text:
Thank you to Martijn de Lange for pointing this out.
A niche blog dedicated to the issues that arise when supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) extend patents beyond their normal life -- and to the respective positions of patent owners, investors, competitors and consumers. The blog also addresses wider issues that may be of interest or use to those involved in the extension of patent rights. You can email The SPC Blog here
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Record of IP Institute's meeting on Paediatric Extensions now available
As you may recall, last year, the IP institute held an informal meeting for patent offices, health authorities and industry to discuss the issue of paediatric extensions (see our posting here). A record of the meeting can now be obtained on the IP Institute's website, here.
Posted by Catherine at 10:41 am 0 comments
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Paediatric extensions: another article
The April 2010 issue of Sweet & Maxwell's monthly European Intellectual Property Review (EIPR) contains an article by Dr Ulrich Reese, Dr Claudia Milbradt and Dr Christian Stallberg (Clifford Chance, Dusseldorf) entitled "The Legal Scope and Content of the Right to SPC Extension under the Paediatric Regulation 1901/2006".
This piece is based on a position paper prepared on behalf of the German Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (vfa). The authors explain the objectives of the Regulation and seek to clarify the conditions under which such an extension must be granted.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:11 pm 0 comments
Labels: article
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
SPC on the basis of an MA for active implantable medical devices
Thanks to Matthias Kindler and Bianca-Lucia Vos (Hoffmann Eitle) for providing the following summary of a recent decision on SPCs for medical devices:
"The German FPC has issued a decision on SPC application 12 2005 000 052 in the name of the Curators of the University of Missouri. The SPC is for "yttrium-90 glass microspheres" and the application had been rejected by the GPTO because the application referred to EC Certificates CE 500 749 and CE 501 532 for the product "TheraSphere(R) yttrium-90 glass microspheres" as relevant MAs. The EC certificates were issued by BSI Product Services according to Council Directive 90/385/EEC relating to active implantable medical devices. The GPTO based the rejection on the ground that only medicinal products and not medical devices were authorized by the legislators as the basis for an SPC.
The German FPC overturned the decision of the GPTO. They found that under the specific circumstances of the present case the certificates CE 500 749 and CE 501 532 are to be considered as certificates granted analogously to Directive 65/65/EEC (now replaced by 2001/83/EC in the version of Directive 2004/27/EC). "
The German FPC overturned the decision of the GPTO. They found that under the specific circumstances of the present case the certificates CE 500 749 and CE 501 532 are to be considered as certificates granted analogously to Directive 65/65/EEC (now replaced by 2001/83/EC in the version of Directive 2004/27/EC). "
Posted by Catherine at 11:38 am 0 comments
Labels: medical devices
Sunday, 14 March 2010
SPCs and RDP compared
The SPC Blog has just spotted a recent general interest article, "The Supplementary Protection Certificate for Medicinal Products: An Update", written by Carla Schoonderbeek (NautaDutilh) for Who's Who Legal. The article contrasts SPC protection and paediatric extensions with Regulatory Data Protection (RDP) and concludes:
"The SPC has proven an effective instrument in protecting innovation for medicinal products. The most important difference with the instrument of RDP is the duration of the protection. Both RDP and SPC use the first marketing authorisation date as the starting point for the protection period, but RDP is limited to 10 or 11 years, and an SPC can stay valid until 15 years have elapsed.
A disadvantage of both SPC and RDP is that both use the first original marketing authorisation for a specific medicinal product as the basis for protection. The major importance of incremental development of medicinal products after their first marketing is not recognised by either protection mechanism. This may lead to 'orphaning' of medicinal products, which could have been extremely useful for different applications other than the one they were originally authorised for, because it is difficult for industry to invest in know-how that will not lead to additional returns".
Posted by Jeremy at 4:14 pm 1 comments
Labels: article, regulatory data protection
Friday, 5 March 2010
UK medicines fees change from 1 April
The Medicines (Products for Human Use) (Fees) Regulations 2010, 2010 No. 551, were laid before the British Parliament yesterday and, assuming nothing goes wrong, will become law on 1 April. These Regulations revoke and re-enact in consolidated form, with some amendments, the Medicines (Products for Human Use) (Fees) Regulations 2009 as amended by the Medicines (Products for Human Use) (Amendments relating to Fees for Variations) Regulations 2009 and govern the fees payable under the Medicines Act 1971 and other fees payable in respect of EU obligations relating to marketing authorizations, licences and certificates in respect of medicinal products for human use.
The fees prescribed in the Regulations are revised on an annual basis following consultation and are based on an assessment of the costs associated with the functions in association with which fees are charged.
You might be forgiven for not spotting it, but there's a tiny reference to paediatric extensions and supplementary protection certificates hidden away in paragraph 10(4) of Schedule V ("Waiver, Reduction or Refund of Capital Fees"). You can spend the first half of your weekend looking for it and the second half wondering what it all means ...
The fees prescribed in the Regulations are revised on an annual basis following consultation and are based on an assessment of the costs associated with the functions in association with which fees are charged.
You might be forgiven for not spotting it, but there's a tiny reference to paediatric extensions and supplementary protection certificates hidden away in paragraph 10(4) of Schedule V ("Waiver, Reduction or Refund of Capital Fees"). You can spend the first half of your weekend looking for it and the second half wondering what it all means ...
Posted by Jeremy at 2:17 pm 1 comments
Labels: Fees
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Recent articles
"Attacks on Supplementary Protection Certificates" is the title of a challenging piece in the March 2010 issue of Patent World, published ten times a year by Informa. The authors are Hiroshi Sheraton and Andrew Sharples (McDermott Will & Emery), who conclude
"The extreme complexities of the legal system underpinning the grant and validity of SPCs is highlighted by the wealth of case law originating from appeals from national patent offices. Those complexities, and the commercial importance of rights afforded by SPCs, are also giving rise to an increased number of disputes in which the validity of SPCs are being challenged independently of the validity of the underlying patent and that trend is likely to continue".
You can see the contents of the current issue of Patent World here.
"Pediatric Exclusivities in Europe -- a Quest for the Grail?", an article by Geneviève Michaux (of Counsel. Covington & Burling LLC, Brussels, Belgium), originally published in 64 Food and Drug Law Journal, 631-662 (2009), has now been republished in issue 1 (2010) of the respected Intellectual Property Quarterly (IPQ), a journal which is associated with the Intellectual Property Institute, London. For the abstract of this article (nb the IPQ does not publish abstracts) click here.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:01 pm 0 comments
Labels: recent articles
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Partial Translation of German Sitagliptin Referral
Thanks to Klemens Stratmann (Hoffmann Eitle) for kindly providing a partial translation (here) of the recent German referral on Sitagliptin to the Court of Justice.
Posted by Catherine at 10:37 pm 0 comments
Labels: zero-term SPCs; sitagliptin
New note on DuPont application for losartan
A Current Intelligence note on EI Du Pont Nemours & Co. v United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office [2009] EWCA Civ 966, 17 September 2009, by Sebastian Moore and Jonathan Turnbull (Herbert Smith) and entitled "Paediatric extension applications: substance and timing" appears in the current issue of the Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice (JIPLP). You can read this note in full on JIPLP's weblog here.
Posted by Jeremy at 5:55 am 1 comments
Labels: article, paediatric extension
Monday, 1 March 2010
Summary of the January 2010 SPC Seminar
If you weren't able to make it to the SPC Blog's 2010 seminar, or can't remember all the topics covered, you can now download a summary of the event here. Thanks to John Miles (Potter Clarkson) for reviewing it for accuracy.
Posted by Catherine at 4:24 pm 0 comments
Labels: SPC Seminar January 2010
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)


text:
Fan Reactions To "Hunger Games" CastingMar 21st, 2011 | By Krystal | Category: Featured Articles, Movie News
ReelzChannel has a new video focusing on fan reaction to the casting of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in "The Hunger Games" movie. What do you think of the casting of Jennifer? Who do you want in the roles of Gale and Peeta?
Hunger Games | Hunter Parrish | Jennifer Lawrence | Adam Lambert

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Buggy Radio Car 1/16 2.4Ghz Exceed RC Blaze EP Electric RTR Off Road Buggy (Fire Yellow) RC Remote Control
Exceed-RC Metallic Blaze 2.4Ghz 1/16th Scale Electric RTR Remote Control Off-Road Buggy Series
Exceed-RC Metallic Blaze RC buggy is a great choice for anyone that wants to drive both on and off the road. Sure, street cars and trucks are great fun, but with the buggy you get the best of both worlds. This Exceed-RC Metallic Blaze RC buggy with ESC (electronic speed control) gets great traction and speed on the street while the super strong motor provides plenty of power to tear up the dirt in your very own backyard! Have races that start on pavement and end with high flying dirt jumps or whatever you decide. Its up to you. Fat tires and suspension make for an exciting ride and the full function remote control allows you to drive forwards, backwards, left, and right just like a full size buggy.
High performance 7.2V 1100mAH battery pack would never fail to power these 1/16th scale EP vehicles quickly.
High quality shock absorbers provide wonderful shock protection.
Powerful high precision RC-380 motor and ESC (Electronic Speed Control)High precision electronic speed control serves on these 1/16th scale EP vehicles.
Note: 2 to 3s lipo capable (changing jumper is required)
Popular Best Sellers:


