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Monday, May 05, 2014

Ron Paul video

I recommend “Liberty Defined: The Future of Freedom” by Ron Paul.

Recorded: Wednesday, April 9, 2014

As stated by the Independent Institute, "Ron Paul, the former 12-term Congressman and Presidential candidate,
takes a candid look at America’s increasingly dysfunctional political
system. Drawing on his 24 years in Congress, he highlights the need
to rein in unchecked government power. The author of numerous
#1 New York Times bestselling books, Dr. Paul is a leading advocate for individual liberty, privacy, limited constitutional government, low taxes
and spending, free markets, restrained foreign policy, and sound money."

The presentation is introduced by Steve Shmanske, director of the Smith Center for Private Enterprise Institute at Cal State U East Bay, co-sponsored by the Independent Institute at Oakland, California. David Theroux, president of the Independent Institute, introduces Ron Paul.

Monday, December 30, 2013

California's Decentralized Voting Proposal

In California, the voters are able to put proposed laws on the ballot if they gather enough signatures. This process is called an “initiative”. The legislature may also place propositions on the ballot, a process called a “referendum”.

One of the ballot propositions for 2014 is “The Neighborhood Legislature Reform Act”, which would decentralize the election of representatives in order to reduce the political power of special interests such as corporations, labor unions, and trial lawyers. This reform would shift political power to the people of California. (For the text of the initiative, see

Like the US Congress, the California legislature has two houses, a Senate with 40 members and an Assembly with 80 members. The population of California is 38 million. The districts for the California Senate now have 950,000 persons, a greater number than for Congressional districts, while about 475,000 people live in each assembly district. It now takes a million dollars to win a California Senate seat.

The Neighborhood initiative would instead create Senate districts of 10,000 persons and Assembly districts of 5000. These neighborhood districts would form a greater association of 100 neighborhood districts within the current districts. The association council would elect a representative to the state legislature, thus keeping the same number of representatives in the state legislature. However, the final approval of a law would require a vote by all the neighborhood district representatives. That vote could be done on an Internet web site, as corporations now do for their elections of board members and propositions.

The Neighborhood Legislature proposition was initiated by John H. Cox, who has been a lawyer, real-estate management executive, and local office holder. The aim is to have the measure on the November 2014 ballot. That will require over 800,000 valid signatures, 8 percent of the votes cast for governor in the last election, by May 19. That is a high hurtle, which usually requires several million dollars to pay for signature gatherers. This initiative has already made a splash, with articles in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and other media.

I have been writing for years on reforming democracy with tiny voting districts in a bottom-up structure. Back in 2007, I wrote an article, “Democracy Needs Reforming” (, proposing that the political body be divided into cells of 1000 persons, each with a neighborhood council. A group of these would then elect a broader-area council, and so on up to the national congress or parliament. The state legislature would then only need one house, rather than a bicameral legislature that mimics the US Congress and British parliament. This “cellular democracy” would eliminate the inherent demand for campaign funds of mass democracy.

The Neighborhood Legislature Reform Act would not be quite as thorough a reform as a cellular democracy based on tiny districts, but it has the same basic concepts: smaller voting groups, and bottom-up multi-level representation. This initiative would indeed greatly reduce the demand for campaign funds that are needed in today’s huge California electoral districts.

It will be a great challenge to obtain the needed signatures. It could happen if the media provide editorial support and coverage. At any rate, the fact that this initiative is taking place will go a long ways to publicizing the gross corruption of democracy that is taking place, and the only effective remedy to the inherent dysfunction of mass democracy. Many reforms are needed in today’s governments, reforms in taxation, pensions, environmental protection, transit, criminal law, and economic deprivation. The main reason that useful reforms are not taking place is the subsidy-seeking and reform-blocking induced by mass democracy. The initiative process in California and other states is a way to circumvent the corrupt legislature, but in a large state like California, that process itself requires big money.

It will be interesting to watch the progress of the Neighborhood Legislature initiative, and to watch the special interests jump in with misleading negative ads. If this goes on the ballot and wins, it will be a victory for the people and a defeat for the moneyed special interests.

(This article first appeared in

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Criminalizing Innovation

The U.S. government has attacked an entrepreneur and his new product, as another episode of the federal government’s war on enterprise. In this case, the entrepreneur CEO is Craig Zucker, the company was Maxfield & Oberton, and the product was Buckyballs.

Buckyballs were small magnetic spheres made of neodymium, a rare-earth element that is a powerful magnet. As they stick together, the balls can be assembled into shapes such as pyramids. They were named “Buckyballs” after Buckminster Fuller, an American architect, inventor of the geodesic dome, and futurist visionary. His friends called him “Bucky,” and the neodymium spheres were somewhat like Bucky’s domes.

The company imported the balls from China and started selling them in 2009. They became a popular office toy. But the Buckyballs were banned in July 2012 by the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is now seeking to prosecute Zucker for having sold the balls.

In 2012 the Commission also sent letter to retailers warning of the risks to consumers of using Buckyballs and asking them to stop selling them. That was effective in stopping the sales. The Commission stated that the balls were a hazard for young children who swallowed them.

The company had developed the Buckyballs in collaboration with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and after the action by the Commission, the firm provided it with a corrective-action plan. Buckyballs were sold with a warning against access by children, and they were not sold in toy stores. But the Commission pursued a lawsuit against the firm even before examining the corrective plan. As pointed out by the Wall Street Journal article (cited below) on that case, there are many potentially dangerous products being sold, such as cleaning chemicals, knives, and balloons. Buckyballs were intended and marketed for adults, and, according to the WSJ article, no deaths have been associated with the Buckyballs.

The Commission declared, as a justification for the ban, that Buckyballs have “low utility” and are unnecessary, despite purchases by 2.5 million adults who spent $30 each. The principle established by the Commission is that government determines which products are desirable, not consumers. Any product could be banned by the standards of the Commission.

The company then engaged in a publicity campaign regarding the actions by the Commission. In the end, the government was too powerful to resist, and the company was terminated in December 2012. However, in February 2013, the Commission charged Zucker as being personally liable for the costs of a recall costing $57 million if the Buckyballs are judged to be defective.

The federal government has by this action abolished limited personal liability under U.S. law for corporations as well as partnerships. From now on, the executives of a firm will be vulnerable for the liabilities of the firms. Any entrepreneur will now risk losing all that he owns if he engages in the production or distribution of any product. The effect of this government action is to strangle American entrepreneurship.

In the case of United States v. Park in 1975, the Supreme Court ruled that the CEO of a food company was criminally liable for a rodent infestation. This ruling was based on the federal Food and Drug Act. But another case, Meyer v. Holley in 2003 ruled that ordinary liability applies unless there is a clear Congressional intent to hold corporate officers personally liable. The relevant law in the Buckyballs case is Section 15 of the Consumer Product Safety Act, which regulates corporate persons, not individual persons.

The WSJ article says that since Zucker did not commit any criminal violation, the Commission’s continuing prosecution of Zucker “raises the question of retaliation for his public campaign against the commission.” If the Commission achieves its goal, personal-injury lawyers will take advantage of personal liability to go after CEOs and other company personae.

This action by Congress, the Courts, and the Commission has to be seen in the perspective of a broad war by government on private enterprise and consumer choice, using taxes, restrictions, mandates, and prosecutions, ultimately resulting in an economy that is nominally private but substantially controlled by governmental chiefs. The name for that system is “fascism.”

Reference: Sohrab Ahmari, “What Happens When a Man Takes on the Feds,” Wall Street Journal, August 31-September 1, 2013, p. A11.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

FATCA closes Americans’ Foreign Bank Accounts

When the USA adopted the 16th Amendment to the Constitution a century ago, did the people understand that this would deprive Americans world-wide of foreign banking services? Americans thought that the income tax would just grab the money from the rich, but they did not understand that the income tax would tax everybody else more. All that is needed to equalize wealth without damage to the economy is to stop government subsidies, but this requires an economic sophistication that so far has eluded most people.

Inherently, an income tax yields an incentive to cheat, as the government depends on reporting. So the Internal Revenue Service has to monitor financial accounts to prevent tax evasion. Gradually, the IRS has extended its reach into accounts, first within the USA, and now into the foreign accounts held by American citizens.

No other country has imposed such costs and mandates on foreign accounts as the USA. So ironically the “land of the free” has the least economic freedom for its citizens abroad. The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), enacted in 2010 requires foreign financial institutions to make reports on American accounts. Foreign financial institutions with American customers are required obtain a Global Intermediary Identification Number. FATCA requires foreign financial firms to identify their U.S. account holders, to disclose the account holders' names, social security or other tax IDs, addresses, and the accounts' balances, receipts, and withdrawals. For some accounts, the foreign bank is required to withhold some of the interest paid to the account, and send it straight to the IRS. This US law overrides the privacy laws of the foreign countries.

US law is thus legislating not only within US territory but throughout the whole world. If a financial firm does not comply, the IRS will tax 30 percent of its US-sourced income. The IRS is also busy laying out the legal infrastructure for enforcing this law with agreements with foreign governments for data sharing. Governments world-wide are signing on, because they too face the problem of tax evasion when they tax income that can hide.

