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Cast: Aegir of the Enæidùn, Gryff Galan, Velimir Tito, Yolander van Zaar, and Toadface. Guest starring: Deep Thought.
The following takes place on 28 Decanum, YE 1022.
Having reached the position of the OUT mother-ship, EXODUS I, the heroes decide to play fair: one by one, they enter the labyrinth designed to bewilder, weaken, and kill them – Bansl has already gone missing, soon others will too; meanwhile, van Zaar reappears with new visions of imminent doom.
With the Pius laying several tens of thousands of miles out from EXODUS I's position, the threat to the ship was not immediate. The cabal thus had some time to plan and execute their actions before the Reavers launched by the mother-ship reached firing distance. After some deliberation, Toadface was teleported into the antechamber. Having transformed himself into a small swarm of wasps, he then entered the tubes of the pneumatic mail system. Galan tried to stay in touch with him, but as he delved deeper into the sanctum of Dr. Mörbius, Toadface passed beyond the captain's ken.
As he pressed onwards, he slowly managed to piece together enough pieces to give him a picture of the puzzle. The sanctum was a labyrinth (later investigation by Aegir revealed it to be in the shape of an octagon), and Sirens, a.k.a. Pickled Marauders, or Mage-in-a-jar, were placed on strategic locations. The corridors were also patrolled by Hellghasts. Little by little, the Primordial magician managed to figure out something about the workings of the tubes he travelled. There were several valves, some open, and some closed. As he got closer to the centre, he started to recognize certain markings inside the tubes, and so he was able to move through the labyrinth with a purpose. Eventually he reached what looked to be an important lock.
In the meantime, the cabal had been discussing what to do next. No clear plan had emerged by the time van Zaar appeared. Some might say that the sudden appearance of someone deep in the Void would be cause for concern, or at the very least questioning, not so the Pius Cabal. Van Zaar himself, in his characteristic enigmatic and pompous manner, only mentioned having lived a lifetime since his parting some two weeks ago. Then he demanded to know why the cabal had abandoned the assault on the moon-base. He also chided the captain for having lost both the Bombman and the only healer aboard. A debate about whether Galan should attempt to snatch a crew-man from one of the approaching Reavers ensued, but with the Arcane shielding of the enemy vessels, and the smothering weight of the anti-magic aura of the Saragasso Dead-space, this plan was abandoned. With two members of the cabal now lost in the bowels of the construct-ship, and with his normal disdain for the haughty ways of the wizards, Aegir readied for action, and shortly after, he was teleported aboard.
In the meantime, the Reavers had come close enough to demand action. As so far, no cloaking strategy has proven to successful, van Zaar now suggested turning to the Arcanum of Death. Before the ship was teleported to a new position, he slew all magical auras aboard, hoping this would do the trick. Master Tito, at this point, following up on the observations of an apprentice, noticed that the main transponder relay on the enemy ship was transmitting a summoning signal on the Deep Frequency, by all likelihood to a named entity – with Bansl missing, however, none aboard could decipher the call.
Sensing that time was running out, the three heroes left aboard the Pius now decided to take the fight to the enemy. Galan, Tito and van Zaar left the ship in the hands of Adeptus Ludenius and Commander Spearhawk, and teleported in to the antechamber. Aegir had now scouted the first of the rings in the labyrinth, and Bansl was still missing.
Toadface, deep in the sanctum of EXODUS I, faced with the lock he could not open, had decided to change his strategy. He ended his spell, and the bees turned into the lumbering shape of the primordial woodsman. Pipes and beams broke under his weight, and he fell through a tangle of wires and into a nightmarish chamber. Here he found himself in a forest of infernal machines, clanking, whirring and sparkling, wires running like demented spider-webs between them, and in the middle of the chamber, in a glass-like pillar connected to the Machine, Deep Thought himself, Dr. Mörbius. No sooner had he got his bearings when a network of conductors flashed into action, locking him in a field of dark energy.
Our hero did not despair. After all, he has once ridden a dragon! Now he challenged Deep Thought in mental combat. The two exchanged thrusts and parries, and while neither gained the upper hand, it was clear that the magician was at a disadvantage when faced with the combined might of evil genius, Goethic Calculators, vast amounts of energy, and demonic power. Luckily, at this point, Tito managed to establish a Connection with Toadface's corpus. While facing a psychic assault from a Siren, he was able to bridge Galan's spell, and thus the three latecomers were able to join in. The Certamen was now between the Pius Cabal and Dr. Mörbius.
The first casualty was Master Tito. The Siren he had been battling was destroyed by Aegir, now rushing to defend the magicians who were now in a trance. Still, weakened by his fight with the Siren, he was cut down when Deep Thought released a massive charge of dark energy into the mind-field.
And thus the chapter ended.
Storyteller's note: First, Bansl's player was not available for this session, hence the Bombman's disappearance. Further, as mentioned briefly in a previous post's comments, we got right and properly hammered this evening. As tradition dictates, he who has passed through Tax Free must put whisky on the table. I had, and I did. Also, the inherent danger of a Friday-game is that no one has to work the following day. We stayed at the table longer that usual, but with the massive amount of banter, and the steadily progressing state of fucked, things were somewhat vague at the end.
I had fun!
[picture source: Desktop Nexus]
[picture source: Desktop Nexus]


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I really love that class a lot. I love that people come to learn technique but also work very hard. It is great fun to have the leeway in both directions. Just good solid strong work in the basic postures. Plus what was really fun these last few weeks is some old faces showing back up in class. Since I left YogaYoga there have been so many people I just haven't seen with an regularity- between the significant change in where I teach, the change i times, the summer travel, etc. I have felt pretty disconnected from "the old gang". (not that I have not enjoyed meeting new people. Believe me, I love that also.) But anyway, it has been fun to be re-connecting with some of the old gang and seeing them show back up in class. Kim, Alice, Mandy, Brigitte Laura, Tabitha, and even Kelly came to class yesterday morning. So fun.
- Childs pose
- Down Dog
- Uttanasana
- Simple Surya Namaskar variations- (6X no long holds)
- standing with arms out to the side like vasisthasana to learn arm actions
- vasisthasana with top foot down
- vasisthasana with feet stacked
- standing baby cradle prep- 2X
- vrksasana
- vasisthasana with top leg in vrksasana
- parsvakonasana- introducing IS actions
- cat/cow foray to learn kidney loop
- parsvakonasana- applying kidney loop
- trikonasana- 2X-
- deep lunge, forearms to floor
- deep parsvakonasana working front shoulder under front leg
- reclined hip stretching
- eka hasta bhujasana
- astavakrasana
- setu bandhasana
- windshield wiper pose
- knees to chest
okay, then after class I met Laura for a light lunch at Babylon Foods. (Whole Foods) then at 2 we had our instructor's class with Devon Dederich teaching Iyengar Yoga. It was SO AWESOME. I could do a whole blog entry on her expertise and knowledge and skillful generosity in sharing with us. We laughed, we worked hard, we did a strong practice and I think everyone learned A TON. Devon was one of my early yoga teachers- I took classes from here 12 years ago when Kelly and I lived here and her studio was were REI is now. Anyway- I always learn something from practicing with her and yesterday was no exception. We were "missing" a bunch of people from the practice but the folks there were so attentive, capable,respectful and fun that I left inspired and really happy about the possibility for our practice time really evolving into something great.
Here is her sequence:
- childs pose
- down dog
- uttanasana
- down dog, chataranga, up dog, chataranga- 3 x total (approx. 30 sec. each)
- parsvakonasana- hand in front of ankle
- parsvakonasana- hand behind ankle
- vira 1
- parivritta trikonasana
- handstand- 3 hand placement variations- turning palms out, straight, and then all the way out so your fingers face into the middle of the room
- pinca mayurasana
- sirsasana
- eka pada supta virasana, 2x
- paryankasana,elbows pushing floor to lift the chest
- paryankasana, arms over head, keep chest lifting
- dwi pada viparita dandasana over chair
- urdhva danurasana over chair
- eka pada urdhva danurasana over chair
- urdhva danaurasna
- eka pada urdhva danurasana
- dwi pada viparita dandasana with head down
- padmasana
- dwi pad viparita dandasasana in padmasana over chair
- pasasana atwall
- bharadvajasana at wall
- bhradvajasana II
- ardha matsyendrasana II
- uttanasana
- pascimottanasana
- supported halasana at wall on a bolster
- viparita karani
- savasana
Yay, Devon! Really, it was a great time. My back bends felt great and it was just so fun to be together and sharing the practice. Next time we meet (Sept 9) for the Instructor Practice Sanieh will be teaching Prana Vinyasa.
Okay, well that's the update for today. Notice my class schedule changes next week:
- Tuesdays- 4:30 Castle Hill- level 2/3
- Tuesdays- 6:30 Breath and Body- Int/Adv. (Vinyasa-Based)
- Wednesdays- 9:0 Castle Hill- Focus on Form- all levels
- Wednesdays 6:00- Castle Hill- level 2/3
- Thursdays- 4:30 Castle Hill- Level 2/3
- Thursdays- 6:30- Breath and Body- Int/Adv.(Vinyasa-Based)

subset: commoncrawl


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Hold winter session of Parliament immediately: Congress tells PM Modi, BJP
The Congress-led opposition plans to raise issues like demonetisation, GST, the Kashmir situation, and the Doklam standoff with China.india Updated: Nov 13, 2017 23:33 IST
The Congress demanded on Monday that the BJP-led NDA government immediately convene the winter session of Parliament, asking if it was scared of facing the opposition on issues such as note ban and the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
"Why is the BJP government not convening the winter session of Parliament? We would like to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi if the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) has met. What are its recommendations? And if it has not met, why so?" asked Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari.
He said assembly elections should not become "an excuse" for the government in "running away from facing" Parliament.
The government had considered calling a short session after the second phase of polling in Gujarat ends on December 14.
Tewari further said, "We would like to inform the government that there is a certain timetable to the Parliament. It is structured in a manner whereby the budget, monsoon and winter sessions can happen. What is it that the government is so scared of that it is running away from convening Parliament?" he asked.
The Congress-led opposition plans to raise issues such as the anniversary of demonetisation, how it impacted the economy, the "completely failed" implementation of the GST, the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, and the Doklam standoff with China.


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Challenges are a part of life, but, you can control your reactions to them. You can become a survivor through life's challenges and this video gives you four ways. Learn to create a practice and connect to Source. Remind yourself of the vastness of the simplest of things. With a practice, you can infinite resources available to you.
Gloria Marie
Gloria is a transformation life coach, spiritual teacher, and author. She received her Master in Education from the University of Florida and her life coaching certification from the Universal Coach Institute. Her articles have appeared in Huffington Post and divorcedmoms.com. Gloria brings over 35 years of entrepreneurial experience to her work. She is the proud mother of two grown sons.