text:
Send Free SMS
Toggle navigation
Send SMS
Receive SMS
Group SMS
Save Contacts
Send Free SMS to Pakistan | PKSend.com
Send free sms to pakistan at all the network freely. You can send free sms to pakistan at all networks which includes zong, warid, ufone, jazz, telenor.
Login Now
Register Now
to start sending free
SMS upto 420 characters
sponsored links
Ab Books Kholo
Ab books kholo to books
bhi jawab day deti hein
Tu rehn day teray say nai hoga :P
Mobile No
Send SMS
Added by: nabeel
Jokes In Urdu
← Previous SMS
Next SMS →
sponsored links
Login Now
Phone No
Sign In
Forget Password?
Register Now for Free
SMS Category
Anniversary Sms
Birthday Sms
Boys Vs Girls Sms
Cricket Sms
Exam Sms
Faraz Poetry Sms
Flirt Sms
Fool Sms
Friendship Sms
Funny Faraz Sms
Funny Sms
Good Morning Sms
Good Night Sms
Husband Wife Sms
Islamic Sms
Jokes In Urdu
Life Sms
Love Sms
Marriage Sms
Naughty Sms
New Year Sms
Other Sms
Pathan Sms
Politicians Sms
Punjabi Sms
Relationship Sms
Riddle Sms
Sardar Sms
Smile Sms
Sms Messages
Urdu Funny Sms
Urdu Good Night Sms
Urdu Islamic Sms
Urdu Love Sms
Urdu Poetry Sms
Urdu Romantic Sms
Urdu Sad Sms
Wafa sms
Urdu Poetry
Aankhain Poetry
Barish Poetry
Dard shayari
Dosti Poetry
Dua Poetry
Eid Poetry
Flirt Poetry
Love Poetry Shayari
Maa Poetry
Mazahiya Shayari
Punjabi Poetry
Urdu Ghazal Poetry
Urdu Islamic Poetry
Urdu Yaad Poetry
Event SMS
Eid Sms
Fathers Day Sms
Independence Day Sms
Ramzan Sms
Urdu Eid Sms
Urdu New Year Sms
Urdu Ramzan Sms
valentine sms
English Quotes
Urdu Quotes
Website Stats
SMS Send:
User Online: 165
Login Now
Register Now
to start sending free
SMS upto 420 characters


text:
Please view our special offers on Unfinished Engineered Red Oak Hardwood Flooring specials. All of these floors are in stock but hurry because some quantities are limited and will sell fast. These items will ship within 1 or 2 business days for fast delivery. Place your order online today or call 1-888-704-8778 to speak with our knowledgeable sales team.
15 Species Available in all Lengths and Options
Choose from 4 unique sizes featuring beautiful colors, Long Lengths, and Wide Widths
100's of Options - All at Great Prices


text:
Jonathan Schofield was born near Manchester and now lives and works in London. He studied Fine Art at The Royal College of Art under Peter Doig in 1996. His work has been exhibited at the Royal Academy and he is part of their permanent collection. Jonathan has since fused his interest for art and fashion, running his own art direction agency, whilst continuing to paint from his studio in Hackney.
As we're handling fragile artworks, we carefully wrap all pieces and only use a signed service for all of our shipping.
UK Shipping: £12
EU Shipping: £40 *
Rest of World: £50 *
Collection by appointment from Hackney Downs Studios, E8 2BT: £2
*Additional customs and duties may apply and are the responsibility of the buyer.
Once you have received your artwork, you have 14 days to return it to us for a full refund if you are not happy with it. Please note that the work must be returned in its original condition and in its original packaging. You are responsible for the cost of the return shipment, and we reccomend that you use a tracked and signed for service. If your work has been damaged during transit then please contact us via the contact page and we will help get to the bottom of it with you.


text:
Prospectus of the Royal College of Art, 1939-1940, Royal College of Art
Type: Prospectus
Publisher & Place of Publication: H.M.S.O. Press, London
Publication Date: 1939
Number of Pages: 37
Collection: Royal College of Art
Collection Physical Description: Annual prospectuses dating from 1926 onwards.
Collection Context: Prospectus for 1939 to 1940.
Citing this record
'Prospectus of the Royal College of Art, 1939-1940, Royal College of Art', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/reference.php?id=msib4_1244040326, accessed 02 Oct 2023]


text:
The purifying fire of prayer.
This isn't a sermonette - but I want to mention something about today's Gospel and chastity.
For years I prayed for chastity - without always avoiding the occasions of sin. I know - how dumb. Truth be told, the milieu I worked in, the people I worked with, was a sort of occasion of sin. Over the years I changed friends, moved from this job to that job, did countless things to remedy the situation - to no avail. I was my own occasion of sin. My life was disordered. It got worse the more I tried to isolate myself. It was me - the things that came out of my heart defiled me, as another Gospel passage would have it. I realized that even more keenly when I changed jobs and worked for a religious community - thinking I'd be safe there. (I've always worked at another job to support myself and my art work.)
What I learned however, is that even though we can't always change our outward situation and live in an occasion-free environment, or as I said, we imagine that by changing our outward circumstances we flee the occasions, frequently some of us find we keep going back to the trough for more. It is then we understand we are the problem. We can't dissociate from ourselves, can we? No. But we can - we must - pray for the graces we need to be faithful in difficult circumstances. Today's Gospel taught me that way back when... prayer is the trap door out of sin, as St. Teresa said... 'fornicator though I was.' (A Gorcum martyr said that.)
Saved in situ.
Modern life is an occasion of sin - and most of us are disordered in one way or another. I'm not saying people do not need to avoid the near occasion of sin, nor a deliberate occasion of sin or anything like that. You do what you can, yet we live in an adulterous generation and, like I said, we're all disordered to some degree.
Yet what today's Gospel taught me, way back when, is to "pray always and never lose heart." Ask for the grace in prayer. Be that widow and keep asking. The more often you fall, the more often you ask. A Carmelite once told me, 'go to confession several times a day if you must - but keep praying." She exaggerated a bit I think, since very few priests would tolerate such things - but I understood her. Confession and the sacraments and prayer. You can walk through the fiery furnace with the boys of Babylon* if you remain faithful to these - because the angel of God is with you when you pray.
One has to understand that carefully however, because I'm not encouraging the sin of presumption, or suggesting that prayer and the sacraments act as charms or something magical. People who suffer from grave temptations will know what I mean. We need to come to a point where we long for healing with all of our heart - then it is we can come to the point where we pray without ceasing for that grace. Today's Gospel is testimony that it is possible and that God will free us from our enslavement to sin. (I prefer that term to 'addiction'.) When it happened to me, it seemed very sudden and unexpected - totally new. One day at adoration I heard a voice say, 'you are free'. That after nearly 30 years of struggle. I didn't earn it however - it was sheer grace, which is why the experience was new and alive - living as for the first time, as it were.
There's a reason for that I think. Sometimes God doesn't grant us what we ask right away because the asking is itself a form of purification - the asking, the falling and rising, make us humble after we rise, and God is thereby glorified in showing mercy and restoring our "rights".
This may not be very good moral theology, but just remember, nothing is impossible for God. So pray always and don't lose heart - no matter what your situation. Remember the disciples tried to keep people away from Christ - like the blind Bartimaeus, the Canaanite woman, and other 'unclean' people - but they got through to Him, and He healed them.
*The Babylonian furnace offered in this instance as a metaphor for the occasion of sin.


text:
(visited by Derek Roberts and Greg Sage)
04-Apr-2004 -- Walked from Walker Creek Road south for approx 3.8 Miles.
Ground very uncomfortable to walk on, lots of tussocks and hidden holes.
Confluence near crest of small hill (100 meters).
The day was sunny with a 15 mph wind (winds of 15 mph is classed as calm in the Falklands as it is always blowing).