FATCA does not just affect fat cats. Many foreign banks are now refusing to provide Americans with bank accounts and are closing the accounts of Americans, who are now also unable to obtain mortgages and insurance abroad. Americans are increasingly giving up their US citizenship in order to be able to work or retire abroad.

The US economy depends on international trade and global finance, with many Americans working abroad for US and foreign firms. Six million Americans live outside the territory of the USA. If Americans can no longer have foreign bank accounts, because the costs to the banks are too high, they will be so hampered that fewer Americans will be willing to live abroad, and this will hurt American enterprise.

Since the US government cannot directly impose laws on foreign lands, many foreign firms will sell their US affiliates and stop holding assets within the USA, thus putting themselves beyond the control of the US government. The overall cost to the US economy of FATCA may be much greater than the increase in tax revenue from reduced tax evasion. Also, those who seek to evade income taxes will find other ways. High taxes induce tax evasion, and enforcement drives evasion into other channels. How successful are US drug laws in stopping the smuggling in of drugs, and how successful have US immigration restrictions been at preventing illegal immigration?

Another consequence of greater reporting of American accounts is the increased risk of identity theft and theft of money from accounts. The greater the reporting, the greater the revelation of data that can be stolen.

It is no use seeking to repeal FATCA. The regulation of accounts, no matter how costly, follows from the income tax being, as Henry George put it, a tax on honesty. The taxation of wealth that can hide and flee requires strict and costly reporting and enforcement. The only effective remedy is to tax something that will not flee, hide, or shrink when taxed. A tax on land value cannot be evaded, and if that were the only tax, there would be no need to impose costs on finances.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Inequality Unexplained

Inequality Unexplained

by Fred Foldvary, Senior Editor, 14 October 2013

There is a new economics documentary film that stars Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under President Clinton and now a professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. The film, Inequality for All, directed by Jacob Kornbluth, won a U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award and has been shown nation-wide.

Unfortunately, Robert Reich has not explained why the US has had an increasing inequality of income. Neither in the film nor in his writings and interviews does he examine the cause. Without the elimination of the cause, there can be no remedy. As usual in documentaries of social problems, most of the film just describes and tells stories about the inequality.

Inequality for All is typical of welfare-state presentations in jumping to governmental responses that only treat the symptoms and effects. Reich advocates a higher minimum wage without any analysis what determines wages in a market economy.

Most basically, in a free market, ordinary workers are paid what economists call the “marginal product,” or what an extra worker contributes to output. If a worker adds $10 each hour to total output, then that is what he is paid, and that is what he is worth to the company. If the company pays him any less, say $8, that provides an opportunity for a similar company to offer $9 and get the $10 worth of output, so competition will drive the wage up to the worker’s contribution, his marginal product.

A minimum wage forces the firm to pay more than the worker’s marginal product. The firm will not hire a worker who costs more than he is worth. The reason that workers are not all dismissed is the law of diminishing returns. In a farm or factory, if there are only a few workers, each worker’s marginal product is high, because there is a lot of land and machines, and few workers. As workers are added, each extra worker contributes less extra output. Workers are hired up to the quantity for which the wage equals the marginal product.

The minimum wage acts like a tax on labor that forces the firm to reduce the number of workers employed to that level where the higher marginal product equals the required wage. In some cases, the firm will also respond by reducing benefits such as medical insurance such as by hiring part-time instead of full-time labor.

Many firms in competitive industries respond to the higher minimum wage as they would to a higher tax. They pass on some of the costs to the customers. The higher price reduces sales, production, employment, and income.

The minimum wage is lethal to the economy as it acts as an extra tax on employment on top of payroll taxes, unemployment taxes, workers insurance taxes, and the income tax on the profits of the firm. All these taxes reduce employment and reduce the take-home pay of the worker.

Henry George stated in his 1883 book Social Problems that “There is in nature no reason for poverty.” Poverty is caused not by any lack of natural resources but by human institutions that deprive workers of the ability to buy what they produce. The institution with the power to impose this intervention is government. The totality of restrictions, mandates, taxes, and subsidies reduces enterprise and takes away much of the product of labor. Then impoverished workers need the welfare state to provide the necessities of life.

The ideology of welfare statists makes them only think of governmental aid and reject the idea that governmental intervention is the source of the problem. They sneer at “free market fundamentalism.” They don’t understand the fact that taxes on labor redistribute wealth from workers to landowners as government taxes wages to pay for public goods that generate higher rent and land value. They don’t understand that the worker-tenant pays twice for the public goods of government, once by having half his wage taxed away, and a second time in the higher housing rental he pays because greater governmental services increase locational rents.

The effective remedy for poverty is to remove all punitive taxes and land-value subsidies. We can remove subsidies to the landed interests by having them pay back the rent generated by useful public goods such as roads, schools, and security. Without taxes on labor and enterprise, the cost of labor is lower to employers, while the worker’s take-home pay is higher. The replacement of wage taxes with land value taxes would reduce economic inequality while also increasing the productivity of the economy.

Of course the elimination of poverty also has to include better education, and that can be accomplished with vouchers, payments not to schools but to parents. A voucher is a ticket that a parent could use to send his children to the best schools. It provides an incentive for educators to produce better schools. It is not a panacea, because the home and neighborhood environment are also important, but it would shift the incentives towards better schooling.

It is not only unfortunate but astonishing that a leading professor of public policy who cares about the poor would not make the prosperity tax shift, replacing wage taxes with land value taxes, the core of his policy proposal. I suspect his response would be that while this is a good idea, it is politically unfeasible, while raising the minimum wage has political support. But the reason it is politically unfeasible today is precisely that leading reformers such as Robert Reich refuse to bring the effective remedy to public attention in the ultimately futile effort to advocate policies with the least current political resistance.

Much of the gains from economic growth and welfare get captured by higher rent and land value. Raising the minimum wage is futile because if all workers get a substantially higher minimum wage, their landlords will be able to raise their housing rentals by the amount of their greater ability to pay, and the landed interests will end up with the gains. Why do you think that housing costs have been escalating while wages stagnate?

Sunday, July 21, 2013

My favorite economic things

Free grocery samples and
discounts for teachers.
No fees for checking and no charge for credit.
Nobody asks for ID for my beer.
Those are just some of my favorite economic things.

No tax on wages nor taxes on goodies.
No tax on buildings nor taxes on business.
No tax on anything ‘cept for the land.
Those would be some of my favorite things.

No crimes for acts that are without victims.
No laws restricting my speaking and writing.
Nobody tells me what I have to do.
That would be some of my favorite things.

When the tax bites.
When police sting.
When I’m feeling oppressed.
That’s when I remember my favorite things.
So why do I still feel bad?

Peace in the world, even for Jews.
Peace and justice for Arabs as well.
Muslims and Christians no longer at war.
Those would be some of my favorite things.

Animals treated humanely and kindly.
No more pollution or else compensation.
Tolls make congestion a thing of the past.
Those are my favorite wishes for sings.

Someone to love, and someone to be with.
A cat, dog, or rabbit that we can have fun with.
Friends and the relatives that we enjoy.
Those are the best of my favorite things.

When disease strikes.
When my hives itch.
When I get the flu.
That’s when I remember my favorite things.
I wish they could all come true.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Income Taxes are Inherently Corrupting

There is no way to have an honest income tax. As Henry George wrote, the income tax is a tax on honesty. Cheaters gain while honest people lose because they have to pay a higher tax to make up for the nonpayment by cheaters.

The taxing agency must have the power to intrude into people’s finances to check the taxpayer’s honesty and his competence to report all gains. One should not blame the IRS when it listens to telephone calls, reads email messages, checks social media postings, looks at mail envelopes, and audits records, because it is its job to check for cheating.

It is too costly to check all taxpayers and non-payers, so the tax-man has to be selective. The need to discriminate - to investigate one group rather than another - tempts the authorities to exploit their power to favor their friends and punish their enemies.

A value-added or sales tax is also corruptive. To enforce a high sales tax, the authorities need to check the records, and receipts of the sellers, and they also need to invade the privacy of buyers to make sure they have, for all their goods, receipts that disclose the taxes paid.

Any tax based on transactions, whether obtaining income or selling goods, requires an invasion into the privacy of both buyer and seller, including the income payer and the income earner, because the tax tempts both parties to evade the tax.

When income is taxed, the government recognizes that some income consists of transfers rather than payments for services. Therefore there are also taxes on gifts and inheritances. But some transfers are intended to finance activities of social rather than individual benefit, so to promote such activities, the funds received by charities are not subject to income tax. The exemption from income taxation is another temptation to cheat, and therefore government has to impose disclosures, and that then also inevitably tempts the authorities to exploit their power.

It should be no surprise that sometimes the exploitation by the governmental authorities will be so stark that it becomes a scandal. The targeting of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service is just the most recent example. The chiefs then have to deny responsibility and refuse to answer questions. The official who initiated the biased screening has not be identified. The response of the tax agency is always to claim that they have not been given enough funds for better enforcement.

To exert power, the taxing agency has to call on other government agencies to bring an army of intruders into the targeted persons. A woman in Texas who founded two public policy groups and sent in applications for tax-exempt status became a target of the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, as well as the IRS. This serves as an example to others that IRS can invoke the full might of the US government

IRS officials say they need to engage this power to do their jobs, which is true. The top officials cannot know all that the underlings are doing. And it would fight human nature to require agents to avoid acting on their biases. The firing of one or two officials will not stop the practice because the structure of the tax system inflicts unstoppable perverse incentives.

