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How viruses evolve to select their receptor proteins for host cell entry is puzzling. We recently determined the crystal structures of NL63 coronavirus (NL63-CoV) and SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) receptor-binding domains (RBDs), each complexed with their common receptor, human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2), and proposed the existence of a virus-binding hot spot on hACE2. Here we investigated the function of this hypothetical hot spot using structure-guided biochemical and functional assays. The hot spot consists of a salt bridge surrounded by hydrophobic tunnel walls. Mutations that disturb the hot spot structure have significant effects on virus/receptor interactions, revealing critical energy contributions from the hot spot structure. The tunnel structure at the NL63-CoV/hACE2 interface is more compact than that at the SARS-CoV/hACE2 interface, and hence RBD/hACE2 binding affinities are decreased either by NL63-CoV mutations decreasing the tunnel space or by SARS-CoV mutations increasing the tunnel space. Furthermore, NL63-CoV RBD inhibits hACE2-dependent transduction by SARS-CoV spike protein, a successful application of the hot spot theory that has the potential to become a new antiviral strategy against SARS-CoV infections. These results suggest that the structural features of the hot spot on hACE2 were among the driving forces for the convergent evolution of NL63-CoV and SARS-CoV.
Host receptor recognition by viruses is the first and essential step for viral infections. During the long history of evolutionary battles between viruses and hosts, viruses have evolved complex strategies for their receptor selections (2). Despite tremendous efforts to understand these strategies, the current picture of how viruses recognize their host receptors is still murky. Viruses exploit a wide variety of host cell surface molecules as their receptors. In addition to serving as receptors for viruses, these molecules are implicated in various host physiological functions such as cell adhesion, immune response, signaling pathways, proteolysis, and ion transport. On one hand, several viruses can share one host receptor. For example, coxsackievirus-adenovirus receptor, an immunoglobulin (Ig) superfamily member, is the receptor for both coxsackieviruses and adenoviruses (3). On the other hand, one virus can recognize several different host receptors. For example, herpes simplex viruses use one of at least three protein receptors: HVEM, which is a tumor necrosis factor receptor family member (23), and nectin-1 and nectin-2, both of which are Ig superfamily members (8, 31). Understanding the pattern of host receptor recognition by viruses has important implications for viral evolution, pathogenesis, host range, tropism, cross-species infections, emerging viral epidemics, and virus-mediated gene targeting.
A key question regarding the evolution of host receptor recognition by viruses is what features of these receptor molecules make them targeted by viruses. The receptors for viruses can be proteins, carbohydrates, or lipids (2). Compared with carbohydrates and lipids, protein receptors in general have more structural features and thus are engaged in more-specific and high-affinity binding interactions with viruses; they are the focus of this study. Among protein receptors, some (such as cell adhesion molecules) are more abundant than others (such as proteases and ion transporters). Although the availability of abundant protein receptors to viruses is probably one of the reasons why they were selected by viruses as receptors (30), it is not clear whether receptor proteins, especially nonabundant receptor proteins, contain any structural features that make them targeted by viruses.
The structural features of receptor proteins can be identified from the atomic structures of virus/receptor interfaces. Defined structural and functional receptor-binding domains (RBDs) have been identified in many viral surface glycoproteins. One or more receptor-binding motifs (RBMs) on these viral RBDs mediate the interactions with their receptor proteins. To date several crystal structures are available for viral RBDs complexed with their receptor proteins (1, 4, 5, 13, 18, 32, 33). Among these structures, only two reveal how different viral RBDs can bind to their common receptor protein: the structures of NL63 coronavirus (NL63-CoV) and SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) RBDs, each complexed with their common receptor, human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) (18, 32). Both NL63-CoV and SARS-CoV are important human viral pathogens. The former causes prevalent respiratory diseases (6, 29), whereas the latter was responsible for the worldwide epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) diseases in 2002 to 2003 (12, 24). Coronavirus spike glycoproteins are envelope-anchored clove-shaped trimers (16). Each spike trimer contains three monomeric S1 heads, which function in receptor binding, and a trimeric S2 stalk, which functions in fusing the viral envelope and host membrane. NL63-CoV and SARS-CoV RBDs are located in the S1 heads of their respective spike proteins. There is no structural homology in their RBD core structures or RBMs (Fig. 1). The core structures of NL63-CoV and SARS-CoV RBDs are a two-layer β-sandwich and a single-layer β-sheet, respectively; the RBMs of NL63-CoV and SARS-CoV are three discontinuous short loops and one continuous long subdomain, respectively. Nevertheless, the two viral RBDs bind to the same three virus-binding motifs (VBMs) on hACE2 (18, 32).
Our previous structural studies led to the hypothesis that a virus-binding hot spot exists on hACE2 and plays an important role in the binding of both NL63-CoV and SARS-CoV (32). This hypothetical hot spot consists of a critical Lys353-Asp38 salt bridge on hACE2, which is surrounded by four hydrophobic tunnel walls (Fig. 2A and B). Two of the tunnel walls, Tyr41 (top wall) and Asp37 (right wall), are contributed by hACE2, whereas the other two tunnel walls are contributed by the viruses: Tyr498 (bottom wall) and Ser535 (left wall) from NL63-CoV and Tyr491 (bottom wall) and Thr487 (left wall) from SARS-CoV. Details of how this hypothetical hot spot may contribute to the virus/receptor interactions are unknown. In this study we use structure-guided biochemical and functional approaches to investigate the role of each of the components of the hot spot structure in the virus/receptor interactions. We then apply the hot spot theory to the development of a potentially new antiviral strategy against SARS-CoV infections. We also discuss how the structural features of the hot spot drove the convergent evolution of two different viruses.
Soluble proteins, including NL63-CoV RBD (residues 461 to 616), SARS-CoV RBD (residues 306 to 527), and hACE2 peptidase domain (residues 19 to 615), were expressed and purified as previously described (17, 18, 32). In brief, the proteins were expressed in insect cells using the Bac-to-Bac system (Life Technologies Inc.). Each expression construct (Invitrogen) contained an N-terminal honeybee melittin signal sequence and a C-terminal His tag sequence. Mutations were introduced by PCR site-directed mutagenesis to the expression constructs. Recombinant baculoviruses were generated and amplified in Sf9 insect cells. The protein to be purified was harvested from Sf9 cell supernatants, loaded onto a Ni-nitrilotriacetic acid (Ni-NTA) column, eluted from the Ni-NTA column with 0.5 M imidazole, and further purified by gel filtration chromatography on Superdex 200 (GE Healthcare). Fractions containing the purified protein were pooled together, loaded into an Amicon ultra-15 centrifugal filter unit (10,000-molecular-weight [MW] cutoff) (Millipore), and centrifuged at 10,000 rpm until the protein concentration reached 10 mg/ml.
Surface plasmon resonance assays were carried out using a Biacore 2000 as previously described (32). In brief, to measure the affinities for binding between mutant viral RBDs and wild-type hACE2, hACE2 was immobilized on a C5 sensor chip through direct covalent coupling via amine groups. The surface of the sensor chip was activated with N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS), the receptor was injected and immobilized to the surface of the chip, and the remaining activated surface of the chip was blocked with ethanolamine. Soluble RBDs were introduced at a flow rate of 20 μl/min at different concentrations (62.5 nM, 125 nM, and 250 nM). The on rate (kon), the off rate (koff), and the dissociation constant (Kd) were determined for the RBD/receptor binding interactions using BIA-EVALUATIONS software. To measure the affinities for binding between mutant hACE2 and wild-type viral RBDs, RBDs were immobilized on the sensor chip and hACE2 was the soluble analyte. As negative controls, soluble RBDs or hACE2 was passed through an empty sensor chip and buffer alone was passed through sensor chips containing RBDs or hACE2 as immobilized ligands.
Transduction was assayed using murine leukemia viruses (MLVs) expressing β-galactosidase and pseudotyped with NL63-CoV or SARS-CoV spike protein. To prepare pseudotyped viruses, HEK293T cells were cotransfected with spike protein-encoding pcDNA3.1 and MLV β-galactosidase-transducing vector pBAG (25). At 2 days posttransfection, viral supernatants were harvested and concentrated in a spin concentrator. Approximately 4 ml of supernatant was typically concentrated (10,000-MW cutoff) to between 100 to 200 μl. HEK293T cells transiently expressing hACE2 in pcDNA3.1 were inoculated in 96-well dishes by adding 5 μl of concentrated viral supernatant to 50 μl cell culture medium per well. Transduction efficiency was quantified 2 days later by measuring β-galactosidase activity. The inoculated cells were lysed in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) containing 0.5% NP-40 and 3 mg/ml o-nitrophenyl-β-d-glucopyranoside and monitored by spectrometry (optical density at 410 nm [OD410]). The intracellular C termini of the spike protein and hACE2 contained a C9 tag and a hemagglutinin (HA) tag, respectively. The concentrations of the spike protein packaged in pseudotyped viruses and of hACE2 expressed on the HEK293T cell surface were detected by Western blotting using anti-C9 and anti-HA antibodies, respectively. As a negative control, the plasmid expressing the spike protein was replaced by a plasmid that does not express any protein.
To investigate the role of the hot spot structure in the virus/receptor binding interactions, we mutated each of the components of the hot spot structure. We then examined how the mutations affect the affinities for binding between RBDs and hACE2 using surface plasmon resonance Biacore assays. We also investigated how the mutations impact the interactions between spike proteins and hACE2 by transduction assays using pseudotyped virus.
For Biacore assays, we first measured the affinities for binding between the wild-type hACE2 peptidase domain and prototypic NL63-CoV RBD (strain Amsterdam 1) and between the wild-type hACE2 peptidase domain and prototypic SARS-CoV RBD (strain Tor2, which was isolated during the 2002 to 2003 SARS epidemic). hACE2 was immobilized on the Biacore sensor chip through direct covalent coupling via amine groups, and NL63-CoV or SARS-CoV RBD was injected over the chip as the soluble analyte. The measured Kd for SARS-CoV RBD and hACE2 binding was 20.8 nM (Fig. 3A), consistent with the Kd of 16.2 nM measured in a previous study (19). The measured Kd for NL63-CoV RBD and hACE2 binding was 34.9 nM (Fig. 3A), the first reported Kd for binding between the two proteins. The same RBD fragment used in this study (residues 461 to 616) also bound to hACE2 with high affinity in a previous study using a coimmunoprecipitation analysis (21). Interestingly, although SARS-CoV and NL63-CoV RBDs had similar Kds for binding with hACE2, NL63-CoV RBD bound to hACE2 with significantly lower koff and kon. It has been shown that koff and kon are dictated by short-range van der Waals interactions and long-range electrostatic interactions between the proteins, respectively (26). Therefore, the lower koff and kon of the NL63-CoV-RBD/hACE2 complex likely reflected a less electrostatic and more hydrophobic interface between the two proteins.
Using Biacore, we also measured the affinities for binding between hACE2 and NL63-CoV RBD and between hACE2 and SARS-CoV RBD in a reverse way: NL63-CoV or SARS-CoV RBD was immobilized on the sensor chip, and hACE2 was injected over the chip as the soluble analyte. The measured Kds were 68.0 nM for NL63-CoV RBD and hACE2 and 137 nM for SARS-CoV RBD and hACE2, both of which were higher than when hACE2 was immobilized (Fig. 3A). Such discrepancies in measured Kd were mostly due to the differences in measured kon. No matter whether hACE2 or RBDs were immobilized, koffs remained similar. When hACE2 was immobilized, however, kon was significantly higher. Why did kon increase when hACE2, instead of RBDs, was immobilized? This is because hACE2 has a larger molecular weight than either of the RBDs, and thus when immobilized, hACE2 can provide more accessible surface area for complex formation, leading to higher kon. Therefore, the surface accessibility of the immobilized protein, but not the dissociation rate, accounted for the discrepancies in measured Kd.