text:
In this work, we present theoretical results, using first-principle methods associated to the virtual crystal approximation model, for the vibrational mode frequencies of both the Ga1−xMn x N (in both cubic and hexagonal structures) and the Ga1−xMn x As alloys, with the Mn contents in the range of 0% to 20%. The dependence of the calculated phonon frequencies with the Mn content was analyzed, and the results indicate that the phonon frequencies decrease with the increasing of Mn composition, leading to the false impression that they obey the Vegard rule in some cases. Moreover, the hexagonal Ga1−xMn x N alloys are elastically unstable for Mn concentrations at the order of 20%, which explains in part the experimentally observed deterioration of these alloys. These findings can be used in future technologies as a guide for the synthesis of spintronic nanostructured devices, such as nanowires, based on these materials.
Over the last decade, extensive studies of dilute magnetic semiconductors (DMSs) and oxides have confronted research with experimental and theoretical challenges that make this field as one of the most exciting and controversial in the condensed matter theory. In particular, semiconductors, such as GaN and GaAs, doped with magnetic impurities are highly promising candidates for DMSs to realize ferromagnetism above room temperature[1, 2]. Also, due to the miniaturization of electronic devices to the nanoscale, nanostructures such as quantum wells, quantum dots and nanowires (NWs) that are controlled grown, are a very important class of new semiconductor-based spintronic nanodevices[3].
However, most of the grown DMS GaN-based NWs have diameters which vary from 10 to 100 nm[3]. In this range, recent theoretical results show that their calculated electronic properties tend to the values of their respective bulk counterpart[4, 5]. Moreover, measured GaN NW phonon frequencies show the same features[6], and NW surface effects play an interesting role in the electronic bandgap formation and the appearance of some phonon modes[4–6].
Despite the fact that Raman and infrared techniques were widely used in the last decade to characterize DMS materials as Ga1−xMn x N and Ga1−xMn x As[7–10], theoretical data on their phonon modes available in the literature are very scarce. However, there are at least two approaches to describe the vibrational modes of an alloy: the virtual crystal approximation (VCA) and the percolation model[11]. In the VCA model, each atom A is surrounded by four virtual B1−xC x atoms, i.e., the crystal is viewed at the macroscopic scale as a continuum or, in a well-ordered alloy, the physical properties are accordingly averaged. Thus, VCA provides, at first sight, a good start in the description of many vibrational properties in semiconducting alloys.
From the experimental point of view, it is interesting to remark that, with the increase of Mn content, both the Ga1−xMn x As longitudinal optical (LO) and transverse optical (TO) phonon frequencies decrease. Besides, in the molecular beam epitaxy grown samples, a local Mn mode vibration was not observed, as observed in the ion-implanted samples[9, 10]. For the Ga1−xMn x N alloys, it was verified that the A1(LO) mode is shifted to higher frequencies, while the E1(LO) mode decreases with the increasing Mn content. Also, at concentrations around 12% of Mn, rapid deterioration in the lattice ordering occurs due to Mn precipitation[8, 12]. For that, any theoretical study on Ga1−xMn x N and Ga1−xMn x As materials should address these points.
Therefore, in this work, we calculate using first-principle methods together with the VCA model the frequencies of the vibrational modes for both the Ga1−xMn x N and Ga1−xMn x As alloys, with Mn contents varying up to 20%. From the obtained results, the dependence of the calculated phonon frequencies with the Mn content is analyzed.
Theoretical model
Calculations were carried out using DFT within both the local density approximation (LDA) and the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) for the exchange-correlation term, plane-wave description of the wave functions and the pseudopotential method (ABINIT code[13]). We have used the Troullier-Martins pseudopotentials, and the phonons were obtained by means of the density-functional perturbation theory. The results were converged with a cutoff energy of 120 Ry of the plane wave expansion of the wave functions, and we have used a (6, 6, 6) Monkhorst-Pack mesh to sample the Brillouin zone. In order to describe the alloys, we have used the average crystal approximation (within the VCA model), as defined by Ghosez et al.[14]. For each Mn composition x of the alloy within the VCA model, the total energy of the respective unit cell was minimized as a function of both the lattice parameters and the atomic positions by means of conjugated gradient techniques. We would like to remark that both the structural parameters and vibrational modes of the isolated MnAs, MnN, GaMnAs, and GaN compounds were calculated and described in our previous works[15–17].
Concerning the calculated structural properties for the cubic Ga1−xMn x As alloys at the diluted regime, we have shown that the unit cell expands with the increase of the Mn content x[16]. For lower Mn concentrations (x < 5%), this expansion is linear, which is in agreement with the experimental findings[18], and it reaches a maximum at x ≈ 10% (15%) in the LDA (GGA) results. Also, there is a lattice contraction with the increase of the Mn content, and this is observed in both LDA and GGA calculations. For both the cubic and hexagonal Ga1−xMn x As alloys (not shown here), the same trends were observed: in both structures, the lattice expansion reaches its maximum at x ≈ 15%, which is independent of the exchange-correlation term used in the calculations. Moreover, it is interesting to remark that the c/a ratios of the hexagonal structures remain constant with the Mn content variation.
Results and discussion
Figure 1 shows the calculated GGA LO(Γ) and TO(Γ) phonon frequencies and its dependence on the Mn concentration x for the cubic Ga1−xMn x As alloys. As observed in our previous LDA results[17], the frequencies of these two modes diminish with the increasing Mn composition. We have also noted that for x < 5%, the LO(Γ) mode is more sensitive to the changes in the Mn concentration than the TO(Γ) mode. This may be more clearly seen in Figure 2, wherein we display both our calculated GGA and LDA (taken from the study of HWLA[16]) frequency shifts (Δω) as a function of the Mn composition for these two modes. Despite the fact that our results show that the frequency shifts are quite sensitive to the exchange-correlation term used to evaluate the phonons for this alloy, these are consistent with the experimental findings[10].
In Figure 2, the obtained GGA frequency shifts of both LO(Γ) and TO(Γ) modes were fitted by second-degree polynomials, with a strong positive curvature. From the fitting, we obtained the following:
for the TO mode, and
for the LO one. As a consequence, our results indicate that for the phonon frequencies, this material does not obey the Vegard rule. We would like to point out that our evaluated LO(Γ) and TO(Γ) phonon frequencies for MnAs (x = 100%) in the zincblende structure are 328.8 and 272.1 cm−1, respectively[17]. In order to obey the Vegard rule, these mode frequencies should have a positive linear dependence on the Mn content, which is not observed in our results.
However, when we compare our results for the LO(Γ) and TO(Γ) frequency shifts with the experimental data[10], the agreement is only qualitative once our GGA results are 40% lower than the experimental data. We can attribute this discrepancy to the fact that Mn induces local distortions in the GaAs lattice[19], giving rise to local modes, which were detected only in ion-implanted sample experiments[9], and it is not predicted by the VCA model. We would like to point out that in the VCA model, no singularity is expected on the TO modes, and then, the TO frequencies shift regularly between the natural frequency in the pure crystal and the impurity frequency[11]. Moreover, the most stable structure of MnAs is the hexagonal NiAs modification[17], for which the local environment of the Mn atoms is quite different from that found in the zincblende structure. This means that the Ga1−xMn x As-diluted alloy is not well ordered as required in the VCA model.
However, for the cubic Ga1−xMn x N alloys, the nature of the local environment of the Mn atoms in this structure is quite different. We show in Figure 3 our calculated GGA and LDA frequency shift (Δω) dependence on the Mn composition for these two modes, LO(Γ) and TO(Γ). It is clear from Figure 3 that the same features observed in the GaMnAs case are also verified for this case, but in this case, the frequency shifts are not too sensitive to the exchange-correlation term used to evaluate the phonons. Here, the polynomial fitting gives the following:
for the LDA TO mode, and
for the LDA LO one. In this case, the decreasing LO mode frequency is stronger than that observed for the Ga1−xMn x As alloys. Considering that the calculated LO(Γ) and TO(Γ) modes are at 710 and 534 cm−1, respectively, for GaN[15] and at 666.5 and 506.6 cm−1, respectively, for the zincblende MnN[17], one should expect that this alloy obeys the Vegard rule. However, the large curvature obtained rules out this fact.
Our previous calculations for MnN show that this compound in the zincblende structure is not stable[17]. In fact, MnN is more stable in the face-centered tetragonal structure, in which, as seen for the Ga1−xMn x As case, one should also expect that Mn induces local distortions in the GaN lattice, similar to those verified for the Mn impurity in GaN[19], giving rise to local vibration modes. However, in the most stable structure, our previous results show that MnN has two modes: an Eu at 251.6 cm−1 and an A2u at 330.4 cm−1 (both infrared active only). As we did not find any trace of these modes in our results for the cubic Ga1−xMn x N alloys, we can conclude that based on our findings, the structural properties of these diluted alloys prefer to remain in the zincblende structure.
It is interesting to remark that our phonon frequency results for both the cubic Ga1−xMn x As and Ga1−xMn x N alloys show that we have a two-bond to one-mode character (a mixed mode) in these compounds, i.e., a 'one-mode' behavior. Thinking about the mass differences between Ga and Mn atoms, the obtained results show that it would be difficult to obtain a 'two-mode' behavior as that verified in our previous calculations for the Al x Ga1−xN alloys[20]. However, considering the position of the Mn impurity mode in the percolation model developed by Pagès and co-workers[11],
where γTO is the Grüneisen parameter of the bulk TO mode, is the alloy cation-anion bond-length difference related to the bulk one, and ωTO is the bulk TO phonon frequency, as our calculated structural results show that all the considering lattices expand in the diluted regime; an imaginary value for the phonon frequency of the Mn impurity mode is found in all considered cases. This supports the observed one-mode character in our results.
In Figure 4, we show the calculated phonon frequency dependence on the Mn concentration for the hexagonal Ga1−xMn x N alloy. From this figure, we note that, except for the A1(TO) phonon, all the other modes have their frequencies decreasing with the increase of Mn content. These findings are, qualitatively, in good agreement with the experimental data[8, 12] and also follow the same features obtained for cubic alloys. Additionally, from the results depicted in Figure 4, we observe that the E2(low) mode became softer with the increase of Mn concentration, and when this content is greater than 20%, this mode has a negative frequency. From the lattice dynamics point of view, this is a clear indication that there is an elastic instability of the hexagonal Ga1−xMn x N alloy, leading to some structural phase transition, as observed for the cubic HfO2 and ZrO2 compounds[21]. This is an indication to explain the deterioration in the Ga1−xMn x N lattice[7]. Moreover, as the obtained E2(low) mode frequency becomes 135.1 cm−1, a value close to Eu which is one of the face-centered tetragonal MnN mentioned above, we can infer that this deterioration can be assigned to the rearrangement of the N atoms bonded to Mn that change the local symmetry around the metal, from the hexagonal to the tetragonal (or cubic) structure. These N atom rearrangements are increased as the Mn content increases, leading to the observed deterioration of the hexagonal lattice. However, as the crystal is viewed in a well-ordered alloy in the VCA model, our current results cannot describe, accurately, this observed deterioration. Thus, a good physical picture of this effect can only be described using total energy and phonon mode calculations where the local environment of the Mn atoms is taken into account. Such calculations are currently under way.
In summary, we have calculated, using first-principle methods together with the VCA model, the vibrational modes of both the Ga1−xMn x N (in both cubic and hexagonal structures) and the Ga1−xMn x As alloys, with the Mn contents varying in the range of 0% to 20%. Our results agree qualitatively well with the available experimental data, whenever these comparisons were possible. Based on these results, we have shown interesting aspects concerning the vibrational modes of these alloys: in the range of the available experimental data, the phonon frequencies decrease with the increase of Mn composition, leading to a false impression that they obey the Vegard rule. Due to the characteristics of the VCA model, their optical modes show a one-mode behavior. Additionally, our results indicate that the hexagonal Ga1−xMn x N alloys are elastic, which is unstable for the Mn concentrations at the order of 20%, and that explains, in part, the experimentally observed deterioration of these alloys. We reason that these findings can give guidelines for future nanostructured material systems, leading to further experiments and calculations on this subject. This will be important in the development of new spintronic nanodevices based on these DMS materials.
Ohno H: A window on the future of spintronics. Nature Mater. 2010, 9: 952–954. 10.1038/nmat2913
Dietl T: A ten-year perspective on dilute magnetic semiconductors and oxides. Nature Mater. 2010, 9: 965–974. 10.1038/nmat2898
Choi HJ, Seong HK, Chang J, Lee KI, Park YJ, Kim JJ, Lee SK, He R, Kuykendall T, Yang P: Single-crystalline diluted magnetic semiconductor GaN:Mn nanowires. Adv Mater 2005, 17: 1351–1356. 10.1002/adma.200401706
Vilela TR, Leite Alves HW: Atomic and electronic properties of GaN nanowires. Physics Procedia 2012, 28: 17–21.
Carter DJ, Gale JD, Delley B, Stampfl C: Geometry and diameter dependence of the electronic and physical properties of GaN nanowires from first principles. Phys Rev B 2008, 77: 115349–1-115349–12.
Liu HL, Chen CC, Chia CT, Yeh CC, Chen CH, Yu MY, Keller S, DenBaars SP: Infrared and Raman-scattering studies in single-crystalline GaN nanowires. Chem Phys Lett 2001, 345: 245–251. 10.1016/S0009-2614(01)00858-2
Harima H: Raman studies on spintronics materials based on wide bandgap semiconductors. J Phys Condens Matter 2004, 16: S5653-S5660. 10.1088/0953-8984/16/48/023
Hu ZG, Strassburg M, Weerasekara A, Dietz N, Perera AGU, Kane MH, Asghar A, Ferguson IT: Lattice vibrations in hexagonal Ga1−xMnxN epitaxial films on c-plane sapphire substrates by infrared reflectance spectra. Appl Phys Lett 2006, 88: 061914. 10.1063/1.2172718
Islam MR, Chen NF, Yamada M: Raman scattering study on Ga1−xMnxAs prepared by Mn ion implantation, deposition and post-annealing. Cryst Res Technol 2009, 44: 215–220. 10.1002/crat.200800215
Limmer W, Glunck M, Mascheck S, Koeder A, Klarer D, Schoch W, Thonke K, Sauer R, Waag A: Coupled plasmon-LO-phonon modes in Ga1−xMnxAs. Phys Rev B 2002, 66: 205209.
Pagès O, Postnikov AV, Kassem M, Chafi A, Nassour A, Doyen S: Unification of the phonon mode behavior in semiconducting alloys: theory and ab initio calculations. Phys Rev B 2008, 77: 125208.
Asghar M, Hussain I, Bustarret E, Cibert J, Kuroda S, Marcet S, Mariette H: Study of lattice properties of Ga1−xMnxN epilayers grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy by means of optical techniques. J Cryst Growth 2006, 296: 174–178. 10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2006.08.032
Gonze X, Amadon B, Anglade PM, Beuken JM, Bottin F, Boulanger P, Bruneval F, Caliste D, Caracas R, Côté M, Deutsch T, Genovese L, Ghosez P, Giantomassi M, Goedecker S, Hamann DR, Hermet P, Jollet F, Jomard G, Leroux S, Mancini M, Mazevet S, Oliveira MJT, Onida G, Pouillon Y, Rangel T, Rignanese GM, Sangalli D, Shaltaf R, Torrent M, et al.: ABINIT: first-principles approach to material and nanosystem properties. Comput Phys Commun 2009, 180: 2582–2615. 10.1016/j.cpc.2009.07.007
Ghosez P, Desquesnes D, Gonze X, Rabe KM: First-principles study of lattice instabilities in BaxSr1−xTiO3. AIP Conf Proc 2000, 535: 102–110.
Pereira LS, Santos AM, Alves JLA, Leite Alves HW, Leite JR: Dynamical and thermodynamic properties of III-nitrides. Microelectron J 2003, 34: 655–657. 10.1016/S0026-2692(03)00088-0
Leite Alves HW: Ab initio calculations of the vibrational modes of MnAs and Ga1−xMnxAs. AIP Conf Proc 2007, 893: 151–152.
Leite Alves HW: Phonons and their pressure dependence of MnAs and MnN by ab initio calculations. Phys stat sol B 2009, 246: 558–562. 10.1002/pssb.200880538
Ohno H: Properties of ferromagnetic III-V semiconductors. J Magn Magn Mater 1999, 200: 110–129. 10.1016/S0304-8853(99)00444-8
Luo X, Martin RM: Jahn-Teller distortion and ferromagnetism in the dilute magnetic semiconductors GaAs:Mn and cubic GaN:Mn. Phys Rev B 2005, 72: 035212.
Santos AM, Silva ECF, Noriega OC, Alves HWL, Alves JLA, Leite JR: Vibrational properties of cubic AlxGa1−xN and InxGa1−xN ternary alloys. Phys Stat Sol (b) 2002, 232: 182–187. 10.1002/1521-3951(200207)232:1<182::AID-PSSB182>3.0.CO;2-Q
Detraux F, Ghosez P, Gonze X: Long-range coulomb interaction in ZrO2. Phys Rev Lett 1998, 81: 3297. 10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.3297
The authors thank the support received from the Brazilian research financial agencies CNPq (grant no. 564.739/2010-3/NanoSemiCon) and FAPEMIG. Luísa MR Scolfaro also acknowledges the partial support from the Materials Science, Engineering and Commercialization Program of Texas State University.
Additional information
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Authors' contributions
HWLA conceived the study and carried out the calculations. HWLA, LMRS, and EFSJ discussed the results and proposed new calculations and improvements. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Authors' original submitted files for images
Below are the links to the authors' original submitted files for images.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
About this article
Cite this article
Leite Alves, H.W., Scolfaro, L.M. & da Silva, E.F. Lattice dynamics of Ga1−xMn x N and Ga1−xMn x As by first-principle calculations. Nanoscale Res Lett 7, 573 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1186/1556-276X-7-573
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1556-276X-7-573
- Dilute nitride semiconductor
- Phonons
- VCA model
- DFT calculations
- Nanostructures