Economics tells us that to change outcomes, we must change the incentives. A tax system that minimizes corruption requires that the tax base be based on implicit reality rather than explicit transactions. Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nations recognized that the implicit reality that is best suited for public revenue is ground rent.

We minimize tax corruption by fully disclosing all tax records. A tax on land rent or land value is based on property prices that are a public record. Today, in the USA, property assessments can be, and often are, available on the web sites of county governments. In a properly-applied land value tax, one can look up any property address and find the assessed value.

Also in a proper land value tax, all land is subject to the tax payment, including land held by nonprofit organizations, including governments. There should be no exceptions. Besides disclosure and universal tax payments, the third element that minimizes bias is the ability to appeal an assessment. If a property owner thinks his property was assessed too high, relative to his neighbors, he can bring the case to an appeal board, and then to a jury.

Land is inherently public. It cannot hide or flee when taxed. One’s wage or business profit or income from savings is inherently private, and should not have to be publicly disclosed. Also the capital goods of your home - the wiring, the plumbing, the paint, the attached appliances, and the quality of the walls, floors, and ceilings, are subject to inspection with a tax on buildings, but irrelevant if only the ground is taxed.

Only a land-value tax has complete privacy for one’s personal finances and complete disclosure of the tax base. We cannot claim that a land value tax is 100 percent free of corruption, because any human institution is imperfect, but utopia is not an option. We can only select the tax base that minimizes evasion, cheating, corruption, and intrusion, and that is land.

The land value tax is based on implicit reality rather than the superficial appearance of transactions. The tax on ground rent or land value is implicit because it is based on the economic rent of land, the highest rent it will fetch, rather than any explicit payment by tenants to landlords. Therefore land value taxation conforms to what economic theory tells us is the best source of public revenue - best for the economy, best for honesty, and best for avoiding tax scandals.

Those who decry the abuse of power by taxing agencies are themselves guilty of helping to cause the problem unless they take their case to its logical conclusion - the replacement of taxes on earned income and produced goods with a tax on land value.


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Category: Sri Lanka

Political LEGO: an interview with Legofesto

Sri Lanka: Bombing a refugee camp 4

Sri Lanka: Bombing a refugee camp 4 (Legofesto 2009).

We re-create scenes from the trade justice documentaries, art and activist work in LEGO. We photograph them, put them online and embed them on our site’s pages. You can see what we’ve done here. This work was inspired by LEGO scenes from the ‘War on Terror’ produced by a person calling herself Legofesto. We read interviews with and articles about her that were published in 2009, but hadn’t found anything since. This year, after teaching Political LEGO on the MRes Critical Human Geographies at Exeter University, one student – Julia Zielke – emailed Legofesto to interview her for an essay. What questions hadn’t been asked in those 2009 pieces? What had Legofesto been doing since then? Can we expect any new Legofesto work? This is what she said… Continue reading

New in Lego: A Global Positioning System

A Global Positioning System

Here’s the latest of our Lego re-creations, made today to add to one of our first published pages: on Melanie Jackson’s (2006) digitally generated animation (and catalogue) A Global Positioning System.  Continue reading

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Bye Week Options: Streamers to Fill in For Week 5

Aaron Rader provides streaming options at each position to replace your starters on bye in Week 5.

(Photo by Kyle Ross/Icon Sportswire)

Greetings owners! I am here again to ease your bye week woes. Hopefully, you made it through your first round of byes with a victory. If not, never fear, I am here to get you back on track. When predicting fantasy production, you can never be 100% accurate. That’s why each week, I will highlight one hit and one miss (Bad Call/Good Call)  from the previous week’s predictions. Before we examine the best week 5 streamers, let us take a look back at week four.

Week 4: Bad Call

QB Ryan Tannehill– Tannehill was coming off an incredible week at home. I suggested Tannehill in what I thought would be a shootout in New England. Sadly, Tannehill and the Miami offense fell flat. The New England offense came alive and put up a lot of points, but Miami answered with one touchdown the entire day. Better days are ahead for Tannehill, but pump the brakes before starting him again.

Week 4: Good Call

WR Geronimo Allison- Allison is becoming a focal point in the Green Bay offense. Last week, he saw 11 targets and turned that into six receptions for 80 yards. He would have gone for an even bigger day, if not for suffering a concussion. He has seen double-digit PPR points in every game this season. If Allison is healthy, continue to roll him out.

Key Players on Bye in Week 5

QB Mitchell Trubisky, QB Jameis Winston, RB Peyton Barber, RB Ronald Jones II, RB Jordan Howard, RB Tarik Cohen, WR Mike Evans, WR DeSean Jackson, WR Chris Godwin, WR Allen Robinson II, WR Taylor Gabriel, TE Trey Burton, TE Cameron Brate, DEF Chicago Defense, DEF Tampa Bay

*All players under 50% owned according to Yahoo Fantasy Football

QB Streamers

Blake Bortles, Jacksonville Jaguars (@ Kansas City Chiefs, 39% owned)- RB Leonard Fournette will be out this Sunday. This will give the Jacksonville Jaguars plenty of opportunities to open up the passing game. Kansas City is second to last in passing defense and has been shredded all year aside from QB Case Keenum. QB Patrick Mahomes II could stay hot at home, even against the stout Jacksonville defense. This would force Bortles into a shootout situation. As a bonus, Bortles has a decent floor with the rushing attempts per game.

Derek Carr, Oakland Raiders (@ Los Angeles Chargers, 41% owned)- Carr is coming off a game in which he threw for 437 yards and four touchdowns. The Oakland defense is anything, but daunting, and I expect a big outing from QB Philip Rivers at home. Carr will be forced to air it out more often than not against the Chargers’ passing defense that ranks toward the bottom of the league. One other side note, the Chargers will be without premier pass rusher DE Joey Bosa once again.

RB Streamers

Corey Grant, Jacksonville Jaguars (@ Kansas City Chiefs 3% owned)- Back in week two, without RB Leonard Fournette, Grant saw seven targets. The Jacksonville passing game will be opened up without Fournette and will give Grant a chance for solid production. Kansas City ranks last in the league against receiving yards given up to running backs. Dumping the ball to the running back could be a point of emphasis in the Jaguars’ game plan.

Mike Davis, Seattle Seahawks (vs Los Angeles Rams 18% owned)- Davis shined last week in relief of RB Chris Carson. He rumbled his way to 101 rushing yards and two touchdowns. The Seahawks will want to keep it out of QB Jared Goff’s hands as much as possible. Getting the run game going early at home would help them accomplish that. As of Wednesday, Carson has yet to practice. If he sits again, Davis will be ready to roll as the Seahawks’ starter. There is a good chance that even with Carson healthy, Davis could see a ton of work.

WR Streamers

Dede Westbrook, Jacksonville Jaguars (@ Kansas City Chiefs 36% owned)- If you have not realized by now, I am quite high on the Jaguars’ offense this week. It can be hard to predict the Jaguars’ receivers, but Westbrook saw a whopping 13 targets in his last outing. He has gone over 80 yards in two of his last three games and seems to be emerging as the favorite target in the passing game.

Keke Coutee, Houston Texans (vs Dallas Cowboys 34% owned)- Coutee made history last week, becoming the first player in a debut to reach 11 catches. In all, he saw 15 targets in a Houston passing game that seems to be coming alive after a slow start. WR Will Fuller left last week’s contest with a hamstring issue and could miss this week.  If Fuller is ruled out, Coutee will be a surefire WR3/flex.

TE Streamers

Ricky Seals-Jones, Arizona Cardinals (@ San Francisco 49ers 26% owned)- Tight end has become somewhat of a dart throw. If you do not have one of the top three guys, you are kind of just putting a warm body in and hoping for the best. As QB Josh Rosen gets adjusted to NFL life, he will be looking for targets he can trust. RSJ can be a safety blanket for Rosen. He has seen at least three targets in every game and could become a weapon in the red zone. San Francisco ranks in the bottom third of the league in covering TEs. With WR Larry Fitzgerald nursing a hamstring injury, RSJ could see an uptick in usage.

Austin Hooper, Atlanta Falcons (@ Pittsburgh Steelers 49% owned)- I am doubling down on Hooper after last week’s suggestion did not pan out. Pittsburgh is allowing the most points to TEs in the league and this game should have plenty of offense. Both teams have horrendous defenses, leaving QB Matt Ryan and QB Ben Roethlisberger to duke it out. Hooper is someone Ryan looks for in the red zone and should see a few of those targets this Sunday.

Streaming Defense

San Francisco 49ers (vs Arizona Cardinals 13% owned)- Josh Rosen will be making his first road start against the 49ers. The Cardinals’ offense has been perhaps the worst in the league all season. Look for San Francisco to rattle the rookie and capitalize on the Cardinals’ offensive mistakes.

Rader’s Radar: Super Deep Sleeper Pick

Chester Rogers WR Indianapolis Colts (@ New England Patriots 2% owned)- WR T.Y. Hilton has already been ruled out this week. Last week, with Hilton leaving the game, Rogers had eight catches on 11 targets for 85 yards. QB Andrew Luck has already amassed 186 passing attempts on the season and should be forced to air it out against the New England Patriots’ potent offense.