To evaluate how mutations of the hot spot structure affect the affinities for binding between RBDs and hACE2, we introduced single mutations to either RBDs or hACE2 that modified every component of the hot spot structure. These mutations were K353A, D38A, D37A, Y41A, and Y41F in hACE2, Y498A, S535A, and S535T in NL63-CoV RBD, and Y491A, T487A, and T487S in SARS-CoV RBD (Fig. 2A and B). We expressed and purified each of the 11 hACE2 and RBD mutants. To measure the affinities for binding between mutant RBDs and wild-type hACE2, hACE2 was immobilized on the sensor chip and mutant RBDs were the soluble analytes. To measure the affinities for binding between wild-type RBDs and mutant hACE2, NL63-CoV or SARS-CoV RBD was immobilized on the sensor chip and mutant hACE2 was the soluble analyte. The results were then compared with the affinities for binding between wild-type hACE2 and wild-type RBDs (Fig. 3B and C).
In this study we not only measured direct interactions between viral RBDs and hACE2 using recombinant proteins but also examined the spike/receptor interactions using functional assays. To this end, we carried out transduction assays with pseudotyped virus to investigate whether changes in RBD/hACE2 interactions could lead to corresponding changes in viral entry and membrane fusion in the context of the full-length spike proteins and their receptor protein. We prepared retroviral MLVs expressing β-galactosidase and pseudotyped with NL63-CoV or SARS-CoV spike protein. These MLVs were incubated with hACE2-expressing HEK293T cells. The transduction efficiency of the pseudotyped viruses was measured by determining β-galactosidase activity of inoculated cell lysate. To measure the interactions between wild-type hACE2 and mutant spike proteins or between mutant hACE2 and wild-type spike proteins, we introduced single mutations to hACE2 or the spike proteins that were the same as the mutations used for Biacore assays (Fig. 4A and B). The expression levels of the spike proteins in pseudotyped viruses and of hACE2 molecules on HEK293T cells were detected by Western blotting using antibodies against their intracellular C-terminal C9 and HA tags, respectively. The Western blotting results showed that all of the mutant spike proteins and mutant hACE2 molecules were well expressed, and the expression levels of these mutant proteins were quantified and calibrated against those of the wild-type proteins (Fig. 4C). Finally, the measured transduction efficiencies for mutant spike proteins and mutant hACE2 were normalized against the transduction efficiency of viruses pseudotyped with wild-type spike proteins in cells expressing wild-type hACE2 (Fig. 4).
Both Biacore assays and transduction assays with pseudotyped virus yielded results that were highly consistent with each other (Fig. 3 and and4;4; Tables 1 and and2).2). It is worth noting that recombinant SARS-CoV and NL63-CoV RBDs are both monomers in solution, whereas the full-length spike proteins are trimers on virus surfaces (14). Thus, the good correlation between the RBD/hACE2 binding affinities and the spike-mediated transduction efficiency strongly suggests that the measured RBD/hACE2 binding activities reflect the native states of the proteins. Our results showed that all of the targeted mutations produced significantly reduced RBD/hACE2 binding affinities and spike-guided transduction compared with those for the corresponding wild-type proteins (t test; P < 0.01 for both Ka and transduction), with the exception of D37A in hACE2 (P > 0.075 for transduction) and Y498 in NL63-CoV RBD (P > 0.10 for both Ka and transduction). Here we combine these biochemical and functional data with our previous structural data and discuss molecular and structural features of the virus-binding hot spot that make hACE2 a common target by two different viruses.
The hot spot structures at the NL63-CoV/hACE2 and SARS-CoV/hACE2 interfaces have many common features. The Lys353-Asp38 salt bridge plays a central role in the hot spot structure at both of the interfaces. Because of the hydrophobic environment, the salt bridge not only provides a significant amount of energy to the virus/receptor binding interactions but also fills a critical void in the hydrophobic stacking interactions at the virus/receptor interfaces. Correspondingly, alanine substitution for either Lys353 or Asp38 in hACE2 significantly decreased the RBD/hACE2 binding affinities and viral transductions (Fig. 3 and 4). The hydrophobic tunnel walls of the hot spot structure also make important contributions to the virus/receptor binding interactions; they not only support the side chain of Lys353 to form the salt bridge but also provide hydrophobic stacking interactions at the virus/receptor interfaces. Some hydrophobic tunnel walls contribute more energy to the virus/receptor binding interactions than others (Fig. 3 and 4). For example, Tyr41 in hACE2 (top wall) is more important than Asp37 in hACE2 (right wall), probably because Tyr41 functions better as a tunnel wall with its aromatic ring. Alanine substitution for Tyr41 significantly decreased RBD/hACE2 binding affinities and viral transductions, suggesting that the stacking interaction between Tyr41 and Lys353 is essential for the hot spot structure. Interestingly, although a phenylalanine at the 41 position can potentially function as a tunnel wall with its aromatic ring, the Y41F mutation also significantly decreased RBD/hACE2 binding affinities and viral transductions. Detailed structural analysis reveals that the hydroxyl group of Tyr41 forms a hydrogen bond with receptor Asp355 at the NL63-CoV/hACE2 interface and two hydrogen bonds with receptor Asp355 and RBD Thr486 at the SARS-CoV/hACE2 interface (Fig. 2A and B). Thus, the side chain of Tyr41 needs to be firmly anchored in order for it to function properly as a tunnel wall. Residue 41 is a histidine in the ACE2 proteins from several bat species (10). Not only is His41 a poor hydrophobic stacker, but also it cannot be anchored properly to function as a tunnel wall. As a result, these bat ACE2 proteins were poor receptors for human SARS-CoV strains unless an H41Y mutation was introduced (10). Overall, the salt bridge and many of the tunnel walls of the hot spot structure contribute energy to the virus/receptor binding interactions.
The hot spot structures at the NL63-CoV/hACE2 and SARS-CoV/hACE2 interfaces differ in a subtle but functionally important way. The tunnel structure at the NL63-CoV/hACE2 interface is more compact than that at the SARS-CoV/hACE2 interface (Fig. 2A and B). At the NL63-CoV/hACE2 interface, the closest distances between the two pairs of opposing tunnel walls, Ser535-Asp37 (left to right) and Tyr41-Tyr498 (top to bottom), are 8.5 Å and 7.7 Å, respectively. At the SARS-CoV/hACE2 interface, if a serine replaces threonine at the 487 position in SARS-CoV RBD, these distances become 9.0 Å and 8.1 Å, respectively. Because of the compactness of the tunnel structure at the NL63-CoV/hACE2 interface, S535T mutation in NL63-CoV RBD decreased the tunnel space and was energetically unstable (Fig. 3B and and4A).4A). In contrast, because of the extra space of the tunnel structure at the SARS-CoV/hACE2 interface, T487S mutation in SARS-CoV RBD increased the tunnel space but was also energetically unstable (Fig. 3C and and4B).4B). Indeed, residue 487 was a serine in RBDs of some low-pathogenicity SARS-CoV strains and was largely responsible for the lack of human-to-human transmission of these viral strains (18, 19, 27). Thus, although S535T mutation in NL63-CoV RBD and T487S mutation in SARS-CoV RBD exerted opposite effects on the same left tunnel wall of the hot spot structure, they both reduced RBD/hACE2 binding affinities and viral transductions. For similar reasons, compared with Tyr498 in NL63-CoV RBD, Tyr491 in SARS-CoV RBD provides more support to the hot spot structure as the bottom tunnel wall in a more spacious tunnel space, and hence alanine substitution for Tyr491 decreased RBD/hACE2 binding affinities and viral transductions (Fig. 3 and 4). Therefore, the seemingly small differences in the hot spot structure at the two virus/receptor interfaces not only have significant impacts on virus/receptor binding interactions but also have important epidemic implications.
One of the direct implications of our study is the possibility of using NL63-CoV RBD as an inhibitor to block SARS-CoV infections, because NL63-CoV RBD can compete with SARS-CoV for the common virus-binding hot spot on hACE2. To test this possibility, we inoculated MLVs pseudotyped with SARS-CoV spike protein onto hACE2-expressing HEK293T cells in the presence of various concentrations of purified NL63-CoV RBD or SARS-CoV RBD (Fig. 5). Transduction was shown as a percentage of β-galactosidase activity observed in the absence of any inhibitor. The results showed that NL63-CoV RBD indeed inhibited SARS-CoV spike-mediated transductions. At 10 μg/ml (0.47 μM), NL63-CoV RBD inhibited SARS-CoV spike-mediated transductions by over 80%. This method has the potential to become a new antiviral strategy against SARS-CoV infections, as it represents the first case in which SARS-CoV infection can be inhibited by a protein from a different virus. It also represents a successful application of the common virus-binding hot spot theory derived from the present study.
Binding to the same hot spot on hACE2 was likely an outcome of convergent evolution by NL63-CoV and SARS-CoV. Our study provides several lines of evidence to support this notion. First, despite no structural homology in their RBDs, NL63-CoV and SARS-CoV both bind to the hot spot region and form highly similar and energetically stable tunnel structures (Fig. 1 and 2). Second, despite no structural homology in their RBMs, both viruses insert an RBM loop between VBM2 and VBM3 on hACE2 (Fig. 1). Third, despite being presented by nonhomologous RBM loops, Ser535 in NL63-CoV RBD and Thr487 in SARS-CoV RBD (Ser487 in RBDs of some low-pathogenicity SARS-CoV strains) occupy identical positions as the left tunnel wall in the hot spot structure (Fig. 2A and B) and contribute energy to the virus/receptor binding interactions (Fig. 3 and 4). Last, despite pointing in opposite directions, Tyr498 in NL63-CoV RBD and Tyr491 in SARS-CoV RBD also occupy identical positions as the bottom tunnel wall in the hot spot structure (Fig. 2A and B). These data suggest that NL63-CoV and SARS-CoV likely evolved independent strategies to achieve the same functional goal, supporting a convergent evolutionary relationship between the two viruses.
The likely convergent evolution of NL63-CoV and SARS-CoV was at least partly driven by the structural features of the virus-binding hot spot on hACE2. The general structural features of the hot spot favor virus binding: it is located in a region on hACE2 that is furthest from the membrane, relatively flat, free of glycosylation, and thereby easily accessible to viruses (Fig. 1). The detailed structural features of the hot spot, such as its potential to form the energetically stable tunnel structure, also favor virus binding (Fig. 2A and B). In the unbound hACE2 structure, where structural restraints from viruses are absent, Lys353 projects into solution; it does not form a salt bridge with Asp38 or stack with Tyr41 or Asp37 (Fig. 2C) (15, 28). Thus, the virus-binding hot spot is not preexistent or preorganized on hACE2; instead, it is induced to form by virus binding. Therefore, while the hot spot is mainly an intrinsic property of hACE2, it is also a dynamic structure and receives structural contributions from both hACE2 and the viruses, although the contributions from hACE2 are more pronounced. The virus-binding hot spot on hACE2 is likely different from the hot spots for host protein/protein interactions. Host protein partners have coevolutionary relationships (9, 11), and hence hot spots for host protein/protein interactions are usually preexistent and preorganized in unbound host protein structures (20, 22). Viruses and receptors, however, do not usually have such coevolutionary relationships; viruses evolve to adapt to host receptors, but receptors do not evolve to adapt to viruses. Occasionally, however, if a virus exerts a large enough impact on a host, the host receptor may evolve away from virus binding (7). So far the virus-binding hot spot on hACE2 is not known for its interaction with any other host proteins. Overall, the potential of the hot spot region on hACE2 to form energetically stable tunnel structures and some general structural features of this region on the receptor surface were among the possible reasons why the hot spot was exploited by two different viruses.
We thank Lorraine Albritton for the pBAG vector and Michael Farzan for spike protein genes.
This work was supported by NIH grant R01AI089728 (to F.L.) and by a University of Minnesota AHC Faculty Research Development Grant (to F.L. and L.M.M.).
Published ahead of print on 16 March 2011.
PubMed Central Canada is a service of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) working in partnership with the National Research Council's national science library in cooperation with the National Center for Biotechnology Information at the U.S. National Library of Medicine(NCBI/NLM). It includes content provided to the PubMed Central International archive by participating publishers.