text:
The People:
Clyde P. Miller
Clyde P. Miller, Penland's first metals instructor, taught jewelry making, metal work, and leather tooling during the summers of 1935, 1936, 1937, and 1938.
Bonnie Willis Ford, in her history of the Penland Weavers, recalled that "through a former Institute student, the interest of Mr. Clyde P. Miller, an expert silver—and goldsmith of Milton, New York, was enlisted and he rendered an inestimable service by organizing and teaching without charge excellent courses in metal work and jewelry making."
Classes were held in a small room that had been added onto the Pottery, a 19th century log structure which originally had been built as a stable. The classes were very popular and, in 1937, Miller was assisted by Miss Harriet Curry of Bloomington, Indiana and Miss Helen Patton of Franklin, North Carolina. There were 79 students enrolled in his class that summer, 32 of whom were from North Carolina. By 1938 the classes were second only to weaving in popularity.
- Descriptive Report of the 1935 Penland Weaving Institute. 1935 Weaving Institute Files, Penland School of Crafts, Archives.
- Descriptive Report of the 1937 Penland Weaving Institute. 1937 Weaving Institute Files, Penland School of Crafts, Archives.
- Ford, Bonnie Willis. Penland Weavers and Potters, Penland, North Carolina. [1938].
- Ford, Bonnie Willis. The Story of the Penland Weavers. Penland, Penland School of Handicrafts, Third Printing 1941, 31.


text:
Our focus on organic growth has expanded our operations by more than 200% over the past ten years. Our offices are strategically located in areas that best serve our customers.
With our Asia headquarters in Singapore and 6 branch offices in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and Thailand, our coverage of Asia is comprehensive.
Singapore is home to our Asia headquarters office, workshop, warehouse and site kits. We provide centralised training programmes and services to customers throughout South East Asia. BELFOR Singapore offices
Based in Tokyo, our office, workshop, warehouse and site kits serve our customers throughout Japan. BELFOR Japan offices
Based in Seoul, our Korea office was established in 2017, serving customers throughout the Republic of Korea. BELFOR Korea offices
In China, we spearhead our operations and services via strategically located offices, workshops, warehouses and site kits located in Shanghai. BELFOR China offices
We operate an office, workshop, warehouse and site kits in Taipei, Taiwan. BELFOR Taiwan offices
Our Thailand office and warehouse in Bangkok supports our operations in Thailand and Vietnam. BELFOR Thailand offices


text:
Luxe Candy Rimmer Silicone Butt Plug for Beginners - Small, Pink
Luxe Candy Rimmer Silicone Butt Plug for Beginners - Small, Pink
Sale Sold out
Regular price $17.90 USD
Regular priceUnit price per
Sale price
Ship discreetly & fast from Canadian warehouse
Shipping Costs to Canada
|Under $59
|Over $59
|Canada Post Expedited
|Based on Weight
|Canada Post Xpresspost
|Based on Weight
|Based on Weight
|Canada Post Priority
|Based on Weight
|Based on Weight
Estimated Shipping Times
Ontario and Quebec 1-3 Business Days
Rest of Canada 3-7 Business Days
Earn 0.81 T&F Points (1 Point = $1)
Our reward system has been updated!
Create your account now to get rewards!
Whenever you spend $2, there will be 0.1 credit ($0.1) deposited to your account.
To use the rewards, simple copy the gift code and use it in your next purchase!
Contact us for support if you have any questions!
Shop with Confidence
Discreet Billing
Your credit card statement will show TandF for your privacy and anonymity.
Discreet Shipping Packaging
The only identifying marks are your mailing address and ours.
Secure Online Payments
We are using SSL technology and the credit card is read directly by the bank.


text:
Debugging a PHP application if often more difficult than debugging an application in some other programming language. There are two reasons for this.
[ PHP developers have many good IDEs to choose from. See the InfoWorld Test Center's comparison of ActiveState Komodo, CodeLobster, Eclipse PDT, phpDesigner, NetBeans, NuSphere PhpED, PHPEdit, and Zend Studio. ]
Second, a PHP Web application does not have a continuous, linear flow of execution. Its execution is a series of HTTP request/response transactions. Each transaction is independent of all other preceding and following request/response pairs. While it is true that, from a user's perspective, the application gives the impression of a monolithic unity, that effect is maintained by artifacts such as cookies or hidden fields. The presence of such artifacts does not inform the debugger of a transaction-spanning Web session.
The upshot is that, if you start a debug session on file X.PHP, when X.PHP sends its HTTP response, that PHP code is completed. A subsequent HTTP request in the same user session might trigger the execution of file Y.PHP. Consequently, a single user session effectively passes through multiple debug sessions.
Developers can deal with the "multiple languages" issue using a collection of debug tools, each outfitted for its particular domain. A PHP debugger "extension" handles debugging PHP code. One of the most popular extensions is the Xdebug, a free PHP debugger, which is installed as a dynamic link library on Windows or as a shared library on Linux. Xdebug can be used with virtually any Web server, because it is attached to the PHP runtime and not the Web server.
Xdebug provides all the basic debugging capabilities: breakpoints, stack traces, variable watches, and so on. It also makes special functions available to the executing program. For example, you can display the amount of memory a PHP application is using by calling Xdebug's xdebug_memory_usage() function. Finally, Xdebug can be configured to track an HTTP session. Appending an XDEBUG_SESSION_START parameter to the URL of an HTTP request will cause Xdebug to emit a cookie to the browser, thus enabling a single debug session to span multiple HTTP transactions.
Debugging SQL is different from debugging a procedural language. Testing the correctness of a query is often done simply by building and executing the query in ad hoc fashion -- that is, typing the query into an SQL management console and verifying the results. Many PHP IDEs provide database tools for this very reason. For example, the Database Development Toolkit in Eclipse (and Zend Studio) includes ad hoc query execution, as well as execution statistics. With the proper plug-in (dependent on the database engine), you can also display query plan information.
This article, "Debugging PHP Web apps is hard to do," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest news in software development and PHP at InfoWorld.com.