One response to “Bye Week Options: Streamers to Fill in For Week 5”

  1. Elmo says:

    What’s up, its pleasant paragraph about media print, we all know media is a enormous source of data.

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FantasyDraft Week 17 DFS Plays: QBs/TEs/Defense

Phil Backert previews DFS plays at quarterback, tight end and defense on FantasyDraft for Week 17.

(Photo by Todd Kirkland/Icon Sportswire)

QB List is excited to be partnering with FantasyDraft, featuring advice articles every week through the entirety of the 2018 season. Signup and play for free at FantasyDraft.

Prior to breaking down Week 17 from a daily fantasy perspective, I will recap how I did in the Fantasy Draft $100,000 Run and Gun (Sun Only) tournament from the week before. You can compete against me weekly throughout the season.

Game stacking the Chiefs-Seahawks late night hammer proved to be the correct move for the most part, but tight end Travis Kelce had a dud performance along with running back Ezekiel Elliott. The combination I almost swapped to prior to kickoff was Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey and Jets wide receiver Robby Anderson instead of Zeke and Saints wide out Tre’Quan Smith. That obviously should have been the move as Smith continues to be an afterthought in the Saints offense. Week 17 has a lot of unknowns which makes it a great week for tournaments!

Cash Game Option:

Kansas City Chiefs Patrick Mahomes ($13,300) – Frequent readers know I don’t usually pay up at the quarterback position in cash games. I believe we can find a player that will give us the floor we need at a cheaper cost that will allow us to pay up at the other positions. However, there is just a lot of mystery in Week 17 with the possibility of teams resting players and others who have already packed their bags for vacation. I want to know what I’m investing in and that brings me to Mahomes. The Chiefs have to win if they want to win the division and secure a first round bye. They have lost two games in a row and if it wasn’t for a magical throw by Mahomes in Week 14 against the Ravens, they could be looking at a three game losing streak. This is a get right spot for the Chiefs offense as they face a Raiders defense that is ranked 30th in total defensive DVOA according to Football Outsiders. The Chiefs have a massive team implied total of 33.75 and we know they can easily crush that. Mahomes threw for four touchdowns in the last meeting against the Raiders and I can see a similar performance as they clinch a bye on their home field.

Tournament Option:

Green Bay Packers Aaron Rodgers ($12,000) – I have gone back and forth on Rodgers being cash game playable, but I’ll stick him in the tournament conversation for now. Rodgers absolutely smashed in Week 16 against the Jets as he threw for 442 yards and two touchdowns along with rushing for two touchdowns. This is another spot for Rodgers to showcase his talent one more time before the offseason as the Lions pass defense ranks dead last in pass defensive DVOA. Rodgers is an easy stack with wide receiver Davante Adams who received an absurd 18 targets last week. Adams is also chasing a couple of Packers receiving records so I can see Rodgers force feeding the wide out. When there is a lot of unknown like Week 17 presents us, we need to find the little things to give us an edge and this could be one. The Packers passing game is an elite tournament option and it starts with Rodgers.

Tight Ends

Cash Game Option:

San Francisco 49ers George Kittle ($11,900) – Paying up for tight end in Week 16 paid off big time as Zach Ertz smashed against the Houston Texans. Ertz is in play along with Kelce, but I want to highlight Kittle who checks in cheaper than those two. Kittle is chasing Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski’s single season receiving yards mark for a tight end along with a couple of franchise records as well. Kittle is well aware of this and so is head coach Kyle Shanahan. The 49ers take on a Rams team that is 10 point favorites so I expect a lot of throwing which will benefit Kittle. Even though the Rams are tough against the tight end position, Kittle is not like most tight ends. I think we can fire him up in cash games as he will be targeted heavily as he chases these historical records.

Tournament Option:

Cleveland Browns David Njoku ($6,600) – We recommended the tight end last week and he came through for us with three catches for 73 yards and a touchdown. After that performance, Njoku is cheaper than he was in Week 16. We can go right back to him in tournaments at a deflated price as the Browns take on a Ravens defense that ranks 23rd to the tight end position according to Football Outsiders. We know the Ravens defense is extremely tough, but they can be exploited by tight ends. This is too risky for cash, but the upside and price makes Njoku a nice tournament option.

Minnesota Vikings ($4,900) – We recommended the Vikings defense last week and they came through for us by allowing just nine points and finishing with three sacks. Like Njoku, they are now cheaper than they were in Week 16. The Bears could rest their starters this week depending how the Rams are doing and as of now, Vegas is leaning that way as the Vikings are five point favorites and the Bears have an implied team total of just 18. The Vikings rank first in sacks per game and for the cheap price, make for a nice building block in all formats.

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text:
Guest post Research integrity University Affairs

Extraordinary results of the Olomouc Nano-con

This is a guest post by two whistleblowers from the Palacky University in Olomouc. In the centre of the growing research misconduct and retaliation scandal: the nanotechnology professor Radek Zboril

This is yet another nanotechnology story, this time with a whistleblowers’ account. The authors are Czech mathematicians Tomas Furst and Michal Botur from the Palacky University in Olomouc, Czech Republic, and they present below evidence of systematic research misconduct, nepotism and retaliation in their university.

The main character here is the materials scientist Radek Zboril, nanotechnology professor at the Palacký University, member of the Czech Learned Society and Czech Technology Agency board. Zboril boasts “more than 564 papers with the total impact factor over 3 588” (highlight his). He also runs the international conference NanoCon, and I wonder if Radek gets the pun here. Because one of these 564 papers, Hermanek et al 2007, published in the elite chemistry journal JACS, has been retracted after the university’s ethics commission found Zboril and his first PhD student Martin Hermanek guilty of research misconduct.

But the December 2019 retraction notice says merely:

“The authors retract this Article due to inaccuracies in Figure 2. The original Article was published on August 11, 2007, and retracted on December 17, 2019.”

The whistleblowers found more evidence of data fabrication in other Zboril papers, primarily in the Tucek et al Nature Communications 2016 study. The first author Jiri Tucek is coauthor on all other suspicious publications from Zboril’s lab, which earned him a faculty position at the Experimental Physics department. A professorship which was somehow passed on to the new science faculty Dean Martin Kubala, after Tucek suffered hospitalisation and resigned in the wake of the misconduct investigation.

Zboril however still enjoys unconditional support at the very top. The rector of the Palacky University, Jaroslav Miller, has slammed his fist and put his foot down to disagree with the ethics commission’s misconduct ruling. He was quoted:

According to Miller, it was not possible to identify who specifically modified the data. He considers the conclusion that Zbořil caused the adjustment to be unproven. “It would require a deeper expert investigation into the whole matter,” he said.

Zboril himself turned around and accused the whistleblowers of research fraud:

The conclusions of the ethics committee are based on the impressions, feelings and testimonies of former UP employees, with whom I had serious disputes over the ethics of their scientific work.”

Rector Miller then viciously retaliated against the whistleblowers and the investigators, in a manner highly reminiscent of his counterpart at the University of Ferrara, the key difference here being is that the Italian rector Giorgio Zauli was himself investigated by his university’s ethics commission for research fraud.

The original whistleblower was Zboril’s PhD student Cenek Gregor, who rang the alarm already in 2012. For that, Gregor was denied graduation twice. His PhD thesis was submitted in January 2012, its defence recorded as having happened in May 2012. The dissertation is available online, with full-text pdf, which proves Palacky University stands behind the research presented there. But while approving Gregor’s thesis, they still denied him a graduation, which might be a form of academic misconduct by the university leadership. Without a hope to graduate, Gregor dropped out and went to work in the private sector. He was quoted in a 2019 newspaper report:

When I didn’t get a big doctorate, the way to continuing my work in the academic sphere, which I enjoyed, was closed to me. I doubt I could build on it“.

The new career did not last: that Czech pharma company Farmak openly took Zboril’s side, sued a former faculty dean, and sacked Gregor. Zboril himself seems to have emerged unscathed from an affair which made nation-wide Czech news. His friends recently put him on papers in Angewandte Chemie and Nature Nanotechnology, and of course it is Professor Zboril who is now at the forefront, fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. Only thanks to him will mass-testing for the coronavirus be possible in Europe:

The development of magnetic nanoparticles for test kits began in Olomouc at the time of the outbreak of the pandemic. At that time, there was basically a worldwide shortage of tests. Now, scientists are ready to produce material for up to a million tests a day, if needed. “We were approached with a request for the development of magnetic particles that would provide a relatively important part of the testing process, which is the isolation of viral RNA,” Radek Zbořil, head of the research team at the UP Olomouc Regional Center for Advanced Technologies and Materials, told CNN Prima NEWS.

If you are still in doubt, this is what Zboril wrote about himself, highlights his:

“In 2011, he was awarded by the Czech Republic’s Minister of Education for extraordinary results achieved in the field of research, experimental development and innovations.”

Well, Zboril’s nano-con results were even more extraordinary that the Czech minister could ever dare to hope. This is what this guest post is about.