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Oh My!….Have you tried this heavenly bread yet? …Put it on your grocery list this week…Best Whole Grain Bread I have ever tasted!
Breakfast Toast with Lemon Infused Goat Cheese & Fig Preserves
1 4 oz. package goat cheese
1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon rind
1 slice Swiss Muesli Whole Grain with Fruit, Nuts & Seeds
1 tablespoon fig preserves
2 large fresh basil leafs; chiffon cut
1 pinch freshly ground pepper
1 combine goat cheese, and lemon rind in small mixing bowl; blend cheese and rind together using the backside of dinner fork
2 toast bread; spread 1-2 tablespoon goat cheese evenly across toasted bread slice; smear 1 tablespoon fig preserves over cheese; top with basil
This recipe is tasty enough to be served as a late afternoon snack or served as an hors d'oeuvres with a glass of your favorite wine!
Last week my daughter Amanda and I each enjoyed a slice as a late afternoon snack during her short visit home form school!
Note ~ will keep refrigerated in airtight container up to seven days


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I asked for snow in the morning (last post), and I got what I wanted that night. When I woke up, and the sun began to rise, these were the scenes around us. Sometimes we get what we want. And sometimes we want what we get. But often neither is true. I wonder about this. I love winter and welcome it with glee equal to what I feel in spring in intensity, but it is a very different feeling. Most people think winter is pretty with a clean covering of snow. But I have found that a rather small portion of the population likes to be in winter, with the cold. Even though my fingers ache as the cold grips them, I can't imagine myself without winter. Maybe my psyche is accustomed to the four seasons, having grown up in Michigan. When we lived in southern California five years, it never felt right to me. I don't want it warm year round! I don't want the lushness all the time of Birds of Paradise and jasmine vine. I want the smell of sunlight refrigerated in earth. I want the low light of the sun. I want frosty air on my face. I want things to stop growing a while. I want this.
she squirms around in the snow
from left to right: barn, corncrib, shed, l'atelier
and the catalpa on the right line the driveway
where Lesley and Brian were married;
corncrib is on the far right, where we store yard tools on one side
firewood on the other, and the Farmall tractor between;
l'atelier just behind
with the lilac bush, blooming white "blossoms"
the beginning of the path to the meadow
sumac on the right
maybe not in the winter; but who knows?
I am experimenting with white balance for the first time;
I thought winter with snow is a good time to start shooting in RAW mode;
you can see different tones in these photos;
this may reflect my lack of expertise, but I have tried
to be true to the different tones of light on this morning;
maybe I should compile a Monet series
of specific scenes in varied times of day and seasons


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More than 100 people joined a march and vigil at just two days notice in New Brighton, The Wirral, last Saturday in response to a racist assault.
Local man Bashi was hit with an iron bar a week ago defending his family against racist abuse.
He said the attack made him consider moving away, but the march and messages of support had changed his mind.
Trade unionists and a local councillor spoke. To loud applause, several speakers said politicians who take away hope with their cuts while stirring up hatred with attacks on multiculturalism should also be in the dock.


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click on the cover art for more
The nightmare begins when JB Tucker, a backwoods country boy, born and raised in the Carolinas, accidentally gets infected with tiny, autonomous alien tech. The freak pairing of the alien medical protocols, and JB's unique human body chemistry result in immediate and far-reaching consequences. The hundreds of millions of sub-molecular robots coursing through JB's bloodstream have evolved well beyond their original design and capabilities. Now he finds himself relentlessly hunted by offworlders intent on both the retrieval of their stolen technology and his utter destruction.
As JB struggles to survive and cope with the ever expanding intelligence and power of the alien tech within him, he is thrust into the center of an intergalactic conflict that he can neither comprehend—nor escape. If he wants to keep on living, he'll need to keep a step ahead of his pursuers, and learn to harness the growing threat inside him.
About the Author:
Steve Zuckerman has had a long career as a music composer, orchestrator, and author. He began his musical career at nineteen, writing and creating the soundtracks for many "Sesame Street" animated shorts. He has also scored films ranging from the uber-campy "Spawn of the Slithis" to the super-sweet "Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore." Additionally, he's created literally hundreds of television commercials and has published numerous short stories and several novels. He and his wife make their home in California, and spend much of their time traveling and visiting family in Arizona and Alaska.
His other series, "The Djinn and Tonnick Murder Mysteries" as well as several anthologies that include his short stories are published by Double Dragon Publishing and are also available on Amazon.


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Lila Downs' Cross-Border Musical Influences
Lila Downs' Cross-Border Musical Influences
From 'La Cantina'
Hear selections from Lila Downs' latest CD.
'La Cumbia del Mole'
'Agua de Rosas'
'Penas del Alma'
One day while she was working in her mother's shop in Oaxaca, Mexico, a man came in and asked Lila Downs to translate his son's death certificate. Downs, who is bilingual, read the document, which said the young man had drowned while trying to cross the border into the United States.
"It just made such an impression on me that I started to write songs about these stories," Downs tells Steve Inskeep.
Downs turns bitter experience into music full of life.
Her new CD, La Cantina, features such stories, including "El corrido de Tacha 'La Teibolera,'" a song about a teenage girl who escapes from a forced marriage, only to work as a table dancer.
Downs is the daughter of a Mexican-Indian mother and an American cinematographer/biologist from Minnesota. She grew up listening to American jazz greats, including Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn, and learned to perform jazz alongside her own songs in crowded American bars.
"I like to believe that I feel my music profoundly," Downs says. "And you know, I think it's interesting that jazz has taught me to feel the music in a more spiritual way. And then I came back and did my Mexican songs in a different way as well. So they both have been... feeding one another."


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Internet Strategies
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We develop internet strategies based on business objectives; technologies are selected because of the value they represent. The design of website content and the selection of social media channels is product dependent. We work with your team to identify communication objectives and the best way to integrate these through a selection of digital and traditional channels that reach stakeholders at different phases of the buy-cycle.
Once a strategy has been determined, Abinsi can assist with managing your ongoing promotional campaigns by developing core messages, designing graphics, modifying website content, managing social media channels, and tracking performance. Use our expertise to launch a proactive internet campaign that is strategic to increasing your revenue.


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Adventures of Chuck and Larry
October 31, 2007
It's been a while since I've read Gilbert Arenas' blog, and found this a little ways down the page. It's probably one of my favourite postings of his. Imagine you were in the league, how would you not want to play on this guy's team?
Check it out!!
I have a little problem. His name is Nick Young and he has a sidekick named Dominic McGuire. Our two little rookies. There's always a rookie who comes in and challenges for the goofball of the year. Well Nick's already won that. By far. This is one of the funniest kids I've ever met. The problem isn't that he's funny, but that he challenges me in pranks. For the past week, he's been getting a taste of what I'm about. I made him bring me some McDonald's, I wanted a chicken sandwich at like 12 o'clock at night when we were in Philly. I actually didn't want the sandwich, I just wanted him out of his room. I went into his hotel room and messed with all his stuff.
Then before that during the Philadelphia game I took the keys from his car and shipped them back to Washington D.C. so my friend could take his car. We're going to paint it pink and it's going to say "I Love Dominic" on it. You know, his little sidekick.
We've been going back and forth, but for some reason he doesn't get it. He likes to play. On Thursday we had an off day and he went in my locker and took my iPod and a pair of my shoes. So I went over his place and I gave him one chance and one chance only to give me back my iPod and shoes and he didn't act fast enough so I got him good. Him and Dominic. Both. So they start threatening me like, "You'll see what happens, you'll see what happens. We're going to the store right now."
They went to the store and got paint ball guns. They got the paint ball guns, the masks, the gear, everything.
So I was sitting in my house playing Halo and I'm looking at my surveillance camera and I see Dominic and Nick creep up to my property all decked out. They parked across the street and they're running towards my house wearing masks and helmets. They came around the side of the house, jumped the wall, and came in through the garage. But by the time they did all that, I already was out of the house and jumped the other wall. They were in the house looking for me and I was across the street flattening their tires so when they decided to leave they'd be on flats. They looked around the house and couldn't find me so they came outside and saw me across the street flattening their tires. I called my friend and had him come pick me up and take me back to the house.
When they left the house, they stole my daddy's toaster! I like making toast! So I told them, Since you don't want to give my toaster back, it's war. He wanted his stuff back, I wanted my stuff back so I told them that we were going to have a paintball shootout.
We all went to the store like Sports Authority and bought all these paintball guns, like eight or nine new ones (because I already had three), then we bought the CO2 cartridges and like 12,000 paintballs and I even bought a couple paintball grenades.
We tried to make the teams fair.
It was Nick and Dominic and then Nick recruited last year's rookie, Andray Blatche. I thought Andray had enough of the pranks, but I guess he didn't. Andray brought his two friends, to make it five on their team.
My team was me, my friend John and three guys who were at my house hooking up stereo equipment.
So we finished buying everything and were in the store parking lot and Nick was mad that I had all the CO2 so he started to take some of mine. I was like, "Put the CO2 down or I'm going to shoot you with the paintball gun." But then he realizes I'm really going to shoot him with the paintball gun, and he puts it back. "You see what happens when you follow directions" But as I'm closing the trunk with the CO2 in it, he takes some and tries to jump in Dominic's car. I said, "Dominic, do not close that door." Nick is screaming, "Close the door Dominic! Close the door!" So Dominic left the door open. I go to Nick, "You have three seconds to put the CO2 back. One! Two!" He started to scramble to put it back and I got him anyway. I got him like six times. So he's laying in the car all mad saying, "I don't want to play no more."
So the war is still on.
I tell them that the shootout is planned for 12 o'clock midnight in my backyard because it's pure black back there. You can't see nothing. So I tell them, "12 o'clock, be in my backyard and we're going at it five on five."
We're putting all our stuff together at my place and they're putting their stuff together at their place but they are having trouble with it so I have my boy John and my other teammate Adam to go over to their place and have them help them fix their guns. And when John and Adam showed up at their place they tried to ambush them, thinking that I was going to come too. But I wasn't. So John and Adam had to run out of there.
So it's like 11:10 at night and all you here are paintball hitting the windows. POOM. POOM. POOM. POOM. POOM. They were already in the backyard. They showed up an hour early.
So we hurried up and put on all of our gear and snuck outside through some of the vents in the house.
And then we had a nice, good old paintball shootout in the dark.
They ran out of CO2 pretty quick because my team had most of it so one of Andray's friends yells, "Aww, it's not fair!" and they started to bail and jumped back over the wall. But one the kids was a little too heavy. His name is Jamar. That's 'Dray's cousin. Jamar couldn't get over the wall because Jamar has been eating one too many Twinkies.
So Jamar got stuck in my yard with the five of us. We gave him the chance to walk out like a man, or cry like a girl. He did both. He cried like a little girl while he was walking and running while we were shooting paintballs at him. I told him, "Hey, come in the lion's den, you're bound to get hit."
They said that he got hit so many times that he had trouble putting his clothes on the next day.
We played for about an hour and a half. I haven't had that much fun in a long time. What people don't realize is that when you're in the NBA, you lose stuff like that. You're not in there with kids, you're in there with grown men that have families. By having these young kids on the team, it's fun for me because I get to have that childhood that I lost. I lost it when I came into the NBA when I got picked No. 31 because I was so determined to be the best that I didn't get to actually have fun having fun, if that makes sense.
That's the moral of the story: I had fun.
Reasons to Love Gilbert Arenas
July 28, 2007
I'm sure you're all aware of Agent Zero's newest activity to pass time. He is attempting to knock down 100,000 shots in 73 days. If you think about it, that's over 3 months of shooting and over 1300 shots per day. That's a lot for the average Joe like myself. I probably could throw up 100 shots, make 30 of them, and then go take a two hour nap. But then again, we are talking about one of the best players in the NBA. This guy is brilliant. Why I think GA's challenge is amazing, is because it shows this guy truly loves the game. Sure, he makes a lot of money. When your that good, you're going to make a lot of money. But it's the off season right now, and he is showing that he loves the game of basketball. You don't see other stars doing something of this sort for "fun". This is fun for GA. Besides that, if you have ever read his blog, the guy tells it like it is. He's not like most NBA stars that is careful what he says and holds a lot of stuff back. He will tell everyone who takes the time to read, everything that is on his mind. And at the end of the day, who doesn't love watching this guy play? He's brilliant!