text:
IYA2009 Updates
IYA2009 breaks another record
11 August 2009
IYA2009 breaks another record
Longest canvas in the world painted at the Oceans festival in Lisbon, under the theme Oceans and Astronomy. In this creative event that was open to families, a 4.8 km long canvas was painted with the help of many enthusiastic volunteers.
More information: http://www.festivaldosoceanos.com/home_en.html
NASA Celebrates IYA2009
10 August 2009
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in partnership with the U.S. national node and the IAU/UNESCO, of which it is an Organizational Associate, has developed a rich and vibrant program for the International Year of Astronomy 2009. We kicked off the event at the American Astronomical Society meeting in January 2009, with a sneak preview of the multiwavelength image of M101, taken by the three NASA Great Observatories, Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and Spitzer Space Telescope. There was a steady stream of visitors at the NASA booth at the Opening Ceremony in Paris. Since then NASA programs have touched the hearts and souls of the young and old both in the U.S. and internationally. All NASA programs can be accessed via the website http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/. Below is an update on some of the NASA programs - there are many more!
-Great Observatories Image Unveiling (HST-Spitzer-Chandra views of M101) - travelling exhibit at 116 science centers, museums, planetariums, and schools around USA.
-Visions of the Universe: Four Centuries of Discovery traveling exhibit for public libraries
-From Earth to the Universe image exhibition has been displayed in non-traditional venues in USA and around the world.
-Object of the month: Chosen by scientists to be easily observable by the public and supported by "Discovery Guides", "What's Up" video & podcasts, "Amazing Space" resources, "Epo's Chronicles" webcomic.
-MicroObservatory: Take and process your OWN images with the MicroObservatory robotic telescopes.
-Sun-Earth Day 2009 live webcast took place on March 20, 2009. Scientists shared top discoveries about the Sun. Students monitored the Sun and prepared their own space weather forecast. A download of the webcast is now available with the transcript.
- Around the World in 80 Telescopes: NASA missions participating in the 24-Hour Observatory included Hubble Space Telescope (HST), THEMIS, RHESSI, and FAST, Swift, Fermi, SOHO, TRACE, STEREO, GALEX, Chandra, Spitzer, (plus ESA scientists highlighting XMM-Newton and Integral).
- "Hubble's Next Discovery - You Decide" contest drew contestants from around the world in the selection of an object for observation by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).
- Teacher Workshops associated with the launch Kepler, HST Servicing Mission 4, WISE missions have been planned/executed.
- International participation of NASA scientists on May 6-8, 2009, in a space adventure (Aventura Espacial) in Barranquilla, Colombia
-NASA IYA Student Ambassador program has spread the excitement of NASA missions in all 50 states of the U.S., Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.
-Women in Astronomy and Space Science workshop, addressing the challenges of a diverse workforce will be held in October 2009 at College Park, MD.
Hashima Hasan and Mario Perez
NASA Headquarters, Washington DC 20546, USA
2009 total solar eclipse broadcast reaches a huge audience
10 August 2009
Organisers of a live broadcast of the recent total eclipse have announced that the event reached millions of people using their feeds. 25 clients utilised the video stream, including 10 TV stations and 14 network portals. Viewers came from all over the world, from countries including Japan, USA, Poland, Singapore, Canada, Malaysia, and many others.
Special solar eclipse sections on participating web portals say they have received over 160 million clicks, while mobile phone websites were visited more than 70 million times.
The IYA2009 team would like to congratulate all involved!
IYA2009 coins celebrate this special year
10 August 2009
A new Canadian $30 sterling silver coin to mark IYA2009 has been announced. The design features an observatory with a universe of heavenly wonders shimmering within and around the beautifully painted night sky, and will be shipped late August. It can be seen here: http://www.mint.ca/store/product/product.jsp?itemId=prod650001&rcmeid=van_astronomy
This coin joins an ever-growing collection of astronomy-themed coins from the world. The Royal Australian Mint announced special one dollar and 20 cent coins in February, featuring images of the famous radio telescope located in Parkes NSW, symbolic of Australia's place in international astronomy: http://www.coinnews.net/2008/11/09/royal-australian-mint-shoots-for-the-stars-with-2009-international-year-of-astronomy-coins-4499/
In March the Austrian Mint in Vienna chose to dedicate its silver-niobium coin to IYA2009: http://www.coinnews.net/2009/03/12/austria-2009-25-year-of-astronomy-silver-niobium-galileo-coin/
And April saw Malaysia release three versions of an IYA2009 coin, available separately or together as a set: http://www.bnm.gov.my/index.php?ch=8&pg=14&ac=1805
NASA release useful resources for IYA2009
10 August 2009
NASA is using two robotic probes to study the Moon, creating a detailed atlas and analysing our natural satellite. Known as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and The Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing satellite (LCROSS), they are missions to interest and inspire the public.
To help spread the word to the public at large, NASA have released resources centred around the missions. Of particular interest to IYA2009 supporters are the presentations and videos which can be used at star parties, and other events.
Information and resources are available by following these links:
http://www.lcross.arc.nasa.gov/resources http://www.lcross.arc.nasa.gov/observethemoonnight.htm
The 300th anniversary of the airship Passarola falls within IYA2009
8 August 2009
One of the many important anniversaries being celebrated during IYA2009 is the flight of the balloon ship Passarola in 8 August 1709.
Designed and made by Portuguese priest and naturalist Bartolomeu de Gusmão, it was truly revolutionary. His idea was to spread a sail over a machine's body, and then utilising the wind, or bellows on calm days, travel through the air. After several tests, there are reports that Gusmão travelled in 1km in the Passarola, sailing over Lisbon. Although many suggest that the "flight" was more a controlled fall, it was undoubtedly an inspirational feat using a man-made contraption.
Indeed, by some definitions Gusmão was the first man to fly, which makes the Passarola the origin of air transportation, and so by extrapolation space exploration. All in all, an important event to commemorate during IYA2009!
More information about the celebrations in Portugal: http://www.festivaldosoceanos.lpmcom.pt/index.php?option=com_eventlist&Itemid=93&func=details&did=9
IYA2009 Update
7 August 2009
Galileoscope price goes up on 10th August
Due to operational reasons the Galilescope price goes up by 10 August. So if you are planning to place an order make sure that you do it before this date! More information on: www.galileoscope.org
The World at Night update
Read the latest information here: http://www.astronomy2009.org/news/updates/404/
Solar eclipse unites India and Bangladesh during IYA2009
A Star Peace meeting between India and Bangladesh to observe the total solar eclipse in July 2009 has been hailed as a great success: http://www.astronomy2009.org/news/updates/403/
Indian IYA2009 event attracts record-breaking numbers
Each year, the Gandhi Corporation organises a theme fair at the Ahmedabad Education Society grounds for 11 days. In honour of IYA2009, this year's theme was space. In total, more than 700,000 visitors were introduced to the wonders of astronomy as part of this massive outreach opportunity of unprecedented scale. For more information, including additional links, please see: http://www.astronomy2009.org/news/updates/
Essay finds that education may boost gender equality
Called "Lost in darkness and distance: Why girls don't want to be scientists - and how the classroom might fix it", Julie Darbyshire's essay on stereotypes in science delves into the issues surrounding the under-representation of women in science careers. It suggests that different classroom approaches may provide a solution. Read the full essay here: http://www.lablit.com/article/523
Israeli observatory ready for live deep-sky webcast
The Bareket Observatory is an educational facility located in Israel. Their mission is to act as an educator's resource for schools and educational institutions. As part of this effort, and in support of IYA2009, late August will see a live webcast of deep sky objects. Sights such as nebulae, star clusters, planets, and asteroids will all be captured in real-time using the observatory's remote educational telescope system. The event will cover around 1.5 hours, meaning that participants can drop in and out as required. Explanations of the objects being observed will be provided in English. This astro-cast is free and open to all. For more information, please visit: http://bareket-astro.com/en/telescope_internet.htm
International Light Festival to take place in Poland
Between 11 and 16 August 2009, the Polish city of Torun will be hosting artists and scientists as part of the Skyway 09 - International Light Festival. The gothic old town buildings will be tastefully lit to represent history, science, and culture going hand-in-hand to educate and inspire. Skyway 09 - International Light Festival's official website: http://www.skyway09.eu/
IYA2009 update in the United States of America
IAU General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro.
Follow the latest news and information regarding the IAU GA in Rio here: http://www.iau.org/
IYA2009 News Round-up
7 August 2009
UK newspaper The Guardian has mentioned IYA2009 in an op-ed called In praise of... astronomers. A short but sweet piece, it highlights the work done by stargazing scientists, beginning with using the heavens as a calendar, up to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Attention, young astronomers! The news round-up has some information for you. SpaceRef.com is reporting that more than 200 astronomers from around the world will gather for the first International Conference of Young Astronomers (ICYA) at the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland, from Monday, 7 September to Saturday, 13 September 2009. So if you can get together enough cash from ma / pa / pocket money / paper round / student loan / however it is kids get money these days, why not head over and do some so-called "networking".
Hello, JoongAng Daily. What's that? You've been promoting a joint Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science & Creativity and Korea Institute of Science & Technology Evaluation and Planning event to promote science, technology and green growth featuring a special exhibition about IYA2009? Good on you.
BBC TV's The One Show has a clip about astronomy and things on its website. At the time of writing it isn't actually working, but if memory serves the presenter does mention IYA2009.
IYA2009 events have been taken to the next level in the Indian city of Kochi, says express buzz. Research scholars of Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Department of Physics, Cusat, have been taking high-quality images of the Moon and using them to perform calculations. Students have also been involved, giving them the chance to contribute to real research. Says the article, "The year 2009 being the International Year of Astronomy, it has been the endeavour of every researcher and student to work on something new in this area of specialisation." Yeeeah!
Here's a story from Cohn Marketing. Families in 24 United States communities will be introduced to The World At Night project as the exhibition is being introduced to shopping centres around the country. Will the prints be for sale, then?
Let's finish up with an unusual one, courtesy of Physorg.com. To bring astronomy to the masses for IYA2009, the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics has a released a comic on the internet explaining just what happened during the first 40,000 years after the Big Bang.
Well that's another news round-up done and dusted. Remember to check local sources for stories in your own language.
The World at Night Update
4 August 2009
News and Report
The World at Night in collaboration with Dark Skies Awareness project, organize the International Year of Astronomy 2009 Earth and Sky Photo Contest on the importance of dark skies. It is open to anyone of any age, anywhere in the world. More
There are new stunning photos and time-lapse videos on TWAN website, featuring starry nights of the planet's landmarks from all over the world.
Zion Scorpion (Zion National Park) by Wally Pacholka
Utah Milky Way (Zion National Park) by Wally Pacholka
Late Spring Star Party (Colorado National Monument) video by Thad V`Soske
Moon and Venus Conjunction (Grand Valley) video by Thad V`Soske
An Evening With Prince of Wales (Waterton Lakes National Park) by Yuichi Takasaka
Waterton Stars (Waterton Lakes National Park) by Yuichi Takasaka
Startrails over Bolivia (Lake Titicaca) by Fred Espenak
Moon Games (Brittany) by Laurent Laveder
Light House Milky Way (Brittany) by Laurent Laveder
Brittany Morning Surprise (Brittany) by Laurent Laveder
Lake Balaton Moonrise (Lake Balaton) by Tamas Ladanyi
The Space Station above Hungary (Veszprem) by Tamas Ladanyi
Point at Jupiter (Veszprem) by Tamas Ladanyi
Moonrise in Algiers (Algiers) by Babak A. Tafreshi
The Centaur of Sahara (Tassili National park) by Babak A. Tafreshi
Asia and Middle East
To See or Not to See (Shanghai) by Tunc Tezel
Hale-Bopp and Milky Way (Geojedo Island) by Kwon O Chul
Shooting Stars (Mount Sobaeksan) by Kwon O Chul
Moon Romance (Mount Sobaeksan) by Kwon O Chul
Trails of the Far East (Mount Hambaeksan) by Kwon O Chul
Pond Moonlight (Nagano) by Shingo Takei
Starry Road (Gifu Prefecture) by Shingo Takei
Celestial Pole (Nagano) by Shingo Takei
Nature under the Moonlight (Alamut Valley) by Oshin D. Zakarian
Imamzadeh Trails (Alamut Valley) by Oshin D. Zakarian
Moon and Venus (Alamut Valley) by Oshin D. Zakarian
Moon and Three Planets (Denizli) by Tunc Tezel
Cassiopeia to Big Dipper (Lake Salda) by Tunc Tezel
Australia and Pacific
Cosmic Visitor (Western Australia) Represented by David Malin
Red (Western Australia) Represented by David Malin
Full Moon in the Morning Twilight (Tennant Creek) Represented by David Malin
Conjunction in the Zodiacal Light Represented by David Malin
Pacific Ocean
Eclipse of the Century by Babak A. Tafreshi
Guest Gallery is a well-received section on TWAN website to feature selected outstanding Earth and sky photos by non-TWAN creative photographers from around the globe. If you have such remarkable photos to share with TWAN Guest Gallery, please contact us. There are new featured photos on the Guest Gallery:
- Orion and Sirius above Desert Trees (Iran) by Ahmad Karimi
- Stars above Borobudur Temple (Indonesia) by Emanuel Sungging Mumpuni
- Great Comet McNaught (New Zealand) by Fraser Gunn
- Capitol Moonrise (USA) by John Rummel
- Planetary Alignment over Madison (USA) by John Rummel
- Moonrise over Austin Skyline (USA) by Sam Cole
- Winter Evening Venus (Germany) by Juergen Huefner
- Ancient Stones (Germany) by Juergen Huefner
- Seychelles Islands in Moonlight (Seychelles) by Juergen Huefner
- Moon over Mount Penteli (Greece) by Chris Kotsiopoulos
- Jumbo Hut Moonlight (Canada) by Darren Foltinek
- Venus, Jupiter, Moon Conjunction over Calgary (Canada) by Darren Foltinek
- Aurora and Milky Way Panorama (Canada) by Darren Foltinek
- Orion over Sorcerer Lodge (Canada) by Darren Foltinek
- Venus, Jupiter, and the Moon (Thailand) by Suparerk Karuehanon
- Southern Sky at Alains Astrofarm (Chile) by Dr. Sighard Schrabler
- Moon, Milad Tower, and Fireworks (Iran) by Nami Namvar Yekta
- Conjunction over Yakhdon e Moayedi (Iran) by Mania Rahban
- West Kennet Longbarrow (UK) by Pete Glastonbury
- Venus, Jupiter, and Crescent Moon (Iran) by Mohamad Soltanolkotabi
Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD), a NASA's world-known website, has featured two new TWAN photos:
- 6 Minutes 42 Seconds by Babak Tafreshi
- The Milky Way Over Devils Tower by Wally Pacholka
- Noctilucent Cloud Storm Panorama by P-M Heden
- TWAN is featuring six special galleries:
Latest Images
Dark Skies Importance
Cosmic Motions
World Heritage Sites
TWAN APODs
TWAN Podcast
TWAN is a global program of Astronomers Without Borders (www.astrowb.org) and a Special Project of International Year of Astronomy 2009, an initiative by IAU and UNESCO. The World at Night is to produce and present a collection of stunning photographs of the world's most beautiful and historic sites against the nighttime backdrop of stars, planets and celestial events. The eternally peaceful sky looks the same above all symbols of different nations and regions, attesting to the truly unified nature of Earth as a planet rather than an amalgam of human-designated territories.
Building bridges through the sky
The World at Night
Solar eclipse unites India and Bangladesh during IYA2009
4 August 2009
A Star Peace meeting between India and Bangladesh to observe the total solar eclipse in July 2009 has been hailed as a great success.
This historic meeting, held with the collaboration of Astronomers Without Borders, took place on the afternoon of 21 July in the border between India and Bangladesh near the Pillar No. 433 of India, about 20km from Panchagarh, Bangladesh. The Bangladesh team was led by F. R. Sarker, General Secretary of the Bangladesh Astronomical Society and IYA2009 SPoC, and the Indian team was led by Debasis Sarkar, the General Secretary of Sky Watcher's Association of North Bengal, an affiliated organisation of the Confederation of Indian Amateur Astronomers. Each team consisted of about 15 members including journalists. It was the first meeting of its kind No-Man's Land between Bangladesh and India.
The short meeting was a great leap for the astronomers of Bangladesh and India, allowing them to express their solidarity and friendship in the fields of astronomical activities with the bold conviction in mind that one day our Earth will be a place where people will live without borders.
Read more about this inspirational event, and see accompanying photos, here: http://www.astronomy2009-bd.org/Indo_bangla_meet_at_border.htm
Search IYA2009 Updates
National Nodes: 148
Organisational Nodes: 40
Organisational Associates:33
National Websites: 111
Cornerstone Projects: 12
Special Task Groups: 11
Special Projects:16
Official Products:8
Media Partners:22