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Accommodation in four cosy chalet en-suite rooms in the grounds of Grange Farmhouse, families welcome.
Children welcome from any age.
Special Offers
Search availability for Skelton Grange Farmhouse and book online
Orchard View,
Orchard View,
By Road:
Take the A19 (North) to Skelton. When you see The Blacksmiths Arms on the right, turn into the village. Take the second right onto Orchard View. Skelton Grange Farmhouse is at the bottom of the lane.
- Children welcome
- Radio
- Television
- Tea/coffee making in bedrooms
- Licenced (table or bar)
- Special diets available
- Ironing facilities
- Private parking
- Garden
- Totally non-smoking
- Dogs/pets NOT accepted
- Building of historical interest
- Central heating
- Laundry facilities
- Electric shaver points
- Golf available (onsite or nearby)
- Visa/Mastercard/Switch accepted
- Vegetarian diet available
- WiFi or internet access
- DVD player
- Single sex groups welcomed
- Hairdryer
- High chairs available
- Cots available
Children welcome from any age.
Self-Assessed Accessibility Details
- Designated parking for guests with disabilities
- Within 50 metres approx. of entrance
- Surface of the car park and pathway leading to entrance is
- Solid ie tarmac / concrete etc
- Drop-off point for guests outside entrance
- Route from the parking area to the entrance:
- Has steps and no ramp
Public Areas
- Level access (no steps/thresholds) or access by ramp or lift to:
- Entrance to reception
- One or more bedrooms
- Good contrast between the floor and wall
- Bedroom furniture can be re-arranged if requested by guest
- Bedroom with non-allergenic bedding available
- Bedroom without fitted carpets available
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- Separate shower unit
- Bath with shower
- Bath
- Separate shower unit with support handrails available
- Bath with support handrails available
- Steps to the main entrance
- 1Number of steps to entrance
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- Bell at main entrance
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- Sugar free (diabetic)
- Gluten free (coeliac)
- Lactose free (dairy free)
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Aii rooms are ground floor, there is a step up to main entrance and breakfast room. There is a step up to entrance of three rooms and then all room level. In room 4 and 5 the entrance is ground level but there is 2 steps down to bed. These rooms have walk in shower. Rooms 1,2 and 3 have a bath with shower in and hand rails.