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At 23 I joined Canada's diplomatic service, and spent most of the next dozen years living and working at embassies and consulates abroad. Foreign service officers are dime-a-dozen in Ottawa and Washington DC, but people in most other parts of North America are unlikely to meet one. It's one of those jobs that you know exists, but how you would get that job and what the job actually entails is a bit of a mystery to most people.
At my desk at External Affairs HQ, 1990
My former career often sparks curiosity when people find it out for the first time (usually from reading my biography online or from what others have said about me, I rarely mention it to new acquaintances unless there's a reason for doing so). I've been asked many times, "So I hear you were a diplomat. What was that like?" Which is not an easy question to answer in a sentence or two. After all, could anyone sum up a dozen years of life experience in a sentence or two? So I usually reply with something along the lines of, "It was a great gig, lots of travel", and I might list the places where I served (in order, Belgrade, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Seattle, and Vienna). I'm then often asked which city was my favourite (answer = I loved them all for different reasons), followed by the kicker, "So why'd you quit?" The answer to which is quite simple: by my mid-thirties I'd reached a decision point – was I going to be a lifer in the foreign service, or was I going to go get that PhD I'd always wanted?
Obviously I chose the academic path, and have not regretted leaving the foreign service. Sure I miss the excitement of living in a foreign city, where the simple act of walking down the street becomes an act of exploration. I miss the friends I made, both fellow foreign service officers and people I met along the way. I've never been closer to anybody else, apart from immediate family. Whenever we see one another, even after intervals of many years, we quickly fall into an old and happy familiarity. I don't miss the day-to-day work. I know most people think diplomats spend a lot of time at cocktail parties, receptions, and dinner parties – and it's true, I attended a great many of these – the nine-to-five work in an embassy or consulate is a lot like the work being done every day in government offices back home in Canada. So even though life in Waterloo is not as glamorous or intoxicating as Hong Kong or Vienna, and even though my most recent trips to London and Paris have been to the ones in southwestern Ontario, my new gig as a geography professor has a lot going for it, too.
Interactions with students are among the best aspects of being a professor, and I regularly get questions from students who want to pursue their own careers overseas. I'm always happy to help. I never had any guidance when I was their age. It was by chance that I came across a poster in the UWO student centre advertising an information session the following day for students interested in writing the foreign service exam. I attended on a whim, not knowing what the foreign service was, much less that there was an exam for it. I still wonder what my life would have been like had I not spotted that poster.
I recently re-read the great Austrian writer Stefan Zweig's memoir, in which he encourages everyone to write an autobiography, even if it will only ever be read by friends and family. I don't plan to go so far as to write an autobiography, but I'm now long enough removed from my old life in the foreign service, and I still receive enough curious questions about it, that I've decided to create a blog with some reflections on that period in my life. It will not be a thorough account and, apart from the first few postings, it won't be chronological either. I'll answer the questions I'm most frequently asked and offer a few descriptions of interesting places or events that happened along the way, in whatever order they happen to occur to me (hopefully the more interesting ones will occur first).
If you're looking for insider accounts of important moments in world history between 1990-2002 (of which there were many), don't look for them in my blog. I was a working-level foreign service officer who rose only as far as a First Secretary before leaving to do a PhD. Had I stuck around another fifteen or twenty years, I might have made it to becoming a consul general or an ambassador at a small embassy (the big ones go to political appointees); but then again, maybe I wouldn't have. Expecting me to provide insights about the preparations to hand Hong Kong over from the UK to China or about how the Kosovo conflict was brought to a halt would be like asking the foreman on the shop floor at a GM plant how the company came to need a government bailout eight years ago; I was there at the time, but I wasn't anywhere near the people making decisions. That said, I will offer some reflections on life in Hong Kong in the last days of British rule and my recollections of entering NATO-occupied Kosovo, among other things. The sorts of stories any career foreign service might tell if they can be persuaded to reminisce.
I've called the blog "A Garden Variety Diplomat" in recognition of my unremarkable legacy as a foreign service officer, and you can find it by clicking here. There's a few postings already up there; for the time being I'll leave them all on the splash page until I've enough to warrant a better design. If you find it at all interesting, please leave a comment. If nothing else, it might help put you to sleep on a night when you're not feeling especially drowsy.


text: From the Navy Regional Welcome Center/ Lincoln Military Housing Regional Office to the Lincoln Military Housing Willoughby Bay District Office: From 14th Street, take a right on Leutze Boulevard. Take a right on Hampton Boulevard. Take a left on Terminal Boulevard. Merge onto 1-64 W Hampton Roads Belt toward Hampton/Richmond. Take the 4th View Street Exit 273 toward Ocean View. Turn left onto US-60/4th View Street. Follow around to entrance on O'Conner Crescent. Turn right onto O'Conner Crescent at the Willoughby Bay entrance sign. Follow O'Conner Crescent around to the bayside of community. End at 8180 O'Conner Crescent.Print Directions View on Google Maps


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2 Peter 1: 5-8
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This verse seems pertinent, not just to me but to all Christians. We all are works in progress, and will be until the day we die, but there is nothing wrong with expanding our knowledge of Christ, that we may better glorify Him.
For me personally, this is a verse that reminds me that I must not simply wait for Gods knowledge to come to me, but to actively seek it out, and through it glorify His name and work more and more with each increase in knowledge.
I have felt as though i have had a blessed day today, and I have felt God move through me. I hope to add all of these above things to my faith, that I may become a better Christian as a result.
"Come as you are, but don't stay as you are".
Have a blessed day.