text:
Not Julia Pukey Stuck Up who's probably going to walk home with another Emmy for VEEP.
That awful show just wrapped season six and she's nominated again -- after five previous wins for the same performance playing the same character.
I'd go with BIG LITTLE LIES.
I loved that show.
I think everyone was great but I'd go with Nicole Kidman for best lead actress in a limited series.
I wouldn't cry if Reese Witherspoon won, though. She was very good in her role as well.
I would pick Laura Dern for supporting and Alexander Skarsgard for supporting actor.
I think those were all great performances.
And I love the show.
There's talk of a second season.
I would watch.
And I don't usually watch HBO shows.
They usually bore me.
But this one held me from the start.
Zoe Kravitz and Adam Scott were also wonderful (though not nominated).
The story was great and about topics I care about: friendship, empowerment, strength, etc.
"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Friday, July 14, 2017. The Mosul Slog, officially over, continues.
Day 269 of The Mosul Slog -- yes, it is still going.
Day 269 of The Mosul Slog -- yes, it is still going.
People coming out of Mosul. I don't think we have any idea what a humanitarian tragedy this has been
And continues to be.
War Crimes.
They haven't stopped and the US is aiding them. This is in clear violation of the Leahy Amendment which demands the US pull all financial and military support for any country whose military does what is videotaped above.
Peter Beaumont (GUARDIAN) reports:
The Iraqi government has said it will investigate a graphic video that appears to show its soldiers killing an unarmed suspected Islamic State fighter by throwing him off a high ledge.
The video was reportedly filmed in the Mosul area where Iraqi troops have largely retaken a city once controlled by the extremist group, and comes amid mounting concern over claims of abuse committed by Iraqi soldiers and police in the battle for Mosul and in its aftermath.
[. . .]
The footage shows a man being held in a building and then dragged by soldiers across an open area to a ledge above a drop of at least 30ft where another body lies motionless.
It appeared alongside a second video that has also been circulating on social media which appears to show a man in Iraqi army fatigues gunning down an unarmed man kneeling in front of a car.
#The_NewArab Iraq investigating horrific video of soldiers throwing tortured IS suspects from clifftop ift.tt/2vkr5lo #Iraq
Bill Van Auken (WSWS) reports:
Gun battles continued to rage and air strikes sent plumes of smoke rising over Iraq's devastated second largest city Wednesday, more than 36 hours after the country's prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, proclaimed victory in the nine-month US-backed siege of Mosul.
The top US commander in the US interventions in Iraq and Syria, Gen. Stephen Townsend, told Pentagon reporters via a video call from Baghdad that fighting in the city could go on for weeks.
"Make no mistake, this victory alone does not eliminate ISIS, and there's still tough fighting ahead," Townsend said. "There are still pockets of resistance in Mosul, holdouts, and hidden IEDs that will take weeks to clear."
He added that there remained "a lot of mopping up and back-clearing to be done."
These terms are military euphemisms for a continuation of the killing and destruction that has left tens of thousands of civilians in Mosul either dead or wounded and driven over 900,000 from their homes.
There are growing indications that the "mopping up" being carried out by Iraqi security forces and sectarian militias operating with the aid and guidance of US Special Forces "advisers" involves a campaign of revenge assassinations and terror against anyone believed to have collaborated with ISIS during the three years it controlled Mosul, as well as against the families of suspected ISIS members and supporters.
Iraqi security forces have been dragging away men and boys seeking to escape the city. The Washington Post described a "screening station" set up in an old fairground on the eastern bank of the Tigris River where "dozens of men sat in rows last week and waited for judgment." The article continued: "Military intelligence officers in balaclavas sporadically moved among them to pull out an evacuee accused of working with the militants." Videos have surfaced of the brutal torture of such suspects, who have been beaten with hammers and run over with tanks.
The Mosul Slog may have been declared over but it slogs on.
Liz Sly @LizSly
There was fighting in the Old City of Mosul today, 3 days after victory was declared. Not over yet. By @stephenkalin
These are the haunting images of Mosul's civilians, still fleeing the city despite Iraqi forces celebrating victory.
The Mosul Slog keeps slogging. Tony Duheaume (AL ARABIYA) wonders what awaits Iraq
Now for this . . .
Proud of @Malala who spent her 20th birthday with girls in Kurdistan / Iraq. Read more mala.la/2tdY49y
It's the coward who visited Iraq only once during his eight year presidency.
Trying to grab some luster from a young woman's trip to Iraq.
She's a young woman.
Look what she's doing.
By contrast, Barack's floating around on David Geffen's yacht knobbing with Tom Hanks and Bruce Springsteen.
But he thinks he's in a place to Tweet about anything?
He oversaw the largest transfer of wealth in US history and the destruction of wages for the working class but he goes off to party on a yacht. And then rushes in to Tweet about someone else doing what his candy ass should have been doing?
The following community sites -- plus PACIFICA EVENING NEWS -- updated:
- A message for Hillary
10 hours ago
- The disease named Schumer
10 hours ago
- Most Overrated TV performer
10 hours ago
- The stupid Tim Kaine
11 hours ago
- Another reason we need Medicare for all
12 hours ago
12 hours ago
iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq
iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq