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CodePlexProject Hosting for Open Source Software
2 years back I posted on our old forum a small article about optimizing LINQ queries. Even though the article is quite old, (and my english was even worse back then lol), I still think it may improve your understanding of that particular technology and help
you to create more scalable C1 solutions.
Writing a highly scalable/responsive website takes a lot of work, it includes optimizing hosting infrastructure (multi-server, geodependent, content delivery networks etc.), page speed/javascript optimizations, and optimizing the actual website
If a page on your site take about 1 second to load, you have to admit, there's something wrong with it. Of course sometimes it's rather difficult to achieve 20ms rendering time, but in most of the cases, just some basic code optimization tricks
allow you to achieve acceptable 50-70ms, which would be enough to serve the page to 50-100 concurrent users.
The algorithm of performance opimization is a simple as it gets: find a
"bottleneck" / non-optimal code and fix it, repeat until pleased with the result.
The first part - finding bottlenecks is achievable by using performance profiles, you can you either build in C1 page profiler (article coming soon), or one of the .NET profilers out there, I tried out quite a few, and recommend
Drone Profiler or JetBrains dotTrace.
The second part - fixing it, in most of the cases the problem code is in the way you query/process data, and the article below describes does LINQ work, and on what circumstances depends its execution time.
Composite C1 allows as choosing between two different ways of storing data – XML and SQL.
Part 1. Introduction, XML data provider.
To start with, let's look at the following query:
public static string GetPageTitle(Guid pageId)
IQueryable<IPage> pages = DataFacade.GetData<IPage>();
return (from page in pages
where page.Id == pageId
select page.Title).FirstOrDefault();
Xml data provider works rather simple – the very first time the code is executed, it will be reading "IPage" collection from the related xml file (/App_Data/Composite/DataStores/*.xml), and all the queries will be executed over an
in-memory collection of those pages (System.Linq.EnumerableQuery<T> class).
Execution time of our GetPageTitle() method can be estimated as:
1) Getting pages from XML file (<5ms, and only for the first call)
2) Compiling LINQ – 7ms
3) Executing query < 1ms
So we have 7ms of execution time, even if we have only one page in the system. In order to make the execution time shorter, we can use
IEnumerable<> interface, instead of IQueryable<>:
public static string GetPageTitle2(Guid pageId)
// Using IEnumerable<>
IEnumerable<IPage> pages = DataFacade.GetData<IPage>();
return (from page in pages
where page.Id == pageId
select page.Title).FirstOrDefault();
The new code looks pretty much the same, but if you take a look to the generated code though .NET decompiler (f.e.
Reflector or
JustDecompile), you will see, that in the first variant, we're building a small expression tree, which requires compilation. In the second case there're some method calls over
IEnumerable<IPage> object, which are executed rather quick.
public static string GetPageTitle(Guid pageId)
ParameterExpression CS$0$0001;
return DataFacade.GetData<IPage>()
Expression.Lambda<Func<IPage, bool>>(
Expression.Property(CS$0$0001 = Expression.Parameter(typeof(IPage), "page"),
(MethodInfo) methodof(IPage.get_Id)),
(MethodInfo) methodof(Guid.op_Equality))
, new ParameterExpression[] { CS$0$0001 }))
.Select<IPage, string>(
Expression.Lambda<Func<IPage, string>>(
Expression.Property(CS$0$0001 = Expression.Parameter(typeof(IPage), "page"),
(MethodInfo) methodof(IPage.get_Title)),
new ParameterExpression[] { CS$0$0001 })).FirstOrDefault<string>();
public static string GetPageTitle2(Guid pageId)
return DataFacade.GetData<IPage>()
.Where<IPage>(delegate (IPage page)
{ return (page.Id == pageId); })
.Select<IPage, string>(delegate (IPage page) {
return page.Title; })
And here, we can do a small summary.
TIP 1: It's better to use IEnumerable<> instead of IQueryable<> interface while working with in-memory kept data, f.e. List<T>() object and data get from the xml data provider.
The otherthing that is nice-to-know while working EnumerableQuery<> (Xml data provider) is that it is too easy to get a bad execution complexity. If you didn't have a pleasure of studying "Analysis
of algorithms" in university, I will show a small example:
var table =
(from product in DataFacade.Get<IProduct>()
from productCategory in DataFacade.Get<IProductCategory>()
where product.Id = productCategory.ProductId
select product.Id, product.Name, productCategory.CategoryName).ToList();
Everything seems to be right, and it would be right for Sql data provider. But while using xml, it will have
O(n*n) complexity, which means, if you have 10.000 products, it will take 100.000.000 operations (in this case it is comaring product.Id and productCategory.ProductId) - the query may take minutes to execute. If you aren't
yet familiar with what O(n*n) means, I would recommend you this link:
In the current example the solution would be to use a hashtable. The optimized code looks like:
var categoryById = new Composite.Collections.Generic.Hashtable<Guid, IProductCategory>();
foreach(var category in DataFacade.Get<IProductCategory>()) {
categoryById.Add(category.Id, category);
var table = (from product in DataFacade.Get<IProduct>()
select product.Id, product.Name, categoryById[product.Id].CategoryName).ToList();
This code has O(n*lg(n)) complexity, and for 10.000 products, the order would be about (10.000 * ln(10.000)) ~= 9.0000 operations, will likely take less than 10ms to execute.
TIP 2: While using Xml data provider it's better not to join more than 2 tables in the same query. If you have still have it, be sure that in the case there will be more than just hundreds records, so query will not become a bottleneck
that may load the server completely.
Part 2. Sql data provider, caching.
Let's take a look, how a query execution goes for Sql data provider
public IProcuct GetProductById(Guid productId) {
IQueryable<IProduct> products = DataFacade.GetData<IProduct>();
return (from product in products
where product.Id == productId
select product).FirstOrDefault();
Execution time:
Compiling query ~ 7ms
SqlServer round-time-trip ~ 5-10 ms (may be worse depending on where it is hosted)
Parsing & execution ~ 2 ms.
And we have 15-20 ms for one query. So, if we're up to achieve a perfect response time (20 ms) while ordinary requests, we cannot afford a single LINQ statement to be executed.
Actually LINQ isn't that bad and we will return to this point a bit later.
If we compare that result (15 ms) with the one we have for XmlDataProvider in the previous post (<1ms), it may seem that using SQL data provider does not have sense at all. In order order to fix this disadvantage, in Composite C1 we have added "DataFacade"
cache. The point is - if data interface is marked as "cachable", DataFace.GetData<…>() will return not a LINQ2SQL query, but an in-memory copy of the table (represented by
System.Linq.EnumerableQuery<T> class). And, if this is the case, the same rules as for Xml data provider are applied.
The optimized code will be looking like:
public IProcuct GetProductById(Guid productId) {
// Interface IProduct is marked as cacheble
IEnumerable<IProduct> products = DataFacade.GetData<IProduct>();
return (from product in products
where product.Id == productId
select product).FirstOrDefault();
As you can see, I've used the TIP 1 and used IEnumerable<> instead of IQueryable<> in order to avoid losing time on query compilation.
TIP 3. For those data types that don't have much data (> 10.000 rows) it has sense to check the "Has caching" checkbox in type editor, which will tell the system to keep the data rows in memory, and by doing so, removing the need to round-trips
to a SQL sever.
As all basic queries are optimized, you may consider to cache results of LINQ queries, as this approach gives the best results.
Here's an example of usage of the
QueryCache class, which allows to create "data item by property's value" cache.
public class Products
private static readonly QueryCache<Product, Guid> _productById = new QueryCache<Product, Guid>("Product by id", p => p.Id, 10000);
public static Product GetProductById(Guid productId)
return _productById[productId];
This way the actual data query will be executed only first time, other calls to _productById[productId] will lead to just a hash-table look-up performance wise. Once data is modified, QueryCache automatically clears the related cached rows.
TIP 4. For simple queries use QueryCache class, try to break up complex queries into simpler "cachable" parts.
That's basically it with LINQ and performance.
We also have build in page rendering profiler. Usage is quite simple, wrap performance critical C# code with the following "using" block:
using(Composite.Core.Instrumentation.Profiler.Measure("my code"))
/* your code */
then add "?c1mode=perf" to a page url, and if you're loggin in to the C1 console, you'll see the profiling report for that page.
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text:
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Inviting traditional home with contemporary flair built by Savannah Home Builders. Open light-filled transitions from formal to informal spaces. Double-height foyer, pine floors, study with deep bay windows, wine vault, gathering room with fireplace and Thermador kitchen withbreakfast room and quartz kitchen surfaces. Study hub, en suite guest or quarters, lavish master bath with retro marble tile, marble sink decks, shower and soaking tub, mirrored dressing room and custom-fitted closets. Sheltered patio with summer kitchen and room for pool. Near Weir Park in the heart of West University.