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AND8076/D A 70 W Low Standby Power Supply with the NCP120x Series Prepared by: Christophe Basso ON Semiconductor http://onsemi.com APPLICATION NOTE INTRODUCTION The NCP1200 represents one of the cheapest solutions to build efficient and cost-effective Switch-Mode Power Supplies (SMPS). As this design example will show, the part definition does not confine the component in low-power applications only, but it can actually be used in Flyback and Forward supplies for virtually any output power. The below example depicts a universal mains 90-260 VAC power supply delivering 16.5 V @ 4.5 A. Beside its ease of implementation, the NCP1200 excels in true low standby power designs. This application note details how an amazing standby power of less than 100 mW can be reached at high line with a nominal 70 W board. this level. Thanks to the natural secondary / auxiliary reflection, the primary auxiliary winding cannot maintain a sufficient voltage on the control IC: Vcc collapses and puts the controller in trouble, probably entering an hiccup mode, similar to that of a startup sequence. DSS being decoupled from Vout, you never see that phenomenon. As you can see, the DSS offers interesting features but, on the other hand, it can sometimes compromise key design parameters. Standby power and power dissipation are one of these: • Standby power: the DSS standby power contribution can easily be evaluated: VHV × Iavg with Iavg, the current consumption taken by the controller and VHV, the high-voltage supply rail. If Iavg equals 1 mA, then we have a standby power of 350 mW at a 350 VDC voltage rail. Tricks exist to slightly reduce it, like the half-wave diode, but you will only gain between 20–30%. • Power dissipation: as stated above, all the current consumed by the IC is seen through pin8. This is due to the self-adaptive feature of the DSS. Should the IC current move up or down, the DSS duty-cycle will automatically adjust to deliver it. The controller current depends on the internal IC consumption, but also on the type of MOSFET connected to the output. It therefore important to assess the total current drawn from the HV rail and checks the right compatibility with the package type. All details are given in the NCP1200 dedicated data sheet and the application note AND8023/D. As a result, the answer lies behind your design constraints. If you would like to have a precise Over Current Protection (OCP) trip point while driving a moderate size MOSFET, DSS can be a good choice, provided low standby power is not an absolute necessity. In our case, we want to drive a large MOSFET for a better efficiency but we need to reach the lowest possible standby power. We will thus adopt an auxiliary winding configuration to permanently disable the DSS. Solutions to various combinations of these constraints are described in the application note "Tips and Tricks for the NCP1200," document number AND8069/D. DSS or Not DSS? The Dynamic Self Supply (DSS) lets you directly drive MOSFETs from the high-voltage rail. This option brings you several advantages, as stated below: • True overload detection: with UC384X-based systems, the switching oscillations are stopped in case the Vcc line drops below a given Undervoltage Lockout level (UVLO). This principle considers a good coupling between the primary auxiliary winding and the power secondary winding. Unfortunately, leakage elements often degrade this coupling and you only can detect true short-circuit (when Vout is close to zero) and not overload conditions. Thanks to the DSS, the NCP1200 does not need an auxiliary information to sense an overload condition. By detecting a current setpoint pushed to the maximum, the internal logic takes the decision to enter into a safe burst operation, auto-recovering when the default leaves. Precise overload levels can thus be implemented. • Guaranteed operation at low output levels: the Vcc delivered by an auxiliary winding moves with the power output level because a coupling exists between both windings. When the supply is used in battery charging applications, Vout can move depending on the charging state. That is to say, when the battery is nearly empty, its voltage can be close to zero, forcing Vout at Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC, 2003 April, 2003 - Rev. 2 1 Publication Order Number: AND8076/D AND8076/D Self-Powering the Controller in Standby An auxiliary winding does not usually cause any self-supply problem with a continuous pulses flow. In standby, whatever implemented frequency reduction techniques (e.g. skip or frequency foldback), the recurrence between pulses can become very low. By definition, the feedback loop manages to keep the energy content in each burst high enough to maintain the nominal output voltage. However, on the auxiliary side, it can be difficult to keep the Vcc above the controller's UVLO. Remember, to permanently disable the DSS, you need to guarantee a level above VccON max. which is 11 V for the NCP1200. Failure to do this will re-activate the DSS in no-load conditions and standby power will be degraded. Figure 1 offers a view of a typical bunch of pulses captured in standby at a 127 VDC input voltage. auxiliary output gets clamped by a 15V Zener diode in nominal operation. Figure 2 shows the option. We measured a Vcc of 11.5 V @ 230 VAC and 12.2 V @ 90 VAC. Rlimit on Figure 2 can easily be adjusted to move these values up or down, depending on the final winding ratios. Care must be taken to avoid over-dissipation of the 15 V Zener diode in nominal conditions. Power Supply, Element-by-Element Design Let's first detail the specs of our power supply: Vin: 90–265 VAC Vout: 16.8 V @ 4.2 A (Pout = 70 W) Short-circuit protection Over-voltage protection Efficiency > 80% Pin = 70 / 0.8 = 87.5 The below sequence details step-by-step the calculation procedure for every component of the power supply. DC High-Voltage Rail 33 ms From these above numbers, we can deduce the level of the high-voltage rail, neglecting the dual Vf drop: VHV max 265 2 374 VDC VHV min 90 2 127 VDC Vripple Vinpeak 200 µs VHVavg Figure 1. A Bunch of Auxiliary Pulses Captured While the Supply Operates at No-Load (Vin = 127 VDC) 1 2 10 ms 8 NCP1200 7 3 6 4 5 Rlimit 3 CVcc 1N4148 1 2 15 V Caux Laux Figure 3. A Typical Ripple Voltage Over the Bulk Capacitor Figure 2. The Auxiliary Is Clamped to Avoid Exceeding the 16 V Maximum Rating Bulk Capacitor Figure 3 portrays the typical waveform captured across a bulk capacitor delivering power to a given charge. To simplify the calculation, we will neglect the charging period and thus consider a total discharge time equal to 1/(2 ⋅ Fline). From the design characteristics, we can evaluate the equivalent current (Iload) drawn by the charge at the lowest input line condition. Let's us adopt a 40% ripple level, or a 50 V drop from the corresponding Vinpeak. To evaluate the equivalent load current (which discharges Cbulk between As we previously stated, we want to deliver 70 W with a 16.5 V output level. The maximum rating for the NCP1200 states a level less than 16 V. As a result, the auxiliary Vcc shall be less than 16V but also above VccON in any conditions to ensure full DSS de-activation. A solution consists in artificially raising the ratio between the power winding and the auxiliary one to ensure adequate supply at no-load. We successfully tested a 0.9 ratio, where the http://onsemi.com 2 AND8076/D the peaks), we divide the input power by the average rectified voltage: Iload 1 tc 4 Fline (1) Pout Pin Vripple Vrectavg Vpeak (3) 360 Fline During these 3 ms, Vbulk is the seat of a rising voltage equal to Vripple or 50 Vpp. This corresponds to a brought charge Q of: 860 mA DC @ 90 VAC input voltage Thanks to Figure 3 information, we can evaluate the capacitor value which allows the drop from Vpeak down to Vavg - (Vripple/2) to stay within our 50 V target, dV ⋅ C = iload ⋅ dt: Qbulk Vripple Cbulk 9 mC Vripple 2 (4) From Figure 4, we can calculate the amount of charge Q drawn from the input by integrating the input current over the diode conduction time: (2) Pout 2 Fline Vripple Vpeak Vmin VACin2 3 ms @ Vin 90 VAC 2 Cbulk sin - 1 idiode(t).dt tc Qin 171 F or 180 F for a normalized value (5) 0 (Fline = 50 Hz worse case). The expression of idiode(t) is: Diode Bridge Selection Ipeak tc t tc To select the right rectifiers, it is necessary to know the RMS current flowing through its internal diodes. Prior to reach this final result, we need to evaluate the diode conduction time. From Figure 4, we can see that the diode starts to conduct when VACin reaches Vmin and stops when reaching Vinpeak: After proper integration, it comes: Qin 1 Ipeak tc 2 If we now equate Qbulk and Qin and solve for Ipeak, it comes: Ipeak tc Vinpeak Vmin (6) Qbulk 2 tc (7) or 6 A peak. We can now evaluate the RMS current flowing through the diodes: Vbulk Irms Fline Ipeak (idiode(t))2 dt tc (8) 0 tc3 2 Fline 1.9 A @ VAC 90 300 mA Idiode We selected a KBU4J diode bridge (600 V/4 A) for the rectifying function. A small resistor, or best an NTC, can however be put in series to limit the surge current (when you plug the SMPS in the AC outlet) to less than the diode maximum peak current (Ifsm) or what the standard imposes you. Thanks to these numbers, we compute the apparent power at low line: 1.9 A × 90 V = 170 VA which compared to our 87.5 Watts of active power (neglecting the input diode bridge and Cbulk losses) gives a power factor of: VAC in X-2 ms/div Figure 4. When VACin Reaches Vpeak, the Diode Stops Conducting From a mathematical point of view, we can calculate the time VACin takes to reach Vmin, with Vmin = Vpeak Vripple: VACin sin( t) Vmin PF W 0.51 V.A Since Vpeak is reached at the input sinusoid top (or one fourth of the input period), then the diode conducting time tc is simply: (9) conform to what we could expect from this kind of offline power supply. http://onsemi.com 3 AND8076/D Transformer Calculation Transformer calculation can be done in several manners: a) you evaluate ALL the transformer parameters, electrical but also physical ones, including wire type, bobbin stack-up etc. b) you only evaluate the electrical data and leave the rest of the process to a transformer manufacturer. We will adhere to the latest option by providing you with a list of potential transformer manufacturers you can use for prototyping and manufacturing. However, as you will discover, designing a transformer for SMPS is an iterative process: once you freeze some numbers, it is likely that they finally appear either over or under estimated. As a result, you re-start with new values and see if they finally fit your needs. To help you speed-up the transformer design, a design-aid spreadsheet is available from the ON Semiconductor web site, www.onsemi.com/pub/NCP1200. Let's start the process with the turn ratio calculation. conduction power is evaluating using the following formula: Rather than manually calculating these numbers, we will see later on how a Spice simulator can do the job for us. Primary Inductance and Peak Current For AC/DC adapters delivering this amount of power in a small place, it is of common practice to make the power supply enter CCM in the middle of the total AC range (around 180 VAC in our case). When the input AC voltage diminishes, the on-time increases and the primary / secondary RMS current go up. This implies a greater heatsink for the MOSFET but also larger aluminum cans for the secondary filters. For this reason, a transition from Discontinuous Conduction Mode (DCM) to CCM will be envisaged here. Figure 5 depicts these different modes. Different methods exist to find the point transition takes place (also called the critical or borderline point). The idea consists in finding the critical inductance Lc that will make the supply enter CCM at 180 VAC. From Figure 5, we can write: Turn Ratio and Output Diode Selection The primary/secondary turn ratio affects several parameters: • The drain plateau voltage during the OFF time: the lowest plateau gives room for the leakage inductance spike before reaching the MOSFET's BVdss: (10) Np Vplateau (Vout Vf) VinDC max Ns • The secondary Peak Inverse Voltage (PIV) is linked to ton Lp Ip VinDC (14) toff Lp Ip N (Vout Vf) (15) the turn ratio and the regulated output voltage by: PIV Ns VinDC max Vout Np (11) CCM If you lower the plateau voltage, you will increase the reverse voltage the secondary diode must sustain. With these numbers in mind, you can tweak the turn ratio according to the MOSFET BVdss and the diode maximum reverse voltage. A Schottky diode represents a good choice, especially with a power supply that can possibly enter Continuous Conduction Mode (CCM). The lack of reverse recovery loss and a low forward drop play in favor of this component. However, because of the metal-silicon junction, moderate breakdown voltages are available for a moderate cost. The MBR20100 represents an interesting choice since it welcomes two 100 V Schottky in a TO-220 package. Being in thermal contact, a parallel wiring is possible. The 100 V VRRM lets us calculate the minimum turn ratio we can go down to, keeping an acceptable safety margin: N PIV Vout VinDC max (13) Pdiodeavg Vf Idavg Rd Idrms2 L > Lc IL IP Not 0 at turn ON L = Lc ON L > Lc 0 DCM OFF IL(avg) 0 before turn ON BCM D/Fs 0 Dead-time time (12) Figure 5. Depending on the Primary Current at Turn- On, the Supply Crosses Various Operating Modes → Np:Ns ≤ 1:0.221. A final ratio of 1:0.166 offers an adequate safety margin (Vreverse = 80 V max). The diode's http://onsemi.com 4 AND8076/D 4.50 3.50 2.50 1.50 500M DRV 2 Vramp R D Radd1 CS 1 C 3 14.0 10.0 Rsense 6.00 2.00 Radd2 -2.00 150 10.0U Figure 6. A Very Simple Way to Generate a Ramp from a Square Wave Signal 2Lp Pout FSW (16) 90.0U Ramp Compensation With a supply entering CCM together with a duty-cycle greater than 50%, we need to inject ramp compensation into the controller to prevent subharmonic oscillations. An easy way to generate a ramp, is to take the driving signal available from pin5 and integrate it through a RC network. Figure 6 shows how to wire the components and Figure 7 shows the signal obtain with a 18 kΩ / 1 nF RC time constant. To calculate the necessary amount of ramp m, several methods exist. We will stick to the standard one which consists in injecting between 50 and 75% of the off-time downslope. The calculation is as follow: Primary off-slope: (Vout2 2 Vout Vf Vf2) (eff N2 Vin2) (17) [Pout [(N Vout N Vf Vin)2 FSW]] 2 The numerical application gives a 484 µH inductance with a peak current of 2.36 A. The NCP1200 incorporates a skip-cycle feature that forces the controller to slice the switching pattern when the power supply drives light loads. Depending on the system time constants, the recurrence of the burst can enter the audible frequency range. Since the default skip-cycle takes place at one third of maximum peak current, it is better to avoid working at high peak current in normal operation. Should noise still appear in skip mode, pin1 lets you select a different lower skip level (unfortunately to the detriment of the standby power) generating less mechanical noise. As a result, we slightly increased the primary inductance to 700 µH to further limit the noise in standby operation. N (Vout Vf) 153 mAs Lp D (20) Vout 45% @ Vin 120 VDC N Vin Vout From Figure 6 network, the maximum voltage is given by R and Radd1 + Radd2. With a 11 V driving voltage delivered by the NCP1200, we recommend a 18 kΩ for R and 1 nF for C. These values offer an acceptable tradeoff in terms of power consumption but also in terms of noise immunity. The The MOSFET drain voltage sees, in normal operation, a maximum voltage of: Lleak Clump (19) Once reflected over Rsense, it becomes: 50.5 mV / µs (S') Duty-cycle in CCM: MOSFET Selection VinDC max (Vout Vf) N Ip 70.0U The first term represents the maximum rectified DC voltage and goes up to 375 V. The reflected voltage pushes further up by 101 V. Summing up these levels gives a total steady-state drain voltage of 476 V. The last term in equation 18 depicts the leakage inductance action which further stresses the MOSFET at the opening. If we select a 600 V device, it leaves more than 100 V for this leakage action. A clamping network will stop its rise anyway. A 2SK2843 from Toshiba can be a good choice. This is a TO-220 600 V 10 A component which features a 1.2 Ω RDS(ON) @ Tj = 100°C. Ip = primary peak current N = Np / Ns = 1/0.166 = 6 Pout = output power η = efficiency Lp = primary inductance Fsw = switching frequency Vf = secondary diode forward drop VinDC ≈ Vac ⋅ 2 (neglecting ripple) Combining equations 14, 15 and 16 we obtain an Lp value to be in BCM at 180 VAC input voltage: Lp 50.0U Figure 7. Simulations Show a Capacitor Voltage Ramping Up from a Few Hundred of mV Up to Nearly 5 V From the Flyback formula, we obtain: Ip 30.0U (18) http://onsemi.com 5 AND8076/D Component Constraints In this section, we will see how Spice can help us to precisely determine all the component constraints and thus calculate the necessary amount of heatsink they need. The simulation schematic we adopted is given on Figure 8 and shows the NCP1200 wired as recommended in the data sheet. Please note that the simulation fixture has been simplified to allow faster simulation time. For instance, the TL431 and its network usually hamper the simulation time to find out the right operating point. A Zener diode and a resistor help finding it in a much quicker way. Vcc Vdrv 1 e 5 V (21) 1 with t = 0.45 × 1/61 k. This provides an available ramp level of 677 mV/µs (S). By