text:
NEW YORK, Feb. 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — A Staten Island, N.Y. car wash service allegedly violated federal and state labor laws by not paying the minimum wage and overtime to workers and redistributing customer tips intended for car wash workers, according to a lawsuit filed today in Brooklyn federal court.
Clean Touch Car Wash LLC is accused of violating the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), New York Labor Law, and the New York Wage Theft Prevention Act at its 2093 Hylan Boulevard business location.
The lawsuit alleges the defendants failed to pay workers the applicable minimum wage rate for all hours worked, took and redistributed tips customers intended for workers, and sent workers home after an hour or two when the car wash was not busy without paying them call-in pay, as required under New York law. The defendants also are accused of failing to provide car wash workers with legally required notices of their pay rates, regular and overtime hours, in the primary languages of the plaintiffs and their co-workers.
The workers are represented by attorneys from Outten & Golden LLP and Make the Road New York, Inc. The legal team will seek to have the lawsuit certified as a collective and class action to recover unpaid wages and other damages for hourly workers employed by the defendants.
WASH-NY, a coalition of Make the Road New York, New York Communities for Change and the Retail Wholesale Department Store Union, launched a citywide campaign last year to focus on improving the working conditions of New York City car wash workers. A report issued by WASH-NY found that 75 percent of interviewed workers reported that they did not receive overtime and over 71 percent indicated that they worked over 60 hours per week.
The named plaintiffs are Ovidio Lopez Morales and Mateo Lares Michocoj, both of Staten Island. Mr. Lopez worked for the company for 12 years until 2012. Mr. Lares worked for the company for about four years until 2009.
Attorney Justin M. Swartz, of Outten & Golden LLP, stated, "This lawsuit is intended to convince the owner and management of this car wash to change the company's policies and practices and not to take advantage of his hard-working employees. We also hope this lawsuit will help move the New York car wash industry into compliance with federal and state labor laws."
Attorney Julia Dietz, of Make the Road New York, Inc., stated, "This lawsuit shows that car wash workers in New York will no longer stay silent in the face of wage theft. Car wash employees, who are exposed to harsh chemicals and work under difficult conditions, will fight to hold owners accountable and demand fair wages and benefits and dignity on the job."
The case is "Ovidio Lopez Morales and Mateo Lares Michocoj, et al., v. Clean Touch Car Wash and Joseph Scanni," Case No. 13-0991 in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York.
Attorney Contacts: Justin M. Swartz and Sally J. Abrahamson*, Outten & Golden LLP, New York, 212.245.1000, www.outtengolden.com; and Julia Dietz, Make the Road New York, Inc., 718.418.7690, www.maketheroad.org.
*(admitted pro hac vice; not admitted in New York, admitted in Texas and the District of Columbia only)


text:
SEATTLE (AP) — Authorities are now saying three people are dead and as many as eight are missing after an avalanche near a Washington state ski resort.
King County sheriff's Sgt. Cindi West says her office began receiving word about the avalanche near the Stevens Pass ski area just after noon Sunday. Stevens Pass in the Cascade Mountains northeast of Seattle.
West initially said two people had died but later confirmed there were three deaths.
She says the deaths occurred in an out-of-bounds area near the resort. Rescue crews were en route.
The Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center on Sunday issued a warning for high avalanche danger for areas above 5,000 feet. The elevation of the avalanche wasn't immediately clear.
Meanwhile, West also says a snowboarder has been killed in a separate incident at the Alpental ski area east of Seattle. The snowboarder went over a cliff Sunday.


