise.org
© 1995-2012 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.


text:
Topside and Riser Connections
We offer a wide range of connector products for topsides facilities, risers and cryogenic floating facilities. Our proprietary Taper-Lok® connectors with leak-free seal technology provide safe, reliable connections with exceptional speed of make-up and weight reduction benefits. All Taper-Lok products have a +/- 2 degree misalignment capability leading to significant reductions in flange joint installation times. Standard Taper-Lok connection sizes range from 0.5 to 83 inches. They can operate at pressures up to 40,000 psi, and temperatures ranging from -350ºF to +1600º F (-212ºC to +870ºC). We also offer the CofferLok connector range of products for topsides and risers systems which includes the CofferLok clamp connector, CofferLok compact flange (standard) and CofferLok compact flange (NORSOK L-005).
Weight Savings
With weight savings of up to 80 percent in comparison to ANSI flanges, our connection systems can typically save up to 1M pounds of weight on an offshore floating platform. Normally used topsides in ANSI 600#-15K psi.
Space Savings
Space savings of up to 80 percent with smaller O.D. and length dimensions compared to ANSI/API flanges. Pipe runs are closer together for more room for process equipment and future tie-backs. Small O.D. pull-in heads are available.
Weld Neck Flange
A compact Taper-Lok flange design with wide area seal typically used for both new piping construction and existing flange replacement.
Misalignment Ball Flange
The Taper-Lok misalignment ball flange allows up to 10 degrees of misalignment of piping. When required, the assembly can be modified to include a second ball joint to allow for up to 20 degrees of misalignment.
Male Swivel Flange
This Taper-Lok assembly is available for locations where rigid piping may prevent ease of alignment of fixed Weld Neck design products. Bolt holes are aligned by a simple rotation of the swivel ring by hand, even on large diameter flanges. Combined misalignment capability with rotation alignment results in significant reduction in installation time.
Misalignment Swivel Flange
Targeted at bridge connections on offshore platforms, Taper-Lok misalignment swivel flanges will tolerate up to 20 degrees of axial misalignment by means of ball shaped -male sealing element and a seal ring that is contoured to match the radius of the ball fitting.
Male or Female Blind Flange
Taper-Lok blind to weld neck assemblies are used for pressure containment connections on pipeline terminations, pressure vessels, heat exchangers and skid packages.
Clamp Connector
A smaller, lighter option to traditional ANSI flanges, for quick and easy installation when weight and space are critical. It is used for a variety of low- and high-pressure oil and gas applications onshore and offshore. Performing under rugged conditions in a variety of applications, the CofferLok clamp connector is gas-tight, self-energized, reusable sealing technology.
Industry Standard Flange Products
We can supply an extensive range of connector products covering the below categories. Design verification services are offered for all flange types within our range, including design services for non-standard or complex-duty conditions.
- ANSI / ASME / API WN, swivel and blinds flange connectors
- Norsok design compact flanges
- Riser hang-off and pipeline anchor flanges
- API-studded and butt weld design block fittings
CofferLok Compact Flange (Standard)
The CofferLok compact flange (standard) is a popular and more reliable alternative to ANSI/API flanges. It uses the same metal seal design found in the clamp connector, but is ideal for those that prefer a bolted flange design in a smaller and lighter joint over ANSI/API.
CofferLok Compact Flange (NORSOK L-005)
The CofferLok compact flange (NORSOK L-005) has two independent metal-to-metal seals and offers an exceptionally strong mechanical connection. Considered a 'leak-fee' connection, it also saves up to 82 percent weight and space as compared to ANSI or API flanges.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where was the Taper-Lok technology first used?
Taper-Lok sealing technology originated in the mid-1960s as a solution to compression and refinery needs, adding offshore oil and gas applications in the early 1990s.
How does the Taper-Lok flange technology differ from standard flanges?
AFGlobal's Taper-Lok products have a misalignment capability of +/- 2 degrees, with no compromise to external load capacity. Misalignment capability is a unique feature in this type of connector.
Related Products and Services
Diver Connections
Diver Connections
Diverless Connections
Diverless Connections
Onshore Connections
Onshore Connections
Project Management
Project Management


text: Back to her old tricks, Emily (guest star Abbie Cobb, "Jonas") messes with Annie's (Shenae Grimes) internship at the playhouse -- and with Annie's boyfriend. Silver (Jessica Stroup) convinces Navid (Michael Steger) to sign the release for Adrianna's (Jessica Lowndes) reality show to help distract her and throw her off the track. Naomi (AnnaLynne McCord) bottles up her feeling for Max (guest star Josh Zuckerman, "Desperate Housewives"). After watching footage from her birthday party, Adrianna makes a stunning realization. Ivy (Gillian Zinser) meets a new guy, Raj (guest star Manish Dayal) and they strike up a friendship. Meanwhile, Dixon (Tristan Wilds), Navid, and Liam (Matt Lanter) take Teddy out on the town.


text:
Scores - All Time Streaks - 4x7
The Hall of Fame - player's best streaks ever. You can hit Refresh/Reload in your browser to get the latest updates. Click on the column headers to re-sort the All Time Streaks list by a different criteria.
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