setting Radd2 to 1 kΩ, Radd1 can be computed using the following formula: Radd1 1 k S 22.5 k S m for m = 60%. Final tweak gives an 18kΩ resistor for Radd1. X1 XFMR RATIO = -0.166 hv + R3 200 m 7 4 Iout Vsec X6 L1 MBR20100 100 µH 15 R10 10 m 31 + corresponding time constant of 18µs gives a ramp maximum peak voltage of: Vout Vout 17 1 Iprim ∆ Vclamp Istartup Isec C3 100 nF Iripple1 12 Rload 3.7 Iripple2 32 C1 3.3 mF IC = 16.5 Lleak 12 µH D4 MUR160 Resr2 300 m 9 d 24 + + Vinput 120 R2 4.7 k Resr1 11 m Lp 700 µH C2 220 µF IC = 16.5 Vdrain Iclp 1 Vadj 2 21 Idrain 8 NCP1200 10 7 3 6 4 5 NCP1200 Fs = 65 k 8 Rg Vcc drv 10 5 R15 1.0 k + 19 X5 SFH610A 20 Drv 14 R8 1.0 k R5 100 m R10 18 k D1 1N4148 18 D3 1N963 Vsense R9 18 k 16 Cvcc 47 µF IC = 14 23 C6 1.0 nF Rsense 0.33 VFB Figure 8. The Simplified Simulation Schematic Helps to Determine All the Component Key Parameters http://onsemi.com 6 AND8076/D 1 Idrain 2 Iprim 3 Iripple1 4 VCLAMP RMS = 1.10 amps between 2.05 M and 2.06 M secs 3.00 2.00 1.00 1 0 -1.00 RMS = 1.53 amps between 2.05 M and 2.06 M secs 2.40 2 2.00 1.60 1.20 800 M RMS = 4.65 amps between 2.04 M and 2.05 M secs 10.00 6.00 3 2.00 -2.00 -6.00 y (mean) = 152 volts x (first) = 2.00 M secs 156 154 4 152 150 148 2.01 M 2.03 M 2.05 M 2.07 M 2.09 M Figure 9. Complete Simulation Results of the 70 W Converter Operated at 120 VDC Input Voltage Important results appear in Figure 9. Please note that the maximum RMS current occur at the lowest line where the duty-cycle is pushed to the limit. As you can see, the ramp compensation works fine and no subharmonic oscillations can be noted. Once everything is extracted, below are summarized the most important design constraints: Lower Rθheatsink- air resistances can of course be selected to run the device cooler. Diode The MBR20100 welcomes two diodes that share nearly equal current thanks to their equal forward drops. The total forward drop dissipation will remain the same but the RMS losses sensitive to the dynamic resistance will divide by two: IRMS total = 6.8 A IAVG total = Iout = 4.2 A Rd @ 3.4 Arms = 27 mΩ Vf @ 2.2 Aavg = 0.7 V Pcond for one diode = 3.42 × 0.027 + 2.2 × 0.7 = 1.85 W or 3.7 W for the whole TO-220 package. Simulations gives a bit less to 3.4 W. Heat calculations (Tj < 100°C and 50°C ambient) recommend a heatsink of 8°C/W for the MBR20100. As stated before, lower Rθheatsink- air resistances can of course be selected to run the device cooler. MOSFET Rdson @ 100°C = 1.2 ohms RthetaJC = 2.8°C/W Pcond = 1.2 * 1.12 = 1.5 W The conduction losses are the strongest at low line. The total simulated losses, including switching events are evaluated to be around 2.6 W. Further breadboard measurements confirmed this number. If we want to keep the junction temperature around 100°C at an ambient of 50°C, then we shall add a proper heatsink according to the following calculation: Rheatsink- air (Tj max Tamb max) P Capacitors Icapacitor RMS = 5 A The paralleling of capacitors will help achieve the right ripple current shared between all the devices. We selected three 2.2 mF capacitors capable of handling 1.7 Arms each. RJunction- Case RCase- Heatsink 15°CW http://onsemi.com 7 AND8076/D Transformer network analyzer and confirms the validity of our approach (Vin = 240 VAC). Stability has been checked at various line/loads combinations and gave good results. Final transient step did not reveal any overshoot or unwanted oscillations. Below are the key parameters you will pass to your transformer manufacturer to help him select the right winding size and tailor the internal gap: Maximum peak primary current, including 160 ns propagation delay: 1 / 0.33 + 374 × 160 n / 700 µ = 3.2 A Maximum primary RMS current at low line: 1.6 A Maximum secondary RMS current: 6.9 A Primary inductance: 700 µH Turn-ratio, power section: Np:Ns = 1:0.166 Turn-ratio, auxiliary section: Np:Naux = 1:0.15 The Adapter Schematic The final schematic implements a current-mode Flyback architecture, driving a 600 V MOSFET. The 2SK2545 features a 10 A capability but a 6.0 A/600 V can also be mounted, such as the FQP6N60 from Fairchild but to the expense of increased conduction losses. Figure 13 offers a complete view of the electrical sketch. The board can actually be used with either auxiliary or without auxiliary winding. By removing the resistance R4, you reactivate the DSS on a NCP120X controller featuring this ability. The board can therefore accept the following controllers: NCP1200, featuring DSS. NCP1200A, featuring DSS. NCP1203, auxiliary winding only. NCP1216, featuring DSS and internal ramp compensation. Improved EMI jittering with DSS. NCP1217, auxiliary winding only, internal ramp compensation. On NCP1216 and 1217, the internal ramp compensation avoids using the external circuitry made of R1-R7-D4 and C10. If one of these two parts are plugged in the demoboard, you must disable this network by simply disconnecting R1 and growing R6 up to 2.7 kΩ (for a 65 kHz operation). The NCP120X takes place with two other bipolars that implement a discrete SCR, activated in presence of an OVP, e.g. an optocoupler failure. D5 senses the overvoltage condition and can easily be adjusted to fit any other levels. Thanks to R10, the OVP permanently latches-off the supply and the user shall cycle VCC off and on again to restart the supply. Shutdown is obtained by pulling the feedback pin down through D6. The clamp resistor is split in two different components to avoid an excessive heat burden on one single device. Both main MOSFET and secondary diode are mounted on an adequate heatsink to evacuate the heat. To ease the designer task, or simply help evaluating the board performance faster, we have experimented different transformers, available through Appendix B manufacturers. Please note that some include the auxiliary winding for DSS deactivation whereas other only offer a dual winding arrangement where the DSS no longer activates and offers the best standby power. All details are given in appendix B. The final demoboard will not accommodate with all these transformers simply because multiple footprints was not possible. They however have all been tested okay. Measurements were taken with the Coilcraft transformer. As a final note, the actual demoboard delivers 19 VDC/70 W versus the original design-based 16.5 V. As a result, figure 1b circuit has been replaced by L3-R13 and C12 to improve the short-circuit protection when using an auxiliary winding. Output voltage can be adjusted by changing the feedback network made of R12/R20/R21. Clamping Network The clamping network can be calculated using the following formulae: (22) Rclamp 2 Vclamp (Vclamp (Vout Vf sec) N) Lleak Ip2 FSW Cclamp Vclamp Vripple FSW Rclamp (23) The power dissipated by Rclamp can also be expressed by: PRclamp 1 Lleak Ip2 FSW 2 Vclamp (VoutVf sec)N Vclamp (VoutVf sec)N (24) 1 with: Vclamp: the desired clamping level; Ip: the maximum peak current (e.g. during overload); Vout + Vf: the regulated output voltage level + the secondary diode voltage drop; Lleak: the primary leakage inductance; N: the Ns:Np conversion ratio; Fsw: the switching frequency; Vripple: the clamping ripple, could be around 20 V. With a measured leakage inductance of 12 µH and a final clamping level of 150 V, Rclamp is found to be 4.7 kΩ/6 W and Cclamp 100 nF. The RMS current flowing through Cclamp is 220 mA. RC networks are economical clamping devices and care must be taken to not exceed the MOSFET BVdss in the most stringent conditions, e.g. a cold startup sequence at high line. Worse case arises when Ip is maximum and Vout reaches the target. Stability Analysis The stability analysis can be investigated using different approaches. Spice has proven to be rather accurate for feedback loop analysis with SMPS. We will use the NCP1200 average model which is available to download from our web site (www.onsemi.com/pub/ncp1200). Figure 10 shows the simulation template where the feedback network on the TL431 has been simplified to a simple 100nF capacitor. Thanks to average modeling, the simulation time is kept short and results are delivered in a snap-shot, as testified by Figure 11. Figure 12 unveils the results obtained using a http://onsemi.com 8 AND8076/D CTRL 2.93 340 Vin 1 + Vin 350 OUT 11 4 17.5 Resr1 30 m + Rload 4.2 16.8 9 C1 5.8 mF C2 100 µF out2 R15 1.0 k X3 SFH610A 2.93 16.8 7 out1 Vout R17 300 m 16.9 X1 NCP1200_Av FS = 61 k L = 700 µ MC = 39605 RI = 0.33 0 14 out2 16.8 16.9 12 LoL 1.0 kH CoL 1.0 kF VStim AC = 1 2 FB GND Rs 10 m + NCP1200 averaged IN Iout D1 X1x MBR20100CT out1 L1 XFMR 10 µH 16.9 105 RATIO = 0.166 16.1 15 5 R5 4.7 k 15.4 Rupp 39 k C1 100 nF 10 C5 1.0 nF 2.50 X5 TL431 13 Rlow 6.8 k Figure 10. The Simulation Schematic for Our 70 W Current-Mode Power Supply Phase (deg) Mag (dB) 48.0 160 Phase 24.0 80.0 48.0 160.0 36.0 120.0 24.0 12.0 Gain 0 80.0 Phase 40.0 0 0 0 -40.0 -12.0 -24.0 -80.0 -48.0 -160 0 10 1k 10 k Mag -24.0 -80.0 -36.0 -120.0 -48.0 -160.0 10 100 k Figure 11. Simulated Bode Plot of the Current Mode Flyback 100 1k 10 k 100 k Figure 12. Measured Open-Loop Gain with a Network Analyzer http://onsemi.com 9 http://onsemi.com 10 Universal Input 2.2 R2 5 W, fuse type R3 1M C2 X2 470 nF 2 × 27 mH L2 B1 2KBP08M C3 220 µF + 2N2222 Q2 R8 10 k 2N2907 Q1 R5 10 k OVP (optional) C11 10 nF C23 1.0 nF* D6 BAT54 D5 27 V Vcc 6 Drv 5 3 CS 4 GND R1 18 k Ramp Comp if needed C24 47 µF 7 2 FB R6 1.0 k * HV 8 IC3 R10 12 k 1 Adj * = Close to the IC + R1A 39 k + C10 1.0 nF R1B 39 k L3 47 µH D1 MBR20100 + + C5 C6 C7 + C25 2.2 nF Y1 type IC1 SFH6156-2 M1 FQP6N60 IC2 TL431 C8 open L1 10 µH R11 1.0 k R18 1.0 k 2200 µF Lp = 700 µH T1 1:0.15 for Np:Ns_aux 1:0.166 for Np:Ns_power 3 × 1 SMD // R7A, B, C 0.33, total 1 W D4 1N4148 R9 47 D2 C12, 10 nF R13 1.5 k D3 1N4148 D8 MUR160 D9 15 V R7 18 k C4 100 µF R4 220 C1 100 nF 2 × 39 k 3 W in // R20 10 k R12 27 k R21 5.6 k C9 100 nF GND C220 220 µF R19 open + 19 V @ 3.6 A AND8076/D Figure 13. The Simulation Schematic for Our 70 W Current-Mode Power Supply 16.740 16.765 16.735 16.760 16.755 16.730 Output Voltage (V) Output Voltage (VDC) AND8076/D 16.725 16.720 16.715 16.710 240 VAC 16.745 110 VAC 16.740 16.735 16.730 16.725 16.705 16.700 100 16.750 16.720 120 140 160 180 200 Input Voltage (VAC) 220 16.715 240 Figure 14. Line Regulation Is Excellent Thanks to Current Mode and a Good Open-Loop DC Gain 0 20 40 Output Power (W) 60 80 Figure 15. Load Regulation at Two Different Input Voltages Efficiency We have designed two boards, one using the auxiliary winding for best standby performance, and another one with the Dynamic Self-Supply (DSS) left normally working. Because of the auxiliary winding, it has been necessary to further clamp the drain voltage in order to improve the primary overload detection. It is not necessary with the DSS and therefore the RCD drain clamp network can be less aggressive, thus slightly improving the efficiency. Board 2 also features a 6 A MOSFET compared to a 3 A MOSFET on board 1. Board 1, aux. winding: Vin = 110 VAC, η = 79% Vin = 240 VAC, η = 83.5% Board 2, DSS: Vin = 110 VAC, η = 83.4% Vin = 240 VAC, η = 84.8% Board Final Results Standby Power Measured on an Infratek watt-meter operated in Watt-hour accumulation mode for best accuracy (run length = 30 minutes). Vin = 120 VAC, Vout = 16.76 V, Iout = 0 → Pin = 78 mW Vin = 240 VAC, Vout = 16.76 V, Iout = 0 → Pin = 84 mW Line Regulation The array in Figure 14 shows the performance when the input voltage is moving between both range ends. As one can see, current mode control with good open- loop gain ensures a ∆Vout less than 1 mV for a 212 VDC input variation (-106 dB DC audio susceptibility). Load Regulation By varying the load current between 11 W and 70 W, it is possible to plot the load regulation of the board as shown in Figure 15. http://onsemi.com 11 AND8076/D Appendix A, Bill of Material All resistors are 5% 1/4 W SMD 1206 unless otherwise noted. All SMD capacitors are 1206 SMD 16 V types unless otherwise noted. All through-hole electrolytic capacitors are radial types unless otherwise noted. Manufacturer references are given for specific components only. R1 18 kΩ − C9 100 nF - R2 2.2 Ω, 5.0 W fuse resistor or 3.15 A/250 V T fuse - C10 1.0 nF - C11 10 nF - R1A, B 39 kΩ, 3.0 W, PRO3, thru holes - C12 10 nF - R3 1.0 MΩ (not wired on demo) - C22 470 F/35 V/radial - R4 220 Ω - C23 1.0 nF - R5 10 kΩ - C24 47 F/25 V/radial - R6 1.0 kΩ - C25 2.2 nF-Y1 security device - R7 18 kΩ - B1 600 V-4.0 A diode bridge KBU4J General Semi R7A, B, C 1.0 Ω 1.0 W SMD - D1 MBR20100 R8 10 kΩ - 47 Ω, thru holes D2 1N4148 - R9 - D3 1N4148 - R10 12 kΩ - D4 1N4148 - R11 1.0 kΩ - D5 27 V/400 mW R12 27 kΩ, thru holes - D6 BAT54 R13 1.5 kΩ - D8 MUR160 R18 1.0 kΩ, thru holes - D9 15 V/400 mW R19 Not wired, open for feedback options - IC1 SFH6156-2 R20 10 kΩ - IC2 TL431 TO-92 ON Semiconductor R21 5.6 kΩ - IC3 NCP1200P60 ON Semiconductor C1 100 nF/400 V - Q1 2N2907 ON Semiconductor C2 470 nF/X2 security device - Q2 2N2222 ON Semiconductor C3 220 F/400 V snap-in Philips 2222-157-46221 L1 PCV-2-103-05 Coilcraft L2 B82724-A2142-N1 EPCOS - L3 47 H ON Semiconductor ON Semiconductor ON Semiconductor Infineon C4 100 F/35 V C5 2200 F/25 V/radial Philips 2222-136-50222 M1 2SK2543 (Toshiba) or FQP6N60 (Fairchild) - C6 2200 F/25 V/radial Philips 2222-136-50222 T1 Z9260-A or Z9007-B Coilcraft 2200 F/25 V/radial Heatsink 1 KL194/38,1 SW (diode) Seifert C7 Philips 2222-136-50222 Heatsink 2 KL195/38,1 SW (MOSFET) Seifert Not wired, open for feedback options - C8 http://onsemi.com 12 47 H AND8076/D Appendix B, Transformer Manufacturers Thomson Multimedia - Orega Route de Noiron B.P. 24 70101 GRAY Cedex - France Tel : 33 (0)3 84 64 54 26 Fax: 33 (0)3 84 65 18 45 www.thomsonmultimedia.com Email: [email protected] Ref. : G7086-01, no aux. winding, P = 70 W Eldor Corporation Headquarter Via Plinio 10, 22030 Orsenigo (Como) Italia Tel. : +39-031-636 111 Fax : +39-031 636 280 [email protected] www.eldor.it ref. : 2074.5059A, no aux. winding, P = 70 W Pulse Engineering Site d'Orgelet Zone industrielle 39270 - ORGELET Tel. : 33 (0)3 84 35 04 04 Fax: 33 (0)3 84 25 46 41 http://www.pulseeng.com/ Email: [email protected] ref. : PF0082, with auxiliary winding, P = 50 W ref. : PF0091, without auxiliary winding, P = 50 W Coilcraft 1102 Silver Lake Road Cary, Illinois 60013 USA Tel: (847) 639–6400 Fax: (847) 639–1469 Email: [email protected] http://www.coilcraft.com ref. : Z9260-A, with auxiliary winding, P = 70 W ref. : Z9007-B, without auxiliary winding, P = 70 W For Lower Volumes: Atelier Special de Bobinage 125 cours Jean Jaurès 38130 ECHIROLLES - France Tel. : 33 (0)4 76 23 02 24 Fax: 33 (0)4 76 22 64 89 Email: [email protected] Ref. : NCP1200–35 W–UM, no aux. winding, RM10 P = 35 W http://onsemi.com 13 AND8076/D ON Semiconductor and are registered trademarks of Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC (SCILLC). SCILLC reserves the right to make changes without further notice to any products herein. SCILLC makes no warranty, representation or guarantee regarding the suitability of its products for any particular purpose, nor does SCILLC assume any liability arising out of the application or use of any product or circuit, and specifically disclaims any and all liability, including without limitation special, consequential or incidental damages. "Typical" parameters which may be provided in SCILLC data sheets and/or specifications can and do vary in different applications and actual performance may vary over time. All operating parameters, including "Typicals" must be validated for each customer application by customer's technical experts. SCILLC does not convey any license under its patent rights nor the rights of others. SCILLC products are not designed, intended, or authorized for use as components in systems intended for surgical implant into the body, or other applications intended to support or sustain life, or for any other application in which the failure of the SCILLC product could create a situation where personal injury or death may occur. Should Buyer purchase or use SCILLC products for any such unintended or unauthorized application, Buyer shall indemnify and hold SCILLC and its officers, employees, subsidiaries, affiliates, and distributors harmless against all claims, costs, damages, and expenses, and reasonable attorney fees arising out of, directly or indirectly, any claim of personal injury or death associated with such unintended or unauthorized use, even if such claim alleges that SCILLC was negligent regarding the design or manufacture of the part. SCILLC is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. PUBLICATION ORDERING INFORMATION Literature Fulfillment: Literature Distribution Center for ON Semiconductor P.O. Box 5163, Denver, Colorado 80217 USA Phone: 303-675-2175 or 800-344-3860 Toll Free USA/Canada Fax: 303-675-2176 or 800-344-3867 Toll Free USA/Canada Email: [email protected] JAPAN: ON Semiconductor, Japan Customer Focus Center 2-9-1 Kamimeguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan 153-0051 Phone: 81-3-5773-3850 ON Semiconductor Website: http://onsemi.com For additional information, please contact your local Sales Representative. N. American Technical Support: 800-282-9855 Toll Free USA/Canada http://onsemi.com 14 AND8076/D
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text: I also wanted to thank everyone for their comments. I absolutely love comments and I appreciate every one that you leave. This month I have been very very busy and have hardly had the time/energy to reply and I'm very sorry for that. I promise you all I'll be back in action very soon [as soon as I get myself organised].