text:
Download the food guide
Sorghum is one of those virtuous cereals on which food professionals can rely with confidence.
Download the animal feed guide
All the useful information is grouped together: grain composition, absence of tannins, nutritional and energy values, and uses in poultry, ruminants, pigs, etc.
Grain sorghum
From growing to selling.
Fodder sorghum
From growing to selling.
Snapshot of the European and global state of sorghum
Olivier Bouillet Director Général Agritel Ukraine
Biogas production with sorghum biomass
Dr. Maendy Fritz Head of department for renewable resources crops TFZ Institute Germany
The assets of sorghum grain in feed
Catalin Fudulu Technical director for nutrition and formulation Guyomarc'h Firm Romania
Sorghum silage and its complementarity with maize
Alexis Ferard Zootechnics engineer - Silage valuation Arvalis-Institut du Végétal France
Sorghum in malt houses for beer production: the African experiment
Bop Sandrino-Arndt Head of business development OCP Africa Cameroon
Challenges in sorghum seed breeding around the world and in the USA
Dr. Jeff Dahlberg Director Kare USA
Tackling new challenges for European sorghum through genetics and new breeding strategies
Dr. David Pot Researcher Cirad France
New research priorities
Patrice Jeanson Seed breeder Prosorgho/Eurosorgho France
Seed breeding: quality as an asset
Christophe Rouillard Technical manager plant health and seed trade ESA Belgique
The place of sorghum in crop rotation in France
Jean-Luc Verdier Engineer Arvalis-Institut du Végétal France
The production of sorghum in water-restricted crop systems in the USA
Dr. Brent Bean Director of Agronomy Sorghum Checkoff USA
Grain sorghum cultivation under steppe conditions in Ukraine
Dr. Oleh Okselenko Researcher Universite Dnipropetrovsk Ukraine
Sorghum cultivation in Russia
Nikolai Benko Director seed breeder Agroplazma Russia
The special features of the italian sorghum grain sector: exploiting white sorghum
Stefano Conti Coordinator for cereal, rice and breeders section Assosementi Italy
Spain: the leading EU sorghum importer
Jordi Bages Purchase manager Food Corporation Guissona Spain
Argentina: sorghum trade and its developments
Juan Gear President Gear firm Argentina
The new promotion policy for eu agricultural products
Camille Dehestru Consultant Pact European Affaires Belgium
Conditions for the development of sorghum in Europe
Frédéric Guedj Representative of Sorghum-ID France
A necessary tool: a European-level structure
Daniel Gueguen Director Pact European affairs Belgium
Sorghum checkoff: example of the American sorghum organisation
Florentino Lopez Executive Director Sorghum Checkoff USA
Brown midrib sorghum for lignocellulosic biofuel production
ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR), Hyderabad, India
Breeding and selection of sorghum for regions above 50º latitude
Walter A.J. de Milliano, Hoeve Dierkensteen
Developing sorghum demand through processing diversification and other innovative interventions on pilot scale through Value chain approach
ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR), Hyderabad, India
Evaluation of antioxidants and food characteristics of sorghum to establish it as a functional food
ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR), Hyderabad, India
Sorghum nutritional values by NIRS technique
FNPSMS / GERM Services
Silage sorghum and maize intercropping in Hungary
L. Kálmán – E. Rajki, Cereal Research Non-Profit Ltd.
Agronomic Evaluation of 16 Forage Sorghum Cultivars (Prevalent in Iran and imported Cultivars)
Masoud Torabi & Kaveh Khaksar
Sorghum – A small grain with remarkable nutritional qualities
EURALIS Semences
Physiological phenotyping of a sorghum mapping population for seedling chilling tolerance
National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR), Warsaw, Poland, in the frame of the program ERANET Bioenergy
Effects of the pretreatment process of sweet sorghum biomass on ethanol production
Wroclaw University of Science and environment
The Genetic Architecture of Inflorescence Morphology in Sorghum using Nested Associa7on Mapping
Kansas State University
Seed Technical Action Program
Arvalis- Institut du Végétal / FNPSMS
Grain sorghum 5th cereal produced in the world
Arvalis- Institut du Végétal / FNPSMS
Sorghum in Europe : 1% of the world's acreage
Arvalis- Institut du Végétal / FNPSMS
Seed sorghum
Arvalis- Institut du Végétal / FNPSMS
Développement du débouché "alimentation humaine¬" dans les pays occidentaux
Arvalis- Institut du Végétal / FNPSMS
Biorefinery of sweet sorghum for a circular economy
Department of Biotechnology, USAMVB King Michael I of Romania from Timisoara, Romania, Advanta Seed International
Grain sorghum market around the world
Yannick Carel, Research Officer, Economy and production systems – Arvalis (exposé présenté par Pierre Guillaumin FNPSMS)
Grain production in China.
Li Zhao Yu, Manager of the Beijing office of France Export Céréales, China
Sorghum overview in Argentina.
Leandro Pierbattisti, Chief Economist – Grain Markets, Federation of Country Elevators Associations, Argentina
Food, Feed and Fuel in a Rapidly Changing World, Conclusions of the Cape Congress.
Nat Bascom, Assistant Director of the programme « Collaborative research on Sorghum and Millet », Kansas State University, USA
Selection and genetic progress. Which solutions to face new challenges.
David Pot, CIRAD, France et Gilles Trouche – CIRAD, France
Conclusion workshop « Agronomy ».
Charles-Antoine Courtois, Sorghum ID Development Officer, France
Structural and new outlets to secure sorghum production in Europe.
Frédéric Guedj, Manager sorghum market development, Euralis Semences France
Climate change and Agriculture.
Nathalie De Noblet, Laboratory of Climate and Environment Sciences ; Mixed Unit of Research CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, University Paris-Saclay ; Co-Coordinator of LabEx BASC (Biodiversity, Agrosystems, Society, Climate) France
Breeding grain sorghum hybrids successes, opportunities and challenges.
Prof David Jordan, Professor, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Challenges and breeding strategies.
Dr Steffen Windpassinger, Selection Department, University Justus-Liebig, Germany
Challenges and genetic gains on forage sorghum for areas above 48º latitude.
Dr De Milliano Walter, Hoeve Dierkensteen Netherlands
Analyzing the genetic diversity and architecture of sorghum pollen viability under cold stress.
André Schaffasz, University Justus-Liebig, Germany
Genetic diversity of sorghum in Russia.
Dr Vladimir Kostunov, Institute Donskoy in Rostov, Russia
Designing multi-criteria sorghum ideotypes in changing climate.
Dr Alessandra Fracasso, Unicatt Italy & Dr Delphine Luquet, CIRAD, France
Genomics-informed sorghum improvement.
Prof Ian Godwin, Professor in plant molecular genetics, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
G2MARS a collaborative approach to improve fodder quality of European sorghum germplasm.
Quentin Devaud, Breeder, Eurosorgho, France: Biomasse project for the future
Sowing equipment, planting configurations and yield elaboration.
Jean-Luc Verdier, Regional engineer, manager of the sorghum chain, Arvalis Vegetal Institute, France
Some aspects of Sorghum production in Bulgaria.
Dr Kalin Slanev, Agricultural engineer, Agricultural technical institute of Shumen, Bulgaria
Weed control in Sorghum.
Isabelle Rougerie, Corteva, Charles-Antoine Courtois, Sorghum ID
Potential perspectives and benefits of sorghum silage for starch in the crop rotation.
Prof Nick Van Eekeren, Louis Bolk Institute, Bunnik, Netherlands
Growing sorghum under water stress conditions in Australia.
Loretta Serafin, Specialist of cultivation in dry conditions, Calala, Australia
Sorghum economy in European Farm.
Marc Varchavsky, Manager of Economic Council, CER, France
Economic study of the sorghum in Ukraine.
Gautier Maupu, Agritel, Ukraine
The ecological and economic foot prints of agricultural crops Sorghum.
Alessandro Raggazzoni, Bologna University, Italy
Sorghum Crop, an alternative for Dobrogea farmers.
Dumitru Manole, Romanian representative
Technical & economic references for sorghum production in South-West of France.
Jean-Luc Verdier – Yannick Carel, Research Officer, Economy and production systems – Arvalis, France
Farmer testimony.
Yvon Parayre. France.
Farmer testimony.
Cristi Spirido. Romania.
Farmer testimony.
Mauro Mengoli. Italy.
Farmer testimony.
Fabienne Coletti. Italy.
Farmer testimony.
Luigi Boriani. Italy.
Célia Brogniet, Caussade Semences, France
INTRODUCTION Presentation of different types of sorghum.
Magdalena Bushmann, Manager of the sorghum and sunflower markets, KWS, Germany
Organising sorghum harvesting at the scale of a territory.
Clément Roux, Arterris agricultural cooperative, France
Producers-processors-breeders partnerships, for a local distribution channel.
Cristi Spiridon, (Zorin SRL, Director, Romania)
Use of sorghum for the production of electrical energy_the Coprob experience.
Massimo Zavanella. Coprob
Use of sorghum in broiler chicken diets.
Anca Gheorghe, Research service INCDBNA – IBNA Balotesti, Romania
Effects of dietary sorghum on performance.
Mihaela Habeanu, Research service INCDBNA – IBNA Balotesti, Romania
Different monocut sorghum used as forage some guides to advise farmers.
Alexis Ferard, Zootechnician engineer, Arvalis, France
Use of sorghum in feed nutrition.
Alexandre Calendreau, IDENA, France
Sorghum round-table for human food, GAIA BEER.
Tiziano Tanzi, OTTODISETTEMBRE company
Sorghum round-table for human food, FLOOR.
Monia Caramma, Agricultura Biologica company
Sorghum round-table for human food, PASTA.
Monia Caramma, Agricultura Biologica company
CONCLUSION Analysis of cereal consumption in Europe by segment.
Frédéric Guedj, Manager sorghum market development, Euralis Semences France


text:
Stretched tyres, legal and safe or not?
"It's a long stretch."
Are stretched tyres safe? This is a question we get asked over and over again.
There are 2 schools of thought on this subject and we aim to cover the pros and cons in as open and unbiased way as we can.
Firstly a bit of an introduction. What is a stretched tyre?
This is a tyre which has been fitted to a much wider rim than it was originally intended or designed to fit. Stretches vary from an inch to around 3 inches. It has gained a lot of popularity in VW circles and the look is really starting to take off.
The benefits of stretched tyres are that they look great (this is a matter of subjective opinion though). They also allow you to run much wider rims without having to alter the arches or bodywork as no part of the tyre may protrude from the bodywork.
We have heard many horror stories including the increased risk of blow outs, or sudden deflation and the extra risk of kerbing your alloys. We have even heard of track days where cars running big stretches would often lose tyre pressure and "blow out".
So lets look at the two main arguments for and against them.
Stretched tyres are dangerous and risky - the argument against.
The arguments against stretched tyres will cite that tyres are designed to fit a specific width of rim. Tyre makers will not warrant their products fitted outside of tolerances and the speed ratings will typically be a few steps lower than a correctly fitted tyre.
The load bearing wall of the tyre is designed to be at around a 90 degree tangent to the rim and under cornering this allows a small degree of vertical 'wobble' which aids cornering feel and grip.
They will state that stretched tyres are no longer within this ideal tolerance and probably 80 or 70 degrees from the rim so subjected to extra stresses and strains. They are also more likely to pop away from the bead when the pressure drops than a standard fitting tyre.
On heavy driving, a stretched tyres wear pattern, will be different to that of a standard tyre with a greatly increased edge wear. The narrower tyre width also reduces grip and traction - most people fit wider tyres to increase the grip and this seems diametrically opposed to that philosophy.
Stretched tyres are perfectly safe - the argument For.
Modern tyres and especially low profile tyres have much thicker walls and are more than capable of handling the extra loads they might be subjected to. In a pneumatic tyre the car is resting effectively on a bubble of air so the actual walls of the tyre are less important when it comes to strength.
If the tyre pressures are maintained correctly there should be no risk of the tyre popping off the rim under cornering. A lot of those with stretched tyres run with much higher pressures than a conventionally fitted tyre.
Lots of people have stretched tyres on their cars without any problems at all. The narrower footprint argument is also immaterial as generally speaking the rim size has been increased and standard tyre widths are used.
Now unpicking these 2 arguments is not going to be easy. There are going to be lovers and haters of stretched tyres and neither side is going to back down.
They are getting more popular and the craze is really catching on. As with any modification one has to examine the parts used and the dimensions involved.
It is fair to say that the larger the stretch the greater the risk of having a problem with your tyre. We can also say that those who drive hard or use cars on tracks subject the car to a lot of extra wear and tear.
So the use of the car also comes into it.
Whilst one make of tyre might be ideal for a stretch, by virtue of the tread pattern and sidewall construction another may prove woefully inadequate. Different rim sizes and tyre profiles also have a bearing on this issue.
We would have to concede that stretched tyres can be perfectly safe in some situations where the stretch is not excessive, the car is not driven too hard and the tyres are properly maintained. The risks of damage from a kerb also needs to be mentioned as most tyres give a degree of protection to a rim. Personally I don't like the look and do not recommend them from that point of view.
There is also the question of whether these tyres are legal. We are obviously based in the UK and we know that regulations vary from state to state and country to country. But from a UK MOT test point of view (as at the time of writing) there are no points raised specifically concerning stretched tyres.
Insurance companies may not be happy though and tend to take a cautious view of any modifications made to a car. If an accident happened that could be directly attributed to the stretched tyre there will certainly be questions raised about the "did the insured take reasonable steps to maintain his vehicle in a road worthy state" clause. As with any modification always notify and get your insurers approval or you would invalidate your policy cover.
It is also worth noting that the Motor Vehicles Approval Regs 2001 section 16 state that tyres should be of a nominal size appropriate to the wheel to which it is fitted. The police have also taken a dim view of these in the past and issued warnings and penalties under various construction and use clauses. We would also refer you to the more recent "road vehicles (Construction & Use) regulations 1986", and specifically Regs 24 to 27 concerning tyres.
The lack of specific legislation either against or for stretched tyres does not add to the clarity of this issue. "Appropriate" in our mind rules out excessive stretches. Tyre manufacturers specify suitable width rims for their tyres as further guidelines to those wanting a "stretched look". Speed ratings are also nominally lower on stretched tyres in use so this needs to be born in mind.
Personally I'd leave majorly stretched tyres to show use only. There is a degree of common sense required here. Check your tyre makers specifications and don't go to the extreme. I'm sure tyre makers will pick up on this trend and provide specific stretch designs that are suitable for this type of look.
If you liked this page please share it with your friends, drop a link to it in your favourite forum or use the bookmarking options to save it to your social media profile.
Check out TorqueCars new YouTube channel, and see their awesome new content...
Please use our forums if you wish to ask a tuning question, and please note we do not sell parts or services, we are just an online magazine.
Help us improve, leave a suggestion or tip