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10 Ethnic Restaurants to Try in Milan
Craving for some exotic flavours? I will be honest: Ethnic restaurants are my favourites. I often tell myself that if I want "just a pasta" I can cook it at home, so when I go out I like to choose restaurants that make me wander to faraway countries, food-wise at least. Milan has a wealth of choice and it really satisfies us with cuisines from all over the world: here are 10 amazing ethnic restaurants to try in the city! There is something for everyone, from the classic Japanese and Chinese to the Venezuelan and Vietnamese!
Click on the photo to discover more about Gin Mi!
Korean food is one of my favourites in the whole world. I find it delicate, intriguing and flavourful like no others. Among my favourite Korean restaurants in Milan there is Gin Mi, close to Lima and Piola. With the looks of a trattoria, this restaurant serves every Korean goodness from soy noodles to veggie kimchis. Don't miss the bulgogis for anything in the world, they are the house specialty.
GIN MI. Via Paisiello 7, Milan. +39 02 29516394. Open every day (5pm-12am) except on Sunday. Average price 40€.
Click on the photo to discover more about Oasi Giapponese!
You should know by now that Oasi Giapponese is where I go to when I need my dose of cirashi, okonomiyaki, sushi etc. Undoubtedly one of the 10 best Japanese restaurants in Milan, this restaurant in Primaticcio also serves dishes that are less known in Italy such as ikamentai and renkon mentai age. The interior is simple, it is family owned and your only worry will be the phone call for the reservation…it is always full!
OASI GIAPPONESE. Via Privata Montecuccoli 8, Milan. +39 02 41540047. Open from Monday to Saturday (12pm-2pm and 7pm-11pm) except on Monday evenings. Average price 30€.
Click on the photo to discover more about Tara!
Also when it comes to Tara I could sing praises. If you are craving for some Indian food I strongly recommend this restaurant behind Arco della Pace where you can order any goodness of this incredible country. Don't miss the naan bread that will melt in your mouth, the spiced and very tender meat or any vegetarian specialty from the eggplant cream to the veggies curry.
TARA. Via Domenico Cirillo 16, Milan. +39 02 3451635. Open every day except on Monday at lunch. Average price 30€.
Romanticism has the upper hand in this restaurant. At Vietnam Mon Amour (that counts two locations in Milan) you will taste Vietnamese flavours in a charming setting. The cuisine is sophisticated, the dishes are well-presented and the curry chicken cooked in coconut milk is a bomb! I almost forgot…combine food with a Saigon beer!
VIETNAM MON AMOUR. Via Taramelli, 67 (+39 02 70634614) | Via Pestalozza, 7 (+39 02 70634614), Milan. Open every day except on Monday (Tue/Sat 12:45pm-2:30pm and Sat/Sun 8pm-11pm). Average price 50€.
Click on the photo to discover more about Singapore!
Among some of my favourite Chinese restaurants in Milan there is Singapore in Via Foppa. Although there is not much fantasy in the dishes they serve, here you can enjoy simple courses that are always very good (I have been going there for years and they have never disappointed me). A special mention goes to the sweet and sour shrimps with leek and ginger and the steamed dumplings. Very right prices, typical and welcoming ambience…a must try!
SINGAPORE. Via Foppa 40, Milan. +39 02 48952129. Open every day except on Monday (12pm-2:30pm and 7:30pm-11pm). Average price 25€.
The Thai restaurant Bussarakham in Porta Genova is a real institution in Milan. Among some of the historical dishes of this restaurant there are the char-grilled seabass in a banana leaf and the crunchy prawns in corn and coconut crumbs. Recommended for a special evening, also considering the prices.
BUSSARAKAM. Via Valenza 13, Milan. +39 02 89422415. Open every day (Mon/Thru 7:30pm-11:30pm and Fri/Sun 11am-2:30pm and 6pm-12am). Average price 60€.
Click on the photo to discover more about Shambala!
At the end of Via Ripamonti, inside a former 'cascina', you will find this very romantic restaurant (reserve one of the canopies for a very special dinner) where you can taste fusion specialties that mix Thai and Vietnamese flavours, according to the tradition of the South-East of Asia. The internal zen garden is marvelous and the atmosphere is one of the most exotic ones you will find in Milan!
SHAMBALA. via Ripamonti 337, Milan. +39 02 5520194. Open from Monday to Saturday (7:30pm-2am), on Saturdays and Sundays brunch from 12pm. Average price 50€.
If you suffer from nostalgia for Africa don't miss Warsà, Eritrean restaurant in the Porta Venezia area. A nice restaurant, African music in the background, smell of spices in the air. There is only one dish on the menu, the zhighinì, with vegetables and cous cous, declined in three different options: vegetarian, with fish or with meat (beef or chicken). One warning: arrive with clean hands; there is no cutlery here, in full Eritrean style!
WARSÀ. Via Melzo 16, Milan. +39 02 201673. Open every day except on Wednesday. Average price 30€.
Russian vibes in Famagosta in Milan. At Podkova (in Russian 'horseshoe') you can try some of the specialties of Russian cuisine, which is often underrated. Taste herrings with vegetables, marinated salmon and sturgeon, the Russian salad of course and the different types of caviar. Don't miss the dumplings for any reason (all of them, they are delicious!) and the perfectly cooked meat. No need to tell you that you should be drinking vodka on the side.
PODKOVA. Via della Chiesa Rossa 25, Milan. +39 02 89515776. Open every day (7pm-2am) except on Monday. Average price 40€.
Have you ever heard of arepas? The only place in Milan where this Venezuelan speciality is served is at Arepa'z, in the Navigli area. Here you can enjoy this round bread made of corn flour and cooked on a griddle, stuffed with ingredients such as chicken, avocado, beef and black beans. Once you try it you will remember it as one of the best piadinas in Milan!
AREPA'Z. Viale Cassala 9, Milan. +39 02 36736703. Open every day except on Monday (12pm-3pm and 7pm-1am). Average price 15€.
Share your ethnic dinners with us on the social media using the hashtag #aplaceinMilan and #conoscounposto!
Read the original article on Conosco un Posto. This English version was translated by Tamara Ilic.