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What a stupid rat teaches us about assumptions
In interactions with others we often limit ourselves to restricted perceptions based on our own biases and stereotypes. Cognitive rigidity is when we are unable to consider alternatives to the current situation, different viewpoints or innovative solutions to a problem. And we all suffer from it occasionally, particularly in emotionally charged situations.
Experienced leaders have an uncanny ability to detect strong performers versus poor ones and can often predict strong performance with amazing accuracy and speed. The downside to this ability is that those same leaders often fall victim to stereotyping poor performers as incapable of any improvement. Whether we realize it or not, we all make these quick judgments about an someone else's ability or potential. Good or bad, these expectations affect how we interact with every member of our teams and, therefore, have a major impact on our effectiveness.
Consider your inner dialogue when working with an employee who seems to lack the capacity to execute a specific task. Compare that to when you have an employee that you perceive as naturally skilled and remarkably 'coachable.' How does your attitude toward them change? Our ability to impact an employee's performance shifts based on our preconceived expectations about their skill level and capacity to learn. When we expect certain behaviors of others, we are likely to act in ways that make the expected behavior more likely to occur, in an ironically self-fulfilling prophecy kind of way.
In 1968, Harvard researcher and psychologist, Bob Rosenthal, conducted a study in which he challenged test subjects to coach a rat through a maze. Some subjects had the easy task — half of the group were told they received extremely intelligent rats bred and trained specifically to develop superior maze-solving skills. The other half were not so fortunate. They were informed that the rats they would be coaching through the maze were, to put it bluntly, "stupid."
In reality, they all got plain old lab rats with no discernible differences in any of them — they were, in fact, genetically engineered to be identical, down to the last chromosome. The "smart" rats were no more skilled at maze-solving than those receiving the dubious distinction of "stupid". But the results of the experiment demonstrated the strong effect of a self-fulfilling prophecy resulting from the expectations of the coaches. The "smart" rats outperformed the "stupid" maze runners by a wide margin. It turns out the way the rats were expected to perform was exactly the way they were coached to do so, and as a result, their performance met those expectations.
Rosenthal went on to expand his experiment to the classroom, where he found similar results in school children and their teachers. At the beginning of the school year, teachers were given the names of a few students who had been identified as "gifted" and likely to bloom in the upcoming semester. As predicted by the rat experiment, the students who were labelled as gifted, despite being chosen at random, ended up with higher grades and developed into more successful students with the coaching and attention given to them by the teachers. Rosenthal called this the Expectancy or Pygmalion Effect. Teachers ended up interacting with students they believed to be gifted in a way that was much more likely to lead to richer development. Their expectation delivered the results they anticipated. Imagine if every child was given this opportunity to shine.
Watch those assumptions. We all make up stories about the people in our lives. For leaders, being aware of those biases becomes even more crucial. If you find yourself making up a story about someone's ability, ask yourself whether it's true. Assumptions can be devastating, as people will perform up or down to our expectations.
Wrong filter, faulty conclusion. Our attitude to others is influenced by our assumptions about them. If we're honest with ourselves, we'll ask whether the stories we're telling ourselves about them are accurate or whether we're inserting our own filters or stereotypes into the interaction. Be on the lookout for this when you are about to meet with someone of whom you may already have formed an opinion.
Performance is fragile. Leaders who unwittingly assign labels can negatively impact the performance of highly capable people. Being aware of how we perceive and are perceived by others may help us avoid the trap of the Pygmalion Effect and more effectively nurture the talent around us. Look for signs that you are labeling someone as a warning that you may be falling into the trap.
As Robin Sharma said: "Remember, we see the world not as it is, but as we are. Most of us see through the eyes of our fears and our limiting beliefs and our false assumptions." If we can admit that our assumptions and preconceived notions are sometimes (often) wrong, we have the power to re-evaluate our interpretation of events, and make a conscious choice to consider alternate possibilities.