Original image copyright: Disney. Under fair use for satire purpose

A massive scientific misconduct affair in the Czech Republic

By Tomas Fürst and Michal Botur

In the past year, we have been dealing with a scientific misconduct case at the Palacky University in the Czech Republic. The case may develop into the largest affair of its kind in our country since the fall of the communist regime in 1989. While the Faculty of Science Dean Martin Kubala, and faculty bodies face the unpleasant situation openly and attempt to solve the issue transparently on the level of the high standards common in the western world, incredibly, the Rector’s office is on board with the wrong-doers and we are struggling to push investigation forward. The story has already many vicissitudes, so let us try to outline the main facts:

Fake nanocrystallinity

The oldest documented case of scientific fraud concerned the novel effect of nanocrystallinity published in a 2007 JACS paper, which has been already retracted.

Peaks erased, compare Fig 2 Hermanek et al JACS 2007 vs Hermanek PhD thesis (2006)

The true reason for the retraction is, however, very different from the one stated on the journal website. The alleged “inaccuracies in Figure 2” is a euphemism for a deliberate falsification of experimental data supporting the catching story of nanocrystallinity. The original graph contained additional peaks in the XRD spectrum, which indicated presence of precursor residuals. They were erased in order to eliminate alternative, quite trivial, explanation of the observed effects.

There was an investigation regarding this issue and the Ethics Committee of the University gave a clear opinion that the first author Martin Hermanek, and corresponding author Prof. Radek Zboril, violated the Code of Ethics of the University. A detailed description in Czech can be found here, archived copy here (English version is here, archived copy is here).

However, it is neither beginning nor the end of the story. After the release of the Ethics Committee decision, the Rector grossly deformed its conclusions in favour of Mr. Zboril in a press release.

Further, the chair of the Ethics Committee – prof. Karel Indrak – was exposed to heavy personal attacks by Mr. Zboril and his colleagues, and eventually, he resigned quoting a lack of support from the Rector.

This paralyzed the Ethics Committee for a couple of months. The Dean was also called by the Rector to step down, which he declined. Since then, the Dean has been a target of permanent attacks from Mr. Zboril and his colleagues, supported by the Rector’s office.

The first acts of this case attracted considerable attention in the Czech academia. The discrepancies in the JACS article were first noted already in 2013 (possibly even 2012) by Cenek Gregor, a doctoral student of Mr. Zboril. When continuing the work on the topic, he identified the residuals of the precursor in the sample, and his additional experiments revealed that they can indeed explain all the observed effects. Moreover, he also found the original graph. In other words, the whole story about the effects of nanocrystallinity was very likely fake. After that, Mr. Zboril and his powerful colleagues made Mr. Gregor twice fail his Ph.D. thesis defence, and thus, kicked him out of the University.

Magic denoiser

A subsequent case of the same corresponding author Zboril concerns the article of Tucek et al Nature Communications 2016. Again, it is a catching story about a novel nanomaterial, which is claimed to be air-stable. However, the only experiment demonstrating the stability could be found in the supplement. The figure of interest is Figure 6 with three panels (at t=0 and two other time points) demonstrating the stability of the sample. A closer inspection reveals, however, that the presented Moessbauer spectra were not similar, but completely identical.

Coauthor Kateřina Holá on PubPeer: “Unfortunately, the Mössbauer spectrum of the fresh sample (panel a) was inserted instead of the Mössbauer spectra of the samples stored in air (panel b) and stored in the physiological solution (panel c). Thus, three completely identical Mössbauer spectra appeared by mistake. None of the authors identified this error during the final checking and proofreading of the manuscript, most probably due to a significant similarity of the respective Mössbauer spectra (2% difference in the composition). The correct spectra, which do not affect any of the conclusions of the work, have been sent together with the correction.

After the Dean established a committee to investigate the case, the authors explained the issue to be a simple technical mistake and quickly sent a corrigendum to the journal, which got published soon.

However, an inspection of the novel graphs revealed that even they are highly suspicious due to incredibly low noise, far below what should be possible according to fundamental laws of physics! Later, a few more figures (Fig. 2 and Fig. 3) in the paper became suspicious as well for the same reason. The authors have ignored all requests to provide the original raw data although the paper contains an explicit statement that “[t]he data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request”. Also, they are unable to explain the “magic” procedure that yields the published spectra with such a low noise level. The investigation in this matter by Ethics committee is still proceeding.

The suspicion has increased when it turned out that the same data point distribution occurs also in Fig. 2a of the main text of the paper. In this case, however, the transmittance drop is displayed as about 0.7% (from 100% to about 99.3%) in contrast to what is in the ﬁgures supplied by R. Zboril and by J. Tucek where the transmittance drop is below 0.2% only

The attached document contains an overview of the case and detailed arguments why the incriminated figures were probably not produced by a legitimate scientific procedure. For example:

The authors were asked for the original raw data of the Moessbauer experiments. Dr. Tucek gave the committee the printed spectra and promised to deliver the original ﬁles with raw measured data gathered directly from the spectrometer. But in the following days he stopped communication referring to health issues. He has not provided any data and ultimately left academia.

The corresponding author R. Zboril claimed that all what is left from the original data relatedto Fig. 6 of the Supplementary Information are ﬁgures with the so called “ﬁltered data”. […] Concerns were raised about the unavailability of the original unﬁltered data. Although data of the Moessbauer experiments are routinely stored, data related to this experiment could not be found. The corresponding author did not communicate in discussions about the data, but people from the lab admitted that some data might have been erased from the database by accident.

The journal was informed, released an Editor’s Note informing about the ongoing investigation:

“Editor’s Note: The Journal has been alerted to concerns regarding the reliability of data presented in this manuscript. The journal will work with the authors and their respective institutions to investigate the matter. Appropriate editorial action will be taken once this matter is resolved.”

The retraction of the Tucek et al 2019 article is – one may hope – on its way.

the amplitude of the ﬁt curve is the same within the precision of data reading from the ﬁgures. On the other hand, the eﬀect has dropped from 0.191% of J. Tucek to 0.180% of R. Zboril,i.e., relatively by about 6%. This is the same as if the data points were shifted manually by 2,648,800 counts upwards rather than what would correspond to additional measurements which would not
change the magnitude of the eﬀect.

Since then, seven other papers have emerged that contain equally suspicious figures of Moessbauer spectra with unrealistically low noise (see below). Again, the authors ignore all requests to provide raw data (we invite readers to try their own inquiry). Mr. Zboril claims to have sent some data to the Rector’s office and, incredibly, the Rector’s office produced a lengthy legal document (17 pages) to explain why the University will not hand the data over to anyone – an academic chutzpah par excellence.

Enhancement of photoactivity

Recently, another paper with the same corresponding author Zboril (and two others) has emerged, which contains a highly suspicious figure concerning photoelectrochemistry of a novel nanomaterial. The three curves in Figure 5d do not seem to show three sets of experimental data, but three copies of a single measurement deliberately rescaled to show the alleged effect. Again, this case is under investigation of the faculty bodies and the editorial office.

Kmentova et al Catalysis Today 2019: “Curves in figure 5d have the same noise pattern, noise level is proportional to the height of the curve.”

That makes 10 papers raising suspicion of severe scientific misconduct – some already proven, some under investigation, some obvious, some more sophisticated. Incredibly, Mr. Zboril as corresponding author of all the papers, never acknowledged any responsibility, and despite the evidence, he claims all the cases to be either fabricated or (when this position becomes untenable) perpetuated by one of the co-authors. More incredibly, the Rector’s office holds the same line. Even more incredibly, the Academic Senate of the University has several times postponed dealing with these ethical issues and, instead, established a research institute directly responsible to the Rector’s office, where the wrong-doers may hide from any investigation at the faculty. None of the Czech official authorities (the Ministry of Education, grant agencies, the Academy of Sciences, etc.) have shown any interest in the growing affair so far.

The Empire strikes back

We seem to be running out of options in this network of scientific misconduct cases, which threatens the existence of the University and integrity of Czech academic research. The situation is very demotivating for the majority of employees, and in particular, for students, who see a powerful professor get away with behaviour that would not be tolerated in their case. Even the academic self-government, represented by the Academic Senate of the University, has failed the community it should serve and turned a blind eye on the cases.

Moreover, several people involved in the investigation have been a target of persecution. Mr. Gregor, who first mentioned the fake graph in JACS, was kicked out of the dissertation defense twice. Thus, he never finished his PhD and left Academia without the Ph.D. title. After he had testified in the current investigation, he even lost his job at Farmak – a chemical company in Olomouc, which is directed by friends of the colleagues against whom he testified.

The chair of the Ethics Committee Prof. Indrak found himself under heavy personal attacks which included an accusation of autoplagiarism. Despite this accusation quickly turned out to be unjust, he eventually resigned, referring to the lack of support from the Rector.

One of the authors of this text (TF) was interrogated by the criminal police for an alleged ‘libel’ (the case did not proceed to court) and the Ethics Committee of the University opined that he breached the code of ethics (more here, in Czech) by publishing information on the misconduct of his colleagues. He resigned from the Academic senate of the faculty but won this position back in the last election.