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Download Where is My Kid? apk free for Android smartphone
Posted by Androyo in Communication | Feb. 26, 2011 | 0 Comments
Apk file size: 0 bytes
Are you tired of asking your child to text you their exact location? -- Then use this application to have them get their exact location and then easily send you a text message with a click of a button without having to type out extensive lines!
This application will let you know the nearest address as to where you are. This uses the GPS functionality in your phone.
Are you lost while driving or just simply lost?
Do your parents keep telling you to tell them where you are and they want the exact details yet you are you too lazy to type the address out?
Then use this application and you can send your location by text message to your parents or whomever you choose!
Androyo part of our Communication and have average installs from 1000 to 5000. Last Update Feb. 26, 2011. Google play rating is 60.0. Current verison is None. Actual size 0 bytes.


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1886 · Chicago
by [Connecticut]
Chicago: Rand, McNally & Co., Map Publishers and Engravers, 1886. Original 1886 edition. 30pp. Slim sextodecimo [17 cm] Text and folded map bound in purple and black printed flexible card wraps. Very good. The wraps are faded, more so at the edges. There is a contemporary notation on the title page. The map, measuring 13" wide by 11" tall, is in very good plus condition, with no tears and markings. Part of the Rand, McNally & Co.'s Series of Indexed Pocket Maps. (Inventory #: 45797)


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Hurry! Quick! Watch this preview for the second season of Downton Abbey before it gets pulled for copyright naughtiness. If you haven't seen the miniseries' first season (shame on you), catch up now because this sh*t is amazing. Like, suck-you-in-and-fill-you-up-with-Maggie-Smith-goodness kind of amazing.
4 Comments on "OMG, watch: Downton Abbey's second season preview"
I want to thank you for recommending this show. I downloaded S01E01 and S01E02 and now I am hooked. Awesome writing and very intelligent.
BTW I also recommend Boardwalk Empire. This show rocks!
Downton Abbey is some period piece crack. Maggie Smith is flawlessly bitchy, the costumes are great, and some homo mischief. Watch it!
The answer's 'YES' and some of it is filmed appx 4 miles from where i used to live!
I was wondering if Downton Abbey was any good. I absolutely loved Cranford and Return to Cranford and Downton Abbey was suggested to me due to having liked Cranford so much.


text:
Tags: photographs
My World As I Picture It Volume 5
Images of my world as I capture/picture it.Digest / 5.25" x 8.25"Print + Digital: $10.00 Digital: $2.00
Rasputin Magazine -Glamour/Boudoir/Duos Issue
Rasputin Magazine is an edgy, all-photo magazine highlighting models, artists, designers, photographers.Standard / 8.25" x 10.75"Print + Digital: $18.80 Digital: $6.00
Olympus the Musical - The Photos
Remember your epic adventure with photos from every stop on the 2012 tour.Standard / 8.25" x 10.75"Print: $33.00
Vietnam 1967
Photographic memories of 1967 Vietnam and the quiet village of Can Tho in the Mekong DeltaSquare / 8" x 8"Print: $16.40 Digital: $6.00
Bitter Sweet Beauties issue 1
show casing beautiful models and wonderful photographers workStandard / 8.25" x 10.75"Print + Digital: $15.00 Digital: $2.00
Rasputin Magazine Black & White Issue #5
All-photo magazine featuring edgy editorial photographs. Open submissions for models, photographers, artists, designers, etc. This is a special black…Standard / 8.25" x 10.75"Print + Digital: $19.40 Digital: $6.99
Télégramme: Télégramme Magazine - Issue Seven Spring / Summer 2014
Issue 7 of Télégramme magazine, featuring Alistair Watkins-Stuart, Anna Wilton, Dianne Tanner, Marina Oprea and Luiza Potiens.Standard / 8.25" x 10.75"Print + Digital: $30.00 Digital: $1.00
Raven Fair Fare
Recipes for friends and family from Raven Fair house in Northern New Mexico. New and old recipes with photos of Raven Fair by Tom Kumpf and Jan…Square / 8" x 8"Print: $29.95
Gibraltar Sports: International Football - Gibraltar V Estonia
Photo Book containg 72 pages of images from the Gibraltar V Estonia international Football match held at Victoira Stadium on the 5th March 2014.…Square / 8" x 8"Print + Digital: $20.40 Digital: $2.00
Lynn Roylance: flappingbrain: 2014.02
A record of the monthly photographs by Lynn Roylance, taken in and around Santa Fe, New Mexico.Square / 8" x 8"Print + Digital: $20.00 Digital: $3.20


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Praise for Declan Burke: "Burke shows again that he's not just a comic genius, but also a fine dramatic writer and storyteller." – Booklist. "Proust meets Chandler over a pint of Guinness." – Spectator. "Among the most memorable books of the year, of any genre." – Sunday Times. "A hardboiled delight." – Guardian. "Imagine Donald Westlake and Richard Stark collaborating on a screwball noir." – Kirkus Reviews. "A cross between Raymond Chandler and Flann O'Brien." – John Banville.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Cormac Millar - Grazie, Il Mio Amico
The deal with this blogging blummery is, if someone links you, then you link them. Forthwith we commend Cormac Millar into your tender hands, author of An Irish Solution and The Grounds, a rather funky website plugging every Irish crime writer since Jonathan Swift (yep, we have a Swifty-as-crime-hack theory) and holder of the rather dubious title of Penguin's Most Wanted. Oh, and if he seems a bit serious, then he is - he's a professor-type in Italian at Trinity College. But Trinners isn't the setting for groves-of-academe thriller, The Grounds. Heaven forfend, etc.
Posted by Declan Burke at 1:01 PM
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Kei Kamara (NE Revolution) and Mike Lahoud (Miami FC), two professional soccer players born in Sierra Leone, joined forces to build the Kei Kamara/Mike Lahoud Education for All Primary School. This school provides access to disadvantaged children in Allen Town, East End Freetown. Groundbreaking began in May 2015 and classes began on September 7, 2015. 50 children enrolled in that first year of classes at the school in Sept, 2015. Today there are over 150 children working hard to make their dreams come true. We continue to need your support for these remarkable children and their teachers.
This school is headed by Mamusu Tarawali. She is one of our star teachers we have worked with for many years, featured in the documentary, Brownstones to Red Dirt. Before Sierra Leone's civil war broke out, Mamusu Tarawalie was a young woman with a passion for learning. But when war came to her village, her instinct took over. As she fled the rebels, she saw a baby strapped to the back of a woman lying in the street. The woman had been killed during a firefight and the baby was left for dead. Mamusu turned around and ran towards the battle. She untied the child and ran to safety with him. Balla would be the first of 9 children Mamusu would adopt. When the fighting stopped and the children she had taken in had no school, Mamusu worked with her mentor to start one. The Children in Crisis School would go on to serve over 400 children and become a project for Schools for Salone. With more children needing a school, Mamusu undertook the massive task of starting a school from scratch. This time, she had Kei Kamara, Mike Lahoud and Schools for Salone to help her.
Now that the school is completed, the soccer field almost completed, our plans are to construct a home for Headmistress Mamusu and the orphaned children she rescued during the war. With help from our sponsors a generation of children have grown up in classrooms instead of on the streets.
We need $50,000 to make this dream come true for these orphaned children and the woman who saved them. Please donate now to help us make a safe, clean home possible for these special children.
Check out this video just released by FIFPro in honor of Kei and Mike's FIFPro Merit Award:
Read more about Kei's remarkable journey and his collaborative efforts with Mike Lahoud and Schools for Salone in Rolling Stone Magazine
We are almost finished Phase II!
Water is critical and must be trucked in to the worksite.
The Soccer Pitch is almost finished! Joseph and Aunti Musu joined in the first match!
Kei Kamara's Long Journey Home, featured on mlssoccer.com.