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at SANCTUM SOHO HOTEL
at SANCTUM SOHO HOTEL
Coronavirus outbreak
With increasing numbers of cases of Coronavirus (COVID19) around the world, LITC wants all of our learners, partners, staff, tenants, and community members to know that we are doing all we can to ensure that our community is safe, able to function, and prepared for potential disruption.
We will follow government guidelines and will review our plans and update our guidance as we receive new information. We will take proportionate and decisive action to minimise the effect of the virus on the health of our community and on your ability to carry out community and education activities.
Please note that the current advice is for anyone experiencing symptoms to stay at home. For further information please visit www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/.
We are taking all precautions to keep ourselves and our community safe and ask all of our learners, partners, staff member, to help us do this by keeping themselves safe and following government guidelines at all times.
If you are worried or concerned about any specific issue not covered in the current email, please email us at firstname.lastname@example.com.
24/03/2020 update
Information for learners!
All lessons and reviews will be taking place online.
Our centres are closed to the public, this includes all meetings and reviews, we remain open for vulnerable learners and those requiring a space to work from.
Please arrange times and location with your tutor/assessor.
Certificate collection and face-to-face enrollment services are no longer available. If you require a copy of your certificate, please email firstname.lastname@example.com.
We encourage you to follow the government guidelines at all times and keep yourself and your communities safe.
Guidance for Delivery Staff
Group sessions:
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Guidance for all Staff
Our centres will remain open in line with government guidelines.
Apply for emergency support with Lambeth!
Are you based in Lambeth?
Then you may be able to apply for Lambeth's emergency support program. Follow the link below to verify if you're entitled to the program and to apply.
All applicants must have lived in Lambeth for at least six weeks and be over the age of 16 before applying.
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Associate, Patent Attorney
Sophie Slater
After finishing my Master's degree, I was keen to stay involved in science but found the work I was doing in a laboratory unrewarding and so decided against doing a PhD. I really wanted a career which would both challenge and intellectually stimulate me.
I have found that a career as a patent attorney offers the unique opportunity to put your scientific and technical knowledge into practice in a legal and highly commercial context.
I joined D Young & Co in January 2014. From day one, I was exposed to real cases and given substantive work to get stuck into. My day to day work is very varied and can include any number of different tasks, from drafting a new patent application to opposing a competitor's patent on behalf of a client. The bulk of my work is concerned with responding to arguments from an examiner as to why they believe an invention isn't patentable. This is challenging but rewarding work as it requires an in-depth understanding of the technology involved, and the ability to formulate complex legal arguments and communicate them clearly and persuasively in writing.
I have been exposed to a very broad range of different technologies from the beginning, from cosmetics and pharmaceuticals to industrial chemistry and medical devices.
Part of the job that I particularly enjoy is visiting clients to speak to them face to face about their new inventions. During the course of my training, I have been lucky enough to attend a number of client meetings, where I have had the opportunity to see the new invention in process.
The route to qualification in the UK and Europe takes about four years, and the exams are notoriously difficult to pass. However, the training at D Young & Co provides excellent on-the-job mentoring from one or several partners for whom you work directly. In addition, an excellent schedule of in-house tutorials is offered, alongside external courses such as the Certificate in IP Law at Queen Mary University.
There is a fantastic work-life balance at D Young & Co, and many social occasions are organised throughout the year, including sporting events and the well-renowned Christmas party.
Technical Assistant
David Al-Khalili
Upon first hearing of a career as a patent attorney, I thought it sounded fascinating; being able to marry disciplines of science and technology with law, communication and business, as well as other areas.
I was able to get an interview at a few firms, including D Young & Co, through a specialist IP recruitment agency. Having lived in Southampton at university for four years, the location was appealing, though it wasn't until my assessment morning, where I met several partners and experienced their enthusiasm and warmth, that I knew it was my favoured destination. I was fortunate enough that I was offered a job shortly afterwards, and haven't looked back since!
My favourite part of working at D Young & Co is undoubtedly the people I work with, although the variance of the job, the relatively low stress levels, the interesting technologies and the broad range of clients (I could go on…) all score highly for me.
A typical working day will often be filled with the prosecution of one or more patent applications in the UK or Europe, and often I'll have meetings with clients to give general advice, updates on their cases, and handle requests for drafting new patent applications.
Aside from the day job, I've been getting involved with the 'CIPA Informals', sitting on the committee as a representative for the South Coast and then treasurer and getting to know a number of my contemporaries around the country, which I love.
In terms of skills, particularly useful are those relating to written and verbal communication, which are vital for a good attorney, but general team working skills and analytical problem-solving abilities always prove important. In the next two to three years, I will (hopefully!) be a qualified attorney, and progressing upward in my career. I feel very settled both in my work and home life here at D Young & Co.
My biggest challenges have been exam related – when trainees say these are hard, they are right! However, the support here for training is brilliant, both in terms of in-house tutorials and advice, and generosity in paying and allowing time for trainees to attend external courses.
Overall, D Young & Co is a great place to work – especially if you value the people you work with as much as the work itself. I'd certainly advise any prospective attorneys to consider D Young & Co!
Senior Associate, Patent Attorney
Antony Latham
During my PhD I was part of a team developing and evaluating new molecules with potential anti-cancer properties. At this time I became exposed to and interested in the world of intellectual property.
The recruitment process to become a patent attorney was rigorous, but I came away from my interview at D Young & Co with a sense that I could feel at home there – the people were friendly but professional, the atmosphere was business-focussed but down-to-earth.
From the outset working at D Young & Co, I was exposed to a fascinating breadth of technology – I had soon dealt with everything from a high-heeled shoe to high-throughput DNA sequencing.
However, the majority of cases I see daily are in the fields of biochemistry, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, which gives me great satisfaction that I am putting the skills I learnt during my degree to valuable use.
I was given a lot of responsibility at an early stage, which helped to quickly immerse me in all the relevant aspects of the job and the law, including patent drafting, prosecution and opposition.
I particularly enjoy contentious work, and have represented clients at opposition proceedings before the European Patent Office in Munich and The Hague.
There are regular social events for the whole office, including barbecues, charity runs and our infamous Christmas party. If you're looking for a job that's intellectually demanding in an environment that's supportive and sociable, then a career as patent attorney at D Young & Co may well be for you.
Patent Attorney
Arun Roy
I joined D Young & Co in September 2011 after graduating from university and completing a summer internship with the firm.
From day one, I was involved with working on real patent cases for real clients.
I quickly realised that being a patent attorney is a great way to stay in touch with the latest technology without having to be in a research and development role (which I had decided wasn't for me).
I was very pleased to be offered a permanent job as a technical assistant / trainee patent attorney with D Young & Co when my internship came to its end, and have been here ever since.
Over the time I have been here, I have been involved in drafting and prosecuting patent applications for lots of different clients (ranging from individual inventors and SMEs all the way up to multinational companies). I am lucky to have had lots of direct contact with clients (including undertaking a secondment in the in-house patents department of one our clients), and very much enjoy meeting with clients to discuss new inventions. I have also travelled to the European Patent Office in Munich and The Hague on several occasions to help represent clients before the European Patent Office (EPO). I have experience in representing clients before the Examining Division, Opposition Division and Board of Appeal at the EPO.
The job can be stressful at times (patent attorneys all have to work to strict deadlines), but although I am expected to work hard, the office environment is very friendly and supportive. There are also great opportunities for progression within the firm as I complete my training and pass my exams.
Much of my training has been on-the-job under the guidance of several partners and other more senior members of the firm. Furthermore, I have received more formal training in the form of a structured program involving professional courses and exams. For example, during my time at D Young & Co, I have completed the Intellectual Property Law Certificate at Queen Mary, University of London, have attended courses for and passed the EQE qualifying exams and am currently working towards passing the UK exams. The exams and training courses have provided a great opportunity to learn about the nuances of patent law and to meet other trainees in the profession.
I very much enjoy my job as a technical assistant at D Young & Co. I find the day-to-day work interesting and rewarding and find the environment I work in very friendly and supportive.
Patent Attorney
Alice Stuart-Grumbar
I graduated in June 2015 from Durham University with an undergraduate masters degree in mechanical engineering.
Having undertaken a couple of engineering internships during my studies, I knew that I wanted to do something which used the technical skills I had acquired at university but not necessarily work in a purely engineering firm.
Although I knew of the existence of patents and their importance through my studies and internships, I hadn't really considered a career as a patent attorney until I spoke to a friend from Durham who was a trainee. She was the first of my friends who I had spoken to who seemed to really love the work they were doing.
Having explored the career further, I decided it was perfect for me. It allowed me use my technical knowledge whilst considering the broader impact of inventions and their commercial value to clients.
I started work at D Young & Co in September 2015 and can honestly say I've never regretted choosing this career path. D Young & Co is a great place to train due to the support given to you both by the partners for whom you work, and by the firm as a whole in providing access to in-house tutorials and external courses to help in your route to qualification. I share an office with a recently qualified patent attorney who is always happy to help me if I need it.
I am in the electronics, engineering & IT team and given my degree subject I mainly work on patent applications for mechanical inventions. This sees me cover a broad range of technologies from sewing machines to driverless cars! This means I am always learning something new and no two days are the same.
Most of my time centres on the prosecution stage of the patent application process. This involves responding to communications from both the European and UK patent offices requiring me to analyse applications and prior art documents and formulate arguments as to why the applications should be allowable.
A work-life balance is considered very important at D Young & Co with regular social events and the well known Christmas party. If you are looking for an interesting, varied and intellectually stimulating job in a supportive and friendly firm, I couldn't recommend a career as a patent attorney at D Young & Co more.
Technical Assistant
Thomas Ricketts
I began applying to firms by responding to advertised positions and sending speculative applications. I was invited to interviews at a few firms which each had very different interview processes. D Young & Co had a single interview day meaning the application process moved quite quickly. Shortly after the interview day I received and happily accepted the offer to work and train at D Young & Co.
From day one I have been given responsibility and work-variety, which has been one of the best things about working here. I have been exposed to very different types of technology from car air bags to vaccines for animals! As a result I am always learning something new, whether it is related to science/technology, law or business.
The core of my work centres on the prosecution stage of the patent application process; responding to communications from the European Patent Office. I am regularly involved with client calls and have had the opportunity to visit clients abroad. I am also lucky enough to be regularly involved in working on opposition cases which is not always common so early on in the profession.
D Young & Co provides excellent support for training and development. As you will know, there are a number of exams to pass on the way to fully qualifying as a patent attorney and this can be daunting. D Young & Co pays for training and exams and also offers time-off for study leave.
Outside of also providing access to in-house tutorials and external courses, there is a very open and supportive environment within the firm. Whether it is interacting with other trainees also going through the same process or qualified attorneys and partners, there is always help on offer.
I have found training as a patent attorney involves a steep learning curve. At D Young & Co there is a friendly environment that is supportive with work and also recognises the importance of a good work/life balance. There are regular social events that allow you to get to know everyone within the firm.
If you are looking for a career with variety that mixes law, science/technology and business then I highly recommend a career as a patent attorney. It is an intellectually stimulating job and it feels very rewarding to help clients achieve their goals and protect their inventions.
If this sounds exciting to you, then I strongly recommend applying to D Young & Co.