Prof. Tomas Opatrny – the author of the computation that shows the impossibility of a legitimate origin of the figures in Nat. Comm. – was under investigation, too. Prof. Zboril and his seventeen friends filed a long complaint against Prof. Opatrny which contained allegations of bossing, stalking, and discrimination! The rector, predictably, passed the complaint to the Ethics Committee, which, however, dismissed the case, found no breach of the Code of Ethics by Mr. Opatrny, and even described some of the allegations as “absurd” (more here, in Czech).

The Dean, who allowed investigating the misconduct affairs, has been under permanent attacks. He was interrogated by the criminal police together with TF, he was a subject of a thorough control of the Labour Inspectorate regarding bossing, mobbing and discrimination (all with a negative result). In one of the most bizarre attacks, his private conversation in coffee-bar was secretly recorded and the record was provided to Mr. Zboril. The transcript of out-of-context picked short excerpts (altogether less than 2 min out of 90-min record) served as a basis for the request of Mr. Zboril’s friends to interrogate the Dean for inappropriate behaviour. The Rector even summoned the Academic Senate on an exceptional meeting to deal with this secret record! This absurd drama at the Academic Senate had no tangible result but it illustrates nicely how far the camp of Mr. Zboril – backed by the Rector’s office – is willing to go to get rid of the Dean.

List of articles with suspicious figures of Moessbauer spectra

  1. M Hermanek, R Zboril, I Medrik, J Pechousek, C Gregor “Catalytic Efficiency of Iron(III) Oxides in Decomposition of Hydrogen Peroxide:  Competition between the Surface Area and Crystallinity of Nanoparticles” J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2007) doi: 10.1021/ja072918x. Retracted 17 Dec 2019.
  2. J Tuček, Z Sofer, D Bouša, M Pumera, K Holá, A Malá, K Poláková, M Havrdová, K Čépe, O Tomanec, R Zbořil “Air-stable superparamagnetic metal nanoparticles entrapped in graphene oxide matrix”. Nature Communications (2016). doi: 10.1038/ncomms12879 Corrected, expression of concern
  3. MB. Gawande, AK. Rathi, J Tucek, K Safarova, N Bundaleski, OM.N.D. Teodoro, L Kvitek, RS. Varma, R Zboril “Magnetic gold nanocatalyst (nanocat-Fe–Au): catalytic applications for the oxidative esterification and hydrogen transfer reactions” Green Chemistry (2014) doi: 10.1039/c4gc00774c
  4. R Prucek, J Tuček, J Kolařík, I Hušková, J Filip, RS. Varma, VK. Sharma, R Zbořil “Ferrate(VI)-prompted removal of metals in aqueous media: mechanistic delineation of enhanced efficiency via metal entrenchment in magnetic oxides” Environmental Science & Technology (2015) doi: 10.1021/es5048683
  5. Kralchevska RP, Prucek R, Kolařík J, Tuček J, Machala L, Filip J, Sharma VK, Zbořil R “Remarkable efficiency of phosphate removal: Ferrate(VI)-induced in situ sorption on core-shell nanoparticles.” Water Research (2016) DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2016.07.021
  6. TM. Lima, CGS. Lima, AK. Rathi, MB. Gawande, J Tucek, EA. Urquieta-González, R Zbořil , MW. Paixão, RS. Varma “Magnetic ZSM-5 zeolite: a selective catalyst for the valorization of furfuryl alcohol to γ-valerolactone, alkyl levulinates or levulinic acid” Green Chemistry (2016) doi: 10.1039/c6gc01296e
  7. VB. Gade, AK. Rathi, SB. Bhalekar, J Tucek, O Tomanec, RS. Varma, R Zboril, SN. Shelke, MB. Gawande “Iron-Oxide-Supported Ultrasmall ZnO Nanoparticles: Applications for Transesterification, Amidation, and O-Acylation Reactions” ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering (2017) doi: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.6b03167
  8. J Tuček, R Prucek, J Kolařík, G Zoppellaro, M Petr, J Filip, VK. Sharma, R Zbořil “Zero-Valent Iron Nanoparticles Reduce Arsenites and Arsenates to As(0) Firmly Embedded in Core–Shell Superstructure: Challenging Strategy of Arsenic Treatment under Anoxic Conditions” ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering (2017) doi: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.6b02698
  9. J Kolařík, R Prucek, J Tuček, J Filip, VK. Sharma, R Zbořil “Impact of inorganic ions and natural organic matter on arsenates removal by ferrate(VI): Understanding a complex effect of phosphates ions” Water Research (2018) doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2018.05.024

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24 comments on “Extraordinary results of the Olomouc Nano-con

  1. Pingback: Gli anticorpi di Fifi - Ocasapiens - Blog -

  2. Email forwarded to me from the Editor-in-Chief James Spivey:

    “The following retraction will be published by Catalysis Today:

    “The following paper is retracted by the Editors as a result of significant errors in datasets.
    Hana Kmentová, Devaki Nandan, Štěpán Kment, Alberto Naldoni, ManojB.Gawande, Zdeněk Hubička,Radek Zbořil. Catal.Today 328 (2019) 111-117.”

    This is the paper:

    • There are no significant errors in the data, but simply a fabrication and scientific misconduct. The retraction notice should present true reason.

      • Lee Rudolph

        Fabrication of data is certainly a “significant error” (albeit moral, and probably legal, rather than merely careless). It is also, of course, scientific misconduct that ought to be career-ending (for the perpetrator[s], not the whistleblowers or unaffiliated Data Thugs!).

      • If you are judging anyone without an evidence or knowledge of all details, your behaivour is same like scientific misconduct. Do you have any evidence this is not true reason and that editors are lying to us? Or do you want to ruin innocent people lifes just for your belief?

        So please, just prove the editors are lying. I’ll wait.

      • You are confusing acts and intentions, as well as areas of responsibility. The data are sufficiently erroneous to merit editorial retraction for the sake of the integrity of the journal and the literature in the field. The editors do not have sufficient evidence to determine how the errors arose or who was responsible, although they may have suspicions and they saw no need to involve the authors in the retraction. Finding fault is the responsibility of the authors’ host and funding institutions, as it is to take appropriate action in accordance with established rules.

    • Mesage from UP Olomouc Dean of Faculty of Science:

      “Dear Dr. Schneider,

      it is a fact that Prof. Zboril was not replaced as a supervisor, despite Mr. Gregor asked for a change in 2011. Formally, the request was denied by the former Dean Prof. Sevcik, and with a knowledge of what followed, we can say that it was a mistake. However, his decision was based on the negative recommendation in a letter of Prof. Pavel Hobza and Prof. Michal Otyepka, who were the chair and vice-chair of the board for doctoral studies of the specialty Physical Chemistry (and the best mates of the supervisor). Hence, it is one of the events that was not illegal, but clearly in disfavor of Mr. Gregor. Later, the Dean signed the nomination of the committee members and reviewers for the thesis defence based on the proposal of the same Prof. Hobza, who was also the chair of the committee.

      The affair revealed that the protection of whistelblower is a serious problem (I just learned that the whistleblower in the Catal. Today case has been also target of some threats, despite he is a professor from a foreign institute). As a reflection of the situation, our faculty established its own Ethics committee, and one of the novel rules is that the whisteblower can ask for its identity protection, which means that the Dean as well as Ethics committee must assure anonymization of all documents on request. However, I have no power to make changes on the university level, and the Rector deserves a lot of criticism.

      Regarding the server, it is a central repository organized by Masaryk University in Brno, and the details of transfers of our theses there are below my resolution. In any case, every thesis must be uploaded on our publically accessible server prior to the thesis defence, because the defence is public, and everybody should be able to know the thesis and ask questions. So I assume that there is some kind of the databases sharing.

      Best regards,
      Martin Kubala”

  3. Petr: I am not judging anyone. The curves in the figure are obviously faked and scientific misconduct occured undoubtedly. There is no other plausible explanation.

    I cannot fully agree that fabrication of data is a significant error. Error means that something occured during the experiment causing the data unreliable or wrong which fact was identified later. Fraud is not an error.

    I am not confusing the intentions and acts. Simply, the data are fabricated and this should stand clearly as the cause of retraction.

  4. Nature Communications paper was already reviewed by external experts in the Mossbauer spectroscopy (e.g. Zoltan Klenczar – and external experimental remeasurement (by Mariola Kadziolka-Gawel as a result of investigation and the results of paper were confirmed.

    Details here: (in Czech)

  5. Pech: Did you read these reviews? They answer completely different question than whether NatComm spectra were manipulated or even completely software generated (i. e., faked).

  6. Michal Botur and Tomas Furst

    The smoke screen

    Over the past year, the team of Radek Zboril spent hundreds of hours spreading various stories regarding the missing data and the fabricated images. This strategy has worked quite well because nowadays, even at the home university, almost no one understands what really happened. Let us briefly recall the main line of this story:

    At the meeting of the academic senate of the faculty (September 18, 2019), Jakub Navařík (a co-worker of Radek Zboril) presented (…pdf) results of a new measurement of a sample. He claimed that a part of the original sample studied in the NatComm paper was found somewhere in RCPTM. Jakub Navarik stated that this new measurement proved the same ratio of components of the fitted spectrum as was reported in the original paper, thus showing even better stability of the material than claimed in the paper (years instead of 30 days).