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By Ginger Livingston
Voter fraud. Photo ID. Voter suppression.
These terms are dominating the discussion of North Carolina's 2016 election process in the same way Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are taking over the primary process.
In 2013, the North Carolina General Assembly approved multiple changes to the state's election laws that some say will lessen voter fraud and others say will suppress the vote of minorities and women.
The process is evolving. Court challenges have upheld some of the new laws but temporarily stalled others. A three-judge panel in mid-February ordered the General Assembly to redraw two congressional districts, saying the current boundaries are unconstitutional. The state asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene so the current congressional primary elections can continue.
With so many ongoing changes the following primer offers a few simple explanations about voting in North Carolina.
Fun fact: The United States Constitution didn't originally define who was eligible to vote. That's why so many states, especially in the South, used devices such as literacy tests and poll taxes to prevent blacks and other select groups from voting. Because so many states enacted barriers to voting, the federal government over time established more voting laws, including multiple constitutional amendments.
The 15th Amendment allowed blacks and other minorities to vote, 19th Amendment, enacted in 1920, gave women the right to vote. The 26th Amendment, enacted in 1971, allows U.S. citizens 18 years old and other to vote.
In North Carolina, a person must first register to vote in the county they are living in and must do so at least 30 days prior to the date of election. North Carolina lets people register when they are 17 years old as long as they turn 18 before the general election, which is Nov. 8 this year.
Convicted felons currently serving a sentence cannot register or vote. If a person has completed their felony sentence they can have their citizenship rights restored and can register to vote at that time.
North Carolina law requires voters to be registered in the county they are voting in.
Because Pitt County is home to East Carolina University and Pitt Community College, it's not uncommon for election workers to encounter young voters who registered in their home county and are unable to cast a local ballot.
Those registered in other counties or states who want to vote in Pitt County must re-register.
The deadline for voting in the March 15 primary was Feb. 15. However, voters have until Oct. 14 to register to vote in the Nov. 8 general election.
A person can check their voter registration status and their precinct by visiting www.ncsbe.gov, and clicking on "Voter/Absentee Lookup" in the "Voter Web Tools" box.
A new voter or a voter who is re-registering must fill out a voter registration form. They can fill out the form when obtaining a driver's license or state identification card from the Division of Motor Vehicles. They can also download the form from the North Carolina State Board of Elections website, www.ncsbe.gov, and mail it or drop it off by their local board of elections office.
Voters who live in Pitt County, but have moved to a new address, must update their voter registration information. They can do so by submitting a new voter registration form or if they still have their voter card they can fill in a change of address form on the right-hand side.
For more than a decade North Carolina has implemented a One-Stop, Early Voting, a process that allowed people to register to vote and cast a ballot for a specific period before election day.
The General Assembly eliminated same-day registration when it changed election rules in 2013. However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued an injunction so, as of Mixer's press time, same-day registration during the early voting period was still allowed. Another court ruling could change that at any time.
The General Assembly passed a new law in 2013 requiring voters to present an authorized photo identification when they go to vote. This is the first year it is required.
The state accepts six forms of identification. A North Carolina drivers license, a N.C. identification card, a U.S. passport or passport card, unexpired military identification card, a veterans identification card and certain tribal enrollment cards.
If a person doesn't have one of these forms of identification they are eligible for a free N.C. identification card. They must get it from the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles.
If a voter can't get an acceptable photo ID but are registered to vote they can cast a provisional ballot. To do so they must sign a declaration describing the impediment they faced — work schedule, illness, lack of transportation, lacking proper documents, family obligations, disability and others — and provide their date of birth and last four digits of their Social Security number. They can also present a copy of their current voter registration card or an acceptable document with their name or address.
States must redraw their congressional districts after every U.S. Census to ensure each district has the same number of people. When the General Assembly redrew the districts in 2011, many complained minority voters were packed in to certain districts to prevent them from affecting votes in other districts. Opponents filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the districts.
In early February a three-judge panel ruled the 1st and 12th congressional districts were unconstitutional and needed to be redrawn immediately.
The U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay of the ruling so on Feb. 19 the General Assembly approved new congressional district boundaries and set June 7 as the date of the new congressional primary. The presidential and other North Carolina primaries will still be held March 15.
What's a primary election?
A primary is a preliminary election that allows voters to select a political party's candidate for a certain office.
The March 15 primary election will have ballots featuring Democratic, Republican and Libertarian candidates. The ballot a voter receives is dependant of the political party they registered for. If the voter is unaffiliated, he or she can select which primary they want to vote in. They also have the option of selecting an unaffiliated ballot which will contain nonpartisan races and this year, a bond vote.
This is a presidential election year so voters will choose a presidential candidate.
The Republican Party presidential ballot includes 12 individuals who have since suspended or ended their campaign like Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul and Rick Santorum. Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Mallory and Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente are on the Democratic ballot.
Voters also will select candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, attorney general, labor commissioner, superintendent of public instruction, treasurer, state legislative seats, local elections and approval of a $2 billion bond.
The local Pitt County elections include the Board of Commissioners, district court judge and for the residents of Ayden, a vote on whether mixed beverages can be sold in the city limits.
Pitt County's population is 175,354, making it the 14th largest county in the state and the largest in eastern North Carolina.
Because of its population, Pitt County is often divided between legislative district to achieve the required balance in populations.
Pitt County is divided between two congressional districts, two state Senate districts and two state House district. It also has six county commissioner districts, nine school board districts and 10 municipalities. A person can determine which districts they are in and preview their ballot by visiting www.ncsbe.gov.
North Carolina recognizes people may have reasons for going to the polls on election day. Historically, these voters were allowed to use an absentee ballot.
March 8 is the deadline to request an absentee ballot for the March 15 primary election. The request form may be mailed, faxed, emailed, or delivered in person.
The deadline for returning the primary elections absentee ballot in person in March 15. The deadline for returning civilian primary absentee ballots by mail is March 18. The deadline for returning military absentee ballots is March 21, a day before the final canvass of primary votes. The ballot must be returned to the county the voter is registered in.
Polling places are opened prior to election day, allowing people to vote without requesting an absentee ballot. This year, early voting for the March 15 primary begins March 1 and any voter can cast a ballot at any early voting site.
Pitt County has seven early voting locations. One is at East Carolina University's Willis Building, 300 East First St. The site closest to Pitt Community College is the Winterville Fire Station community room, 2593 Railroad St., Winterville. Other early voting locations are Pitt County Agricultural Center conference room, 403 Government Circle; Center at Alice F. Keene Park arts and crafts room, 4561 County Home Road; County Office Building PATS conference room, 1717 W. Fifth St.; Farmville Community Center community room, 3886 S. Main St., Farmville; Ayden Community Building community room, 548 Second St., Ayden. All sites will have the same days and hours of operation: March 3-5 and March 7-11, 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.; March 12, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Precincts are open from 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.Login or register to post comments


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The blog remembered reporting the acquisition of Toms Of Maine by Colgate-Palmolive back in 2006. I am guessing that the appeal for big consumer products companies of expanding into natural-based consumer products is back again as Unilever announced yesterday its acquisition of Seventh Generation, a well-known promoter of plant-based ingredients and packaging for its use on household cleaning and personal care products. Seventh Generation's turnover reportedly exceeded $200 million in 2015 and has seen double digit compounded annual growth over the last 10 years.
I will do a more comprehensive report on some of Seventh Generation's activities in the bio-based chemicals and materials sectors on Tecnon OrbiChem's September Biomaterials issue.
According to a report from Wall Street Journal, the deal will give Unilever a foothold in the US market for diapers and tampons in addition to detergents and hand soap, traditionally strongholds of rival Procter & Gamble. It was reported that Unilever is planning to buy Seventh Generation for $700 million.
It was thought that Unilever is also mulling on the acquisition of The Honest Company owned by Jessica Alba, also a consumer goods company focusing on natural, sustainable and non-toxic ingredients for household and personal care products. Some analysts say this deal might now have fallen through with the Seventh Generation acquisition, although Honest Company is more focused on baby care and personal care hygiene products unlike Seventh Generation who is more well-known for its detergent and cleaning products.


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Hybrid apps make it possible to embed HTML5 apps inside a thin native container, combining the best (and worst) elements of native and HTML5 appsHybrid development combines the best (or worst) of both the native and HTML5 worlds. We define hybrid as a web app, primarily built using HTML5 and JavaScript, that is then wrapped inside a thin native container that provides access to native platform features. PhoneGap is an example of the most popular container for creating hybrid mobile apps.
Mobile development is a constantly moving target. Every six months, there's a new mobile operating system, with unique features only accessible with native APIs. The containers bring those to hybrid apps soon thereafter, with the web making tremendous leaps every few years.