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Suggested tips for 2015 Chrysler Grand CheroKee lowest cost that suits your budget
The most important part of buying a Used 2015 Chrysler Grand CheroKee for sale is ensuring the price is fair. If you don't know how to do that, here is a useful check-list for you:
First, set up a total budget. Keep in mind that your budget is not only for the car price, but also for tax, registration fee, and any maintenance fees afterward.
Second, there are many promotion deals, such as Free Shipping, FOB $1, $200 OFF on all stock, etc., so, stay tuned to our updated offers, you might get a lucky deal.
Last but not least, before jumping to one car, pick up a few best options among our 2015 Chrysler Grand CheroKee price in Japan range, check and compare the price, the condition of each carefully. We recommend you to input your final destination, so you can see and compare the total price to your port (CIF price).
A small tip for you at this step, do not pay too much attention in the cheapest car at first. Make sure you take into consideration the car mileage, condition, available accessories also. Then choose a car only after you compare the up-front saving on car price with the long-term saving on car maintenance. This way you can choose the best 2015 Chrysler Grand CheroKee price for the long term.
What are the tips for Buying a low mileage 2015 Chrysler Grand CheroKee?
A mileage is an important indicator of a car condition, so it is worth our attention! A hatchback or a sedan is popular to be under 100,000 km. An SUV, Van, Wagon would be adviced to be under 180,000 km; while Truck and Bus still run very well after reaching 180,000 km. Regarding the mileage, please also remember, we need to change the timing belt after the car has run for a certain distance, the mechanics recommend replacing it every 100,000 to 160,000 km.
On CAR FROM JAPAN, we provide a function allowing you to sort the mileage from low to high, or set a mileage range, making it more convenient for you to find out a 2015 Chrysler Grand CheroKee low mileage.
Finding a Best gas mileage 2015 Chrysler Grand CheroKee with the advice below:
As you are on this page, you might be wondering about 2015 Chrysler Grand CheroKee fuel consumption. The fuel efficiency of a car depends mainly on 3 factors: (1) Engine size (2) Age of the car (3) Weight of the car. As you might have guessed most economical 2015 Chrysler Grand CheroKee will be the brand new one. Talking about used cars, the older the car is, the higher the fuel consumption becomes. For 5-year-old cars, fuel efficiency drops around 15%-20%. Thus, when buying a used car, you should pick a low mileage one as it will give you better fuel efficiency.
Find the right car
Know what you need and only get what you need is always the way to a successful purchase. Driving alone is not exactly the same as a big family. There is a lot of difference between the needs of people who usually spend their time on the highway and those who usually spend their time commuting in the city during rushed hours. Therefore, it is important to take a step back and consider carefully which car would be the right choice, especially when you are Buying a second hand 2015 Chrysler Grand CheroKee. You should look for a right-sized vehicle, a right-sized engine, What is better, petrol or diesel? etc. The easiest way to do that is to make a list of what features that you want from your car and stick to it. Choose the car that perfectly serves your using purpose. In case you want to get more options, taking a look at other Chrysler Grand CheroKee is an effective way to do.
Best place to look for Cars for sale in Japan ? Japan, but why ?
Firstly, Car Condition
Japanese used cars are very well known for having great conditions while being quite cheap. Japanese people, in general take a good care of everything that they own. Also, Japan has a very good maintenance system, which provides a very delightful service to any car.
Secondly, The Well-Developed Public Transportation System
Japan has the most developed public transportation system in the world. Even if a Japanese owns a car, they would be more likely that they will take public transport to commute. So your car would rarely be used unless it is needed to. This leads to the fact that Japanese used cars remain low mileage, excellent engine with less damage.
Thirdly, Fuel Consumption
Most Japanese people drive only when needed, they avoid idling as much as possible, accelerating and using brake steadily. Because of their careful habits of driving, Japanese used cars are usually in lovely fuel consumption condition.
Fourthly, Japanese people don't like the second-hand concept
In Japan, there's always a feeling that people don't want something that has been used even those things are in perfect shape. It is a part of their culture. So why hesitate? Come to CAR FROM JAPAN and get yourself a Used 2015 Chrysler Grand CheroKee for sale with a very cheap price comparing to other markets.