    Tomáš Opatrny obtained the dataset from Navarik, fitted it by the same set of curves Navarik claimed to have used (note-moesb4.pdf), and showed that Navarik’s results are plain wrong. In other words, Navarik’s alleged fit was either a mistake or a deliberate fake to confuse the academic senate.

    Karel Berka (the husband of one of the co-autors of the NatComm paper) asked Zoltan Klencsár (a business partner of RCPTM) several questions regarding Moessbauer spectroscopy. The questions carefully avoided the issue of the figures in the original paper. Klencsár worked with Navarik’s measurement of the newly found sample (i.e. not with the raw data for the graphs published in NatComm). Klencsar produced a report (…pdf) which does not deal with questions regarding the original paper.

    The Rector Jaroslav Miller organised a new measurement of the mysterious Navarik’s sample (…pdf). Thus, none tried to prepare a fresh sample according to the NatComm paper and reproduce the measurement of the stability. The results of this rector’s activity confirmed the correctness of Opatrny’s fit of Navarik’s data. Again, this had nothing to do with the question of whether the graphs in the NatComm paper are fake or not.

    Radek Zbořil presented a statement…pdf (February 2020). He argues that he was first asked for the original data on February 7, 2020. This is not true, several people asked for the data during summer 2019. He further claimed that Jiri Tucek – the corresponding author of the NatComm paper – left RCPTM and thus his team had problems to identify the correct datasets and that the denoising procedure (that no one has ever been able to explain) is under reconstruction. The statement points to some set of raw data (…zip). Tomas Opatrny compared these raw data to the published graphs (Figure 1 here…pdf, left column shows the raw data from RCPTM, right column the figures in NatComm).

    Radek Zbořil presented some comments on the reconstruction of the filtration procedure – i.e. the way to produce figures in the right column from the data in the left column. The software allegedly used was not presented and the reconstruction of the figures in NatComm was not achieved.

    Thus, Radek Zbořil organized a research to reconstruct the methods used in his own paper – and failed. The many points above illustrate the strategy of Radek Zboril, his co-workers, and the rector: Spread as much fake, irrelevant, and misleading information as possible and hope everyone will get lost in the smoke-screen. This strategy has worked remarkably well for almost two years.

    • Sorry folks, I have an impression that all this mathematical mumbo-jumbo proved only one thing, and that it is possible to simulate the Mossbauer spectra from the scratch. I see no evidence that Mr. Zboril falsified the data and I don’t even have a clue if he is technically able to do so.
      Another impression of mine is that the above-mentioned mathematicians do they “best” to defame Mr. Zboril in front of the wider audience.
      Frankly, I wish I never meet such kind of people in person.

      • Michal Botur

        Are you joking? Show us a math background of the presented filtration process, please.

  7. Funny how you forgot to mention the Ethical comitee of Faculty od Science stated the experts does not see anything suspicious on presented data. Also the fact that one of you was already found to break Ethical rules. On the other hand one may understand it could break your carefuly built shocking story guys. So smoke screen you say?

    • Excelent reproducible science at Palacky University in Olomouc, the experts does not see anything suspicious on presented data, it is a kind of magic:

      The above examples are primarily intended to demonstrate the existence of source data and the ability of filtering tools to suppress noise. The final form of the spectrum (signal-to-noise ratio) is directly dependent on the combination and degree of use of individual algorithms, or the repetition of individual steps. The success of these processes is strongly dependent on their user experience and knowledge of the capabilities of the relevant software tools.

    • Michal Botur

      Dear Petr, I did not forget to mention anything relevant. Graphs presented in the paper are not alright. The system of Ethical comitees working on our University did not finsh the case yet. The “partial results” did not state that datas are alright, logically, because autors haven’t raw data. If you have more information, publish them, please.

  8. Stories like this (and in other articles at often even worse scale) make me wonder about whether actual police should be more involved investigating scientific fraud. It is not just scientific fraud, it’s a fraud as such, period. It’s not like biomedical research is exactly cheap, and I fail to see how it’s ok that paper retractions are pretty much the worst that can happen to the researchers (of course they can get sacked – unless they are famous enough – but that does not help recovering the taxpayers’ money).

    The fact that some people seem happy to routinely throw accusations of unethical behaviour, bossing etc. just to throw a smokescreen isn’t really helping either.

    I also wish journals kept a better eye on whether “data available on request” is complied with – because it often isn’t.

    • I agree. Fraudsters are often hosted by institutions that make a point of looking the other way as long as resources (e.g. grant funding) and positive publicity keep coming their way. There also appear to be corrupt networks of “researchers” who give each other a helping hand to further the support of subfields that seem to be mostly fake – I’m looking at you, green nanotech, microparticles and miRNA researchers – but are populated by hucksters who play up their potential make us all millionaires who will live forever disease-free. PI’s can be flamboyantly canned for being bullies and ass-grabbers, but the fakers are allowed to slink out the back door (e.g. Anversa) and set up shop again without a peep, when they ought to do time for fraud or at least pay the money back with hefty interest. Public support is a negative-sum game (owing to deficits), so every faker takes at least double the amount they get away from someone who might have done something useful. And of course they take a job as well.

  9. Jiri Tucek, who was actually responsible for “magic denoising procedure” (i. e., software generation of Mossbauer spectra plus added software generated noise) didn’t left academia, but reappeared in nearby Pardubice University. He is, however, keeping the omerta of Zboril and Miller mafia.

  10. Vox populi

    Vox Populi wrote at
    at 0:07 (James Bond time):

    Cenek Gregor has been victimized because of telling the truth.
    The Rector (university president in West) is unable to solve this ethical problem.
    The Dean has still been doing his best to solve the bitter problem (created by the Rector and his co-conspirators).
    The nasty story goes on (and support from Leonid and others is appreciated) —

  11. Zbořil has recently been forced to retire from the Czech Learned Society.
    His two key culprits – Hobza and Otyepka – have nearly missed to follow the suit, so far.

    And another big shame is developing at the Czech Academy:
    It is so nasty story that a report in English is likely to appear, too.

  12. Update: After JACS, the second paper (the one with fake Moessbauer spectra) of fraudster Zboril is retracted.

  13. Update: Palacky University rector, supporting fraudster Zboril et al. announced that he is stepping down by late April.

  14. Email forwarded to me from the Editor-in-Chief James Spivey:

    “The following retraction will be published by Catalysis Today:

    “The following paper is retracted by the Editors as a result of significant errors in datasets.
    Hana Kmentová, Devaki Nandan, Štěpán Kment, Alberto Naldoni, ManojB.Gawande, Zdeněk Hubička,Radek Zbořil. Catal.Today 328 (2019) 111-117.”

    This is the paper:

    The fake paper by Zboril et al. is retracted, but the explanation is different – more euphemistic. It is difficult to understand, why the editors are so supporting with respect to fraudsters.

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Coatings, Industry News

New adhesives for bonding of displays

New adhesives for bonding of displays

Delo extends its product range with two adhesives that are suitable for fixing display frames – a one-component, light-activated urethane polymer and a two-component polyurethane hybrid.

Displays are omnipresent – whether in smartphones, in vehicles, or as touchscreens of control units. However, different adhesives can be used for bonding display frames, cover glass, or for joining display panel and housing.

No need for additional heat curing

“Delo Photobond LA4860” is a modified urethane polymer. The curing mechanism is based on light activation with subsequent humidity curing. Thanks to the novel curing mechanism, opaque components such as display frames, which often have a black mask on the edge areas or are bonded to the housings, can be joined without the need for additional heat curing. The solvent-free adhesive can be used at temperatures ranging from -40 °C to +110 °C and has tension-equalizing characteristics thanks to an elongation at tear of 350 %.

Sealing large bonding gaps

Another product used for bonding display frames and housings is “Delo-Pur SJ9356”, a polyurethane-based adhesive, free of isocyanates and silicones. The two-component adhesive cures at room temperature and reaches its initial strength after approximately 4 hours. Its flexibility ensures stable and tension-equalizing bonds and seals, even with dynamic loads. The adhesive’s flow resistance and wet adhesion makes it well suited for sealing larger gaps (> 2 mm), thus protecting components permanently against humidity and dust. “Delo-Pur SJ9356” features a temperature range from -40 °C to +105 °C and an elongation at tear of 120 %.

Copyright of this article by European Coating. We are sharing and promoting the market innovation.
If you like this article, kindly to book the journals via


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Forum home Mountain biking forum MTB general

Dropper post nightmare

I have a 2021 Trek X-Caliber 8 and want to buy a dropper post, but its a nightmare finding one that will fit, the only thing I can see if the Oneup 120mm Dropper which is out of stock everywhere.

My tube bottoms out on the internal hosing for a 2nd bottle holder 19cm into the tube, my total overall length is 35.5 from the bottom of the tube to the seat rails.

Can any-one help?

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53 Visitor Messages

  1. View Conversation
    Hi Swift, how are you?
    I just thought I'd pop in, and I have noticed you have attracted some strange messages.
  2. View Conversation
    What a long post you've attracted.
  3. View Conversation
    They closed my thread for not being scientific enough about space and astronomy so i'll answer you in a message:

    Originally Posted by BLUEELECTRICMONKEY View Post
    I don't believe anything natural will happen on that date.
    No extra chance for an earthquake.
    Maybe people will try to something, because the date is being watched, but this will just prove my theory even more.
    Dates affect people, not nature.
    Calenders are designed in accord with cycles of nature, not in accord with natural disasters. They don't affect nature directly, but they can cause some people to feel somethings, sometimes.
    Ok. That makes slightly more sense to me, that people may be psychologically influenced by certain dates/numbers. I'm not sure I agree, but it is possible. I would suspect this would be very cultural - that in certain cultures some numbers are "lucky" and others are not.