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Are plants conscious?
Views of 'plant consciousness' in the literature are classified on a scale ranging from descriptions of plant phenomena using consciousness as a metaphor, to explicit statements that plants are conscious beings. The idea of plant consciousness is far from new, but it has received a new impetus from recent claims by psychics to communicate with plants. The literature surveyed is widely scattered and very diverse, but it can teach us much about the views that various segments of society hold on plant consciousness.
No References
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No Supplementary Data
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Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: Department of Theoretical Production-ecology, Wageningen Agricultural University, PO Box 430, 6700 AK Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Publication date: 1997-03-01


text: 'Agni' is the god of fire and is said to be the acceptor of all sacrifices. It is believed that these sacrifices go to the deities because Agni is a messenger of the gods. This chair is a depiction of the holy flame or the fire which is an eminent part of a Yagna. All the offerings are placed into this fire to pay homage to the god & goddesses being worshipped.


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3DOcean BRP Can-Am Spyder ST 2013 4627520
3D Model \ Vehicles \ Land \ Cars
Format \ Formats \ Standard \ Spider \ Created \ Included \ Objects \ Materials
3D Model - BRP Can-Am Spyder ST 2013 4627520 by humster3d @ 3DOcean
3D Model \ Vehicles \ Land \ Cars
The 3D model was created on real car base. It's created accurately, in real units of measurement, qualitatively and maximally close to the original.
Model formats.
- *.max (3ds Max 2008 scanline)
- *.max (3ds Max 2008 vray)
- *.fbx (Multi Format)
- *.obj (Multi Format)
- *.3ds (Multi Format)
- *.mb (Maya 8.5)
- *.lwo (Lightwave 6)
- *.c4d (Cinema 4D 11)
- tire's texture is not included in the set.
- renders Are made in 3ds Max 2008 using vray 1.5 (studio environment is not included in the set)
If you need any other formats we are more than happy to make them for you.
The model is provided combined, all main parts are presented as separate parts therefore materials of objects are easy to be modified or removed and standard parts are easy to be replaced. If you experience difficulties with separating standard parts we are more than happy to give you qualified assistance.
We greatly appreciate you choosing our 3D models and hope they will be of use.
We look forward to continuously dealing with you.
Sincerely Yours,
Humster3D Team
Animated: No; Low-poly: No; Materials: Yes; Rigged: No; Textured: No; UV Layout: No; 3D File Formats Included: .3ds (multi format), .c4d (cinema 4d), .fbx (multi format), .lwo (lightwave), .max (3ds Max), .mb (maya), .obj (multi format); Created In: 3ds max 2008, cinema 4d r11, lightwave 8, maya 8.5; Geometry: Polygons; Poly Count: 473000.
Ford Ka concept 2013; Mercedes-Benz CLC-Class (CL203) 2008; BMW 2 Series coupe (F22) 2014; Renault Initiale Paris 2013; Mini Cooper convertible 2014; Mercedes-Benz Arocs Tipper Truck 2013; Kia Opirus (Amanti) 2006.
Keywords: 2012-2014, 3-wheeled, BRP, BRP Can-Am Spider, Can-Am, bike, bombardier, motorcycle, products, racing car, recreational, roadster, spider, sport, spyder, st, three wheeled.


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Norman G. Finkelstein is an author and lecturer living in Brooklyn. He received his doctorate in 1988 from the Department of Politics at Princeton University. For many years he taught political theory and the Israel-Palestine conflict. He is currently working on a new book entitled <b>KNOWING TOO MUCH: Why the American Jewish love affair with Israel is coming to an end. </b> Norm is a fiery speaker, pulls no punches and is an endless advocate for moving the factions of the Right back to the ideals of the Left: Peace and Human Dignity for All. I cannot wait to speak with him! His other books include: "This Time We Went Too Far": Truth and consequences of the Gaza invasion Beyond Chutzpah: On the misuse of anti-Semitism and the abuse of history The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the exploitation of Jewish suffering Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict A Nation on Trial: The Goldhagen thesis and historical truth The Rise and Fall of Palestine: A personal account of the intifada years
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text: I used the 5 Aeb feature - I used the dji pilot app to take the pictures, not the remote Lightroom was used to set the initial clarity of the bracketed sequence then it was brought into photoshop using merge with HDR pro. Everything here was done following this video ISO was high but I recommend the lowest ISO possible to reduce noise This is by no means a representation of the upper quality limits of the inspire 1's camera- I did not plan to make this a better or great photo. Since this was all trial and experimentation I hope to post better images in the near future of HDR landscapes and real estate shots.


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Utah High Court Finds No Error In Barring Of Expert Testimony On Eyewitnesses
(Opinion available. Document #30-160115-022Z.)
On Nov. 15, 2004, the State of Utah alleged that C.M., who was 9...
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- News
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- Finals
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EA Inc. this week released the EA Access Trailer for Battlefield 1 for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox One.
The trailer previews Oct. 13th access to the title for Xbox One owners with EA Access.
Battlefield 1, set in World War 1, is the latest installment in the first-person shooter franchise.
The final game will include 64-player multiplayer battles, new land, sea, and air combat, in addition to new close-quarter combat options.
The title will be sold in a standard SKU, Early Enlister Deluxe Edition SKU and Exclusive Collector's Edition SKU.
The Early Enlister Deluxe Edition will include the Red Baron Pack and Laurence of Arabia Pack with themed vehicles, weapons, and items at $79.99.
The Exclusive Collector's Edition SKU will include the Deluxe Edition Base Game, 14-inch Statue, Steel Book, Cloth Poster, Playing Cards, Exclusive Patch, Premium Packaging and Messenger Pigeon Tube with exclusive DLC content at $219.99.
It will be sold Oct. 21.
Follow us on Twitter @PunchJump, @WeLoveHotDeals, @PreOrderBonus, @SQUARE Gentleman, and visit us at Facebook and YouTube.
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As his daughter, Amanda, and many others will describe him, John R. Paine has been, is, and always will be "larger than life."
He graduated cum laude from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Building Construction and quickly launched into an intense and diverse business career in which he seemed to naturally excel.
He began his career in commercial construction, and diversified into transportation, distribution, warehousing, manufacturing, consumer products, and plastics. Eventually he moved into telephony, consumer and business finance, and internet technologies. He served as the President and CEO of Providence Interactive Capital, LLC, a private equity investment firm. John was also CEO of Excelco Technologies, a technology service and consulting company. He further served as Chairman of the Board of Cheap Caribbean.com, one of the largest online travel agencies to the Caribbean and Mexico.
Longtime friend and colleague AC Musgrave confirms, "If I had a hall of fame of businessmen – and I've been blessed to have that. I know people that are very wealthy, very sharp, very astute. I would put John right at the very top of any of them."
Outside of the office John enjoyed embracing the adventure of life with his wife, Margaret, and their four children. Whether it was skiing, scuba diving, or hunting, John never missed an opportunity to involve the entire family in his excitement and enthusiasm for experience.
In 2000, John – a regular jogger and weight-lifter – noticed a peculiar twitching and muscle loss in his arm. A series of tests determined he had ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) – a diagnosis that came with shock, disbelief, anger and many questions for not only John, but his family, friends and colleagues.
Yet in the midst of such a devastating diagnosis, John began to discover some of his greatest passions, deepest relationships and strongest faith. His story has inspired and challenged those close to him and those he meets to not just endure life's difficulties but to lean into and embrace them.
Learn why John Paine calls himself the luckiest man.


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text: Video: Old Technology Dominoes Posted by Ingrelli on 2011-04-16 at 15:36 Stuff & Junk, Technology, the w0rd, Video Apr 162011 Where I work we had a bunch of old hardware laying around waiting to be recycled, so we set it up to knock it down. In the video is an old Apple Macbook, several Apple Mac Minis, a Netgear Firewall/Route and a bunch of various sized hard drives. Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.


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Uncontrolled scope change is unplanned work and this is a failure of either planning, reliability engineering, or management. Scope Change Management countermeasures include:
- Scope freeze, scope change cutoff
- Single point of authority to add/drop/change scope
- Risk-based decision making on 'found' or 'discovered' work
- Cost and duration offsets
- Post shutdown root cause analysis and corrective action
So, when scope change happens we celebrate because this is an opportunity to learn and improve.
For part shortages, we pre-stage and confirm parts be fore needed.
For 'found work', we freeze the scope.
Over runs and delays can happen, and so the turnaround plan has a single delay buffer.