    I also think that pareidolia is a big part of it - humans look for patterns, even when none exist. If something bad happens on the date 11/11/11 or 07/07/07 (or pick your pattern), we are more like to remember the date and think there is some significance to it, even if it is random chance. But there is no higher chance of something bad happening on September 11 than on July 15.

    Let's think about this like this:
    It is Pareidolia.
    All over the world people try to find their number connections using pareidolia, some more, some less, some always, some never.
    If humans associate destruction with numbers only using pareidolia, after a few thousand years, you can have two options:
    1. If some numbers are indeed more connected to destruction for the mind, globally, they will appear in more cases of pareidolia. If those numbers are not connected to a specific language, they will appear in more cases of pareidolia in different cultures with different language.
    2. If all numbers are equally subject to pareidolia as far as destruction goes,
    people will find it hard to agree on any set of numbers.

    Now, what does the process of pareidolia want to accomplish ?
    It wants to give a symbolic meaning to a number.
    Let's look at a peridoliac person from the outside.
    He tells you "4's makes me love things, 4 is all about love for me, all the girls I loved had so much 4's in their names and lives" and so on.
    He says: 4 symbolizes love. (and he can add: to me, to you, to everyone, to our people, to men, for now at least, and so on, while the common to all saying, is giving a symbolic meaning to a number, which is not a mathematical meaning).
    All over the world, all cases of pareidolia, are trying to do that.
    Now, if a 9/11 combo somehow means destruction for enough people.
    (This could be very subtle, even if out of 100 cases, only 5 are a 9/11 combo, if it's the most common combo in the list, it's the one with the most accumulating affect, over thousands of years)
    what will happen with a "natural" process of pareidolia ?
    The symbol will be more accepted as a symbol of destruction.
    Right now, the 9/11 concept is a symbol of destruction in the language, and in more than one calender.
    From all possible pariedolia going on, that's the one that convinced most people to see some symbolic connection, consciously, between a 9/11 combo in the year, and with destruction.
    How does this match the nowadays ?
    Why is from all dates of destruction only the 9.11 is remembered with the date, and with the combo ? why is there so much pareidolia about it than ever before ? why can't we explain the 2012 obsessions saying that in this period of time, dates are more charming than ever which causes a specific stream of pareidolia ?
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Newbie flipper needs answers. - Posted by Jarrett

Posted by ChrisW on January 24, 2001 at 21:22:54:

I have done a few flip(wholesale) deals and prefer to do an assignment because there are no closing costs. As far as the issue of your buyer knowing how much you paid for the house, it has not been a problem for me. Your buyers know what you are doing and dont care that you paid 4k less than what you are selling to them for, as long as there is plenty of profit for them.

Newbie flipper needs answers. - Posted by Jarrett

Posted by Jarrett on January 24, 2001 at 15:28:09:

I am just starting out in REI and am going to take the flipping/rehabbing route. I have a few questions that I would love answered if anybody out there can help.

1)Assignment or Simultaneous Closing? Which of these is preferred? It seems to me that the flipper would be able to ask a higher price with a simultaneous close than with an assignment in which the rehabber knows how much the flipper bought the house for. How do closing costs affect the final profit in each case?

2)Who does the title search? The flipper or the new buyer?

3)If you use an assignment how do you handle bank sales that do not like flipping?

Thanks in advance for any help.


text:
Thank you gift for loan officer? - Posted by Ron (MD)

Posted by SCook85 on January 19, 2001 at 22:25:04:

I have always given gift certificates to nice restaurants for jobs well done.

P.S. Do you want to share their name??? :slight_smile:

Thank you gift for loan officer? - Posted by Ron (MD)

Posted by Ron (MD) on January 19, 2001 at 20:48:21:

I’ve had a good string of loans settled with one particular loan officer. I know he is paid for what he does, but my deals are all small ($60k - $80K) and they are in a special program that has a small commission for the loan officer.

I’d like to show my appreciation in a legal, ethical, and tax deductible way. I’m thinking of something like a $500 Circuit City gift certificate or a $500 “get-away-weekend” hotel package.

Any thoughts on the concept or the particular gift?

Ron Guy

Re: Thank you gift for loan officer? - Posted by Fred

Posted by Fred on January 22, 2001 at 21:58:03:

Yikes Ron,
I didn’t know you were such a big spender! A gift certificate to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse is a nice gift that I have used.

How 'bout a box of … - Posted by SusanL.–FL

Posted by SusanL.–FL on January 22, 2001 at 11:50:33:

…Hickory Farm assorted cheeses and meats? That way his whole family can enjoy it.

$500. does seem exorbitant–and could be construed as a ‘bribe’.

Re: Thank you gift for loan officer? - Posted by Bob (Md)

Posted by Bob (Md) on January 20, 2001 at 01:10:30:

You might want to be sensitive that many companies nowadays have ethics guidelines that frown on the receipt of gifts that might be large enough to be considered as “influence”. Although I understand that you want to put your money where your heart is, you might make the gift a bit smaller so it doesn’t get the loan officer in trouble or cause an ethical dillema. Clearly a hand-written thank you note should be the minimum gesture, and I’d go for some sort of gift certificate for a nice store or restaurant. Personally, I’d shoot for $50 or so - no more than $100. Again, it is to protect the loan officer’s position, not to be cheap.

But then again, I may be too sensitive, dealing with “gummint” all the time…


text:
Vacant and Boarded Up? - Posted by Carey_PA

Posted by Carey_PA on January 27, 2001 at 16:46:25:

thanks for the response. I noticed these houses while going to see a few houses with a realtor. My intentions are to buy 'em cheap and rent 'em Section 8.

As far as being able to get tenants…in this area, people will rent like crazy, but they won’t buy. (mostly credit issues, etc.) And obviously in this area, as well as many other areas in the country I’m sure, there is a list for people needing and “wanting” Section 8. So, I have no doubt that I will be able to rent these homes (which are mostly 3br, but could be turned into 4 br) for $1,039 plus a month.

The realtor did however tell me like you had mentioned that they are becoming more stricter about lead based paint…so I’m sure I’d probably have to have all the houses scrapped and re-painted…now I’m not sure how much that costs or if anything else would have to be done.

For now, I’ll try to do my homework and try to find the owners of these properties.

ohhh and one more thing I forgot to mention, I could probably get these homes for nothing up to 25k…(well the boarded up ones obviously I could probably get cheaper and put most of the money into fixing it up), and these homes fixed up could sell for about $50k-$60k…(but like I said this isn’t the type of area where people buy, they usually just rent.)

Vacant and Boarded Up? - Posted by Carey_PA

Posted by Carey_PA on January 27, 2001 at 09:48:39:

I was just driving around yesterday in a city that I’d like to have Section 8 rentals in and I found an awful lot of vacant and boarded up houses. Does anyone know where I would even begin to find out about these homes and how I could get them. I’m assuming I could get great deals on these places!!!

Thanks in advance,

first check at the… - Posted by David Krulac

Posted by David Krulac on January 27, 2001 at 19:55:38:

tax assessment office at the county for the owners name and address. some counties are online, while other will give that info over the phone.

next check leins, some times the leins for back taxes, utilities, mortgages and judgements are way more than the property worth. check at the recorder of deeds office and the prothonotary.

thirdly check codes enforcement in that city, they may have a long list of vilations that must be taken care of before occupancy. ask if they require a landlord license, registered tradesmen to do the work, and how long you have to do the repairs. In Harrisburg there are code violations for example that must be fixed in 30 days while others are 1 year. Also ask if they have inspection of all property sold, like Harrisburg, or inspection only of rentals like Shippensburg.
David Krulac of Central Pennsylvania

Re: Vacant and Boarded Up? - Posted by Jim Locker

Posted by Jim Locker on January 27, 2001 at 11:52:34:

Check the county tax records. This will give you owners.

When you say you see “a lot” of boarded up houses, what you are seeing is a community in trouble. There may or may not be a market for these houses - even for tenants. You should investigate your competition carefully to see how they are doing.

You might also check local ordnances and find out how cooperative the City administration is with landlords. Often (not always) lots of boarded houses show that not only is the community having problems with jobs, but the City administration is clueless and is trying to make their deteriorating housing stock get better by leaning on the property owners. If a City demands $35K in repairs on a house that can only be marketed for $30K, the owner will walk.

Beyond that, when looking at a boarded property, pay careful attention to its condition and what will need to be done to open it. Here is where local ordnances become very important, as does the attitude of the City inspectors. Stay away from properties with serious structural faults - you can’t make money on them even if they are given to you.

Also, I should warn you that lead paint issues are getting bigger and bigger. You assume a potentially substantial liability taking on older, deteriorating properties that have a lot of lead paint in them.

There is indeed money to be made reopening boarded up buildings, but it is not automatic. Do you homework very carefully.


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